Knitting takes a back seat

Two projects on needles..The big one, a vivid throw, had inaugurated this year .It continues to expand (stitch by stitch, mutter by mutter), and shows no signs of wanting to opt out of the knitting bag.

The tiny one, a snazzy hat with leftover yarns, had me enthralled since Tuesday. It was not the knitting which had me spellbound, it was the thought of neatly finishing all those loose ends sprinkled across every inch of that hat.

“Testing times” would be an apt good description for this week. Only on the knitting front, mind you!!

I have to recount how the sensible “Merchants of Ranikhet” have swept me off my feet today. It all began with my trusty water-purifier flooding the kitchen floor. Everyone swore that they hadn’t knocked down the apparatus, and the dogs had no guilt on their faces or tails. Hema spotted a suspicious corner and Rajinder, our man-for-all-tasks, jumped in with Feviquick to seal the matter. The tiny tube had enough chemical to seal the corner, the base and the middle. Hours later, I poured water into the system, and the flooding happened all over again. The purifier appeared to be damaged beyond repair and a new device had to come home.

I drove to the best/only retailer of water purifiers and checked out the old and new range. The salesman refused to sell me a new one until I showed him the damaged piece. I had to pick up the leaky piece from home and go back to prove my point to this stubborn man. He took one look, smiled and said, “This is not damaged, it just needs a filter change”. Apparently, the exhausted filter shuts down the process and water floods out.  I felt rather foolish when he returned with a new filter, but felt even more foolish when he couldn’t prise open the chamber.  The Feviquick had worked its magic. It took four men, two hours and a lot of tinkering to get my trusty purifier back. The point to note here, is that I did not buy a new piece, all thanks to the persistence of that good hearted salesman.

Gratitude for goodness gets a lilac tint today.

These hardy hydrangea blossoms are summer’s gift to the hills. I love bringing them into the house— they make mealtimes special, and they glow quietly while I write this post. 

It took me a couple of hours to find the blossoms which could be taken without diminishing the appeal of the bush, but it’s been worth it! It was also a good way to avoid the knitting needles, methinks!

This is today’s alternative to knitting… A bare cupboard begins to brighten up. I am painting poppies, and I am loving it!

There is a soothing and serene feel to applying brush strokes with focus and care. I have been so engrossed in knitting and crochet, that doing anything else seems traitor-worthy behavior. Today, the flower finding and the painting hours have given me a different hue of satisfaction and joy.  A break from my favorite craftwork has been a good thing—I have indulged in pigments and petals, savored the joy of brush strokes, exclaimed at spattered paint on my clothes, and flooded the sink with fuschia and red and yellow.

And now, I can go back to my beloved knitting, add a few more rows to the large throw, darn in a few more loose ends in the hat and surf Ravelry for succor and inspiration.

You have a good weekend, my dear reader and may you never think of Feviquick as the ultimate solution for water woes!!