and he returns as well

Given that I could sleep in this morning, it should be totally and completely obvious that I woke shortly after 0500 and couldn’t get back to sleep. But there is cross stitch, audio books, and the occasional Flosstube. Which for those of you who have absolutely no interest in crafting of any kind, much less-stitching, please feel free to skip the next several paragraphs.

Flosstube is the collection of channels on YouTube which are devoted to… you guessed it… cross stitch which uses floss in case you hadn’t guessed. Nothing obscene or difficult about the concept, once you stop laughing. Anyway – there are probably 800+ channels in the English Language alone. Then add in the Japanese, Russian, and the occasional Western European and I am not going to guess at how many people are determined to use a video aspect of the internet to share what they are doing.

Back to why I mentioned this. I watch a few channels when I have time. Or the interest. On one of those channels, the fact that Michael’s (US craft store chain) now carries Anchor Floss on spools of 10 meters. Hello? I love thread on spools. Where spools might be a bit more bulky to store (and ignoring the issue of plastic waste) the floss is less likely to be kinked, knotted up or tangled. I checked the Michael’s website.Sure enough, there were ~200 colors on offer on 10 meter spools + 20 on 30 meter spools. What could be even better? Pick up available from the store in Emeryville (4 miles from my house).

Early afternoon, off I went. And sure enough – there it was. Two organized displays of Anchor floss ; a rather large one for the 10 meter spools and a compact thread holder with the 20 colors in the larger size.

Yes, I bought a few colors to try. The key color is black. So far I really haven’t found an excellent black. DMC certainly isn’t it. Sulky is a bit better but doesn’t have enough coverage on some fabrics. I used Anchor threads when I lived in the UK and don’t remember being any more impressed with them than DMC, but hey – it is worth a shot.

From there, I went and hung out at the North Berkeley BART parking lot till George arrived. His meeting in Denver ended this morning so he flew to SFO. Which should give you the explanation of why I was picking him up from BART and not the airport. I love him a lot. But 45 minutes to SFO and 90+ back seemed insane when BART would take less than an hour.  No one drives through San Francisco, especially heading back across the Bay Bridge after 1500 in the afternoon unless they are insane or absolutely can’t avoid it.

So here I am, back home with my new treasures and wondering why I signed myself up for an 0715 exercise class tomorrow.

(Oh, right, at 1615 I was picking up George)

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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2 Responses to and he returns as well

  1. Cat says:

    Catching up on all this. Very brave of you to actually go anywhere right now. (We Downunderites are watching the fire situation in California with real concern…as for Covid concerns!)
    Stay safe

    • Holly says:

      The air quality is a concern. Viruses are a concern. I am starting to get burned out on all concerns…

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