Another finished thing

 I made another toy during my long break. This is the "Easy woodlouse/pillbug" by SnowGrasshopper (ravelry link here)

I pretty much followed the pattern but put the eyes on the "front" rather than the underside (I am actually not sure where "real" pillbugs have their eyes, if they have them, but I thought this arrangement was cuter)

That photo was taken up at my mom's right after I finished the pillbug.

I used Michael's house-brand acrylic worsted weight ("loops and threads," I think?). I used two of the "carousel" colors that have flecks of another color mixed in - grey with pastels for the top, and a cream with tans for the belly:

Those I-cord legs took a LONG time. The pillbug itself isn't a hard knit (I did add either 1 or 2 more repeats to make the body longer and more easy to curl up on itself) but the legs get tedious - there are fourteen, and then two antennas.. 

You can kind of see the size of him here. I have named him "Crawley Baker" because I read somewhere that a regional UK "common name" for these is "Crawley Baker" which is funny to me because it sounds like a man's name - maybe a slightly odd name, but one that you might find in a Victorian-era (or earlier) registry of names:

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My garage is finally fixed. The carpenter guy came yesterday morning; what he did after jacking up the rafters to get them back into the right angle, he attached whole new rafters right along side them. He didn't replace the damaged lath but used spacers to have the right distance between the rafter and the decking, and he replaced a piece of decking. At the VERY end of the day the roofer showed up (literally after 5 pm, and I was worried while he was working as I had Board Meeting at 6 and was blocked in my drive). But it took him almost no time - I guess there were only 5 or 6 shingles needing to be replaced. 

But anyway: it's done, it's paid for (I am awaiting my insurance reimbursement, luckily I have savings I can use and then replenish when I get the reimbursement) and I can garage my car again.

To celebrate I went to the "disco" car wash (they use neon-like - probably actually LED - lighting in the wash, and they play thunderstorm sound effects) to clean my car. 

I also did a LOT of yardwork today - cut back the hollies, and all the stuff that had grown up next to the air conditioner, and trimmed back the Yaupon hollies and also cut out the stuff that came up around them - mostly sucker sprouts, but a few privets and other things that had gotten seeded in. Then I mowed the lawn. I'm tired and a little bit sore but I do need to start attacking the brush that's grown up, and keep up with the lawn. 

Tomorrow, I'm not sure. I need to do grocery shopping and have not decided whether to stay in town for that or actually go to Sherman. If I stay in town, I go early in the day (before more people come out; I think this is a payday week and the stores can get crowded here) and then maybe consider going in (even though my building will be deserted - we are not open on Fridays in summer) and work more on updating my ecology lectures - I did quite a bit on Tuesday and Wednesday.