Oh it's hot

 It's supposed to be 107 F here tomorrow. 

To save a little money, and to avoid overstressing my air conditioning unit (especially the late afternoon, when the sun is on it - an unfortunate placement choice, though that's where the connections were and I didn't feel like paying a lot MORE money (and going a lot more time without AC) to have them moved when I had it replaced some years back), I've turned it up to nearly 80 and it's MISERABLE in here.. Even with a dehumidifier running (the humidity is almost worse than the heat).

I got out my tower fan and have it blowing on my legs right now and that helps a little. And as the sun goes down, I'll slowly step down the thermostat because I do not sleep when it's that warm.

Already I am having bad, complicated, tiring dreams where I wake up regularly because I am too warm.

I want fervently for it to cool down (it won't) or for it to rain a little so there's at least a CHANGE.

 I can't do anything outside because it's dangerously hot (doubly so when you're on a beta blocker - beta blockers and some of the antidepressants and I THINK birth control pills lower your heat tolerance, and I know while I've been on the beta blocker I've had a few times I got close to heat exhaustion working in the yard (but I recognize the symptoms and quit if I start to feel like that, and go inside and take a shower and drink water)

***

I got to thinking today about Brown Sheep yarns - this is a US yarn company, based in Mitchell, Nebraska. On their website they say they started in 1980 on the site of a sheep ranch (when the price of sheep dropped, it became more profitable, I guess, to produce yarn). They outlived the 1980s knitting slump, were a thing during the knitting resurgence of the late 90s-early 00s, and they're still here (as it begins to feel like knitting's going into a slump again). 

I dunno. They were one of the early companies I knew when I went back to knitting. Some of the first yarn I ordered was their Wildfoote sock yarn (I still have some - and the older, less-soft kind - still in the stash). And I noticed on their website they sell a "catalog" that is actually swatch cards of their yarn. It's $7 and I admit I always kicked a little at having to PAY for a catalog I might order (spending more of my money) from, but this time I ordered one. 

I don't know. I want to see and feel the swatches. Yes, I have a yarn shop within an hour's drive, but they don't carry EVERYTHING and if I want a sweater's worth of worsted weight I will have to order it - and why NOT from Brown Sheep?

I don't know. Sometimes I feel nostalgic for those early years of knitting becoming popular again - there was sort of an overlap in the more traditionalist stuff (the raw-spun rustic yarns, the simple old patterns) and the "newer, hipper, more sophisticated stuff." I admit I am more Team Traditionalist, partly because I was turned off that some of the trendy knitting sites really restricted sizes (I am too fat for some of their patterns) and I also know I'm not cool or hip and wouldn't fit with the "club" crowd (and that group often skewed a bit younger than me)

I've also talked before about missing knitting blogs and I DO, it was nice to periodically dip into them and see what other folks were making. Oh, a few people still keep them up, but most of them are gone.

Though there is always the question: Are you nostalgic because times were better then, or simply because you were younger and happier? Although I think in the very early days when knitting was less "corporatized" (where everyone seemed to jump onto the trend and try to "monetize" it) it was maybe more fun, and it was easier to find nice stuff on the internet. 

though also yes: I was younger and happier; I started knitting again back when I was in grad school and at that time I had fewer responsibilities and more nearby friends, and of course both my parents were younger and were in good health. And I hadn't been quite so battered by life as I am now. 

I don't know. I do wonder what the future will bring for a lot of the hobbies we have - I know stores are folding left and right, and of course JoAnn's may close a lot of its outlets. And Interweave is all but gone - no longer publishing a print magazine, and I remember how 10 or more years ago they would regularly put out nice pattern books, and I've not seen one in a long time.

And yes, yes, everyone argues the future is "all digital" - but the thing is, you don't REALLY own digital content, not unless it's resident on your hard drive (and even then, if your computer fails, it's gone). But I have books I bought 25 or more years ago (with some of the quilting books: closer to 35 years), and they're still there on the shelves, and I can open them and easily use a pattern. (And yes, I know: houses can burn and insects can eat books, but books do feel less ephemeral than some bits on the "cloud")

I know I do have too much yarn already, and I need to start actively working down the stash (either making lots more stuff, or giving some of it away. I really do wish I had a big active knitting community here where I could just take a big bag of sockyarn and go 'take what you want, I know I'll never use this")

***

I came home for lunch today. It took a while, because after I ate I remembered I had not taken this year's AMD from the Fidelity IRA my dad left to me. And I was also remembering (incorrectly, it turns out) that I only had either five or ten years to draw down the money (which was more than I remembered) and I thought "well, this is five years, if I have to take it all now I'll have to arrange for the right amount to be withheld so I don't have an enormous tax bite the next year..."

So I called them and waited to talk to an actual human.

And found out that because he died in 2019 and not 2020 (I guess the rules changed?) I have 30 years to withdraw the money. (I would be 80 at the deadline. If I'm still here. If any of us are still here....)

So I took the minimum. I don't NEED extra money at the moment (though this will make it more comfortable to pay for the tree removal, and yes, it should hit my account before the tree guys get here)

I also need to get the logistics all lined up and buy a new dishwasher. I never did, first because of the pandemic, and then because I was busy (though it does take time to hand wash your plates after every meal) and then because I was hurt, but maybe this summer I just talk to my plumber about installation and order one from one of the places and have the plumber install it. (I am NOT having the guys from the appliance store install it; they're the guys who messed up on the washing machine and forgot to hook up the drain hose and flooded my kitchen)

 

I mean, I really would like to figure out something deeply FUN to do, even something that costs a couple hundred dollars (I have it right now), but I can't think of anything AND it's too hot right now to do anything that involves walking around outside, so I don't know.