Stitich marker comparison and yarny stuff

Today I'd rather be blogging.
But, of course, the laundry, the baking, the dinner, the phone calls--some of them are 'junk call'--the rest I like.
The sun is shining, and it's about 60F...so depressing...
Where are the piles of snow?  Where are the snow plows?  Where are the shawls, and the afghans...huh? instead I have to put up with this San Francisco-like weather...yikes! (are you serious?) However, and since I miss the fog horns from the bay, 'I've bookmarked me' some diverse recordings of San Francisco fog horns and I play them now and then.  It is very calming to me.

...I do LOVE winter with all the overcast skies, the piles of snow, the wind whistling by the partly opened window.  All of which inspired me to write--a few years ago--

"When winter doodles feathers on the windowpane,
and fire crackles in the hearth:
spare us, Lord, this year again, a winter flight" (c) PeasantHouse

So far this winter (?) I've seen only one window with 'winter feathers' on it, and only until 1pm that day.

 There is something nice about sipping tea or hot chocolate, baking bread or applesauce brownies, or pizza for dinner.  But no.  Instead we'll have a blog post.  Fried chicken with rice, garlic bread, and salad.  It's smelling nice...and one more load of laundry and I'm done...for a couple of days. 

Blah, blah, blah, blah...

I did lots of knitting again.  But I will have to go get pictures of 5c's scarf and wrist warmers cos I was so in-a-hurry to deliver them that I neglected to photograph them...later...

Instead, here is some other knitting.

This is my cardigan which I've designed, still need to sew it together.  I think it will be what I meant it to be. 

Washing Sir Peasant's older sweater again.  One can be glad that well made sweaters will last for a very long time.  The very nice wool is much resistant to pills. 

A bucket of water and Woolite removes lots of dirty dirt, and now the sweater is brilliant again.

Comparing stitch markers:  I mean the mass produced kind.

These coilless markers have intrigued me for a while.  I wanted to see them in person, but local shops do not carry them.  There are plenty of suppliers on line.  I chose PlumpyPanda.  They had tons of them.  My purchase was 100 pins (1 inch long--but actually 7/8 of an inch) for $5 and free shipping.  The more one buys, the cheaper per pin.  They work great, as markers with a huge caveat!  The tips are very sharp, which split the yarn, scratch the finish of the needles, and poke your fingers.  Also, since they are a gunmetal color they sort-of disappear on dark yarn, and are difficult to find. 
What to do?  Now that I have 100 of them--actually 115 in the package, thank you plumpypanda! 
So...I have people, so I gave some to each, and kept about 20 of them.  Still...how to make them better?  It came to me: tie a bit of brilliant yarn to each of them, so now they are very visible.

I still was not so pleased because of the pokiness of them...get some Susan Bates markers, the idea floated by, they are less expensive than the Clover brand, so there you go...but...not so much. 
They broke! actually I broke 3 in a row, just closing it on a stitch...sigh...the rest lasted two or three uses.  These are the only ones I have not used.  5 remain out of 24, they are called Stitch Pins.  But, whatever, I expected more uses, lots more...
The white one that's different (below) is one of those that hold shank buttons on a card.

Enter: the much more reliable, workhorse, durable-several years of my first package--albeit, more expensive, but worth it: Clover brand.  Yay!  I went to JoAnn's with my 60% percent off for one package and 40% off the other package, triumphant purchase! Double Yay!
Sir Peasant found a little plastic box for me, from his box collection (he does not like the word stash)
and there ye'go.  All's right with the knitting world of PeasantHouse.

Now, to real life.  The chicken is done, and the rest is about to be. 

So, then...

I'll leave you with this:

 "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shrew the salvation of God." Psalm 50:23

In His hands,   ^__^