Pretty Posies, Perfumed Paper, and Purple Pull-ons

I claimed my February Bloom of the Month Sunday afternoon. I had looked the week before Valentine's Day but what was offered looked wilted to me. I needed to pick up a few things on sale at Martin's that I didn't get on my first shopping outing Friday since feeling better from a bad cold. More choices and fresher flowers this time.

When we were in California recently, we went to the city of Orange one Saturday morning to visit a thrift store and antique stores. The main part of the historic section of the city is filled with antique stores. I bought some scented drawer liner paper. I had asked for some of this for Christmas, but admittedly I found none in retail stores. Amazon had some at a hefty price plus shipping. I have two small drawers and one large one in my new dresser that I would like to line. I reused my paper from the old dresser (which doesn't have scent left hence the sachets I bought), but there wasn't enough for all of the drawers.

Such a pretty box, too. I am trying to think of what I could store in it.

At the thrift store (which was a bit of a disappointment), the books were on sale. I bought a hardbound copy of Grafton's Y Is For Yesterday for 50 cents. This is her lastest and last book; she died last year. I thought the story a bit raunchy and was taken aback by the amount of profanity. I have read her in the far past but didn't realize how she was trending in this direction.

After a nice lunch on a sidewalk café in California warmth and sunshine, we drove several miles out of the historic district to a used bookstore where everything was a dollar. A rather chaotic arrangement, but I found 7 decorating books to buy and cut apart for my folders. 

Last night I finished seaming up the knitted slippers I made while on vacation. I originally bought chunky yarn for a certain pattern. When I started knitting the pattern, I found it to be rather complex. I searched the internet for a different slipper pattern. I really like the one I found because it uses basic stitches. However, it used two strands of worsted yarn, and I wanted to use up this purple yarn. It took 3 gauge swatches to decide on a needle size. This pattern 

uses the garter stitch for the back half of the slipper, then switches to stockinette for the upper toe half. The instructions show a pom-pom. I haven't decided whether to add one. The pair of slippers my aunt made for me decades ago had a pom-pom but when washed the pom-poms never looked right after being laundered even though I air-dried the slippers. In the garter stitch rows, a purl stitch is thrown into the pattern two places which makes an indented row. This serves as a way to separate the sides of the slipper from the sole which helps it stand upright as well.

I better get to my household chores this rainy morning. I will finally get back to choir practice this afternoon after missing two Mondays on vacation and one being sick.