Remember shopping?

Still adjusting to the new normal.  I went to the post office on my day off and ventured into the mall for some non-essential shopping at the chemist. Obviously I wasn't the only one totally baffled by all the traffic lanes marked in yellow tape on the mall floor because they have now taped (quite roughly) lots of big red directional arrows on top of the yellow tape and stationed two 'traffic wardens' at the confusing intersection who were telling off shoppers trying to cut across lanes. And yesterday we took stuff to the charity shop for the first time in months and then DH stunned me by suggesting we go to Matalan so he could get some shorts.  He's even contemplating going to the barbers. So it's starting to feel sort of like getting back to normal apart from trying to avoid other shoppers and maintain social distance.  Next week face coverings become mandatory in shops so we practiced in Matalan.  I've discovered my pink close-fitting mask makes me feel a bit panicky at times, totally irrational but my brain starts telling me I am over-heating and/or suffocating.  I may have to switch to a less-adequate rectangle mask to get more air to my brain.

The weather has been very changeable, feeling like spring/summer/autumn all in one day.  Yesterday morning it was a bit autumnal so we went out and dug up the elderly leggy lavender border and planted out replacements, purchased again from Aldi.  July is not an obvious month to be planting things out but hopefully with all the frequent rain showers and sunny spells they will establish themselves okay.  Oh, and after I had dug up the old plants, cleared away all the weeds and added some soil improver, I turned my back for a few seconds to go and fetch the new plants. I turned back around to find my cat using the newly-cleared bed as a toilet. Despite there being an entire garden around her and a litter box inside.  Stupid cat who thinks she's the boss of us.

My new 4.5mm metal tips have turned up and I'm knitting a short-sleeve top with a cable yoke using Jeanie' which is a cotton/acrylic blend, in a dark denim blue colour.  It seems to be knitting up fine although a mild tendency to split stitches from time to time.  The pattern wants you to knit front and back in pieces but I'm knitting it in the round to avoid the 'rowing' effect I get on purl rows.  I've added two false side seams using a purl stitch a la Elizabeth Zimmerman.

I seem to be on a dress-sewing kick, and have spent a fair bit of time this week working on another sun dress using this floral fabric from Rose & Hubble which I found on sale. It's a bit whimsical as it is not sunny outside and I have to stay out of the sun due to skin cancer issues yet I am enjoying making a sun dress nonetheless.  I've seen a few threads online about the things we are finding ourselves compelled to do during lockdown, which are helping us cope even though we don't entirely understand the compulsion. Apparently a lot of people are compulsively shopping which may explain why I keep buying dress fabric...

Other than that, time has been spent on the cross-stitched houses project, trying a new bit of needle-tatting (still can't count), and working some more length on my Bucks Point edging.  I've also discovered a new vlogger Tokini Andy teaching Japanese based on the Genki books so I've been catching up on his videos. The university where I was taking Japanese evening classes hasn't announced whether the October course will go ahead or whether it will perhaps only offered online, but I am trying to keep up my studies on my own. With my memory it often feels like "one new fact in, two old facts exit the building" but as DH points out when I'm getting depressed about that, I still know a lot more Japanese now than I did two years ago. Who knows when I will ever get back to Japan to use it. Are you booking any holidays this year?