new crochet skills

[SaxDragon]

I went to walmart to pick up one more skien of yarn (to make a white ruffly trim on an afghan), and wouldn't you know it, I end up locking myself out of the house and car when I got home. Yarn's still in the car. So is my purse and cell phone. Now, I could probably wait for my neighbors to get home - pop-a-lock is closed for the day (plus I spent my cash for that yarn), but I could use their phone to have the landlord let me into the house (where the unfinished afghan is waiting). It could be hours waiting, though ...

 

Being a crafty and resourcefull person, I browse through the junk pile at the abandoned house next door and find some wedge shaped pieces of wood and an old clothes hangers. With them, I manage to unlock my car :-)

 

So that is my new crochet skill - breaking into cars to get yarn LOL

[knitsandknots]

haha, now THAT's a girl bent on getting some rows done!

[Real Deal]

Strange isn't it. I watched the guy from AAA when my sister locked her keys in her truck. It wasn't far off from what you did. We could all be car thieves if we really wanted to. Of course, we'd have shredded fingernails and bruised hands and wouldn't be able to crochet, and we don't want that!

[Ladycrochat]

Hey....Desperate times call for desperete measures!!!!!! Thanks for the smile!

[honeebee]

the mother of invention ladies.

a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

did you find any other useful junk at the house?

[CLLinda]

:lol:lol At least you figured out a way to get to your crochet. I probably would have went to a neighbor's and waited, without crochet, for DH to come home.

 

I do have a key at the neighbor's house which comes in handy when my kids get home before me. And they have a key over here, which has helped them when they lock themselves out.

 

[Becky Morgan]

Yeah, but did the abandoned house have any hooks, needles or yarn?:hook

[purlwise]

LOL, good for you! I'd still be sitting there, rocking back and forth, mumbling something about crochet withdrawal!

[pianoducky]

That's awesome! I'm so glad you got back to the afghan in a relatively timely manner .

[SaxDragon]

No yarn or hooks at the abandoned house, although there used to be needles (syringes), empty superglue tubes and spray cans (for huffing). City made the owners drive 500 miles to clean it up a couple of years ago (after I called police on people sneaking into the house after dark - they were arrested with all their dope). While the house is currently locked up pretty good now, there must still be a way inside since I've spotted 'possums in there on a few occassions :-)

 

Someone lived there for a while after it was abandoned - they illegally hooked up the the utilities (which is how they were eventually caught). The wires still run to the house (but not connected), so every time we get a new meter reader, he checks it out :-) There's still some furinture, a weight bench, bronzed baby booties, and kid stickers in what must have been a child's bedroom, plus a support post for a satelite dish (probably also an illegal tap into a network). No sign of the dish (I suppose someone else eventually stole that LOL).

 

The junk pile outside has been there for many years, full of broken stuff including furniture and dishes. It looks a lot like whoever was illegally living there tried to do some cleaning and remodling at some point. It is probably the source of materials used by the homeless and druggies to break into the house (boards, pipes, etc). Any really good stuff has probably already walked off. There's an even bigger pile way out back with auto parts, a worthless boat, and a huge ship's anchor.

 

There are lots of abandoned property in this town, and even more places where people are renting that should be condemmed. We got a new crop of city council people ("northerners" LOL not born and raised here), and with the prospect of a bigger naval base and more businesses coming to the area, they are on a campaign to clean up the city. Homegrown residents gripe about it, especially when their backyards get on the list of places that have to be cleaned - some of them have been storing old furniture and cars for over 40 years. My landlord is storing broken kitchen appliances out back here - won't haul them off because there might be 'useable' parts (drives me nuts - how useable can they be after 10 years in the heat/cold/rain?).

 

And, I finshed the afghan :-)

[alibra]

Now that's a resourceful girl...long way to go to finish an afghan!!

[CrochetLiving]

Try to find out if back taxes are owed. Maybe you can get the house listed for sheriff's sale. Call city hall and the health department. Call the local tv stations and the newspapers. You have to turn up the heat to get things to change.

[yarn_monkey]

The best reason I've ever heard to break into a car!

[SaxDragon]

Owners keep up with the taxes, and now the cost of mowing it. Property's been in the family for generations, and they don't want to sell it. City mows it twice a year, and someday will have the big pile picked up (they keep saying that, yet they've never done it). The small junk pile will probably stay :-)

 

Landlord wants to buy the lot and fix up the house, so he checks the back taxes list often enough. City has used the back taxes thing to level several properties - places so bad even the homeless and druggies don't go in. They're supposed to start cleaning up the allies, but so far there's a lot of disagreement on who's paying for it (owners or city).