Saturday, July 30, 2011

Pinkie

This is a new to my garden frilly pink zinnia. It struck me how similar in color this is to the swallowtail shawl I just finished.
Both brighten up the day and make me smile!



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A Few Days Off




We are heading out to the Finger Lakes today for a couple of days of relaxing and wine tasting on Keuka and Seneca Lakes. We stay in Hammondsport and the plan is to pick up some wine at Ravines, Renaisance and then travel to Seneca Shores and Billsboro wineries. I'd like to go to Watkins Glen but we'll see how ambitious we feel.
We're only going to be gone for three days and I packed three knitting projects to take along. Over packing!
Just finished the book "Before I Go To Sleep" and I highly recommend it. It was a "can't put down until I'm through" type of book. If you liked "Memento" and "50 First Dates" I think you'll like this book.
I'm now listening to the audio version of "The Help". I resisted this one, just didn't know how the subject matter would be treated, but so far (half-way through) I'm loving it.
Started a Springtime Bandit Shawl in Lilac MadelineTosh at my LYS knit group last Saturday which is going for the car ride today. I have about 8 rows left on my pink Swallowtail which is also traveling, along with the pair of vanilla socks that are begging to be finished. We'll see how much knitting gets done.
When we get back it's time for the Garden Walk Buffalo which is one of the largest garden walks in the country. It is always a lovely learning experience.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Summer Flowers



These are a few of my lilies that are blooming in the garden right now. I'm planning on reworking this particular plot by removing the hostas and making room for more lilies.

We have a week off from kid watching. We do have grand-dog while her family is off camping. The plan for the week? Not doing much of anything. Vacation Time!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Fourth!

With a quiet few minutes, I'll try to update the blog this morning. My non-knitting time to ease the pain I was having in my shoulder, neck and wrist lasted for about a week and a half. I was very grumpy! I did manage to wind some yarn, untangle a few skeins , do the finishing on two sweaters, ripped back the Calsada and the Pacific wraps and get them ready for a reknit.



I started back into knitting with the Calsada which I ripped back to the edging and re-knit it on a size 5 needle. I also finagled extra rows so I was left with very little yarn and a shawlette rather than the ruffle it had been. After blocking, I am quite pleased with the result. Also , this was easy on my hands and neck. I stopped often for stretching breaks.




I can't figure out if the skein of yarn (Madelinetosh Ms. Taylor) is cursed or I am just under a knitting curse. I tried using this for the Elektra shawl and realized I wouldn't have enough yarn to make it as big as I wanted it, so ripped it out and started the Pacific shawl. This is not a difficult pattern. It is well written. I have ripped it back four times!! The first was when I discovered I had dropped four stitches in various places and wasn't going to fudge all those mistakes. The second, third and fourth times I was making ridiculous mistakes with the pattern, so rip, rip, rip ,rip. I have finally gotten through the first full repeat of the wave pattern and I am about to take a closer look to see if it looks okay. (Had to sleep on it and take a clear-eyed look in the morning.) Fortunately the yarn has held up well to all the knitting and ripping.


I started the Ruched Tee with my knitting group and discovered the yarn I chose, while a lovely color and perfect for the project, is one of those cottons that really hurts my hands to work with. No give to it and it is knit in the round so there are a large number of stitches to push around. This is going to be a slow project because I will only work a couple of rows a day to save my hands.


We are settling into the out of school routine. Having the kids here every day takes some time to get used to. We'll keep them busy, though.




Right now I am listening to a happy cardinal singing with all his might and watching the blue jays and woodpeckers and gold finches getting their breakfast.




Happy Birthday, USA!