The Black Hole

Having the kids in school, I thought I would have oodles of time to blog. The days, however, get filled up with all kinds of other things and just zip by.

I have been knitting things that also have seemed to be never-ending projects that I feel like I have been looking at forever. One of the problems is that I have at least 5 project on needles, so that slows up the finishing, of course. This is the reason I really like to have only two projects going at any one time, a sock and another item. I am forcing myself to finish each project, one at a time.

I got the black silk shawl finished last night. I will wash and block that today. Nathan's socks are at the foot of the second sock, so I will try to power through that today.


Then I will tackle the February Lady Pullover. I have the top of the back, sleeves and finishing to do on that. Maybe after the weekend that will be done.

It doesn't help that all these projects are dark (blacks, browns and a hodgepodge of dark colors). I feel like I'm struggling to see, especially when it is dark and gloomy and rainy as it is today. Time for some bright, light colors; next projects, Jordyn's Purple Elephant Vest and the pink socks of a different stripe.

I ooopsed at JoAnn's the other day when they had Paton's Kroy Sock yarn on sale. A pair of socks for $9.00? How can you go wrong. I love this stuff and I love the socks it makes. Slightly thicker and warmer than other sock yarn. Perfect for our weather!

Summer's End

Can't believe I haven't blogged since the first of August. We have been very busy the past month, but now the summer is winding down and school starts on Tuesday. (Picture me doing a Happy Dance.)

Some of the things we did this past month besides swimming (which we did almost every day, one of the best swimming summers ever!!!):

Went to the Erie County Fair and ate like crazy;

Hiked a nature trail;

Planted a fairy garden;

Did a lot of crafty things;Put together lots of puzzles;Painted little bird houses;Made a beer can robot;Made and flew airplanes;Now I get to pick up the messes and get out my knitting.

Back From Mini-Vacation

We got back from Wine Country early Friday afternoon so hubby could golf. It was a short but very relaxing trip.

There was lots of water and boats and swimmers and beautiful scenery,grapevines in every corner,lots of old, well-kept Victorians with lovely gardens

and a Bluegrass concert in the gazebo of the town park to cap it all off.

Oh yes, lots of wine tasting with chocolate, too!

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!

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.

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!

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!