Date Night and FO

Saturday DH and I decided to have a date night. Dinner and a movie or rather a movie then dinner, so we could go to an early and "cheaper" show and then dinner. Eight dollars per seat is not too cheap, but a little better than the normal price. We went to see Salt with Angelia Jolie as a CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy. She then goes on the run. It was a fun movie with lots of shooting, car crashes, jumping from high places and suspense. It was great to see a woman play the action hero role for a change. Only Angelina could pull that off. There were plot twists that I wasn't expecting and the action never stopped. Altogether a good choice.

Then dinner and we were home by 8:00, which was perfect since we had a doggie overnight guest and didn't want to leave the two dogs locked up for very long.

A rainy, overcast weekend allowed me to complete my other big summer project, the cotton diagonal afghan. This was Lion Brand Cotton Ease that I had purchased to make two great looking market bags until I realized I would never make market bags, too much work when I have so many cloth bags already that I use for that purpose. Decided that I could never have too many afghans, liked the way the colors looked together and liked the idea of a garter stitch project to offset the complex lace I was knitting. I divided the balls evenly (by weight) and used it all up. 1800 yards made a 49 inch x 49 inch afghan. I will use this pattern often, I'm sure, to use up leftover yarn.

It Sneaks Up On You, Doesn't It?

These really are the signs of a change of seasons:

This is what's left of a half bushel of tomatoes I picked from the garden this week. Some were eaten, a lot were given away. There's probably another half bushel ready to be picked. They will go in the freezer to be enjoyed all winter in soups and sauce. They are absolutely delicious due to the hot, beautiful summer we have had. Quite a bit different from the disaster of last year's tomatoes that developed a fungus and rotted because of the incredibly rainy summer.

The weather has turned a bit this week, so we have some cooler days, still in the high 70's, but there is definitely a feeling of fall in the air. The leaves are starting to collect in the pool, evenings are getting a little bit cooler and dark comes sooner and school starts in 2 weeks. I'm always surprized at how quickly summer comes to an end, but this year it really seemed to fly.

The Erie County Fair was this week, so we took two of the grandkids on Tuesday and went to see the animals. We also went on Thursday to enjoy as much of the fair food as we could hold. Granddaughter #4 was eager to see all the animals until we actually got close and she discovered they are big, noisy and a little scary.

She much preferred the life size plastic cow that could be "milked".

I've Created a Monster!

Granddaughter #2 loves bats. So for her birthday next week I made 3 really cute Mochimochi Land Boo the Bat's for her. They have been hanging around the house (ha, ha), sitting on the counter, and enjoying the patio until I got them wrapped and mailed off to the birthday girl. The three local grand kids have been over and totally loving these cute guys. Is it the wings that open and close with a small button, the fact that they hang upside down with their feet or their non-threatening fangs that make them irresistible? I'm not sure, but I have orders from all of them for more!

What a little Water Can Do

Knitting lace brings surprises every time.

You take this messy blob,

add some water in a Eucalan soak,


gently pat out excess

use these tools,

pin like crazy,

wait a few hours and look what you made!!!

The Diamond and Pearl shawl, a square shawl with one of the triangles missing, from the spring issue of Knitter's Magazine made withe Misti Alpaca Hand Paint yarn

Just complicated enough to keep my interest, no tearing of hair or tears. One of those knits that you pat and pet as you are making it and stop every few rows to admire how pretty it is!

Giambotta

Many years ago, an Italian lady in my MIL's neighborhood brought a big pot of vegetable stew over, and we enjoyed it tremendously. She called it giambott (or ciambott) and said it meant "everything" or "anything". Just throw into the pot any odds and ends of vegetables that are growing in the garden. I have made this every summer since and think fondly of Rose and thank her for the good eats. She used bacon for flavor and fat, but I make it a meatless meal by starting with olive oil, sauteing garlic and onions, add tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and green beans (depending on the amount of liquid in the veggies, I may add some water) cook it down for a bit, then add potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Top it with grated cheese and have a good crusty Italian bread to sop up the juice. Delish! This stew will always mean late summer to me. The bunnies ate all but one of my green bean plants and that one plant has been going all out to take the place of his brothers. I have actually frozen some beans and the bunch I put in the stew was from the pickings today.

And look at this!

An FO. Yeah! The peachy shawl is finished, just needs blocking and a better picture. Well written pattern ( just a minor error in Chart B) with a short row edging that really made a nice finished edge, even though it took quite a while to get through. I had to go into the second ball of yarn while finishing the edge, and boy am I glad I didn't need it in the body of the shawl. The color was much deeper and darker. It would have made a huge contrast! Same color and dye lot, just the nature of hand painted yarns. Diamonds & Pearls by Karen Joan Raz made with Misty Alpaca Hand Paint Lace . The colorway is #18 which is peaches and greys and green.

Almost Done

Hard as it has been, I have been sticking to my knitting resolution of 2010: work through existing yarn and projects; no new purchase of yarns until 10 items have been knit; have a clear plan, month by month of what I will be working on.

For August, I really only had finishing up the two large projects, my diamond and pearl shawl and the multi-hued diagonal blanket on my project list. I did not want to even start thinking of casting on for new projects for fear of jumping ahead and starting them.

Because of a lot of knitting time this weekend, (deep breath) I have 4 rows and the bindoff to finish on the shawl and two full balls ( 3 colors) on the diagonal blanket, which should go really fast. So the end is definitely in sight for both these projects. Whirling though my head are thoughts of what to start next.

These are the two projects soon to be FO's.

This month and next, I have two birthdays. So I will have to work in the Mochimochiland bats for Serena, August bday) and the Spidey afghan for LittleD (an early September bday). Hmmm. I guess I do have August knitting queued up.

We had a very nice 3 day visit with BIL and SIL this past week. My SIL wanted me to teach her to knit socks, and in the time we had I took her through magic loop knitting, all the parts of a top down sock, right down to the toe decreases and toe grafting. We made a very small worsted weight sampler for all the techniques and I started the regular sock for her through the cuff, and sent her home with an easy to follow (I hope) vanilla sock pattern and lots of cheat sheets of different techniques.

It was hot, hot, hot while they were here so there were breaks for swimming and lots of eating, also. The boys went golfing. Nathan was watching us knit and remarked "You really like having someone to knit with, don't you Nana?" Yes, I really do. Have to get involved in a knit night or afternoon this fall.

The weather finally broke and it was in the mid 70's which may be why a lot of knitting was done this weekend. And why there are thoughts of cables and hats and mittens floating through my head.

Clean Up

This was a vacation week for the kidos (they went camping at Watkins Glen), so we were almost kid free this week. Just one kid for a few hours on Wednesday. So we have been doing some cleanup around the house and garden, especially since the weather has been much more reasonable, mild days and almost cool nights.

Having overnight guests this coming week meant cleaning out the guest bedroom, which is usually used to house little kiddies. So all the bedding was washed and aired on the line, toys were put away and books were straightened.

The Buffalo Garden Walk was last weekend and we spent several hours touring the teeny gardens in the Cottage district, a couple of blocks that have adorable little houses dating from the 1850's. The way that the tiny space is used to create such high impact is always an inspiration, so I added some touches to my own garden.

I went to the garden center and found a sale table that had herbs and scented geraniums for half price, so I put together three aromatic pots for the patio,

took out this old lantern (circa 1914) that we found in the crawl space of an old house

and put succulents in these itsy pots. I have so many more ideas spinning round my head, it gets the creative juices stirring to see what others have done.

There was a trip to Seneca Lake for a family get together on Monday, which was lovely. The rest of the time we cleaned out gardens, weeding, dead heading. Today I think I will move a few plants that need more elbow room and some that have popped up in the wrong spaces. There has been much harvesting of cherry tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, eggplant and raspberries. I love it when the grandkids go looking for a handful of berries or tomatoes to pop in their mouths. It looks like the tomatoes are going to make it this year and we will have a bumper crop soon if all continues to go well.

Knitting? Ah yes, I continue to make progress on my diagonal afghan ( now on the decrease side) and Diamond and Purls Shawl (only 15 rows of the last repeat then the last chart of 6 rows and bindoff), but have conceeded these will continue into August. I can almost feel the call of fall knitting and the desire to start a cable sweater!!

My SIL wants me to teach her to make socks this week, so there will be a time out of regular knitting for some teaching moments.