Last of the Summer Sun

We're expecting rain this weekend. The cool mornings have been quickly eclipsed by scorching afternoons and sultry evenings. The lack of rain is starting to get eerie. I live in a temperate rainforest, and I'm gradually replanting with more drought-tolerant plants. A bit step away from my indigenous border.
I'm relieved that I can maybe wear some of my knits. I have a reason to finish that same pair of first toe-up socks. I turned the last heel the other night and I'm redoing the top of the first in a 3 and 1 rib. I knit them too densely. Not a tragedy. I have some more yummy yarn to make another pair. I really like this Socks that Rock. I know, the last on the planet.

That's a typical thing for me in knitting. Oh look! I just discovered short rows. Oh look. Everyone is already designing with them and way ahead. At least the knitting community is nurturing and not judgemental. Except for that one young nurse I worked with. But she would never show us her work. My friend Annie says the small mistakes are like Japanese pottery that separate the handmade from the factory.

I tried my hand at the Fetching and loved how the cashmerino felt. I bought two skeins but truly only needed one. What to do with the other skein? I'm going to try and find more to make Karen's Sugar-Free Diabetes Walk Socks (www.GardinerYarnWorks.com). This is a great pattern for a great cause.

To have time to make a post is a blessing. I won't read my favourite blogs until this evening, though, because my daughter is home with a cold (missing activity day) and my husband is still healing from the back surgery. He's up and about and is going to drive to the office today. But no cows. The good news is we can only pop into the three parties we're going to this weekend. We need to cuddle at home.

Red Thread

The thread of thoughts. The thread that holds lovers together. The red thread that Ariadne summoned to save Theseus and lead him out of the Labyrinth.

This Pandora yarn was a delightful gift from my outrageous flute teacher. What a lovely surprise. She thought of me while shopping at Hilltop in Seattle.

This crazy yarn changes itself as you knit. Like my thoughts that need to be wrangled in to get on with the activities of daily living while our lives are topsy turvy. Post-op D. is doing well. Tomorrow we go to the surgeon's office for an update. I miss two important meetings for which I will have to solely gather the missed information and then head to meet the teacher night at the middle school. I'm still tired from last week and I'm getting tired in anticipation.

Still, I can walk the dog in the warm summer-like sunshine. I can study my interesting papers for this (poorly executed) library course and I can study with red wine and good chocolate. Nothing like my pauper Nursing school days.

Dashed by the Dashboard

My post didn't take. They decided to overhaul as I pressed Post. They? They who are better at computers than I. They who may soon see my blog switched to another channel.

For those of you who missed it, I very cleverly showed you a Mason-Dixon log cabin baby blanket which I am knitting in the wedding colours of the mom-to-be. I remember her exclaiming how much she loved the green of the bridesmaids' dresses, the ribbons, invitations, all of that. It was very cute. They have been happily married for two years now and we are excited to have another baby in the family.
But these parents-to-be are very cool. Always were. I had to stretch to find something that was hip enough for them, so I decided it was hip to be square. (They would not recognize the reference to the wonderful Huey Lewis).

My husband knit a blanket for the dad-to-be (his cousin) when that young man was born. D. was about 12, I think. It was the favourite item. They had threatened to make a suit of it for his wedding. His mom did bring it out at the wedding, too. So I thought it suitable to make a baby blanket to match said wedding.


Hope this post finds its way to the right ether path in the net.

Bobbing in the Autumn Swell

I'm still here. But I am more tentative, more rushed and under more stress.
When we got back from our trip, I had only two weeks of freedom before beginning another library course.
I had wanted to walk and take pictures and maybe take the kids to the lake.
Instead I got a dreadful respiratory infection that left me asleep on the deck with a full pot of tea going cold. So pathetic.
I did read Joyce's Ulysses. I had only intended to start A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man. But one thing led to another, and in a fever crazed marathon, I read them both in a week.
I get what he meant about excess.
Some of the parts were the best I ever read. A lot of it was lists and repetition to underline the mood, setting, event. Some of it was still gobbledygook to me. But if you just relax your mind, you can absorb most of it.
Now I am free to read my book club choice, the lyrical "Suite Francaise" and any mystery I wish. Last year I finished reading all of Dickens. Next will be my lovely collection of Proust.
So I got the kids back to school, D. back from highland games, skating club started, Sunday School begun. It has been heavy. With very light knitting.
The hats are on schedule. A scarf with the amazing Pandora yarn that my flute teacher bought me. A gift of fibre!!!
I started a log cabin blanket for a special cousin having a first child. I started a shawl of mohair and glitz. I started the Fetching fingerless gloves from the summer knitty. I 'll finish tonight so I can wear them at the FREEZING rink while I knit.
Our zamboni driver wants me to knit him something, so I thought the cool illusion scarf from MagKnits in our club colours.
The big thing right now is D. is going for back surgery tomorrow. Side-swiped by a cow in May. It has been a challenge.
The procedure is minimally invasive. The results are to be quick and complete. He's actually walking out of the clinic the next day. But I have nursed many a back patient in my day and they are difficult. I hurt. I want to move. You're a mean nurse. Why yes I am. Get back to bed. Or get back to walking. We'll see.
For tomorrow, it will be total disruption. We are blessed with support. Though both sets of grandparents are uncharacteristically away, the kids will be with their favourite cousins and I can knit and listen to knitting podcasts while I pretend to not be concerned.