Wow!!-Is that the sun I see?

The clouds have finally parted after 17 straight days of rain. It rained so much that we had flooding that caused roads to be closed down. In fact it took me an extra 1 1/2 hrs to get home Friday night as they detoured me thru the wild life refuge and then the only road back was slower than anything due to the increased traffic. Besides it is the road to all the casinos and nothing keeps folks from gambling on Friday night.

Remember last week when I listed what I wanted to get done this week. Well... drum roll please.....I got it all done and then some!! I finished my shawl on Saturday and blocked it that day and the next. I got to take it off the blocking board this morning and see how it really looks on me. But I had to wait for hubby to come home to get a pic of it on me. And for some reason he is not all that good with my camera and I am not pleased with the pictures. Maybe I should have someone else model it and I could take the pictures. So here are the final stats. I started it sometime in early May after buying the yarn on our trip to Paducah. It is Claudia's handpainted fingering weight in a colorway named "Hyacinth". It was purchased at Loops in Tulsa and the pattern is from "Victorian Lace Today". The main panel was knit on a size 6 Addi Turbo Circular and the border was done on size 7 DPN's. The only problems encountered was learning the hard way that you have to slip the 1st stitch on every row in the main panel. And then when knitting the border on thru these slipped stitches you must count very very accurately. I also had problems with my provisional cast-on. I should have used a very smooth yarn to allow for the stitches to pull out smoothly. And honestly I am not sure if the provisional yarn ever really pulled out since I took it out 1 stitch at a time. I used the crochet type of provisional cast on and next time I will try another method to see if I can find a better way. But I love my shawl and will be keeping it on my bedroom chair in my apartment in the city since that is where I sit and read/knit at night.

I also got my 2nd victorian lace sock on the needles. In fact I am almost down to the heel. I expected to get one front done on my baby sweater project and I got both fronts and a large part of the back. I finished my skirt and even got a few FS stars knocked out. I almost forgot I needed to put togeather a box for my Scrappy Ladies Progressive quilt project but I threw that togeather at the last minute too.

For next week I need to work diligently on the baby sweater project. I found out that I need a 2nd baby set by the end of the month and a 3rd by August. I am having trouble finding the yarn I want for the next 2 sets which will be for girls. I am enjoying the Colinette Jitterbug I bought for the boy set but can not find similar for girls. I am going to go try Carol's Knit Studio since I know they have a decent selection of Opal which has self striping and solids which are necessary for this project. I did not get any pics of the progress on the sweater as it has not been blocked and the peices are rolled up and not very attractive at the moment.

The garden is producing a little again. Actually the rome tomatos may come on strong this week as there are quite a few pinky ones now. The peppers are starting to bloom again and hopefully setting. We were finally able to mow and weed eat so the yard looks a little better although the grass is not as healthy as it should be after being under water for so long.

No reading this week as I am taking a break until Harry comes out in 3 weeks. I tried to pre-order today but am having trouble with Barnes & Noble.com. I think my email provider blocked their emails and now I am email hell!! Till next week then......

What A Suprise!!

Friday night I was in my apartment relaxing, having a glass of wine and reading my book. Pretty laid back for being on call. I was expecting a very boring night and weekend. Oh but then my cell phone rings. Unusual in itself but even more unusual when I hear DS's voice. He says "I've got bad news" "Guess where I am?" What is a person to think so I said-"In jail?" or "In the hospital?" Luckily my first instincts were not correct. I never could have guessed in a million years. He was in Dallas where he had flown to see an old girl friend. They had rekindled an on-line romance or so he thought. But when he got there it was not how it was at all and the whole thing didn't feel comfortable for either of them. So she asked him to go elsewhere and of course the only persons who could rescue him was us. So Dad went down and got him and brought him home. I got to come home Sunday night and have had today with him. Dad takes him back to the Dallas airport tomorrow after I leave for work. It was a short visit but ok when they were not arguing politics at the top of their lungs.

With all the other goings-on this weekend I did not get much crafting in. I did kind of work on Maddies birthday card and bought the elastic for Katie's PJ's. But that is all the little stuff I got done. On a more productive note, I finished the body of the shawl and started with the edging. It took a couple of tries to get the hang of knitting on the border but I think I have it now. I am actually doing it a little differently but it looks good so I am happy. They had you joining the border to the body on the purl side but I like doing it better on the knit side. My only concern is that I will not have enough yarn. I am so tempted to take out 4 repeats of the main pattern which will make it 1 border repeat shorter on each side. But how can I know for sure so I am going to trust my original calculations. I wouldn't be sweating so much but this yarn is completely not available anywhere anymore for any price. So if I get to the end and it is not enough I will have to take out considerable work in order to have enough yarn for the entire border. But oh well-I have taken out major amounts of work before so why not now??Only time will tell. I have the 2 biggest balls of yarn left to try and finish the border. Any one a betting person? Maybe we can start a pool?? So far the pattern has not been that hard although it required a trip to Michael's to buy a magnetic line minder and a stand to place the pattern on. Otherwise I went blind and crazy trying to not get lost. Now it is a breeze although never something I will be able to memorize. I did start toe up socks this week and although I loved the method I will probably rip them all the way out. The Louet's sock yarn is not very generous and will not make very long socks so I think I can use the yarn for a nice baby sweater set instead. But not to be without sock yarn as I bought a new skein of Opal at Carol's Knit Studio on Saturday. Plus there is a new new sock pattern ready to be posted on June 1 on the KAL. They are calling for a solid yarn and I have several options already purchased and I just have to wait and see the pattern to see how it speaks to me.

Other than that I did a bit of reading this week. I am about 2/3 of the way thru my current book "The Fiery Cross". Lately Jamie and Claire have been spared any bodily injury and instead Son in Law Roger has been getting pummelled. So far he has been hung and lived, and then almost burnt alive. Claire and Jamie have just survived being struck by lightening and all Brie has had to do was keep the home fires burning!! Till next week then......

New Projects

It has been a boring busy week for me. It was the first week back at work after my great trip to Paducah and there were lots of changes that happened while I was gone. Lots of politics and other things that just get in the way of good patient care but we have to deal with nontheless.

It was cloudy and threatened rain all week. The sun finally came out on Sunday night for a little while before it rained all night. My garden is looking good but my yard sucks!! I finally got weed and feed down today. I am afraid it will not work and the weeds will just finish off the burmuda-or it will work and all the weeds will die and leave the sparse burmuda looking sick and lonely!! I did get a few pics made of my first perennial blooms of the year but the lighting was not the best since the clouds came right back after a short stint of sun this morning. The veggies and herbs are doing great and we are looking forward to our first harvests in about a month.

I have 2 projects in the works. I made one sock while in Paducah with Opal yarn. Just a simple Knit5, Purl 1 leg and upper foot. I am past the heel on the second sock now and should be able to finish this week. I probably won't get to wear them again until winter as these are good heavy socks but I can go in the closet from time to time and admire my work until fall!!

My 2nd project is the shawl made from my Tulsa Loops yarn. This is Claudia Handpaint fingering weight yarn in the Hyacinth color way. The pattern is from Victorian Lace Today. It is a rectangular shawl with knitted on borders. All this is new for me but so far so good. The body of the shawl is a simple 8 row, 6 stitch repeat from a chart. I have had to frog from time to time as sometimes my yo's don't behave but nothing to bad. Now the border chart looks ominous along with the fact that you join the border as you go to the body of the shawl. We will see but I am sure I will make it work somehow.

Other than that I have been busy trying to get things ready for the kids birthdays. Brooke is taken care of as far as buying her gift. I did not get her card made so I will be late sending it out. I got Dans card ready with a check and it will also be slightly late getting to him. He called the other night but Ken was on the phone so all we got was a message. He promised to call back tonight but no cookie for us!! I am still not great at card making but I am getting better. It doesn't cost more than $10.00 now to put out a card!!

I am almost done with Drums of Autumn. Brianna, Claire & Jamie's daughter, jumped thru the stones and arrived in Scotland. She found her way to the ancestral home and found her parents were in America so she travelled there. Then the love of her life followed and Roger has had as many adventures as the Frasers. I have bought the last book and will probably get to start it this week. Unfortunately I found several other books I need to buy as soon as I am done with this series. I keep wanting to run out of books so I can get more knitting time in. I guess challenging my mind in several modalities will keep me from developing Alzheimers any sooner!! Till next week....