Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Je Suis Fini

Did you hear the shouting?  When I bound off  on Easy-Peasy Shawl a cheer went up that I know must have been heard in Chicago!  Longest running project in history!!  It is beautiful and perfect for both warm and cold weather, and I will use it a lot.  BUT I am SO glad it is finished!!  It is not as long as I wanted but I ran out of yarn so--it's finished.

I would announce that I have gone back to the last sleeve on lace edged cardigan but I would be fibbing.  I should get back to it straight away as the British say, but first I have to knit one of the Life Is Good shawls that KathyB has been tempting me with.
 
So there I was, pawing through the well arranged yarn cabinet and oddly unable to find anything.  I knew where everything was when it was all thrown into the cabinet.  I was looking for some yellow cashmere I have somewhere but instead found two skeins of a metallic gold yarn I acquired at least three years ago.  Now imagine--a small, sparkly, gold shawl with a pull-through button hole to toss around the neck with anything, at any time.  Imagine jeans.  Imagine lace.  The possibilities are endless. 
 
I am having a love affair with small, easy, quick projects and may be tied up with these for some time--right after I finish that dang lace cardi....

Max insisted that I show him relaxing with Easy-Peasy because he has not been seen in public since he got his hair cut.  He said, "You are allowed to gush over me!"
Life is good!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Paws Over The Nose

Some days I feel like curling up with my paws over my nose and sleeping.  I'm making a career out of Easy-Peasy Shawl and Lace Edged Cardigan.  Every time I think I only have to knit a few more inches of shawl length, I wrap it around me and say, "It should be longer."  I want to be able  to toss the end over my shoulder and be enveloped in pale turquoise yumminess .  Yep, has to be longer.  I think I will curl up with my paws over my nose.

I finished the first sleeve of the cardigan and cast on for the lace cuff of the second sleeve.  The lace section takes an unreasonable amount of time before the back and forth of the upper sleeve can be started.  One more!  I can get through one more, but first I need to take a nap with my paws over my nose!

Part of the problem is that I have not been myself this week.  ("Then, who are you?"  Mom used to ask).  I have a sore throat, sinus headache, a stiff neck, and have re-injured an old shoulder problem.  I'm a mess!!  I have kept going with all the things I usually do but I have to admit I've done them in a scaled down way.

In a few days I'll be back to chasing squirrels and barking at plastic bags blown against the fence--back to normal in other words.  I guess we all need some time off now and then, but I'll tell you this--if I ever get these two knitting projects finished it will be small, fast, easy projects for me in the foreseeable future.

Life is good, even with your paws over your nose!!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Playing In Dirt

Knitting is moving slowly because I have been playing in dirt.  The kids gave me a raised garden for Mother's Day and it will be put here:

I will be able to do most of the gardening from the storage shed patio, which solves one of my BIG gardening problems--I am a redhead (even though the hair is grey at this time) with fair skin and no tolerance to sunshine.  Another gift was two Amazon gift cards, and one was used this morning to order gardening gloves, long-handle tools and a pair of frog green garden galoshes.   
I also ordered a mini-mega seed bank from SeedsNow.com.   I've heard good things about this company and have sampled some of their veggies from DIL's garden. 
 
To my great sadness the bunny warrens have to be cleared away, so we are having that done today.  You can see the finished garden with the rabbit fencing around it, ready and waiting for the seedlings.  Look out garden, here I come!!
 
Anyway, playing in dirt doesn't leave much time for intense knitting which is what is needed at this stage of Easy-Peasy Shawl and Lace-edged Cardi.  Two inches to finish the first sleeve on the cardigan and one more foot of length on the shawl and I will cast on for a new project and stop pestering you all with inch by inch progress.  I guess I will get back to serious knitting when the novelty of gardening wears off and I've eaten my fill of veggies and just can't face another tomato. 

Life is good!