Monday, Monday

I woke up this morning to look in the mirror and see a broken capillary in my right eye. It's not painful, but nasty to look at. I have a weak blood vessel or vessels in that eye and about every 6 months, it pops. It takes about a week to resolve, and makes me really self-conscious.

Today would have been the 36th anniversary of my marriage, if I still had one any more. All those hopes and dreams.

I'm a believer is choosing your attitude, so right now I am choosing to enjoy the day as best I can. Sort of Pollyanna-ish, I know, but it works for me. On the drive to work, I saw a beautiful Great Blue Heron make a graceful landing in the local, urban "Duck Pond". Those tremendous strong wings, trailing legs and the long neck were lovely. That's a moment to remember.

In knitting news, the sleeves for the Marco Polo T are done. Next is seaming it and then knitting the neck band. I like to do finishing work in the mornings when the light is good and I'm fresh. Maybe I'll take Wednesday off, the carpet cleaners are coming first thing anyway, and I don't have any appointments scheduled. The dog could use a bath, so we could make a trip to the local dogwash. And maybe I'll drive to Catawba Island for fresh Red Haven peaches. Well, we'll see.

Sleeve Island Ahoy!

I'm spending the weekend on Sleeve Island. Now that the front and back of the Marco PoloT are complete, I'm ready for sleeve knittin'. It should be a short sojourn since they are short sleeves. And they are simple stockinette stitch, so bring on the Margaritas. But with my luck, the cabana boy will be balding and have a beer belly. I once signed up for a private, all afternoon skiing lesson in Aspen, while the ex and a friend were being macho on the black diamonds. I'm a pretty good skier, but not particularly daring. I showed up at the Ski School after lunch expecting one of those gorgeous, young, blond, Scandanavian types who make their living teaching skiing at places like Aspen. And there were indeed many just like that there. But the one I drew? Forty if a day, graying hair. But very nice and I did have a good time that afternoon. I'm just saying.

Going home

After two and a half weeks at my parents house, I'm going back home today. The weather is still very hot in the daytime, but the last few nights have been cooler. As long as I can sleep at night, the daytime heat is tolerable. I will also be back to cooking for myself and will have to fix my own diet meals. I've decided on no wine in the evenings. After I have one glass, I want another, and I'm too relaxed to bother about cooking and end up eating peanut butter sandwiches, ice cream and the like. So I'll save the wine for when there is company.

The Broadripple socks are finished, but no photo. They are still soaking wet, on the sock blockers. And, I have left my cameral at Mom and Dad's house. It must be my aging brain, I thought about that camera when packing the car this morning, and what did I do but leave in on a chair beside the front door. I'm up to the armhole decreases on the front of the Marco Polo sweater. I've been trying to decide what is the next project. A denim jumper for Katy from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Little Cherubs? A summer T for myself from Rowan Summer Tweed in sort of a raspberry shade? A fair isle vest for Jack? Or perhaps mittens? Elizabeth Zimmerman's A Knitter's Almanac has mittens for the August project. I love knitting the grandchildren mittens. But I knit them each two pair last winter, and I need to check with my daughter to see if they still fit or not. Finally, I have yarn and patterns for 4 pairs of socks from the Opal Sock of the Month Club still waiting their turn on the needles. As for the unfinished project basket, let's not go there.

Good news from son Stephen in Bethesda, Maryland. He's a new graduate of Catholic University Law School and just finished the Maryland Bar Exam. He called Saturday to say he had a job offer from a law firm in Virginia. He's going to take the offer. It does mean that he'll move from Maryland into Virginia, and he will have to take Virginia Bar Exam in February, but he seemed ok with that.

I saw War of the Worlds at the movies last night. I thought it was good, although not Tom Cruise's best performance. I knew that it was based on H.G. Well's work that caused a panic when it aired on radio, but I didn't know the plot. Some people had told me they thought it was too long and that you kept sitting there wishing it were done. I didn't feel that way, maybe because I didn't know how it would end, so it kept my attention. Anyway, I liked it and thought it was worth seeing.

Well, bye for now.

Marco Polo

The Marco Polo yarn finally arrived from Patternworks last week. I've made good progress, and have finished the back of the Raglan T-Shirt Sweater I'm knitting for Mom.
This yarn is very different. I realized I didn't include a close up shot, which isn't very helpful. It is a cotton yarn, with a gold thread plied around it, and the whole thing encased in a fine nylon tube, like pantyhose! It is very smooth makes a nice defined stitch. It feels pleasant to knit with. It is not a hard wearing yarn, I can already tell. It snags on anything the least bit rough. Liberal use of hand cream and the emery board is essential. I have had to tie off every end, or it unravels in a long,long,long nylon thread. You know how annoying it is to be knitting along and encounter a knot in the yarn? This yarn hasn't had any knots, but it does have damaged areas were the nylon is torn, and there is nothing to do but stop and cut out the damaged section and rejoin the yarn. Much worse than knots. I think I'll to caution Mom not to wear and jewelry with prongs and such that would snag the yarn when she wear the finished sweater.

This is Chelsea, my parents dog, posing with the Marco Polo yarn. My own dog, Missy, is very camera shy and refused to pose. Chelsea is quite the prima donna and allowed me to place the yarn on her chair and photograph her.











And here is the first of the Cascade Fixation socks completed and blocking. I have a good start on the second sock as well, thanks to having to wait one hour and fifteeen minutes in line to get my driver's license renewed. I don't know how non-knitters stand it. There is no way I could have stayed in that line without my knitting to pass the time. This is the Broadripple sock pattern from Knitty.

One final note: South Beach diet is working, I'm down 8 pounds. Guess I had better stick with it.