Blog Vacation

It appears that my blog has been on vacation. I can’t really say that life has gotten in the way, just that it doesn’t allow time lately for photo taking and blogging. Regular blogging will probably resume once the weather gets colder, vacation is over or some other thing happens that gives me time that I am willing to spend in front of the computer.

Meanwhile, there will be an occasional catch up post, like this one. ; ))

I won a ribbon for each of my entries into the county fair! I really was not expecting to do that well. I won a first prize ribbon for the Estonian lace scarf. That’s the one I thought I would do well with. Unfortunately, the person judging thought that I had left my ends too long and that kept me from winning champion or reserve champion, but that’s life. I won a first place ribbon for the Mondo Cable Pulli knitted in Angels Kiss yarn. I also won a first place ribbon for my vest. Bob’s cotton sweater took second. The funny thing is, one of the people viewing the entries (not an official) insisted that I must have machine knitted it because the stitches were so even, there was no way that I could have knitted it by hand! LOL. I don’t even own a knitting machine. Anyway, I also entered Purple sunshine socks, the heavy cabled socks that I knitted for bed socks and the basket weave mobius - they all won second place ribbons. I am very pleased. I’ll be sure to trim all of my ends down close before the state fair, though.

Mom is doing better. She has started walking every day and has fewer dizzy spells per week. She’s going tomorrow for a tilt table test to try to help diagnose whether her problem is with heart rate or blood pressure. I hope they get an answer.

The garden is producing but not doing well. I am not sure if it’s the soil preparation, too much water, too much heat or just my brown thumb. Usually my brown thumb only affects indoor plants and I do well with outdoor things, but if you look at that garden, you will doubt that. We are eating corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers and some green beans, but not in the quantities I expected and the size of the tomatoes has me puzzled about what I did wrong. I think we’ll send off soil samples for analysis – maybe we are missing some important mineral or have a very off balance pH.

“The boys” – my sons – are doing OK. Rob fell last week and hurt his arm – probably over-extended the elbow, maybe even dislocated it and it popped back in place right away. He had a lot of swelling and discomfort for over a week. That’s getting better now, there was some bruising noticed and we are hoping that there’s not too much permanent damage done. Health and job initiatives aside, my son still does not have a job or health care benefits and he has been trying.

The V neck cardigan progress has gained momentum. One sleeve is within a couple of inches of being done. Slinky Ribs has one sleeve at the length that I think I want and I need to pick up the stitches for the other sleeve. I will knit them both to the same length, try it on and decide whether I want longer sleeves or not. The Spiral square stole is stalled. It is lace and I haven’t been able to work on lace. Maybe soon, though …. I feel the need for some open work. The Mata Hari socks are moving along after my latest frogging episode. I just could not get the fit right on these for some reason. They are staying on the circular needles so that I can try them on at will.

I am thinking that after these two sweaters are completed that I might work on lace and socks for a while. I’d like to finish up some of the things on the needles, and, as I said, I am starting to feel the lace love again. On the other hand, there’s a KAL at my LYS that I’d like to do ….. Probably I’ll just work on what I have, but I’d like to knit that cabled cardigan …..