Where's the Ark?

It's raining and it's never going to stop. I am convinced. We went to the marina today near high tide to check on the boat.


See that sign that says slip holder parking? That's supposed to be a parking area, not part of the Chesapeake Bay. (Our boat is the 3rd one in, with the blue cover.)
Between those poles (pilings) there should be a dock. It's there somewhere because we saw people walking on it.

That guy in the red jacket is my DH walking on our dock, coming back from checking the lines of our boat. He's wearing hip boots. When I went out there to help him, I got wet to my mid thighs. I had no boots because we didn't plan on me getting out of the vehicle.

Many roads were closed due to flooding and the water was over the top of the creeks and rivers in the area, flooding the area around them.

We've had about 5 inches of rain so far and they expect us to get another 2-4 inches over night. Maybe we should sleep on the boat!

I worked from home today and I'm glad that I escaped the commute home. I do have to go in tomorrow, though, at least for a while. : ((

Knit nite at the LYS was cancelled tonight so I think I'll go spin for a while. My Mata Hari sock is growing in length, the Vampire Boyfriend sock is off to Molly for a test fit and the sweater
has a neck opening and the bind off for the sleeves is beginning. It looks like I'll have enough yarn this time .....

Progress on the fiber front

I have been spinning and knitting every day. I am very happy about that – I missed spinning. I have been doing spindle spinning because my back has been giving me problems since we hit a big wave while on vacation, and sitting at the wheel for any periods of time is not good. I’ve been working on the Wendsleydale and the silk, both fine singles but very different from each other, and enjoying them both. I can’t wait to start plying the Wensleydale plain with the Perfect Storm singles. I am anxious to see if my vision looks as good in real life as it does in my head. The silk is gorgeous and I have no idea what I will knit with it yet. I am enjoying the process of spinning it and that is enough for now.

The sweater that I ripped and had to re-knit is at the arms again. I was right – it was better to rip and re-knit. Since I am knitting both left and right sections at once, when I bind off at the top edge, I’ll have half the sweater completed. ; )) It makes great football watching knitting, BTW.

The trade socks – boyfriend vampire socks from Knitty.com – are going on their way today to Molly for a fitting session. The designer warns that the stitch pattern is not very stretchy and I want to be sure that they will fit over Molly’s heel before I complete the pair. I finished the heel turn and gusset last night and if they fit now, I should be good to go. If not, it’s not so much progress that I will hate myself for having to rip.

As a result of those being out of the knitting line up, I should be able to finish the Mata Hari socks soon. That sock is in the process of having the heel flap knitted, so there’s not much more than leg to go. This is the second sock, so I’ll have a pair done. I have one or tow (or possibly more) single socks in the bin that need completion, so I’ll do that next, I think.

I hope to get back to lace knitting soon. Before vacation and Mom’s surgery I had picked up a lace shawl to knit on for the first time in a few months. I’d like to get back to that soon, assuming that things go well with Mom. She is due to have another CT scan of her head this week and then gets a progress report later this week from the neurosurgeon.

I will be going away for 2 days in October for a spinning retreat. I think I will really enjoy the time away from everyone, though I will be in touch via cell phone. It’s a beautiful campus and an entire weekend dedicated to spinning sounds great. Of course, I can knit instead if I want, and I may need to do that part of the time since I am not in good conditioning for 2 solid days of spinning. I’ll bring my camera and spend some time wandering campus and taking pictures in addition to the fiber activities. Getting up and moving around helps to digest all of those goodies that we bring to munch on. It takes more vigorous activity to work off the calories, though.

I hope to get some pictures of my WIPs this weekend, and to post more of my photos from vacation (not that I took all that many this year, but it's my favorite place and I like to share).

Try not to get too wet if you live on the East coast - it's gonna be a heck of a rainstorm.

I need a drink ….

I am just back from vacation. In some ways I feel like it was a month long, and in others I feel like I need a vacation. Soon.

On July 4^th, my mother had a loss of consciousness and fell. She hit her head hard, was in the hospital for a few days and seemed to be getting better, but never did well. Then she started to have more problems with balance and memory. Long discussions with her about needing to see the doctor were unsuccessful, and after all, she is an adult. I couldn’t make her go. Suddenly she fell 3 times in one week and couldn’t finish a sentence without loosing her words.

A visit to the local ER (after much pleading with Mom on the phone about the need to be seen) lead to a transfer to another hospital, one that had a neurosurgeon available. On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, Mom had surgery to remove the blood in her skull and relieve the pressure on her brain that would have killed her in a matter of a couple of weeks. She was trying hard to stay “OK” until after we all had our vacations. We (her 4 children) were all supposed to be out in Montauk at approximately the same time, and she didn’t want to ruin our fun. Typical of Mom but very frustrating.

She had a lot of pressure in her skull that was putting a lot of pressure on the brain and pushing it into places that it didn’t belong, causing it to not work well. : (( A couple of holes in the skull later and some meds to decrease swelling fixed most of the critical problems. A week later she was out of the hospital and at home, though with supervision. Her balance was tenuous and her judgment lacked …. Something. She’s tired of being sick and tired of being limited but still needs to follow some restrictions for about another month or so. My brother (who lives with her) has stepped up to the plate and is taking care of her, but hasn’t worked out a way to get her to agree to things without making her feel bad. I’d bring her down here to stay with us for a couple of weeks but I know that she wants to be in her house, with her things. I just don’t know what to do.

Vacation itself (staying in the hotel on the water in Montauk) was good. The weather was reasonably good (a day or two were too windy for boating) and we caught fish, ate well, did our best to relax. My brother drove Mom out there one day (it’s about a 2 hour drive for them) and Bob and I spent the afternoon with Mom while he had a break. We were both disappointed to not catch a striped bass, but did bring home fish for future eating. (I love to eat bluefish, though many don’t care for it). I love spending time at the lighthouse.

Some days were dark and stormy off and on, but most of the time the sun was shining.

We stopped at Mom’s on the way home and spent another 2 days with her. Now we are home, I am back at work and wanting to be in NY with my mother. I wish I could telecommute.

ETA It's been a week now and things are better. MOm is till doing some things I wish she wouldn't do (against doctor's orders) but with only 2 weeks to go on the limitations, I am hoping she can stick with the program.

Knitting happened despite everything else. I have completed 3 pattern repeats on the Vampire Boyfriend socks that will be a trade for the DPNs. I am enjoying the pattern immensely. My sweater is almost halfway there. I have right and left fronts almost complete. The bad news is that I will have to try to get another skein of wool. I should have had a little extra and don’t know if I just knitted it a little longer than called for in each section or what, but I will be a bit short unless I can get more yarn. Hopefully Jimmy Beans will come through for me. I like the look of the sweater. It will be that cross between my beloved sweatshirts and dressing up a little nicer. I knitted a square on the afghan for eldest son but mostly knitted on the socks, the sweater and did lots of fishing and steering of the boat. We hung out near the lighthouse a few times, and I was able to get in some knitting at the end of the day, but it was chilly and I was tired, so I didn’t accomplish as much as I had hoped. Plus there was just a touch of distractedness due to stress …..

ETA I ripped the front pieces of the sweater and am re-knitting. I decided that was less stress than cutting and piecing things together and using another yarn for the bottom edge. I am at the arms already.

The other good things is that I am back to spinning. I wasn't feeling much like spinning when I got home, but we went boating yesterday and i grabbed my drop spindle. I really enjoyed spinning up more of the silk fiber and today did some spindle spinning of the black Wensleydale to be plied with the Perfect storm color way.

It’s fall for sure. I have pulled all of the annuals from the railing boxes and hanging baskets. They are finished for the season, and this is early for that. I am still picking a few tomatoes, but the rest of the garden is also done for the year. I hope next year’s garden is better. It was dark when I drove into work this morning at 6 AM and it will be dark again at 7 PM. Bummer. I am not quite ready for the nights to be so long already.

I hope to blog more regularly again now that summer has ended and things are(I hope) calming down n the family front. I will be posting more photos of Montauk and some photos of my WIPs to share.