Finished socks and Mom's BD gift

Signs of Fall - Montauk Daisies blooming in our back yard.

I finished knitting Mom's BD present before her birthday, but it wasn't blocked and I couldn't spend the time or energy doing that so she didn't get it. Not that she had any energy - mental or physical - for worrying about a birthday present .... I finally got around to blocking yesterday.
It is the Falling Leaves pattern from Lavish Lace by Carol Rasmussen Noble and Cheryl Potter. The yarn is something I picked up at MD Sheep and Wool. I can't wear the orange myself but Mom can, and with the little bit of sparkle in it (not sure if you can see it in these photos, but it's there) , I thought it would be a warm, comfy but jazzed up neck warmer for her.

It is 51 inches across the long edge and 21 inches from the point up to the top edge. She'll have several different options for wearing it. I hope she likes it as much as I do. (BTW, that leave posed itself there. I just couldn't resist capturing it)

Another FO is my Mata Hari socks made with Tofutsies yarn in teal. I finished the knitting two days ago and wove in the ends (then proceeded to wear them) yesterday. It's hard to see but I made a picot edge on the top. Maybe once they are washed that will be more visible.

I've had a change of plans regarding my Wensleydale fiber that I've been spindle spinning. I plied the semi solid (special order from Spunky Eclectic) that I had spun to date last weekend with the main colorway. I am less than pleased. It looks too barber pole-ish.













I sampled plying the colorway with itself last night and like it much better. I am going to try to un-ply last weekends efforts and ply same with same. I might even be able to use the semi solid as an edging for a pattern made with the colorway. I have 8 oz of the main colorway and 4 oz of the semi solid dark color. We'll see how the un-plying goes. I will have to enlist help for sure.

Mom is doing better, BTW. Her appointment with the neurosurgeon was Friday and he says that the head CT scan shows the fluid collection in her head getting smaller. She goes back in two weeks for another. She can now gently wash her hair (since the staples have been removed) and she's allowed to climb stairs. No driving, though. Yippee! Progress at last in a truly important and actually life altering area.

Other signs of fall:

I have a well rounded fiber life again. : ))

Lace is back in my life.

I am spinning, knitting lace, spindle spinning and finishing up projects on the needles. I finished the knitting of the V neck cardigan and it is blocking as I write this post. I can see myself in Montauk, going for a walk in the evening, pulling that sweater on to ward off the chill. (I hope it’s just a chill – we seem to be having signs of fall arriving and it’s only mid-August! I hope I won’t be wearing my winter coat)

The next thing to push to finish will be the Slinky Ribs sweater. So far one sleeve is elbow length and the other has about 2 inches knitted.

My lace knitting has not taken over my life but has a part in most days. I try to knit 4 rows each day and I am working on the shawl from Victorian Lace Today. It’s amazing how paying attention to my knitting avoids mistakes or lets me catch them right away. Giggle. I have to turn off my audio book when I knit on that shawl, but it’s worth it. I feel good that I am back to knitting lace again. I also picked up the falling leaves scarf I was knitting for Mom in the fall colors yarn with the silver thread.

Vacation is just a couple of weeks away. With Bob not working outside the home, he’ll be stuck with most of the prep work, but I have my share to work on. I haven’t settled on vacation knitting yet. I’ll be thinking about that over the next week or so.

One of my likely vacation projects will be a pair of socks for a trade. Molly at Celtic Swans doesn’t knit socks but likes to wear them. She makes beautiful knitting needles out of bronze (or silver) that I would live to have. I noticed a post on Knitters Review about the trade and apparently she has posted it on Ravelry, also. I have decided to take her up on it. She has chosen the Vampire Boyfriend socks from Knitty.com and Cascade heritage sock yarn in a kelly green color. I’ll probably work on those while on vacation. Cable sock knitting and vacation – I think that’s a great combination. ; )

I’ll have a shawl along. I don’t know if I will bring the one I am working on now or resurrect Laminaria and try to fix my mistakes on that one.

One requirement for vacation knitting (which is automatically also boat knitting) is a project that uses worsted weight yarn and has a fairly simple pattern. That may require that I start a new project. I have some yarn and ideas …. I did just order some yarn and found a pattern in a book I borrowed from the library that looks pretty simple to knit, though, so that might be the thing to bring along. Have to swatch before departure, though. If I don’t feel up to all of that, I can always bring along the afghan for eldest son.

Migraine prevention has been a goal of mine recently. I had so many migraines for a while that I used up my “allowance” of Imitrex. I tried Topamax but had some bad side effects and the doctor had me stop. I am now on verapamil and I have no side effects but I’ve had 2 migraines. The next question now is new medicine or up the dose? I’ll be putting in a call to the doctor.

My younger son has my camera right now, so there are no photos. Hopefully next week I can get someone to take a few photos of me in my new sweater in addition to getting some photos of my spinning projects and other things.

There has been no boating over the last two weeks. We had discovered a gas leak and Bob just finished putting the last seal in place yesterday over the gas tank. We may get in a couple more trips before vacation. I hope. : )