No Mo SloMo

I could tell you what happened to me in July if only I knew what it was. Not doldrums, not lack of inspiration, nothing bad or sad or nasty. I apparently went into slo-mo. I have unfinished blog entries that document the condition, but I'll spare you.

Instead I'll show this baby hat and booties.

Pattern for the hat is from AlterKnits, the booties are a basic Lion Brand pattern and in real life are the same size as each other, I am a bad stuffer. I'd choose a more refined pattern for the next pair. An aside: do not do a search online looking for "booty". Trust me. I love this yarn. The colors are wonderful, the feel is soft & spongey, all this from one skein with a bit left over, and the hat reminds me very much of the tie-dyed new mama its going to.

The house refilled with guys, the camping son returned with a gimp addiction "Mom, its just like you with the knitting. I can't stop when I'm sitting around"


I managed to turn out one squoosh hat. Its KnitPicks Shine again. Love the stuff. I could be their poster child knitter. This specific hat didn't expand enough for the big headed friend it was supposed to cap, it was snapped up by another guy , so my squoosh backlog remains static. NO complaints, I like making these from time to time. Its nice to be appreciated by the sweaty teen boy herds. History of the squoosh hat here , toward the bottom of the post.

So if its productivity you're looking for, try the farmer's market.
Or my maybe next blog entry, I feel like the lethargy is lifted. Or maybe its the deadlines I have this week.........

I might be mitering

Many thanks for the dog sympathy, he's in decent shape, considering.

The incident, summed up in a letter from one son to his brother at camp:
"Gordo was attacked while I walked him. Pit bulls. He has his ass-meat sewn back on."
Would Hemingway be proud?

Lets move from ass-meat to yarnly pursuits, shall we?

More miters. Notice how few stick to the two color scheme. My un-Hemingway-esque tendencies to add more color and detail, revealed.

You'd think I'd have dozens additional, this week both my sons are gone. Its dashed my illusion that if only the guys weren't around all the time, I could catch up on work , the house'd be clean and stay that way, I'd reorganize my office, really get a ton of knitting done, go through the old clothes, finish that backyard landscaping project, make stuff (any stuff! lots o'stuff!), organize.

Not so much. I've been socializing, moving slowly, leaving dirty dishes in the sink (do not tell them! I am the dirty-dish police!) , we've been hanging out at the beach at dusk with wine...oh yeah, I remember, what we used to do 15 years ago before we were parents, what made me think we'd changed or grown? I'd like to tell you I'm off to do some of the productive things I just listed . Instead I set up some double parking out front, I persuaded a friend to come over and go for a paddle and swim.

(later ) Look what she brought me, you know what we'll be doing at night for the rest of this week. At least I knit while I watch, except the killing parts where I need to cover my eyes . Bada BING!

what you don't want to hear on the eve of a holiday weekend

(phone rings, its my older son who's taken the dog for a short hike with friends)
Mom! Quick! Bring the car down to the start of the trolley trail. Some dogs attacked Gordo and he's bleeding. We have to get him to the animal hospital. One was a pit bull....


I'll skip the nasty details, the closeup shots of the ooozing stitched up wounds with drains when we picked him up at the emergency hospital the next morning, the profanities spouted and the horrifying total of the vet bill. He's going to be OK but is looking pretty sad, and doped up.

The trip back to the beach in Delaware was cancelled but it s a beautiful weekend here, not such a bad Plan B. Friends made us a birthday dinner complete with sparklers and ice cream. Although considering that the dog leaves smeary stains from his wounds, I probably shouldn't have rented the steam carpet cleaner until after this is all healed.

Sock! The magic loop is the way to go for me. I just love this one. I couldn't have planned it but look how the yarn placed the heel colors and toe striping. I decided to try a three needle bind-off on the toe instead of grafting with kitchener. Worked for me. Thinking it might be a weaker ending, I reinforced it by sewing in the yarn ends. Its less fiddly and quicker, which is what I want when the knitting is over.

And my mom's sock adventure? She finished it, calling twice to make sure she interpreted the 4 needle pattern I'd given her onto the circ correctly, kvetching just a little that she really wasn't sure this was her kind of thing. Yesterday she called to say its done, its kind of cute but the sportweght sock yarn isn't as nice looking as that fingering weight I'd had, and she knew her lys was having a sale this weekend...... I believe she's hooked.

Have happy 4th to those in the US. Next post, the expanded miter square collection.

A bit of sky this week by the Old State House in Hartford CT.