That having been said, no huge amounts of knitting were done in the past two days, so someone looking for a 100% fiber content should click on another link now...
But back to ants - lasius niger is the common garden ant, fyi - the one that will follow a sticky trail of sweetness right into your kitchen.......bringing along roughly fifty million of his best friends. While it certainly doesn't say so on the official calendar, Saturday - to me at least - seemed like the first day of fall. Now granted, it was at least 90 degrees outside that afternoon (32 degrees C for the two folks who I see are reading from Canada & the UK!) but STILL. I saw some falling leaves when we were walking over to the neighborhood park in the afternoon, and voila - that was it for me!
So I took out of the freezer several bags of white Concord grapes that R (R of the clapotis, that is) had just gifted me with this past weekend and I made jam.
So quite a productive Saturday - especially seeing as how the Munch and I were home alone - Peggers having driven up to Baltimore to attend a Counting Crows concert as an early birthday present from his parents. Making jam while keeping an eye on an active toddler is an..........interesting experience, let's just say. But the good news is that I have a quart (!) of jam for R (hey, the woman has 7 kids, she'll need a quart of jam to make all of those pb&j's!) a tiny little tasting jar of jam for my boss, and four jars for ourselves - probably one of which will be gifted to my dad & stepmother when they come to visit next weekend.
On the knitting front I worked more on J's sock. Now that I'm using a pattern that I like (hmmmmm.....no, that's not at all accurate - as I still very much like the Badcaul pattern - maybe I should instead say that I'm using a pattern I understand???) these puppies are simply sprouting off my needles. After roughly, what, four days of working on them (and 2 other projects at the same time) the first sock is 5 1/2 inches long. After, what, four weeks of working on the Badcaul socks they were about three inches long.....
I have switched from the larger needles to the smaller and now the socks are totally happy works in progress - using tiny soft yarn on tiny needles is a joy that only a true anal retentive can understand....but oh what a joy it is! At this rate I'm guessing that the heel flap will be knitted and turned before Friday and serious work on the foot will have begun by then. Yipee! Once this sock is finished I'll introduce you properly to its other two single buddies & will ask for guidance on which set to finish first. Currently I'm totally leaning towards J's socks, for reasons I'll explain later, but am not 100% committed to that yet.I started a totally new project yesterday (because of which the clapotis has been on hiatus this weekend - it resumes it's typical place in my lineup tomorrow) and am happy to say that I'm about 1/3 of the way finished already. Not too bad, especially considering that my attempts yesterday to start it included only casting on and knitting it for a few rounds before I realized that either my pattern or gauge (or both!) was off and so I ripped it about 4 times before I realized I was waaayyyy too tired to be knitting and so gave up and went to sleep. So in all honesty the real work was started this afternoon around 2:30 when the Munch went down for his nap.
During all of last week's meetings and conferences I ran into S again - a lovely new faculty member on campus - and got the shocking news that she is due September 14th, not sometime in October or November like I was thinking. (And having been in her shoes, I know that at this point in time that pregnant women are NEVER wrong about their expected due date!!!) So knitting books were rapidly consulted and my stash was tossed and I came up with a baby poncho from Sara Lucas & Allison Isaacs 'Holiday Knits' book. I'm using basic grey/cream Pattons wool - and will dip the bottom half/two thirds in some 'wine' Rit dye when I'm finished for contrast and excitement. It's pretty so far - despite not being very big as of yet.. I particularly like the 'Old Shale' pattern that they have you use around the neck - I like how it leans right then left then right again as it goes 'round and 'round the neckline.....
1 comment:
Here from Emily's blog and really really wanting that recipe! :)
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