Independence Day

Happy 4th to all of you!

It's hot here--really hot. Yesterday, the thermometer in the back yard read 100 degrees. This morning when I finally dragged myself out of bed, it was 82 degrees already. No bike ride today. It's too hot already and since I've caught a cold from a camper, I decided I didn't need that too.

Yesterday was B's and my 14th wedding anniversary. M and L were impressed, as they haven't been alive nearly that long. We didn't do much (too tired from camp last week) but had a nice evening at home (well, if you include coughing on the couch). We grilled steaks, had salads, and ice cream (no celebration is complete without ice cream), let the boys watch a movie upstairs, and B and I watched Le Tour de France.

Oh, we lead such exciting lives.

The other things that have happened around here is that I ripped the toe and cuff of M's smaller sock and reknit it. See?
I just couldn't leave them different sizes. It made my head hurt.

The wrap that I'm knitting is now 22 inches long. It's really boring to knit, but it looks nice, anyway. I've ripped out the intarsia part of the baby blanket and I'm just going to make it striped. I'm also going to rip out the sweater I'm making for B and using a different pattern. The stitch is a pain and boring, but really all of the increases are done on the wrong side, so making the increases fit into the pattern involved a lot of ripping and so on. I found another pattern which will be better.

And the biggest news: The new church building will be completed on Friday, July 7. We will have our dedication service on July 16. Finally.

Home again!

We've all survived camp!

Some of us had more rest than others.

All of us hiked, some of us swam, and some of us played 4-square obsessively. We even made hats! I can't share too many pictures, as I don't have permission from a lot of the people/parents in the photos, but here are a couple of photos to share.

It was a good week, and I'd like to do it again next year. But for now, I'm tired so maybe I'll write about more later.

Posting on the fly

This afternoon I'm leaving for camp next week. B and the boys are coming too, so it should be a great week.

Before I go, here's has happened this week.

I finished M's socks, which will forever be known as the broken wrist socks. They are different sizes, but if he wears them on the correct feet, they fit fine. Apparently his feet are different sizes too.
This is the teeny tiny plant that my secret pal sent me. Isn't it cute?

I also knit a lace facecloth, but I didn't take any pictures of it as it's a gift for someone. I knit it from leftovers of my T-twist tee so it will be a very soft face cloth. Of course, it's lace, so how useful is it? It is very pretty, so who cares?

I haven't gotten to ride my bicycle as much as I wanted as I spent the last two weeks (mostly) as a single parent. I managed to ride 33 miles the first week (not bad) and then this week I rode down to the river and back for 28.6 miles. I am at least getting some reasonable amounts of exercise.

Well, I'll be gone for a week, so don't expect any new posts until after July 1.

See you then.

It's Monday, Really?

Look what my secret pal sent me:
A postcard from Holland (and the box said Netherlands!) with sheep on the front and a nice note on the back.

Handmade stitch markers (much fancier than what I usually use)

A couple of swatches of fabric--which I love the color. I wonder what they could be for?





Lovely Lana Grossa sock yarn in a cotton/wool blend. Perfect for summer socks, and great colors. M wanted this yarn, but I'm keeping it for me!

She also sent me a really nifty plant that lives in a teeny tiny clear box. I watered it and it's sitting on the windowsill of the kitchen window. I tried to get pictures of it, but they didn't quite come out. I'll try again later. It's neat to have a plant that I can take any place I go. All my other ones are a bit large for that.




Earlier, I took pictures of all of these things outside in the actual sunshine. Somehow, all of them were erased, so I had to re-take them inside as we are now having thunderstorms rolling through periodically. While I was taking the pictures, I found this four leaf clover.

Maybe I'll have some good luck for awhile!





Just in case you didn't know how much M loves the color green, here's some proof:


Yes, the cast is that bright green. He loves the color. It probably won't stay that color for long!

I'd better go and put together tomorrow's final exam. I'm almost finished with class.

What I'm knitting

Since cycling has been pretty sparse for the last week and won't be better for at least two more weeks, I have been knitting a lot more.

I have three projects that are currently active projects. (There are two others, but one is a worsted weight wool sweater that it's just too darn hot to knit, and the other is an intarsia baby blanket, that I absolutely hate knitting. )

On Wednesday, I wanted to start an easy, no thinking but not too boring project, so I grabbed the yarn for M's socks and started making plain old stockinette socks. Because it is self-striping yarn, it's not boring, because you can easily see progress. It's good I started these socks when I did, as both of the boys have decided that any medical issue means a new pair of socks. I guess I have good timing!



I have made some progress on the kilt hose. Not a lot, as they do require some thinking (which is a bit beyond me at the moment) but some. I'm still waiting on a few measurements, but they look like pretty nice socks to me. They do look a bit weird right now because the cuff is knitted, then the sock is turned inside out and the leg is knitted in the other direction.



Finally, the third project is a shawl that I made up the pattern. It's diagonal lace rib on huge size 15 needles. It's a gift for someone else. I have no idea if she reads this blog or not, but since I said she, that doesn't really narrow this down at all, does it? None of these projects is really hard, exactly, but there is some thinking involved.


Tomorrow afternoon M goes to the orthopedist and will have his cast put on his wrist. I hope that he will have a choice of colors that he likes.

Wish us luck.