FIRST THE GOOD NEWS
...and that would be that Otis is still alive.
The bad news? As I gathered up cats last night (there are coyotes and other hungry beasties in our neck of the woods so everyone comes inside) Otis showed up...with tire treads down his body, a couple of gashes above and below his right eye, and a scuffed nose. (There are more injuries but this is what I first saw.) Seemed that he had tangled with a car. We live on acreage and our street doesn't have that many houses and is a dead end to boot. Go figure. Cars and cats don't mix.
I had a frantic look around for the last cat out, Ollie, who thankfully was unharmed. Then the hour drive to the emergency vets where Otis checked out as being One.Lucky.Cat. No major injuries or obvious internal tears. He's in pain but we have drugs for that. Right now he's in isolation and sleeping under a towel tent while healing as fast as he can.
In other exciting news hubby left me. He'll be back soon though. He's been having a wonderful time riding with friends in and around Yellowstone. It will be nice to have him home again. I am snuggle deprived despite Omar's many efforts. "Well licked" is not quite the same thing.
I finished the back of the Sharon vest and have cast on the front. Hopefully, it won't take me days to do the lace edging... Then again, counting to nine consistently is SO hard. Heck, since it was several days before I cast on the front I had trouble remembering which size needle I was using and how many stitches. I really must start keeping a journal. That or find better drugs.
I ran errands yesterday and found some good bargains at Meadow Farm at $5 a pop. Who could resist? Two RY Classic Cashcotton DK in a sky blue, two skeins of Rowan ribbon twist (one purple, one white), and a skein of Tessin/Muench in a tweedy yellow. The trouble with bargain bins is that you can almost never get enough of one thing to make something up but I'll find a use for them. I bought a few more seed packets too and some nice bottles. It's time to bottle plum wine. Ollie thinks the seeds are very interesting. Pickle making is going to be happening in a day or two. BusyBeeEarin.
EYE CANDY FRIDAY
Ollie is beating the heat.
Two gladiolas. The heat is taking its toll on the flowers.
BOUNTY
My
Black Water Abbey yarn (colorway: Seafoam) arrived today along with some very cool buttons. I plan to stretch my knitting skills and make the XO Cardigan from Folk Vests. First time: button band, collar, and more elaborate cable work. I.Am.Ready.
This is me being yanked back from the yarn. I have other projects that need to be finished up. Waaaaaa! That whined, I've finished the waist shaping on the back of the Sharon vest and am ready to start increasing.
The garden is starting to produce and my days of buying tomatoes from the market are over for the next few months. Oh yes.
EYE CANDY FRIDAY
The Fourth of July climbing rose is giving us a second round of blooms.
At long last my Aspera hydrangea has hit critical mass. It's called "Sargentiana" or "The Hydrangea from Mars". (Really.) Eventually it should reach 10 ft. Someday. It's very popular with the bees and the butterflies.
Petunias.
Daylilies.
Crocosmia. A different type from the larger orange.
THE AGONY AND THE LACE
I can't begin to tell you how much work went into doing that simple lace border seen above. I read blogs and people just knit this stuff up like they're sipping tea. I, apparently, have a great deal of trouble counting to nine. I've practiced A LOT and now think I have the sequence down. I'm making a without a real pattern vest for my friend Sharon's birthday. I thought a little lace edging would be girly and nice. I haven't figured out yet how to (or whether to) do a panel up the front and what the heck will happen with the neck and arm edges. Stay tuned. I'll think of something and hopefully it won't take me two afternoons to get it right.
RY Cashsoft DK using size 7's at 5 stitches an inch after blocking. (I have all those mitered squares to measure.)
Way Cool Book. WayCool.
As a break I took some scraps from recent clothes making and made myself something to corral my circular needles.
I recently had a birthday (Thank you Valerie!). Sharon gifted me with a Ravelry T-shirt which Ollie finds quite intriguing.
Summer is in full swing. We even had a lifting of the seemingly never ending blanket of smoke. Is there anything left in California to burn? I took these into knit night last night. I have LOTS more. I may have to rethink my decision not to make any more plum wine. There are just so many that even the birds are saying they're full. NOT!
VESTED INTEREST
I am very, very pleased with how the Boogie Vest from Knitty.com turned out. I'm especially pleased that I was able to change the neckline to something more to my taste and darn if it didn't work out with hardly any fussing at all. I am getting better at this knitting stuff!
Boogie Vest from Knitty.com
Size: Large - fits like a dream
Knit with: Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran SH 009 using 280 grams (almost three skeins/100g a skein) on size 8 needles. Ribbing along the neck and armholes done on size 7 needles.
Alterations: I changed the neckline to a scoop neck and added K1P2 ribbing to the armholes and K2P2 ribbing to the neckline.
Time it took to knit: Since I left for several days it wasn't a continuous knit. By the morning of the third day I had only the neckline to finish off with ribbing. Overall, less than three days knitting on and off throughout the days. A very fast and enjoyable knit. It will be worn a lot in the Fall and Winter.
THE SEW-IN
Held in Tempe, Arizona by the Phoenix sewing guild which is part of the American Sewing Guild. This was Year 16. Hard to really describe how much fun this was. Suffice to say it was FUN in so many ways my head and heart are still full. Since it was year 16 all the kinks had been worked out leaving nothing left to do but sew, eat, sew, eat, swim in the pool, sew, eat.
Some amount of sleeping.
A whole lot of sewing. A whole lot of eating. I'm still full. Desserts by the dozen. Tables full of fresh fruit, salads, a pasta bar cooked to order. Imagine a lot more and you're not even close. All good, all fattening, all fantastic. I have a lot of "undoing" to do diet-wise. There were 83 of us and I didn't meet up with anyone who wasn't friendly and charming. Dinner table had a different gift every night. There was even yoga for those interested AND I got to spend all my time across from or next to my dear friend, Suzy the Enabler. We even went fabric shopping the evening before it started. Then we ate several pounds of high grade sushi to keep up our strength. I had pineapple champagne from Maui for the very first time. Amazing. Yummy. Must.Have.More.Soon.
The guild takes over the ballroom at the Embassy Suites. I think most people are still outside eating.
Saying that we got silly, um, doesn't quite cover it. I was sad to leave and happy to come home to the hubby who was intensely glad to see me. Walking back to the car I looked in the window and there was Omar! Doggie love. Total devotion. See me smile. See me covered in dog hair. Life is back to normal.
Two gladiolas. The heat is taking its toll on the flowers.
