Sick Day

It started with a 3:10 a.m. phone call. A computer from the airline called to tell us dh's flight would be delayed. But not delayed enough that he could sleep in a little. He still had to be up at 4:30. Before he could catch that last hour or so of sleep he had to call the company's travel agent to see what contingencies were available for his connecting flight.

Once awoken I realized ds was not breathing normally. When I checked he was not asleep at all but suffering with congestion and fever. So that means no more sleep for mom and time to recline on the couch holding my little one with his head elevated a bit.

Later dd awoke to tell me she had caught a cold overnight. My own throat is scratchy and school is mostly canceled for the day.

Dh's delayed flight finally took off and after a day in Alabama we hope to see him again before midnight tonight.

Yesterday these daffodills were so pretty. I hope last night's snow did not take all their cheeriness away.

Completed Sweater

Ta Da! My first attempt at a sweater. I'm so glad I did this as I learned several things. The most important thing is the correct way to pick up stitches. Second, I enjoyed using the mattress stitch for the seams and I'm so pleased with how neatly the seams formed with that stitch. I could have been more careful with my alignment, but the errors are no bigger that those I usually make with a sewing machine. I will be able to wear this sweater. It has some bulk to it, but the weave is open as you can see from the pink hanger peeking through the fabric. I'm happy I went with a longer length.
I don't want to be caught without a project going, so I started a pair of socks on Sunday afternoon. Here I only have about 1/2 inch of the first cuff done so there is not much to see. Next to me, dd is knitting a hammock for one of her dolls. (In fact, the doll given to her by my friend who has created a most interesting knitting blog). I just noticed I'm wearing one of the other pairs of socks I' knitted in this photo. So comfortable and warm for one whose feet are always cold.

Here is the cuff and about 1 1/4 inches of the leg of the next sock. The ribbing from the cuff is carried through the body but a purl stitch was added so the k3, p3 pattern is thrown into a spiral. The pattern I'm following is for a tube sock. Since I prefer fitted socks I'll hunt around for a heel to make when I get to that point. I'm not sure how the spirals will feel under foot anyway.

It Could Have Been Better

Did I wear the wrong hat this evening? For old times' sake I'm wearing my 1980's style 'C' Cleveland Indian's hat. The game started well until our ace pulled an abdominal muscle and will likely head for the Disabled List. Then after 31/2 innings the sky opened and began pouring a storm over Chicago. There is a rain delay that will likely not end before my bedtime. The game is not official and it is tied at 3. I'm glad we have gret pitchers in the minor leagues! What will happen next?

Silver Medal Day

Yesterday was the big day -- Dd's first Tae Kwon Do tournament. She told me she woke up before 6:00 a.m. and got dressed. You think she was excited?

Dh and I went to the tournament with her. She arrived early with lots of time to dress, warm up and practice. She competed only in forms this time. Maybe next time I'll be ready to let her at it with the sparring too.

Here she is practicing.






And then it is time to go to the staging area. She was the second person to compete in the age 9-11, intermediate belt category.











She faces the head judge, and two other judges watch her every move from the corners of the mat at the left and right. When she is done the three judges' scores are added together to give her total score.









Here she is in between her friend from the school and said friend's little brother. Her friend won the gold medal in the event where my daughter took silver. Little brother won a gold in his division also.
When her competition was done Dh and I thought it would be a great idea to stay around and watch some sparring matches. Dd was not too interested and I was paying a sitter at home so we did not stay too long. We had to stop at a shop on the way home. Dd came inside with me and stood by a low counter and proudly placed her medal on the countertop for all to see.

The knitting is coming along-- the sweater just needs to have some more seams sewn (or mattressed) up and the ends woven in. I've begun a new pair of socks. They will be ribbed in a spiral the whole length of the leg. The pattern is for tube socks, but I think I may make a heel in them. This is my first try with using sock yarn.

Serendipity

Quite unexpectedly I benefited from the generosity of a fellow knitter. Yesterday at the German cultural center a new friend noticed that I like to knit with green. She gave me this yarn that she had been given by someone else.


















It will become a pair of socks. Probably the first socks that I'll be able to wear with shoes as both my previous pairs were worsted weight wool. This is a fingerweight yarn, 70% wool and blended with 23% polyamide (I'll need to look that up) 7% polyester. I can see how these colors do not fit my friend's style. But they are the perfect spring colors for me. They remind me of the bright parsley peeking through the dirt and leaves in my herb garden. With taupe and silvery leaves, brown earth and dark brown coffee grounds not yet turned under the soil.




Or maybe the clump of chives reaching for the sun.

But these socks need to get in line. My sweater is not done yet. I have the first successful sleeve done and the second one needs another 12 rows before I complete it. Then the assembly gets started so the neckline stitches can be knitted up. Maybe this weekend I'll finish?


Today Ohio had a beautiful sunny day with nice moderate temperatures. We took a long lunch and walked to the neighborhood playground. Ds enjoyed the swinging bridge and the slides. Dd liked bike riding and the swings.

First of Three Sleeves

There's a first time for everything. Today I made my first sleeve. I had my daughter do a bit more work on her own than she has done in the past. My ulterior motive was to get to my knitting. I was almost done with the shoulders of the front panel and anxious to begin the sleeves!

But there were lots of conversations dh and I have had together about how to conduct school when I have a kindergartener and a fourth grader vying for my time. The elder would need to become a little more independent in her work while the younger needs more work-with-me time and attention to get the hang of things like how to hold a pencil and how to draw alphabet letters next to each other rather than jumbled up atop each other.

So the younger was busy with "coloring time." The elder was noting the procedure and conclusion from a science experiment. And I began my first sleeve. It started okay. Not the greatest cast on, but acceptable. I kept going. I did decide to make the sleeves about 1½ inches shorter than my pattern indicates, so I knitted on to see how that would go. A little more than half way through the sleeve, the nice stockinette is marred by a where I had to remove half a row. After an interruption I picked up the needles and began to knit a purl row. Drat! I went along and finished so I could see how long my sleeve would be. But now there were two mistakes. I could have lived with either one, but not two, so this sleeve is doomed. When I complete the second sleeve I'll unravel this one and begin it again.

I did learn the long, slender, super flexible plastic needles I have for the ribbing are very nice to work with but are not suited for casting on. At least not for me. So I'll cast on to a sturdier needle and that problem will be solved. Now I'm hoping I will only need to make three sleeves for this sweater! I can be certain I will only need to complete three. With some luck I'll only have to begin two more times. And I'm hoping for smoother increases, decreases and no more unraveling half rows.

Here I have my mistake-riddled model sleeve and the ribbing of the sleeve I plan to attach to the sweater. I tried to hold the yarn in my fingers rather than my fist this morning. So I was going along quite slowly and only achieved this poor little inch of ribbing while my dd was in Latin class. When I pinned the sleeve for its photo I noticed more practice with the tension is needed. Occasionally one stitch is looser than its neighbors. Also the scar where I ripped out 2/3 of the row glares at me. I see I'll also need to change my decrease methods at the right side of the sleeve cap. This will probably be hidden in the seam, but I still know it is there. The new cast on is much more uniform in tension as I used the straight metal needle.

New Habits, Old Habits

New habits...While researching how to do a new stitch on line I discovered there were a few diffferent knitting methods, English, Continental, and maybe some others. I also learned at this time that I don't fit into any method as I have been using my right hand to hold the yarn in a rather unconventional way. I have been letting the yarn slip under the palm on my hand while I use my thumb and index finger to wrap the stitches. My pinkey and ring finger curl around the strand and control the tension. This worked beautifully. I was pleased with the fabric created and with the compliments the grandmothers at the German cultural center would give about my 'nice even stitches' that they 'look like machine knitting'. Is that addage about pride coming to mind? ;-)
This unusual method caused my pinkey fingernail to dig into the palm of my hand relentlessly. When I wake up in the morning I can see the mark left from knitting the previous evening. I've filed my nail as much as I can and no more can be done. I still needed to take a break and rest my sore palm every half hour. Since the whole idea of knitting after dinner is to avoid eating after dinner, each rest was a nasty temptation to visit the kitchen! The pain to change has become less than the pain to stay the same. Yesterday I slowed my knitting pace to experiment with new ways to hold the yarn in my right hand. I think I've found a way. But I need to make it a habit. The relief on the palm of my hand was noticable.

My new method is quite natural and comfortable in the knit stitch but still a bit awkward in the purl stitch. Especially with keeping good tension in the purl stitch. Those are the only stitches I'm using on this project. The sacrifice of some speed now will benefit me if I can keep knitting longer, and hopefully, teach dd the proper method. And, thank you, dd, for being my photographer today.

Old habits...Just a few more days--on Sunday evening my beloved Tribe opens their season at Comiskey against the Chi Sox. I don't remember the last time we had a season opener at home. We don't subscribe to cable so I'll be tuned in to the Indians Radio Network. All the wonderful summer memories of dad listening to the games on our screened porch, the special timber only AM radio has, our world class announcers, the delightful sound of a ball field in use, and the hope for an exciting October will be reborn. I can almost smell a freshly cut lawn.