Sweater Progress

I've made some real progress. Yesterday I was able to finish the front of the sweater--Hooray! It was a challenge. Immediately upon finishing the front panel I cast on for the first sleeve. So far I'm very pleased with the way it is going. After all the color changes for the vertical stripe on the front panel, making the cuff as a horizontal stripe was easy. I'm pleased with the cuffs. I cast on with the gray alpaca blend then changed to red wool for the first row of knitting. I did not want the wool on the very edge because of all the abuse sleeves can take with going into and out of coats and having moisture from melted snow, etc. I was afraid it would begin to matt or felt. The sleeves are not giving me any problems. The next challenge I anticipate is the neck/collar. The directions say to knit the collar flat. I might do that, but I'd prefer to do it in the round to avoid a side seam. The collar consists of four inches of ribbing. I'm afraid a seam in ribbing would be quite lumpy. I suppose yet another swatch is coming my way.

Mother, Child and Womb

Alternative phrasing for the Trinity in the "experimental liturgies" of the Persbyterian church:

Mother, Child and Womb
King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love
Rock, Redeemer, Friend
Lover, Beloved, Love
Creator, Savior, Sanctifier

The conservatives at the Presbyterian convention refer to the way God is referred to in the Bible and Christ's instruction on how to pray in giving the Lord's Prayer.

"This does not alter the church's theological position," claimed some Presbyterian babe. (Sorry, I could not find her name and I missed it when it was refrenced on the air.)

I Scoff, to cover the profound sadness.

Father's Day Cookout

My son decorates a bag to hold a gift. Interesting, he drew a frown face first! As always, there is a green square on the page. This time it is on the bottom right corner of his page.

My dad, brother, mother-in-law, and kids enjoy a game of croquet.


The Quipper is a grill master too. My father-in-law and I enjoy watching the others.

A Little Discipline

This sweater is testing me. I am so eager to get on with it, but it needs to take its time. This is more complex than things I have knitted before and I need to learn (the hard way!) to pay better attention to what I am doing.I am more thankful than ever now, that I took the time to write out row-by-row directions for the front panel. My frustration would be intolerable if I did not have the steps written out so I can check them off when done, erase the check marks when I need to rip back, and re-check the rows when I finally complete them the right way.

I have made it just a about half way through the shoulder decreases. When I'm concentrating on the decreases I forget to work the cable. (rip, rip) When I remember to work the cable, I forget to wrap the gray yarn, but I don't discover it until I'm ready to work the red stripe again (rip, rip).

Well, now the knitting is correct and neat. I'll reset yesterday's goal and work tonight to get to the point of binding off the stitches at the neckline. I'm looking forward to casting on for the sleeves.

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day.
The kids got to spend a lot of time outside.
I got some needed house cleaning done.
The gardens got some attention.
The Quipper is feeling healthier and looking forward to his band playing out tonight.
I discovered my Moody Blues "best of" cassette was warped beyond all hope of enjoyment ever again and I found the same CD on Ebay for less than I could get it in a store including shipping.

My daughter got to enjoy having this butterfly alight on her arm. After several tries I finally got a photo with the wings opened at least half way! In the evening I got a lot of knitting time. The sweater front has progressed to the point of binding off for the inset sleeves. I'm very pleased with the experiment of adding some short rows to shape the front for an even hem line. Hopefully I'll get to the point tonight where I'm dividing for the shoulders and binding off at the neck. I have decided I will definitely do the collar and the cuffs in the red.

Talk Radio Takes a Break

The radio doesn't play much music I enjoy any more, since the classic pops station had gone away. The 1940's are really gone, aren't they. I suppose I'll never get the green velvet hat and suit trimmed with white fox that goes so nicely with the music of the day.

Inspired by Favorite Apron's new music find, I turned my radio off and dug out the Quipper's old Electric Light Orchestra album (1977) to keep my house cleaning (who am I kidding?) well, at least my vacuuming, sheet changing, de-cluttering, and kitchen cleaning moving along. Next on the list, if I can keep cleaning that long, Moody Blues (late 1960's through the 80's) or Journey (1980's) and the Kinks (1970's - 80's).

Perhaps I'm living a bit in the past? Well, I'm enjoying the music of the past much better than today's anyway.

Knitting Catch-Up

I've worked late into the night the last two nights to get back to the point where I had to rip back. Now I'm finally beyond that point, at least by a row or two. As DH is only feeling slightly better he was able to catch a photo of me knitting.
Thanks to Favorite Apron (June 9), I have discovered a way to manage the curls I've been blow drying out of my hair for the last 25 years. You can see them here too.








Finally my son is enthusiastic about one of his chores -- sock folding. He begins by making a long line of all the socks from the week's laundry. Here is stretches from through the den, down the hall and past the bathroom. He will methodically make his way through the row matching and folding each pair. He does a nicer job at this chore than his sister nearly 5 years his senior.