Anticipation

I'm sitting here watching the Olympics after a nice day hanging out with my girls. It was a pretty lazy Sunday, and Joe was off golfing for much of the day, so the three of us just hung out, ate blueberry pancakes (again! I'm loving the blueberries!) and eventually made a trip down to our neighborhood park on this hot, sunny afternoon.

I'm enjoying these waning days of true summer, but I also feel the beginning of the holding pattern before the shift into fall. The State Fair starts on Thursday, and I can't stop anticipating all the things that wait there - my entries that I dropped off last week of course - I love walking through the Creative Activities building and searching out my things while admiring all the works of others. I think my in-laws are going to go with the girls and I on Thursday morning, and I will probably only get a chance for a quick sweep through then, but I also think I've got plans to go with my knitting-neighbor some evening when we can take our time and really look at all the things there.

But it's not just about the knitting - not by a long shot. It's about the food. Oh, the glory of the corn dogs, the fried green tomatoes, the roasted ears of corn, the fresh lemonade and maybe a few other crazy fried things on sticks and of course a sno cone to savor on the way out. It's about watching the girls enjoy their day - taking them on the carousel, letting them get their faces painted, visiting the petting zoo and the butterfly house, and sitting down to watch the parade in the afternoon. It's about the crowds and the (hopefully) sunshine.

And, um, yeah, I am excited to visit my knitting at the Fair. It is hard dropping my things off, saying goodbye to them while they take a little vacation to the knitted-artifacts-convention. (And I'm imagining them sitting there saying something like "Hey, buddy - nice seams. Were you knit on circulars or straights? Is that a little mohair I see in your blend?") I'm trying very hard not to think about the ribbons. I don't want to jinx anything, and honestly I've been surprised more than once in the past by winning a blue for something I thought humble and a lesser or no ribbon at all for something for which I'd carried high hopes. It really does have to be about the learning experience, the joy of seeing my things on display with all the others going in, and anything else will be icing on the cake. Right? Right.

Ahem.

But back to the anticipation. We have only a few more weeks till we say goodbye to the pre-school where Julie has spent so many happy mornings this summer, and till we head back to our community pre-school that my girls are already so familiar with. Part of me is really looking forward to these next steps in my girls' stories. Sophie will be going to drop-off pre-school for the first time this year - just one morning a week, but still. This will be Julie's last year of pre-school.

Just as much, I am trying to really hold on to how well this summer has turned out. This spring, I was, to be honest, overwhelmed with worry over how we would get through all the long, unscheduled days. But we added in some structure with planned ahead activities and we kept it laid back and fluid on many of the free days. It worked out. I relaxed, and the girls did too. We mostly enjoyed each other, and our neighbors and friends. Yay, us!

Okay, and on to the fiber goodness. I finished up spinning the bag of Louet Northern Lights roving last week. I made a three-ply out of it - sort of a light worsted weight, but honestly I can't remember if I counted the yardage yet or not. I suppose I should check the rpi as well and record this stuff, but I was too busy thinking about the next knitting project already.



The important part is that this yarn is super-soft. It is smooth and kind of shiny, and even though my singles were not totally smooth and uniform, it averaged out to pretty straight with the three plies twisted together.



I don't have any plans for this lovely stuff yet - it'll speak to me eventually, though.

Oh! and I didn't load up a photo, but I want to give a shout-out to Lindsey who commented that my Mountain Colors stuff needed more spin in the plying. You were so right! I ran it back through the wheel and gave it another wash. It looked so much better. And then I managed to convince a good friend that she should take it and knit something with it. Hopefully a follow-up on that later.

I've decided to put a little motivation on the diamond sweater. I want to be able to anticipate eventually finishing this sucker, and as I proved to myself with the blankie, if you just keep plugging slowly away at a thing eventually it might get done. So - two rows per night minimum. That's not so much, really. But if I force myself to pick it up and knit a minimum of two rows per night, at least I will be working on it. If I'm in the mood, I can keep working. If I'm not, I can move on to the spinning or something else.

I'm totally loving my new knitting spot on my new couch. This couch is so much more comfy than our old furniture. I've got my Ott light right behind me, tons of room to spread out, and the TV straight in front of me. Sweet.



I spent the other night weaving in ends and got to trim off a whole pile of mess.



Here's what the back looked like at it's cleanest. Not too intimidating when it's on good behavior.



And here's the front. The sleeves are just past my elbows at this point - maybe five or six more inches to go before I can join the underarms to the body of the sweater.



I think I can, I think I can....

Alright, and as a final anticipatory treat, I let myself do a little swatch in the sky-blue merino. The pictures are a little sideways. I used a lace pattern from a Japanese stitch dictionary that I bought at the Yarnery a couple weeks ago. They just got in a nice selection of Japanese knit and crochet books, and I couldn't help myself.





I'm thinking of a cardigan something like the February Lady sweater, only with this lace substituted and slightly more fitted full-length sleeves.

And that's it for tonight.