Like lightning I am

Not.

The progress is modest these days. I finally started my gardening today though it has felt like summer for a couple of weeks now. I've plunked some double impatiens in the planters on the driveway and a geranium in the small barrel beside the deck. And not only that but I gave the rhododendron some new dirt and mixed some of that acidy powdery stuff in it. I'm sure they'll be offering me my own gardening show based on these accomplishments.

I quit when I arrived at the rock garden though. The lawn has so thoroughly integrated itself into the sedum that I'm going to have to call in reinforcements to help extricate it. It will probably take a team of surgeons and/or lumberjacks.

And I am finally laundering and picking dog hair out of my charity donations. I will be dropping them off on Sunday.

Oh! Speaking of knitting. 'Tis now three days past the birthday, and here is the progress on the socks.



If he were a unidexter I'd be half-done by now, wouldn't I?

I did two rows on the Flowing River shawl yesterday. Not only is the colourway in mortal combat with the stitch pattern, but now the yarn is starting to fuzz up a little, especially in the spots that have been ripped and reknit 543 times. This was so not the appropriate yarn for this project. But I continue to enjoy it enough to soldier on. I'll probably have enough yarn left over to make another shawl and this next one will be plain. Very, very plain.

uh-oh

How fast can I knit a pair of men's socks? The DH has decided, quite inconveniently, to have a birthday on Monday. For heaven's sake, I just got the yarn this week! Could he not accommodate me and postpone the birthday for a month or so? I'm not really the world's fastest knitter.

It's his own fault, really, for not being a wool person. If he were willing to wear wool I could have used stash yarn and started ages ago. Instead I had to order some of that Esprit cotton/elastic stuff from Elann. I made him a pair of Esprit socks a couple of years ago and he likes them so much that he wears them when he's not feeling well. Which is very gratifying.

Updates: I finished the daughter's gold medal socks as well as a new pair of slippers because she'd poked a toe through her old ones. It's too hot to wear the socks now so I suppose it will be fall before I get a verdict on their success. And before the birthday sock frenzy commenced I finally successfully completed a few rows of the Flowing River shawl. Chart 4 has not been cooperative, in part due to my own addlepated nature, but also because of a quirk in the chart. The increases are accounted for on the wrong rows. It's one of those quirks that those less addlepated would probably not even notice but it threw me for a loop. How many times can a person count to three and still come up with the wrong number of stitches? You'd be surprised.

More charity stuff

I'm trying to get a whole truckload of charity stuff done before the June meeting, so bear with me here.

I completed the burial outfit. It's teeny-weeny.



There was a call for y-chromosome-friendly chemo hats, so I'm hoping these will be suitable. They're made of acrylic, which is a little bit icky, but this yarn was recommended by the group. I forget what it's called, TLC or something similar.



And I was unreasonably excited to find this pattern for preemie/newborn hats with an angel motif. I've finished these two - obviously - and am working on a solid white one.



And once that last preemie hat is done, it's back to the older daughter's gold medal socks. May I brag for a moment about the spectacular power of these socks? They brought us four gold medals this year, as well as seven silvers and two bronzes. And two of those silvers came at the provincial championships. In case anyone wonders what in hell I'm blathering about, I have created a superstition whereby the daughter does well at gymnastics meets if I knit socks for her on the way to the arena. It helps to alleviate that feeling of maternal powerlessness. And, hey, you can't argue with success. Last year I didn't knit her socks and she did not win a single medal. Coincidence? I think not.

Plan for today: go for a run and try out new pedometer. Finish baby hat and move on to socks. Try not to buy any more yarn.

The sad little dress

I finished my first preemie burial gown for charity this weekend. It's sort of tragically cute. The pattern is by Terry Kimbrough and a quick Google suggests that it can be found just about everywhere, but one source is Carewear.

And here's mine. I wasn't happy with my floopy-loopy cast-on edge so I crocheted a border with some evil novelty yarn that has been haunting my basement. I'm going to try to make each one a little different.



Blame my dogs for the imperfect framing of the picture. I had to snap quickly before they trampled the gown.

I won't rehash my mixed feelings about the project except to say that I dealt with them by making macabre jokes that would probably be offensive to anyone outside my brain. I started another gown yesterday. I'll also have to make a bonnet and booties to go with each one because my charity group prefers to donate the whole ensemble. There is a matching bonnet on the Carewear site.

Today is a lovely bright sunny day and my calendar is chock full of excitment. I intend to go for a run. I had originally planned to go to the gym but I got halfway there and realized that I had forgotten my water bottle, which seemed like a very valid excuse at the time. I also have to go to the library and Wal-Mart. Later on I will pick up the daughters and deliver one to the gym (I will remember her water bottle). And to cap off my thrilling day, the pest control guy is coming to check on our exploding mouse population! I am all aquiver with anticipation. And they say domestic engineers don't lead exciting lives.