I am flying down the knitting road, approaching a dangerous curve with my hands in the middle of my handlebars. Anyone who is following me had better watch out; I’m can’t reach my brakes from here, and I’m dangerous. Mostly to myself, I assure you. Look what I did.
This is the photo I posted the last time. I didn’t see the mistake I photographed until late the next day, after my knitting was half again as long as this photo shows. I looked down, and there was a stray loop that hadn’t been caught in a decrease. By that time, it had raveled out a bit more, and was much easier to see. Arrrugh! This yarn is wool and silk, and it has a slight tendency to stick to itself as you knit. Well, this intended decrease stuck to itself just enough that I didn’t see it. It was only after I found it that I went back and looked at this photo and saw it then, of course, too late.
I can often rip back a section and reknit it, but I still didn’t feel comfortable with the pattern enough to do that, and as you may have guessed, I don’t knit with a safety line, so I ripped it all out back to the row before the mistake. I picked up all the stitches from that ripped out row, and tinked back to the actual mistake. I caught that sneaky loop and put it where it was supposed to be, and went on. I’m now about 18 repeats along, and I don’t think I have any more loose loops to deal with. However, I’ve instituted a new policy. Not only do I count after every repeat in the row, but I also take time to examine the row. I make sure that the row looks like it’s supposed to, and I give the knitting a tug to pull those decreased stitches out. If one’s loose, I hope that will allow me to catch it right away. That policy seems to have helped a lot. So I am knitting away. This is the Persimmon, you’ll recall, but I call it the Strawberry.
The Flirty
On July 4th you should have heard some extra celebrations coming from South Carolina. I finished the Flirty! Finally, it’s done. It is still waiting to be dressed, however. The room where I wanted to dress it has been a cat hospital recently. I couldn’t very well get in there to do that with a sick kitty in the room. I will have it dressed soon, I promise. I must get some of these things dressed that are finished. I have several shawls and a big doily that you’ve never seen that needs to be dressed again.
Old Needlework
This is an apron with some Seminole work in it that I made one of my grandmothers back in the early 1980s. I was doing a lot of Seminole work at that time, and I decided I’d do these strawberries for her. I don’t think she ever wore it. She told me that she hung it in her kitchen for color. Anyway, when she died, it came back to me. You know how all your old mistakes come back to haunt you? Well, sometimes my old needlework comes back to haunt me.
I also did these Seminole Christmas towels while I was into all that.
This is just basic Seminole work, but I liked the crisp Christmas colors on the white.
Kitty Problems
John and I took two of our cats to the vet on the fifth to get their annual shots and exams. I took Charming. She was such a good girl on the way over. She hardly said a word. The vet said she looked good, and she’d lost a pound, which was great news. I brought her home, and she went around the den yowling her success in losing that pound. She was a happy girl. She slept a little the rest of the day, but that was nothing unusual. The shots didn’t seem to bother her.
Then John took Peaches to the vet, and the news wasn’t that good. It seems that Peaches is in kidney failure. We got her some new food that will help, but basically, there’s nothing they can do. That was bad enough, but the shots were awful for her. She could hardly move. When John tried to pick her up, she cried, and she wouldn’t eat or drink. So we installed her upstairs, and John stayed with her much of the time. She felt really bad. After two days of this, she began to come around, and yesterday, she managed to spend some real time outside for a while. She enjoyed it, because the day was cool, and the breeze was light. This morning, she seemed her old self and even managed to run a little. So we don’t know how long we will have her, but we are trying to do the best we can for her.
Reading
I’m still reading the Aubrey/Maturin series. I got in four of the books I ordered the other day in this series, so I’m prepared with the next book when I finish this one. I wish that companion book would come in so that I can look up a few things. Isn’t that the way it goes? You wait and wait, and it never appears.
The Tour
I really don’t care about the book not appearing right now as I have more than enough to do just watching the Tour. I try to see it every day, and it is always a delight. I felt so badly for Bobby Julich yesterday when he crashed out of the Tour. He was always a favorite of mine. It’s good to see T-Mobile have a man in yellow right now. I wonder how long they will hold onto it? I don’t know what happened to Discovery yesterday. I hope they can gather their resources and get it together today. This is all too exciting for me. I love it!