Funny story… I received a text from Sonia's grandmother, Janet, on Friday evening. "Hello Vicki!! I have to ask… would you be up for another Xmas stocking?"
I thought about it for a minute, then replied, "I'm in the groove, so hit me."
What a miracle, she wrote, and alarming… I forgot that I already asked about Sonia!!
So GREAT!! There isn't another stocking to knit after all! Whew.
I'm back to the Family Temperature Blanket! It's been sitting close for months while I've worked on the kids' 5-Point Bomber, Mack's Graduation Blanket, a Musselburgh hat, a shawl, some dishcloths, and a Christmas stocking.
I've knit about 100 rows since I picked it up over the weekend! So happy to be working on this again, moving right along…
It took about a week for blog readers to pick up my feeds! I’m pretty sure it was a Typepad thing… I’m about over it/them.
My NC500 medal came in the mail last week!
It’s pretty hefty — the actual medal is bigger than my palm.
I love the unicorn on the reverse! I AM UNDEFEATABLE.
Like Bonny, I don’t think I’ll be signing up for any more of these challenges. I don’t really need a collection of medals. heh. It was very interesting to know, though, that I walked 500 miles between April 5th and September 30th — just normal everyday steps, though my “normal” day can sometimes include cleaning an Airbnb or two, chasing after a grandchild or four, and/or beating the pavement/grass for 4-8 miles a day in Denver or around standing stones in Orkney or someplace.
We finished buttoning up the house over the weekend — switched out the rest of the screens for storm windows, brought in tender plants/pots/garden decor. I still have “wash kitchen windows” on my to-do list… it looks like we’re in for a mild weekend (after seeing snowflakes fall on two of the last four days), so I’m putting it off until then. Lordy, they’re so dirty, and now that the leaves are falling, the sunshine is beginning to blaze through the trees, shining a spotlight right on all that dirt. heh.
I noticed my window of daylight closing yesterday and ran outside with my Temperature Blanket to take a decent progress photo.
Rusty saw me testing this weathered old chair (my laundry basket holder when hanging on the clothesline), which I had deemed worthy for getting an angle on my Temperature Blanket progress (or at least worthy of carefully trying) 🧐… when just as I was about to climb aboard, he popped his head out the back door and asked if I would like him to bring me a step stool. Well, okay, if you’re gonna bring it to me!
I’ve finally built up a bit of steam for this project, after not knitting a stitch for weeks. As of this time yesterday, I was about 60 rows from finishing my panel and it’s even less now!
The next panel will be Kate’s. My original idea was that Rusty’s panel & mine would flank the girls’, but in a waking up/falling asleep dreamy state sometime last week, it occurred to me that since the girls’ will all be pretty similar, that maybe we’d break them up! Instead of Rusty-Kate-Ali-Maddy-Vicki, it might go Kate-Rusty-Ali-Vicki-Maddy!
I’ve been working a bit on my Temperature Blanket project again! I posted this photo on IG last night:
I’ve been knitting some rows in the color ZINNIA (= HOT!) and had just picked a vase of my own zinnias, so photo op!
Bonus photos for the blog (possibly later on IG):
These photos make me so happy! I’m currently heading toward the end of August, in terms of time, and the days (if not the nights) are HOT, but getting shorter. I have around 150 rows to go on this panel.
READING:
By the time I received the paperback copy of The Lewis Man, I was already nearing the end, so only read a few pages from the actual book! I dove straight in to Book #3 of The Lewis Trilogy— the paperback is in hand but proving a bit challenging as the chapters do not align. I’m making progress, though, as I had a few hours of listening in the car yesterday. I expect to finish by the time we depart for Scotland (13 days!), and will likely take This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted Historyfor vacation reading (if any).
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I switched my day off this week so I could go to Madison yesterday for the funeral of Brian’s mom, Doris. She died last month, just a few days after celebrating her 100th BIRTHDAY! She was born & raised in Maine and enjoyed a lovely birthday lunch of lobster rolls with some of her kids & grandkids. I really only met her a few times, but she’s always felt like part of my extended family, too. She broke her hip about six months ago, which seemed to signal the end, and until that time had been in her own home. Cheers, Doris! RIP.
I’ve made some progress on my Temperature Blanket since last we met, even though I’ve barely knit a stitch in a week.
I had “turned a page” on my chart, though, just before this little break, and that means I’m about half-way through my panel… heading into “the summer of 1959,” and the colors will be shifting.
Work is very slow on Musselburgh. Though I cast it on for traveling, it never saw the light of day in Denver. It’s been my project for group knitting, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of that, either. I’m thinking Christmas for this project, so there’s time… and I’m excited about the first color change taking place!
READING:
YOUNG MUNGO! I should be finished just in time for next week’s discussion!
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One thing that’s not slow going right now is anything in my backyard! My Blue Angel Hosta…
It’s been quite the rollercoaster spring weather-wise with huge swings in temperature!
I’ve been busy with Airbnbs, but guests are arriving at Ann’s today for the entire month, so there’s some relief… and then the next “guest” will be Annie & her family! And as of now, I have only one guest scheduled this month at my place (for over two weeks… added relief)… and that means that my next “guests” will be Maddy & Viv!!!!! And fewer than five weeks until I pick up Kate again at ORD.
Can you stand another Random Friday post? It’s been a busy week.
This was the view Monday morning out our bedroom window…
Not what anyone wants to see in April, especially in the latter half!
Yesterday I took a stroll at a nature preserve close to work, and the scene had greatly improved.
It’s not going to be very warm or sunny today, but the forecast for tomorrow is 73F!!! It’ll pretty much be a flash in the pan, but it will be nice… and I know that better weather is not far off.
I had to laugh the other day when I got this notification on DuoLingo:
It cracked me up that I’m getting good at… SHOPPING! I sent a screenshot to Ann and said, “I am my mother’s daughter!” (She was a shopper extraordinaire!)
I’m closing in on 10% of the North Coast 500!
That’s a screenshot from this morning of where I am and what’s ahead. I love the snowy mountains! I’ve seen a lot of lush greenery, too, so it just depends on when the Google cam was passing through any given area. Anyway, it won’t be long before I’m in more familiar territory, as we traveled a part of the NC 500 route during our visit in 2014.
I am counting all of my forward-moving activity (via Fitbit) for this challenge because a) 500 miles, b) I really hadn’t paid attention/had no clue about the distance covered in my daily steps, and c) did I mention 500 miles?? I also gave myself the maximum allowed time to complete the challenge. Even with my extremely sedentary job & hobbies, I manage a few miles every day; if the kids are over and/or it’s an Airbnb prep day, there can be many many more, and I’m well ahead! The weather has been most uncooperative for walking outside, but I’m doing it when I can, and I feel more motivated to ride my bike this summer, too.
It’s only three more days until Kate is home! Three days after that we’ll be heading to Denver. I made time between running errands to stop in at the Wednesday Afternoon Knitting Group to get my travel knitting started.
I’m a bit further along now, enough to measure for gauge and figure out the rest of the pattern. I’m knitting Gauge Dye Works‘ Our Solar System on a One-way Trip to MUSSELBURGH on US3 DPNs! haha. (Am I the last to jump on that bandwagon?) I dithered between size 3 & 4 needle… I think the 3 will work out ok!
There hasn’t been a ton of action on the Temperature Blanket this week, but enough to warrant a photo… I’m just starting March 1959.
It gives me great pleasure to state that this photo was taken indoors and in natural light at around 6:30 this morning!
I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll be busy cleaning, planning, ordering birthday cake, and readying for m’ girl’s visit.
