Summer!
Green, Sunny and Warm
It is amazing, this long weekend it was in the lower 60’s (F) for the whole time, and then today and yesterday it got up to 77 or higher. Today, driving around Lansing doing numerous errands (mostly for a computer client, which made me very happy), it was so beautiful you could have imagined it to be a month from now.
Lunch with Brian
I lucked out, because just as I had finished an errand I was driving down Saginaw Avenue (an important main road), and I saw Brian walking to lunch. I stopped my car and we ended up having a delightful Thai meal at Bangkok House. I had Pad Siew (boy do I hope I can spell these words) which is fat noodles with broccoli and eggs and your choice of which meat (or tofu) you want. I got the tofu (I never did like meat) and it was extremely good.
The sauce was dark and rich and a bit sweet, and I was in heaven. I also was in heaven because I knew that I must be eating at least a few ingredients that used to make me very ill but now I can very occasionally have those foods. Let me tell you: this was the right meal to splurge with!!! Brian had something with a curried coconut-milk sauce and he said it was very good.
More Bragging: CityKidz
Today at Foster Center, we had CityKidz Knit! again. Luann came to help out, bless her heart. The kids had been knitting up a storm (we missed Monday for the holiday so they had extra home-knitting time). One girl finished her second backpack and started a third. She has many friends asking her to knit backpacks for her, and so she has decided to charge a small fee for the knitting. She knows that is a good deal. However she points out that they are, after all, friends.
She used I-cord on this second backpack, she had not done that before. Apparently she enjoyed it , because not only did she make straps of I-cord, she made the tie to close up the pack out of I-cord, and she even made a little loop so she could hang her key chain from it. Clever girl. She also made several tassels to decorate the flap and the ends of the ties. I taught them how to make tassels just about a week ago to finish off a hat from Melanie Falick’s “Kids Knitting” book. I’m delighted that she seems to really be able to figure things out on her own, and is not afraid to try.
One boy continues to knit little tiny squares, five stitches wide. He wants to knit six of these (he has perhaps finished four already) so that he can make a cube. This is a project he made up himself. I guess in the end he is wondering if he can make dice from yarn. I intend to do my part to help him discover how to do this, whether they work well as anything beyond decoration or not.
I showed off my stole to the kids and they were duly impressed (gotta love the enthusiasm of a child, or a group of children). I didn’t get any knitting done while the kids (nine of them) were knitting, but it was a very peaceful scene. I didn’t have any new knitters today so they sat and plugged away, with occasional questions.
Several of the kids are going on a long vacation for a week, and so I made sure they had enough yarn to knit a long scarf while they were gone. A scarf seems to be the favored long-weekend project, and that is fine with me. Today purple was the color of choice for several girls.
Peace and Quiet
After all the running around today I enjoyed a quiet night with a little bit of spinning. I am now finishing up the last of the superwash merino roving in spring green, turquoise, white and small bits of forest green. It is just plain gorgeous. (It is not very lumpy bumpy… I’m pleased with how I am spinning this slippery stuff on the new wheel.) I am not fond of plying yarn, but that will be the next step. I will do fine, I’m sure. Someday this 8oz of superwash will be socks. Wish me well!
Slow Plugging on Sweater
Oh, last night I ripped out the collar of the Since-September sweater, and then I bound off about 5 more stitches on either side on the shoulder seams. I will redetermine the shape of the collar by going down at least 3″ from the front, and pick up stitches and knit that collar again. That is, when I get the courage to try something new without a pattern. Some days I can dive in without doubt, and some days I just can’t try something new.