Mom’s Rhubarb Dessert Event
I never wrote how nice it was to go to my mother’s Rhubarb party on Tuesday. When I arrived, there were 11 cars besides hers, already there. Mom has such an interesting group of friends, and some of the ladies she has known at least socially since we arrived in Michigan around 1962.

It is wonderful to see Mom as the social organizer. I remember that when my father died almost 30 years ago, she really didn’t have any friends to talk to. She knew a good number of women at work and in certain circles, but she was very alone. Now I watch her, and she creates community wherever she goes. If she likes folks, she invites them all. She figures that if she likes them, they will like one another. She is right.

The food was good, but that was just an excuse. The first harvest of the year is pretty exciting although not everyone likes the strong flavor of rhubarb. The real reason is to harvest, in so many words, friends. All together in one house. A table full in the dining room, a table full in the kitchen, and a table full in the living room! Go mom!

Rain, Rain, Rain
Well, it was summerlike yesterday but today it was pure, unadulterated spring. I saw two downpours today. For the first, I was in my car and ready to run into the grocery. I decided to just wait in the car and knit until it let up a bit. I was on my way to a client and didn’t want to arrive soaking wet with rain! I enjoyed the little bit of knitting I did, and then went in and got my food.

It had been a hot and humid day… then it got cooler with the rain but still sticky with moisture. I went into the grocery and got a pint of chocolate-almond soy ice cream for lunch (every once in a while it is good to treat the three-year-old who lives inside me or she takes over my life). I asked at the checkout if they had any spoons. The cashier ran to the back break room to see, and returned with a knife. OK, fine, better than fingers with chocolate, I think.

So I sat in the car with the fan on, and ate the chocolate dessert with a knife. Now, mind you… I’m sort of fussy about table manners. Sometimes I get *really* fussy. But just for a few minutes today I was a little kid enjoying the early summer by eating chocolate-almond ice cream for lunch… in the car, with a knife.

Too funny, really. I don’t think anyone even noticed me, but it felt a bit freeing or something. I couldn’t have done that if I had someone with me. It was a gift at that moment to let go to the experience. (Picture is an Ice Cream dessert from my friend Altu’s restaurant.)

The Since-September Sweater
I have not had much knitting time in the last two days because of work (yippee, work is a very good thing). However, today I had to go to the allergist and sit there for 20 minutes to make sure I didn’t have a reaction to my shot.

I really enjoy that 20 minutes. I always try to take something to knit that takes a little more concentration than my waiting-in-line socks. I had ripped out the collar of the Since-September Sweater the other night. I took the sweater with me and plotted out the new neckline (the first neckline was far too wide and not at all deep enough in the front).

I plotted the neckline and then tonight I knit it while reading my emails (I didn’t get too many replies out this time, I was busy knitting). I just bound off a little while ago and tried on the sweater. I think this will probably work just fine. The sleeves are the right length, the body is the right length and although it used to really stick out in back like a duck’s behind, now it is loose at the bottom but pulled in a bit more with the extra seed stitch I added over a month ago. I put the shoulder pads in and stood in front of the mirror.

This sweater is not a glamorous garment in the least, but the point of it was to have something REALLY WARM for when we go camping at music festivals. We go to something called Wheatland Music Festival every year, which is the week after Labor Day. It is often cold at night and I can’t tell you how many years Brian has given up his coat to help me keep warm. This year I will have this lovely sweater… which I started the week before Wheatland last year!

I still have a lot of ends to work in, and since I did not do any shaping for the neck but instead picked up stitches in the middle of the sweater fabric, I will have to figure out how to secure the stitches inside the collar so that I can cut the excess neckline fabric out of the way. I didn’t have any misgivings about cutting open sleeve steeks but the collar thing is a bit more scary. I’ll get over it! I’m planning to take this sweater to the Knit in at Borders in Arborland (Ann Arbor) next Tuesday. I’m ready to celebrate this garment! There will be pictures but only when it is really done.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2003 at 11:27 pmand is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.