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hot hot HOT!
Sep. 2nd, 2007 01:05 pmand too many flies.
i'm sitting outside taking a break from my knitting. i had hoped to have my shawl done so i could block it this weekend, but i've still got a ways to go. i've started on the edging. it's a knitted-on-sideways edging - first time i've done it, but it's really pretty easy. you just add on some stitches and knit back and forth, joining the end of each inward round to a stitch on the main body with a k2tog. the only thing is, it's deceptively slow. it takes two rows of edging to take off each body stitch..and there are 576 body stitches. so a 12-row repeat (which seemed respectable to me) only gets me 6 stitches further along. i'm resisting calculating how many repeats that is.
the other thing is, it's just been too hot to knit in the evenings. knitting the edging means the shawl is coming off the circulars, so more and more of it is in my lap - and it's just not the weather to be cozy. it's been in the 80's here, which i know doesn't sound bad..except the humidity is also in the 80's. and it doesn't get much cooler at night. last night it was 79 degrees in my bedroom - at 1 am, with the window open and the fan on.
the other thing with the shawl is that it seems to have an irresistible attraction for fred. not the shawl - me working on the shawl. as soon as i sit down, he jumps up onto my lap and demands to be petting - which means he rubs his head against my hand, grabs my hand with his paw, anything to get my attention. this is more than a little bit of a pain when you are knitting lace. (made more difficult because i have to keep the pattern in front of me - for some reason, i'm just not learning this pattern, i think because it is in garter stitch, so i just can't get a feel for how it is going). if i keep at it long enough, he will eventually settle down and lie on my lap...which is sort of like knitting with a heating pad. a really big, furry heating pad. _not_ a pleasure on a hot night.
so i'm hoping i can sit outside and get some knitting done during the day this weekend. although this has it's own problems - there seem to be a large number of flies this summer. this is another thing that is unusual for this summer - usually, we don't have that many flies. they are just houseflies, so they don't bite or anything - but i just can't stand to have them crawl all over me.
whine whine whine.
it actually is a pretty nice day - still, but sunny - but my patio is pretty shady, so i can sit out here quite comfortably and watch the world go by. the kittens are sprawled around my feet - guess it must be hot, they are both in the shade as well, stretched out to maximize contact with the nice cool concrete. i have discovered the joys of iced blended coffee drinks, right now i am drinking one with some pretty good sugar-free chocolate syrup. also enjoying the smell coming from the barbeque - doing some pork ribs (not that i should be eating them, but i do like ribs) i shall have quite a selection - got a package from costco, so about 7 pounds of ribs (some of which are in the freezer, just too much to fit on my grill). did half with a dry rub, and half with a jack daniels marinade - all cooking slowing with some pecan wood chips for smoke.
ok, these flies are really making me nuts - time to go research fly repellents on the web.
i'm sitting outside taking a break from my knitting. i had hoped to have my shawl done so i could block it this weekend, but i've still got a ways to go. i've started on the edging. it's a knitted-on-sideways edging - first time i've done it, but it's really pretty easy. you just add on some stitches and knit back and forth, joining the end of each inward round to a stitch on the main body with a k2tog. the only thing is, it's deceptively slow. it takes two rows of edging to take off each body stitch..and there are 576 body stitches. so a 12-row repeat (which seemed respectable to me) only gets me 6 stitches further along. i'm resisting calculating how many repeats that is.
the other thing is, it's just been too hot to knit in the evenings. knitting the edging means the shawl is coming off the circulars, so more and more of it is in my lap - and it's just not the weather to be cozy. it's been in the 80's here, which i know doesn't sound bad..except the humidity is also in the 80's. and it doesn't get much cooler at night. last night it was 79 degrees in my bedroom - at 1 am, with the window open and the fan on.
the other thing with the shawl is that it seems to have an irresistible attraction for fred. not the shawl - me working on the shawl. as soon as i sit down, he jumps up onto my lap and demands to be petting - which means he rubs his head against my hand, grabs my hand with his paw, anything to get my attention. this is more than a little bit of a pain when you are knitting lace. (made more difficult because i have to keep the pattern in front of me - for some reason, i'm just not learning this pattern, i think because it is in garter stitch, so i just can't get a feel for how it is going). if i keep at it long enough, he will eventually settle down and lie on my lap...which is sort of like knitting with a heating pad. a really big, furry heating pad. _not_ a pleasure on a hot night.
so i'm hoping i can sit outside and get some knitting done during the day this weekend. although this has it's own problems - there seem to be a large number of flies this summer. this is another thing that is unusual for this summer - usually, we don't have that many flies. they are just houseflies, so they don't bite or anything - but i just can't stand to have them crawl all over me.
whine whine whine.
it actually is a pretty nice day - still, but sunny - but my patio is pretty shady, so i can sit out here quite comfortably and watch the world go by. the kittens are sprawled around my feet - guess it must be hot, they are both in the shade as well, stretched out to maximize contact with the nice cool concrete. i have discovered the joys of iced blended coffee drinks, right now i am drinking one with some pretty good sugar-free chocolate syrup. also enjoying the smell coming from the barbeque - doing some pork ribs (not that i should be eating them, but i do like ribs) i shall have quite a selection - got a package from costco, so about 7 pounds of ribs (some of which are in the freezer, just too much to fit on my grill). did half with a dry rub, and half with a jack daniels marinade - all cooking slowing with some pecan wood chips for smoke.
ok, these flies are really making me nuts - time to go research fly repellents on the web.
