Hotter Than...

When it gets to be in the 90s without a lot of relief in sight, I find it is a great excuse to hibernate and knit. Hmm, yes I know, I rarely need an excuse to hibernate and knit but if I say that it's because of the heat, it sounds better. Maybe.

The day started off with taking the dogs to the veterinarian. Allie had managed to get something in her eye over the weekend and scratched it a bit. Fortunately I was able to get them there before it became roasty toasty outside.


I am "making yarn" for a shawl for a friend. She wanted something in red which of course is adding to the sense of warmth even with the a/c cranked on "just above really, really cold." Actually, after looking at my electric bill last year, I am using my 2 floor fans more this summer.

The yarns are a lot more red and less "pink" than this picture shows.



Now onto the knitting. I have about 5 or 6 red yarns that I am using for this shawl and will add more as I go along.  The CO will be about 140 sts and I'm using size 13 circular needles so once I actually start knitting, it should go rather quickly.

When I talk about "making yarn" I mean that I am cutting various yarns into 12-14" pieces and then just knotting them together with an overhand knot as I did for the blue shawl.

Two Too Many Big Projects

When will I learn? Doing 2 big projects at one time is just not satisfying to someone who wants frequent ohhs and ahhs for finished projects.

I am currently knitting on the Dr. Who scarf for J. If you have looked at one of these things, you know it will take pretty much forever to finish it. I am possibly almost, but not quite, 1/3 of the way finished. Which translates to having 2/3 of this hummer to go. The one positive note--it's a great project to drag along when you want to visit as it is straight knitting and doesn't require many brains cells to function at once.

The prayer shawl for the family member of a fallen soldier is in better shape. I have knitted 15 inches of the required 24 inches. Hopefully I'll have it finished and mailed to the family in another week or so. I may have to take a break and work on a smaller project or two before I run screaming into the night trailing yarn after me.

The heat is ridiculous right now so I am doing an impression of a bear hibernating only I'm knitting instead of sleeping during the day. Thank goodness for floor fans. They are a life saver and using them I can keep the a/c on 78 during the day and turn it down to 74 at night. NOTE TO ALL: Floor fans also have the advantage of herding the dust bunnies into a couple of groups rather than scattered around the room. Very productive. Makes for less cleaning.

Speaking of cleaning...a brilliant friend is now cleaning her place by spending 15 minutes a day doing it. She sets the timer and when the timer goes off, she stops cleaning for that day. I thought it was a wonderful idea and when we discussed it on Saturday, I decided I would start on Sunday. It is now Tuesday and I am 45 minutes behind schedule. Somehow I don't think this method is going to work for me.

As Scarlett so beautifully put it, " I'll think about that tomorrow." Hey, if it was good enough for Scarlett, it's good enough for me.