A Stitch In Time

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I talk about my various and sundry hobbies here as well as my life in general. The primary focus of this blog is my spinning and my knitting but you can find just about anything covered if you hang out long enough.

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Rhubarb Lace is DONE!!!!!  Ends woven in, completely done!  All that’s left to do now is block it!!!!!!! 
Photos courtesy of my hubby, and I’m leaning against my car per his request… 

I also re-dyed the Fugly batch opf ramboulliet which it turns out needed more vinegar.  I used black and Violet and the results were MUCH better this time…

Oh, and the Cat On Batt was also in attendance.  I had to move Ivan off the batt to get a photo! 

In addition to all of this activity, Kirk & I fixed the gutters on the house, re-did the drainspouts, mowed the lawn and whacked some weeds.  We were very productive and had fun doing it all too.  We enjoy working on our home together, and that makes it a much better process than if it were drudgery.  I’m getting closer to being able to actually have flowers next year!!!!  Wheee!!!!!  I think I will have to press my friends LadyV and Paula into helping me with gardening suggestions.  They both have such lovely plantings around their homes.  It has been a great weekend for me and I hope your weekend has been as wonderful as mine!

Well, The Louet Arrived!!!!

It is an Anniversary edition so it also has a skein winder with it:

Ok, the dyeing was interesting.  One good set and one bad.  Here they are pre-carding:

After 2 passes through the carder:

I think the Black/Violet/Brown is ugly as sin.  I’m going to re-dye it…  I really like the green though…

These are both ramboulliet.  I’ll have more to say tonight!

Ok, not really.  No Louet in Mudville would be more apropos.  Despite the fact that UPS said it would be delivered yesterday up until 7:00pm, the wheel did not arrive.  This morning the tracking says that it has been “rescheduled for delivery” for today.  Ah well.  We’ll see if it is waiting for me when I get home today.

But this did not dampen my day.  We went out and got kitty litter at our local PetsMart.  It so happens that there is a Michael’s next door so after much incouragment from LadyV and from the inspiration of looking at Rissa and Delia’s dying accomplishments I decided to pick up some Wilton cake icing dyes to use on the smelly Ramboulliet that LadyV and I have.  I had an allergic reaction the the scent on the fiber so I needed to get that smell out before I could use the roving.  LadyV did some of hers and said it worked like a dream!  So I dyed 2 batches last night.  In one I combined Leafy Green, Teal and Golden Yellow.  The result looks a little bit like Kermit the Frog lost a big chunk of fur.  At least that’s what it looks like wet.  I think I need to clarify this.  Shelly thought that I meant that the roving was ugly or bad when I referenced Kermit the frog.  This is not the case.  I happen to think that Kermit is a lovely shade of green, and I also love lime greem of which parts of this roving seem to resemble.  I think it will lighten some as it dries…  The second batch I dyed was a combination of Black, Brown and Violet.  This batch turned out very strangely.  The violet bled out so much that it looks pink now. I’m not sure of its true color yet as the fiber wanted to stick to itself a little when it was very wet and I didn’t want to break the roving strand up too much.  I’ll have to consult LadyV as to what I did wrong.  The dye never exhausted even after three times as long in the pot as the green.  Maybe too much dye in the pot…  Not sure what it looks like…  It still wet and looks blueish and pinkish and greenish…  I’ll get a photo when they dry.

The next thing I did, around 7:30pm was rip 32 rows on the 2nd sleeve of Rhubarb Lace.  I had been very un-excited about the 2nd sleeve after I had made the errors and when I finally ripped out those rows and put the sleeve’s 84 stitches back on the needle I was REALLY inspired to re-knit those rows.  And I must have been in the knitting “zone” because I re-knitted all of the rows by 11:00pm.  So I undid my mistake and now I am ready to make some more progress with a correctly done sleeve.  I’m excited again about the sleeve instead of feeling defeated like I had been.  So it’s full speed ahead.

Sleeve Island I’m ready for you.  I don’t plan on making this an extended stay… 

I decided that I need to separate my links out between the Knitting and spinning folks and the non fiber blogs.  The way I got introduced into blogging was through a group of friends who my Hubby & I met through an online role playing game for the Macintosh called Clan Lord.  All of the people in the non-fiber category are folks I know because of, or from playing Clan Lord.  We don’t play the game anymore, but many of the friendships have endured. 

I also added some knitting blogs that I have been reading for a long time but hadn’t put on the link list… 

I found out that my new wheel should be delivered today!!!!!  Happy Dance! 

I only knitted 6 rows on the sleeve last night.  I ripped out 3 rows and re-knit them, but I am seriously considering ripping the whole sleeve out and reknitting it.  One of the eyelet rows is off by one stitch.  It’s pretty close to the shoulder though so it would mean ripping out almost everything I’ve done.  Ho much of a perfectionist am I?  This is the question.  I think I’ll try the sweater on tonight to see how it fits me and if the mistake is noticable.  What a let down…  I will probably rip the sleeve.  It given me nothing but problems since I started it so it might be best to get a fresh start on the sleeve.  It irks me to have to do that but it’s driving me crazy the way it is now…  I let you all know if there is a ripping event… 

I’ve gotten sleeve number two well on the way to completion.  I decided I need to do a fair bit of knitting on it tonight to show you all a photo.  I took Max over to play with his best friend this afternoon for a couple hours.  He had a great time, but this heat really takes it out of him.  Poor pup has been sacked out on the couch all night! 

Here’s my progress:

I’m starting to get pretty excited about this sweater.  I feel like I am in the home stretch on it.  A little more than half a sleeve and the neckline to go and I am done!!!!

It makes me giddy to think about it! 

Wow, what a busy weekend!  Friday night I got to relax and knit for a while.  I finished the first sleeve of the Rhubarb lace sweater around midnight.  I was exhausted and collapsed into bed only to wake up the next morning and get to work.  My sweet hubby was having fun with the chainsaw and we had some bush/branches to clean up and take to the county landfill.  We did 2 loads on Saturday morning and finished around 1:00pm.  After some relaxation time, (about an hour and a half) we were out and about again.  This time to lunch and a movie.  We saw the Fantastic 4 which I really enjoyed.  I know it was simply a set up film, but it was great fun after an exhausting morning.  I’ve always liked Dr Doom and thought he was one of the snappiest dressers of all the comic villains.  I started the second sleeve and got to the point of connecting all of the sleeve stitches, again it was after 11:00pm…  Sleep was a welcome treat. 

I woke up Sunday morning feeling like someone stuffed my head full of cotton and the pressure in my sinuses was amazingly painful.  At 6am I staggered to the medicine cabinet and took some excedrine and a Drixoral, which is like a super decongestant.  I slept until almost 9am and the headache from standing up had finally gone away.  Kirk & I got up and went back to work.  This time we trimmed bushes and tree limbs which had overgrown the driveway and the yard in general.  2 more truck loads of branches etc later and we were done.  Then I spent some time going through some recipes and we made a shopping list for the grocery store.  We laft the house again, grabbed lunch (It was around 3:15pm) and went to see the movie The Island.  It was a very interesting film.  We enjoyed it, but I must say that I got the impression that they felt they needed destruction and explosions every five minutes to keep people’s interest.  I would have enjoyed it just as much with a little less in the explosion arena.  (I know, shocking to hear from the woman who loves to see stuff blow up, but there it is.)  It was a really neat film though.  Really neat. 

When we got home I spent most of the rest of the evening doing chores and laundry.  Such fun…  I only knitted about 7 rows on the sleeve and I was ready for bed at 9:30pm.  I was wiped out from all that time in the heat. 

Pictures later!  Hope your weekend was a happy one. 

I finished HP6 this afternoon, and I really enjoyed it.  I wasn’t surprised by what most people have been though.  There are a lot of aspects of it that I absolutely loved.  In fact I think there is a bit more humor in this one than there has been in the others.  Or, maybe it’s the stark contrast between the humor and darkness…  Anyway, enough about that.  I was told by Kristi that i am not allowed to discuss it.   

I spent much of the evening knitting the sweater’s sleeve.  I don’t have too much farther to go on it.  About 3 inches maybe.  Even though I feel like it is taking forever, it really is coming along.

I did something that perhaps was not ummm, completely necessary.  Remember when I talked about spinning at LadyV’s house and how much I liked Vicki’s Louet S75?  Well, I decided I needed to have one.  I feelt rather strongly that 3 wheels is enough for me right now.  But since I had a Joy, a Traveller, and a Susie Pro, I had to make a sacrifice.  I had felt some reservation about the Traveller since I bought it, and I loaned it out twice and didn’t really miss it, as opposed to when I loaned out the Joy and nearly got a nervous tic from missing it so much!  I’m not sure If I had mentioned it before, but I had a session showing my friend L some spinning tips and techniques on how to wheel spin.  L had spindle spun so the transition wasn’t that hard.  Anyway, the wheel suits her well.  She’s taller than me so the higher orifice is perfect for her.  And since I have often felt guilty that I had purchased the Traveller without fully exploring the other wheel manufacturers.  I needed to suck L into spinning like she did to me with knitting, so I gave her the Traveller.  Before you think this was some kind of selfless gesture, remember: I limited mysekf to 3 wheels.  One had to go for me to remain at 3.  By divesting the Traveller I could justify the purchase of the Louet I was coveting.  I think it was a perfect solution.  Everyone won.  I get the other wheel I want, L has a wheel now and I’ve drawn her in to the fiber vortex.  All in all a perfect solution.  So, I wasted no time in getting an order placed for a Louet S75 Anniversary Edition.  Thanks to LadyV who tuned me in to this opportunity, otherwise I might not have done it.  So anyway, the Traveller is travelling again and should have many wonderful years of use with L.  I can’t wait to see the beautiful creations she spins on it!

So that’s the confession I felt I had to make, lest you all think me frivolous for buying yet ANOTHER wheel. 

I’m eagerly awaiting my Louet!  I’ll take pictures when I get it!

I have not knitted a stitch since I took those photos on Monday evening.  Not a stitch.  I have been spending much needed time with friends, talking on the phone, cleaning my house, and reading my much anticpated copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  I’m enjoying it immensely so far and have about 100 pages to go.  I felt sleep was essential for my day today as we have meetings in the office all day today with rather important folks in for a visit, so nodding off at my desk would be a bad career move…  SO I am anxiously awaiting an opportunity to crack the book open and finish those 100 pages! 

I am fully esconsced on Sleeve Island, but alas, no sunshine and beaches are involved…  First though, Thank you all so very much for your kind and touching words.  You all know just what to say to make me feel that virtual hug and shoulder to lean on and I will respond to all of you soon.  I haven’t felt too talkative the past few days, I’m sure you all understand. 

I really have been working on the sweater and this sweater will have so very much meaning for me when it is done.  It is my first sweater from my own handspun and it will remind me of my grandma too, and of my fun mini vacation with A, and my fun spin in day with LadyV et all.  I really do recall vividly what was going on in my life when I knit something.  I will always associate my Philosopher’s Wool Sweater with being in Martha’s Vineyard on vacation with A because I got both sleeves and the start of the body done on the sweater while we were there.  My shadow shawl that I gave to my mom this last Christmas will always be linked with my Grand Cayman Island vacation with my in-laws and Kirk as I finished it thinking I might need it while I was there.  Silly Rabbit, it’s even more humid than MD!!!!  I didn’t need it but I knitted it for that trip, so it is forever linked.  Anyway, moving right along, I have photos!  Taken tonight. 

So, without further ado, here they are:

Ivan was “helping me…“

You can see the sleeve detail better in this photo…  And last of all, a close up of the design on the top and where the sleeve is picked up.  I love this sweater’s architecture, but boy do these sleeves feel like they will never end!!!!! 

Thank you all again so much for your thoughts and prayers.  They have comforted me more than you can know.

First off, I have made progress on the sweater.  The front and back are done, attached to one another and I picked up the stitches on the first sleeve and have about 3 inches done on it.  I don’t have a photo.  I will.  Maybe later.  I also read about 30 pages of my copy of the new Harry Potter novel which arrived yesterday afternoon.

I spoke to my parents in the afternoon, about 3 o’clock and they told me my grandma had become comatose and unable to speak but she could hear and understand and respond through sounds.  My parents had spoken to her and called me immediately afterwards telling me that it would probably be within days to 2 weeks.  I was cooking dinner at around 6:30 and my parents called to tell me she passed away about 2 hours after they spoke to her.  2:15pm PST.  She was in mid breath, one of her daughters (she has 2) and one of her grandsons (she has 4) was there with her along with a nurse. 

I’m in a mild state of shock right now.  While I knew this day was coming, I miss my grandma already.  She taught me the basics of knitting when I was about 10.  And I mean basics.  Just how to knit and purl.  I didn’t know how to start or stop but boy I could knit on and on forever!  It was a project to keep me occupied on a 9 or 10 hour drive from our house in Germany to Austria.  My grandma and grandpa sat on either side of me and we had a great time.  I knitted that whole 2 weeks, but since I didn’t know how to start or stop and grandma took the needles and yarn home with her to California when she left, I never picked it up again until I was 29.  I credit her though for the fact that I had muscle memory of the 2 stitches and literally learned in 5 minutes at my LYS.  I always think of Grandma when I knit, but now I know she’ll be able to see my projects in real time instead of waiting for me to take a picture and send to her.  I did make her a chemo-cap that she really loved, so I was happy to have given her something that I knit myself.  She’s a wonderful and special lady and she will live on in the memories I have. 

I will be back to myself soon.  But it may take me a few days… 

Rhubarb Lace has been put in a bit of time out this evening for misbehaving.  I had to rip out nearly all my progress tonight and re-knit.  I was only able to progress by 5 rows tonight.  I had to rip back 4, so I re-knit and did an extra to make myself feel better. 

I still don’t know what I did to hork it up but I know why.  I decided to try another new recipe tonight.  Zinfandel Braised Beef Brisket with Onions and Potatoes.  I knew it was going to take a while, but it finally finished at 9:00pm tonight.  I hadn’t eaten since noon and was feelig really cold, tired and grumpy.  I’m sure that had an effect on my knitting.  So, next time I want to cook a complicated diner, put dishes away, do dishes, and p ut laundry away, I will refrain from trying to knit until AFTER dinner.  A lesson learned.  So, no picture tonight because I have been annoyed with the sweater.  It is a keeper recipe but only to be cooked on weekends. 

As many of you know and many others of you probably suspect, I’m pretty outgoing dare I say, friendly.  I had a wonderful opportunity to augment my fiber friendships recently.  LadyV  invited a number of ladies over to her lovely home for some spinning, conversation and great food.  When I got there, 2 of the ladies were already there and well into conversing and getting acquainted.  Vicki and Linda were already enjoying Vee’s hospitality and wonderful sun room when I arrived.  Introductions were made and just after I got there, Brenda came in and that prompted the tea and coffee to flow.  Now, being the shy, wall flower that I am, I dived into the food first!  Vee had kindly gotten something that I adore and never get for myself.  Powdered donuts.  Yum Yum Yum!

So after the scarfing and beverage drinking were in full swing, Vee had to kick us out of the kitchen to get us to go spin!    Now, Linda has been doing amazing work on her spindles, but had only ever used a wheel once.  It happened to be two weeks before at my Cloverhill Yarn Shop, and it also happened to be while I was in there buying the Gathering of Lace book that my Rhubarb Lace sweater pattern is from.  She was spinning on a Joy at the time and picked up a favorite book of mine and I, again being shy and withdrawing, told her what a great book it was.  I was explaining to the owner of the shop, who also incidentally taught me to knit on Good Friday of 2001 that I had finally spun enough yarn to make a sweater and that I was going to make the Ljace-Kofte.  She told me that the lady next to me was a new spinner and I told her how much I love spinning and that she would enjoy it.  Funny thing is that was Linda that I had the impromptu conversation with!  We knew each other looked familiar for some reason! It’s truly a small world.  So we got to see Linda’s spindle spun yarn which looks better than many people’s wheel yarn, Vicki’s gorgeous yarn and rovings that she was playing with, Vee’s finished skeins of lovely yarn, and Brenda brought the most amazing show and tell of all.  She had crocheted a blanket which is positively GORGEOUS!  We all wanted to distract Brenda and put it in our bags and abscond with it!    We didn’t of course but we briefly talked about it… 

Brenda and Linda were new wheel spinners, but Linda had the advantage of working on spindles prior to the wheel lesson.  Brenda was completely new to spinning, and to knitting, which she was taught by Vee later in the morning.  By the time she left us, Brenda was doing gorgeous stockinette stich!  Once we get her hooked on knitting, we’ll suck her into fiber addiction!  Linda and Brenda both did a great job spinning on the 4 wheels in attendance.  I brought my Susie, Vee had her E2, and Vicki brought her Traveller AND a Louet S75 which Vee & I ADORED.  I may just have to get one because I LOVED that wheel.  Vicki let me try spinning some silk which I enjoyed immensely.  Vicki also happens to be the proprietor of one of the coolest places for fiber addicts to find:  Kendig Cottage.  At least now when I order I will have a face to go with a name!  I hadn’t spun ANYTHING since I started the sweater, so it was nice to do some spinning.  I was happy to see that I hadn’t forgotten how. 

I meant to take pictures last night of my Rhubarb Lace, but it just didn’t happen.  A few things needed to be taken care of around the house, but in the last 2 days I have finished the back of the sweater and the XO patterning on the front.  I have 12 more rows to go until the split for the neck!  Woo Hoo!  Pictures tonight, I promise.

May your fleeces be clean and moth free, your knitting smooth and your rovings not felted.  Cheers Dears!

After coming home from St Louis and finding out about my Grandma, and the bombings in London and getting back into the swing at work I’ve been a little over whelmed.  I have been taking Elizabeth Zimmermann’s advice though and knitting through my crises.  I have made a lot of progress on the Rhubarb Lace.  I’ve separated for the armholes and am working on the back.
(Back)

Front:

If you are keeping track, today was 2 weeks from when I started the sweater.  I’m really thrilled with my progress and I got over 15 inches knit with my first skein of handspun!!!!!!  Wow! 

On Thursday before I came home from work, my hubby called me and said this, “My name is Liz and I am a fiber addict.“  To which I responded, “yes, and you’re just realizing this?“  I asked him why he said this and he said there were 2 boxes waiting for me at home…  Wheeee!  Happy Dance!  I was pretty sure I knew what they both were!

The first was being eyed by Ivan and Calvin.  They were circling it like sharks and it was the one I was most excited to open since I did not know its contents.  Why you might ask?  Because it was a present from the Estes Park Wool Festival in Colordao that I didn’t get to go to.  But Snow did and she thought of me sweet woman that she is.  So here is the box:

What was inside made me squeal like a little piglet!!!!  First there was this gorgeous and heavenly soft camel silk blend.  Hobbes is inspecting it for quality control purposes…  You understand…  Don’t want mom hurting herself on all that soft fibery goodness…

It’s one ounce of lovliness.  Also in the box was this!!!!!!  With Sparkly bits no less!!!!! 

It’s wool and Angelina.  There’s a POUND of it!!!!!  And it’s in 3 of my favorite colors to boot!!!!  And silky soft and I can’t wait to put both of these wonderful presents on my spinning wheel!!!!  Thank you Snow!!!! 

Now, not to be outdone, the other box was BIG.  Bigger than a bread box for sure.  It held over 10 pounds of fleece!!!!  LadyV and I have embarked on a fiber adventure together consisting of 3 fleeces.  One is over on LadyV’s blog, the other 2 came to my house!  Here’s Chester, a Shetland/Cheviot 50/50 cross.  I says his name ‘Chesta’ just because it makes me smile. 

I think my photos of the fleeces are pretty true to life except you can’t feel how marvelous they are from a picture!!!  Ivan is the other fleece.  He’s a Border Leicster/Cheviot 50/50 cross. 

Both of these fleeces are from Diana Jaruntowski who is a wonderful lady to do business with.  I’m hoping to get photos of the actual sheep these fabulous fleeces came from.  I would love to put fleece with face so to speak… 

Hope your weekend was a peaceful one.  Ours was and all the knitting I did helped center me for the coming week. 

I was shocked to hear of the bombings in London when I woke up this morning.  My thoughts are with all of you who may be in the UK, or with loved ones there.

This is the 3rd time I have typed up this post.  It was eaten 2 other times…

If you read the entry on my hubby’s blog that I provided a link to yesterday you will know that we had a mouse in our house before I left for St Louis.  The offending mouse of Thursday night was deposited out the door in a paper towel.  The towel was empty in the morning so the mouse must have beat feet out of there.  On Friday afternoon as I was packing to leave I had to go into our coat closet in the living room to get a ball cap to take so I could shield my eyes from the sun.  This is a good strategy to keep my nose from looking like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  So as usual, Ivan the cat darts into the closet which is usually closed.  On the less common side, Hobbes darted in as well.  I got my hat and was ready to close the closet so I got Hobbes to leave the closet and shut the closet with Ivan in it.  Ivan regularly does not get out of closets, and the basement until you shut him in and he meows to be let out.  So instead of a meow I heard a loud thump.  Immediately after the thump I saw a little grey field mouse run out from under the closet door across the living room to the corner underneath the stereo cabinet.  The mouse came within 2 inches of my foot and I shrieked.  The cats and the dog were oblivious to the mouse that ran right past them and were even more incompetent than the night before.  We’re not sure if it was the same mouse or a different one.  We haven’t seen another mouse since, so we’re hoping he ran away and told his mouse buddies not to come to our house…

Being happy to get away from the mouse drama, I was thrilled to be at A’s house.  Where on Sunday we noticed Jeeves, A’s cat stalking something behind a picture frame that was on the floor leaning against the wall.  After a little while we couldn’t stand the suspense and A went over to see what it was the cat was so worked up about.  Lo and Behold it was a grey field mouse in A’s sun room.  After much scuttling and ineffective help from Jeeves, A finally caught the little blighter in a cup and clapped the broom on the top and deposited the mouse outside at which point he ran away like a shot. 

Hopefully I can be spared any more excitement pertaining to rodents. 

I haven’t had much time to knit or spin lately as I have been busy doing other things, like cooking and planning meals that are low in fat but high in taste for Kirk & I so we can get healthier.  (ie. Lose some weight…)  We’ve been pretty successful with the recipes we’ve tried thus far and have a few that we really like!  Hopefully tonight will be a welcome respite from cooking since we have leftovers to eat…

I got nearly another full repeat done on the Rhubarb Lace sweater last night.  It looks identical to the last picture but a little longer…

I got back this afternoon from my holiday weekend in St Louis visiting A.  A lives in the lovely town of Kirkwood which seems to be pretty close to a lot of things.  I got in on Friday evening at a perfect time for dinner.  We were going to try a Mexican restaurant near A’s house but the wait was an hour and a half which would have put us sitting down at around 9:30pm.  That was a little too late for me since 9:30 St Louis time is 10:30pm Eastern time!  So instead we decided to go to Duff’s.  This place is a local watering hole/eatery that has one of the best burgers I have had in an age.  Why was it so good you ask?  Ok, I know you didn’t ask but I’ll tell you anyway.  It was so good because they cooked it rare without giving me a hassle or a no!    (You pretty much can’t get a rare burger in MD anymore because of the nanny state laws we have here…)  I also got to try a true St Louis appetizer; Toasted Ravioli was quite tasty.  I’m looking forward to having some the next time I visit A. 

We went back to the house, I unpacked got my PJ’s on and sat in A’s sun room knitting for a while.  It was so nice to relax and pet Jeeves (A’s cat) without a care in the world.  We checked the Saturday weather and decided that the zoo would be on tap for Saturday.  So off to bed we went.

We woke up the next morning pretty early and made our way to Forest Park and the St Louis zoo.  What a fun place!  We got saari passes and did everythig there was to do in the zoo except the primate house.  I don’t like monkeys or apes much and neither does A so we skipped that attraction. 

We had some of the most fun in the penguin house, a favorite of Rebekah of Knit Knack.  I was sad to find out that Rebekah was out of town for the weekend so I didn’t get to meet her.  Maybe next time!  Here are a couple pictures from the penguin house.  The baby is the dark blob on the left side.  Rebekah is right, he’s huge!  But he hadn’t molted his baby feathers yet so he was still easy to pick out.

In the Aviary that was built for the world’s fair in 1904 we saw some stunningly lovely birds here are 2 sponnbills that were lovely.

We also spent some wonderful time in the Butterfly garden where A took this lovely photo.

Something A & I both thought were stunning were the Bee Eater birds.  They were so amazingly beautiful!  But their area was rather dark so we weren’t able to get a photo.  We fed nectar to the Lorikeets, and they thought A tasted quite nice, as they bit her!  I got nibbled on and licked some as well but they broke the skin on poor A!  Greedy little pikers they were! 

By the time we left the zoo, we had been walking in the heat for over 5 1/2 hours!  We had such a great time but we were preety tired when we got back.  We knitted for a little bit and then went for a lovely dinner at Cardwells in Frontenac Plaza.  What fantastic food!  More lounging ensued and we decided that we would have a lazy and quiet day on Sunday. 

We strolled around the shops at the Frontenac Plaza and made a few purchases.  I bought a pair of shoes to go with my green capris, a pair of linen pants and a couple of shirts/light cover ups.  We had a great time and A shopped perfume and shoes.  She should have a beautiful pair of Cole Hahn (probably spelled wrong) sandals ordered for her sometime this week! I was saddened to find that none of their shoes fit me.  Drat.  By the time we got back to A’s house we sat outside on A’s deck and enjoyed the lovely weather and breeze and then decided we were pooped and needed a nap.  We napped and woke up in time to have a scrumptious dinner at PF Chang’s.  I had the Dan Dan noodles which is a dish that I love.  More knitting and relaxation followed at A’s house.  After a thoroughly exhausting day of shopping and lounging we went to sleep happy.

The 4th dawned and we bustled around in the morning knitting, having breakfast and watching some TV.  We then went up to Wright City (I think that’s what it is called) and visited with A’s dad and step mom.  What a lovely home they have!  They have 4 dogs, 2 indoor and 2 barn dogs.  Artie and Chewy are the barn dogs.  Both sweet and elderly.  Milli and Petro are the indoor dogs and are sweethearts.  Milli is one of the most lovely dogs I have ever seen and has a sweet disposition to go with her looks.  (She’s a mixed breed but has the best of all that her lineage could offer.)  The cats, Claudia and Queenie are both sweet natured and friendly, as are the horses, Red Dan and Crunchy.  I had a great time soothing my need to play with some pups and was rewarded with lots of kisses from Millie and Artie.  Back to Kirkwood for a little while in the house, then a mile walk to Kirkwood Park for the fireworks!  They were wonderful.  We had fantastic seats for the display and we had a great time walking to and from the fireworks.  I packed up and we woke early this morning and now I’m home! 

So that was my trip to St Louis.  I got a fair bit of knitting done while I was gone.  On the flight to and from I worked on the Fascine Braid socks and managed to get the first one up to the heel flap.  I started the heel flap but have a ways to go yet on it. 

And last but certainly not least, I spent my entire weekend working on the Ljace Kofte sweater.  And because Kristi of the Knitting Fool voiced what had been niggling in the back of my head for a long time, it will forever be called The Rhubarb lace sweater.    Kristi said the yarn reminded her of rhubarb, and she’s absolutely right.  It does indeed.  And since it is a lace sweater, with Rhubarb yarn, Rhubarb Lace it is! 

I think I got a good picture of the detailing this time.

The sweater was worn by a cream colored tote bag for this image.  The model was quite gracious and didn’t make the sweater feel fat. 

Max was very happy to see his mommy and he hasn’t left my side since I got home.  Sweet pup I missed him.  Calvin, Hobbes and Ivan are all healthy and doing well after having time alone with Kirk.  Oh, check out Kirk’s entry on his blog entry about the uninvited house guest we had right before I left for St Louis.  It’s a VERY funny and very accurate telling of events. 

Ok, that’s about it for the moment.  Unfortunately when I got home, the first words my hubby said to me were that I needed to call my Dad.  If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time (since November) you will know that my Grandma was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer around Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately despite the fact that she did really well on chemo physically, with very few side effects, the tumor was bigger at the end of the chemo treatments.  Hospice is involved now, and it’s only a matter of time.  If you pray, please pray that my grandma’s suffering is eased and that she can pass away with the dignity and grace that she has shown throughout her life.