London calling

Hello from the UK! There might be radio silence as I try to figuire out how to post photos while mobile. Don't panic (the answer is 42), the blog will resume and be back to normal soon.

Knit like the wind

What does one do when binding off over 500 stitches on a shawl and one realizes with growing gloom there is not enough yarn to make it to the end? I don't know what you do, but I keep binding off, run out of yarn with 12 stitches left, rip back the bind off by a couple of inchecs, run out yarn with 5 stitches left, rip back the bind off even further, make it to the end with two inches left to spare, and then I ask Italian to pour me a pint.

From 2011 Finished Objects

The pint was an excellent victory pint, and the victory wasn't just showing the yarn that if it worked with me, it could make it to the end of the shawl, but it was also a pint to celebrate the completion of the shawl before the Camp Loopy project 1 deadline. Never have my hands worked so quickly. I even had to dust of the wrist brace to wear inbetween bouts of knitting. In the end though, it was worth the pain.

From 2011 Finished Objects

The yarn is Tosh Sock in Ivy and Moss. The Moss weighed in heavy so I thought I could add two rows of stockinette at the end of the second chart. Those two rows would be my almost fatal flaw. Jennybuttons supplied the beautifully handcrafted brass buttons. The pattern, Catkin, is beautifully written. I'm placing the shawl in the suitcase to accompany me on my next great adventure.

Time Warp

Isn't summer the time of the year when time slows to a crawl and one relaxes in a hammock with a nice cool drink? Maybe it's the lack of hammock in our lives, but summer has sped up the rate of time, not slowed it. Even though my calendar clearly states the month is July, I can't completely comprehend it. We've had so few weekends at home or unschedule this summer and we've been blessed by visits from family and friends, I haven't really had the time or the energy to blog, but I've had the time to snap a few shots.

The Little Princess has been growing since her introduction to the world in early June.

From Family

Little Clover is completely enamoured with her and has claimed her as his. He's already started a list of "Things to teach the Princess." His list includes but is not excluded to:

• How to throw a baseball


• How to throw a football


• How to catch a frog


• How to fly fish

Princess or not, he doesn't want her to be "useless" when she gets bigger.

Italian and I had the chance for a grown-up night in the city with some friends. We attended a Farmer's Market dinner on the rooftop of the The Madison. Not only was the food prepared from local ingredients wonderfully delicious, but we had a spectacular view of the sunsetting on the Mississippi.

From Irish Clover

It's things like these that remind me of how great Memphis can be. The Madison hotel offers valet parking, which I think may be free for dinners at the restaurant. They take their valet service seriously. When we left the hotel, our friend turned in his valet slip. Even though the car was parked directly across the street from us, in plain view, a mere walk of 20 feet, the valet attended insisted we stay put and drove the car to our spot on the sidewalk. Now that is service.

Finally, we had an awesome Fourth at the cabin on the lake. We saw fireworks, spent time with friends and family, and I got some knitting time in. Now we are resting up before our next and last great adventure for the summer.