Go West (young Wo)Man

This weekend I will be flying to Boise Idaho to visit with my eldest daughter, Jennifer, who has had the bad luck to have a riding accident last weekend. She's broken her back. That's the bad news. The good news is that she will make a complete recovery, although she'll have some limitations in the short run. We are all so thankful that she will not suffer permanent damage, although the injury will likely exacerbate her arthritis in time. I'll be helping her around the house with the various things that are impossible to do while wearing a big back brace, and we are hoping to enjoy a good visit. Since we see each other in person rarely we try to make the most of the occasions when we are together in the same room. I'm looking forward to visiting with her, and seeing a bit of Idaho, which I have never visited. What I'm not looking forward to is being bitten by her giant pyscho-cat. She has two kitties, both are orange tubcats. One of them has a vile disposition. The other one has a pleasing disposition only in comparison with the other one. Compared to ordinary cats, he's not friendly. What do you want to bet I can tell them apart rather easily by the end of the visit? I'll also get to see her dad and his wife, who I rarely visit with. It will be so nice to see both of them, even if is for very brief time. Our visits will overlap by a little teeny bit. She's a lovely person, and it will be a rare treat to enjoy his sense of humor again.

From the department of crafty goodness, here is evidence that it is indeed all socks all the time chez Cinderellen. The blue striped socks are continuing apace during my lunch hour. The Wildfoote socks are shaping up beautifully, and are so pretty. I'm using the Parting Ways pattern from HeartStrings, which is an eyelet rib pattern with kind of a twisty look, almost like are cross between lace and cables. The pattern is very pretty and not difficult at all. The hardest thing is that it is a six row repeat, so it's not quite mindless. It's not good while watching Lost, but it's good TV knitting for Grey's Anatomy. the pattern is not showing up in this yarn as well as I had hoped, but it is knitting up so nicely that I think I will make another pair in a solid color that will show the pattern a little better.


Jeannie's socks made it to Alaska where she pronounced them "too pretty to wear". I hope she changes her mind fairly quickly, because they were meant to keep her feet toasty.


I am still working on the Kimono Shawl, and although lace does not photograph well in progress I feel I have to offer proof of its existence. I've seen quite a few around the web, including a beautiful example in red. I almost, but not quite, regret that I am making mine in a beigey tone. The yarn is actually quite a bit darker than it looks here and slightly heathered. It's very pretty in person, and after it's washed and blocked it should be very soft and quite lovely. I think the color will make it a very wearable shawl that I'll really enjoy if it does not get carried away. The reviews of this pattern by the bloggers who have done it are that it was a rather easy lace project, but required some determination to finish as it went on FOREVER. That I can easily believe. Next in the queue is probably Icarus, which apparently has been/will be knit by every living knitter on earth. I'm planning to do mine in a grey alpaca which should look like a cross between clouds and pigeon feathers. After that the Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlesticks. I'll probably order that pattern right after Christmas. I already have a pretty dark teal lace weight merino which will be pretty in that pattern. Possibly the best thing about my particular obsessions is that you can actually have a stash or lace and sock yarn which easily exceeds your life expectancy without it taking up enough space to look like it. My stash looks rather modest but is in fact huge in terms of knitting time.


Fall is continuing to progress here, with highs alternating between the 50's and 80's. The leaves are piling up in a big way. Here's a shot from my front porch to compare with last week. Shana says she'll be raking while I'm gone. Sadly even if she rakes like crazy she won't be able to keep up. We get 100 bags of leaves out every year, and I am not really a very thorough raker. It's the downside of a wooded neighborhood. The fallen leaves do smell good, even if the smell does remind me of the sneezing, coughing and weeping I'll be doing every weekend until we got them under control.