It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Strike that, wrong theme song. What would be a good theme song for going out and watering trees? Must think about that.

Looks like another really quiet day at work. So far, I know that myself, a carpenter, and one of the electricians are here. My boss has the day off, and my grounds coworkers who should be here by now are either absent or late. Peace and quiet.

Ended up starting the heel on the first blue star sock while I was doing my last tank of water yesterday afternoon. It wasn't as inconvenient to pick up the heel stitches as I thought it might be in the truck, so I didn't bother with the second one at home last night. I'll have them both finished today (woo-hoo!). I also packed a bit of wool sock yarn and one of my birthday pattern books. It's got a cute pattern for baby socks, that I'd like to do for Courtney.

Didn't spend much time in the garden last night. Too tired, even though I still have four flats of stuff from the greenhouse to plant. Took most of an hour to water in what I planted the night before; some of the scullcap might have dried out and croaked in yesterday's heat. I have two species of digitalis blooming right now--D. lutea, which has a spike with dainty yellow flowers; and D. lanata, which is an imposing, very formal, creamy white white spire. Some of my sources say D. lanata is a short-lived perennial, some say it's biennial; either way, I need to remember to save seed. I need more of this stuff in my gardens.

Finished the short-row shaping for the bottom of the beige sweater (second time 'round), and got another 2" done on the body. That doesn't sound like much, but it's size 4 needles (5 sts/7 rows to the inch), and I'm working it in the round this time, so that's the front and back parts of the sweater. So, 2" is a lot of progress. I'd love to have it done to wear to Mom's next week.

I started another grey lace shawl at Heartland--Faroese style, this time. That means more or less triangular, worked in garter stitch (yay!), worked from the bottom of the shawl to thetop, and has shaped shoulders. *shrug* I had had the pattern book, and the needles, and the yarn with me, and I had to do *something* after I finished the spiral lace......Anyway, I'm about 8" into it. It's an allover lace pattern, so it's charted, and that makes it a less convenient travelling project. But it will be cool.

Hmph. Another 20 minutes to kill before the water truck's full. *twiddles thumbs* I'm going to go piddle around somewhere else for a while.

It's going to be a long day

I'm filling the truck again. The first blue star sock is done!!!!! And I've picked up stitches for the heel on the second.

Looks like it might be too windy to spray all day today, so I'll be watering all day. Good thing I brought the stuff for those baby socks.

I hate other people's children!!!!

I just spent an hour and half cleaning up after a couple of spoiled little Johnson County brats who think it's okay to build a tree house on College property. I left a pile by the road, to get when I don't have a water tank in the truck, that's most of a truck load of crap. And there's more up in the tree, I just couldn't figure out how to get it down safely. And all this is an area that's knee-deep in poison ivy. Grrrrr. Where are the parents of these children? And why have they taught their spawn that it's okay to deface public property? (I can make that statement, because I've chased these two kids off the property before, for building tree houses in my damn trees. One of the parents my boss contacted was surprised that the college made an issue of it, she didn'tt hink they were doing anything wrong.)

Spoils my whole itinerary. Now, I definitely won't get any spraying done today, because I still have bunches of stuff to water or fertilize. And if I come down with poison ivy because of this, I am going to be sooooo pissed.

Finished socks!!!!

I finished the blue star socks just after lunch! Finally!

Well, I still need to weave the ends in andstuff, but that's the easy part.

I'm halfway through with the first baby sock. Picture this: sock yarn, #2 needles, 32 stitches around....talk about hard to hold on to. But quick to work, despite that.

Pattern musings

This is for classics_cat:

Remember, we were talking about developing a fingerless glove pattern for you to wear while you type? I think I've got a "recipe" figured out--haven't tested it yet, but I think it'll work.

This is for the "sore thumb" style mitt--which means that the thumb sticks out to the side, and can be used on either hand. Easiest shaping to figure out.

I'm guessing this will take about 200 yds of yarn, maybe a bit more if you're using something fine, and definitely a set of double-pointed needles.

First, figure out your gauge while knitting in the round--I'd cast on 40 sts or so, join, and knit a couple of inches. (Your finished product will be knit in the round, your gauge swatch will be more relevant if it's done that way.) Once you know your gauge, you can unravel the swatch and reclaim the yarn. But measure it first!

Anyway...
let A = stitches per inch
let B = rows per inch

Now, measure your wrist (W) and around the palm of your hand (P) -- just in case they are different.

Starting at the wrist end, cast on (A x W) stitches (add 1 st if necessary to make an even number). Distribute evenly on 3-4 double pointed needles and join. Mark the beginning of the rnd, and slip marker every rnd. Knit about 2" of ribbing (more if you like). I like a k2, p2 ribbing, I think it's the stretchiest.

If W and P are the same, or close, you don't need to make more sts for the hand. If there's more than (I'm guessing) 1" difference, add sts evenly around to compensate.

Knit hand even in stockingette st for 2".

Start thumb shaping: Knit (half of P minus 2 sts) around, make 1, k 2, make 1, knit around. Repeat this round until it looks right for your thumb, putting the increases on top of each other.

K around until you reach the thumb sts, place thumb sts on a holder, and k rest of rnd.

From here you're on your own. Knit up until it's right for your fingers. Then, you can either bind it off and just sew the front and back together to make finger holes, or do a short little ribbed sleeve for each finger, whatever you like. Do something that kinda matches for the thumb.

Then do it again for the other hand.

Let me know how it works, okay?

Just what I needed

...a quiet night at home. I'm consoling myself with caffeine and knitting. By's got to work tonight; there's a rental in the building and Robyn had another commitment. He left a bit before 5:30, all dressed in black and looking spiffy.

Random mental picture: Byron, with his hair in cornrows. Wonder how long that'd take to do.