Kids, kids, and a little knitting

It was a good weekend, just not very productive as knitting goes.

K had a friend sleep over on Friday night. They spent hours in the pool, then fell asleep in front of Animal Planet.

E, our middle son, returned from his first Boy Scout "away" camp on Saturday night. He had the time of his life. He can't quit talking about it: how to treat hypothermia, how to treat frost bite, how to diagnose heat illness (slightly more relevant than frostbite here on the Gulf Coast!); how to inflate a flannel shirt; how to make lanyards from flat plastic cord; the tarantula, the two scorpions, and the water snake that was not a water moccasin; rappelling off a 40 foot rock. Perhaps most importantly, his best buddy -- a boy who shares E's impulsiveness and high energy -- is still his best buddy after sharing a tent for a week. Both of them started pestering their respective parents for a get-together as soon as they stepped off the bus.

And we celebrated R's birthday a few days early, on Sunday. He got his long begged-for i-pod and some tab books for his guitar. We have a long car-ride planned for the day of his actual birthday -- what's the point of an i-pod if you don't get it BEFORE the long car ride?

On the knitting front, my shoulder was aching on Friday night and every time I picked up the needles it got worse. So I decided to switch to machine knitting for a bit. I calculated the pattern for Autumn and got on the machine (which doesn't care which hand I use to run the shuttle.) I knit the back in one longish sitting. I'm very pleased that I didn't have to do anything to keep the colors from pooling:

I'm also pleased with how the lace rib came out:

There was enough hand-manipulation in that hem for me to finish my listen of "The Kite Runner." (A wonderful book, by the way -- about tradition and shame and redemption and good and evil. I highly recommend the audio version.)

On the vacation-knitting-planning front, I have found 2 sock patterns I want to knit with some of my nearly-solid stash. The first is Dipsy Doodle's Dunes of Tinfou socks. The second is Loksins from Too Much Wool. Lovely socks from both ladies.

Just a quick post, because it is very very late -- but I am just having too much fun! I can hardly stand it!

Things that are going very very well:

• Oldest son is learning to play guitar, and not only is he learning to play Stairway to Heaven, but he has also learned to tune the instrument -- truly a happy event.



• Daughter and I started piano lessons last week with a lovely, charming, patient but enthusiastic woman. Daughter is smitten, and practices every day without reminders.



• Middle son has begun to pace himself on the king kong ball.



• Oldest son and I tested for 1st degree black belt rank over the weekend -- and passed!

And on the knitting front:

• The back of Josephine is nearly complete, and my gage in the almost-stockinette stitch is looking wonderfully even.



• I am down to the toe decrease on the 2nd Jaywalker -- likely complete tomorrow night.



• The stubborn Iris has been ripped out and stowed until I am ready to deal with her again. (I wonder if she would really rather be a shawl?)



• And...I have discovered what Autumn wants to be.

Initial swatches of Autumn:

And the final swatch is where Autumn revealed herself at last:

She will become a short sleeve pull-over, with that lovely lace rib at the hem, along the the square neckline, and on the sleeve hems. Obviously it's machine knit -- I bought the yarn for machine knitting -- multi-color yarns need stockinette, and machines do stockinette best. Sometimes I do the edges by hand, but I did these on the machine and I think they look lovely, for once.