Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Not Sick Enough to Stay in Bed but Not Really Well

It's really hard to figure out an upbeat blog post when you're on Day 5 of some sort of flu.  Happily I don't have the nausea part, unfortunately I have the other part.  Pepto is my friend.

Focusing on complicated or even varying knitting instructions is beyond me so I've not knitted a stitch on the Hempathy Brambling shawl.  I got the Helical Sock Sock out a couple times over the weekend only to end up sleeping with it in my hands.  Feeling a bit better yesterday I worked on the sock only to discover that I'd dropped a stitch off the end of a needle about 5 rounds back.  Arrrgh.  But I nabbed the errant stitch with a little crochet hook, knitted my way to the spot where it belonged, then unknitted a stitch and hooked both of them back up and into their rightful places.  I wouldn't have noticed it for rounds and rounds but I'd decided that being halfway to the toe I should rearrange the stitches so that I wasn't in danger of putting the toe on sideways or something.  There were 16 stitches on two needles and 15 on one.  Uh-oh.  But glancing down there was a tiny tell-tale loop of yarn about a half-inch down so I sprang into action, and I didn't even swear--out loud.  Rearranging the stitches meant that the yarns were hanging off the middle of the needles instead of at the ends.  Not good.  So I set about knitting one extra stitch at each yarn switch (so that there was only a tiny, one stitch carry behind it) until I got the yarns to where I want them.  I felt pretty clever, still do.




We had birds visiting this morning.  When I first looked up there was a pair of goldfinches on this feeder but the less bright one flew away before I got a shot of the pair.



Then this male Downy Woodpecker came for a snack.  Isn't he handsome?










 
Oh!  I keep meaning to show you.  I got stopped by the first freighter of the season about a week ago.  That must mean that all of the Great Lakes ports are open.  I do love seeing the big boats even if they do sail right down across the road I want to drive on.

April 18--Anonymous, Officer of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment.

He looks so aristocratic
in his bicorne hat
with its feathered cockade
beaded and beribboned.
The Double Eagle plaque
on his breastplate
signifies his fealty.
His slight smile,
shining eyes,
firm jaw convey
not hauteur
but pride.
~~~~~

Too bad nobody knows who he is or who painted him.  He's very handsome and heartbreakingly young.  Well, it was sunny and now it's all cloudy and gray.  It's kinda chilly too.  I'll be doing laundry for the rest of the day and sitting knitting.  Bah.  I hate feeling sick and I especially hate feeling sick for more than a day or two.
--Barbara

1 comment:

Aunt B said...

That sock looks incredibly complicated -- and picking up a stitch sounds even more complicated. No wonder I never could learn to knit. Hope you're feeling better by the time you read this.