Out and About

Here's my progress on the Kevät sweater.

Kevät means "Spring" in Finnish, but I doubt I'll "finish" it before Summer, as that season will soon be here. If it doesn't look as if I've made much progress this week  it's because I ended up frogging eight rounds. I found out when communicating with my DIL who is making the same sweater that there was supposed to be a repeat of Rounds 1-14, as plainly indicated on the chart...in red. (See photo)

If you can't see the red line between Rounds 14 and 15 on the chart, it's because I printed the instructions in B&W. Here's how it's supposed to look.

I've been having a difficult time reading the chart anyway, because the background for the chart is so dark. Now I've enlarged the chart and printed it again, with the line for the repeats filled in. Fortunately, the top part of the chart starts out the same as the repeated section, so I didn't have more rounds to frog. Now I'm almost back to where I started.

It has been a busy week, with the camping trip to Suttle Lake. We had a good time, although it was very cold at night. We have two new batteries now, so we were able to run the heater as needed during the night.

We took the dog stroller around the lake when we hiked the trail. It's about 3 1/2 miles. Rocky walked nearly 2 1/4 miles of it, although broken up by a couple of periods of riding in the stroller.

Imagine our surprise when we notice another stroller coming towards us! As they got closer, we saw that the stroller also held a dog. We had a nice chat with the dog's two-leggeds.

We returned home on Thursday and spent a couple of days unloading the trailer and doing laundry.

Most of Saturday afternoon was taken up repairing the gate to our backyard. DH needed someone to hold the gate upright while he reinstalled the bolts, which didn't want to go through all three holes...because they weren't lined up properly. It was difficult to line them up, because we couldn't see the hole in the post between the two pieces of wood. Eventually it worked, but it was a very tedious process.

We have ordered a daybed and a smaller table for my workroom, so it can double as a guest room, besides being a cozy place to work. The mattress pads have already arrived.

Sunday WE WENT TO A REAL IN-PERSON PARTY!!!! It was an end-of-the-year get-together. It was for the choir members and their spouses. It's strange to have a party to celebrate the end of a year like the one we have had. There were people I had only met during Zoom sessions and others I hadn't seen at all for a year. Everyone was vaccinated, and it was outdoors, so it was very safe. Our hosts both sing in the choir. The husband has a Finnish Goshawk, which he brought out to show off. He uses his bird to hunt rabbits, but since the bird only weighs about 1 1/2 lbs, he doesn't bring back the local rabbits, which are 7-8 lbs. each. He just tags them and flies off, sort of like keeping score or like the falconer's version of catch-and-release. This was the only photo I took during the delightful afternoon and evening.

Our peonies are blooming. We brought this one inside to keep us company.

Where's my blog: As you may know, the entity that notifies people when a blog they follow posts will discontinue notifications in July. This motivated me to link my blog to Bloglovin', as I did some time ago with The Doll's Storybook. If you are following my blog want to continue following after July, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Kevät sweater (see above), the Brioche Shawl Feathers shawl and the new dish mat.

What's on my sewing machine: Waiting.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Best Buds." Billy and Emil are best friends, but they enjoy the company of the girls, too.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer on Chirp. While we were camping, we also listened to one episode of The Cisco Kid, complete with commercials from back when we were kids. Just downloaded The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, a new author for me, from Audible.

What's in my wine glass: Radford Dale Nudity 2018 Syrah Voor Paardeberg with no added sulfites, very nice!

What's my tip of the week: A basil plant prefers 80-90ºF, some direct sun every day and standing water around the roots to be fully happy, but as long as the temperature doesn't go below 50ºF or the plant is put into an insulated bag or box or covered up with a blanket (with something holding the blanket away from the leaves), it will survive.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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