My feet

We can all post photos of our new shoes on the web - its a sort of mini meme.

Edited to add that a meme is a sort of 20 questions that bloggers answer to reveal something about themselves - and then typically 'tag' one or more other bloggers to answer too. Since the only other blogger I know is Christina, and she has already posted pictures of her feet (see above) I have no one else to 'tag' unless Gill wants to start a shoe blog. Come to think of it thats probably a good idea...Gill?

Gaithersburg

I just returned from my week in the East and was glad to get home on so many levels. The class was good and enjoyable, and it was nice to catch up with (and meet) my colleagues. However, the weather was just horrid - hot and humid, and of course, I missed the boys.

Nigel seems to have coped admirably with my absence and the boys did not seem to have missed me (which is a good thing - right?).

There was some knitting content in my week - during the class I completed a large piece of uncomplicated, but secret, knitting. In the evenings I got this far with my sock.

I also spent an evening with the NoMoCo (North Montgomery County) Stitch and Bitch which was entertaining.

We were ready...

Update from Gaithersburg later...

Captain Hook

"Look Mummy, I'm Captain Hook"

Orange sweater finished

I finished my Rowan sweater. Im pretty pleased with it - although of course I put it on for the photo and immediately took it off and put it away for autumn. The only comment I have is that the sleeves were too short in the pattern. According to the picture this is not a 3/4 sleeve sweater, but the measurements indicated that they would only reach to below my elbows so I increased the sleeve length. I do think this is a common problem with Rowans styling of their photos - they are all very artistic, but dont actually reflect what the item will look like.

Camping

We went camping in Uvas Canyon last weekend. The park is lovely, if small, with delightful waterfalls and streams to play in. The campsite is also small - there were only about 6 other tents when we were there plus a cub scout camp at the group site. There are no showers which limits how long I would want to stay there - but otherwise its gone to the top of my favourite sites. No raccoons or skunks though (some might consider that a benefit).
Once nice thing was that, because the site was so quiet, we let the boys go off together which is really a first for them. They played some great games with sticks ( surprise).

Creativity (not mine)

Meredith made a vinegar and baking soda volcano with the boys.
They made the volcano out of papier mache, and then painted it. I think it looks terrific.
The boys were absolutely thrilled!

Shrinky dinks

...or my adventures in felting. In truth, I've never actually made shrinky-dinks, but Meredith brought them over for the boys yesterday so I will get to see them 'in action' from close up. (For the uninitiated Shrinky Dinks appear to be some sort of plastic/paper thing that you colour in, then bake, which shrinks the item - the boys will love it!).

Anyway Ive been shrinking wool - I know Ive done this unintentionally in the past, but now its fashionable to do this on purpose.

This is my second PC bag having made one for myself previously. This one is for Christina and was part of my pre-UK secret knitting.

Here is the bag before felting along with a sunglasses case I knitted with leftovers. Now, you see I included a ruler in my 'before' shot to show the effect of felting.
however, I didnt take an 'after' photo, so this is Christina's photo not including a ruler. Anyway, it shrank about 25-30% after felting.

you cant really see the details, but this did not shrink as evenly as my bag although they were both made in the same wool (Knitpicks Wool of the Andes). I think the shrinkage was less even because I made this bag bigger than mine. The pattern was from IK - I cant remember which issue, but they seem to have a felted bag in every issue anyway.

Its definitely summer now

This morning we went out to the Creek trail with the boys. This is the first time Adam has been out on the trail with us, on his own bike, and Fin's first time on the trail-a-bike. We did a tour of the lake then headed back for smoothies.
We spent the afternoon in the pool - literally all afternoon. We heated it (for a change) and the boys were in the water from 3-6pm. Even I got in for a swim!I think they were asleep before their heads hit their pillows...I imagine I might be the same way!

Progress and purchase

Progress has been made on the orange sweater. Its Rowan Chamomile from the Summer Tweed book. The summer tweed is a blend of 70% silk 30% cotton and was a gift from Christina for my birthday. It knits up thicker than I expected - but that means its quick. It's for me, but its probably going to be too heavy to wear for a few months as its now hot here.

This is the new purchase. Its Koigu premium merino and is intended for socks. The photo does not really do justice to the colour as its much more muted shade than shown here. Im planning to try the embossed leaves socks from IK Winter 2005 but will see if my knitting skills are up to it.

Finlay came with me to Knitting Arts as he was on a mission of his own. He spent all morning talking about needing to get his spaceship from Sunnyvale where it was apparently parked in a car park. I persuaded him that Saratoga was a good substitute and he happily came with me on the promise that we would go and search the car park.

We didnt find the spaceship (apparently orange and green, but containing a chemical that made it look like a car) but we did find the patch of oil from where it had blasted off, and heard it (although that may have been a Harley in the street). However, F was happy with this resolution and went home pleased with his discovery.

I was amazed that he maintained this fantasy basically all day without any input from anyone else except substituting Saratoga for Sunnyvale. We were getting afraid that we were going to have to actually go to Sunnyvale to stop him worrying about the spaceship!