The Field Report, and Spring Forward

I'm having the vapors here- we're leaving around 5:00am tomorrow, but having a family reunion picnic here this evening (the timing is maybe not ideal, but it was the only time my husband and his 3 surviving siblings could get together, so tonight it is. And here works better than us trying to go somewhere else and still get back and pack and clean and organize, and go crazy).

But I did take time this morning to snap a soybean picture. We have had rain and storms almost every day this week, and the beans are growing like weeds (so are the weeds). Unless someone e-mails me a pic of the field, I won't have a pic next week, or the Thursday afterward. The field should be pretty amazing by the time we get back (unless it gets hailed out, which is amazing too, but for a totally different reason).

I also took a pic of the spring wheat that was planted on the Turtle Creek oxbow penninsula behind our property. It's starting to turn, and will probably be harvested by the time we get back.

In the little free time I've had lately, I did finish one Spring Forward sock and got the other cast on. I don't know if I will take it with me because I can't knit lace and talk (or gaze out the car window) at the same time. As easy as this pattern is (and it don't hardly get any easier), I had to tear out a row on Tuesday because I got so wound up in Phil and Keith arguing over stacked pots on Deadliest Catch, that I forgot a YO rnd. I doubt I'll be able to keep up with it on vacation.

So, tomorrow night, if all goes well and the motel has wi-fi, I'll post from Belgrade, MT. And from Portland, OR on Sunday (the selfsame place I will fly back to, about a week after we get back home). See all y'all on the flip, and I'll check in as I can.

It's the little things

Blog commenter Kathy Sue pointed out something I'd never noticed before- the two clocks on the tower at the grocery store in my town are not synchronized. I pass by them nearly every day, and had never noticed that. Even after looking at 30 parade pics, I didn't notice it. Now, I will never stop seeing it...

The details on the Spring Forward socks are coming along- I'm well into the foot of the first sock, and still loving the pattern.

The *I need it right away* gift sock is coming along well too. It needed to be plain-ish, and yet still fun, so I decided to make it Reverse Stockinette. I'm knitting it plain vanilla, but after the ribbing, I turned it inside out and am continuing on that way. Here it is, wrong side out.

And right side out. Cool, no?

And this little photo, from LolDogs ( http://ihasahotdog.com/ )made me laugh out loud. The little things make me happy.

Spring Forwarder

I tried to get pictures of the truly wonderful fireworks display from last night (for a small town, they do a bang-up job... heh...) but I couldn't get the flash to shut off, even in *night mode*. Besides which, my timing was off totally. By the time I snapped the shutter, the sparklies had faded. But it was really pretty. So were the fireflies. We see them occasionally here, but they were out celebrating in force last night.

In between bouts of cleaning (company coming and leaving for vacation- both demand a cleaner house than I usually live with comfortably), I've been working on the Spring Forward socks (from Knitty- I can't seem to get links to embed, but type Spring Forward Sock Pattern into any search engine, and you'll find them). I cannot say how much I love this lace pattern- it's extremely easy (a combo of 2 different YO rnds, with plain rnds in between) and yet looks very complicated. It suits this yarn (Decadent Fibers Savory Socks) and colorway (not sure the name- but it's lovely and subtle mottled blue-greens) perfectly. This is Pair #4 for the Sock Summit. That will make a new pair of socks for each day, and I could stop now, but I'd sort of like a pair for the Sock Hop too. We'll see how that goes, since I realized that I needed another pair of gift socks pronto, so I'll be casting on a fairly plain pair in Plymouth Yarn's Happy Feet today too (no pic of the yarn, but it's very pretty variegated greens with a bit of raspberry thrown in).

But mostly, I'll be cleaning. Again. Some more.

Before the Parade

If there is a parade today, that is. We got 1.34" of much needed rain yesterday (we measure our rainfall in increments of hundredths of inches)- it was a lovely, gentle, cool rain, with no storms. But this is a holiday weekend, with many munincipal outdoor festivities planned, and though we need the rain, it could have come on Thursday, or Wednesday with the same benefit.

This morning, it's still cloudy and there are intermittent droplets, but no storms predicted until later this afternoon. I think the parade will probably go on, even though much of our main thoroughfare is torn up for the installation of new sewer pipes (talkaboutcher mud). I'll head uptown with camera and get some pics of old fire trucks, marching soldiers, and combines. There is no Cow Pie Bingo slated at the 4-H Fairgrounds, unfortunately, but there is a new thing called a Treasure Hunt, whereby coins and prizes have been hidden in a sandbox for the kids to find. That should be interesting, especially after the rain.

In the meantime, I finished the Twisted Leftover Mitered Cuff Socks and am totally enthralled with them, and very glad that these are mine, all mine (pair #3 for the Sock Summmit). And I started the Spring Forward socks, from Knitty ( http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/PATTspringforward.html ). Karen and Mary (Procrastination Diary and Knit Geekery in the links to the right) both mentioned this pattern recently, which reminded me that it was on my To Knit List. This is a wonderfully easy lace pattern that looks far more complex than it is. I'm using Decadent Fibers Savory Sock Yarn (link in Stash Enhancers) and size 1 needles (the pattern needs 66 sts, so the smaller size needles are necessary, in order to keep the sock a manageable size).

But we're leaving on vacation in a week, and have company coming the few days before that, so what I really need to do is clean. And go to a damp 4th of July Parade.

p.s. and once again, I cannot get a link to embed. Sorry.