Knitting and ...Stuff

So, yeah, I did not sleep well at all last night, what with tossing and turning and sweating and freezing-- and dreaming of pledging the flag and singing the National Anthem over and over and over, then not even getting to ride the pony-- my brain is not fully functioning today.

Not sure how coherent this post is going to be.  But here it is nevertheless...

Let's start off by showing you the progress I've made on Kyle's blankie.

I've got the third row done, but have set it aside to work on my sock.  Before we move on to that, here is an artsy fartsy shot of the blankie.

Lovely, huh?  Now, on to the sock.

As you can see, I've made it past the heel turn, and have picked up the gusset stitches.  Unfortunately, the gussets are my least favorite part of the sock-- which is probably why I haven't knit a stitch on it in two days.

I must get back to work on it, though, as my old socks are starting to wear out at an alarming rate.  But, given that they are all in the 5 - 6 year old area, it shouldn't be such a surprise.

I'm having just as much trouble getting inspired to work in the flower bed, too.  Because it's been so chilly and wet --really, really wet-- this spring, I just haven't gotten in to it.  Even my little plants are struggling.

My dahlias are dying, and I think they just drowned.  Yes, it's been that wet.  These two are completely dead.

So, yesterday, I got out there and pulled them up.  I replaced them with this double profusion zinnia-- which I finally found some of. 

I'd looked all over for them when I was planting my flowers, but nobody had them then. But, yesterday, I found them at Wal-Mart, of all places.  But it looked like I was going to have to settle for an all orange garden when I found these:

Lantanas in pink and yellow.  I got two of them, so far.  My remaining two dahlias aren't looking so sporty, and if they go ahead and die, I'll get two more lantanas.  My grandma always had these in her flower bed, and believe it or not, I remembered them by the smell. 

If you read my blog last year, you may remember that I had planted 6 purple coneflowers.  Well, only three of them came back this year, and one of those is struggling. 

But look!  One of them has a flower on it!  Kinda pale, but still a flower.

So, that's it for tonight's incoherent post.  I think I'm going to go to bed early and read for a little bit.  I'm reading The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown.  I know there's been a lot of controversy about the book, but it was a freebie, and I decided to reserve judgement until I'd read it for my self.

I'm also reading American Sniper: The Chris Kyle Story.  I'm really enjoying it, so far, but fair warning-- he was a Navy man, and cussed like a sailor.  If you can get past that, I think you'd really enjoy it.