There Has Been

knitting!  Yes, my friends, there has been knitting on this Independence Day weekend.  First up, I need to show you the progress I'm making on these two hats.  

They're a couple of the sockhead hats I've been working on, off and on.  Yes, it's a bit slow going, but I pick these up when I need a bit of no-pressure, mindless knitting.  The one on the left is being made with some of the yarn I bought at the thing in Oxford in January.  I can't remember what it is right off the top of my head, and I've lost the ball band.   

The one on the right is Forbidden Fiber Co in the now-discontinued Toasted Marshmallow colorway. 

I'm also making progress on the second Baby Surprise Jacket, and I'm liking the way these colors are knitting up. 

I think next time I go to the store, I'm going to get the Bitty Stripes in the red and pink colors, just in case someone has a girl some day.  

Funny thing, when I knit the first one, I said I wasn't enjoying it, but as soon as I saw how it went together, I suddenly wanted to do more.  Well, people are always having babies.  Someone will need them sooner or later. 

But before all of that knitting took place, I got up early this morning and ran the tiller over the garden spot a couple of times. 

The whole time I was doing it, I kept waiting for a neighbor to come complain about the noise waking them up.  If they did, I was going to say, "Like you kept me up until midnight shooting off fireworks?"  But my clever comeback went unused as no one complained.  People around here are pretty much all early risers anyway.  

I made a couple of passes over the whole thing, but mostly worked on getting that dirt away from the fence.  I'm making progress, but it's hard work, so I decided not to do any more until after the landscaper comes and finishes his thing.  With that in mind, I put my tiller and all my garden tools away, then got the last of the pieces of my raised bed out and put the water seal stuff on them.  

The last outside chore I took care of was to start cutting up some of these branches.  

I was making good progress, too, until the chain came off of my mini-chainsaw.  I took it as a sign.  

I put away my chainsaw, took a shower -- because I forgot to yesterday, but I suppose I shouldn't have told you that -- and settled in to watch TV and knit.  And with that, I was able to mark off almost everything on my list. 

 Face it, it was highly unlikely I'd have gotten the fence painted anyway, and cutting up those branches is an ongoing project, so I'm calling it done.   

And finally, we in the Fine Martial household are absolutely heartbroken by the horrific flooding in Texas.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those whose loved ones are lost, or still missing. It is for them that we sing:

Oh Christ whose voice the waters heard 

And hushed their raging at thy word

Oh hear us when we cry to thee

For those in peril from the sea.