A little update, and another Beautiful Shawl!

Okay, the verdicts seem to have come in. It sounds a lot like on-line relationships have just as much chance of working out as any ordinary, run-of-the-mill, met at the office sort of relationships. There have been some wonderful success stories, and some that have flamed out. I stand corrected, and I see that sometimes they do work. Good on ya, guys.

My husband had his birthday yesterday. Time is racing by me lately, but we made it with the party and the presents! He is dedicated lately to solving the energy crisis, so there were a lot of gifts around the "Here's some money for your experiments and the odds and ends you need to carry them out" theme. I love that he's doing small projects at home to create energy. I don't feel like there's time to even think lately, myself, but that might be a side effect of being home with three little people so much, day after day. The other night, I met the hubby at the door, and said, "Good luck. They're crazy today." Then I went to the beach for an hour of quiet knitting. It was really refreshing, but when I got home, I could see it wasn't quite long enough. I walked in the door, the babe was crying in the crib, the husband was trying to medicate a nervous dog, and the older kids were trying to get their teeth inspected when he was working with the dog. It was a near thing that I didn't just ease back out the door before I was spotted.

Here's another shawl pic, this one by LaurieM from Issues with Knitting. The pattern is Frost Flowers and Leaves, and isn't it a beautiful shade of red? Sweet knitting, Laurie! Isn't this picture just inspiring? I am loving seeing everyone's work on this KAL. Fun, fun.



If you want to see someone knitting with a sock machine, check out this site. This fellow just started his blog, and I've never seen anything like this invention. Go give it a look if you have a chance. He's knitting socks with a hand-crank machine which looks just so cool. You know everyone on my list would be getting socks if I had one of these. It is really sweet looking. Who knew something like this even existed? He shows pictures of how he changes colors and makes ribbing, but I don't get how he turns the heel. Don't worry, I asked him to explain, so come look again after this first time. Then tell me - how neat is that???

I am so, so close to finishing my shawl. I believe I'll do the fiber drawing as soon as I finish mine, which is just a few rows away. Then, my first blocking attempt! I'm not sure which room is going to give up its original purpose when I get to the blocking stage, but I suspect the husband and I will be sleeping on the couch, while the shawl dries on the bed. Just a first guess, but who knows? This is a totally foreign land to me.

Happy Fourth of July - Independence Day here in America. We'll be spending it avoiding parades and playing at mom's. (Hi Mom) Thank heavens she is throwing a bash, because the Fourth snuck up on me just as quickly as my husband's birthday. I think that's why I'm up in the middle of the night. It's the only time of day that time seems to move normally anymore.