FO: Chevron Scarf...and a whole lot of excuses

I realize I owe y'all some actual knitting, and despite my lack of blogging, I have been knitting, so let's get right to the FO, shall we?

This is my Chevron Scarf, which I started about two years ago. Apparently, I am not a scarf knitter. This one would probably have sat for another two years without any further attention from me, except that Suzanne blogged about her new Signature needles and showed them in use with a Chevron Scarf, and I am nothing if not corruptible. My excuse for ordering a pair of my very own was that the only size 3 needle I had was a 40" Addi circular, and knitting a 6" wide scarf on it was driving me crazy (I know, I know...it's not a very long trip). But the theory seems to have been correct, since once the Signatures arrived, I finished this long-suffering UFO in a couple of days. It's not very long, since I only had one skein of Koigu and one of Fly Designs Monarch, but since I'll probably never have a reason to wear it, the length doesn't really matter. It goes perfectly with my brown faux lamb coat--which I'll probably also never have a reason to wear. (Gotta love the land of eternal summer.)

Now for the excuses. You may have noticed my lack of blogging. Mostly I'm just lazy. But there have been some extenuating circumstances. Such as, I got a new laptop! No, not a Mac, although I considered it. I got a Sony Vaio. I used to have one, and I loved it, but when it was time for a new one, I got an HP. It worked. Sort of. But I've had it for three years, and it was starting to fall apart. Literally: the hinge on the top broke and now it can't be opened or closed, which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. Also, there is a short in the screen, so that it only gives a picture if the screen is opened to exactly the right spot. It if moves while in use, the picture disappears. This is a little scary when you're in the middle of putting together a gazillion forms and documents and you're not quite sure when you last hit "save". Much as I love the new computer, it takes time to install applications and move files, and...well. You understand.

Second, the kids have been busy, ergo, I have been busy. Some of it has been not so much fun, but some of it has been great. Like this:

That's Younger Son on the left, intently setting up his team's Lego robot to compete in the regional FLL qualifying tournament. (In case you're not interested in clicking the link, FLL stands for "FIRST Lego League," which is an international engineering competition for 9-14 year old kids. They use the Lego Mindstorms robot kit to build robots to complete a variety of preset tasks. They also have to come up with and present a unique project to a panel of judges based on a given theme, which was "smart move" (future transportation). They are judged on robot performance, robot design, teamwork, and presentation. At the end of the day, awards are given in a variety of different categories, the finale being the presentation of trophies to the three teams that earn the highest total points.) There are about 15,000 teams internationally, with about 200 in California. There were 22 competing this day; the top teams qualify for the state competition, which will be held next month at Legoland California. Younger Son's team consists of nine 9-10 year olds. They've been working on their robot and project for several hours a week for the past couple of months. They have awesome coaches and are sponsored by BAE Systems. And I guess it paid off:

Here they are at the end of a very long day, collecting their awards!

They took second place for Robot Design, and first place in the overall competition! They were so excited. They were also exhausted, as the day began before dawn and went until 5 pm. Now they have three weeks to recover before the next competition.

And that brings me to my third excuse for poor blogging performance, which may be a little startling to those of you suffering through storms and cold weather. This is the peak of fall gardening season here in San Diego. I love to garden. Although spring is my favorite season, there is definitely something to be said for fall, with its cooler temperatures after a long, hot summer, and the chance to clear out all the summer overgrowth. This year, there was even more to do, since the puppies ate my entire yard over the summer, and we had the pool redone and built a deck. After several weeks of work, I've got it just about under control:






This is one of those times when I really appreciate living here. Because, really, how many people can do this in the backyard in the middle of November?