WIPs?

What WIPs?

My kids got out of school yesterday. To celebrate what I have always considered the real start of summer, I cast on a summery sweater with a summery yarn in a summery color.

This is going to be "Hey, Teach!" The yarn is some Rowan Summer Tweed in a color I think of as "bug guts green." I've had this yarn in my stash for years. Every time I've swatched with it, I've stuffed it back in the stash. I don't like knitting with it. It's a heavy worsted blend of cotton and raw silk. In other words, heavy, dense, no give, no memory, unpleasant to knit. But it does make a satisfying finished fabric and should wear extremely well with no pilling. The gauge and material are perfect for this project. And I am partial to bug guts green.

It has what I think may be the perfect amount of lace for me. More than, say, a garter stitch log cabin blanket, but less that, say an heirloom shawl. (For the record, I seriously considered knitting one of these for my friend's bridal shower gift way back when. In my defense, at that point I had never knitted a lace shawl and had no idea what I was in for. I can't tell you how glad I am I chose Icarus for that little adventure. And if you want to read about what a snarled saga that was, just search "Icarus" in my blog.)

And so the kids could also celebrate the first day of summer in appropriate fashion, I took the neighborhood boy pack to the local water park today. I'm not so much for water slides. I enjoy being cold and wet about as much as your average cat. But the kids love it, and this particular park is small and quite pleasant when it's not crowded. Today was an absolutely perfect day. The weather was gorgeous and there was practically no one at the park! We got the best lounge seats in the place, the music was great and played at a reasonable volume, the restrooms were clean, and there was no line for the grill. I came prepared to spend the day indulging in my personal favorite activities, with the bug guts sweater and some reading material:

Um. Yeah. I did take all of those. And two extra skeins of yarn, too. For five hours at the waterpark. Before you laugh, think about the knitting you packed for your last overnight trip, 'k?

I bought several of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books last year but haven't gotten around to reading them. Today I read "Knitting Workshop" cover to cover. It's not that long a book and there are lots of diagrams. Oddly enough, it was really enjoyable. I don't really like reading technical knitting stuff, but her voice is so charming and sensible that it's like listening to your favorite aunt talking. When I was finished, I knitted for a couple of hours, then started re-reading that Yarn Harlot book. In a family first, the kids had to convince me to leave the park.

Here's hoping everyone else is enjoying the beginning of summer as much as I am!