Happy Camper

Ah, summer has finally started for me. April, May, and June are mostly a blur -- too many things (all good) packed into a short time and sometimes one directly on the heels of another. It started with back-to-back conferences at the beginning of April and ended with back-to-back trips in the past two weeks. First to PA, then to camp in Western Massachusetts with my siblings (all but one) on our annual trip to hear/see Prairie Home Companion's broadcast at Tanglewood.

I've been listening to PHC since I first lived in Montana in 1983. Yep, that's a long time. And I still consciously organize my Saturday evening around the program whenever I can (it is great knitting time!). One of my sisters has been going to see the show at Tanglewood for over 10 years, but we've just been going the past three. One of my favorite parts is the sing-along that takes place after the show -- usually over an hour of old songs and an audience of geeks who can sing in parts, not to mention know all the words of songs from folk to hymns to 50's pop. I felt as if I was in the company of hundreds of really nice people.

This was our group on the lawn of Tanglewood at the show, using umbrellas for shade this year, instead of for rain:

From there, we went to RI to visit DH's family, including relatives from Georgia, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Maine. We were only missing two grandchildren, one being my son in Pennsylvania. Papa D provided us with a feast -- lobster on Sunday and a clam boil on the 4th of July. And, lots of time sitting out on the deck, knitting and chatting. My favorite observation was all of the grandchildren, and members of the older generation who had smart phones (not me, alas) spent hours playing Words With Friends together. If we'd pulled out a Scrabble board, no one would have shown any interest at all, but they literally played this game for hours. I got to participate by suggesting words -- one of the benefits of an English major is a fairly broad vocabulary.

I managed to finish the Bitterroot Shawl just before leaving for the trip (photos when I block it) and decided to try to squeeze a small size one out of the yarn that is left. I'm nearly through to the last graph with about 30 rows to go, but am not sure if I'm going to be able to complete it as patterned. I'm happy to keep knitting, though, and see how close I get. Then I'll back up and take a section out if I think that will work. I'd like to use up some of the beads, though, and can always give this as a gift as it will be more like a scarf than a shawl.

I also got a substantial amount done on the back of my Isla cardigan. The String Theory Caper Sock yarn is gorgeous and feels delicious while knitting. Everyone who saw me working on it commented on the colors (Rose Collage - I don't see it on their site at the moment) and I'm really liking the way the colors blend with no pooling. I started out by putting the decreases and increases about 1/3 of the way in from each side, but didn't like the way it looked, so ripped back and moved them 25 stitches in from each side. It looks a lot better. This was a suggestion of Amy Herzog in our Fit to Flatter class, that the fitting details may work better if they aren't just done along what becomes the side seams. I had to stop, however, because I'd left my Fit to Flatter notebook at home and couldn't remember the length measurement we'd decided was just right for me and didn't want to go too long before starting the sleeve/shoulder decreases.

I came home from RI on my own on Tuesday so I could work a couple of days this week. I've got a day at home today before I go retrieve DH from his week in Newport (which included more time with his brother from Georgia, a Red Sox game, and a bike trip around the island, visiting all of his old haunts). Most of the day will be devoted to tackling lots of the things that get neglected when we're busy. I've already updated the checkbook and paid bills. Last night's task was cleaning off the sideboards in the kitchen where a number of piles of things had accumulated. This morning I've already sorted through the stuff on the dining room table - mostly mail and bills. I need to do some work in the garden -- our peas desperately need something to climb. And, I ought to clean the refrigerator since it is fairly empty after our being away so much the past two weeks. Basically, I'll be puttering around all day -- my favorite kind of day!

So, this post started with my describing a happy camping trip, and ends with me being a happy camper. And here is my DH, who is usually a pretty happy camper himself: