Open house

Today I have a couple of friends from Skein coming over to have lunch and to knit for a while. I'd like to do this more often but it's a problem since when I'm available most everyone else is working. But Skein is closed for vacation so I'm home on a Saturday.

Of course it means that I have to pay more attention to my house cleaning duties. Ah, the futility of that! But it was good to get some of the things I put off for some other day done. It would help if I didn't have so many knick knacks sitting around. (That's mostly because I have no where else to store them.) And then there's all the knitting projects and the new yarn acquisitions. (I also don't have any more room to store these.)

So I didn't get to touch my knitting at all on Friday. That's probably a good thing is a way. I've been having some pains in my fingers and arms so a day away from the needles is a help. I try to take a break about every half hour and to do the recommended hand excercises. When I was a lot younger, actually even as recently as last year, I thought that all the fuss about hand pains was just silliness and that folks were exaggerating. Well, I'm here to tell you, it is real.

Lisa came over last night and we went to Dino's Italian. Hadn't been there for a while. It was so good to see Lisa again. Actually it's only been two weeks but it seems like months. Anyway, she now has the latest socks and I can start another pair. Or work on the black and white speckled ones that I've had going for a while. (Will they ever be done?)

I also need to start the next shop sample. A child's cardigan from the new Rowan Babies. All Seasons Cotton. Why does Kim Hargreaves make things so tricky? The sweater looks very straightforward in the picture but there's actually a lot of fussing around with shaping and handsewing. Usually I'd just change it but since it's a shop sample I need to follow the instructions fairly closely, except I refuse to sew shoulders together. Viva three needle bind off! Even if I have to do short rows.