Since all I've been working on is the Ugliest Sweater Ever, I vow not to show pics until The End. So, we'll get a few snaps of the garden in.

Let's start with the near-beginnging:


The Flower Garden Before


The Veggie (a.k.a. Tomato and Basil) Garden Before

And now for proof that the soaker hose is working. It's on a timer to facilitate our laissez-faire gardening style.


The Flower Garden Last Week


Night Shot of Echinacea (Purple Cone-flower)


My Favorites: Tiger Lilly


There's a Trickster in My Garden!


The Veggies are in Utter Pandemonium

Otherwise known as, if you live in Iowa City and want basil, email me.


Maters!

We already have way more tomatoes (and delectable, at that) than we did all summer last year! Caprese for all!


My Orchid

My pops got me a beeeeautiful orchid for my birthday. Here it is finally. It's owner is remembering to water it and care for it.


Don't Even Think about My Martini

Obviously the owner of the orchid is being watered and cared for as well.


Well Watered

You know, anything not to wilt in all of this heat. Carwash makes a mean martini. Those are my only feeble excuses. Forgive me.

Mrs. O's Update

Since I have no FO of my own to report today, and since my substantial progress this week has been on the Ugliest Sweater Ever*, I'm going to air the incredible nephew knitting of my sister-in-law, Mrs. O. Now, having no nieces/nephews/children of my own, the nephew knitting was for her sister's new arrival, Brodie. Mrs. O worked so hard on this sweater. She demanded nothing but perfection, and it shows in the results. Mrs. O's work on this sweater re-emphasized to me how thrilling it would be to have a niece/nephew to knit for: She knit tirelessly with fingering weight yarn on tiny needles (almost) without complaint. She knit staunchly on, through dog-induced adversity (there may have been tears). She started sufficiently in advance to have this ready for Brodie's arrival. For anyone less than a niece/nephew, this project may easily have been scratched for bluer skies at many points along the way. The buttons may not have needed to be so cute, the seams not so perfect. An aunt's job is important, and the joy of nephew knitting prevailed over difficulties encountered. Her effort has me duly impressed, and I have started a list in my mind of appropriate projects for that glorious day when I might start knitting for my own nieces/nephews. Ok, enough of the heavy-handedness (except to say "Take your folic acid!" to all potential niece/nephew producers). Here's Mrs. O's fine work.


Front of Brodie's Sweater

Sorry about my shadow.


Back

Ditto on the shadow, but would you look at that seam?!? I have never had seams as nice as Mrs. O's.


Closeup

Please take note of Mrs. O's custom labels, which are adorable. This is heirloom material people. The buttons just about did me in. So. Cute.


Sleeve

Last, but not least, a closeup of the sleeve, in which you can really see how the yarn stripes. It looks so good. There is not one speck of funky pooling on this sweater.

Pattern: I have no idea.
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Baby for Tahki Stacy Charles, Zarina Superwash Merino, color 4000 I think.

All guilt-tripping about wanting to be an aunt aside, though, I am really proud of my SIL for her impeccable work on this project. She's a great aunt, and will continue to be (I myself can only promise to be the aunt-that-is-weirder-than-their-parents, which I'm ok with; someone's got to do it). I'm even more proud of her for moving promptly on to knitting a felted bag for herself out of nothing less than Manos del Uruguay. What can I say, she has good taste.

*Believe me, the FO pics of this beast will be more than enough.

Whoa!

I haven't posted in almost a month! Unacceptable!
My excuses:
1. Vacation: Camping on north shore of Lake Superior. A few pretty pics and stories to come.
2. Internet was out for a week, rendering me completely dysfunctional and crabby.
3. I started rotations again with four weeks of surgical subspecialties = very early mornings and pretty long days.

There's knitting content though!


The New Knitting Queens


Reigning Over Knittingdom, One Stitch ('n' Bitch) at a Time

M and N came over a couple of weeks ago for quasi-supervised knitting. M (left) is knitting a totally badass scarf which an interesting stitch pattern and richly colored yarn. She knows how to knit and purl; now she's kicking it up a notch. N has many knitting projects behind her, but has never done socks. I helped her get a start on her first sock on two-circs. Both of these women are fantastic and interesting disproportionately to medical students at large, like every other med student knitter I know. I hope to see more of them as we all settle back into rotations.

Next up: Carwash's socks are finally done...


Nice legs


Not-so-scandalous, but oh-so-strange spontaneous bathtub shot

***Here I am sparing the readers from another bathtub shot that caught a poor glimpse of the socks and a great view of other bits and pieces, otherwise better left to the imagination. You're welcome.***

The details:
Yarn: Sock-It-To-Me Collection Colori in Cancun Fiesta from Elann.
Pattern: Simple Socks from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, no frills added by me.

I really like how these socks came out, and so does he. I like the pooling. It's Muppet-ty or something.

More details a few posts back, if you want them.

As far as other WIPs are concerned:
1. Sock pal socks are cast-on, but only one row has been knit: not update worthy. I need a little break from socks before diving into these with gust.
2. Mary Ella: taking a little break to focus on some long-neglected items.
3. The Ugliest Sweater Ever: I started this a couple years ago out of Homespun (blech) when I needed a practice project to get back into knitting. I am finishing it now for closure, and because I've finally gotten to the interesting part, and I want to clear out some space in my stash.
4. An afghan that I knit in one million squares in 1999 and still need to seam together. Also for closure, space in stash, and because I think I'll actually like it when it's done.
5. I finished the Ribbed Shrug from Interweave, but now I can't find it to take pics. It's nice, though! It's in Limon (green) of Paton's Katrina.I'll show it when I find it.

More soon!

p.s. What's with the numbered lists today?!?