Not the plague

It's wonderful what a day of being horizontal will do for you! I figure, if I didn't need the rest, I wouldn't have slept so much. Oh my LORD it felt good! So, though I still have the lump under my ear and the itchy swelling behind it, my bones no longer ache and the guy that was using the inside of my skull for a steel drum orchestra has moved out.

Knitting, by the way, has been going on. I have long lusted after one of those great circle sweaters that wrap generously and pin together wherever you fancy. Usually they are done in a lace stitch or something complicated. I wanted something to do during the Writer's Conference - so complicated was right out. Instead, I crocheted a center, picked up stitches all around, and used Zimmerman's Pi Are Square formula. The center is knitted with the pink yarn I bought in Australia. People were going nuts over it. Especially since I could carry the yarn inside the knitting and thus, stand and knit while I was doing crowd-control duties. But when I got to the final increase, I couldn't fit it all onto a single circular needle, and things are just too big to tote around any more. I am using three 26 inch circular needles to knit 48 rows of 480stitches. I'm up to row 14. You can see where that increase started because that's where I ran out of the Australian yarn. I am edging it with Lorna's Laces DK weight held with a single strand of plum-colored fingering weight wool( the two balls of yarn closest to the center). And every third row, I use a skein of handspun merino I worked up (the ball of yarn that's trying to be camoflaged there to the lower left of the circle.) It takes me about an hour to knit 480 stitches. I watched Top Hat with Fred Astair and Ginger Rodgers yesterday while knitting. Oh, the glamor!

But now I'm up and about and cleaning house for the knitters' tea. Heide very kindly suggested going pot-luck, but I'd like to save that for the October knit-in since I will be returning from a trip to LA just a few days before 9th. LA abrades my very soul. It is not good to bake when you are feeling spiritually sand-papered. I can clean the house, but October might be the time for a pot-luck. Either that, or I hit the cookie aisle at the grocery store. "Oreos and Nutter Butters for all. You want fruit? Here's an apple. You'll have to peel it yourself. DH won't let me have sharp tools till I get my mental balance back."

So really, it's time to sweep, mop, and set the table. Setting the table is the carrot that gets me through the housework. Oh Boy!