Happy Furry Friday, Again

Huh. Just when I think everything is going ok, something comes along to throw a monkey wrench in the works. I posted earlier this week that I was going to go to Joann Fabrics and get a blocking board to block my shawl. Later on that day, while running some errands, I noticed my car was having problems. My transmission was shifting like crazy while I was driving home, and by the time I was five blocks from home, I was doing 25 miles an hour, which was all I could do, and the car was roaring like crazy. I DID manage to get home and into my driveway. Called my friendly local transmission place, and they picked up the car for me. Fortunately, it was not a major repair, but it did mean I was without a car for a few days. Got it back today, and ran a bunch of errands I had to do, including going to Joann Fabrics. Guess what I forgot? Right. The blocking board. How aggravated am I right now? Aargh. I don't want to go out that way again for a few days, so I am going to have to wait.

In the meantime, I am knitting like crazy on my Clapotis. Even though I switched to smaller needles, this is going to be one big shawl. I am working on the 10th repeat of the straight section, and every time I drop a stitch, the shawl gets wider. I'm
only on the fourth ball of Silk Garden, though. I love the way this yarn feels. I've seen a lot of discussion on the Ample knitters says this yarn is scratch, but honestly, I can't believe how soft it is. It feels wonderful on my shoulders.

Last night, I swatched for a new pattern I just bought from Knit and Tonic. It's called Something Red, but I am making it in blue. Blue Lion's Brand Cotton Ease, to be exact. I never thought I would hear "Lion Brand" coming out of my mouth, but here it is. And, to my surprise, this knitted up into a beautiful swatch. I forgot to take a picture of it, but unless this yarn does something godawful when it's washed, I think this is going to be a very nice sweater, and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it. And, another surprise. I'm also going to swatch it in Red Heart's TLC, which is 50% cotton and 50% acrylic, similar to the Cotton Ease, and see how I like it. I don't want to use a wool for this, and I don't want to use 100% cotton, because I don't like what 100% cotton does after wearing (stretching and sagging!), so I'm trying something different.

I also want to continue working on "Audrey", but I'm going to wait until the end of the Amazing Lace to do that.

In the meantime, I am enjoying our beautiful summer weather. What happened to Global Warming? Not that I miss it. I haven't had our central air on in days. Wednesday was wonderful, yesterday was a mite humid, and today is incredible. The high temp is only about 80, no humidity, perfect blue sky, puffy white clouds. And, it's supposed to last through the weekend, at least. I can't remember when we've had such a nice August. While I'm enjoying today, I do have to work this weekend, which means I'll be sleeping through the days. Oh, well. Fall is on it's way.

And, last but not least, a Furry Friday picture of my computer supervisor, Megan. I've had Meggie since she was three days old. The litter consisted of her, her brother Cal, and two other kittens who died shortly after we rescued them. I thought all four of them were dead when I got them. They were cold and not moving. A few hours on a heating pad brought them around, but the two weaker kittens could not survive the combination of cold, and not eating. Meggie's brother Cal still lives with us, as does she, but Cal recently lost an eye to cancer. So far, he seems to be doing well. We're keeping our fingers crossed for him.