Lack of Forward Progress

Ahem. It appears that if you knit the Treeline Striped Cardigan as written, you end up with two front halves that are not the same widths. And if you're using a slightly larger stitch count, as I am, the difference is magnified.

Therefore, in an attempt to achieve some level of parity between my cardigan fronts, I had to rip out the yoke, rework the maths, and start again. I feel much more confident in this attempt.

Therefore, the progress picture you see will look almost identical to the last one, even though many days have elapsed. In my head, I would be finishing Treeline by now. Maybe next weekend.

I did get a lot of knitting done this weekend - we took a hiking trip in Catoctin Mountain Park and JT was kind enough to drive the whole way. (The dog slept.)

Here are some recent pictures of Sam. In the yard:

With Shrek, his new best friend. (He's in a stuffed-toy-shredding phase, so we've been hitting yard sales to find them cheaply. Shrek was $1, and instead of shredding him, Sam likes to nibble lovingly on his arms. It's hilarious!)

And, finally, with some peanut butter for letting us trim his nails. There was very little left in that jar, and it entertained him for close to an hour. You'd almost think he was spoiled or something.

Plugging Along

Yep, that's me. Plugging along alright. Or is it chugging along? Either way (or both), that's my state of mind. Working toward the finish line. Despite a decade of deadline-driven work, I'm finding that I actually am calmer and saner when I give myself ample time to finish something.

And with Treeline, there's no question that I'll be done in five weeks (eek!) for Rhinebeck. It helps that I was laid up on Friday after serious dental work, allowing for ample knitting time. (A tooth that has caused me trouble for many years is finally gone. And, magically, my jaw alignment problems also seem to have vanished.)

I've joined the sleeves to the body, and I'm well into the neck and yoke decreases.

There's plenty of yarn left, and I'm starting to wrap my mind around the edging. It even seems to fit when I slip it on, and I know it will loosen with blocking. In short, I have very high hopes for this sweater!

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Garden update: The heat and the lack of rain have taken an ugly toll.

That picture is from last Friday. The tomato plants have turned yellow-green, though they're still bearing fruit at a good clip. Saturday we had 3.25" of rain in about 12 hours, so they turned back to green-yellow. There are a lot of tomatoes still ripening, but I think the garden is generally nearing its end. If I were dedicated and resourceful I would sow fall crops, but I know I won't have the time to tend to them in coming weeks.

(Random weather aside: in all that torrential rain, our basement stayed completely dry, so the fixes we've implemented over the past year seem to be working. PHEW, and also, HURRAY!)

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Sam continues to get bigger - he's 46 pounds now! He continues to get a little bit more adventurous. We've been taking him to Jones Point, a popular place for dogs to swim. He loves to splash around, but he hasn't yet mastered the swimming.

JT will throw a stick out, but usually Sam waits for another dog to retrieve it, and then takes it from the other dog upon return.

Still, there's something so precious about a little dog in a big river. And one of these days, I know he'll figure out how to doggy paddle. Until then, it's fine with me if he doesn't venture too far.