Gone Fishing

Gads! I feel like I've dropped off the planet...and into that alien world of "Kids Home For Summer." Say it to yourself with that booming, echoing voice that one might hear on a weird old sci-fi flick, because it is in a sense, an alien invasion. Now I love my kids with all my heart, but I still have to work. From home. Then I decided to have my writerly website redesigned, sucking more time from my already pushed schedule. (Don't bother to go look, because the new site doesn't launch for another two weeks.)

Now usually this wouldn't be a problem, as I have help during the summer, our beloved and wonderful Jessica. But she decided to stay at college this summer much to the chagrin of the small pods, as well as their mother. It will help her graduate early, so I can't be too grumpy or whiny about it, but I am not getting to my usual fun things--like blogging here.

Okay, okay. Enough of the whining. Get to the knitting and the yarn.

I must admit that summer usually brings a lull to my knitting speed--especially when the thermometer hits over 80 and 90 like it did last week. Still there are two babies I need to knit for (one's arrived, a little girl, and the other one, also a girl, is still pending.) I've finished the back for the Aran cardigan I started for one of them.



And when we were down in Seaside, Oregon the other week, I found this skein of Socks that Rock and thought it might make a great EZ Baby Surprise Jacket.



So on my way back from Dallas this weekend, (yes, adding to everything else, I had to go to Dallas for four days) I cast on a Baby Surprise Jacket. I've been dying to do an EZ project and this one appealed to me, especially since the babies are popping out right and left. I loved these colors and thought they would make a fun and bright addition to a little lady's wardrobe.



I love the way the yarn is knitting up and of course STR is such great yarn to knit with, this has quickly become my favorite project.



I say that because four days before I went to Dallas, I decided I needed to make the Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug from Fitted Knits all in black. I mean, it was so very absolutely necessary. Do you ever have that happen? You HAVE to knit something? Yeah, I didn't think that happened to anyone else but me. Snort! So I found the yarn, cast on and began knitting like a crazy woman. I wanted to wear at least one thing that I'd knit, and it would have gone perfectly with my Saturday "outfit." But as you might have noticed, I said "would have."



I got to the last 6 rows of increasing and couldn't wrap my head or needles around the instructions. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep and too much coming and going that had me too frazzled to finish. So it came home in the suitcase like this:



From the little fish above and below, you might have noticed that I've also been struck by the Fishie craze. I knit these two fellows down in Seaside while we were there over the 4th. I thought I'd work through a box of various skeins of Brown Sheep worsted I got off of eBay--using it up to make some bright and fun fish and eventually put it together in an afghan for my dad, who is a huge fishing fanatic.



Like I don't have enough fish in the frying pan already.

So how do you cope with the kids home, heat waves without AC, and getting in some knitting?