Ribbit, Ribbit

My mother and father went out shopping yesterday afternoon and came home with things to help "spruce things up" a bit on our favorite summertime living spot--our deck. Apparently this summer will be spent in celebration of frogs, or toads (which really do live on our deck in the summer), or whatever one chooses to call those hippity-hoppity little croaking creatures that knitters all know as Ribbits (aka Rip-its). My mother can bring home some dorky things on occasion, but this time she struck a home run as far as I'm concerned! I now have my own personalized froggy to stand watch over the frog pond.And since I've been spending a fair amount of time at the frog pond with the Spring Things Shawl project, I decided it was only fitting that I take a picture of the Mr. Ribbit with the a few of the cast-offs from the SpringThing (yeah, there were more).


I would like to blame all my problems with the SpringThing on being cognitively compromised by the Big D, but then I would be abdicating all responsibility for its failure and that wouldn't be fair. After all, mature people accept responsibility for their mistakes and imperfections. So I went through 3 needle sizes, four different yarns, and algebraic numbers of swatches/restarts and was about to give up in disgust when I got this bright idea. Not too bright, mind you, as all the other ones seemed pretty bright too, but this one said go back to the White Zephyr and knit the design as written (I had been improvising in my last several rescue attempts) using a 3.25mm needle this time. I'm up to the 5th repeat on chart A and I think I can live with it this time. I won't ever be in love with the lace pattern in chart A, but I'm sufficiently motivated by the $6.50 I shelled out for the pattern and the border lace design to knit on through the first section. It's not difficult to knit, or even remember the pattern sequence, so that helps. I figure in 2-3 days I'll be on to the better part. It better be better or I might lose it >:o(


What *is* better are the Lilac Socks. I've just turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches on the 2nd sock, so it's pretty smooth sailing from here on out. I'll post **great** photos using my **great** new digital camera once the socks are done and on my little tootsies. I'm having a good time tinkering with my camera. I took an amazing close-up photo of my first peony blossom this afternoon and the finished pix was perfectly focused before editing. Just wait till I turn in my last paper on Monday, then I'm headed to the Smokies to capture the spring wildflowers with my new toy. Graduating is a good thing in more ways that one ;-)