Sunday in August

This is about the time when it hits children that the summer is coming to an end and that school is about to start again. It's a special time of year, either sad or happy, depending on how you feel about school. The feeling can last for life, resurfacing each year around this time.

Frankly, I had mixed feelings about school - I cycled between dread and happy anticipation. Come mid August, my garden looks more grey than green to my eyes, a little deflated, but there are still some striking blooms, and there are scads of tomatoes and cucumbers on the vine. Time to make gazpacho.

In knitting, I have been alternating between 2 projects, a second Garter Stitch Catharina and a second Noro Swing Jacket. The GS Catharina is almost finished and looking like it's supposed to look.

The Noro Swing Jacket has me sweating bullets, however. I can't believe that I've been stitching so mindlessly!

I knit the two fronts and the entire back in the largest size with Noro Retro. It's an Aran weight yarn!! And only now do I look at it and see that it's going to have a finished bust measurement 6 full inches bigger than planned!

Yes I swatched. I thought that if I used a 4.5 mm needle instead of a 5mm, it would cancel out the fact that the yarn is thicker than the one called for in the pattern. Ha ha, yeh, yeh, yeh. That's 2 weeks of lunch time knitting gone to waste. If the yarn weren't so lovely to work with, I think I'd just chuck it and start something else.

Nevermind. The countryside still beckons. Here is Canadice Lake, which the city of Rochester has just sold to New York State. A pristine lake such as this, unembellished by cheek by jowl houses and speed boats is a rare thing here. Let's hope it stays this way.

Judging by what I've seen on recent walks, there is a bumper crop of mushrooms in the woods for those who care about such things.