We finally have had some rain and you can almost hear the plants sighing in relief. It was so dry that even the weeds were lying on the ground. Literally. The weeds have since perked up … something that I’ve never noticed before. The lake is about a foot lower than usual, too. We are in a drought here in Maine and we worry about our well when this happens. Crossing our fingers and toes that we get enough water between now and winter.

I don’t know what it is about the end of summer but I don’t want to finish any of the projects I have on the needles. I only want to cast on new projects so I’ve hit a bit of a knitting mojo slump. I’m not sure if my fall depression/seasonal affective disorder is setting in again as the days get shorter or if I’m suffering burnout from my volunteer jobs but something is going on but I’m not a fan. So I force myself to do some work in the house that I don’t want to do and I allow myself the grace to do nothing more than that and to rest. Time will tell – I could feel lots better if the sun was out.

So, let’s talk about knitting, shall we?

I’m forcing myself to finish the projects that I have in progress. My Alton Cardigan (below) has been in time out for what seems like forever. I finally picked it up today and am going to make a supreme effort to get the sleeves finished and knit the button band so I can be finished. I won’t let myself knit another sweater until this one is finished and I have a few (*cough* *cough*) that I still want to make. And I have the yarn to knit them! I do believe this will be a great sweater come fall. (Come on fall!) I’m at eight inches for the first sleeve, one more inch to go and then on to sleeve #2.

On the needles I’ve got a second pair of Rose City Rollers. I made one pair with US 2 needles and the second-to-largest size (60 stitches cast on). They’re really cute. I think they’ll be great come clog weather. I had a lot of yarn left over and so I weighed the yarn and decided I had enough for another pair. This time, I decided to use a smaller needle (US 1 1/2) to make a little more negative ease. I’ve got one of the socks done and the second sock is nearly there. I like the hand of the yarn which is without any wool. I’ve not used Berroco Comfort Sock before … we’ll see how they wear. The photo below was taken on Friday at my knitting class. Mind you, I’m the teacher. Can you see what I’ve done? One of my students took the photo while I laughed until I cried. For the third time on Friday.

If you have a look at the sock, It has a nice heel flap and turned heel at the bottom of the photograph. AND then I continued on and knitted the foot and another heel flap and turned the heel. Knitting can be so humbling.

Below is what the socks look like now. I’ve frogged the second heel and heel flap and finished the first sock and am moving right along on sock number two. I made the first pair with a rounded toe so this time I’m making the square toe. The pattern has instructions for both. Isn’t that nice? Do you have a favorite toe or a favorite sock pattern, for that matter?

I have been working away at my Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston. I started this on my birthday because my friend and co-worker went on a trip to Shetland with none other than Gudrun Johnston (and MaryJane Mucklestone, too.) I decided that I’d knit a Shetland style Hap shawl because I didn’t get to go – I’m not whining, I’m delighted that she had a chance to go!

The body of the shawl was done and I started the edging when I realized that I didn’t have enough yarn to finish the shawl’s edging (I wrote about it here.) Luckily we had another hank at the shop where I work and it seems to be a close-enough match. So, I’m continuing to work my way across the shawl and enjoying the process. I’ve gotten my old iPad out of mothballs (not really) so that I can use my knitting app to keep better track of the edging repeats.

We’ve had some fun company this summer and as usual I’ve forgotten to take photographs of the people we so enjoy. We’ve had gorgeous late summer weather so we’ve been enjoying the lake and we feel so lucky to be able to live here. We have a lot of projects planned: an oak tree to split, our guest cottage needs a serious cleanup and fix up. The dog hair is always collecting in little tumbleweeds all over the house. The windows need washed, the screens need a rinse and the weeds have totally taken over the flower beds. We still have one bag of either mulch or compost that we never spread. It’s all a little bit overwhelming, honestly. Hence, perhaps my “mailaise”?

Gone knitting.