Wetfield

Finally. A wet, rainy weekend in Austin. I know, right? It was starting to feel like it would never rain again, as if we should all just give in and resign ourselves to the fact that we had just been annexed into the newest development in the northeastern suburbs of the Chihuahuan desert. But did it ever rain yesterday! I took advantage of the sogginess and a break in the rain to get some weeds pulled in the yard this morning. Two days ago they would have resisted with death grips, their roots entwined around the earth's core, but today they just slipped out with nary a protest. If we're supposed to make hay while the sun shines, we should also pull weeds while the ground is wet.

While the ground was getting saturated, I used the rainy days to catch up on knitting, too.

This is my progress so far on the Whitfield Jacket. I've finished the back and both sides of the front. I had to rip back a bit on the left side yesterday, when I came across those dreaded words that should never come as a surprise when reading a pattern -- "At the same time...." I always seem to read these after having plowed ahead. Everytime I read these words in a pattern, I'm reminded of Randall Thompson's "Testament of Freedom," the words of which are based on the writings of Thomas Jefferson: "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them." Here's a clip of a chorus singing this. Maybe it will remind you to look for the words, "At the same time, at the same time" in your patterns!

So now all that's left is the sleeves (and the sewing and the weaving in of ends and the blocking and the buttons). I got started on the sleeves at a meet and greet for Amy Singer at The Knitting Nest this afternoon. It was a nice, low-key affair with lots of good conversation and yummy grub. Stacy is the perfect hostess for this sort of thing. Several knitting friends were in attendance. I also got to meet Wendy and Jim (I hope I got that right) from San Antonio, friends of Janna's.

All in all, a great knitting-filled weekend.