I may have a teensy problem with casting on new sweaters before the old ones are finished. In this case, though, I blame the Tour de France Time Trial. Have you ever tried to knit linen really fast for a solid hour? A person could incur lasting tendon damage, I think. My knitalong team turned in the lowest stitch-per-hour average in the first trial, so I was determined to help us improve. And how better than straight-up stockinet in the round with spring, squishy Beaverslide merino? I warmed up by working the mistake-rib hem you see here, and this morning I was ready to crank on the stockinet body. My neighbor Barb gave me the French-style countdown (one counts ones fingers in a different way than Americans normally would when sending off a rider in the Tour de France, or a knitter in the Tour de France KAL) and I’m happy to report I achieved 2,024 sph.

But I’m putting this sweater aside again to (gasp) finish some other things, so I’ll introduce her properly later on. Tomorrow is for finishing Daisy Daisy, and then there’s last-minute Baby Shower knitting to be done!

Especially when the green is “Island Moss” Euroflax linen from Louet. Since Daisy Daisy was damp but the Tour knitting had to go on, I cast on this new project on Sunday. Thanks to Vy, I have a copy of Jane Waller’s A Stitch in Time: Knitting and Crochet Patterns, 1920-1949 on loan… it would have cost me $75 to purchase this book locally, so I was extremely grateful when Vy offered to mail me hers! Knitters are the most generous people, aren’t they? I’d locked onto the design called “With the New Cowl Neck Line” after seeing Vy’s beautiful version on Ravelry, I had store credit to score some expensive Euroflax, and this may well be my very favorite color, so everything was perfectly aligned.

In the background: a knitter goes in for her first steek, to general excitement!

Once again I’m finding that in coming across to WordPress the photographs have gone a little whacky in color. There’s too much yellow here, so picture the green a little deeper, a little more vibrant. You know what it really reminds me of? That knock-out green dress Keira Knightley wore in “Atonement” (a movie I didn’t actually like—par for my experience of Joe Wright’s work—despite the costume department’s kicking a**… but I recommend Ian McEwan’s novel). Since the design has such a cumbersome name, I’m calling this top Cecilia as a nod to the Cecilia Tallis character. Maybe I’ll have it finished in time to wear to Sock Summit!

We drove down to Monmouth Sunday morning to take part in the Cycle Oregon Weekend ride. Unfortunately, we discovered upon arrival that the bag containing our shoes, jerseys, sunscreen—basically all we needed—had been left behind. So the bikes got an airing on the car roof, but didn’t get to taste the road at all. In truth, it was probably a blessing in disguise, as I’ve been having knee/back trouble and hadn’t felt great after our easy ride on Saturday. I may just have irritated the knee enough that it’s going to grumble even though my spine and seat height have been professionally adjusted, in which case there’s nothing for it but to rest.

In knitting news…

Yes, that’s Daisy Daisy blocking on the floor! She lacks a button and the special embellishment I’ve planned around it, but I wanted to block her for length before I placed the button. I may be off my real bicycle more than I’d like, but things look good for my conquest of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France KAL!

The comments are fixed! Turns out the “comments table” somehow got “locked” so nothing was able to go through. That means all your remarks on the post about the quilting projects hit a cyber wall and vaporized on impact, so if you feel inclined to try again I’d be delighted to read your opinions.

Now onward. This is the view from the living room couch on a warm summer evening.

The camellia that screens the west windows casts shadows that dance on the ceiling. Pure pleasing happenstance that they harmonize with the overhanging branches in the painting above the mantel.

But warm summer evenings are not best spent in the cool shade of the living room. They are better enjoyed in spontaneous gatherings of neighbors on the front porch, several snug households sharing a couple of bottles of wine and bowls of fresh berries and cream, the burgeoning rumpus of small children hide-and-seeking and pool-wading and chalk-drawing. This I admire about kids: within moments of meeting, a shy three-and-a-half-year-old, her family’s houseguests visiting from Kenya (the children perhaps four and six), and a ten-year-old from down the street were all engaged in an enthusiastic game of tag/wrestling. No formal introductions or preamble. No need to hold anything in common except the joy of play.