Making a Hive

Had a bit of a scare this morning. My Tommy is a jumper. Sometimes we call him Tommy the Tigger cos he bounces on his hind legs just like Tigger does. If he knows he's gonna get food, he is behind me as I walk to the kitchen, bouncing along. He used to hit me in the shoulders with his front paws but I cured him of that. He can clear my shoulders when he gets really really excited. Well, this morning he was bouncing while I got his breakfast and hit a slippery spot on the linoleum. Wham!!

Arrgh....the scream of an Iggy will peel the skin right of a person. I thought for sure he'd broken his leg the way he was flapping around like a caught fish. Broken legs are my worst fear for my boys cos they are extremely painful to the dog, tend to not heal correctly, and cost a fortune to fix. (We're talkin' thousands of dollars) As it turned out, his legs are fine. He limped around a bit, then hunkered down to eat his breakfast. Now he's sunning himself in the back yard-normal as can be.

We had a beautiful weekend here at the Parkarosa. Saturday was sunny and warm. I spent the morning out on the deck finishing the Barbara Bretton novel, Someone Like You, I checked out from the library. I enjoyed it. It's a sweet love story about two sisters, 0ne who is a knitter. (Barbara is a knitter too.) I will probably read more of her books.

Sweet Hubby went running while I read. He is training for Bloomsday. This is an annual race held in Spokane, WA, which is just 30 miles from us. The last time he ran Bloomsday he was a young college kid. He's finding it to be a "bit" tougher this time around. He wanted me to join in--saying I could walk instead of run it cos that's what the majority of the entrants do, but I get claustrophobic walking in a dense crowd of 50,000 people. I'm gonna stay home and watch him on the tv.

In the afternoon we went to Dan and Sue's to try out Dan's new beer (he's a brew master) and hang out on the patio soaking sun and eating chips. It was nice to just sit and relax. Dan and Sue spent the morning tearing down most of what was left of the barn and hauling it away. Part of the barn collapsed several years ago from heavy snowfall. The rest collapsed this winter, from heavy snowfall. There is a wonderful view hiding behind that old barn. Surprised all of us.

Sunday was nice too, though it was cloudy most of the day. I decided to start the Honeybee Stole.



I bought the pattern and yarn for it last summer. I'm using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci in the Oregon Red Clover Honey colorway.


My ball winder won't wind a ball larger than 4 oz. and this is an 8oz. hank. I decided to hand-wind it into a ball so I could have one continuous strand of yarn. Less ends to weave in when the stole is done. I find weaving ends into lace a challenge. Ha! As it turned out, the hank wasn't one continuous strand anyway. I ended up with one large ball and 3 smaller balls. There were no knots. The yarn just ended. Then I'd have to dig around trying to find another end to start winding with. I'm not happy about that. Anyway, it took 3.5 hours to wind it up.

It took me over an hour to cast on 125 sts because I was trying to do the Provisional cast on, which I am terrible at. Eventually I gave up and did the Crochet Chain Provisional Cast On. After doing it that way I have to wonder why anyone would do it the other way?

I've done 6 rows so far. Now, the sun is shining, it's warm on the deck. I'm gonna go do some more rows.

Have a good day.