Dive in!

Since we live in California and it's well known that we are in a rough drought right now, my husband and I have decided that we won't be putting in our pool this year after all. We want to be good citizens and do our part, so we have also scaled back our watering schedule for the lawns, as well as doing all we can inside our home too. Our next door neighbor, who is an older single lady, and by that I mean 45, not 75 (respectively), has a beautiful pool. She works in law enforcement, her dad and brother (she lost her mom 3 weeks ago) do doggie daycare for her, and when she gets off work, she heads for her dad's to help prepare meals, etc. Most nights, she isn't home until 9pm, if she doesn't end up spending the night at her parent's house. It has been that way since the day she moved in, even before her mom became sick. She jokes that she thinks she bought the most expensive storage unit when she bought her house. Here's the deal though....since I'm home most of the time during the day, I'm that good neighbor that makes sure her trash cans get out to the curb, and back in the yard on collection day. Remember, she is never home, but that one bag of trash that's usually in the can...well, I don't want it sitting there and rotting for two weeks and have to deal with the smell when we walk into our backyard. The clippings from her gardeners in the other "green waste" can builds up a pretty nasty odor as well. So she tells me the other day, that since I have access to her property and she trusts me, I can use her pool any time I would like. I told her I appreciated it, but unfortunately, I'm one of those rare people who is allergic to chlorine. It's the reason I've always had my own pool, or I used my mom's when she had her house. Unless the ph is kept balanced accordingly, it's a no go for me. She told me she is going to have a word with her pool service guy about it. She knows nothing about her pool, she never uses it, and for all I know, it might be one of the newer filtering systems that doesn't use chlorine. How sweet is that?!? Pool issues solved. I can now still get my exercise groove on even in the heat of summer, and cool off. Swimming is my favorite exercise, and when it's with the grandkids, even better!! 

I have been on a blocking binge the past few days, and since that's one of my least favorite things to do after knitting a project, after all is said and done, I'm always so happy I did it. On Tuesday, I blocked my Colfax Shawl as I told you in my last blog post. It turned out fabulous!!

 

Yesterday, this went on the blocking boards. I wasn't too sure about this design, but now that it's coming together, it might be really fun after all. After you block it, you then go back and pick up for the one sleeve it has and knit that. Of course, it won't get to be worn until this next fall/winter, but that's ok, I'll be ready. Or who knows...for vacation, we sometimes go to the coast where it can be quite chilly in the mornings and late afternoons/evening.

I know it looks rather strange in this pic, but trust me, it's a very unique construction and when it all comes together, it's what I would call "runway worthy".

 

I have cast on for another project last night at knit night, but I will save the details for another post. I'm happy to tell you it's out of my handspun though, which makes me giddy with excitement!

 

Leaving you with that for now as I'm off to run some errands and then come back to work on some more of those WIPs (so I can free up some of my needles that have disappeared).