Last night in California

We've had such a wonderful time, but it's definitely time to go home. To take my little girl home (to a new home, at that; they've moved while we've been away!), to earn more money to pay for all we've spent, and to sleep. Ahhhh, to sleep! I'll have maybe two unencumbered days before I have to go back to work, so I'll have to sleep fast.

And there's so much to look forward to: a trip to visit my parents and sisters, then on to a Neil Diamond concert with my sisters, and then my new job, although I'm not anxious for that to start. Summer just got going well, and it's over for those of us who have to work in schools.

Oh well, it's certainly time to go home, no matter what! For a little girl who's never been away from mommy and daddy for more than one day, it's been a long two weeks, but she's never gotten homesick. Thank God for cell phones!

Elisa and Deedee, it was such a pleasure to meet you two. I'll write more when I have time; it's almost midnight and I have to go to bed.

Like I said earlier, jet lag is going to be a bitch, but with luck I'll get over it before school starts up again. A's lucky; she usually starts school two weeks before I do, but now that she's being homeschooled, that's no longer a problem.

And we're going home to new hardwood floors in the living room and hall. What a treat! The carpet was pristine till I moved an elderly Lhasa-terrier mix in, and in her final months, she pretty much destroyed the lovely berber. I'm so looking forward to new floors!

Near Yosemite

Hey, all! Today we spent about 4 hours driving through Yosemite Park and another two hours driving out of it. I swear, there's no way out.

We saw two mule deer, a male first, then a female. They weren't terribly happy that I dove out of the car to take photos, but they didn't try to kill me, either.

Tonight we're meeting Elise from Concateknit and I can hardly wait! A is looking forward to playing with her puppers, Zorro and Allie. There will be photo ops.

Tomorrow on to gold panning and meeting Deedee and her granddaughter, who is a year younger than A. More photo ops!

I am so tired. But it's a good tired.

**UPDATE** Yes, I messed up the links, or rather, blogger did. It always does that and I try to remember to check them. But I think they're okay now.

Prize for blankie squares for Elisa's dad

Claudia's, of course.

Spring Break colorway. Approximately 175 yards per 50-gram skein. It'll take one skein per sock.

Sorry about the crappy photos; it was a dark and stormy night dreary day, inside and out, so these will have to do. It really is a lovely yarn, and I have enough left to make some socks for ME!

Winners will be announced at maryse's website when she finally digs through the mounds of squares she's received.

Blanket squares

It's so cool the way that friends can be made just by reading what they write. I love to read blogs, knitting blogs, mommy blogs, doggie blogs, just about any kind of blog, and I've met some wonderful people that way. I'll probably never meet most of them in person, but just the same, they're friends.

It's happened many times before, blog friends banding together to help friends who are in need, whether it's financial need, a virtual hug, a get-well gift, whatever is needed at the time. This time it's blanket squares. Maryse started the blog blanket for Elisa's dad, and it's amazing the response to her request. Elisa's dad might get a king-sized blanket, or maybe two blankets. It's heartwarming and just plain old warming for her dad!

So here are my three contributions; I'd make more, but but I need to get them in the mail this week. I just wish I had more superwash yarn in any color but pink (probably 10 skeins of pink), which is great for little girls (big ones, too) but notsomuch for an older man. And Claudia doesn't dye superwash yarn, so all those delightful yarns are out. (The blanket/s will be washed in a hospital's laundry, so plain old wool is just not an option.) (Unblocked so far, of course; I hate blocking anything, which could explain why so many FOs are still in plastic sweater boxes, unwearable.)

From the left: some peachy superwash left over from (forgive me, Elisa) a doggie sweater for my elderly Pookie several years ago; probably mostly acrylic left over from my very first pair of handknit socks; and my favorite, a gorgeous sapphire blue that I'd bought for a baby hat that was never knit. I used a textured rib pattern that I found in Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, a book that has an incredible assortment of patterns that can be translated into any size needles but has totally intimidated me (too many charts, and charts = math to me, and I just don't do math).

So, off to psyching myself up to blocking some squares. In spite of having to (ugh) block, I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to pass along a little knitterly love. Pay it forward, you know.