Saturday, October 23, 2010

It's Free! Only a dollar.

No sooner than I cast off and finished the shawl,  did I cast on for the Seaside Cardigan, a free download on Ravelry. The shaping will indeed look good on my body, although I'm not crazy about the sleeves.  I'll most likely make the sleeves wrist length and plain, with maybe one lace motif to finish. The knitting of it proceeds apace; it is a neck down pattern with raglan sleeves. I am using the green tweedy Cascade 220 I bought from WEBS for the pullover sweater Wisteria, because I decided that a cardigan would do me better service in the long run. I was also having trouble getting gauge with the Wisteria. I hate it when that happens.

It is still unseasonable warm here, and very dry, although there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow and a few more days after. The grass doesn't need cutting, but I should get out there and chop up the fallen maple leaves so they can become mulch and not grass killing mats.

Foxy woke me up this morning around 2am, and I looked out into the front yard to see if there was anything truly out there. I saw Millie in the driveway, or so I thought; it didn't respond when called or jingle as it moved. It was a raccoon, and I was perhaps ill-advised to approach it unarmed, which I did. Shoo! Scat! I said loudly, and it lumbered slowly across the yard. I found a long stick, which I shook at the beast and sometimes was able to even poke at its slowly moving behind. I finally had moved it into Good Neighbor Nancy's yard, which I thought was far enough away for the time being.

All chickens and current outside bunnies are accounted for, although I worry about Chocolate Chip's latest litter who are possibly still blind and helpless under the house. Time to tighten the doors to the crawl spaces.