Half an Empty Nest

One down; one to go! She says trying to act happy With #1Son away from home working and living his own life, his moving out is not much of a change. He just doesn't come home at night, or call to tell me he's on his way. Guess I expected some big good-bye scene or something, but there was none. Real life is so much different than we expect it will be, huh? So. He's on his own. Sort of. And, he seems to have turned out all right, in spite of me. As to knitting, I was able to deliver the finished poncho for my step-granddaughter when we got to Maryland in early April. Here it is: I didn't get a picture of her in it yet, but her mother says she looks adorable in it and loves to play with the pom-poms. Such a sweeties, both of them: I got to spend a good many mornings with her while Mommy went to work. I also finished the cropped top (based on the Shapely Tank Top from WhiteLies) -- AND my taxes!! -- before I left on vacation, too: On the needles, the Elegantly Simple Baby Blanket by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. I'm almost half finished now, but here is a shot of the first two strips: It's just Red Heart's TLC Baby in Light Rose Sparkle (discontinued color) and Pale Pink Sparkle. I could only get a hold of one skein of the Light Rose, so I worked up half the skein, broke the thread and continued with just the Pale Pink. Will pick it up again and repeat the stripes on the other end. Baby is due in July, so I'm in good shape. While I was gone, I worked on a sweater in Lion Brand's Lilac Microspun: Coral Shells from Knitters Spring 2004. I like the 'Lacy Seashell' pattern of the knitting and the way it draped, but wanted a totally different style! Figures. It's a pull-over; I want a cardigan. It's got long sleeves; I want them three-quarter. It's drop-shoulder; I want fitted sleeves, or a circular/raglan yoke. So, I have the sleeves and the body done up to the underarms and now everything is on hold until I figure the next step. Coming up? Well, I just ordered (and it's already on its way) 12 skeins of hemp from Lana Hames of Lanaknits I saw her "Stripes Go Round" in the new (Summer 04) Interweave Knits and went straight to the website to get some. Am very anxious to try this yarn, so am working hard to finish the baby blanket before it gets here. Still have the new INKnitters and Knit 'n Style mags to look through, and over a month of digests from KnitList to read... gotta get some kind of voice recognition set up on my 'puter so I can read email without putting down the needles. LC