A fruitful day

Ana and Ken came for dinner, which they brought with them. (That was my gracious invitation – “I would love to have you over for dinner, but I just don’t feel like cooking.”) So, the best of all worlds – good company for dinner with no cooking for me and no driving home after. I am always the designated driver, and I get tipsy very easily, so I have to be extremely restrained when I have dinner elsewhere. And I love a nice wine. Actually, we had a lovely, hearty ale to go with our macaroni and cheese. Here is the sweater which Ana finished just as our dinner was heating in the oven. After dinner we put it on the wooly board, and I now admire it each time I go through my dining room. It is based on one of the Fairisles in Ann Feitelson’s book, but Ana chose her own interesting color scheme. It is unusual and quite attractive, I think. Finishing this was a triumph, because this sweater has been the years in the making. Usually Ana is a very prolific knitter, whipping out one thing after another, but this sweater has been the victim of many setbacks – not the least of which was having a hole eaten in it by Ana’s dog. Sometimes these disasters take a while to recover from, and the knitting sits idle during the recovery period. In fact, picking it up again is often a true test of strength of character. My Hillswick lumber was one such, and it took having to sit at my mother’s bedside in the hospital, and the prospect of many quiet, uninterrupted, booooring hours to get me back on the track with that one. But now it is one of my favorites. So I have my mother’s colonoscopy to thank for finally giving me the wherewithal to fix a really egregious mistake and soldier on.