A well prodded day

Sadly, I am a person who is often needs prodding to get moving on tasks, especially if I think they have much potential for unpleasantness. I have a lot more time in the summer since our choir has a vacation, so I had planned to get some icky duties done. However, next week always seemed like a way better time than this week. I asked Ana to nag me about a couple of them, and she did, for which I am grateful. Thanks to her, I finally scheduled my car’s annual physical (very overdue), and my human physical, less overdue, but no less unpleasant. Tomorrow the car, next week me. Yuck! A year or two ago, I purchased a book of Japanese knitting designs, no doubt because I thought I would knit one of them at least, but once again, inertia set in. Ana, however, said, “Let’s have a knit-along and make something from this book.” We both admired the same sweater, and so ordered the yarn, and have actually begun it. I am very glad it is a knit-along with Ana because I am afraid that the Japanese directions might have thrown me. Most of the symbols and charts are pretty straightforward, but one bit had me flummoxed. I looked for hints in Japanese knitting sites and googled the actual sweater, but no go. Ana was cleverer and found a blog in which the authoress made a similar sweater and explains how to do the leaf tips – something I never could have figured out from the directions. She (Ana, not the bloggess) is much further along than I, but none the less, I am pleased with my scanty progress. Usually I find Aran style knitting fairly mindless and can do it while watching a movie or having a coherent conversation, so I planned to have this be my public knitting project rather than my usual sock. To my surprise, I have to concentrate as hard as for lace – maybe even more. I have only memorized the most simple of the cables. This picture is the sleeve which I started in lieu of a swatch. And a picture of Ana on our ball winding day.