Tour de France Sweater

This is my Tour de France sweater. It is zipping right along as you can see. I can’t wait to wear this thing. The only thing better than a red sweater is a red and white sweater. I am also anxious to see if my math was good or not. I am beginning to like the bamboo needles. When I cast on, I wasn’t sure I was going to like them because the yarn was really tight on the needles. After a couple rows the yarn started to slide right along on the needles. For the most part, my boye set slides over the needle joins easier than they do on these needles. These are Clover needles that I found in Joann’s. The Add Knitter was quite right when she said it must be the central air keeping my knitting going.

We don’t have a real yarn store around here. The closest one is probably 60 miles away. The nearest one I have been in is 80 miles away and it didn’t impress me. One of the nearby shopping towns has this so-called yarn shop. Five or six years ago I went there looking for some yarn for a sweater. They didn’t have what I needed and the woman got out some sample cards as if she would really, actually order yarn for me. So I ordered some lite lopi. When I called a week or so later, she told me she didn’t think the yarn was available anymore. I guess she thought I was stupid. She certainly didn’t want my money. I went back a few years later and they still didn’t have much yarn. Not enough of any one kind for a sweater. I envy all of you who have local yarn shops to visit.

I am doing some redecorating around the house. It has been a year and a half since the last time. This time I am not moving furniture, though. We got a entertainment center a while back and it is begging to have some stuff arranged on the top of it. I have some barn wood, birds nests, and pieces of trees that need to find a home on top of it.

The other night after we had 109 degree heat, we had wind and lightning. Somehow, we lucked out and the storm had rain in it. That is almost unheard of in July and August around here. Fortunately, there are no fires near here. We are surrounded by dry rangeland, so we get nervous when the lightning starts. We think of fire as an eventuality. Someday our area will get burned, so we do our best to keep things fire-safe.