Outside the evening sky is ablaze with a rainbow of colors, shooting up from the ground with a pop and a crack.

Meanwhile, inside the trailer, there is an air of panic as Duncan the Dog looks for safety, hoping the walls will swallow him up and keep him safe from the menace outside.

I think firework shows are pretty, but I hate them, too, because they are so hard on my dog. As he is poised to celebrate his 10th birthday, his hearing is still quite good (except when I tell him to do something), so the show petrifies him. I think it is over now, so maybe he’ll get some peace this evening.

On the knitting front, I have put aside the christening gown for the moment and have picked up a poncho pattern. I swear I want to finish a poncho before the trend is over. This one starts by knitting a collar using, sigh, garter stitch. Will it ever end? At least the yarn is colorful and it is only a small part of the overall project. Never mind that I am now knitting it for the second time because I messed up the first time I did it. It is looking much better now.

There is a real danger in reading about knitting on the Internet. I just found a new online yarn store, and some laceweight merino is calling to me. I don’t know if I can ignore it much longer. I guess I hear voices often! Time to up the meds, I think.

After hearing it crying out for attention, I picked up the christening robe underdress and finished the skirt. I’ve finished the waistline. And now, it is on to the bodice and sleeves. Thank goodness! I thought it would never end.

Now I can concentrate on some sock knitting. I’m halfway through a new pair for me, and I started the other half last night. I was working on it outside this evening, but I seem to have temporarily misplaced one of needles. So I’ll start another pair and look for the bashful little double point tomorrow when the light is better. And my eyes aren’t so tired.

I am so glad the weekend almost is here. With any luck, I’ll be blocking the christening shawl this weekend. It will be the first time I’ve ever blocked. So here’s hoping I can do it. I’ll be laying the garment out on a cardboard cutting board I got at a fabric store, then I’ll put the whole thing on my bed and hope that my dog doesn’t jump on it and mess the whole thing up.

Said dog is currently slumbering at the foot of my bed. He is making me sleepy, too, so I shall sign off now. And think of more brilliant things to write tomorrow.

I opened a kitchen cupboard in my home on wheels and suddenly a bottle of soy sauce flung itself out and on to the floor. Then it bounced, without breaking, to the carpet. Sometime in the melee, the lid came off and my carpet was soaked with the brown, spicy liquid. I picked it up, put it on the counter then rushed to the sink to dampen a paper towel, when it jumped off the counter and proceeded to spray the floor and counter. I cleaned up as best I could and yet still there is an air of soy sauce floating around the trailer. Makes me want to cook chicken, for some odd reason.

On the knitting front, it seems a certain ball of yarn was singing a false song. It didn’t work for the pattern I had in mind. So I have turned my back on it and choose another yarn with which to complete the shawl. The ball o’ yarn undoubtedly is feeling tremendous jealousy, but its time will come. As soon as I ponder on which pattern it will suit.

I finished something - a pair of socks for my mother. Made from yarn constructed with crab and shrimp shells. Amazing! They are a nice light weight, perfect for summer shoes. (My mother always wears socks. My tootsies, on the other foot, need air so I wear sandals sans socks when the weather permits. As it has of late, thank goodness.)

I worked on my garter stitch project, finally throwing it aside with some disgust when it seemed I got no closer to being done with it. It, like the first ball of yarn, is sulking from being cast aside. It, too, will recover once I pay attention to it.

I used my new yarn swift today. It proved so much better than the umbrella swift, so I’ll be using it as my regular tool. I want to wind lots of yarn right now, and have to hold myself back because I read it is better to store yarn unwound.. I’ll abide by that decision, joining the ball of yarn and the garter stitch project in whining that I can’t do what I want. The atmosphere around here isn’t good at all.

I’ve tried tro ignore it. I’ve been working diligently on the endless cobweb weight garter stitch 259-stitches-a-row project. But still the ball of laceweight wool is singing a song worthy of any old mythological siren.

I put it in a closet and it fell out. I put it in a sack with other Stitches purchases; it must have elbowed its way out of the bag, because there it was, staring me in the face. So I put it on my nightstand where it must be murmuring to me while I sleep, because i am about to cast on for a shawl. Once I head inside from sitting here in the beautiful night air.

Finally, spring has sprung in my little area of northern/central California. We got in the low 80’s today and should stay in the high 70’s through at least Thursday. Mother, Duncan and I celebrated by having a wee barbecue, with me preparing a lamb steak (I love lamb) and she a hamburger. Duncan got bits of both so he was in hog heaven.

Barbecue knitting consisted of a toe up sock for Mother. I have one done and am on the ribbing for the second. After the heel, I knit one or two inches of stockinette, then I go for 2X2 ribbing for the remainder of the sock. We like tight-fitting socks in this family. Then Mother (and older brother) will put the socks on in a different fashion than the rest of us — they turn them inside out so the flat knit is against their feet and the bumpy side is outside. They are the only two people I know who wear their socks this way. What’s more, they must be built backwards because their noses run and their feet smell. (Hee hee hee!)

I even cracked open a bottle of champagne, which is one of the few alcohol-based drinks I like. I usually stick with diet Coke, to which I am addicted.

I did work on the garter stitch project, listening to a true crime audio book. Here is a short book report — nutty person meets nuttier person with no good coming of it. I sometimes prefer to listen while I knit, either music or a book, rather than watch TV. I had a friend who didn’t like audio books because she felt like she was being read to. I have no such compunctions.

The time change has happened and the evening will be short, but I still plan on casting on for the shawl today. Darn that ball of yarn — it is sitting there looking ready for the needles, begging to be made into a Tina shawl by Fiddlesticks. The colorway is dark, but having seen some samples of Orenburg shawls knit with dark yarn, I am no longer afraid o?f lace that isn’t knit in a pastel or off-white. Truth to tell, I am a bit tired of pastels, God forgive me. Have I spoken heresy?

I am a writer by profession, for a large company. So sometimes at the end of the day, I can’t compose another thing or I’d burst. That’s my excuse for taking a break from my blog and I am sticking to it.

My world of knitting is rather boring at the moment. I am tackling the underdress of a christening gown found in the Heirloon Knitting book. I need the skirt of said underdress to measure 26 inches. That means endless rows of garter stitch on size 0 needles at 259 stitches per row. With cobweb weight yarn, no less. I have my work cut out for me.

I expect the gown will be wonderful once I’ve completed it. There’s nobody in my family or among my friends who is expecting, so I guess the gown will have to go on a doll. Or teddy bear, as I really don’t want a baby doll. But a teddy bear is okay.

I have pretty good news on the knitting gifts front. My scarf was a success, as were two of the three pair of socks I sent out. One pair came back because I wrote the wrong address on it (how dumb); it is scheduled to go out again shortly. So I was happy that my hobby made others happy.  (I’m off the clock, so have abandoned any writing skills I possess.)

I am breaking up the garter stitch knitting with some more socks. After I knit so many pair one after another, I thought it would a while before I knit another pair. They really are addictive kniiting, though, and perfect conference call knitting.

I thought after Stitches I’d join other knitting bloggers and just knit from my stash. I can’t do that right away though, because I ended up with a $10 gift certificate from a vendor at the market. When I bought a new knitting bag I had some sock yarn and needles in it and although I told the guy who rang up my purchases about the innards, he didn’t see them and I didn’t look at the bill when I was signing it. So I rectified the mistake by sending them a check, and they returned an invoice with a note of thanks and the gift certificate. Which was so very nice. And completely unexpected because I reaally think honesty is its own reward. (Trite but true.) Now I have to figure out how to spend it. Which means it is time to end this blog entry and do some shopping!