Happy 4th July

Yes, HAPPY 4TH JULY. We went to a parade this morning in our local town. It was pretty low-key as parades go. Or so I'm told. I've spent the last 3 4th Julys right here and before that lived in England where we, er, don't celebrate, for some reason;-)

Here are a couple of my favourite pictures from the parade. This first one is a giant pelican. Very apt for Florida. Is that Uncle Sam behind him operating the controls? And that white blob on the LHS is a man dressed as another pelican. My gosh, but he must have been sweating.

This next picture is of a guide dog for the blind. They spray painted stars on him (and other dogs). There were also horses with their legs painted red, white and blue.

All in all we had a fun time. We were with a friend who originates from Russia. She was totally into it. In fact that's her in the first pic, waving madly at the pelican. And all our kids got hordes of candy - most of which will go in the trash tonight - bubblegum and hard candy mints. But not a Jolly Rancher in site, urgh!


Before I left for 'The Grand Tour', my Knittyboard Spring Fling pal, Ms Verablue (blogless, I'm sorry to say) sent me a package brimming with all kinds of goodness. As with most of my SPals, I really enjoyed getting to know her and do hope that we'll keep in touch. She chose my favourite yarn - Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk, in Teal and a gorgeous chocolate brown which I had never seen before. Also a pattern for a cravat and beret to make with the yarn. I cast on the cravat while I was waiting for these pics to load onto blogger. Couldn't wait to finish those other wips.

And look at the beautiful stockinette stitch pin. I just LOVE it. There were also some cute sheepy soaps and notebook. And awesome 'Method' shower gel - I had never seen those products before, but as these things always go, I keep seeing ads for them now. Funny how you don't notice things til someone points them out, then you see them all the time.

And do you see the English Cadbury chocolate bar she sent. No, of course you don't. Even though the package arrived just a few minutes before I left for England, I still managed to wolf it down. yum-o.

So thank you Jeanne for a wonderful, thoughtful, delicious smelling package, I loved everything in it and will post a piccy of the cravat and beret just as soon as. :-)

Now to the WIPs. I'll join the WIP Wednesday bandwagon. What else is a knitty to do.... All are almost complete and just waiting for some finishing.

First up, this baby girl's jacket in DB Cashmerino Astrakhan. I love the knitted effect of this yarn, but my, oh my, is it difficult to knit with. There is a strand, with another wrapped loosely around it. So you can sometimes miss one of the strands while you're knitting. As I found out one morning, it's not pleasant to find ripped from the needle either. Very difficult to try to decipher which loop is a stitch and which is just a loop of the yarn design. All the knitting is done on this piece and it just needs arms sewing on and side seams sewing up. And maybe a light steaming.

Next. Last year I thought I'd make an argyle pillow to practice argyle work before attempting my TKGA Masters Level 2 coursework. 5 repeats later, I could take no more. Hence the back of the pillow is plain old stripes. This has been lying around for SUCH a long time, and is such a simple knit that I finished it off in about 2 evenings this week. The seams are all sewn up. I can't decide whether to felt it, or what. I didn't block it before I sewed the seams up. So it will remain a WIP for a while longer, while I have a think.....

Here's the back of the pillow.

Last, but not least. Inspired by the dreamswatch, I made Hubbs a hairband to match her prairie tunic. It's all finished, just needs the ends sewing in (only 2 of them, for goodness sake) and a good blocking.

Enjoy your hamburgers and fireworks everyone.