Simplicy

The little stitch pattern at the top of this swatch is one of my favorites, a netting of purl diamonds on a stockinette stitch ground, almost as simple as you can get. Sometimes I like simple, especially after doing a stint of lace knitting.



I'm going to use it for the Cotton Ease project, which will be a basic pullover with no shaping (except for the armholes and neckline), sort of a tunic or bog shirt. It will have straight sleeves somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 length and a wide rounded neckline. I'll use a more heavily textured, but still simple, stitch at the hems and for a narrow collar, just to add some interest.

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Mr S is off to Europe. I drove him up to Madison Sunday afternoon, where he caught the bus to O'Hare. Yesterday morning I was delighted, and very surprised, to get a phone call saying he made it to Heathrow. (Usually we just email when he is gone.) I always worry until he is on the ground, then relax and assume he will be just fine.

This time he is doing something different, going to the Netherlands for a few days before heading back to his dearly loved England. I will miss him a lot for a day or two, then settle in and enjoy having a quiet house for about a week, then start missing him with growing intensity for the rest of his absence. I like quiet, but there can be too much of a good thing. I'll be working extra hours at the Library for a couple of weeks while the librarian is out for a medical procedure, so I won't be rattling around the empty house for long stretches anyway.

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My friend Carol sent me a card listing some of life's important lessons. #1: "No matter how hard you try, you just can't baptise cats." Too true.