The last Blitz of the Summer

Our last family fling this summer is always a favorite with us. Gorgeous ferns, ivy and grand old Redwood trees enfold us as they always do here at Mount Hermon Camp. We jump in with both feet and always find both challenges and rest. Rest and challenges:

My 7 y/o climbing like a monkey & an outdoor train ride into the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.

Some of us rode on bikes down into the boardwalk!

I did get some knitting in:

Midwest Moonlight received most of my attention due to a needle size error. I began another hoodie tunic on the way up, but I should have used bigger needles and gave up when the fabric was too tight. I am almost done with Midwest Moonlight. Yay!

Lifehouse in Concert!!!

First, before the concert, I cast on for Embossed Leaves socks (favorite socks IWP). Four times, I took it out and re-did it. I just couldn't read the directions and follow them. Should be simple, but noooo. Several hours later, I cast on for the last time. I got it right...the twisted rib followed the tubular cast on perfectly. Finally:
Then I knit for a while, so very pleased, loving the pattern and having so much fun. Then, on reflection decided that this lovely Socks That Rock was competing with the pattern:

I frogged:Ugh. I redid it all in Knitpicks Essential sock yarn in brown. So far so good. Picture to come!

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT HAPPENING:
I saw Lifehouse in concert!!!!
It was so exciting to see them in person. The kids loved it, we knew lots of teenagers there (and mom even really enjoyed it although she didn't know them already).
Yeah, I know, these pictures are terrible. It's not my fault. Someone was playing with my camera and so it ran out of batteries. I borrowed another, really, really cheap camera and took a picture. They were closer than it looks. It was terrific to be there, with the music thundering with a purpose and a tenacious desperation in it. Meaningful to me.

Sweet

Beauty is often brought in to the house. This time it came from him:


Nice of him, huh? This is another, closer pic of "Kaity's Handmade" yarn knit up into shorties.
This is a plan I have for my log cabin blanket. I have had this on the back burners for eons. Maybe I'll get to it soon. Maybe not. It is hot today in the house. I have one sick kid and the others are fighting a bit so they are having some quiet time reading. And I feel lazy...happy lazy...

Better Than my "Expectations"

Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" is considered by several sources to be his best work, and so I thought I'd give it a try. Mind you, my own expectations weren't very high because of my earnest reading of "Oliver Twist". You see, I had tried to like "Twist" but the characters were so very grotesque that I felt I was reading the Sunday funnies or a cheap dime novel. As well, I felt like poor Oliver was on a roller-coaster ride of a plot and had me along for fun, BUT it was not fun for either of us. I guess you could say that, it more literary terms, I felt that the characters were somewhat one-dimensional and that the plot seemed contrived and unnatural. Now I know that "Twist" was written to be a wake-up call to a generation in England which had repressed a large section of society and I appreciated it for that. Not much more.
So here is where I dutifully follow the literary world into another earnest exploration of Dickens and I find...great fulfillment. Truly. I loved this book.
Pip is our main character. His circumstances are meager, his parents dead and his unpredictable, harsh and violent sister is in charge of him. He has a good friend in his sister's husband Joe, which is all the more close as a result of their combined futile opposition to Pip's sister's abuse.
Enter a new chapter of Pip's life in which he is exposed to those of a higher social and economic rank than he and we see him exposed as well...as internally arrogant and lacking in perspective and priority. Suffice it to say, he became a social climber and a greedy grub. I did not like him. At this point, Dickens has my attention completely and there is so much more to come. Subplots were seamlessly woven into the larger plot, bringing out the characters introducing more characters who only enhance the whole work. I reached the end last night and smiled.By the way, the fingerless gloves are from Knitty's pattern "Fetching"

What next? Please shoot some ideas at me. I am trying to read more classics....what's your favorite?