Back from OK

Oklahoma is truly "OK." I especially like the eastern part of the state, which is where we spend most of our time. And it was greener than I ever remember seeing it!

The kids live in Oklahoma City and we went there first. Then to David's home town of Bartlesville to visit his parents. Finally Tulsa, where David lived and worked most of his adult life, and where friends are still.

Of course, here's the "grandma's brag photo" of Gillian and Annabelle. As expected, Annabelle has grown quite a bit since February. She scoots rather than crawls, and is pulling up and stepping with support. Maybe this kid will never crawl!

I did not escape without visits to local quilt and yarn shops. Part of that (but only part) is that I like to give David and his daughter time alone together, so I do at least one shopping trip by myself. Where else would I go except the yarn and quilt stores? We wanted to visit the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in OK City, but weren't able to squeeze it in. Next time...

In Tulsa we spent an absorbling afternoon at the Philbrook Museum, where an exhibit of Pre-Raphaelite work accompanied the resident collections. The garden was artwork of another kind, and our walk there ended a perfect afternoon. Before that, we stopped at our usual places, Material Girls and Naturally Needlepoint and Knitting in London Square. And there's a new yarn store in Utica Square called Loops. Tulsa knitters have at least two fabulous shops - I'm jealous! I didn't come home empty handed. Dinner was a nice leisurly evening at On The Border (my favorite Mexican restaurant and it turns out to be Di's as well) with Varian and Di.

David drove the entire trip, so I knitted (big surprise, huh?). The multidirectional scarf was knitted and tinked (to retrieve a dropped stitch 3 triangles down) and looks much like it did before I left, only with a bit more length. No more pictures of that until it's done. I did not knit socks. Instead, I did this:


Green blobs, right? Actually, it's a front, back and one sleeve of "Bardot" from Debbie Bliss Number 5. I saw the sweater in Nashville when I went to see The Yarn Harlot, and decided I should make it. It was a perfect trip project: stockinette so no charts to worry about, but enough shaping to keep me interested. It is NOT perfect yarn. I used the Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere called for, and it's soft and knits up nicely. But it's composed, like many cotton yarns, of a zillion plies and splits easily, even for someone who, like me, is used to knitting cotton and enjoys it. But that wasn't so bad. What is less than perfect about this yarn are these:



KNOTS!! And more than a couple. I understand they're inevitable sometimes. But so far I've used 9 balls, and I've had 8 knots and one section of yarn that was damaged and had to be cut out. I really think that's excessive. Actually 3 balls were knot-free, and one had 3 spaced just far enough apart that I'd knit part of the row, tink and cut the knot, knit part of the row AGAIN, tink and cut the knot. Three times!! Can you tell I won't buy this yarn again?

The jury is out on the sweater, since I haven't even begun to block and finish. Stay tuned.

And Mara? Waiting patiently for me to complete my travel knitting and get back to business! And I'm looking forward to it as well.