We finally did make it up to Maine for lunch: Dad, Uncle Howie and I.  Yesterday was a beautiful day for driving - which was allocated to me as both the guys wanted to relax and enjoy the scenery :)  I can’t blame them.  I certainly don’t mind driving and while I know both gentlemen are still more than adequate to the task, it’s rather nice to know that they feel comfortable with me at the wheel.

Uncle Howie’s on the left there and that’s dad on the right.

Their conversational styles are just about identical though they would deny this with their dying breaths :)  Neither of them came handle a warm, companionable silence.  As far as they’re concerned, there are no warm, companionable silences.  If there is silence, something must be wrong; the silence must be filled and to that end they will both babble about any and everything that enters their skulls.  That can be rather entertaining, actually and I noticed my uncle came up with an appropriate song lyric (a quite elderly tune, usually) in response to a phrase or topic of conversation several times during the afternoon.  I do that too :)

We didn’t quite get down to the sea (I must get down to the sea again…) because both these straightforward, forthright fellows, having finished lunch, were ready to head home.  The restaurant, however, sits alongside a salt marsh and the view was quite lovely even if it wasn’t the ocean proper.

And, if you’re curious, this is what lobster’s going for in Maine currently:

They crack me up, they really do - they are incredibly competitive :)  Yesterday, they were “discussing” the price of pound cake.  Uncle had found some for $1.00 that he thought was acceptable.  Well of course dad declared it foul and bought something he preferred and which cost an additional 69¢, stressing it’s “all butter” advertised construction because “You can tell the difference, you really can!”  Would my uncle try it?  No - because that would nullify the point he got for getting the best buy.  And dad gets a point for having, arguably, the better tasting product.  So it was a tie.

The stole is coming along.  This is the center section which I have done using two similar but not identical hanks of shaded reds (Manos).

I used them on alternate tiers and to my eye, in person, there’s little, discernable difference.  I was fascinated to see that the camera did see differences between one tier and another.  I’m beginning to wonder if taking pictures of things in general might be a good idea because, clearly, the camera picks up on things that I don’t.

My initial plan isn’t going to give me the length I’d like for this stole, so I’ve come up with an alternative - well, an add-on really :)  The reds are in the center and I will work back out reversing the colors I used going in and then bind off.  The stole will then measure about 36” - not nearly enough length for a respectable piece.  So I will then pick up the stitches and work out, starting with triangles and proceeding as though I were starting the entrelac all over again at that point - which I will be.  I’ll do this on both the cast on and the bound off end and that way I can dole out the yarn symmetrically and keep track of it easily.  When I’ve worked a couple of tiers on one end, I’ll remove the needles from the cables and replace them with caps - which will turn the arrangement into a big stitch holder.  Then I’ll attach the needles to another cable and work out a couple of tiers from the other end, swapping working ends every couple of tiers until the yarn is used up or I have gotten the length I’d like for my stole.

Interchangeable circular needles are the bomb!

I also started another pair of Endless Knot Socks because the weather’s getting to where I want socks (I tend to be a barefoot girl when it’s warm) and an extra pair didn’t seem like a bad idea :)

I don’t have enough of the contrast color to make this a yin/yang pair so both socks will be oatmeal with blue accents.  I might have enough to make blue heels and toes too - that would be cool!

And there was an indulgence which I can’t really justify (because I don’t have a project in mind for it!) except that I want to try it and it wasn’t very expensive to do so - 4 balls of Patons soy/wool stripes in Natural Russet.

I have no idea what I’ll use this for, and it will sit for a while because there are at least three other projects in line in front of it…no…four.  The colors are pretty though and I have been dying to try a striping yarn that wasn’t Noro so this goes into the stash to marinate for a while.  I guess it will be marinating in my brain as well :)

Finally, I started chemotherapy again this morning.  The old drug we were using suddenly and spectacularly stopped working.  I won’t get to wait until December or January, new therapy had to be undertaken right away with a new drug.  This course will be a bit different in terms of timing - a dose every week for three weeks and then a week off and then it starts again.  Hopefully we can get another couple of years out of this - and hey - this time, with this particular drug, I may not lose my hair!

Not that there’s much to lose - heheh…