Me Old Eyes!

Smallest Child is a dancer, and often gets sore after a long day of dancing.  When she does, or when she creaks and pops a lot, she will comment, "Oh, me old bones!" which I find amusing, as she is just shy of 16.  She knows little of old bones!

At any rate, it has become more and more clear to me as I work on the bug, that I have old eyes.  I am having to hold the hoop closer and then farther and then perhaps a little farther away from me as I try to focus on those tiny holes.  I knew I was due for an updated prescription, but this has really made it clear to me.  Ah well.   

Here's an update on bug status:

I've finished most of the backstitching.  What's left to be done is with good old #310.  I'll do the backstitching on the bee, and then put in the name of the bee, and then there's a single line of gold and a row of black stitches that goes around the whole thing.  I suspect the backstitching may take as long as the frame.  

I haven't worked on any other cross stitching because of the eyesight issue.  I'm thinking about getting a pair of cheap reading glasses at the drugstore for this purpose.  

After finishing the cowl, I did do more squares on the Hue Shift, and then I undid them because I grabbed the wrong color.  Oops.  Hard to see in the gloom of TV watching sometimes.  I've finished the omitted color, and am now halfway through the first of the frogged squares.  

I did some swatching also for the two sweaters mentioned previously for Middle, and was pleasantly surprised to get gauge for Glenmore quickly.  Middle opted for a tan color, and I cast on last Sunday.  I had a Zoom conference to attend this week, which provided lots of knitting time, as I am peripheral to the meeting and didn't need to take notes or talk.  So the first picture is of my starting point at the beginning of the meeting, and then the second is where I ended the morning session today (Friday).  I have started on the sleeves and I am hoping to be done within a couple of days.  We all think it looks like chain mail, but that seems to be a feature, not a bug, for Middle (fond of D&D).

At the top, I had just joined the shoulders across the front of the neck, so all the tricky bits were complete. At the bottom, I have completed the body of the sweater.  It helps that it is bulky yarn on 10.5 needles.  Middle decided that she didn't want ribbing on the bottom, so I did three knit rows with size 9 needles to give it a rolled edge.  She is pleased.

Still no word from Catherine, but I have hope that she will return to triumphantly post the completion of the second bug.  She finished the one our mother had started.

I think after I finish this sweater, I need a little break before working on the other one, which will be all stockinette on size 7 needles.  Perhaps more socks, or a summer top for me?  It sounds like I get to keep working from home for a while, so that bumps up my knitting time a fair bit, which will be fun.

Margie