Mush Brain

I decided that I have had enough with the blanket. Oh, I'll continue to knit on it and it will be finished soon sometime after the baby is born. Knitnthings asked why not just leave off the French knots? Well, the couple for whom this blanket is intended is Greek and Tom thought it would be nice to make a blanket in the colors of the Greek flag. It's obvious that I wasn't thinking clearly ("Oh, what a pretty blanket. Aren't the French knots adorable!) and that I could have easily picked a blanket that didn't require embroidering over 500 French knots in Greek flag blue. Sigh...

So, I picked up the Blue Danube sock again. I had knit part of a round at the Knit Bloggers' Knoll at MDS&W and figured it would make good lunch time knitting or car knitting. I couldn't believe what I saw...the knitting was a mess. An absolute mess! The first pattern round is *sl3 purlwise, p3; repeat from *. Simple enough, right? Nope. I got the slippin' right, but seemed to get my knit and purl stitches mixed up (I think the whack of knit bloggers really freaked me out). So off to the frog pond on round 8. But my troubles were not over. I knit the one 12-round pattern repeat and and first half of the second repeat (which are the same). I managed to keep my knit and purl stitches straight, but got off on the count somewhere. The pattern was very off-kilter. I counted and counted and couldn't figure it out. So off the the frog pond again. This time I ripped back the whole thing and started over. The sock is looking much better.

Musings about Mother's Day
I didn't get a chance to visit my mother yesterday, but we did send flowers and I'll be making a trip down home on Wednesday to help out after her mastectomy. Mom has such a great attitude about the breast cancer. Actually Mom has a great attitude about almost everything. She's a very strong and determined woman and I admire her and love her a lot (don't get teary-eyed when you read this, Mom!). I suspect that she's doing much better with all this than I am.

But anyway, this the first year that I've noticed that pretty much all the cashiers in our local grocery stores kept telling me "Happy Mother's Day!" I'm not a mother and at this stage in my life, I'm probably not going to become one. How did I react? I smiled and said "Thank you, to you too." But that got me thinking. Is it because I'm clearly a woman of a certain age and wearing a wedding ring that people automatically think I have children? What do you think? Is it polite to wish a total stranger a happy "insert generic holiday here" when you don't have an inkling of their personal situation? I wasn't offended, but it did make feel rather odd.

We did get a chance to visit my mother-in-law. We cooked dinner and delivered it to her (she hates to cook, so cooked meals are alway a good gift). I made Rick Bayless' Grilled Salmon Vera Cruz with Lemon-and-Thyme-Scented Salsa, a spicy black bean and chile salad, Fruit Salad with Cannoli Cream (from Everyday Italian). Fortunately, everything could be made ahead and didn't require an final cooking. All of these dishes would be perfect for a picnic. And it was all quite yummy. A good time was had by all.

My apologies for lack of pictures this post. The blanket looks much like it did last week except longer and the sock is almost ready to be photographed.

My next post will probably be from my parents' house. In the meantime, have a great week and for those of you in the Northeast, don't float away!