My dog ate my homework

I can't find my bluetooth receiver. I was out of town. (Twice.) My computer hiccuped. My dog ate my homework...

I have not been just sitting around for the last four weeks, but you may have noticed I have not been posting either. I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. In three words: it was crowded. Other than that, Cass isn't much interested in photos of sheep so has not transferred them to the computer yet. I did not spend as much on yarn as I did on food. What can I say? I am an unapologetic omnivore. I did buy plenty of wool in a lovely shade of red for Janet Szabo's Granite Cardigan from her Fall 2007 Twists & Turns. I guess that will make my sweater Redgranite.

I also do not have a photo of my current knitting, but that hardly matters. When I was young, my favorite of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories was "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin." It involves a hot day, leaving one's skin on the bank while swimming, stale cake crumbs and unimaginable itchiness. How does this apply to knitting? I am still enjoying the circular alpaca lace christening shawl. As unblocked lace so often does, the 68,900 stitches I have knit so far look like a crumpled, pale sky blue rhinoceros skin. I am on round 184. At this stage, there are 816 stitches in one round. A plain round takes about 20 minutes. Slightly stretched, 8 rounds (or 2 hours and 40 minutes) add 2 inches to the diameter. With my next increase round it will slow down to over 1000 stitches per round.

And about that computer-hiccupping thing? I am most annoyed by the loss of my Freecell statistics. My winning streak was way over 1900. I have got to get out more.