HOME!

Nothing feels quite as nice as finally being back home to stay after a long time away!  I thought I would end up getting lots of dishcloths done while I was away, but ended up losing one knitting needle fairly early on. I did finish two though, one on the trip up to Atlanta three weeks ago and the other on the trip back up on Friday after a trip to the store for another set of size 7 needles.  Most of the time in the hospital and hospice rooms were spent reading books on the kindle because it could be done in the dark.  I wasn't able to concentrate much and so reread a series of books that I had enjoyed years ago, it was a nice way to feel like I was doing something without having to think too much.
 Mom's memorial service yesterday was very nice. I managed to get through my entire speech and my sister read a poem and a psalm. Brad, my older brother, didn't feel that he could do any public speaking, but he was there with us through the entire ceremony. There was a very nice video with photographs as well and Garth, the minister from the church, gave a very nice sermon which I thought did a perfect job of expressing Mom's personality.  I am so appreciative for all of your supportive e-mails and Facebook posts, I will respond to each of them in time, right now I'm still trying to digest everything that has gone on.

So here is the first dishcloth, which I made using a pattern that Sheila kindly sent to me. I'm going to paste it in here, because putting things in my blog is always a nice way of making sure they are easy to find later.  Sheila got it from Wanda, and I'm not sure where it came from before that.

The pattern I'm using is this one that Wanda Hanson of
Exuberantcolor.blogspot.com emailed me. I love it. I copied and pasted it
below. She uses it a lot. Me, too, now :D

Cast on 3 stitches.  Increase one stitch in each row by knitting in the
front and back of the center stitch until you have 7 stitches.

Next rows:  Knit 3, yarn over, knit across.  This increases one stitch per
row and creates the holes that define the border.  Continue until you have
45-50 stitches.  On size 7 needles I go to 50, with size 8 needles I stop
at 45.

Decrease rows:  Knit 2, knit 2 together, yarn over, Knit 2 together, knit
across.  Continue until you have 7 stitches left.
Next row: Knit 3, knit 2 tog, knit across.
Next row: Knit 2, knit 2 tog, knit across.
Cut yarn with a 6” tail, slip needle out and slip a crochet hook in and
pull the tail through remaining 5 stitches.  Split the yarn and pull one
tail back through a stitch and then tie off.  Cut ends close.

Next time I make this pattern I am going to try to put a stockinette stitch in the center portion by alternating rows of knitting and pearling.  I think that would be cute too.  

This one was actually made first, it is 40 stitches with the first row knit one purl one and the second row purl one knit one.  From time to time I got me rows mixed up, but I still like the knubbly texture.  I think it would look nice in the middle of the diagonal pattern as well.