It's Meant to be a Scarf...

...not a sausage roll. 

Hmmmm. Gotta figure out what's going on with this. I'm kind of a tight knitter, so I'm wondering if I'm pulling in my K3 border too much. I mean, I'm going to block it, but I hope it holds the blocking. It is superwash...

It was fine last night. But lately, all it wants to do is curl up as I add rows. I've only seen that on scarves where I really wanted the curl. This is just really, really odd. 

But I'll keep on. It's to the point where I'm sailing through the 12-row repeat and it's easy enough to work with. For the 28-stitch scarf, you really only do 2 repeats per row. And the purl row kind of sails by at this width. 

I thought it was going to be more chunky, but it seems like this may be a very long scarf. Which works for me. I like to swirl them around my neck and drape them down. I prefer not to knot if I don't have to. 

WRONG!

Oh, and I fixed a heel that I'd screwed up. Sitting and knitting at Hubby's colonoscopy - I thought something was wrong, and yep. 

It was. 

Fixed and Turned

Somehow, my brain, on overdrive, or lack of sleep, or stress  -  or all three -- completely forgot how to turn a heel on a sock that's essentially a woman's large: 72 stitches cast on. I forgot that you end on a RS row, and then you have to purl the next one. My instructions said "knit." Not so... 

I hated picking this out. But I got it as close as I could do it. They're for me, so I don't care if the heel is a bit wonky. However, it's not, really. The knitting fairies were good to me this time. 

I was tempted to keep on going with the sock, but I'm really torn between these two projects. Tomorrow, I think, I'm going to block the Close to You Shawl. 

It's all progress!!

Prison Clean-Up, Round Two...

Today, in spite of the rain, we went out to the prison again and I took a number of shots. I was very fortunate to get a personal tour of the "guts" of the prison - one of the cell blocks I hadn't been in. We talked about the upcoming "Great Prison Break-In" and how the tours were going to go. 

Yes, it's still my intention to give tours one day. 

I'll spare you the 200+ pictures I took. Suffice to say that we got into some spaces that are definitely not ready for prime time! 

And I met the feral kittens, Joliet Jake and Elwood. I also managed to find, completely by accident, where Mamma Kitty is. She wasn't thrilled with me, as I was poking around the far cell block, and she'd taken refuge under a concrete slab and staircase. 

This picture is one of the cells in the basement. They were different; they weren't barred doors, but solid metal doors. But with bunks in them? They can't be "solitary" but in the basement, they're certainly the worst of the worst. 

Look at the placement of the bunks and the layout of the rest of the cell. The "mirror" is a stainless steel plate, the commode/sink are screwed to the wall, and the "desk" and chair are not able to be moved either. 

There's a window in the door. But there's also a steel plate that you could slam shut over the window. I can't even think of it. 

I can't even imagine. If you were attempting to "rehab" a person, you certainly wouldn't use this space in which to keep them for hours on end. 

You'll be proud of me. This time, I wore a mask when I was in the buildings. I figured that  it did look dorky, but I'd escape "Prison Crud" this time around. 

This is one of the original fireplaces. Vandals, unfortunately, have trashed most of them. I can't imagine how this one and one other actually escaped, but I'm grateful that they did. Of course, this would have had a mirror up on top there. If they weren't broken, then the volunteers and museum folks took them down. 

The other intact fireplace has marble pillars alongside the hearth. 

The prison is kind of unique in many respects. Not only did I walk through the cells, but these fireplaces are in the "living quarters." 

You definitely get a sense of a family energy in these spaces. Yes, you understand the bars on the windows, but a family lived there. Kids played in some of those rooms. I saw the quarters where the cook lived, and saw a kitchen.

I also saw some rooms which we totally didn't understand. I mean, it was like they took a large room and made random spaces with drywall. No idea how that came about, and no idea what they could've been used for. 

In other spaces, you saw chalkboards and classroom paraphernalia, but in these? Nothing but carpeting and walls. Not a hint - no furniture, no items left that might give us a hint. Kind of a cool mystery. 

I got a better shot of the stairway leading up to the cell blocks. This is all iron work. With wood on top, obviously. 

A couple of the stairwells are not in great shape, and they've taped them off. That's what I mean by the tours being mainly a "quick overview" and sidewalks for the most part. Many of the spaces are just too hazardous for people to be in. 

We went to take a staircase up another floor, and I had to stop my guide, because 3 steps up, and the step was bowing under his weight. Not that he's huge, but the risers (the flat part that goes between each step) are rotted in a lot of the places, and you really can't see the rot for the crud. 

In fact, in one spot, they call it "The Collapse" and I was urged to "not get too close to the edge"... Seems that there was a leaking water pipe, and the city offered to go in and fix it. 

The state, in its not-so-infinite wisdom? Declined. And a whole whack of building fell in on itself. 

So now, the state has allowed the city to buy and rehab the building - after a good 2/3 of it is in ruins. Go figure. 

Random Picture...

This is one of my favorite Colorado pictures. It was taken at the Red Rock Open Space, and I happened to look back and see it as we were leaving. 

I still want to fiddle with this in PhotoShop - I think I can push up the contrast a bit, and maybe change it to sepia or black & white for added drama. 

It was just a great shot, even with my crummy cell phone camera. 

I still think about that trip. "Of course," you'll say. "It was your vacation!" But it was more than that. I think that visiting The Kid and seeing him doing what he needs to do has helped. I still worry; he's a craftsman - they don't usually have great retirement plans! But that's my path, not his. I have to let it go and I have to let him go and do his thing. 

I'm a mom. I worry. That's the way of it, and that's the way it'll always be. 

Nothing will ever change that, I suppose.