A ripping good time

7 Small Shawls: T - 84 days and counting down.

Okay. So right about now I am totally hyperventilating. Look at the number above: 84. :breathe: :breathe: :breathe: And then take a look at what I just did below. Yes. I ripped. Yes. Shawl #4 got ripped back. It just wasn't looking right to me, you know? And it needs to. It badly needs to look right to me. There was just too much going on. I wanted more simplicity. First, I thought I might rip the diamonds down and reknit them one by one. Then I decided that I really needed to enjoy my knitting, and that was sooooo not going to do it! So I ripped. I ripped down past the diamonds and started knitting it back up. I'm almost back up to where I was before, and I also have a great tip for ripping beaded knitting (thanks to a special member of my Ravelry Group who went through a period of lots of ripping).

Are you ready for this wonderful bit of simplicity? Put the item to be ripped back in a bag. I used a ziploc bag so I could close it around the strand of yarn emerging form the top.

Then start ripping, bay-beeeeee!

All the beads that would otherwise have flown across the room are neatly controlled in their little bag.

Isn't that fabulous?!

When you have ripped back enough, just remove the piece from the bag and replace the stitches on a needle. I like to use one that is smaller than the working needle. It's much easier to get the stitches back on without mishap. Then I just knit the stitches onto the correct needle size. Now I'm motoring along and determined not to fall behind!

Speaking of mishaps...I had one with the computer this week. It was nerve-wracking. The Mac kept freezing up completely. It took me quite awhile to get it sufficiently repaired - time I really didn't have. So when I really started getting nervous, I made a deal with myself. If I could just get the computer back up, I would back it all up and never be a bad girl again. Because really? I have no excuse. I have Time Machine after all, and all I needed was a giant (1 terabyte!) hard drive. Which I purchased and had over-nighted (for $3.99 extra, courtesy of amazon prime!). Isn't it cool?

It's now even cooler, because now it has all of my data safe and sound - all backed up! For the geeks (like me) among you: I also put my old Mac mini in target disk mode and wiped it (the video card is dead, but the hard drive is still fine). Now it's my Photoshop scratch disk. Woot!

Did I mention before what a cool summer we've had here? While the rest of the country was sweltering, we've been chilly! So cool, in fact, that September - when the heat finally came back - saw our very first ripe tomatoes of the year, and now we're getting more of them! And what tomatoes they are! My dear friend Susan gave me the plants and they have produced the absolute perfect tomato. Aren't they beautiful?

They are tangy, sweet and salty, juicy, and incredible. Susan thinks these are the Paul Robeson variety, but said it might be Carbon. Of course, this was over the phone, and I'm now hoping she can identify them from this picture! What do you say, Sooz? Which variety are these? Because zOMG. They are SO. GOOD.

Well, swim meet this weekend, so I'm trying to get everything together and finished before heading out Saturday morning early. Wish me luck!!!