HOT

(Edit: I wrote this on Tuesday the 2nd, and have been attempting to get it to show up on the blog since then...not sure what I am doing wrong!)

Hello from South Dakota. It is VERY hot here. I know that I grew up with this kind of heat every summer, but just a few summers away and your body forgets. It is so hot today that I nearly got lightheaded when I went outside! I think that the official high was 104 degrees. I'm not sure if it has started cooling off yet or not.

My trip from Washigton to South Dakota was pretty uneventful. Hot but other than that nice weather. Only one problem was discovered with my Navigation system on my Prius -- I have now decided what the name of the woman giving me guidance should be: "Shirley" (as in "Surely you must be kidding!!!). I discovered that the guidance in rural wyoming is somewhat lacking, so any old road will suffice as a possiblity. She insisted on routing me on a desserted rural gravel road used only by the oil pipeline company, and finally after going about 20 miles on this road the map showed the road going straight and the road actually turned...well, I finally turned around and backtracked.

The Prius averaged about46 MPG for most of the trip. I haven't sat down and calculated it exactly yet.

I only forgot one thing at home in Washington -- I went off and left my basket of knitting on top of my bookcase!!! I didn't realize it until I was already in Spokanne. Sherri kindly offered to mail it to me, but I decided that those projects could wait until I return home.

I stopped at the only LYS in Western South Dakota. "Yvonne's Cards and Yarn" at 521 Main Street in Spearfish South Dakota. Yvonne is so sweet, and she kindly assisted me in choosing some beautiful sock yarn and a set of size 2 dpn. She was quite excited to meet another sock knitter, evidently there are not very many in western SD. I bought a skein of Sockotta (cotton/wool/nylon). It is in a Fair Isle pattern in white, green, blue, yello and brown. I bought a pattern by "Hand Jive Knits": Lace-Cuff anklets. I started the socks last night after I got to mom's. I honestly have not spent the entire day knitting, but these socks are knitting up SO FAST! I have 8 rows left in the gusset on the first sock! They are beautiful! I am happy that I have an excuse to stay inside and knit because it is way too hot to think about going outside.

Well, I had better go and finish knitting that sock!