still here .....

Last night I went to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak. It was lots of fun -- both to hear her and to be around so many other knitters. I was particularly impressed by the people who wore handknit sweaters, considering that it was 102 degrees.

I brought along my endless project, a Pi Are Square shawl (EZ, Knitting Workshop) in laceweight shetland. Here's Stephanie puzzling over it:

Can't you just tell she's thinking "what is this shrivelled heap?" Really, though, I was impressed by her composure. We were at the end of a line of about a thousand knitters getting their books signed. It's hard to imagine making polite chit chat for that long.

On another other front, the cotton is coming along great. Here's George (in his space helmet) beside my little plantation:

He is facing south. There is a fence about 30 feet to the east of the plants which blocks the sun early in the morning. The tallest plants get the sun a little earlier in the morning -- that's the only explanation I can think of for the difference in size.

I'm surprised by the height; I had thought it would only get to about 18 inches, but the tallest is over 40 inches now. (George is 45 inches; I put him in for scale.) The flowers are beautiful! I wonder what the yield will be.