Swinging and Harvesting!

.So those of us who follow women's professional golf are seeing the last season for the amazing Anneke Sorenstam, who has won practically everything in the world. And now for several tournaments, I've noticed that the commentators say this is her last tournament. Then she shows up in Asia for her positively last tournament. Now she's in Dubai for her definitely, positively last tournament. I wonder if she's having farewell events on every continent!

We started watching women's golf on tv years ago in disgust at the lousy sportsmanship and general scruffy behavior in women's tennis, and were amazed at the sheer politeness and calm and much more subtle competitiveness of the women's tournament. and the incredible skills.

I even treated myself to a putter (at a garage sale, knowing my modest goals) and a plastic glass to putt into in the living room and had quite a good time finding that my eye-hand coordination is good, but not prepared to risk my shoulder learning how to really play golf on an actual course.

Now, you will see our appreciation when you know that we live on the edge of a golf course, a public course with happy hackers out every weekend and some weekdays. When I used to walk the dog up the boundary line, I'd hear the players talking seriously about their swing, their new club, new approach, etc. Then I'd see them swingandswingandswingandswing and finally contact the ball, which would fall off the tee and roll a few yards....Or, the other type of amateur, who contacts the ball with great force and sends it at right angles to the course. We learned to duck.

So when you see real golfers deciding exactly where the ball needs to be and putting it there, it's amazing. They make it look easy. I think our local golfers have plenty of fun, though. Or something. Most of them are men. I wonder if they're hiding from their wives...and what they do in the winter when the course is closed, which it soon will be.

Meanwhile, back in the house, yarn harvesting is going on apace. Currently in the middle of unraveling an Old Navy sweater (they are wonderful for unraveling, very well made for the purpose, chain stitched seams, not serged) in a nice sort of goldy yellowy variegated color, pure lambswool. This will make some good socks, and other stuff, too. and I made an afghan out of scraps of donated yarn, wonderful warm thing. I have a pic of the draft layout before it was crocheted together, with Marigold testing it for warmth.

I was given yarn (people are always giving me yarn, figuring that between my personal knitting and all I churn out for pet rescue, I'll use it up long before they will) recently, a lovely merino wool, which I made into a Catspaw Shetland lace scarf, not as hard as it looks, once you remember to: take notes, make little check marks, use lifelines threaded through, arrange for total silence and no telephone ringing and nobody asking questions that make you forget if you did your yarnover, etc. Once you get that down, it's a snap...

Anyway I'm also making another scarf, with Catspaw just at the end, in a double wool, and completed another in a lovely sage green good cotton yarn, and I'll show you some of these. The sage one is a present for a friend who will have received it by now, so this won't spoil the surprise if she reads along in here. I think I've done Catspaw now! and feel free to move on to another lace design.

I give up on placing the photos logically in this post! blogspot not happy today, but anyway, they're here, even if a bit premature.