I missed last week's post, more about that later.

I am finally on the last hour of work on an afghan I started in......1998! It was meant to be a wedding gift for a couple who split up soon after the wedding, so it was never given to them. It's been around long enough that the colors match our living room and so I decided to finish it and use it. The knitting is done and I'm now weaving in all those ends. Yes, there are over 100 ends to be hidden in the back of the work and it's pure drudgery. But it will be finished by this weekend, as I have house guests and just don't want a half-finished afghan lying around.










And then there's the little issue of my having bought way too much yarn for this afghan project. We have scraped our old bed, bought a new one and--yet again--the yarn colors are a great match for the bedroom. So I'm working on a bed runner to tie the curtains, duvet and rug together in a somewhat harmonious room. Which is not something I lie awake nights worrying about, but if it accidentally comes together I consider it good karma. I am NOT a Good Housekeeping type of person but it's nice to fall asleep and wake up in colorful peaceful surroundings.










And lastly, the reason for my missed post. We're having the walkways and driveway redone. The walks were poured concrete done by my brothers back in......1962? I think? They'd pour 1-2 squares each evening after work, then decide the next evening if their mix of gravel to cement was correct. Often it wasn't and the pavement was crumbling a decade ago. I was amazed at what they'd thrown under the concrete as leveling stone--old fieldstone pavers, a line of bricks (who thought THAT was a good idea?), pottery pieces, slag, whatever they found on the property seems to have been fair game. What can I say? That's not unusual for the DIY 60s.

The driveway was more recent, having been paved back in the late 70s and not recently kept up. As in, my brother seems to have given up on all maintenance on this house 20 years ago. Asphalt was never a good idea on a driveway lined with mature black walnut trees, as the roots pushed up the pavement over the years. And he never sealed it after the first 5-6 years so it crumbled, sunk and was overgrown on the edges for at least 12" each side.

Next week: Pix, I hope, of the new cardigan I'm working on. I spun the yarn (see below) while in Charlotte last month and am trying to finish up so I can wear it to our wedding vow renewal on Saturday. Till then, I'm off to find a cup of coffee and the knitting.....