Pyrotechnical Mishap

Yesterday we went to Skip's cousin's place for their annual pot luck summer party. This year all the cousins were invited so it was pretty much only family. Other years friends and acquaintances have also attended. Chris and Rosanne live in the beautiful hills north of Bolton, ON about an hour NW of Toronto. It's always a lovely drive and we take less-travelled roads to avoid traffic.

One of the traditions is the after-dinner lighting of a huge bonfire. Chris collects wood all year for this event and piles it behind his garage. A fire permit is obtained and a charged hose is at the ready to put out any little grass fires that may start. As we've had a very wet summer and it poured rain at about 4 yesterday, things weren't as dry as usual. After gets really dark, the fireworks begin. Last night, things went terribly wrong. The bucket of sand used to anchor the fireworks was plastic and one of them tipped over and burned a hole in the side of the bucket. That should have been a warning that was heeded. Then one of the multi-firing rockets tipped over and headed directly for us! We scattered like quail hiding behind the lawn chairs we were sitting on. Unfortunately, Jenn, our hosts' daughter was sitting closer to the bucket and one of the shots hit her right in the chest. It melted her blouse and sparks went down her cleavage to her stomach. I didn't actually see the damage however she was burned. What a way for her to start her week's vacation.

Fireworks can be very dangerous and cause a lot of damage, both to property and people. Yikes! I think they're something that should be left to professionals. I'm glad no one was more seriously hurt.

I've been working on the Palindrome scarf. Here is a picture of it from a while back.
















I am doing the cable repeat every 8 rows instead of every 6 rows. I'm also slipping the first stitch of every row to make a nice, smooth edge. The very cool feature of this pattern is that the scarf is identical on both sides (hence 'palindrome' - "Able was I ere I saw Elba", "A man a plan a canal, Panama", etc.). I'm more than halfway finished now that I've started the second ball of Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn. It's now almost 4 feet long. If I were to knit another one, I'd probably modify it to be 4 cables wide just so it would be another couple of inches wider. In between afghan squares, I'm attempting to finish some UFOs. I may work on the clapotis next.