It's a Wrap!

PH and I share a love for storms. He is the only cat I know that loves to sit outside, on the porch or under the car to listen to the thunder, and to watch the lightning and rain coming down. Tonight there is an incredible wind. After DH went upstairs to bed, PH and I took the laptop and went outside in the dark, on the back deck, where the windchimes were in constant motion and song.

It's been so warm the past couple of days that it feels like springtime. We've had the sliding patio door open so now the air in the house smells fresh as the outdoors.

Anyway, I stretched out on one of the benches that line the railing, with PH, sphinx-style, next to me. We could hear and feel the wind roaring through the trees. Leaves swirled by and caught the light as they danced past us. Through the wind and the music of the chimes, we could hear, every now and then, a bird saying something to comfort himself up in one of the trees, and we heard other noises that sounded like birds until I realized that it was the trees, themselves, creaking.

Then, I looked up.

It was surreal. The trees around our house are so tall and slim that they looked like palm trees swaying back and forth. Then I remembered how sandy the soil is around here and how some of the trees have very shallow root systems, how in the first summer we lived here a tree came down and stretched the whole length of the backyard, and how the house next door was flattened by six trees during a hurricane.

PH and I are listening to the windchimes from inside, now. The wind, itself, sounds like the ocean from where we are. We had been stretched out in front of the patio doors, but have since retired to the comfort of the couch--me on the couch, proper, and PH on the back of said couch, where he is pleasantly resting on top of my Airy Wrap-Around Sweater, after long since giving up kneading it to death.

Speaking of the finished Airy Wrap-Around Sweater from Fitted Knits, here it is!

It's really not that bad, in fact, it's kind of cute. Even DH humored me with some appreciative comments. I do think that I will like it much better after getting rid of the extra blubber that's been plaguing me lately. I swear it just snuck up on me! One day I looked in the mirror and went, "Auuggh! Where did that come from?!" It's got to go. Hey, this blog has helped me to finish three sweaters that were languishing, maybe it can help me slim down a bit, too? It's worth a shot.

Remember that I gave myself permission to start a new sweater after I finished these three? Now I have to decide which one will be next. Any suggestions for worsted weight? At the moment I'm all into cardis. Of course, I could still wait until I finish that Rabbit Ears Cardigan....