Ketchup

There's a lovely vase of zinnias on the kitchen table, obtained from this morning's Farmer's Market. They're bright and cheery and make me think of this little old lady who would come into the flower shop I worked in as a high school student. Every Saturday, she would stop after grocery shopping and she would purchase five dollars worth of flowers, usually daisies and alstro, often stating that it would make sense for a woman on a fixed budget to spend that five dollars on food but the flowers fed her soul. She had to have them, especially when the dreary UP winter descended. I looked forward to her weekly visits, which continued through my last summer working at that small shop in college and hope she's still making her weekly floral purchases.

The zinnias got me thinking about my poor, neglected Lizard Ridge. They share quite a bit in common: brilliant color and a generalized feeling of happiness, save for the fact my poor Lizard Ridge squares are sitting in a pile. I'm still nine squares short, still have to weave in the ends of the squares already finished, and the blocking! Oh, I don't even want to think about the blocking!

The stack of knitted squares is indicative of a larger problem: I have far too many unfinished projects. Mittens that need thumbs, shawls in need of another skein of yarn, a half-finished baby blanket that might be complete by the time the intended child goes to college. I've made a list of all these projects and will, hopefully begin finishing them off in these first few weeks of school. The Lizard Ridge, I am hoping, will be done for December movie viewing... and then onto more holiday knitting. So much to be done, so much to be done.