A Detour is a Choice Between Two Tasks......
Those of you familiar with The Amazing Race, will recognize those often dreaded words. Each leg of TAR has a detour.....a choice between two tasks. The trick is knowing which of the two tasks will best suit the strengths of the two team members in such a way that will propel the team further along in the race, and eventually to victory.
In the first leg of The Amazing Lace, Team Bike and Knit was faced with just such a dilemma. A detour......involving the tools of the trade for a knitter of lace. After knitting the border and one-half of the repeats for the first pattern Jenny Raye, the brains of TB&K was ready to throw in the towel and concede defeat. A detour had been reached. In other lace projects a Clover bamboo needle has done the job admirably, but the cable is just so stiff that JR did not want to use a Clover for the very wide (around 70-80") Sampler Shawl. She has been using An Addi Natura bamboo with great success on the Stora Dimun shawl, which is not part of TB&K due to the weight of the yarn, so JR thought that the Natura would be......well, the natural choice for Sampler Shawl. The Mother's Day gift certificate from Mr Fix-it was broken into for the purchase of the sz 4 Natura for TAL. JR cast on the 400+ stitches at SnB and the race was on.
But, as the knitting progressed it became obvious that each and every one of the 400 stitches was going to get stuck in the join of the Natura 40" cable. Not. Fun. More time was spent dragging the yarn across the join than was spent knitting. At this rate TB&K would never finish the race. A decision must be made. Continue knitting with the needle of doom or buy another size 4 with a 40" cable, which would make #3 and the rest of the gift certificate down the drain? Normally the lys will not accept returns on needles, but JR took a chance and called within just a couple of days of purchasing the Natura and explained the equipment breakdown. An exchange was happily arranged. The Natura was replaced with an Addi Turbo sz 4 and TB&K was back in it at full strength.
Currently TB&K is into the third pattern of 5 on the Sampler Shawl (not yet 1/2 way--another 20 rows or so should be halfway), and said shawl is 8or so inches deep when slightly stretched, so right on track. SS and Glorianna have been switching off as JR's partners for the last week~~the goal is for each partner (project) to race on every race day. So far so good.......they're past the first detour and moving on! Below TB&K rest on a swing during the mandatory break at the pitstop.
TB&K 1 Detour 0!
I'm not sure which pattern I will use for this yet. With other Mother's Day 
Um......wrong!
Let's start with the tea in the top left corner: Republic of Tea's Cinnamon Cardamon herbal--perfect for late night indulgence since it is caffeine free, to the right is one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Wild Cherry sock yarn--even more yummy in person! Add to that the fact that I have never knit with this yarn, but have had it on my lusting after list, and you know I am one happy girl. Those two would have been enough, more than enough.....but just look....there's more! A package of Ferrer Rocher (sp) chocolates--yumm, and three chocolate truffle thingys--the wrappers are downstairs--yes, I said wrappers because I already consumed them. Had to fight dd off. Next to that--five biscottis--I'll break into these tonight while flipping channels between AI and Lost season finales. Also in the package was a bar of green tea soap which smells just amazing, some beautiful stitch markers, which, hello...match the yarn, two magnets she made herself, and three patterns which Trish thought I might enjoy trying with the Cherry Tree Hill or other sock yarn! Plus two cute and thoughtful notes. It is quite obvious that Trish spent time at my blog and matched the gifts to me personally! What a secret pal! I am floored. Grateful beyond words. Trish, you have taught me a great deal about being a 
I am fortunate enough to have known my great-grandmother, although she died before I had children, she did live to the ripe old age of 99--she saw me grow up, graduate from high school and college, and marry. I still miss her. She is on the left in the very top photo--along with my mother as a child, my grandmother (seated), and my great-great grandmother.
