It has just been so unbelievably hot this past week that I haven't really done much of anything except knitting. Every day it's been in the high 90*'s with the heat index of over 100*. Got a bunch of dvds from the library and have just been hunkering down inside the house. Last Friday night we had one of those derecho storms and it knocked out the electricity. Lovely. It was out for 25 hours and, of course, it was in the 90's. Mostly I was concerned about our parrots and cockatiel but we took them down to the basement in their cages and it stayed relatively cool. Only lost about 3 items from the refrigerator so Thank God for that. Spent some time at Starbucks (recharging cell phone and tablet...and I wasn't the only one...it was hard to find a free plug) and some time at my sister's. I was never so happy to see traffic lights when they came back on. I love electricity! But I did get some sock knitting done. I had to find a worsted weight and size 5 needles so I could see by the camping lanterns but got quite a bit done.

Here's what I just finished yesterday. They are the Treebeard socks by Claire Ellen and the kal was called the "Not not-so-hasty-kal"http://www.ravelry.com/projects/knitsensei/treebeard-socks. I won a free pattern of hers (they are great) and some stitch markers. I can't wait to see them!

 The yarn is more orange than the photo and it's Malabrigo in "Terra Cotta". I love the pattern and the yarn. I could barely stand to put them on 'cause it's so hot but they look wonderful. I can't wait to wear them.

This is what the crazy weather did the other day. It's 90* and we had a ton of hail. About the size of a nickel and came down for about 10 minutes. Insane.

This is one of the things I'm knitting on now. It's the Swiss Cheese scarf/shawl made with Kauni. I like this yarn. It's fun to watch what color comes up next.

Got up early the other day to do a little cooking before it got too hot in here. Made the "double drive through burger'' from "Chloe's Kitchen", which is a great cookbook and I highly recommend to all, vegan or not. Also made cinnamon expresso chocolate chip cookies which are fabulous.



Also made the tomato gratin with pinenut ricotta which was easier than I thought.

Okay, I have to go and get some iced tea. Stay cool and keep knitting.