Snail Spirals

I haven't done any more on the urchin shawl, unfortunately. I've been so busy keeping the house clean that I haven't felt like it when I finally sit down at night. I have, however, done this:



This is an afghan that was given to me in a partially completed state, by a friend whose sister started it before her stroke. My friend's sister recently passed away, and I am the recipient of her yarn stash. I passed most of it along to the thrift store and other friends, because most of the yarn was acrylic and strange colors, but this afghan is wool and in a nice pattern. We don't need another afghan, so I decided that I would finish it and give it back to Trish so she would have something her sister made.



It's a simple one-row lacy pattern, with a plain row between the lace rows, and the fabric pulls into nice waves. Quite effective, I think. It was quick to knit (I did a whole skein in one evening!) and I think the finished product looks nice. However.....

As I was knitting, I kept coming across suspicious areas of the yarn that looked chewed. While I never actually saw any wriggly or winged critters in the yarn, afghan, or bag, it made me very nervous to have this fiber in my house. I'm glad that the project's finished and gone. I did give it a wash and 24-hour soapy soak after I finished knitting.

Tonight I plan to pick up the urchin shawl again, and get at least 6 rounds done. Each round is so long now, that they eat up a big chunk of time.

I also wanted to post an update of the aquarium. I got some more tetras (both kinds- glowlight and black neon) and a couple plants, so the tank is now fully stocked and in my mind, complete. Except for maybe more plants. Definitely no more fish.

Fish: 6 glowlight tetras and 5 black neon tetras.

Plants (left to right): Java fern (front)- Microsorium pteropus, Amazon Sword (back)- Echinodorus sp., some grassy thing they told me was "Lily Grass" but could be anything (even a non-aquatic, as it's doing so poorly), Borneo fern- Trichomanes javanicum, and tapegrass- Vallisneria sp.

Other critters: Physid snails.

The Java fern came mounted on a piece of wood, and the Borneo fern was loose, but I got another piece of wood and tied it on myself, since they don't do well just in the gravel. I like the wood in the tank, and it is helping lower the pH somewhat. Our well water is moderately hard and alkaline, so having the wood really helps.

The snails haven't become a problem yet. I actually saw the largest black neon tetra female nibbling at an egg mass yesterday, so they may never become a problem.

And looky! The Vallisneria seems to be happy! It put out a side shoot!