Miters are cool!.

What a weekend!
The first leg of our journey involved getting the horses. Our trainer's horse decided he did not want to travel. This is after he had been hooked into the trailer. He reared up, snapped the hook holding him in and backed out of trailer. DD still had the lead line in hand so he did not run off, however, when the snap broke it hit her on the top of the head. She saw stars and had a huge swelling. The English riding helmet is modeled and does not stretch. Not only were we concerned about the possibility of a concussion, we were also worried about getting to the show and having her head hurt too badly to wear the helmet. DD was not going to let a bruised head slow her down, we were on our way. We iced her down, reloaded and resumed travel. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive to this particular 2-day show. The preparation is always more intense and as it is a larger show, the anxiety level is a little high.

Once under way, I pulled out the Tied-dye boxes pattern from Knitters Magazine and cast on for the back. I worked the first two rows and I was 2 stitches short to finish the second row. I frogged and tried again. The pattern called for a SSKP2. I tried this a little different, nope, now I had too many stitches. I just could not make sense of the notation and decided to work on the sleeves instead. How I missed my Internet connection, I bet I could have found the answer in one or two short searches. I finished one sleeve before dark. This colorway reminds me of rainbow sherbet!

We got to the barn, unloaded and got the horses settled and in bed about 12 pm. DH decided we would camp in the living quarters of the horse trailer for a change instead of staying in the hotel across the street. We agreed we could economize but man, oh man is that bed horrible. I am going to have to make changes before the next slumber party!!!

We were up at 5:30 to feed. Yuck, I am not an early morning girl. There was no time to do more than feed horses and brush my teeth before the show started. I took my yarn, program and show sheets and plunked myself in the stands. There is a grandmother who drives down from Troy, NY to watch her GD ride. That should earn her some brownie points! We met last season over our knitting. She knits squares that her group then crochets together to make lap robes for nursing homes. I am usually working on socks. As we greeted each other and brought each other up to speed on projects, I showed her the pattern and asked if she had ever knit miters? The answer was no but as we looked over the symbols, it finally came to me! Slip 2, Knit 1 and pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch. How completely clear it became as we talked about the possibilities. I am so grateful for that short conversation. I was able to finish both sleeves, the center section on the front and began another mitered box. It is going to take a circular needle to finish the back. In my rush to pack, I did not have a chance to look through the pattern to determine needs or to read the stitch pattern or to check gauge. I did check the gauge while knitting the first sleeve and it does seem to be right on the money.

The ride home was uneventful. While unloading horses, we received a call from the show office. DD won the Field Hunter Division for the weekend and was the high point horse for the entire show. We were absolutely speechless. There were at least 400 horses at the show this weekend. It was not something we thought was even remotely possible!

What a weekend and to ice the cake, DD is 17 today!