This lace stuff is kicking my butt . . . .

Why am I having such a problem with this? I did manage to get through one pattern repeat yesterday, but ten rows took almost FOUR HOURS. I'm beginning to get a little frustrated. However, it looks as if I'm not alone. Blissful Knitter is having the same problems I am--it's nice to know I'm not the only one. I think a lot of my problem comes on the purl rows--some stitches will stick together and you don't realize you've knitted them together until you've started the next pattern row. I'm trying to be a little more caution on the purl rows, and I hope that will help. I'd really like to get this shawl done before I'm eligible for AARP (not that that's that far away, mind you, but still . . . .).

I've been watching a live stream from WWL TV in New Orleans this morning--the mayor just called for a mandatory evaluation of the city, the first time in history. Hurricane Katrina is now showing winds of 175 mph--unbelievable. This sounds like it's going to be a storm of epic proportions. Some people who are unable to get out are being allowed to stay in the Superdome. Can I just say that I would rather sit in an open ditch than in the Superdome during a storm? The very idea makes my stomach churn--too big of a place for me, that's for sure. When I was a kid, my cousins lived for a few years in Houma, which is southwest of New Orleans. I know there were storms while they lived there, but nothing like this. No wonder they ended up moving back to Oklahoma.

Yesterday the reporters mentioned that this was move-in weekend for students at Tulane, so the town was full of new students and their parents trying to get them ready for the first day of school on Monday. I bet that was a big shock to realize you're sending your kid to school right in the path of what may be one of the biggest hurricanes in US history. I wonder how many suddenly decided they wanted to go to college closer to home?

Listening to this makes me perfectly happy to live in Tornado Alley--we may get devastating storms, but they don't last three to four days at a time. Yikes.