Saturday, July 31, 2010

Brandywine avoidance.

Instead, we have Skuld! I have managed to make my way about 70% of the way through this one with only one glaring error.... I am not going to tell about it here, in hopes that no one will ever notice! But me. I know it is there.... I love the pattern, though it requires serious counting attention. Soon, I will have to move onto something with a memor-izable repeat....This is almost the true color. Orange love!! The picture here is a little more traffic cone than reality. It is Malabrigo Sock in the colorway Terracotta. I could not RESIST the color when I saw it in The Salty Sheep on vacation!! I am on some kind of orange kick, I think....

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Proof that I got something done during my vacation.


I knitted the entire Annis Shawl by Susanna IC (from Knitty. I love Knitty!) between Tuesday and today. Please take a moment to marvel at the fact that I jumped up from finishing the bind off and blocked it on the same day! Alas, tomorrow I have to go back to work. Sigh. More vacation pictures tomorrow, so I can prolong the experience!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

Aeolian, before blocking!

I thought it would never happen, but the time has arrived.... The knitting is done for the long-awaited Aeolian shawl!
Cat for scale.... Or because you just can't stop a cat that wants to be somewhere, I won't say which. Actually, the only thing I don't totally LOVE about this finished object is the size. I knitted the largest size with the needles called for. I usually have to go down in needle size to adjust for gauge. And yet this is FAR from being the huge, drapey, elegant thing from the pattern. It is little. Shawlette sized.
Next comes the blocking. Cross your fingers for a physics-defying doubling in size.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The view from here...

July 5th at the Beach! These are not the greatest photos, but they show the view from where I sat in the heat and sunshine and just enjoyed the peace of the beach. And The Mom and I spent a LOT of time feeling smug about how much easier OUR canopy was to put up than everyone elses' poor canopy choices!



Don't you agree we have the best shade going?? We are cool like that! (Man, though, is that sucker heavy when you have to heave it from the car!! Good thing that we will be right on the ocean when we go on vacation, huh??)

And here is the view of the bizarre DMZ that has developed while The Mom is away, right down the middle of our couch:


Since most of you don't live at my house, you wouldn't know that the cat has muscled her way into the dog's spot. Don't let her name fool you, Buttercup is one tough wildcat sometimes! It is like a little game she plays, sit in the dog's seat and growl like a mountain lion if anyone ventures too near! Yesterday, I caught her not only laying in the dog's seat, but on the dog's rawhide, as well. Doesn't the Maggie-Dog look terrorized? Everyone here knows who rules this roost!!

Right now, I think scary cat is in Maggie-dog's perch in the front window. She lives dangerously!

Friday, July 9, 2010

I like to imagine....

...while I am sitting here having my coffee and apple fritter, working in the cubicle, that my mom is in a cafe in Paris, having a demitasse of coffee and a croissant. Sigh.
Today is her day of meetings where she learns about the tour company, but with the time difference, she has probably moved on to "free evening in Paris...." She is planning to go to the Sacre Cour and recreate a picture of her father from WWII. It has great sentimental value in our family, so it will probably cause tears all around.
I am very, very excited for her. Not at all seething with jealousy that I am in a cubicle and have a dog that likes her so much better she waits in the window for The Mom to come home the entire week while SOMEONE is seeing the sights.... Not at all.
Mom, hope you are having the time of your life and can't wait to have you home! Love!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Things to look forward to....

Sometimes when I am depressed, I will feel like I have nothing to look forward to at all. We are raised on a schedule of deadlines that we are working for. You remember, every week, working toward the weekend. Every school term, working toward either Christmas or Summer. Every year, working toward the next. Working for Junior High, High School, College.... Being a grown up sucks for lack of those short term kinds of goals. Now I work for each paycheck, but that is about it. Same cubicle, same kinds of phone calls. Same. That is what I think, anyway....

Recently, I have realized, though, that right now I have a lot of things to look forward to:

1. July 4th long weekend. This is particularly nice, because I have worked all but one of the "floating" holidays that we get since Thanksgiving of last year. Why do I keep volunteering for this stuff??

2. Aveda facial tomorrow. I can't describe how much I am looking forward to this! Meredith is having a hard time recently, so I am driving up so we can have a girly day. It is the most relaxing thing on the entire planet, I am convinced. Last time I did this, I actually snored while I was awake. I get so relaxed that I can't feel my fingers. Ahhhh....

3. Vacation coming up. We are renting a house at Topsail Island for an entire week, and I am so happy. It is very nice and peaceful there, and this is the first time that the doggie has gotten to go.... The whole family will be together and I look forward to a week of nothing but ocean breezes and knitting!

4. SAFF. My beloved friend Courtney is coming (if I have to go get her myself!) and we are going to have a knitters holiday to end all knitters holidays! I love SAFF anyway and can't wait to see Courtney!! And the yarn, all the pretty yarn....

5. Italy and Greece in 2011. I am beside myself with joy that I am going to be a chaperon for The Mom's school trip next summer. It is a long way off but CERTAINLY worth a whole year of anticipation! It will include Rome and Athens, then a four day cruise in the Greek Islands. Short of winning the lottery, I can't imagine that I will come up with a better way of spending a holiday!! Calamari by the sea, here I come! (Is it weird that I am already considering knits to get done for the trip??)

That is all I have right now, but I feel better when focusing on the positive, so I will keep the list going in my head if not on the blog. Happy days are in front of me!