What a Week

Last week was... I don't even know. I think somehow the time/space continuum got a little wonky on me. It went so fast. So here's my attempt to re-cap. It was still spring break at school so the work schedule was definitely off (I think that's the main reason that I'm off on my conception of time). Tommy arrived home on Tuesday evening while I was at SnB, where, by the way, I sewed in the ends of the Hidcote Shawl!!!!! Happy dancing ensued! And then yesterday I went to Ellie's to block it. See the blob o' knitted lace?

Become the beautiful shawl that it is. Amazing what a good soak and some pins will do for knitting. Close-ups on the 3 different motifs:Once more, let me just say yay! I feel so very accomplished when I look at it all finished. The first major lace project I've ever finished - I don't count the Luna Moth Shawl because it's much smaller than this, and the pattern was the same throughout. But anyway, because I was finally done with the behemoth, I decided to continue along the Path of Finishing, and pulled out a project that hasn't seen daylight in many moons. The Mystic Waters Shawl.You might not be able to tell that anything's been done from that picture, but I assure you, I put on 20 rows, and am nearly done with Chart D. Very slow going, I now remember why it got put aside. The rows don't have any repeats within them, you have to look at the char from stitch 1 all the way across to the last stitch. Oi. Makes for a very wide chart. With the behemoth, stitch markers were placed every 20 or so stitches to mark out the repeat sections, and as it grew you got more repeats across, made it easier to just knit. With the MW, you don't have that luxury, yet. I think they start a few repeats in like 2 charts. So we shall plug along.

And just so we can get all the knitting out of the way, I picked up another hibernating project to work on during practice, the Rivendell sock. I ripped out the sock that I had - the one that was the second attempt and still too small, just to refresh your memory - and re-cast on with 3.25mm needles. Worked the cuff, and then switched to 3.0mm needles for the leg. And I am happy to report that it fits! Finally! So as of yesterday, I am through the gusset of the first sock. Happy dance.

I also got going on a market bag - I had this great idea to make a bunch to be beach bags for the vacation this year. This one, is the Monteagle Bag from Mason Dixon (the second book), with some KnitPicks CotLin yarn in the colorway, Surf. Very appropriate.I'm almost done with it, and sadly I'm thinking it's way smaller than I was hoping for. So the next bag will be a different pattern. I've got enough yarn to make 5 (maybe 6, since this one didn't take much). It looks like a blob of hot mess right now, but it's actually really cool. The different stitches are all kinda weird when you're doing them, but then look so cool when they're done.

So that's where the knitting stands. Onto the family bit now. So like I said, Tommy came home Tuesday, I hung out with him and his friend Jack that night for a little while. Wednesday, Paul and the boys came out for dinner (Mama Roberto's is so good, and so not WW friendly). Thursday was uneventful. Friday I met everyone at the Fish Fry after work, by everyone I mean Mom, Ellie, Tom, Paul and the family. Afterwards, we hit East Coast for some more WW unfriendly goodness, and then went to Willoughby Brewing Company with Jack and his girlfriend Jess. Good times ensued. And let me just say, that this has been the worst week for me since I've been on WW - too many points everywhere! Oh well, it was a special occasion.

Saturday, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Richard came over for the requested lasagna dinner, and Paul, Peggy and the boys stopped over after the Disney show they went to. The photos are pretty self explanatory.We got Tommy to put on his dress blues (we'd never seen him in them, so much photo taking took place).Notice that I was wearing my new November Ruffle. Love it.

We managed to have the whole family present briefly - even if it was via the internet. After everyone left, the fun really began. Because of his imminent deployment (he leaves for Afghanistan next Monday, but I don't want to think about that), Tommy brought home all of his fancy electronic stuff. So we are once again the cool house on the block. He showed us how to play Rock Band. Let me just say right now, I suck. I will need some serious practice. With the Wii as well, but that went a little better. And now for the fun stuff, Mom, Ellie and Tommy doing "Last Train to Clarksville". Good times!

Pleased to no end

I am ecstatic! Remember the Hidcote Shawl? Yeah, the behemoth of lace knitting? Well, here it is:

As of right now, it is exactly 3 rows and the bind off away from being off the the needles! Then it's just a matter of sewing in the ends and blocking it and this bad boy is done. I still can't believe it. I finally forced myself to pick it back up last week, knowing that I had just over a chart left to do. And I did a few marathon sessions with it, and tada!

The reason I picked it back up? I told myself that after the "green season" was done, I needed to pick up the UFO's and finish them. And I am. Example:

That's the November Ruffle. Done. Except for blocking (which will be done tonight). Yay me! Seriously, all this finishing is a bit nutty for me. This weekend was good for all things fibery though. Saturday was a Nora-thon on Lifetime. A few Nora Robert's movies and I get all kinds of things done:

That's the first of the Interlocking Leaves socks and the second bobbin of the Redwood Forest BFL finally done! Yay me again! Although, I am obviously not very good at equally dividing fiber as yet. Hmmm.

There was a little bit of starting that happened last week. After knitting with Meagan and Debi on Monday, I cast on for a little felted bag, the pattern was given to me verbally by Debi.

Doesn't look like much yet, but she made one for Meagan's birthday gift and it's adorable, and I want one too. So I'm using the Mauch Chunky (or as I like to call it, AKA Jim Thorpe) yarn that Meagan gave me for my birthday and some big needles and away we go.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with myself.

And so is Maddie, but then again, she's always pleased with herself.

The Wearing of the Green

So now that I've recovered, hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! Mine was so fun. I was at Bridget's for breakfast by 8:15 and we left for Mass at the Cathedral by 9. After Mass, we went to the Galleria (I'd never actually been there before) and had a quick lunch in the food court before heading out to set up camp for the parade. Chris had to be wherever by noon, so we got to our "seats" (at E. 17th and Superior) by 11:45. Parade was scheduled for a 1pm start - they were 10 min late. Alright, that sets the scene, here is the rest of my day through photos.Where the parade started, 1 hour before start time.Half an hour before start time.Trying to keep a 2 year old amused while just sitting on a sidewalk - she thought the "Aunt Annie's alligator" bit of this book hilarious with me sitting next to her.Fifteen minutes before start time. See the annoying people starting to crowd into the street? That group would grow and we ended up only having a small window in front of us to see the parade. Cops are useless sometimes.Finally, it starts! I had hoped to take a picture of Kaylee in her sweater with the parade in the background, but it got too hot 45 minutes before it started and the sweater came off. By the end we girls all had a bit of sunburn - sunburn in Cleveland in March - so crazy! The pipes and drums of the Cleveland Police - the only pipes and drums I'll show, because it gets a bit redundant.Chris marching with his fellow officers.Had to take a shot of the Marines. Didn't get a good shot due to every news stations camera guys setting up with the group of annoying people in the bus lane. You've now seen 2 of them in my shots. Slider from the Indians. The Hot Dogs were there too, carrying signs telling everyone that Opening Day is in 24 (now 23) days!This was the closest we saw to dancing in the parade. They did a kind of weaving thing while marching. And the rest of the parade pics were shot as I was trying to keep up with Chris - speed walking back to the car in order to beat the buses back to the IAC.The alma mater's marching band, we only just missed them playing.The dancers from Bridget's dance school, why we didn't stick around for them I'm not 100% sure... and by that point they really didn't need those sweat shirts anymore, it got up to about 70!

We stopped briefly when a newscaster stopped them for a photo - notice the mock "Quiet Man" cottage in the background.I turned around to snap a pic of Brutus, the OSU Buckeye for Ellie.Kaylee was mostly happy to have a balloon - a major highlight of her day.Most of the rest of the day was spent at the East Side IA Club, chasing Kaylee around the dance floor.

I was a bit worried when the DJ (some of you will recall him from John and Janessa's wedding, yeah, that guy) started handing out props. Small children+no naps+sensory overload+props= meltdowns. Oi.

Hard to get a 2 year old to realize that the point for the game is to balance the feather on your nose.Kaylee taking a break. Too cute not to take a picture of.Kaylee did really well for not taking a nap, but as you can see, by 5 pm she was fading. The eyes kind of glazed and stared off into space while she ate her granola bar.Just the girls, living it up.

Kaylee getting down, not surprising that she crashed shortly afterwards.

So tired, she stopped dancing, stopped walking.And yet, very unwilling to leave the dance floor. Knowing that by leaving the dance floor, the adults would attempt to make her leave the club, putting her ever closer to bed time. Unacceptable. But inevitable. We did manage to get her out the door and in the car to get home.It took some convincing, but I talked Kaylee into putting the sweater on again, only if she could wear Chris' hat too though. And then it was up to the tub and bed, where she passed out almost as soon as the binky was in her mouth.

And then the grown ups ate some brie (spelling?) and had some Irish Cream while talking. All in all, a really great day.

Some Catching Up

Wow, so it's been a while since I blogged. Sorry - for those of you that read this and actually want to know what's going on. I had pictures ready to go for another post after the Maddie one, but I was overcome by the evil sinus infection that I've been fighting for a month. It's all good now, I've got antibiotic horse pills. I guess that means I'll kinda do two posts in one.

So what's happened in the last week and a half? Officially, basketball season ended last Tuesday and Wednesday. And I haven't really gotten much knitting done, the illness kinda took over for a few days there, as well as the basketball.

Before the last post I had the Ireland socks done. They're amazing and I can't wait to wear them tomorrow (BTW, I've figured out how to guarantee nice weather in March, knit a bunch of woolen things for a specific day, and it'll end up being 60 degrees, like they're predicting for tomorrow).

You saw the state of Kaylee's sweater last time (bad kitty!), and last night, I FINALLY sewed in the ends to finish it while watching TAR (SPOILER, but not about the outcome of the episode - Phil in his skivvies!). Yay it's done! I have to admit that I got to the point where I really really really didn't want to knit it anymore. And then when I forced myself to, there was a bump, but I kept going, I resisted the urge to rip, as I usually would, and just kept knitting. And it's adorable.

Granted Miss Kaylee probably won't get to wear it tomorrow, maybe next year I'll knit her a (eek!) cotton one, and it'll snow. I can't win.

That officially concludes our green knitting season for 2009! Onto other stuff. As soon as I was done with the Ireland Socks, I cast on for a new pair. It's the Interlocking Leaves pattern from the fall Knitty, in some Smooshy called "November Muse". Once again, I'm a bit in love with the Smooshy. It's working so amazing perfectly with the pattern. So here was the sock for the last post:

And here it is now:

It grew a bit in the interim. I'm about to turn the heel, if that gives you any idea as to where I'm at, for you knitting muggles, that means I've basically got the foot done. A close up on the pattern:

Gives you an idea of the color too. It's mostly a russet-y brown, with little splashes of purple and orange and green and red - just beautiful.

I started another quick little project before the last post, some Mitered Mittens by Elizabeth Zimmermann using my handspun.

Of course, they've since been finished (a really quick easy and fun knit). And I love how the handspun looks, this is the first use of wheel spun handspun for me! And they're perfect!Finally, this weekend I picked up the long neglected November Ruffle. After a misstep (the cord on my needle popped right out of the metal end), I got the last few inches of stockinette done, and last night I started the ruffle. Big excitement! 15 inches is A LOT of stockinette. And now that there are more than 300 stitches it's A LOT of stitches. But it's easy knitting for the rest of the way so it should go quickly.See the nice black and white blob?! Hard to tell that the knitting is going around 3 sides.

If you look close enough, you can see the difference. Mostly because the ruffle gets knit in with a bigger needle. Yay! I'll have it done just in time for the warm weather!