B is for Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We're home! Well I should say I'm home. . . Jake was home for less than 12 hours before he was in the air for a work trip. He's now relaxing in a hotel room overlooking the Pacific Ocean :)

So I'll start with my official ABC-Along entry which mostly sums up the visit to NY. . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was COLD while we were up there! The high temp on the coldest day was -3.3! I guess the good news was it was too cold to have any crazy snow storms. It had warmed up by the time we left and we had some crappy driving until we got past Syracuse, but it could have been much worse.

B also could have been for battery, since the one in my car died after the ridiculously cold night Thursday. There is no photo of the jump start, since I refused to take my hands out of my gloves!

B also could have been for balls. .. . . as in the most amazingly delicious oreo ball treats FSIL made. These little things are beyond addictive. . . and they shouldn't be! They taste like an oreo, not anything 'special'. . .. but they are special (nevermind terrible for you!). I don't have a photo of them, either, because I didn't want to ruin my new camera by getting the white chocolate that was on my fingers on it :)

I could go on with the b's, but I'll stop there :)

As a result of the trip, I have several FOs (the true measure of a good vacation, right?).

Firstly, Jake's socks that were started in APRIL are finally done. I am not certain what took me so long to finish these. I really like them, so perhaps I was subliminally averse to working on them based on the less than polite response I got from the designer on Ravelry when I PMd her a question. I had the tightest amount of leftovers to date. . . 4g! The socks didn't become nearly as tall as Jake would have liked, but hopefully he'll just wear them with shoes rather than boots so it won't be a big deal.

Secondly, and I guess I can't REALLY call it FINISHED because it doesn't have buttons sewn on, but I completed the knitting on the first Wisp.

Do you think I should block before or after adding the buttons?

Lastly, I can reveal my secret project #1 - a Fabrege cowl that was a gift for FSIL.
We planned to get her an OTT-LITE, then Joann effed up my order for 12 days and by the time everything got hashed out, they no longer had what we were going to get, so it was a handmade gift parade instead! The yarn is Malabrigo in polygala and the beads are 'iris grey'. I totally love the combo :) She has this great camel coat that the purple goes so well with! It's a good thing purple isn't my color or I might not have been able to give it away. Adding to the handmade goodness, Jake made another swift and nostepinne to give. Jealous? You should be (I am!), version 2.0 of the swift is way cooler than mine. . the pegs were turned on his lathe out of a pool cue (how's THAT for repurposing!), and he turned the base, too. My swift was pre-lathe, so all store bought parts.

Closer to FO status are a few other projects.

Jake's sweater from hell is now just awaiting sleeves (which will be done together, otherwise this thing never will be finished).

I wish I'd just use an Ann Budd book. . . because the amount of stupidity in this pattern as written took me far longer to work through than it would have to just design the damn thing myself.

My Herringbone rib socks are past the 'hard part'. I will say I wasn't smart enough to get the gussets picked up two at a time, so I had to put one sock on DPNs to hold while doing the other, then put them both back on the needles.

I think I'm going to have a lot of leftovers because I couldn't make the leg super long due to my ginormous calves and I wasn't going to try to mess with making calf increases in the pattern somehow NOT look goofy.

My lace leaf scarf grew substantially, as well.

I hope to finish it up before I head out to spend next weekend with Jake in San Diego. They say it's cool in the evenings even though it is pleasant during the day, so a light lacey scarf would be the perfect accessory!

Next up, is Wisp #2 (the wedding is closer than I am accepting. . . I have a lot to do!) and then I can reward myself with getting going on my much coveted Surface! (Though I do fear at this point it will be done just as soon as it's too warm to wear!)

And, in case you are wondering, I'm still on pins & needles about the new job! They told me I would find out NEXT week, so I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to be patient. There is nothing else I can do at this point, since I think calling them to reiterate how perfect I think I am for the job would be counterproductive, so it's driving me nuts! I am confident that the other candidate couldn't have outshined me in enthusiasm and excitement for the position, so hopefully the other person doesn't have a big edge in experience on me! Keep thinking good thoughts for me!