Not just one. . .

But TWO FOs, folks! Whoa. . . that might just mean hell is freezing over, perhaps best to take cover :)

First, Branching Out, fully blocked.

I really love this, and I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it. I adore the yarn (and the girls at Yarn for Breakfast all agreed yesterday) which really makes me want to keep it, but I'm not sure how often I would really wear it, given the very moderate temperatures here, so I think it's best to gift it. Perhaps as a thank you to the family friend who is throwing my bridal shower.

Second, Picovoli.

I'm pretty 'eh' about it (it is just plain 'ol stockinette, what did I expect?!), but it was a good use of the Silky Tweed and it fits very well. Unfortunately, I still have one full and one nearly full skein left, and no idea what I'd make of it. . .Maybe another branching out, since that pattern actually calls for silky wool, but not sure how lace + tweed will look.

Since Jake's parents are coming to visit in two weeks, I feel the need to resurrect the hat I started for Bob ages ago. I know completing and gifting it now will lead to no small amount of sarcasm about a nice warm hat for the summer (Meg, I'm sure you'll agree Bob could not leave that be) but I really want to clear up some WIPs. I have a tendency to let things get out of control, including the ridiculous number of WIPs I have. I've started with the small goal of keeping the laundry level below 'overflowing' in the hamper and that is going well. Next will be promptly putting away dishes from the dishwasher (it is currently clean from 3 days ago but not yet put away, leading to a gathering of dishes WAITING to go in the dishwasher cluttering the counter). I'm hoping this will snowball into generally keeping a less cluttered home (and yes, if you're asking, this is partially spurred by the future in-laws visit. . . . FMIL has a touch of cleaning OCD and sweeps/washes her floors multiple times a day among other cleaning quirks! I'm sure she shudders at the thought of what our house may be, since last time she was here I caught her trying to sneak in a quick vacuum of the upstairs while I was out of the house. . .)

I've got 2.5 inches left to finish the body of Maude, then the sleeves should be quick and that will be done, leaving me only my Baltimore socks (which require some frogging to get the right gusset size so I've been avoiding) and the Boyfriend socks for Jake (which are on hold pending buying some reinforcing thread for the short row heel). I hope to get the reinforcing thread and some elastic thread for the cuff ribbing on my trip up to Richmond Saturday. Jen, Jess & I are making a day trip for yarn + Wedding Dress shopping. Should be loads of fun :)

And, just to add to the craziness, I realized my golf lessons will expire in 3 weeks, so I need to get two lessons scheduled ASAP! Hopefully I've retained a little of what I learned last year :)

Gotta Love Ravelry

OK, I have a confession to make. When I FINALLY got onto Ravelry, I was underwhelmed. I guess there was no way around it. After all the blog hype, it really couldn't meet my expectations, right? Well, I'm starting to come around. Friday I went in to look up Cotton-Ease. My SP11 sent me a skein and I was curious what people had made with it. On the first page of projects, I found this. I fell in love! Unfortunately, the green of the cotton-ease I got from SP wouldn't look good as a wearable on me, so this meant a trip to Michael's to pick up some more ;) I'm doing the top two-tone, taupe on the lace part, light blue on the bodice. So where, other than Ravelry, can you find this kind of enabling?!?!

I cast on for Lelah last night watching the UM-Illinois game. Clearly this was too much for me, as after casting on THREE times, I still had problems. I had fresher eyes this afternoon and just completed the 1st lace repeat. Nothing picture worthy at the current time, though.

Yeah, and golf. . . . .I had my first golf outing today. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. . .my best hole was 6 strokes (legitimately) on Par 3. That doesn't sound so bad, but I will admit there were two holes that I actually lost count of my strokes, and another that we bent the rules on. I had a pretty good time, though, until the end when we had another pair right up on us and I was very stressed feeling pressured to get moving. Jake, as always, was insanely patient with me, which I needed or I would have given up on the 2nd hole!

Now, Kim, Chris & Kayla will be here for dinner tomorrow, then I'm packing and off to Nashville! Can't wait! Hope you have a great week starting, too!!

SUMMER BE GONE!

GAWD! I'm so tired of hot weather! It's in the 80's and HUMID today. . . next week it is supposed to be record highs again. It is LATE OCTOBER, this is just ridiculous. It is supposed to be cool and crisp, not A/C weather!

OK, Enough complaining.

I'm very excited for the coming week. First off, I'm going out DANCING tonite! (not with Jake of course, he doesn't like dancing, but Susan does!) Then tomorrow, I'm playing my first official round of golf (9 holes at a Par 3, but still). We have friends coming down to Williamsburg this weekend, we're meeting them for dinner Monday. I haven't seen their daughter since she was like 3 weeks old, now she's 18 months!! Then Wednesday morning I head off to the SWE conference in Nashville, TN. I'm scoping out yarn stores and hope to have time between conference events to stop by. I also think I'll have good down time for lots of knitting! Friday Jake is coming in to Nashville so we can hang out for the weekend. Jake wants to buy cowboy boots, so shopping will be fun! And to top it off, we come back and it's Halloween and then my Birthday. Can't get much better, right?!

Knitting wise, I finished the first endpaper mitt and have the cuff done on the 2nd. I knit up a few more repeats on Laura's scarf, too, but I haven't started anything else. Sorry there's nothing exciting enough for photographs!

No Knitting News

I have hit a knitting brick wall. The only project I have yarn to work on right now is the darn toe up socks. I have decided I HATE toe up!! I have started over no less than 7 times. At least 3 of the times I made the whole toe, but then lost a bunch of stitches trying to get out the crochet chain. The other times I ended up messing up a W&T somewhere and didn't know what to do to correct it other than frog. I CANNOT figure out how anyone could hate grafting enough to make socks this way all the time. And I'm STILL waiting for an invite to Ravelry:-( And I guess I'll continue to be waiting for quite some time. . . There are still 4000 people ahead of me!! I guess I should take solace in the fact that there are more than 8000 people after me, but I just want another place to spend my procrastination time! I'm also still waiting for confirmation from SP11. Looking at the comments, I'm not the only one, so at least that makes me feel better!

In non-knitting news, I had my first golf lesson on Saturday. I got golf clubs for Christmas and they have been sitting in the garage mocking me ever since. Jake, being the patient man he is, attempted to teach me a few things, but I tend to get cranky when I'm not good at something and so that was a disaster! Learning from a golf pro is definitely the way to go! I had so much fun, I can't wait to go to the driving range to practice. My left arm is a little sore, but I'm sure that will go away quickly. . . just that grip is so awkward!! We also went to the beach on Saturday. It was such perfect weather! The water was pretty rough (red flag day) but nice and warm. We messed around in the waves a bit, but after I got sand burn by being dragged back with the waves, that was enough for me! And I forgot to put sun screen on my legs, so they are a little pink right now. But really, I'm not complaining!!