BSJ

Kathleen-
On Wednesday evening, I carefully cast off the Baby Surprise Jacket, thus removing any impediment of H having the baby (the baby won't come till the knitting is done). Sure enough, as I finished a crazy day at work, I got voicemail from Mike telling me that Harmony had been born! Woohoo!

So here's the completed jacket (needing ends to be woven in and buttons attached) that will be off to E&H on Monday.
Having completed the current baby knitting emergency (more to come of course, as there are more pregnant people in my life, including a baby due at the end of October), I cast on for Henry from the newest Knitty.

Tracy from Knit Night had contributed to me falling down and buying yarn two weeks ago, when she draped a hank of this lucious yarn around my neck. Baby Alpaca and Silk? What could be better? Next think I knew, I'd bought two skeins. Thursday, I used it to cast on for Henry.
(Ignore the dark blue, it's the provisional cast on). So far, I like it a lot. I'm hoping to finish it for my trip to Oregon in a couple of weeks- I think it should look smashing with my new brown jacket.

(Partial) Victory!

Hey Flan,

Thanks for the voicemails and a big Welcome to the World to Harmony, new little baby of E&H!

I was at the store doing the regular food haul and was looking at appropriate cards to send. The Brother and SIL's anniversary is next week (already?? So hard to believe) and cards were needed for them as well as E&H. My search for a card that does not make me want to vomit continues. I hated nearly every single one. All too syrupy and disgusting and if anyone actually felt the sentiments expressed that's just- well I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not good.

Turns out if you get up at 6:30 on a Sunday you can get a whole bunch of stuff done by noon. Sadly, not everything because some stores don't open until eleven and I was there at 10:02 so will have to go back, but whatever.

Yesterday I started The Knitting for Flannery. It's going very well and today I bought buttons but could not find bias cut silk ribbon, so am going to have to search somewhere else. And that's all I'm telling you.

Off to conquer another part of the house. Man it's nice to have a day when you feel like you actually accomplish something (even if the feeling is merely in your head). And yes, I may have had come coffee today.

Making Plans

Hey Flan,

Sleep has amazing restorative properties. I am not quite so crazy after sleeping in until EIGHT. Today is my "don't come to work until noon" day, so it is also my sleep in day. Soo loving Wednesdays.

So I've decided to make a plan. Ms. Stephanie makes lists. I make plans. Sometimes the plans have lists, sometimes not. Part of this plan means that I'm going to try to blog on Wednesdays and then either Friday, Sat or Sun depending on my work schedule. Starting in October I'll be working every other Friday and then every other Saturday. This means I should have time those mornings to devote to our blog. I need some structure (yes, even more than I had before) and I think this will help my feelings of being a bad blogger.

I finished The Hubby's sweater! It's blocked and everything. I meant to take it to knit night last night, but was distracted. Of course, after it was all done I realized I forgot to weave in an end, but whatever. I'm so excited that this "sweater a month" plan has worked out so far. October is for The Dad's Sweater, November for The Mommy's and December for The Brother's. When I get done early I earn "bonus days" during which I can knit whatever I want. OCD? Yup, but it works for me and I try very hard to keep my neuroses to myself.

Sadly, not having to be at work until noon still means I have to GO to work and get READY for work, and now is the time. Hope all is going well. Thanks again for the beautiful yarn!

I think I've seen those on TV

Hey Flan,

First of all, Gracie and I just got back from Atl where we saw The Harlot!! She was, as expected, fabulous. We were just a teeny bit late from getting lost and 5pm downtown traffic, so were only 30 min early. All the seats were taken, so we ended up sitting on the counter at the concessions stand at the top of the theatre and if we stood on the counter could just see her head. She gave the same speech she did in MN, but it was still fantastic. We left before the Q&A in order to get to the yarn store before the hoardes.

I had a major fall down in the Artyarn Ultramerino 4 section. Hellooooo socks. I know, I don't knit them, but this yarn is prettier than any yarn ever and I loveitsomuchIwanttomarryit. PLUS, The Sister mentioned that she wanted socks for Christmas (along with real peanut butter- it's a long story) and seeing as she's going to be in Chile and that's very far from here I thought it might be nice if they got something really nice for Christmas and socks are way smaller than sweaters.

There was major progress completed on The Coronet for The SIL's bday. It was started on the way to Atl and completed on the way back. She really does have a lot of hair and the hat is ginormous, but it is ginormous and completed, so all is good.

The Hubby does not have a hernia. At least if he does it's not a very big one. I'm really relieved.

Oh yeah, the title of the post. I was sitting in the breakroom eating my ultra healthy snack of half a whole wheat pita with hummus and sprouts. For some reason this batch of pitas won't open, so the hummus and sprouts were on top, like an open faced sandwich. One of the cleaning ladies looked at my snack and asked me what the green things were. I said sprouts. She said, "brussel sprouts??" I said "alfalfa". She thought about it and said, "I think I've seen those on TV."

Catch Up

Hey Flan,

So much has happened in the last week and I have been putting off blogging until photos were available, but once again, Mr. Nikon and I are disagreeing. First it was over a lack of battery life, then over missing connector bits and currently over the fact that we're using a new computer and The Hubby hasn't loaded in the proper software. All the photo gods conspiring against me- or something like that.

Last Friday was the LAST DAY of the crappy job!! As of Saturday I was FT at the happy job and have only the one job instead of the two. Since I've worked every Saturday since mid June, it didn't seem all that celebratory, but today I didn't have to be at work until NINE am, and that felt very luxurious. Not only did I sleep in (a tiny bit), but I made dinner and did a load of laundry all before getting ready for work. The Hubby says that I'm the only person he knows that takes advantage of having a later start time not by sleeping in but by doing stuff.

THE MS3 IS DONE!! It was finished last Monday and blocked Tuesday. I took out the pins Thursday and am estatic. I am going to take some pictures before I send it off to The Grandma on Wednesday. The whole post lace blocking thing is a miracle- plain and simple. It's one of those theoretical things until you do it and it works and it's magic.

The Hubby's sweater is almost done! It needs an hour or so and the damn thing will be finished! I wasn't sure it would work out, but EZ triumphed. She's so neat. Her recipes sort of have to be taken on faith, but when you do, the outcome is really rewarding.

As a reward for all this finishing, what better to do than start something?? I had some yarn from the delightful Borealis that I have been hoarding for years. I finally found the perfect pattern and a shrug for me is underway.

I swear there will be photos. Honest. But now I get to go to bed instead of fuss with the computer. Hope your job is going swimmingly.

Hard Act to Follow

Kathleen-
That last post is a hard act to follow....that's my excuse for a quiet week on the blogging front.

The truth is, I have been knitting (and even wearing handknit socks!) It was cold enough at the end of last week that I wore wool socks to work on Friday. The cold also killed my tomato plants.

This week's excitement centers around shoe-buying and new clothes buying for my upcoming business trips. Today Zappos (love the free overnight shipping) delivered these:


And these:


Both of which I'm thrilled to say fit and will be hitting the road with me in October.

In knitting news, I'm knitting an adorable Baby Surprise Jacket for E & H (she's due in just a couple of weeks) out of the pink and purple Artyarns Supermerino you bought for me back in the day. It's VERY pink/purple and girly. I'm also trucking along on Rogue. The back armhole decreases are done, so now I'm knitting up the back to the shoulders. With half the stitches, this is flying along!

Are you down to one job? I finally sent your little package off today, so hopefully you'll get it this week.

Special Announcement on Behalf of Aubree

Kathleen-
The ladies at knit night on Tuesday couldn't wait to find out if Aubree was having a boy or a girl. Aubree just called to tell me and sent an ultrasound picture and gave me permission to post.....

It's a GIRL!
As Aubree said, now her pink knitting can commence!

5:39 AM

Kathleen-
Last night at knit night I didn't knit a stitch. Instead I talked, looked at books and magazines, and generally enabled those around me. I did buy a book (Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop), because I'm going to knit a couple of Baby Surprise Jackets. One for E&H, and another for B&K. There was no knitting because I had no knitting with me except a sock that I'm not currently inspired about. And that came about because of running late and traffic and car crashes (not me, thankfully, but this becomes a theme).

The weather turned very sharply cooler this week. Last week at knit night it was 90 and muggy. This week, it was downright chilly! Which keeps me in the mood for having large pieces of knitting in my lap, and I'm speeding along on Rogue. This pattern is so spectacularly well written, I'm happily following along. And though the Skye Tweed is not a super soft yarn in the skein, but it feels so much softer knitted up.

Monday night I bound off for the underarms, so now I'm knitting up the back (which is pretty simple). This is going to be a fabulously snuggly sweater. A good thing, given how icy cold my new (basement) office was today.

Oh, and the title of the post? That would be the time that a car crash woke us up this morning. (see? a theme). Luckily, no one was hurt, but there's nothing to start your adrenaline shooting through the roof like the sound of cars colliding at high speed right outside your bedroom window. It was so loud that even Mike woke up. And there was no more meaningful sleep after that shot of adrenaline.

P.S. 300 posts! Go us!

Vacation Recap Part 3: Mountains, Borders, Knitting

Kathleen-
So the reason to go to Banff and Jasper is to see mountains, right? So we went to Banff:
And to Jasper:
We saw mountains:
Reflected in lakes:

Looming over rivers:
We saw mountains with cool light on them:
We camped in the shadows of them:

We watched interpretive programs about the mountain ecosystem:

And of course, through all this I knit. I started Rogue in the Classic Elite Skye Tweed in purple as we started across North Dakota, and knit through Montana, across Alberta, and through the parks. I knit in the car, in tents, at our picnic tables, etc.

Which soon became my saving grace. On our way back into the U.S. we were stuck in lines at the border for 3 hours. So I knit. And knit. In the driver's seat. Note that the car is off...we weren't going anywhere.
The view in front of us:
The view to the side of us for a while. Three trailers of bull elk (which made it into the U.S. a lot quicker than we did!
Halfway through the wait, this is where I was:
Why yes, that is the steering wheel in the background. I kept knitting the whole trip. By the time I got on the plane back, I'd knit the Kangeroo pocket together with the body, and knit an inch further up. So far, so good!

Vacation Recap: Part 2 Wildlife

Kathleen-
There's an amazing amount of wildlife in Banff and Jasper. Here's a sample of what we saw:

There was a ground squirrel, who was promptly fed by tourists....proving that a certain segment of National Park tourists are stupid the world over:

This pika literally almost ran over my foot while we were hiking. I froze, and Mike took the picture. Then it shrieked at us for 5 minutes as we walked away:


There were mule deer on the shore of Maligne Lake:
And elk hanging out in our campground:

Speaking of campground visitors, this was "our" flock of birds at our second campsite. The previous campers had spilled an ENTIRE bag of rice, and made no effort to clean it up. So after the nice Parks Canada employee cleaned up the majority, the birds made short work of the rest.
And last, but certainly not least, there was a bear. I'd like you to note that we were a very safe distance away (unlike some people). This picture was taken with a serious telephoto lens.
Next post: Mountains, Borders, and Knitting

Vacation Recap, part 1: Water

Kathleen-
So now I'm back home, and the pictures are also back home. Settle in for a nice long picture heavy post.

There was lots of water in Banff and Jasper.

In lakes:


In glaciers:


In small waterfalls:


and in big waterfalls:

and in canyons:

and more placidly in rivers:


Next Post: Wildlife.