Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Floating away

Well, I haven't floated away yet, but I've come close a couple of times in the last few days. After days and days of rain, I think DC may be starting to dry out.

There has been no knitting for almost a week now. It all started last Wednesday when Lorelei woke up sick. Stomach-flu-like sick. I'll try to leave out all the disgusting details. Then Thursday, Lorelei's dad and I came down with the sickness. The rain started, the air conditioning broke, and the cable went out. Luckily the cable came back in half a day, the air in a day, but the rain kept coming. Monday, it took me 4 hours to drive to work. Finally, everything was starting to get back to normal. Then Lorelei gets an ear infection. Fever of 102.

Hopefully, there will be knitting soon. And sun.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

I really don't like basketball, but ...

Yeah, the Heat won!!!! (and yeah, basketball's over for the season)

Now I do like baseball and my Florida Marlins are on a 9 game winning streak after having a very shaky start. The team is very young this year, so I'm really excited that they're doing so well. Sadly, I can't make it over to Baltimore this week to see them play the O's (and kick some Baltimore butt), but I'll be cheering them on from home.

Summertime

Yeah, today is the start of Summer of Socks so I thought I would prioritize my sock projects for the next few months.
  1. Finish Opal socks (I'm not participating in the Most socks, so I don't need to worry that they were started two months ago).
  2. Socks from Hell - I think I'm going to frog and start from scratch using the Opal socks as a guide.
  3. Jaywalkers - my first pair. I have a couple balls of yarn that might work well, so if I like the first pair I may make a second.
  4. Socks for Lorelei's Dad - I just bought some black and white Opal that he likes.
  5. Socks for Lorelei - I think I'll have plenty of the purple Opal left over for some Lorelei-sized socks.

This should take me at least the next two months (if not the next two years). I also need to make some booties for my sisters-in-law who are having babies in Aug and Sept.

Monday, June 19, 2006

The Traveling Sock


We took the sock into DC yesterday for it's first adventure. This first picture is of the sock at the Jefferson Memorial looking out over the Tidal Basin at the Washington Monument.









The second picture is of the sock at the Washington Monument looking at the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. A tiny bit of knitting was completed sitting by the Washington Monument and the sock also visited the George Mason Memorial and the Holocaust Museum (for about 2 minutes).

My knitting goals for this week: Finish the Wavy scarf (it's at almost 80% complete) and finish the second Opal sock. These seem a little ambitious for me, but if I concentrate I think I can achieve them. Oh yeah, and if Lorelei cooperates.




Friday, June 16, 2006

Wow, it's Friday already!

I was in a technical writing class for work this week and somehow the week just flew by. So to sum up:
  • I started the second Opal sock. I'm getting close to having half the foot done. Everyone in my class was so impressed that I could knit socks!
  • I found out that the English language has changed since I took English in high school. I think they change the rules just to confuse people.
  • My brother is officially engaged. It looks like the wedding will be Labor Day weekend. My first trip to New Mexico, how fun!
  • One of my friends is getting married in Tampa in Oct. I haven't been to a wedding in about 5 years and now I'll have two in two months.
  • I watched the first episode of Windfall. I'm not sure I like it, but it does have Luke Perry. I need to watch the second episode and see how I feel.
  • So You Think You Can Dance - what is it about this show that sucks me in??? I've never watched an minute of American Idol, but I live for SYTYCD. My favorites are Donyelle and Travis. The format is a little different from last year's, but this year's dancers also seem to have a lot more training.
  • Entourage returned on Sunday. Still a great show. I LOVE Jeremy Piven! I like how Debi Mazar was hugely pregnant and they didn't try to hide it.
  • Make the Connection bracelet kit - I already ordered mine.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Finally - WIPs

Last night was picture night, I FINALLY took pictures of all my WIPS. So I can prove to everyone that I do knit, I have been knitting, and one day I'll have more FOs.

First is my Picovoli. It's coming along pretty well. I tried it on a few days ago and the arm holes are a little tighter than I would like but not too bad. Unfortunately, my bust is a little larger than the pattern was written for, so I'm not as far along as I had thought - I need to knit a few more inches before I can start the waist shaping. Still, I'm happy with the progress I'm making.

Irish Hiking Scarf - on ball 4 of about 5. The cables were a lot easier than I thought they would be (or my knitting is a lot better than I thought). I'm pretty proud of how it's turning out.

Finally, the Wavy scarf. This is about 60% complete. I'm making this for Lorelei's teacher, but I like it so much I may have to make another one for myself.

A sock and a dog


It's been a while since I had a FO and I was starting to get a bit overwhelmed by my WIPs. So I finally finished a sock. And you can see that it does fit my foot. Success is mine! Now all I have to do is make another one.









Because she's cute (and not puking on my carpet), here's a picture of my dog - Angel.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Best Monday Ever

Yesterday was a very good day!
  • I found out my promotion/raise was effective on May 15. How did I know? My bank account told me.
  • I also got a monetary award - in my bank account.
  • Lorelei used the potty for the first time at daycare - TWICE!
  • My brother bought his girlfriend an engagement ring. I just met her last weekend and I'm really happy for them.
  • I finally finished a sock (except for weaving in the ends). The first Opal sock is now 99% completed and fits my foot. I switched to a larger needle for the bind off just to make sure that it was looser. I think in the future that for all toe up socks I will change to a larger needle for the ribbing/bind off. One sock down, one to go. And only two more weeks until Summer of Socks! Pictures will be forthcoming.
  • My dog was very sick on Sunday, making messes all over my carpet. But yesterday she was feeling much better - no messes! She went to the vet, the vet thinks the baby fed the dog something bad. I need to keep a closer eye on Lorelei.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Welcome to Summer

Summer in DC has hit. Last week, morning temperatures were in the 40's and then BOOM! 90 degree temperatures. Lorelei's new word is Hot. She tried to tell me that she couldn't get in the car yesterday because it was hot. It came out "scream, scream, scream, hot, scream". I might have believed her if she didn't scream every day when I tried to put her in the car.

Of course, the air conditioning in my apartment doesn't work well. Even though I lived in Florida for almost 20 years, I always had good air conditioning. Now I'm lucky if my house is 80 degrees. I really hope this doesn't last the whole summer or I might melt away. So big surprise I haven't felt like knitting for a couple of days. I finished my 3rd ball of yarn for the Irish Hiking scarf (and ordered a couple extra). Lorelei's dad wants a really long scarf so the 4 balls that I bought won't quite be enough. Darn, I had to buy more yarn.

In other project news, I'm about to start the waist shaping on Picovoli, a little over half done on the Wavy scarf, and no progress on the socks. I really need to finish the socks soon, so that I'm ready to start some new ones on June 21 - Summer of Socks!