85% completed baby sweater

In the home stretch now...finishing the second sleeve. Due to some imaginative increases on the first sleeve (and lack of memory as to just what those were), I now think of this as a learning sweater. The child will be able to learn the difference between left and right by looking at his arms!


This weekend I studied. That is to say, I knit and read books. The Special Olympics scarf is due by the beginning of January, so I'm trying to put some time into it. I really hate knitting with Red Heart but it will soften up after washing so hopefully won't scratch the athlete it's destined for. I have some great afghans made of Red Heart- 25+ years old and going strong.


And some yarn love. The green Malabrigo is to make a neck cowl to match my new ski jacket. :) When the package came I said "oh look, CKG's yarn came!" My sweetie, somewhat alert to how my mind works asked "but why did her yarn come to our house?" Um, there were a few skeins in there for me, too. Oops.


The gray variegated is destined for socks. I think.

Lazy weekend

We got a new mattress from Costco last week. It's pretty nice. In fact, I usually can't sleep more than 8 or 9 hours without waking up because my back is sore. Saturday I slept until 12:18pm- when my sweetie woke me up to ask "When are you meeting CKG for your pedicures?" Yeah, at 12:30p. Naturally I was a little late, got lost, was later- but the pedicures were great and we sat together and knit for about two hours.


It was fun and relaxing. Then we met the spouses and had delicious mexican food. Saturday evening my sweetie and I and our friend N went to a good friend's home and had delicious homemade pasta and homemade cheese and a strata that was out of this world...finished the evening around the fireplace. It was lovely, really. I love having friends who like to cook. It opens my world. I may have to try making some pasta here. I think we have a pasta maker (my sweetie's pretty good for that). We have a rice cooker!


I wanted one of these for a long time. It turns out I married into one. :) And my sister-in-law gave us a delicious chocolate bar that mysteriously came unwrapped today.


And there is jambalaya cooking.


And in a feat of astonishing greatness, I am almost finished my paper that is due Tuesday. Oh, BLISS! I'm taking the rest of the evening off (all 15 minutes before bedtime).

Mmmmm Lake Champlain chocolate- I recommend it!

Scary scary and happy things

I've just signed up to do something really cool and really scary. At the end of February, I will be going to Belize for two weeks as part of my graduate school's international nursing course. My group will focus on primary care, especially women and children. *gulp* This is super scary for me but I also think it will be a great experience. One of my friends from my current class schedule will be on the trip also, and I'm glad of her!


So what to sooth my nerves? Yarn, of course. This is chunky Malabrigo in pearl ten colorway. I suspect the preceptor gift scarf will go more quickly in this chunky weight.

One of those nights

It's rainy, my car made a funny noise on the way home from class (possibly a noise from the car next to me on I 290 but it was nervous making!), it's late, and my sweetie is bringing me home a gift of...Compound W because I have a plantar's wart (yeah, I sometimes don't bring socks to walk through airport security in the summer...oops). On the plus side, my ebay purchase of Addi turbo needles came


in a cool case that works great as a knitting bag to tuck in my work bag


and the preceptor scarf is looking lovely.


and I am really happy to be married to the best sweetie ever. :) *gush gush*

Blocking

Once again the ironing board cover comes in handy- I never used it for blocking before but it works perfectly!


The mini sweater needs to be sewn together and then I plan to embroider a snowflake on the front, make a wire "clothes hanger" for it, and send it as a gift ornament. I'm not quite sure where the coaster is going- but since I'm using a block of post-it notes as a coaster at the computer, it seems I have a home for it here.


And the new malabrigo project is with worsted weight- using the one stitch scarf pattern- making a scarf for my clinical preceptor. I love how soft this yarn is, and it shows off the stitch really well. It would look great in cables but I need to finish it in two weeks so I'm going with mindless knitting.

Finished (except blocking)

Malabrigo yarn, chunky weight, color apricot, two skeins. I love it! It's a gift for a friend who has been having a tough time lately. She's really sweet and has been admiring it as I knit, so I'm happy it's going to her!

Knitting time on Tuesday

Tomorrow I plan to knit in line waiting for the polls to open (I have to be on the road by 7:30a so I can get to work- the plan is to be at the polls at 6:30a so I can get in & out quickly).

Can't wait to hear everyone's voting stories. And kudos to those smart enough to vote early! :)

update 11/4/08: 45 minutes start-to-finish, average length line going in but by the time I left the lines were to the door- and on the way to work I passed other polling places where people were lined up on the sidewalk!

Updates on projects

Last week I was in Atlanta three days for a conference. Conference=knitting time! There were lots of people around me knitting, it was actually pretty cool. I completed half the malibrigo chunky apricot scarf, and wished I'd brought the other ball of yarn with me to finish it.


I started, frogged, started, frogged, started and completed this much of a sock yarn scarf (fishtail pattern) using "Wait wait don't tell me" colorway.


And yesterday my size 5 circular 16" needle came, so I switched the sleeve of the baby sweater over and it's going a lot faster on the circular. Somehow using 14" straights was sort of awkward.


Now I'm off to write a paper!