Joys of routine

Busy season becomes a blinding routine after a few weeks. Wake up panicky that I've overslept - maybe I have, maybe I haven't, but either way, I'm awake and moving. Get to work, caffeinate, work work work, and then home. Hopefully at home, I can do a chore or two a night... tonight is vacuuming the floors and dealing with the cat boxes - and then some time to knit. Working on my friend's pillow cover is wonderful this season - the repetition of the basketweave is so relaxing at the end of the day. The yarn is smooth and soothing to my hands after dealing with papers and pencils and binder clips and the occasional paper cut. Then, bedtime, and up again to do it over again the next day. Soon, I'll wake up in the normal panicked state, and then realize, oh, wait, it's April 14th. One more day of madness, and then I can sleep all day. Until then, the basketweave pillow case and socks will take up my time and be my creative outlet.

FOs

It is with great pleasure that I announce the completion of my father's first pair of socks! These socks are my first attempt at colorwork other than simple stripes. The socks are GIANT - they come up to my father's knees - and very very warm. Alpaca does that! I have already cast on for his second pair; these will be brown and cream. Here are two crappy iPhone pix:
Those are the completed ones... it's hard to see the colorwork, I know, but it's there. I'll get a better picture soon, I promise.


Also transitioning from WIP to FO this week is a big presentation at work. The firm is hosting a CPE (continuing professional education) for our clients, and some of us employees are lucky enough to get to present. I am one of them. Can you HEAR the excitement???!!! Cause it is SO NOT THERE!!! I think the CPE is a great value for our clients but I am not exactly thrilled to be one of the presenters. Well, one way or another, it'll be over on Wednesday.

Oh crap, the puppy is trying to be Superdog again, so I have to run... Hope everyone had a good weekend and has a very good week.

Home stretch

I am so close to finished with the Sonnet! The last package of yarn arrived in the mail late last week, and after all the birthday parties, I was finally able to wind up a ball and graft it in Sunday afternoon. I am so so SO grateful for my fellow Ravelers! I've reached the top of the second sleeve; for about an inch or two, I simply knit - no increases or decreases. The decreases go quickly once they begin. I'm finally home for the day after my evening Pilates class, so I think I'm going to make a small bag of popcorn, turn on a DVR'd TV show, and FINISH THIS SWEATER! Hahahaha. OK. I will start seaming tomorrow - but the KNITTING will get done TONIGHT!

Then I can order the yarn for all the socks I have in my queue and work on knitting up some goodies for the Sirens. :D

Ahhhh life.

Not a lot going on in my world, lately; been trying to be more active around the house and get things done rather than turning on the TV and getting sucked in. From the looks of my to-do list, though, that hasn't really been happening lately!

I'm training with some friends for fall 5Ks, and I am proud to report that I did massively better on Tuesday's run than I have in a while. I was very pleased since I had been so sick a couple of weeks ago and then spent this last weekend in New Orleans carousing with a girlfriend. Sickness (including a fever) + all sorts of indulgences should not = better run, but somehow it did. I am looking forward to today's run; hopefully, we'll have some rain this afternoon or at least some cloud cover.

I'm almost done with the first sleeve of my Sonnet; I reached the point where I begin the cap of the sleeve. I hope the second sleeve is faster than the first; I am sure it will be since I won't have the discouragement of thinking I'm out of yarn. That really messed with my motivation! I have a lot to do at work today so I'm out.

Post-holiday Mondays

Okay, I'm learning how to post from my iPhone. This is a little awkward snd I'm not sure the formatting will come out correctly.

The Tour de France is on! Watching the stages in the evening means lots of time to knit. Except for tonight: I spent a lot of time knitting over the weekend, and my hands are a little crampy. Instead, I gave myself a mani-pedi :). I made a lot of progress on my Sonnet; I'm all the way around to the right front! The yarn I ordered should be sufficient - I was a little worried about that. Well - I'm off to bed. Today was a little rough and I'm not feeling super.

Vacation & road trips

We spent this last weekend on the road. It was my annual family reunion, and seeing everyone in my mother's family was wonderful. The gathering was at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, Georgia. It's near Chattanooga and in the mountains - beautiful country up there.

I finished my Undulating Rib Socks on Saturday and cast on Sonnet! I was so pleased to finally start that. When I gave my sister and niece their socks, they were very pleased. Emily put hers on right away, but when Grace tried to put hers on - no luck. The yarn shrank in the wash :( Shame on me for not swatching them. I'm so disappointed. I suggested that she get them damp and slip them on carefully, and then let them dry on her feet.

My sister-in-law, brother, and father have all put in requests for socks. Mary and Kenneth are getting pairs of Padded Footlets; Kenneth is getting a pair of Eesti Trail Hiking Socks; and Dad is getting two pair of the same hiking socks. My poor Branching Out is going to be neglected, but thankfully, I have the counter app on my iPhone so I will be able to pick up where I left off. Kenneth picked out some beautiful yarn from KnitPicks - I can't wait to see how it looks and feels in real life.

The Sonnet is coming along nicely; I am using the piecrust basketweave instead of the box/moss stitch recommended in the pattern. I'm also cutting out an inch on each side since I have heard from every direction that the finished item will definitely stretch side-to-side. I finished about seven inches while we were on the road. I do love how Bradley doesn't mind driving...

Busy season

Busy season this year has been rough. Bradley and I bought a house and moved in mid-February - right when work began to be busy. One project had to be done immediately: the carpet in the living room and office area *had* to be ripped up and replaced (we put down slate tile). The carpet was old, stained, and disgusting, and once it was out, the air in the house cleared. I found it really interesting how much of a difference taking it out made - I left for work on Friday morning, annoyed at the old stale smell, and when I came home that night, it smelled like a different house.

As far as knitting goes, I have been working on a few different projects, even though I've been a total slacker about updating here. I knit up 3 pairs of baby booties on a commission from a coworker. The same coworker commissioned a baby blanket, which is a little more than 1/3 done. My carry-along WIP is a pair of socks for my niece. I also finally remembered to throw the swatch for my Sonnet sweater into the laundry last night; I have to measure it soon to see how my gauge turned out. Honestly, I probably won't pick that one up until well after 4/15.

My CPA license was approved recently, and as a reward to myself, I bought a Namaste bag. I am not one to spend a lot of money on purses since I abuse them, and this was a big purse purchase for me. Not more than $100, but still - a lot more than my usual $15 Target purse! I love it because it has enough room to carry a sock project, my coupon book, and my book club book.

OK - gotta get back to work - just a few more days of the insanity left!