quick update from real job

WHOA SLACKER. That's all I have to say!

The 9/15 deadline passed us this week, and now we're focusing on the 10/15 deadline. Yay. Except not really. Whatever. Can't get into work stuff on a public blog... am too paranoid about all the people who get fired for decisions/posts about their jobs.

Uh, house stuff: the door frame to the garage is finally finished. Just needs to be painted and then that little project will be done. Then we can move on to painting the office area. I think we might be working on the corrugated steel wall in the living room first; once we get that up and see how it works with the floor, we'll have a better idea of what colors will be most appealing. We've also been looking for a kitchen table. I've hit my limit for not having one so it's time. We measured the room and hopefully will hit Ikea for some inspiration this weekend. The kitchen and eating area have such dark wood that we're pretty firmly set on a glass/metal table. Adding more wood would probably make it far too dark in the room.

Knitting: finished a set of garterlac dishcloths: 2 red and 2 yellow. Next set will be lime green and brown. Also started on the Eesti Hiking Socks for my father. The City Tweed heavy worsted yarn is delightful! I love the way it feels and knits up. Doing colorwork is interesting - stripes aren't that hard, and I'm about to begin the star pattern tonight.

Well - gotta get back to the real job. Booooo!!!!

Summer's end

Summer in Florida doesn't end at Labor Day. No, the hot weather and afternoon thundershowers continue well into September; maybe in October, we'll see some lower temperatures. It's not time for me to pull out long sleeves or sweaters yet, and definitely not time to pull out the wool yarn -- unless it's for a Christmas gift or something special!

This past long weekend was a lot of fun. Laughing, playing, story-telling and story-making with friends! A small group of us went out Friday evening for some social time; Saturday, Bradley went diving for lobster with some friends down in West Palm Beach. Saturday night I ate lasagna with my friend LB - she makes delicious food! Sunday was cooking out by the pool, cannonball contests with friends, and then general silliness as the night progressed. Yesterday, we lounged around - I knit, and Bradley snored away while Anthony Bourdain showed us some great places to eat in Chile, the Rust Belt, and Sri Lanka.

I finished the first of the Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks, and I'm not sure what I think of the way the toe looks. My office-mate really liked it this morning when I showed her, but I'm not convinced yet. These socks are for me, so it's entirely up to my mood whether I rip out the toe and re-do it. I am thinking right now I'll wait until I'm finished with the second sock to decide on the first toe.

Then, I cast on Criminy Jicket's Garterlac Dishcloths in a pretty buttery yellow cotton yarn. Definitely a learning experience - I have a new cast-on method in my arsenal now, along with learning how to entrelac. The yarn calls for size 7 needles, but I didn't like how open the stitches were, so I frogged the whole thing and started over with size 5s. In my recent KnitPicks order, I bought a pair of the new Zephyr tips - in size 5 - so I decided to try them out with this pattern. I really like the needles, although I'm convinced I'm going to break them. They are a little more flexible than I'm used to; the Clover bamboo DPNs I use are flexible but I know that bamboo bends quite a bit before it breaks. Plastic/acrylic? Not so sure where the line is between bending and breaking.

Well - time to leave the computer and get back to reality. See you Thursday!