Moving Right Along ...

Well, the good news is that with all of the local knitting experts that I am lucky enough to know, I have had more than one person offer to help fix my problem with the sleeves on my Edie top!  (There really is an embarrassment of riches in this area with "knitterati" so to speak.)  So I have full confidence that the problem will be resolved and I can finish it soon.

Meaning, I'm ready to move on with projects.  I still have not wound the yarn for my brother-in-law's socks, but I did start on one of two projects I'm knitting for some friends' grandchildren, a set of twins who were due in October but arrived on July 22.  So far, they are doing well, so I decided I'd go ahead with my plan and not mail the gifts until the babies were actually home.  That shouldn't jinx things, right?  

Anyway, I'm knitting a pumpkin hat and an eggplant hat for them.  It's a boy (Camden) and a girl (Teagan) and I figure neither of these patterns are particularly gender-specific, so their parents can decide who gets what.  First up, the leaves for the crown of the pumpkin hat:

Apologies for the poor photo - I was getting ready to leave the house this morning, and realized I'd forgotten to take a photo to add to this post!  Having made this hat several times over the years, I know that once it gets going, it doesn't take long to finish.

Reading-wise, I am planning to read this today at my lunch hour:

It's short, as it was a TED talk that she gave, but I have been wanting to read it for a while.  I have read a couple of interviews with her, and she sounds pretty awesome.  Plus, ever since I read that she "suddenly" announced she'd had a baby, when no one knew she was even pregnant, I have liked her approach - she said that she considered pregnancy a private thing, and felt no need to talk about it or display herself on social media to a group of people not in her close circle of friends and family.  Being inundated with photos of "baby bumps" (term that makes me stabby, you don't want to get me started!) on social media, I am on board with her idea.  I'm sure others disagree, but as my mother would say, that's what makes horse racing.  In any event, I'm looking forward to reading this.

I'm joining Kat and others today for Unraveled Wednesday, so go over and see what everyone else is knitting and reading!

Monday Report

Hello all - sorry for the radio silence here.  I really hadn't intended to be absent last week, but I had no energy left for just about anything after I'd get home from work.  Our Wise Overlords decided that a) we needed a new computer system to do our work, b) we didn't need formal training, we could just "Google things," and c) we still had to keep up with our regular level of production. 

It was a) stressful, b) aggravating, and c) pretty much impossible. 

But this is a new week with new stresses, but in theory since last week is over, it will just be the usual type of thing.  Last week though, I'd come home nearly every night after work and just collapse.  I was lucky to stay up past 8 p.m.! 

Anyhoo, the weekend was a nice change.  Nothing too noteworthy, just relaxing and doing some small things around the house.  Yesterday, Hamlet and I walked down to an Open House sponsored by Hidden River Yarns at Fairmount Fibers' new warehouse.   I had been invited by Lisa (of Hidden River Yarns) and Hamlet had been particularly invited by another Lisa (of Fairmount Fibers).  I was not really planning on buying yarn, but had also not said I definitely could not.  When Rosie's was open, I could buy any Manos yarn I liked, since Lisa the owner was also Lisa of Fairmount Fibers.  But once that was closed, the closest Manos place is Hidden River, which I love, but is out of the way for me, so I don't get there very often.  Anyway - we got there, and had hardly walked in the door, when this young woman came up to me and said, "You'll have to leave - we don't allow dogs in the warehouse."  I said that Lisa had particularly asked me to bring the dog, and she went to find her.  I talked to a couple of other people briefly, and got to say hello to both Lisas, but the young woman reminded me at least two more times that Hamlet shouldn't be there.  Since it was so busy, and both Lisas were occupied, we just headed home.  Which was too bad, because I had wanted to see some people and say hello, as well as look at the yarn.  But the advantage was that I spent zero dollars, so maybe it worked out in the end after all.  :-)

I am currently between projects.  I want to start another pair of socks, but need to wind the yarn. I though I'd get to it over the weekend, but I did not.  As for my Edie top, I am at a standstill.  The yarn that had been holding sleeve stitches somehow came out (I truly do not know how or when), and I cannot figure out how to fix it.  I'm trying to see if I can find someone who will fix it so I can finish it because I tried and made it worse.  I'm willing to pay (within reason of course) but so far I haven't found anyone nearby.  So I hesitate to start another "big" project until that is truly finished.  I do have two baby hats to make, so I may pull out the yarn for those and get them going.

And that is all of the excitement in my life at the moment.  Nothing earth-shattering, just trying to get through without getting sent to jail for murder ... ;-)

Have a good week, everyone!

Well Hello, Land of the Living!

Yes, I finally feel like I might live and rejoin the world where people can function - phew!  I started getting a headache shortly after waking up on Friday.  I took some of my migraine medicine because though it wasn't really underway, I just felt like it wasn't a regular short-lived headache, and wanted to see if I could get it under control before it really took off.  Alas, I was too late, as by the middle of the morning I was in agony.  I ended up missing most of Friday and all of yesterday.  And I hate that, especially when it happens on a weekend.  I mean, who wants to be sick on their own time??

Anyway, today will be extremely low-key to say the least, but I didn't have any specific plans so it's just as well.  My main activity will be putting a couple of our quilts in the washer and the dryer.  I would hang them on the clothesline to dry, but the last time I did that on a really humid day, the stuff ended up in the dryer after all.  I'm just gonna skip the middle part, so to speak.

Unfortunately, one of the things that suffered from me being out of commission yesterday was that I didn't make it to the post office to mail the Christmas in July packages.  So for those who won a giveaway, please be patient a bit longer - I may not have another chance to get there until next Saturday, but you'll be the first to know when I have mailed them. 

And that's it for today.  I don't want to spend too much time on the computer until I am 100% certain that the headache is in the past.  Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll check in again soon.

To give you a smile, here is a picture of Hamlet as a tiny puppy, sent to me by the woman who raised him for the Seeing Eye Foundation.  That face!!!

Some things can ALWAYS make you feel better. :-)

What August Should Be - What August Probably Will Be

Hi there everyone!  I thought I'd join everyone participating in Three on Thursday today, since I was in the mood for it.  I'm doing it with kind of a twist though, and since as far as I know, there are no Three on Thursday Police, it should be OK.

So I'm sharing three things that fall into the category of what *I* think August should be, and three things that August probably will be, at least for me.

August SHOULD be:

Vacation time.  When I was growing up, we usually took our summer vacation - such as it was - in August.  It was a quiet time for my dad at work, and he would always proclaim that everyone else had already taken their vacations by August so we wouldn't run into crowds. 

August Probably WILL be:

Looking forward to a three-day weekend when August ends and Labor Day weekend comes, since this summer our vacation was the three days we spent in Rehoboth Beach in early July.  It was fun, but that's it for vacation for us, both for financial reasons, and because I can't take any time off this month.

August SHOULD be:

Non-stop fresh tomatoes. 

August  Probably WILL be:

Some fresh tomatoes, still quite expensive at the Farmer's Market (but I buy a few anyway, because a summer without fresh tomatoes is not worth having).  The Tim planted some tomato plants this year, and they started out well, but after yielding ~4 tomatoes, they seem to have been fried by the sun. 

August SHOULD be:

Leisurely.  Which is not the same as being on vacation.  August should be a time when you can take long walks or bicycle around.  There should be day trips planned to the beach on weekends.

August  Probably WILL be:

Not leisurely.  When it's blazing hot with humidity that makes it hard to breathe, or it seems to be raining every weekend, it's just not conducive (at least not for me) to long walks, bicycle rides, or a trip to the beach.

Nevertheless, during August there are still some family birthdays and anniversaries to note, as well as the knowledge that summer is winding down.  Which means that fall and cooler weather is on the way.  School starts - sometimes even in mid-August - and though I have been out of school for eleventy-plus years, I still feel the "fresh start" aspect of a new school year, which I always think is good.

Most importantly, whether it's August or November or April, as long as I still wake up, it's a good day.  :-)

Close - After Some Unravelling

You may remember that in my last post, I said I had to unravel 16 rows of a project I had nearly finished - well, the good news is that, as of last night, I am all "caught up" with what had been unravelled, and ready to finish the body!  If all goes well, it will be finished in the next few days, which would be so exciting, at least to me.

Sadly, I do not have a photo to share.  I realized this a.m. that I hadn't taken any photos to add to this post.  Oh well, you'll just have to live in suspense ...

I just started a new book yesterday, and have so far read the first two chapters.

So far, so good.  And quite entertaining to boot.  I'm guessing this one won't take long to finish.

Check out what Kat and the others are up to today as well!