So, what have I been up to that has kept me so preoccupied? Well, first, I finally finished the Diagonal Granny Afghan. And I want to emphasize FINISHED! This was one of the UFO's identified for the Finish-A-Long Contest. So, I listed four projects and I have completed two of them. I will be picking up the Red Robin later this week and we'll see if I can get it done before the August 13th deadline. I hope so but I will not be putting undo stress on myself to get it done. The object for me was to get the motivation I needed to get some of these older projects finished so that I would fell better about starting some new ones. Not to mention the boost to the ego one feels when the project is finished!
Not too bad for yarn picked out and purchased in 1983. She was started in September 1983 and restarted on July 19th. So, it took me ten days to get her finished. Not as fast as I had expected but the border was a pain in the ass. I was finished with the border last night but I had to weave in all the ends (two per row) and that was finished this morning. She will get a spin in the washing machine later tonight and will most likely end up as a donation to Warm Up Winchester for Amy to get in to a person that needs it. And trust me, it is SUPER warm.
I finally made it to one of the CLACK meetings. These gals/ladies are a HOOT. We meet every Monday at the Panera in Webster (I45 at Bay Area Boulevard) from 6:30 PM until they kick us out or you need to leave. I took the Clementine Shawlette with me, as I didn't really want to haul the afghan out in public. Especially for my first appearance. I was amazed at the diversity. There were socks in progress and while my preference is making them on two circulars, I was amazed at the number of younger women hooked to their dpn's. There were some wonderful women that are newer knitters and they were so proud of their work. It was amazingly refreshing for me, especially since my own daughters have no desire to learn. And, sadly I could have been the mother to many of the women that were there. But, I'm okay with that because I know I started hatching them young and will be a very active woman for a long time to come.
Last Friday SF and I went to the first showing of Salt. Now I will admit that I am not always a huge fan or even a fan of Angelina but I LOVED this film. The costumes, the action, the plot and the intensity were all spot on. I may need to see it again, as I fear that I missed details. I was like that with Gone In Sixty Seconds as well. I had to see it twice at the cinema and then purchased the DVD.
SF is back on her diet as well. She had been on it prior to meeting me and was in the maintenance phase when we were dating. Since I moved in she slacked off a bit and gained back weight. That was in stark contrast to the pattern I was on when we met. I lost two more dress sizes after moving in but have since slacked off a bit since the last race. I too have now added back pounds/inches and have re-focused my workouts to conquer the trouble spots. I will not go back to the previous size I was. Mostly because it is not healthy but more importantly I refuse to buy that size ever again.
I also received my Pimp My Queue Swap package from Paula. Look at the pictures!
Yep! I was spoiled and so was Zoe. The cute little bag with the hearts is for her. I can hardly wait to get it to her. Bonus, since it is cloth Stephanie can wash it whenever it gets dirty. The object of this swap was for your spoiler to pick an item from your top ten projects in your Ravelry Queue and supply all the needs to complete it. That included the pattern and needles. I have been wanting to make Green Gable for as long as I can remember and I was so happy to see that this was the chosen project. I have it with me today and will be casting on as soon as I can. I love the color of the yarn. It is Caribbean Sea and I think it will look great against tanned skin and make the blue in my eyes even better. I can't wait to get this one under way and done.
I have also been reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice for the Out of the Box Reading Game on Ravelry. I can blame/thank Martha for this. Martha is another wonderful woman that I met via a swap. She supplied me with these goodies:
The Scavenger Hunt Swap was so much fun. The yarn for the Clementine was in this package. That is how long I have wanted to make it. The breakdown of the contents can be read in this post. That goes back to Miss Ginger and how the world of blogs touch our lives. I have had the honor and pleasure of meeting so many wonderful women and men through connections from the Interwebz. Looking through the Scavenger Hunt Swap blog, I came across this one from Leah. And I will admit that I have been remiss in reading her blog and not posting comments when I do read a post. Something I will rectify with my next visit to her blog.
I can also now share these:
They were photographed much better by AHJ on her blog. Of course, if you are on Ravelry you can get the details here. If you knit and you knit socks, then you should really check out the RPM pattern. It is quick to learn and they are a lot of fun with variegated yarns. I have made them twice with a third pair on the needles.
The last thing on my mind at the moment is Amy's post from yesterday. I am still working on my Ten Things but I hope to get them up by the end of the week. I think I will share the list with SF, as I think we watch a little too much TV sometimes. Read Amy's post and see if you have ten things to add that are different and need to be shared/aired.
One last thing before I get back to real work....tonight I am going out again without SF. No, there are no problems in paradise. One of our favorite places is having a wine tasting event again tonight. They are offering some of my favorites this go-round, so I wanted to go. SF cannot have any adult beverages during the initial phases of her diet, so told me to go without her and have a good time. Plus it starts at 5:30 PM and she would never get there before it ended since she doesn't get off work until 5:00 PM and it would take her at least an hour (with no bad weather and no traffic hardships) to get there. Twist my arm a little harder please.... Seriously, I love the fact that we have so much trust in our relationship that we can both encourage each other to do things like this. So, I will be taking both the Clementine and The Beekeeper's Apprentice with me to the event. I doubt that there will be knitting after the tasting begins but it will be there as back up should it become necessary.
I leave you with pictures of Sassy and Eraser, as they have been plotting my demise since I do not share their beauty and majesty with the public enough to suit their egos.
