And it's hot, hot, hot.

The dog-days of summer. Humid outside, freezing inside. Neither condition is particularly conducive to knitting. Either my yarn is too hot, or my needles are too cold.

I did have a birthday, and had a lovely time with it. We hosted our first shindig at our place and it worked out really well. We thought our home might be too small, but everyone got along, and Monty didn't get stepped on! It was pretty great.


My friend Emily found this lovely teacup for me. I now have a mug alternative for my peach tea. Pinky up!

Also for my birthday, my love got me an adorable pink iPod shuffle.

This is the best companion player. It's so tiny, and I wear it when I'm running errands on campus and whatnot. I have a larger 60GB photo iPod, too, and I use that a lot too. Music, music, all the time.

This past Sunday, I got to visit with my mom's family at a baby shower held for one of my cousins. Very nice to see them all.

Monty is doing very well in his obedience class. His shyness is getting a lot better since he now seems to recognize the scents and actions of the other pups in his class. What a love he is.

Bad Blogger

It's been over two weeks, and I apologize.

I haven't really started anything new. I did get the Kimono done for Wendy's baby shower, though. I think it came out really well.

I used a little more than one skein of Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Organic Cotton. I loved the feeling of it's softness, plus it's machine washable and dryer safe. Necessary for baby clothes, in my opinion. She loved it.

In the meantime between posts, I have been working a lot, and it's definitely been busy. Our department is under construction, so I spent a few days just coordinating where all the stuff from those spaces was going to be kept during the renovations.

That's mostly why I haven't posted - I usually do it at work. I know that's awful, but I spend my entire day on the computer, and about 1/2 hour goes toward my blog. So, when I'm up and moving around, I'm not at my computer. I would work on it at home, except that I'm already on my computer all day, so I rarely sit on the computer in the evenings. I never even check my e-mail on the weekends.

To keep the knitting moving, I am also working on rows upon rows of stockinette for a plain Jane shawl. I got a whole bunch of Alpaca (the farm name escapes me right now) at the last CT Sheep & Wool, with the ntention of making a beautiful cabled scarf. I have since found that I have very little patience for even ribbing, and the concept of following a cart that closely boggles me. So, the Alpaca sat. In Greetings from Knit Cafe, there was a "pattern" for a shawl made up just for rainy/cold days. The description of this project was exactly my story: the designer had bought beautiful Alpaca and wanted to use it for something just right - nothing that would be destroyed, but something she could appreciate for a long time. Hence, the shawl with a simple fringe. So far, mine is only about 23" from cast-on point to the needles, but it's going well. I love how it feels like silk or someting equally gorgeous.

It's obviously curling because of the stockinette, but blocking and the weight of the fringe will help that once it's done.

At home with Mama.

My mom had knee surgery two weeks ago, and like the great daughter that I am, I took some vacation from work (during the slow time anyway) to help her out with rides to therapy and doctor's appointments and whatnot. She's doing great, and I'm knitting a lot. I got a little bored on Monday night (my second evening here) and took a ride to my local Jo-Ann's and picked up a dozen balls of Wool-Ease and a US11 circular. I figured that I would make a plan for it before I got home again. I did. A large, corner-to-corner lap-sized blanket. In a dark green tweed and oatmeal. This has helped the time pass a bit more quickly.

I did bring material for knitting while I was here, but I lost interest now knowing there's no deadline. I'll pick it up again.

Yesterday, for the holiday, my sister and her husband came to visit. There was grilling, game-playing and much laughter over Pictionary. It was nice to have the four of us in the house again - me, Mom, my sister and mom's roommate, Karen - also known as my other mother. Mom and Karen got their house together when I was 9 years old, so I've always had Karen as a motherly influence. She's pretty great.

I do miss my honey and Monty very much. I will be back home this weekend, though. I will see them plenty. Very rarely do I get to spend so much uninterrupted time with my mom, so I'm taking advantage ;)