Ahhh, it was so nice to have some nice weather for a while! All of my knitting mojo came flooding back as soon as the temperature dropped below 85. I want to knit, but as usual, I'm more inspired to start new projects than finish those already in the works. I've got ideas for a couple of bags, and I want to do some mittens and scarves for this winter, and there are cardigans and pullovers and hats and socks and maybe a cozy for Scott's french press... You can see my conundrum.

Right now I am trying to stay up to date with the mystery shawl, and mostly succeeding. I think I'm halfway through Clue 5, and this Wednesday will bring Clue 7. That's not too far behind. I'm also chugging along on a pair of socks for my brother-in-law that are going well so far. I'm past the heels, so it shouldn't be too much longer before they're done. Then I'll start another pair for his wife, which will probably be more interesting (hooray lace!), and I love the light green color I picked for her.

Work was okay the past week. The new guy started, and he seems nice. Now we just have to see if he can wind. Next week we have some sort of audit going on, and I'm sure it will be a total nightmare. It's only two days long though, so that's what I keep repeating in my head. Two days. Just two days and then it's over.

I may have come up with a great idea for my knitty tattoo, but I can't tell you about it because I'll jinx it. I've had quite a few ideas, but the real trouble is where to put them. Scott is picky because he has to look at them all the time, and we both want them to be in flattering places. Plus I'm trying to consider future tattoos at the same time, though that might be futile. I'd like to do a sleeve and a big back piece, but I don't think Scott wants to do them. He seems much more keen on doing large pieces on other people, and I don't know if it's because he doesn't like the way it will look on me, or that he thinks I won't sit well for it, or what. Part of me thinks I could just save my pennies and have it done by someone else, but I don't want anyone else to do it. And I'm sure doing that would make Scott feel shitty- if he asked some other knitter to make him a pair of socks, it would probably bum me out. But if he asked the other knitter after asking me for several years and getting nowhere, would that then be okay? I don't know. It still feels like cheating to me. I think I'm just stuck, which is a little disappointing, but it's not the end of the world.

I did a phenomenal job cleaning out the closet in my knitty room last weekend. Scott has sold (or is selling) all his bikes and replaced them with one monster motorcycle (2008 BMW R1200GS). With only one bike, we won't need the storage space anymore, so everything in storage will be moving back in the house. This means reorganizing, and my closet was first on the list. I dropped off a big bag of yarn remnants at a local retirement home, and I have a small pile of things to drop off at Goodwill. Mostly the closet just needed to be rearranged to use the space more efficiently.

Once that was done, I had room to stick the Jeep's backseat in there. I find the backseat is a cumbersome pain in the ass, more than anything, and prefer to not have it in the Jeep. When it's in the normal position, there is hardly any storage space; and if you tumble it forward (to get the storage space), it forms a little wall behind the front seats. That makes it awkward for two adults to get into the front seats and put their bags into the back without beaning each other in the head. It's also loads easier to get the top up and down without it, and you can keep all the windows in back and still have room for groceries. All I had to do was get the sucker out of the Jeep and upstairs into the house. Which I did. Eventually.

It turns out that it's a lot easier to move the backseat about 15 feet into a ground-level storage space, than it is to get it up a full flight of stairs 30 feet away. And that just gets it into the house. Getting to the knitty closet means another set of stairs. Well, I managed to haul the backseat up to the front door, one step at a time, with only minor injuries (mostly a hand chewed up by a metal bracket). It stayed there overnight, and today I dragged it (literally) inside and upstairs to the knitty room. I don't think I pulled anything, and I have that super invincible feeling that comes from proving someone wrong (*coughScottcough*). Nyah!

Two Weeks

It's been an unusually eventful two weeks! It started two Fridays ago (July 30th), when I came home to find Marlowe limping about. We rushed to the vet to find out that it wasn't anything serious- probably a sprain or other soft tissue damage. Once kitty was loaded with painkillers and steroids, I made my way to Sewing With Jen At Sandy's. Jen from the local knitting meet-up showed a handful of us how to make these very cute and handy project bags. I loves them.

The next day was my friend Katie's baby shower, which was lovely. I especially liked the parts where I did not have to guess how many squares of toilet paper would wrap around her belly, and how most of the gifts were knit or otherwise handmade (all the guests were from her knitting groups). But let me tell you... that Rio group is freaking prolific. Downright intimidating, even. Part of me thinks I should start showing up there in hopes that their mad skillz can be transferred through some sort of osmosis, but part of me is much too afraid of failure. And most of me is too lazy to drive that far. Anyhoo, I made this for her from the softest cotton I have ever felt (Universal Yarns Cotton Supreme Batik in Watermelon Patch):



The work week was typical (dull yet frustrating), and then last weekend Cass came out for a visit. I drove out Saturday morning to pick her up at BWI, only to discover that she flew into Dulles. That was super. Chalk that up as another reason that I should not be allowed to procreate. An hour later, I collected her at the correct airport, and we made our way back to Frederick.

Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon we hung out while Scott was at work. We watched Netflix stuff, drove through my favorite creek, and sewed bags (I'm a sewer!). Sunday we had dinner (with Scott, off work by that time) at the Mediterranean place in town. Monday we all drove down to Skyline Drive in VA where we saw a black bear dart across the road! Sadly, we were too slow to get a picture of him. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A (Cass never had it before)(omg waffle fries!). Tuesday we hung out in Baltimore. We went through the National Aquarium, Cass had Maryland crab at J. Paul's, and we saw a big military ship in the harbour. It was a really great visit!







Wednesday, Scott dropped her at the (correct) airport, and I met up with him later at the tattoo shop. We finished my second rose- finally! And I think there are going to be discussions about what's next- probably the Husband Tattoo, possibly also a knitty sort of tattoo. Decisions, decisions...



On the way home, we stopped at Windy City Red Hots in Leesburg. We were skeptical, but you can, in fact, get decent Chicago food there! They are totally legit- according to their website, a couple from Chicago opened the place after not being able to find any Chicago food in the DC area. Scott and I agreed that the hot dogs are good, and Scott says the Italian Beef is good too- just be sure to order it with extra gravy. I think I'm going to try the chili cheese dog next time. We will probably eat there at least once a week until we move or die.

I've also been working on the Ludivine Mystery Knit-a-long. It's going well so far I think. I wasn't happy with the way I started it, so I ripped it and started again. The second time, I wanted the edge of the garter stitch bit to match the slipped-stitch edge of the shawl, so I slipped the first stitches on just that one side as I knit it. It's not perfect, but I think it looks neater.

So that's the past two weeks in a nutshell. Oh, and Marlowe is fine now, by the way. The poor little guy is like Bill the Cat- it seems like there's always something wrong with him!