Oh, the Irony!

So, clearly I'm over-ambitious when it comes to setting goals. My apologies for my long absence. But I'm very nearly done with the work on my condo, and down to just a few boxes still to unpack. In fact, *whispers* I think I'm done enough that I'll be back to blogging rather more frequently, like once or twice a week.

Since I last blogged, I've made some slight progress on the Hawaii Jaywalker sock. It's the first of the pair, and so close to done that it's embarrassing that I didn't finish it before starting on the next thing that caught my eye. (And please, say nothing about second sock syndrome...)


There's a particular yarn, in a particular colorway, that I've been coveting for months. I didn't order it online because of the moving chaos, but every time I've been in a yarn shop, I've looked for it. So, then a bit over a week ago, my sister came to visit, and I took her to the LYS so she could pick out a sock yarn that I would make into socks for her for Christmas. This particular shop has many shelves full of sock yarn. My sister walked to these shelves, looked for about 30 seconds, and pulled out a hank, announcing that she had found the yarn she wanted. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, as the hank she pulled out was the very yarn, in the very colorway, that I've been longing for. And, of course, they only had one hank. But I do try to be a good sister, so I got it for her and got a different colorway for myself.

Fleece Artist Merino Sock in Cornflower (hank, mine) and Polar Sea (ball, my sister's).

She also picked out a pattern for her socks, and I couldn't have been more pleased with her choice, since it's a pattern I've been eying for some time: Monkey Socks!


It turns out that this yarn is completely delightful to work with, in addition to being beautifully dyed. So I think I'm still coveting...

Juggling alligators

I've been thinking for about a week now that I really should get back to blogging. I even got so far as to consider (although not decide) what my first post back should contain. The problem is that I haven't got much to report, at least not knitting-wise. So I kept putting it off. Then I saw Lynne's comment on my last post and knew I shouldn't put it off any longer.

Lynne is right - I am back from my business travels. Here's the quick version of the last two months: When I last blogged (back at the beginning of August), I had a week of school left. I finished up school, watched movers pack all of my stuff up, as well as all of my roommates' stuff - somehow we managed to keep it mostly separate and mostly going to the right person. Then I loaded what little I'd kept into my car and left Pittsburgh. I dropped some of my stuff off in a friend's garage in DC and kept going to Newport News. I spent three weeks there, except for coming back to DC on weekends to work on (painting, and such) my new place. Then it was a week in Idaho, and back to DC to start work. I had the movers deliver the rest of my stuff, did a little unpacking, and then took a vacation! I spent three fantastic days in San Diego on the beach, and another three days in Albuquerque, where I got what I hope is a year's supply of frozen green chile. I was back at work last week and back down in Norfolk for the beginning of this week. And now, I'm back in DC and not going anywhere for at least a month.

I'm embarrassed to admit how little knitting I got done in all that time. I started a new sock:


And I made some pretty good progress on my Print O' the Wave stole. It turns out that the stole is good airplane knitting.


On the other hand, it isn't as if I don't have knitting to show because I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I think Lynne's suggestion of juggling alligators is apt, given that this is the more-or-less current state of my condo:





Working only on weekends and evenings, I've so far managed to paint the dining room, living room and hall, and part of the second bedroom (currently a storage disaster, planned to be an office). The gray on the walls just had to go, and the purple really makes me happy. The master bedroom will by the end of this weekend be a lovely blue and have all the proper furniture back in it (and not in the dining room or living room). At the pace I'm going, I expect to get everything - painting, unpacking, decorating, and some new furniture - by November.

I'll do my best to blog once a week, but it may be less often than that. I'm not abandoning you, I promise. It's just that I'm still juggling alligators :)