Weekend in Burlington

Next to no knitting this weekend...my family and M and I met M's parents in Burlington so they could meet before the wedding. Despite the terrible weather on Saturday, we had a great day and managed to walk up and down Church Street. At first to my amusement, and soon to my horror, we happened upon the Burlington Zombie Walk. Apparently, this is a national event and several cities participate. There were perhaps 75 people dressed as zombies stumbling down Church Street. There were several kids in the crowd and I wondered how they would react but they didn't even wince! I was fine with this whole idea, even thought it had a modicum of charm to it but then I realized that zombies were zeroing in on people in the crowd and grabbing them which freaked me out. I hid in a store doorway till the majority had passed. Later, we were walking on a side street and unbeknownst to me, a zombie had crept up behind me and motioned to my mother to keep it from me (and she did) and then he made this gumming noise in my ear and I turned around and screamed and ran like hell.

Aside from that, it was fun. We went to the Bearded Frog http://thebeardedfrog.com (I can't figure out how to make the Bearded Frog just be the link instead of having to list it next to it). It was really great, the ambience was really cozy and nice and somehow they had a booth that comfortably fit six. I had the filet which was cooked really really well. Bro and I shared a malt a a slice of birthday cake (no it was not anyone's birthday, that was on the dessert menu).

On Sunday we met up with J and S for lunch which was less than stellar. Our waitress came running outside after us asking us if we left her a tip...my mom was appalled. Then we drove back, went to a pub near our house to watch the Red Sox win the world series. My mom and bro went running and yelling through the streets.

Today I skipped my class, I had to catch up on pharmacology because I have a quiz tomorrow and didn't get a chance to read. I felt like it would be time better spent but I still feel a smidge guilty.

I did finish one of the socks I was working on and realized that I"m going to run out of yarn on the second one so I've substituted some yarn on the cuff that won't be visible rather than buying more yarn and paying for shipping. Plus, this yarn seems to have been discontinued....my luck.

Pet Peeve O' The Day

Ok....so when it's rush hour...it's probably not the best idea to do a full body lean up against of the few poles available so that no one else can use it...what is it with people being completely oblivious??

Kno Knitting....Get It?

I haven't done much knitting this week...it's a trifecta of knitting badness. Between outtages in my online program I use for school, the Red Sox, and cleaning before the fam gets here, I have done next to no knitting and next to no reading for school! I'm trying to get as much reading done as possible so that I can spend time with them.

I also broke my rule of only working on the blanket. I rationalize it this way; if I were to only work on the blanket I couldn't knit any fun Christmasy things because I will most certainly be working on that blanket well into spring. So I started finishing up a pair of socks I started on my last trip home. My fear is that I'm going to run out of yarn...we'll see. It's touch and go at this point...

There's been somewhat of a lack of posting lately...I've had a lot of reading to do for class and a midterm that's do on Tuesday. Luckily I went to town on it early so I was able to turn it in today, now I don't have to think about it anymore. Woot woot!

This past Thursday we went out to see little E...I got to give him the hat. A thought that it was a smidge big now but that means it should fit when it matters. Here's the finished product:

I was quite proud of my pom pom...although I would have thought it would have been bigger. Man, you have to use a ton of yarn to make one!!

So, this is now the main focus of my energy:

If you look really closely you can see the pattern..I'm using a lace pattern but a chunky yarn...thought it would be cool and add some interesting detail to the blanket. I waivered briefly from my plan to finish all pending projects before starting another one last night,until I realized that I needed the needles I'm using for my blanket so then I went back to just working on that. But it was a close one.

That's a wrap x2

I don't have pics right now but I'll post them later, promise. I have totally finished E's hat. I even made the pom pom. I didn't use the basic method with the cardboard that I saw everywhere. I found one blogger who said you don't need the cardboard, just use your hand to wrap the yarn around so that's what I did. I'm too busy and carefree to be tracing circles on cardboard with a compass....no sir, not for me! This method worked fine, I also learned that last time when I thought I did something wrong, I didn't..I just hadn't tied the string around the middle tight enough and then didn't bother trimming it because it looked like tiny pieces of yarn with a tie around the middle. I didn't realize that I had to really tighten the yarn to make them start to poof out. So mission accomplished on the hat. Good thing because we are heading over tonight to watch the game in high def. Originally, the plan was for some hanging outedness on Saturday but lucky Mr. M has been offered a ticket to the game should the Sox make it past tonight.

I have also completed My So Called Scarf. It's just the perfect length. 2/3 of the way through I was questioning whether I would have some left over yarn but I needed everything I had.

Now, as I've said before, I'm focusing my energy on the blanket...this time I mean it!

I'm still waiting for word on R's bebe....crossing my fingers for a girl!

Media

You should watch 'God Grew Tired of Us'. It's a documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan and was really interesting. Everyday things to us were entirely new to them i.e. an escalator or a doughnut. Very interesting!

I listened to the new Feist on the morning commute and thought eh...yeah not really for me. Not that I really liked the old Feist but I thought I would give it a shot. I was correct in predicting that the song used on the JCPenney ad was the best one.

Now onto the new Moving Units....

Lazy Sunday Complete with Cupcakes

Whew! The whirlwind that was S's wedding is now complete! They tied the knot yesterday and are en route to Maui for a week. The wedding was fun, food was so so; half of our table never recieved soup and the wait staff couldn't seem to figure out who had the chicken and who had the fish. We realized this morning that we forgot to grab the bags with the favors in them...wonder what they were. I also found this funny, on several of my trips to the bathroom different groups of women were complaining about their shoes and how they couldn't wait to get out of them. I managed to control myself and not make a fool of myself on the dance floor until the last two songs. Some of our table mates were rather annoying but once the dancing started we didn't have to chat with them anymore because they were dancing fools for the rest of the night. It was nice seeing old friends and meeting new spouses. Today we took it easy; I made lasagna and cupcakes on Friday night so we munched on that today.

I wore the newly finished Hanami shawl and it was nice and warm on a crisp fall night. From now on I will most likely just wear it as a scarf so I can get more use out of it. I'm not really a shawl girl.

I also found out that one of my friends is avec bebe! She will find out the sex on Wednesday, 21 weeks along. I'm hoping for a girl so that there are more fun knitting projects...let's face it...boy patterns are boooorrriinng.

For the other baby in my life, I have knitted this earflap hat:

This was a very quick quick quick project. I still have to block it because the ear flaps curl and so does the front of the hat. I'm also planning on making a pom pom for the top. My first attempt at making one was less than desirable...I only half followed the directions figuring I could cut a few corners but apparently not. I have another skein of this yarn so I'm torn about making some mittens for the young chap or making myself some knee high-ish type socks.

I'm making myself finish all works in progress before starting anything new (with the exception of BBC's blanket which I only work on at lunch at the office). Here's my progress on My So Called Scarf:

There is some variation on the tension, or at least it seems that way..I can't tell if it's me or the yarn. It's handspun and varies quite a bit in thickness throughout the hank. I've just added the second hank and then I will be finished! Then I'll focus more on the blanket...I still haven't posted it. After my scarf is done I will treat you to a pic...

Wedding Bells are in the Air

There is no ear flap hat pic as promised to certain people...M and I had a rehearsal dinner to go to. My friend is getting married tomorrow so we helped kicked off the celebration last night. It was more fun than expected which means we got home later than expected which means, no pic. Tonight I'll post it, I promise. And as a bonus I'll include a pic of My So Called Scarf's progress. I'm forcing myself to finish all works in progress before starting the new Paton sweater that I probably won't be able to figure out.

The ear flap hat was so fun and quick to make that I wish I had more small children to make them for...not that I have any children, you know what I mean. Oh, it's still sans pom pom...I have to figure that out still...

Sweet Lord, I'm Done!

Big doin's over here! The Hanami shawl is complete....and I can't tell you how ecstatic that makes me. Overall, it didn't take as much time as I thought...or I worked on it like a fiend so it didn't make quite as long as I thought it would. Here it is, unblocked (I folded the basketweave section over on itself since it just repeats):

Here's a close up the ruffley edge

In other knitting news, I have started knitting My So Called Scarf:

In other news, S and I have just returned from the Wool Arts Tour! It was great fun....although I think S would have like to have been able to pet some bunnies. We only saw one patchy haired bunny in a cage and for sale, poor guy. We saw this guy at one of the farms:

Do you love him as much as I do??? My God, he's cute. Although, he and his pen mate had a not so cute grunting thing they kept doing that reminded me of Billy Bob Thornton in Sledgehammer....that's what that movies called right? Something doesn't sound right about that...anyway, while S opted for pounds upon pounds of sock yarn on a spool, I opted for some chunky yarns to make a quick scarf with.

Then, if my yarn filled weekend wasn't enough, I bought more yarn today to make E and earflap hat with some self striping sport weight yarn...I should have enough for matching mittens.

Sicko!

Woah....I'm sick. I never get sick...I've taken a day and a half off work! I've done nothing but sit on the couch, occasionally knit when I'm not blowing my nose, and made a half hearted attempt to get some homework done. Of course, I've got a ton of homework to do, chapters to read, a paper to write and I must must must rally by this weekend.

I've got a bachelorette party to go to on Saturday night and then a wool arts tour on Sunday with S who I miss deeeeeaaarrrllly!

I am too tired/lazy to post a pic of my progress on the Hanami but trust me, there's been a lot. I'm 16 rows away from finishing. In other knitting news, I've ordered yarn to make my yellow scarf! I'm going to the use the My So Called Scarf pattern and I'm using this yarn in yellow: http://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Rio_de_la_Plata_Yarn-Wool_Solid_Yarn-1539.html It will be here on Friday, more motivation to finish up on this shawl! I'm going to try to not let myself start on the scarf until I'm totally done with the shawl...weaving in ends, blocking etc. I don't even know how to block...this should be fun. not really.

Oh, amidst being down with the sickness, we had to meet our wedding photographer at Starbuck's. It was probably the quickest transaction she's ever had...we met with her for 30 minutes and paid her the deposit. Check that chore off our list....