Suddenly Summer

The last few months have been quite a blur. I should have blogged, but really things were going too fast and furious. I was looking forward to having this computer all to myself once the boys' laptops for college arrived, but then one son, in his need to move everything from old computer to new, completely wiped out the contents of the family computer -- that is, everything except what was in his area of the computer and saved to the hard drive. My iTunes and iPhoto were completely wiped out, though I was relieved to find that most of my photos had been downloaded to my iPod, so I still have them. And Nate was able to back-fill my iTunes from my iPod, so all I had to replace were my podcast subscriptions (resulting in finding new ones -- more on that later). So, it was a few weeks before I could face the computer at all, even though it is now all mine.

I usually take a couple of weeks off in June and then start my two months off in the summer. This year, though, I had too much going on in June, including a conference in Chicago the last week of the month, and am now working two days a week in July and August. By the end of June I was completely and totally exhausted -- worn out by the events of the end of the boys' senior year, the beginning of their summer jobs, and the transition we're going through at work. I did have a 6-days off stretch at the beginning of July and on the first day, I felt like a balloon with a slow leak. DH even noticed that I got progressively limper as the day went on.

But, two days a week is manageable. I'm finally sleeping through the night, without waking up to my head spinning over something out of my control (the computer debacle was the focus of a few nights' wakefulness). I actually slept 10 1/2 hours the other night and actually felt the stirrings of energy this morning! How nice to start to feel like myself again!

I have been finding time for knitting. In May, a friend and I went on a "knitting boondoggle" to celebrate our turning 50 this past year. We signed up for a class with Cat Bordhi at Webs and spent a weekend in Northampton, MA. Well, actually, the hotel room was a few towns away as Smith College had their graduation that weekend. We drove directly to Webs on Saturday, and did some shopping at their annual tent sale which happened to be the same weekend. Then we walked into town for lunch at the restaurant that Kathy and Steve have mentioned on their Ready, Set, Knit podcast. We poked around in the shops -- what a great little town -- and bought celebratory similar woven shawls (which I have worn numerous times already). We had dinner in an Indian restaurant and saved the leftovers to bring for lunch during our class the next day.

The class was about knitting creativity and was meant to encourage us to think out of the box when approaching knitting design. I learned how to make a mobius scarf and proceeded to make one out of some ribbon yarn I didn't know what to do with but loved the colors. I also fell in love with the lace scarf/shawl that Cat was wearing and ended up purchasing the pattern -- more on that later too. During class breaks, Cathie and I did some more shopping and ended up with our big purchase of the weekend -- we invested in blocking boards. I went straight home and made a lace scarf for my mother for mother's day and blocked it on my new board.

ON MY NEEDLES
I got frustrated with my pi shawl and though I haven't done it yet, am planning to frog it. I don't know if it is the pattern, the yarn or me, but it just wasn't meant to be. But, I wasn't ready to give up on lace, so I ordered the Sivia Harding pattern for the Norwegian Woods Scarf/Shawl and it went together beautifully using one skein of Misty Alpaca Lace in blue. I even found the right size beads at Joann Fabrics. All that is left is to block it (on my new blocking board).

Since that lace project went so well, I started right in on another one. This is the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits. I've gotten through the first pattern and am in the second, which is going slowly due to the "knit 5 together" stitches every other row. But, it will be beautiful and I just need to get back to it.

I've been distracted by knitting two of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jackets. I have a cousin and the daughter of a cousin who had babies last winter that I'd like to give something to. In the past, I've been more ambitious and made baby quilts, but that isn't going to happen this time. The first sweater was an absolute puzzle as I didn't know which end was up until I'd gotten almost all the way through the pattern. It was knit on faith alone. But, even on faith, it is a quick project. The first is in green and navy blue and the second is maroon and navy blue -- both out of Berrocco Comfort. I promise that in the next week, I'll learn how to put up photos on my blog! Anyway, one is done and the other is about half-done. It is lovely garter stitch mindless knitting.

The other project I'm involved in at the moment is socks for Don, my DH. He complained that I never make anything for him, so he picked out the yarn from my stash and I got a lot of the knitting done while at the conference in Chicago. I'm knitting them at the same time, though on separate sets of double pointed needles (I didn't have a 40" needle of the right size available to do the Magic Loop) and took the time to find the same starting point in the self-striping skein so that they actually match pretty well in the stripes. I did a K3 P1 rib just to add some interest to the knitting, but other than that they are pretty straightforward, cuff-down socks.

UPCOMING PROJECTS
The main project on my list is to clean out my "sewing" room. I've spent hours in the past couple of weeks cleaning out Zeben's room. He has a summer job on campus that includes a dorm room, so he "moved out" about three weeks ago. I warned him that I was going to "shovel out" his room when he moved to campus and he was agreeable. What a mess! I won't give details, but I really did need a shovel (in the form of a dustpan). Now that it is clean, I can use his bed to put my blocking board out (maybe I'll block that Sivia Harding shawl today!) and use his room as a place to put things while I clean out and rearrange my sewing room.