April Vacation!

Ahhhh. Vacation. A whole week, which is already nearly half gone. But the first half, spent visiting my in-laws, was a great way to start. Work has been incredibly busy and a bit more stressful than usual due to the timing of a major event that took a lot of my time and got me completely backed up on my own regular work. I crammed as much into last week as I could to get caught up so I could go on vacation and not have to do work from home. Going away for the weekend gave me an actual break from the usual routine and it was lovely.

Lots of knitting time was part of the deal. Here's the round-up. I wanted to complete the front of the blue baby sweater, but forgot the other size of needles needed, so got part-way done. I picked up the swirl shawl, which I'm doing in a purple/aqua/green/grey combination. I had put it down for too long and needed to re-learn what I was doing. I managed to get one whole row done and then three hexagons in the second row so I can finally see what it may, eventually, look like. And, yesterday I worked on my Sprössling sweater fronts and got up past all of the increases/decreases -- it is time to start the armholes and then the neckline. Knitting both together has been brilliant and I plan to knit the sleeves simultaneously too. Then, last night, after getting home, we watched a couple of episodes of the Monarch of the Glen and I worked on the sleeve caps of the Debbie Bliss sweater. Great progress!

While in Rhode Island, I visited a knitting store I've never been to before. I think I've noticed it on several past visits but just didn't get there until this trip. It was a lovely little shop, The Knitting Corner and Beadery, in Middletown, and there was a yarn crawl going on, so everything was on sale. I discovered a sweet pink, green, and white crazy Zauberball that distinctly called my name, so that is what a brought home with me. I did some exploring on Ravelry last night and found a shawl that I'm going to try. It is Dianna, and I'm smitten. I've wanted to do entrelac for a long time and to combine it with lace and a color-changing yarn? Perfect. I anticipate it will be challenging, to say the least.

Before I start on Dianna, though, I'm too close to finishing a bunch of things and will make myself do that first -- Debbie Bliss, bamboo socks (just need to graft the toes), baby sweater, Sprössling, and, of course, the wedding stole. But, I may be detoured just a bit this week by a pattern I picked up for knitted Easter eggs out of left-over sock yarn :)

And... I've got a long list of other tasks I'd love to get accomplished this week. Odds and ends of things that, once completed, will make my life easier and nicer. Like painting the baseboard on the porch so we can finally fill up the bookcase and get that room cluttered up enough to feel like home but not so much to feel cluttered :) Stuff like that.