Almost a whole month!

I just logged on to post my Secret Pal 12 questionnaire and realized it has been a month since I last posted! I can hardly believe it!! So, here is a list of some of the stuff that I've been up to:

On May 16th and 17th I went with my knitting friend Kathy to check out the Local Yarn Store Tour 2008. We started in Blaine at Beach Basket Yarns (not on the tour) and worked out way south hitting just about every store north of Seattle, the first day. Then, we headed south for more yarny goodness on Saturday. We missed a couple of stores that were not very convenient for us, but enjoyed each other's company greatly while travelling from store to store. The last store we stopped at was Hilltop on Queen Anne Hill. Next door is a Thai food restaurant that we visited at the end of our shopping. The food and service was excellent, so excellent that we both want to go back with our husbands!

For Memorial Day weekend, my dh and I took Friday off work and headed east of the Cascades to Pateros, WA. There we spent the weekend with some dear friends, their children and some of the wife's extended family. Her parents own 40 acres up in the hills. The weather was nice and warm (75-85F) during the day. In the evening, it rained, leaving the air fresh and crisp for an excellent morning. The rain also kept it from being too dry and possibly starting the fire season early. On Sunday, my dh and hers found that the foursome they set up for a game of golf had fallen through. They still wanted to go, so they convinced us to go with them. She has been before, but doesn't really like it, and I have never been. We played "best ball" where everyone hits off the tee and then everyone makes their next swing from the location of the closest ball to the cup. Surprisingly, I can do pretty well for the middle of the game and they used about 5 of my swings!

After two such busy, busy weekends in a row, I need a vacation from my vacations! Fortunately, my office is closed this Friday through Monday for a remodel project, so I'm going to get the time off from work. I couldn't be happier. All this fun means that I need to spend at least part of one of my days off cleaning house, but its not too bad. Both dh & I have been working to just keep things tidier than usual, so there is not a whole lot to accomplish.

New WIP

Elann just put a new yarn up, about a week ago, Berroco's Zen Colors. I still have credit, from knitting samples for them, and fell in love with 2 of the colorways. From the Berroco website, I found a pattern for a loosely knit cardigan that only requires 400g for the largest size. How could I resist that? So, I purchased 2 sweaters worth. I plan to knit one for me and one for a Mother's Day gift. The yarn came in last night's mail and, of course, I cast on right away. I almost finished 2 balls of yarn in 5 hours. I'm enjoying the break from fingering weight on size 1 needles to knit this project on size 11s. The back is almost finished, so there is hope for it to be finished in time for Mother's Day.

Current WIP Progress

Since being knocked out of the running for Sock Madness, I've been working on WIPs, rather than starting another something new. I am coming along! Yesterday, I finished the back for the Autumn Camp Shirt and am almost to the top of the slit on the right front. Its looking good and I've found new motivation for working on this sweater with tiny little needles. Earlier this week, I sat to knit, and actually felt more like working on socks than the sweater, so I pulled out a sock that was already started. I finished that one and needed another needle to cast on for the second one. Rather than going to get said needles, I picked up the stole that I started just before Easter. (It was in the same basket with the sock that I finished.) I made about an inch or so of progress on the stole before it was time to put it away for the night. I'm hoping to have a set of finished projects before too long. However, Sock Wars starts in a little over a week, so it may be June before the others are finished.