I will finish this Christmas stocking!

Taking break before heading back to work on Rowan's Christmas stocking.  I'm getting down to all those tiny sections I've been avoiding.  Two stitches in dark green.  Three stitches in light pink.  One stitch I missed in white.  It is tedious but essential in getting the project done.  My goal is to start the outlining by November 1st.  It takes a long time but makes all the difference in the look of the finished item.  If you've never done counted cross stitch, think weaving in knitted ends on steroids!

In between hours squinting at charts for the stocking, I'm finishing up some knitting projects.  One pair of socks to finish, another pair of socks to start, blocking and finishing a cowl, and doing finish work on a baby sweater and toddler scarf.  It all seems doable today (but then it always does in October)

Keep a good thought.

A little more unbearable cuteness

Alex's little sleeping burrito of love

Pop would have held that baby all day

Ash's next sweater almost done.  Should have pictures soon.  Back to that darn cross stitch stocking I didn't finish last year.  Did you know we need to be ready for Christmas in 2 1/2 months?  (She says as she runs screaming in to the night!)

As if I needed another reason to knit....

So excited and happy to welcome Ash Jerome to our family!  Rowan is now a big brother.

Loose ends

The last two weeks have been about finishing up loose ends.  These last couple of weeks before labor day are a period of calm before fall activities kick in to high gear.  I'm taking the time to finish all those knitting projects.  Carefully woven ends, buttons attached and a nice soak are preparing all those lovely hand knits for their new homes.

I am slowly cleaning my way through the house, tossing as I go.  Lest that sound like progress, it is barely making a dent in our "collections".  At least I'm moving forward.  After 27 years in this house, it got a shiny new front door and a matching garage door.  Exterior painting should be completed today with a new mailbox to follow.  Once I get the landscaping cleaned up and some missing plants replaced, it should look much better.  Carpets are being cleaned tomorrow, which usually means some cat needs to barf up a hairball (kind of the same principle as car washing and rain).

I've also made some progress on business tasks like renewing liability insurance, updating records, and getting the accounts caught up.  I finished collecting my school board signatures and was duly reappointed. There were only 3 candidates for 3 positions, so they just appoint us and skip paying for an election. ASU is opening its first remote site in our community with classes starting tomorrow.  As someone who has been involved in bringing them here, I got to be a part of the welcome to students Sunday night.  Pretty exciting stuff for our rural town. 

This is also a time of waiting.  Our second grandson is due sometime between now and September 9th.  His mommy is more than ready for him to make his appearance.  She's already had a false alarm with contractions that slowed back down. Guitar Guy and I are ready to fly out and help in whatever way we can.  I'm hoping Baby As Yet Unnamed will hold off until after the weekend, when Nicole and Patrick are coming to celebrate my birthday.  I think his parents have decided to wait and meet him before deciding which name fits.

Time for another cup of coffee.  Nice chatting with you :-)

Summer knitting

Several friends had grandchildren this summer, so I did some pink knitting in preparation for the next one. This was really cheap acrylic yarn I bought when I first started knitting but it came out pretty cute (and machine washable)

Please ignore the ends I haven't woven in yet :-)  Sunshine yarns Ginny Weasley

 Sweater for the grandson due in September (no name yet)  Gift yarn from Nicole

 Rowan sweater for the fall in Plymouth Encore

 Father/son fingerless mitts for this winter.  Malabrigo Rios gift yarn from my daughter-in-law.  Love how the yarn feels, but not so crazy about all the thin places.

Mitten I started for Rowan from Mini Mochi, then realized they will be way too big for him.  Will probably still finish them after I do my Christmas knitting.

Many hours of Dr. Who went in to the knitting of these items.  I'm sure it makes them better :-)

Whiz goes another month!

How does this keep happening?  I blinked and it's almost July.  I looked at my priority list for the last 3 months and hardly got any of it done!

Tomorrow I take off to spend a week with my son, daughter-in-law and grandson.  Keep a good thought for grandma to have enough energy to keep up with an active 3 year old.  Last year at least he was still napping in the afternoon.  Caffeine is my friend!

Tonight I was out circulating petitions for another run at school board.  Where did that 4 years go?  Someone asked me today what I accomplished in my first term and I wanted to say, "I finally figured out how things work"  The learning curve is steep with all the regulations, complex financing and changing education landscape.  It is often a thankless job and can take a lot of time but when I see what our students are doing/creating/accomplishing it is pretty exciting.

But now it's time to go watch another Dr. Who episode and knit a few rows on the baby blanket I'm working on.  Night all

I think I lost a month

May seems to have whizzed by in record time!  The fact that I've been working an additional job this month might have something to do with it.  It has been a good experience and the extra money doesn't hurt.  I've always wondered if I could move back to being staff after having been an organizational leader.  In this situation the answer was "yes"!  I felt positively gleeful being able to finish my work and walk out the door with no worries about the staffing issues or late Friday afternoon admissions to be processed.

My daughter appears to be well settled in her new rental home and will be starting her job soon.  I'm sure they are relieved to be through that move and unpacked for another year.  My son and his wife will be moving in June to the home they just bought.  I remember those years of starting a family and purchasing a first home.  It was a mix of exhilaration and exhaustion!  I'll get to check it all out when I go to visit them the last week of June and play with Rowan for a week.  I can hardly wait.

I've been doing quite a bit of knitting, trying to finish up some projects.  Hopefully I'll have pictures soon.  I have about 10 projects bagged up with the yarn and patterns for after I finish these. I also bought some yarn on sale from Knitpicks and WEBS for grandchild sweaters and scarves.  I do need to finish the Christmas stocking I set aside in December.  I have to get it down before the next Christmas.  I downloaded quite a few MP3 books to listen to while I knit.  They work great while Guitar Guy is watching baseball.

We aren't doing anything this weekend other than maybe going to see Avengers.  Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.