Summer summary

Well, the summer is drawing to a close, and I for one am thankful the cooler weather is coming.
A few weeks ago I went to North Carolina to visit my family, and mom & I escaped the heat in Maggie Valley, up in the mountains. I've posted some pictures here, but I do have a whole set of all the roses at Lake Junaluska & other pictures over here on my flickr.









On the way there we had a little yarn crawl at Black Mountain yarn shop which was a very lovely shop! We got some neat gadgets there and also at another shop, I apologize I don't remember their name....
these stitch markers all have words on them like center, decrease, increase etc, so you can place them to remind you of what to do when you get to them!

I also finally finished my Lanesplitter skirt! It's a little bit tight....


While I was gone, Tripsie went to the vet to get some treatment for her skin issues. Unfortunately she seemed to pick up a bit of a bug :( Poor little girl.


fortunately it passed quickly. They both went after I got back and now they're up to date on all their shots.



Kitty continues to get stronger and more active in the new house! I'm really happy that he's bounced back so much, though it makes me sad he was unhealthy for so long and now it seems the old townhouse was the cause of it.



We've been really enjoying our real sized kitchen & dining room, as well as the grill. I've made lasagna, and also like to make myself pasta for lunch.


No Tripsie, you cannot has.



Hanging out in the back yard while Hubs grills burgers.


There's a baby explosion at work, so I've been making blankets and booties. These are for my co-worker Karen, or really for little Caledonia (Latin word for Scotland, I had to Wikipedia it). I didn't finish the 2nd bootie in time for the baby shower, so I wrapped the blanket, 1 bootie, and the yarn with needles stuck in. It's all finished now :)


I've also been working on a pair of socks, using some of my Yarn Pirate stash and this Mermaid's Lagoon pattern from Knitty


I also finally made good on my promise to a sweet little girl, this is Minnie, and I've been promising her a sweater for YEARS!


My other canine friends are Toulouse and Renior, the puppies of my D&D DM James. They like to hang out with all of us while we play and try to get some of our tasty treats.


Of course the big news this week has been the earthquake & hurricane Irene. The earthquake was scary, but only because it was my first one. It is very unsettling to have the ground under you move!! Everything is fine though. We barely had any effects from the storm, just a cloudy rainy weekend. But Mike & Janine came to see us for the weekend, and I'm hoping they return to Richmond with no bad surprises. One of their neighbors had a tree fall.


Next weekend my family will come up for the long weekend, and mom will see my house for the first time! I'm so excited :)

Right... sorry

I've been a bit distracted. And Sue - YES! I have been making some progress on my Chorwars! I've behaved with my yarn diet, only buying 1 skein of yarn while I was on Vacation!

Speaking of Vacation, that's where I was for a week. I went to visit my parents, and then for 3 lovely days my mom, my sister and I went to the beach.

We stayed in a beautiful home belonging to one of mom's co-workers.





I've also picked up crocheting! Mom taught me while we were at the beach. I've got my first FO.


A bullet-proof wonky Kitty bed. But I've gotten better with my edges and also did a washcloth.
It's for my cousin who is getting married! I love how well the colors match the RSVP card (you'll have to trust me).

After my vacation I haven't been on the computer as much. I've even blocked some of my facebook games! Hubs and I are focusing on eating better and working out some. I'm excited because where I work is building an on-site gym!! Woohoo!

Richmond Funtimes

Last weekend we went to Richmond to see our friends Mike & Janine.
Saturday night we went to Dave and Busters. It was lots of fun! I've seen commercials for the place, but none of us have ever been. It's like a Showbiz for grown-ups (though there were still tons of kids around playing). Better food though, and beer! Janine and I earned about 50 tickets, but inflation has apparently also hit the ticket market, and we wouldn't have been able to get anything more than a small yo-yo or some candy, so we gave them to a little kid.

Sunday we lazed around (except for our wonderful hosts who made us breakfast!), and then went to Carytown.
There were tons of chalk drawings all over the sidewalks, including Pedobear!

What are you doing on the ground Pedobear??



There's also a VERY nice yarn shop, and I was very good and just got needles for my huge blanket of doom (thank you Kyle for the suggestion of using multiple sets of circulars as DPNs).

Then we went to a super-yummy pizza place downtown and then to the National to see Mastodon.

The National is a historic building, they used to be a traditional theater (for operas and plays and stuff).

Ceiling.


Pictures are kind of hard to see what's going on, they have a huge LED display behind them which they show a video on.


It was easily the 2nd loudest show I've been to, and my ears were still ringing Tuesday morning.


Monday I got up early and went in to work! My boss had asked if I could go to the Richmond office to do some training, and it just worked out well timing-wise so that I didn't have to make two trips :)

Maude was my Tripsie-substitute.


I love her tail!


Today we're planning on going to the Celtic Festival at Sedalia. Hopefully the weather will hold out.

Not much new knitting yet, I do have some plans for a shawl but I want to finish Hubs' socks first.

River picture time

Don't these show up so nice and neat against the white background in the middle?





This is a painting of the old cabin. A few years ago some bunghole set it, and the 3 around it on fire.

But we've finished rebuilding!






This is my happy place. There is no stress, there is no work, there are no deadlines - we barely keep track of the time. This is my heaven on earth!

Weekend n stuff

This past weekend we went to visit The Lewis Show for his 35th birthday (which was actually yesterday) and for all of us to go see Watchmen together.
We had a really good time, and got to finally meet the younger of their brood.

This is Luci. As in Lucifer.


This is a long-distance shot of Maude, who's a real cutie pie up close. She's like a mini-Tripsie (only with 4 legs). She's got a super poofy tail, which this weekend seemed to get a bit of tree sap on it.


This is their older cat Topaz.
She doesn't like anyone :P



As for this week I could give a #$#!% and am just about ready to call the men in the white hats to come get me. So long as I can have my pointy sticks and yarn.
So, I'm going to work on the heel of my 2nd pretty sock.


Gnight all.

Crawl & Haul!

Today, mom and I went on a Yarn Crawl!
This time we headed east, to Greensboro & Winston Salem.

We actually started off in Kernersville, where the Ben Franklin shop is closing and had everything on sale.



I'm thinking a pinwheel shawl or blanket. Very pretty colors.



We then headed on towards downtown Greensboro. Mom hadn't been there much since her college days, and in the *few years since there's been quite a lot of improvements to the area.


This is the Woolworth store where there was a sit in, the counter itself is now in the Smithsonian.


They've also revitalized some old buildings. Check out the architecture! Also, YAY for cameras with zoom! That was the very top of a tallllll building.
Doors to a bar.


We went in Gate City Yarns.
Those people on the wall are actually fired iron if I remember right - they're called iron maidens. Get it? *giggle*



I'm assuming the shop is called that because of the neat little gates that were on each alley - some had shops in the alley, and some had really neat bits of art. Check out this um... water spout thingy?
I really liked this store. It had a very homey feel at the same time it was displaying beautiful pieces of art (and I don't just mean knitting). Mom and I were also amused because there were more men in the store than women!

I picked up some yarn and a pattern for a baby sweater. The yarn is really pretty - almost Noro like in its color changes.



Here's a close-up. These are all the same colorway! Crazy isn't it?



We went to 3 more shops afterwards, but nothing really struck my fancy (actually I told mom not to let me buy anymore - I had left with plans to just buy 1 skein of malabrigo for a hat.)

Also, tonight while watching Phantom of the Opera I finished the 2nd of the 2nd pair of Fetching.
Hooray!!!

(Modeled by Page)
(And yes, a love of rings does run in the family :P)

For this pair I was asked to make the finger bits a little longer, so I did an extra repeat.
Heading home tomorrow, then back at work Monday. Not looking forward to that, but I do miss my kitties.

*no I'm not telling.