sock it to me

Busy week! I received a great tote from travelbug on Craftster. It's a knitting project bag, and has been absolutely invaluable for carrying my now-not-as-blue sock around:



I'm about four repeats into the pattern now and it's starting to look sock-ey. I'm glad, too, I decided to use a smaller needle. I've still got a long way to go but it does go quickly when I can work on it.



I also finished and sent off this yoga bag--the pattern is from snb (snb nation maybe)? Simple pattern, but I did find myself wandering and had to go back several times to fix careless errors. I just used the bastard yarn, sugar n' cream (2 skeins) which was inexpensive and sturdy--just what you want for a project like this. Next time, I would make it slightly smaller.



Anyway, I've got some volunteer work to do before they write me off as a crappy non-employee. I'm ready for the weekend!

Blueberries + Blue Socks

What a great weekend! Saturday, I met K at the farmer's market and we drove to an organic blueberry farm in Cedar Grove. After picking blueberries for an hour or two, we, of course, agreed that we needed to visit the new lys in downtown Hillsbrough. During the course of our conversations, we learned that neither of us had ever knit socks, so we picked out a pattern, eventually found yarn and set off on our own paths to see what would happen.



Approximately two days later, this is staring at me.. not that I haven't tried. In fact, as soon as I got home, I happily cast on and plunged right in. A few rows down, I could tell that something wasn't quite right, but I kept plowing through thinking that it would get better (even though I knew that wasn't the case.) It's my own fault--I should have checked my gauge--I didn't and so I frogged and realized I didn't have the size dpn needles I need. I had sent them to a new home for someone on craftster because she wanted needles for socks, and I knew they'd be perfect, not taking into consideration that I didn't have a backup pair. Not a huge deal, though.. never have to twist my arm to go yarn/supply shopping. Hopefully my blue socks won't be so sad looking.

Tonight, we had a great dinner. Inspired by an apple and currant chutney tempting me from the fridge and my never-ending desire for pakoras, J and I whipped these babies out in no time--zucchini and red pepper fritters



It was a fly-by-the seat attempt, but I think the results were good that even the ghost was trying to surreptitiously sneaking forkfuls in.



Lots of wedding stuff, too. After it's all said and done, I'll write much more about everything I've learned, but for now, I'll just leave it at that.

Shortly after my last post, work became really hectic. We had a staff member just stop showing up for work, so for the last two months, I've been working 60 hour weeks, juggling the job of two people. All the free time I had was spent trying to catch up on life around here--J, the laundry, the cleaning, the pup--and I was left with scraps of time to merely collapse with exhaustion.

Luckily, the past two weeks have been better and I am starting to feel more like myself. The wedding is quickly approaching us and I am beginning to feel the logistcal worries. I'm antsy to go blueberry picking. I am trying to find time to do all the things in life that my head tells me I can.

I have started a regular Monday evening knitting group at Driade. Because the girls were out of town this week, I found another group that met around the same time. I had a good time--everyone seemed to be similar enough to make a random group like that work well. I am a little torn about next Monday, but maybe I can start at Driade early enough to make it to both.

I also have taught myself crochet. This week, I'm working on a big, soft afghan which is pretty, but not very photogenic, and I taught myself granny squares. J says it reminds him of the 70s. I agree and in maybe a not-great sorta way.



Oh well. The first ones are just practice, right?

I'm Still Around.

Really. I am. I've started on a new project that I will just nickname "Waterloo." Maybe it will be my downfall, maybe it will go swimmingly. We'll just have to see.

As it's a surprise, I won't give any additional details until it has safely reached its destination.

Man, have I been spoiled today! Three years ago, this very date, J and I had our first date.. which in many ways has never ended. To celebrate, I was surprised with a professional massage (by a woman named Sage, natch!) and a dip (or three) in a hot tub. I'm already two Advil deep and still pretty sore, so there's no telling how much fun tomorrow will be, but the massage was absolutely wonderful. J was treated as well, so we spent most of the afternoon in post-rub bliss.

Mom and Dad also came down today. Because of our mornings plans, they weren't able to stay long, but it was so great to see them. We all went to the local pizzaria and ate dinner together. They headed home early since they've got a long drive to make.

I think that we may try to make professional massages a more regular occurrence. There's no better feeling than climbing off the massage table feeling like you've just taken the nap of your life.

Yesterday evening, we were invited over to a friend's for dinner and we had a great grilled meal, followed by a brief swim. We brought Q with us and the excitement of the new place (and his new admirer, M) kept him pretty sleepy for the rest of the next day.

Work starts again tomorrow and I imagine I won't have a moment's rest until next Saturday afternoon. I've got several swaps that need to be mailed out this week, so the pressure's on!

A good, productive week, I think. The compost bin has been ceremoniously started with its first offerings of strawberries caps. We're finally making "real" wedding plans (I think) and we've finally decided where we want to go for our HM. I've reintroduced my retirement plans (because I like planning ahead, lol) and begun dreaming of ways to make it happen, but I don't think I'll be happy with dying until I've succeeded in making this one dream true.

Oh, and I'm listing it now so when someone else beats me to the punch, I will have had proof I thought of it first, but I think someone should collect all the Super Friends slang to publish in a dictionary form.

Back to the knitting..

Strawberries!

I think this is the third year in a row that I've been begging to go strawberry picking, and we finally did! J said it was my three-year anniversay present (a week from today), but really, it was perfect. It's a beautiful day, the fields smelled of strawberries, and J and I just worked our way down a couple rows of wonderfully ripe strawberries. In maybe 45 minutes, we cleared around 20 lbs of strawberries--this picture representing only a fraction, really, of our total loot.



I've been working for the last two hours on cleaning & hulling the berries to prepare them for freezing. I've got four gallons of plain, frozen strawberries and one with sugared berries (these I also managed to sneak as small treats).



All of this cleaning/hulling/drying/freezing has made me very curious about canning. I love the idea that the labor I did this morning will keep me full of delicious berries for awhile, and I also like knowing that I am within a stone's throw of the fields. I am going to do some research on buying larger quantities of squash, tomatoes, and beans to can for the rest of the year. I may enlist the help of some maternal experts and lure assistance with the promise of a share in the bounty.

I can't tell you how extremely happy I am out here. It's so nice to spend my driving time driving through open fields, wooded, empty areas, and horse pastures, rather than stop lights, crowded neighborhoods, or businesses smashed together. I have a lot of plans for all of our extra space. I am going to try to start a compost bin out back (J will have to help with its creation) and to begin preparing an area for a proper veggie garden for the next year.

But aside from my nag-champa-burning-hippie-side, all is well.. I have been working on making soaps and I've conquered some new things in the knitting world..

Yesterday was also a pretty nice day. We tried to take Q out to the lake, but it didn't work so well. Of course, freak dog freaked out and we eventually just made one big country block loop back home.

It's been nice having a full weekend off. I hope I get more.