What could be finer than finally finishing the knitting of the Giraffe blanket?? At this point - NOTHING! I finished it last night. Friday night, I finished the last set of blocks and then it took me a few days to do the last 8 rows of garter stitch.

Wednesday before we left for Thanksgiving in Kansas, I sewed up the Daydream sweater. I forgot to take the pattern with me so I couldn’t work on the button band/collar. I’ll be doing that tonight. I may have a completed sweater by tomorrow, sans buttons of course! And I’ll post photos of the finished sweater soon! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this little sweater went so fast that I’m tempted to make another one. I love little baby sweaters! They are so quick and when they are for a girl, they are so sweet. :)
No, I will not let myself start anything new until I get a few of the Long Term Projects off of my list! Or at least one of them. I should make myself focus on either Petula in Rowan’s Linen Drape or Pagan in Rowan’s Calmer. I know, a big idea for myself, but hey sometimes you just have to lay down the law. But then again, aren’t some laws meant to be broken. We’ll see how long this one lasts.

So on my agenda for the next two nights, since I’m finished with my Tuesday classes until February:
1) Knit button band/collar for Daydream sweater
2) Knit 8 giraffe legs and make 4 tails for the Giraffe blanket
3) Sew in ends on the Giraffe blanket
4) Work on Bryan’s socks
5) Re-sew sleeve of Lang cardigan to body
6) Sew side seam of the Joy sweater that I finished in August 2003
7) Work on the Vicki Sever afghan square

I have a lot on my agenda, maybe I’ll get three of them done. Okay, so I could just use this as my knitting to do list for the next several weeks.

Snow on or near Thanksgiving in Kansas?? I don’t remember the last time it snowed around Thanksgiving in Kansas. Bryan, Meredith and I are all flying down to Kansas City tomorrow for a long weekend with the family. We’re staying with my Aunt Nan and will have Thanksgiving dinner with Mom’s side of the family and then Friday will be Dad’s side of the family. It’s always been slight chaos at both family’s dinners. Bryan got a taste of family gatherings at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but he’s never experienced Thanksgiving. If we were to have both families together at once it would be nearly 50 people. :) Friday morning, we’ll go out to Winstead’s for lunch. (Winstead’s is a 50’s diner in KC that has become a day after Thanksgiving tradition for the women in the family.)

In knitting news, I finished the Daydream sweater. Okay, it’s not completely finished but I’ve finished knitting the major pieces. I blocked it last night, so I need to sew the seams and knit the collar/button band. I can’t believe the sweater went this quickly. The last time I finished a baby sweater this quickly was when I was under a big deadline. The only deadline I had for myself for this sweater was to have it done a week before Christmas. I guess I definitely met the deadline.

Now I just need to keep working on the Giraffe blanket. I did 4 rows last night. So now I have 22 rows until I’m finished!! I can’t believe I’ve done 22 rows in the last week, so I should be finished very soon!! I’ll have some time to knit while we’re in Kansas City this weekend, so who knows how much I might get done.

I’m still plugging along on Bryan’s sock. I haven’t measured lately, but I would say, I’ve knit another 1/2 inch in the last several days.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Safe travels!

I’m referring to Champaign, Illinois. Our soon to be new home! We’re moving in May or June to Champaign or Urbana, Illinois. Bryan is going to school this summer and I’m hoping to follow in the fall. We’ll both be Library Science students. I’m so excited!

Yesterday, we drove down to Champaign to look at the campus and just look around Champaign and Urbana. I met another of Bryan’s many friends, Becky. She was very nice and gave us some insights on where to live and where not to live. We met at a local natural foods grocery store that has a little cafe. So we ate lunch and had tea for a while. Before meeting Becky, Bryan and I drove by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, which is a beautiful building. Then we went to see if we could find the library, which we found and looks amazing. It was closed but we just peeked in through the front doors. The lobby looks like a dignified government building with portraits hanging in the lobby. Wow! It’s not the normal library that everyone goes to study at, Becky said it contains all of the stacks. There is an undergraduate library, which is actually underground. We thought it was really funny, but looking down into the library there is really pretty courtyard. So we had a nice quick trip down to Champaign-Urbana.

I got a lot of knitting done on our little trip down to Champaign-Urbana. I finished the first sleeve of the Daydream sweater and am about 1/3 of the way through the second sleeve. I’ll probably be finished with that sleeve by tomorrow evening. I also worked 6 rows of the Giraffe blanket for a total of 16 rows of the last block. So I now only have 28 rows left to do for the entire blanket!! I’m taking it with me to Kansas for Thanksgiving, hopefully, I’ll get some work done on it.

Here are photos of what I’ve been working on recently.

The Giraffe Blanket

Bryan’s socks (sock number 1)

Daydream sweater

I have photos to post and will post soon.

Pink for the pink Daydream sweater that is knitting itself without even trying. Baby Cashmerino from Debbie Bliss is so lovely and it knits so fast. The sweater is adorable and I already have the back and both fronts finished. I started the right front before I went to class last night and managed to finish it before going to bed. Wooosh! Then I started on the sleeve last night before I went to bed and managed to knit about an inch in 10 minutes. Then while at home for lunch, I knitted another 2 inches. Bryan is working on Saturday, I think I may have this little sweater done by the end of the weekend. I don’t remember a sweater knitting up so quickly.

Blue and yello for the Giraffe blanket. It’s nearly finished!! I’m 6 rows into the last set of blocks. YEAH!! It will be a good project to take to Kansas for Thanksgiving. A project that I don’t have to think too much about. Hopefully, it will be finished soon! We’re going to Champaign-Urbana on Sunday, so I’ll have 3 hours in the car on the way down to knit. On the way back will be dark, so knitting time there. Will update on progress after weekend.

Navy for the socks that I’m knitting for Bryan. They are coming along nicely. I finished the decreases the other night and am working on the foot of the sock. I have almost 5 inches of the foot done (that’s measured from the back of the heel), I have about 4 1/2 inches to go before I start decreasing for the toe. I’m sure they will be an ongoing project for a while.

Have a good weekend. Hopefully, we’ll see the sun soon. We haven’t seen the sun since Sunday and everyone is just as grey as it seems outside. I guess we can’t complain too much with the 50s, but it’s rainy. If it was 50s and sunny, I would be much happier.

I’m working from home today. It’s been a long day and not quite as productive as I would have liked. It’s really cloudy out. It’s one of those nice “warm” for the time of year days but very grey and dreary. I seem to be more productive when it’s sunny out. Today, I feel like curling up with a book on the couch or sitting and knitting all afternoon. I seem to have a lot of those days lately.

During my lunch hour, I knitted for a while and did several rows of the Giraffe blanket, in addition to the 6 rows I did last night after class. I also knitted a few rows of the Daydream sweater. It’s coming along fabulously. As most baby sweaters do this one is going quite fast. I finished the back of the sweater and have about three inches of the left front done. I hope to post a photo soon of the blanket and the progress on the sweater. :)

Well, back to work.

It’s drizzling out today. I’m ready for more sun, if it’s going to be dark earlier then it should be sunny. Sounds like a fair deal to me. :)

Last night, I worked about 6 rows on the Giraffe blanket. I’m 4 rows from the end of the 5th block. That means I only have 44 more rows before I’m completely finished!! Considering that it’s only taken me two weeks to work this last block, I think I should have the blanket done by early December! I want to send it to the baby by Christmas. After I finish the knitting, I still need to knit legs for the giraffes, do the tails, the little horns on their heads and the knots for the eyes. That and I have to sew in a ton of ends. I should have been doing it as I’ve gone along but I just wanted to get the knitting done first. There are a ton of ends, but that’s just something I’ll have to take several evenings to do.

Classes are going well. After Thanksgiving, I’ll only be teaching one class a week until February. It will be a nice break.

Also last night, I knitted some more rows of the Daydream sweater. It’s so cute and the yarn practically knits itself. Here are a few photos of Paige and me. She’s so sweet.

These were taken about two weeks ago when we went to visit Paige and her mom Bryan’s sister Alison. Her dad Curt was being an outdoorsy man that day. :)