Loose Ends

I had forgotten to post a finished photos of the socks I made for my sister. I had my son model them and he was really a sweetie to do this. How many 17 year olds would don cute picot edged socks in tropical colors just for their mom to photograph? eh? Well my guy is the best. The socks look a little loose on John, but I hear from Linda (my sister) that they are a hit. I'm hoping her hubbie might get out the digital camera and take a pic of her cute toes when they are adorned with these beauties. They were knit with Sokota yarn on size 3 DPNs.

This is a photo of my latest baby blanket project for our church knitting group - now officially renamed the St. Thomas Fiber Ministry. We gave it a new name so that all who liked to work with fiber, in any way shape or form, would feel welcome. We are off to a great start this year and will be having a whole box full of knitted items blessed at a church service soon - then donated to our local Project Linus for distribution in the community.

A funny story goes with this project. I started it about a month and a half ago, but laid it down when we went to North Carolina (see my last post). I didn't try to pick it up again until last night. Do you think I could find my project bag that had this blanket in it? No way! I went through every closet, every bag - but it was no where to be found. After a long hard swim with my Masters group this morning, and brunch with my boys I decided to take apart my bedroom closet and my yarn stash. It had to be in there somewhere. I justified this frantic cleaning with the words, "I have to change out my summer clothes with my winter clothes and get this closet cleaned." Well - every inch of the closet was cleared out and NO KNITTING PROJECT BAG TO BE FOUND. @$#*@! So - I made up an excuse to clean out the downstairs hall closet and viola! There was the bag - at the bottom of a heap of pillows, throws, cat toys and stuff. I blame the cats - they are always in and out of the closet, right!? Anyways - project found and two clean closets to boot.

Random thoughts:

• As I was sitting in Jines (one of our favorite breakfast hangouts) consuming plates of food and enjoying the Park Ave crowd on a glorious sunny Sunday morning in fall, I wondered how the leader of North Korea could really think starving his people was a good thing and that what we were enjoying here in the U.S. was such a bad thing. Amazing how disconnected two cultures can be.
• History tells us that totalitarian regimes like the one in North Korea will eventually crumble. I believe this will eventually occur. Maybe then the people of DPRK will be able to enjoy the freedoms and just plain good times that we take so much for granted here in our country.
• Isn't fall one of the best seasons of the year? The colors are incredible. I have a firey red bush in my back yard that makes the most unique red leaves. I can't find this color at the yarn shop. I hope I never do. That would spoil it.
• I'm a better swimmer when I only swim for fun and fitness (not competition) and for the social interactions with my team.
• Our business hit a major milestone this week....$25 million in assets under management. When we started 13 years ago we had $0. In celebration Doug's getting a new driver to add to his golf bag and I'm buying a yarn swift.
• The best part of our business is not $25 million in assest under management, but the amazingly wonderful people we have come to know as our clients. I was totally unprepared for this bonus - a bonus we enjoy every single year.
• Two college applications out the door - 5 more to go!
• The WFU Demon Deacons are awesome - winning another game (now 5-1) - beating Duke and State in the same year. The only way this gets better is if they beat Carolina. Go Deacs!

Fall is in the air

Fall is in the air and I had to start up a fall/winter wool project. This is a vest from the most recent issue of Knit Simple magazine. It is a Nora Gaughan pattern made out of Berroco, Inc.'s Ultra Alpaca. Don't you love the color? It is a real pretty cranberry. There has been quite a bit written about Nora's new book "Knitting Nature" and I took time to flip through it at my Barnes and Noble one day. I guess I just didn't like any of the patterns well enough to spend all the money on the book. She is a fantastic designer, but her interest in geometric shapes didn't translate well into wearable clothing. I much prefer patterns like this one. I guess I am a traditionalist at heart. I love all the cables in this vest and the moss stitch that frames the main pattern repeat finishes it off nicely. The back of the vest will be all moss stitch. Some folks object to backs of garments that don't continue the interesting pattern from the front. But, I think it makes a project versatile. Specifically: I have to really concentrate on the front of this vest - can't really work on it in front of the TV. But, when I finish the front I can relax and just knit, knit, knit on the back while looking for, or working on, another fun complicated pattern during my quiet time. Does that make sense? This vest is the most complex cable pattern I have done to date. I think my work on lace this summer has really helped me to grasp the concept of left-leaning and right-leaning stitches and I'm starting to perfect my pattern reading abilities. I'll keep you posted on this one.

So -what have we here? Yes - it is me and my family at Wake Forest Univerisity. I freely admit that I am old enough to be attending my 25th college class reunion. What a blast. And, how weird, too. We were all walking around thinking, "Do I know you?" and "Hmmm, you could maybe be that guy from my biology lab, 25 years later, with less hair and more weight." I was so lucky to get to visit with both of my college roomies. They, of course, had not changed a bit and we picked up right where we left off in school. We didn't have nearly enough time to visit with each other...but this is just a motivation to get back together again....soon!

I call this my "leaky year" because it is the last year John will be here at home and I often find tears rolling down my cheeks thinking about all the last times we will do things. "This will be the last time we fill-in-the-blank." But when we went to Wake and John went on the tour and interview I realized it will also be a year of many firsts, many beginnings. We're entering a new phase of our lives and that is truly exciting.

And now for some random houghts:

• Check out www.deweys.com for fabulous sugar cake. I no longer have to buy 5 sugar cakes, freeze them, pack them in my suit case, and transport them.
• Why have a common college application if every school that uses it is going to add their own supplement?
• Why do all teen-age boys want to learn to play the guitar?
• Does anyone really care about Mark Foley anymore? (Ahhhhhhhh!)
• Alicia Marble - route manager
• How bad is it when you and your brother are in the same city visiting and neither of you knows it so you don't see each other?! (Yup, Patrick was in Winston-Salem with his wife and daugher the same time we were there and we didn't even know it. Ahhhhhhh!)
• How many Bar-b-q joints can you get to in one weekend in NC? Doug managed 3 - but he plans to break that record on our next trip.
• Political lawn signs - tacky.
• Political lawn signs - free speech.
• Political lawn signs - too many of them.
• Political lawn signs - we live in the greatest country on the planet.
• The picot edged socks were a big hit with my sister.
• Have you tried the two-circular-needles sock knitting method?
• Have you tried the one-large-circular-needle sock knitting method?

Have a great week!