Oh Travel....

Oh la it's been so long since I've posted. There has been all sorts of running amok for me since the 16th. Finally I find myself happily ensconced at home, eager to begin a new bunch of awesomeness! Before we get to that, I have proof that I wasn't being all lackadaisical!



After 4 hours of sleep, Butterbean and I were chilling in the airport waiting for our flight and I busted out my sock! You know, the one that should have been done ages ago. I've decided I'm going to stock up on random sock yarns because this was epic. I could watch my daughter, listen to what was going on, and knit at the same time because it was nothing but stockinette stitch in the round! In the hour wait I managed to do 2 inches, get the heel done, and pick up all the stitches to work the gusset. Considering how the first sock took me forever to get through that part and needing a completely silent-no-distractions-whatsoever room I was feeling mighty fine!

PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF

It took a few days of knitting here and there get it done, but the socks were finished, blocked (my mom got me a set of women's medium sock blockers too!), and dry by the 23rd to give to my stepmom. Seriously though, you'd think I'd get a pic or something. I'm quite the slacker when it comes to cataloging my accomplishments. I'll have her send me a pic of her toes in them. She got teary when I gave them to her. I got teary giving them to here...its like a second blocking in salt water!It made everything worthwhile!

My other big thang was getting that adorable Victorian lace shrug all done for Butters. I tell you what, I worked on that when I could for that week. My first night at my parents, I managed to get through another pattern repeat before I had to rip back to my safety line. Seriously, if I hadn't had to get my Kermit on I'd have had that thing done in 2, maybe 3 days. What was awesome is that I learned with this pattern even when I was messing up. Eventually I figured out that if I counted after every pattern row (which is apparently what you really should do while lace knitting), I would have to only go back to the missed stitch or just take the whole row off and redo because I missed a yarn over. Heck I even got great at looking at the pattern and figuring out exactly where I needed to fix things! I had to go back less and less and got pretty good at fixing things before they were a problem. I managed (after a morning of constant knitting) to get it done and blocked the day before I left for SLC.

Omg, there IS a pattern in there! 

All blocked with no place to go!

a close up of the pattern. Its really pretty! It looks like leaves or feathers imo. Blocking is AWESOME

So I got it done. The night before the wedding I whip stitched the edges together so it would be a bit of shrug like awesomeness. I think that was the hardest part was doing it amongst a bunch of tittering, but sweet 19 year olds before spending the next 4 hours making cheesecake and sleeping on an air mattress that needed to be put out of its misery old yeller style!

I didn't get a great pic of Butterbean in it, but heck, I was just happy it was done! So, for your enjoyment, her wedding ensemble:

The young man was quite enchanted with the princess!

I didn't do the ribbing around the opening because I made it in a larger size so it will fit her without it. I can always pull out and re-stitch the arms so it will fit her a bit longer. I really loved how it looks and have officially fallen in love with lace knitting and feel confident after this project that I'll be able to do it. 

Don't you love patterns that give you confidence? Its why this is the best hobby EVER!

Next up: the new to-do list!