so, i’ve been working on a post. it started out as “7 years ago” then quickly turned into “7 years and 7 days ago” and now is hoping to be “7 years and 14 days ago”. I know, the ideal would be “7 years and 77 daya ago” at this point, but as it has to do with my birthday celebrations 7 years ago, i think it might be too random to post it MONTHS from my birthday.

but this post is not that post. this is a post about my really great weekend. or almost great weekend, at least. Friday could have been better. I woke up in the middle of a bad dream and nothing really clicked for the rest of the day: everything took longer than planned, i didn’t make it to the library, i didn’t get up to brighton until 2 and only got 2 runs in before work. but at least i got 2 runs in.

but, who cares about my day-to-day blah-blah-blah? not me, that’s for sure. the real treat came when i got home saturday and found goodness from my secret pal!

wrapped in a japanese newspaper were a japanese knitting book “neat presents”, 10 note envelopes and some VERY cool origami paper! here’s just one of the muffler patterns in the book:

wow! my secret pal really knows me! THANKS!!!!

the second part of my great weekend was sunday. i got to sleep in, which is always so very nice. and then take pictures over at sop’s house. working on my chair series. i am taking the color negs to be developed after work and am going to the lab tonight to develop the b&ws. so excited. not too worried about the lab situation as i will just be developing film, so no chance of kids messing up the chemicals on me. oh, except that i need to do contact sheets, but those don’t need to be archival, so i am not stressed, just excited.

sunday afternoon, sop and i went for a nice bike ride and then i stayed home and worked on a baby bootie from an awful debbie bliss pattern (ugh, i have never worked from a pattern of hers before and i think i will avoid them in the future! ambiguous and no diagrams). i also FINALLY finished my first retro-rib sock this weekend. i had to undo about 8 rows as i had gotten a little carried away, but it is now done! (as you will note by the ’50%’ bar to the right).

i’m posting my cardigan progress on the zip-it knit along and should have more goodness to share there tomorrow, so don’t forget!

saturday morning i arrived at the mouth of big cottonwood canyon, as usual for a saturday, at 7:30 to catch the bus up to brighton. a gorgeous moring with views of both what was:

and what was to come:

yup, saturday night we got a boatload of snow and i was so VERY jealous of those who actually got to play in it on sunday, instead of selling ski school tickets as i was.

anyway, on to the wristlets. you know my hourglass sweater? the one made of noro cashiroha? well, you know how many many people have run out of yarn when they only purchased the amount listed in the pattern? well, i bought 2 extra skeins because of that and, at the end, had 1.5 skeins left over. so i decided to make the wristlets from Last Minute Knitted Gifts as well. I had already made these for a friend, albeit it with stripes instead of solid, and of course i had to change the pattern yet again. how, you ask? well, i made them longer, one pattern repeat longer, so about 16 rows? and i made the spiral ribs go in opposite directions so that they mirror each other.

i have been wearing these A LOT the past few weeks. especially when working the cold ticket counter on friday nights.

what exactly is that? my fruit runts say they contain blue #2 lake, blue #1 lake AND blue #1. so what is the difference between blue #1 and blue #1 lake?

but on a less ponderous note, the zip it cardigan along is up! i am working on the Men’s Zip Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and honestly, am more than a bit nervous about sewing the zipper in, so i started a cardigan knit along for other zipperphobes so that we can work through this together. the criteria? well, it needs to be a cardigan and it needs to include at least one zipper. The pattern, yarn, etc. are up to you.

send me an email to join today!!

in further news, i am still swatching for the aran-a-long. spent last night watching an Elizabeth Zimmerman tape while trying cable-needle-less cabling. EZ deserved better attention than she got: i will watch that tape again.

The one swatch i do have done, however, i am not sure i will use. i am not very into hearts:

and yet i do like the pattern.

the last HHD was a picture of a glass of yummy, belgian-style beer. i saw a skull in it. not many people saw anything, unfortunately. but this HHD i am going back to the trees with this beauty:

do you see anything?

last wednesday i finished my hourglass sweater from “last minute knitted gifts”. a little late in posting photos, i know, but i didn’t manage to get home before 7:30 any day last week and i am oh-so-sick of taking photos inside. so sunday, after running (please excuse my red face in these photos), i convinced sop to help me take some pictures. so here they are:

i love these sleeves!

some of the nobble yarn appears on the neckline, but i still like it.

the shape is fun and the drape feels so very soft and fluid.

YAY! it is done

and i am off to something else…