Filling My Days With Fiber

My purchase order hasn't yet been renewed, so I'm still on hiatus from work.  I will definitely have to Monday off so I'm going to take care of some business.  My brother mentioned that he needs all of the siblings to sign some papers regarding our parents' estate.  A road trip to Cincinnati is on the docket for Monday.  I might add a stop or two at some yarn shops or the IKEA store.  We'll see what I'm in the mood for when I go.

The linen top is slowly coming along.  I had planned to have this completed for an anticipated trip to Norris Lake.  But that trip has fallen through and with it my motivation to work on this.  I won't let this go into hibernation though.  There is another project I want to start but I've vowed to not cast on before  this is complete.  Given my track record, we'll see if I stick to that plan.

Blake is getting excited about going off to college.  His excitement has motivated me to get back to his afghan.  I'm just past the halfway mark.  The red stripes will now outnumber the blue.  I'm getting a little worried about having enough yarn.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run out a couple rows shy of the end.

Along with Blake's afghan I'm making him a quilt.  The colors for the University of Cincinnati are black and red.  This will be big enough to cover his bed in the dorm.  I'm going to try a quilt-as-you-go technique.  This technique allows you to quilt smaller sections of a quilt at a time as you are assembling the blocks.  It helps to break up the monotony of the quilting.  I have sections of blocks completed and am ready to begin the quilting.  But before I work on this I am going to practice on something smaller.  My quilt group makes doll bed quilts for a local charity.  I'll make a few mini quilts for that while I get the hang of the technique.

Wished I Knew I Could Have Slept In

I'm still learning the ins and outs of being a contractor.  Working for the state means that I have to take off certain days even if I don't want to.  June 30 was the end of the fiscal year for the state.  All contractors, myself included, were told to not come into work after June 30 until our respective vendor called to say the purchase order was renewed.  Preliminary estimates were that all contractors would be back by July 11.  My vendor called me a couple weeks ago to say that she had my renewal and I was expected to be back in the office on July 5. This morning, after having a 4-day weekend, I got up at my usual 5:50 am, showered, dressed, packed my lunch and drove downtown.  After parking I walked the 8 blocks in the pouring rain to the office.  After being there about 2 1/2 hours this morning, the department admin noticed me sitting at my desk.  She said I wasn't supposed to be there since my purchase order had not been renewed.  Confused, I called my vendor who said she had just received word that in fact my PO was not renewed yet.  So, I picked up my things and headed back to my car.  Fortunately the rain had passed and the walk back to the car was not so bad.  

Not sure how long I will be out of work.  I'm assuming I'll have all of this week off.  I guess I'll get a few projects done around the house.

Since I had the day off, I called a friend and met for lunch.  After lunch we wandered over to one of my favorite LYSs.  She doesn't knit but I was tempting her with the fumes of some yummy yarn.  One of the ladies there was telling her about the beginner knitting class.  I bought a ball of Zauberball Sock for an upcoming Knit-along from Knit Purl Hunter.

Our 4th of July weekend was pretty quiet.  Blake has been away with his cousins, Kristin is at school and Trisha worked a lot.  Ed spent most of his time working on a project in the garage or binge watching a series on Netflix.  I did some yard work on Saturday, knit on my linen top and read.

The first divided section of the linen top is a bit longer than 5 inches.  I need to keep cranking on this or else it will be too cool to wear it when it is finished.

Might the Chaos End Soon?

My crazy life might finally be settling down.  At least it looks like it might.  It has been over a month now since my mom passed away.  I have been so busy that I don't feel like I've had any proper time to grieve.  The chaos should end within the next week if all goes as planned.

A couple unexpected events have added to the chaos.  Ed and I both had uncles pass away.  Their deaths weren't totally unexpected, but, like my mom, the final decline happened suddenly.  I wasn't able to get to my uncle's funeral,  I said a special prayer for him and kept him in my heart during that morning.

Last weekend we moved Kristin to Ann Arbor.  She officially started dental school and is on her way to becoming Dr. Kristin.  She's going to have a lot of hard work between now and then, but I'm sure she can do it.

Among the chaos I managed to get to the Mid Ohio Fiber Festival a couple weekends ago with a friend.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  I couldn't stop myself from buying a few goodies.

First purchase was this handy little knitting accessory kit.  My friend had gotten herself one at Stitches.

Several vendors had patterns that caught my eye.

I tried on a sample of the Vine Street Vest and fell in love.  Another vendor had a cotton/linen blend that will work perfectly for it.

As a side note:  this particular vendor told us that Rowan will no longer be distributed in the US.  Snatch up what you can from you LYS while supplies last.  Thank goodness of online purchases.

Another vendor was selling angora fiber.  Rizzo is the fur from a French Angora bunny.  The owner said she is "a bit of a bitch".  Oh well.  Doesn't matter to me. All I care is that she has the most Heavenly soft fur.

This lovely hank of sock yarn came from an indie dyer named Shirsty Cat.  It is BFL sock yarn in  the colorway "Garden of Good and Evil".

Valhalla Acres was there selling their roving.  I've purchased their roving before and it is great to spin.  I got 8 ounces of black and red to make Blake some University of Cincinnati items.

On the knitting front, I made some good progress on Sunset.   I am now working on one of the back and forth sections.  About 17 inches more of knitting and I will be done.

School Is Out For Summer

Blake graduated from high school on June 2.  I have to admit I teared up a little when I saw him processing into the arena for commencement.  Proud Mama moment.

After commencement he enjoyed the cigar he bought on the cruise.

After the ceremony we went out to dinner to celebrate.  The only downside was that Kristin wasn't able to be there.  On Saturday we hosted a party for Blake.  He had a lot of friends show up and he had a lot of fun.

Kristin is home now.  She got back yesterday and is trying to adjust to this time zone.  It surprised me that she was up early.  She isn't normally a morning person.  I told her that she should try to keep the morning routine because she'll have to get up early for dental school.  She's home for a couple weeks and then moves to Ann Arbor to start dental school.

With all the activities the past few weeks, I have felt like I've been in automatic mode and haven't had a chance to sit and reflect on all of the life milestones that have hit me in the past month:  oldest child graduating college, youngest child graduating high school and losing my mom.  Things should settle down now a bit and I'll be able to devote some time to me.

What knitting I've been able to do has been mostly done in the car travelling between Columbus and Cincinnati.  In the past 3 weeks I've made that trip 4 times.  

On one of my trips to Cincinnati to visit my mom, I stopped at a LYS in Springboro, OH named Wooly Bully.  It was a cute little shop in an old building in the heart of the town.  I purchased some linen for a summer top.  The pattern is Sunset by Adirondack Yarns.  Ravelry doesn't seem to have  a link to it and Adirondack's website doesn't show the pattern.  I recall getting the pattern at Stitches South a few years ago when I bought the linen for my other linen top.   The shape of the two tops are similar but Sunset is constructed in the round bottom up while the other linen top is knit in two pieces side to side.

The other knitting project that I need to get completed is Blake's college afghan.  He moves into his dorm in less than 70 days.  I need to set a schedule for myself in order to get this done in time.

Once I get his afghan finished I need to start on a quilt for him.  I figure I have some time for that since it won't get cold for a while yet.