A Great Day

Wednesday was great. It was great because I was off work, and because I had enough motivation to organize the yarn stash, and because I finally ripped out a few rows of Fibonacci so that I can actually get back to knitting on it, and because I made it through the huge pile o'mail, and because The Daughter and I got to spend some time together, and because I got to go to Late Night at The Shop, and because The Husband and The Daughter and I had dinner together at one of our favorite little places (Primo's), and because I finally finished the back of Spring Fling and cast on the left front, and I got to bed at a decent hour.

(today's blog brought to you by the word "and") and so....

The Daughter and I took in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which I liked just fine. It reminded me of my own teenage friendships and challenges, and angst. I recommend it. Definitely a chick flick, though-- A part of it takes place in Greece, and I just wanted to hop on a plane and head off for the Mediterranean. There are villages in southern Italy that looked very much like the Greek village in the movie--- one of these years...

I realized that I have a whole boatload of yarn and other knitting fibers. Wow. At the rate I'm going, I could probably go on a yarn purchasing hiatus for a decade or so. (speaking of which, I found almost 2000 yards of a wonderful mohair boucle' I bought about that long ago. Half is a colorway of dark purples and blues, and the other is turquoises into blues and purples. It is yummy, and may find its way into a shawl or something else fun.) I am mightily looking forward to my vacation, and the aforementioned undivided knitting time in the car. The iPod is loaded up with audio books, so there should be some major progress.

OK-- let's see what's on the needles: Spring Fling (in purple Cathay), Klaralund (in Lorna's Laces Grace(somerset) interspersed with Classic Elite leGran Mohair in honeydew and pink),Fibonacci (in GGH cotton blend in melon colors), From the Top pullover (in a light maroon heather worsted wool), a Second Sock. My goal is to finish Spring Fling before I leave, to finish Fibonacci in the car, to finish Klaralund around the pool, maybe start something else-- or do the The Second Sock on the way home and start another pair.

Then, waiting for creation-- a bunch of projects that I have patterns and fiber for, and at least as much more yarn that I just love, waiting for me in their baskets, and a bazillion patterns that are screaming "KNIT ME!!" (stocking cap for The Son, fingerless gloves for The Daughter, ribbon sweater for her, footies for her, black bolero for her, DNA double helix scarf for her-- do we see a theme here?-- linen top for me, aran sweater (probably for me), shawl probably for my mother, various objet's for my various sisters and friends, and the beat goes on). (The Husband's not big on sweaters 'n' such- I'm not ignoring him).

Late Night was, as usual, amazing. This week's theme-- Gloating. There was full-blown, unabashed, unmitigated, unapologetic, and totally merited gloating from the likes of Katie, Carolina and Carol.

To start with, Katie has completed Martha-- all except the buttons. Martha has been knit as a favorite project of quite a few of the Irregulars, and all are unique and all are lovely. But this ain't just any ol' Martha. It's done in a rich green 4-ply with silver-lined glass beads knit into the centers of the squares. The effect is like dewdrops on grass. Now bear in mind that I've been watching this grow from its birth, and as lovely as it has been, the final product is close to indescribable. And it fits Katie beautifully, and she is totally entitled to gloat.

Carolina completed a breathtaking beaded Frill Stole from Knitty in Kaalund Expressions -- a blue and green colorway fingering. It is light and airy, and the beads at the ends give it a tiny bit of weight. It looks like the mist of a wave caught in the air, and it is just lovely, and she, too is absolutely entitled to gloat.

So on to Carol's Civil War Shawl which is of the "dental floss" family. It's a huge, delicate, round shawl with intricate lacy designs and it is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and it is making Carol happy, happy, happy. Needless to say, there was well-deserved gloating going on there as well.

Holly and Maeve and Shanti and Kelly and several others rounded out the evening, with a visit from a couple of lovely ladies who came with their very patient husbands from Leesburg for the express purpose of visiting Knit Happens and experiencing the yarn. We aimed the husbands toward several of the local watering holes. They'd been so good and behaved themselves for so long....

And on a much more serious note...

My Great Day was followed by a wake-up to chilling news reports. The terrorist activities in London bring back the reality of the ugliness of hate and evil in the world. There is no justification. There is no reason. There is no rationale. There is not one thing that makes it an ok thing to do. My thoughts and prayers are with our friends in London, and there's not much more I can say before I would start to cry.