Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I go to the ballpark in Washington DC once a year, except for this year when I went twice this week. My place of work has an annual outing for nurses who are certified in their specialties, and we look forward to it. It was scheduled for Thursday (last night)

The Husband was a bit jealous, so he decided we should go see the Cubs playing against the Nationals on Tuesday night. Being a Chicagoan, I like ALL Chicago teams-- and while I might have a bit of a preference for the American League--- really-- it's baseball!!!

The Cubs won, and it was a great game.

And.... I had my annual Ben's Chili Bowl Half Smoke all the Way. If you've never had one, all I can say is... you really, really must.Last night the Nationals played the Cardinals. A good game. A really good game.

I saw a guy who was a co-worker and friend 20 years ago. We had a chance to catch up-- it was great to see him. When we worked together last, my kids were little bitty, and now they're both graduated from college!

I had a SECOND annual Ben's Chili Bowl Half Smoke all the Way. (Seriously back to South Beach now-- no further discussion!!!) And the game kept getting better. It was tied in the bottom of the 9th when we left, as many in our group had to work today. When I got home- an hour and a half later-- I turned on the TV. The game was STILL tied, and STILL going on. So in the 13th inning, the Nats got a run, and won. And I could finally go to sleep.

It's not too hot, so I've been able to spend some time outside--- a welcome break from an unbelievably busy, busy time at work.

An Era Ends

Stef and Katie check out patterns
Holly
Elspeth


I'm still trying to catch my breath, and imagine my world without Knit Happens.

The knit shop I go to (soon "went to") is closing after 6 years. The Manager has had too many hassles with the landlord, and she decided to take a new turn in life. We've all been through a lot together--- weddings, deaths, travels, kids in college, job changes, (weight changes).... these are my away-from-work adult friends. KH (Knit Happens) is where we met every week to catch up, be creative, check on each others' progress, and breathe. It was the "safe place". So now, we need to figure out a new plan. There is another lovely shop in town, but this was "my" LYS.

In other news, progress is being made on February Lady Redux. (See Elspeth above, modeling hers in grey.) I was able to get about 45 minutes of knitting in during a traffic hang-up on my way back from Blacksburg on Thursday. I was hurrying to meet up with "The Irregulars" for KH's Irish Wake, and was making great progress when all of a sudden, traffic just stopped.

So I sat on I-66, amongst some 20 miles of cars, and knit.

Back to the Needles

<-- That's not me; it's a picture of the designer wearing the sweater. Ok-- here's the story.... I started the February Lady Sweater quite awhile ago. I'm knitting it in Water Lily in a wonderful variegated muted orange color. Made pretty good progress. Needed to put it down for a bit. Picked it up again. Started doing the shoulder increases on the wrong side. Looked terrible (it was quite apparent to me-- would have been even from the back of a galloping horse.) Put it back down. For a long time.

So when I was getting ready to head south to the mountains for the weekend, I unearthed it, thinking I could fix it. I picked up some little dpn's at Mosaic in Blacksburg, and ripped the offending "make-one's" down to where I messed up. I figured I could just knit them back up, but the beautiful pattern made by the twists in the "make-one's" would not reappear. So I frogged the whole 3 skeins' worth.

I started over, and I think it's going to be ok. I cast on for a smaller size to make the neck ride up a bit higher, and calculated that with 8 increased stitches every row, it'll only need another 2 rows to catch up with the pattern.

I finished 12 repeats of the neverending (well, truth be told, it will only be 31 repeats) garter stitch. I'm happy with the second buttonhole. The first one is a bit sketchy looking, but I'll crochet or stitch around it so it looks prettier.

So-- the question is whether this will actually achieve FO status. I'm back on the needles, and hope I'm back in the saddle.

(stay tuned---there WILL be pictures)