weekend update

So, I've been a little bit sad lately. My brother left for basic training on Monday - he's joined the National Guard. I'm so proud of him, of course, but clearly I'm worried about his chances of being deployed. This is a long ways away, though, as he's going to OCS and another training-type thing (maybe military police school? can you tell I don't exactly know what I'm talking about?) before he's a military police officer. Most of all, I think I'm going to miss not being able to talk to him whenever I want (which is about once a week, but still).

So imagine my surprise when, 12 hours after we had our last phone conversation prior to his leaving, these showed up on my doorstep with a sweet note:



They are beautiful. Of course they made me all verklempt again, but that's OK. I've been admiring them all week. He called briefly from the airport to make sure they arrived, so it was great to chat one more time. He has been in Georgia a few days now. He got a few minutes to call our parents tonight, and I got the full report (his bunk is near the corner, which is clutch, and he got lots of shots today, including the biggest needle EVER - I'm thinking it's penicillin). I'm going to start a letter to him tomorrow so the minute I know his address, I can send it off.

My week was also improved by the arrival of some Socks that Rock.



Lettuce Knit in lightweight.



two skeins of Tlingit in mediumweight for a Clapotis.

I cast on for the Clappy tonight- at knit night, no less. I am really, really bad at following pattern instructions. I generally require absolute silence and alone time at the apartment. But I did the entire first section while maintaining a conversation. go me! I am going to start section two right now while watching TV. This is a risk, but it's one I'm willing to take. This is going to be gorgeous, I can tell.