first lace

Back in June, I knit my first shawl and thought "yay! My first lace!" Well, I'm here today to amend that statement, for now I have *really* knit my first lace:



Pattern: Ishbel
Yarn:: Socks that Rock lightweight in Mustang Sally
Recipient: My mama
Time to knit: about 3.5 months (thanks to my ineptitude with lace, which I will explain below)
Mods: omitted charts D and E (details on Ravelry)

This was a secret knit for my mom's birthday -- I didn't want to post about the FO until I gave it to her in person, which I did this weekend.



I had some issues following the charts ... I started by knitting the small stockinette but made mistakes in early lace rows, so I frogged and knit the large stockinette size instead. (This doesn't make much sense ... if I had problems with the lace on the small size, I shouldn't have made it bigger, because it increased the odds of making more mistakes ...)

However, this meant I used a LOT more yarn, and I frantically contacted a few Ravelers to inquire if they had any leftovers from their projects in the same weight/colorway. Raveler Scathach was awesome and mailed me more than enough. But, um, as I tried to work the final few charts, I kept messing up, and in a fit of frustration, I ended up binding off after chart C, meaning I never had to use her yarn. I hung my head in shame and mailed her scraps back, and she was super cool about it. Thanks again, Scathach!



My verdict: This was a fun knit -- an excellent first lace project. I hope to knit it again (and, um, I'll knit all the charts next time).

I hope you like it, Mom! I hope you take a picture of you wearing it so I can post about it here.

weekend recap

Yeah it's almost the following weekend but I wanted to make note of this amazingly fun weekend I had. This weekend was a blast. I woke up ridiculously early on Saturday morning for the Race for the Cure in Virginia Beach. I headed up a team consisting of 15 people from the paper. We raised about $400! Here's who carpooled with me before the race (I would have photographed everyone but I didn't take my camera to the start of the race, it's a bit clunky.)



It was Bethany's (second from left) first 5K! Girl is going to do Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, too. The weather was pretty nice - and it was way inspiring to see so many people there, and so many survivors in their pink T-shirts. I ran the first half-mile or mile and walked the rest with some co-workers.

After I caught up on sleep and did a little shopping with the boyfriend (nothing like waiting till the day of the wedding to buy a new dress shirt, dude), it was time for Judy's wedding! My roommate's boyfriend came in from New Jersey and of course we did a photo shoot at home (sadly, we didn't get the combination of our boyfriends. I think that would have been kind of funny.) We frequently take photos with Capt. Jack.



You can see we were drinking wine ... but in no way were we toasted like all the people at Town Point Park for the Virginia Wine Festival. We actually saw someone throwing up on our our way to catch the boat for the wedding. Gross.

Judy's wedding could not have been more perfect. For starters, the weather was gorgeous. And the time of departure on the American Rover?



The perfect sunset! The ceremony happened within 20 minutes of our departure, before it got too dark. It was really quick (I guess I'm just used to long Catholic masses). A former co-worker was the officiant and she gave a sweet speech. There was yummy food and drink, and lots of people to hang out with. It really felt like a party.



In more than a year of dating ... I've never seen him in a tie. I had to document it whenever I could. =) I'm really bummed I didn't get a picture of Judy in her gorgeous red dress. Here is her's and Jeffrey's first dance:



There was good music, and I especially liked the slow dances. Dancing on a boat = ultra romantic! After the cruise was over, we went back to Lori and JJ's and hung out till 1 a.m. I woke up sore (from the race and my high heels) and hungover but it was such a great day.

Look, Mom, I can sew, too!

This post is a shout-out to my mom, who always sewed things for me when I was younger. She made me clothes, patched jeans, etc. And she's an amazing quilter - see here, here and here, for example.

I never was really interested in sewing much when I was younger. And truth be told, I'm still not very interested. But when you've got a dress with a ripped seam for a wedding that's five days away and Mom is hundreds of miles away, you've gotta do it yourself!

No before shots, but here's the after:



The actual sewing:


It's in the wash now. I have full confidence that my stitches will hold. Woo!

Sorry for the lack of knitting pictures ... as an update, I'm on the heel of Steelers sock No. 2. Hoping to turn it tonight. I've got a three-day weekend coming up and I've got lots of good things planned - seeing a documentary about fonts, running/walking the Race for the Cure, and Judy's and Jeffrey's wedding on a tall ship!

oops.

You might have noticed, if you've been here in the past 24 hours, that I deleted my previous post. I just don't want this to be a negative place (especially when it comes to a bad day at work, we all have those), and I'm feeling better about things today.

That being said, it was a crazy day ... I was on the go from about 9 a.m. until about 8 p.m., it seemed like. I picked up a cookbook at AC Moore as a little present for being really good about spending money over the past two weeks. (I figure a $5 reward isn't too bad, eh?) It was called "Comfort Food" and had a gorgeous picture of macaroni and cheese on the cover. It required a trip to the grocery store, during which I had to call my mom to ask whether Roquefort was more like blue cheese or Swiss (I found it it was blue cheese, from a customer at the deli counter). Anyhow, it turned out really yummy, surprisingly smoky (from the Gruyere on top) :



It was really savory and smoky, with Gruyere cheese sprinkled on top. There's lots of leftovers, too. Score!

Back to the grind tomorrow. Only one day off work this week for me. On the upside:

1. It's a half-shift, not a whole one.
2. Im done with baby-sitting duty this week
3. I'm a day away from the end of dog-sitting duty (a week stretch!).
4. The weather has finally, finally, finally become more fall like. I had to wear a sweatshirt for a walk tonight. This weather thrills me to no end. I really want to make a cable scarf or something ... good thing I bought a cable needle today. =)

OK, my dog just woke herself up by sneezing (it was the cutest thing ever). I think it's time for me to go to bed, too.