June already???

Dear Laura:

Well, things have been rather crazy - but not in a bad way! Just a bit overwhelming.....

Memorial Day weekend was grand. It started off Friday evening when I got to babysit my new little baby niece for a couple of hours! Then Saturday I met another niece and her husband and baby for a sushi lunch at our favorite restaurant. Yum!!

Then EVERYONE gathered that evening for the wedding reception of yet another niece! She and her husband were married the previous weekend in the Dominican Republic. The reception was lots of fun, lots of good food, good music, LOTS OF BABIES! (Ok, latest count - I have 8 nieces and 3 nephews ranging from 3 weeks to 25 years old, 3 great-nieces and 2 great-nephews ranging from 10 months to 3 years old, and 2 more on the way. Plus there are God-children, I have another one of those on the way too!!)

After a brief sleep Saturday night, we all gathered for Missy's Baptism, piling joy on top of joy! We filled a room at a local restaurant for lunch afterward, changed clothes and gathered again to watch the bride and groom open presents. Really, I don't know how the weekend could have been better! My parents were home from Kentucky and my nephews-who-kind-of-have-jobs-working-with-a-band in California flew home as well. It was the first time in a while that we had EVERYONE together!

I did manage to get knitting done (NOT at the reception or in Church!) over the weekend. My blanket has grown to over 30", which is wonderful!! It was my main goal for May to have it at 34" by June 1st, and I didn't miss that goal by much. There are 23 knitting days left until the graduation party and I have no idea what size it will be at that point. I'm dealing with a convergence of time and yarn and desired size. The goal is 45" x 60"....I have 1.5 skeins of pink yarn, and most of 3 skeins of brown yarn, so it's kind of a race to see where it all ends up. (I do have a secret ball of the pink yarn in my stash, but I don't want to break into it if there isn't enough brown...I use brown faster than I do pink.) I don't really want it to be a square, so it has to be more than 50". 60" really would be good. In the end, it can go on into July if needed, as long as the yarn holds up. I'm just ready to be done with it tho!! (No picture. Really, without a measuring tape, it looks no different than it did last month!)

I've also been working on a pair of fingerless mitts for a KAL at Poor Miss Finch's blog. I'm using some Lorna's Laces from my stash, and I'm happy to have found a project that it wants to be!! I may be making more of these, since I have several skeins still stashed. I based these on the Jaywalker socks pattern and just reduced the number of stiches between the increases/decreases. They are a bit snug on Lauren's hand (thanks for modeling!) but the intended recipient has a smaller hand, so I think we're good. This one is finished now, and I am almost to the thumb on the second one. I plan to finish it this weekend so that I can get it in the mail in plenty of time for the June 15th deadline. Hmm, if I stay up tonight and finish the second one, I could mail them tomorrow when I make my weekly post office run.....


That's really the end of "May Knitting." For June, my main project is of course, the blanket. My carry-along project is going to be my Sockapalooza 4 socks.

I'm so anxious to get started, so once I get my housework done and my laundry hanging on my new clothesline (YAY!!!!!) I'll be fondling my stash and drooling over sock patterns....I can't wait to see what I choose!! ;)

Anyway, that's some of what has been going on here.

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)