A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Regia Socks are almost done . . . .

And I’m almost packed. I have a few odds and ends left to gather, which I hope to finish up tonight. It would be nice to be packed for a couple of day and not have to worry about any of that. I can’t believe we leave on Thursday! Somehow it seems too soon, all year this has been months and then weeks away and now that it is only days away I just don’t feel mentally ready for it!

I’m still working on which projects to bring to work on while I’m away . . . I don’t want to take too many but I also don’t want to run out! I’m taking mostly small things, holiday gifts so I can’t say too much about what they are . . . and I’ve located 1 store for sure on the trip in case I need to restock!

This may be my last post before I go away, though I might have a chance for one last update on Thursday morning. If I don’t have a great month of Oct. and I’ll be back before halloween!

The Fall Foliage Socks are done!

Okay, almost done, I still have to bind off, but the knitting is done! I’m back to working on the other pair of gift socks that were 1/2 finished. I took another look at the cable pattern I was going to use on them (I’d done about 8 rows) and decided I didn’t like it for socks. I think it may not give the legs enough grab for the socks to stay up. So I’m going to skip cables, in the interest of time, and just do them in 2 x 2 rib instead. They will be plain, but they are still a pair of hand knit socks and will just have to be good enough.

I haven’t had a chance to work on the lace glove for days, I have 2 fingers done . . . . perhaps I can find a little bit of time this weekend to finish it off . . . . I’d like to have the left glove done before we leave so I only have to do the right one when we get back.

I am planning to go to spinning tonight, I haven’t been for a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to going one last time before I’m away for a month! Actually, I haven’t even done any spinning since I finished the yarn for the lace gloves.

Trip news:

We leave for Italy 1 week from today! I charted out on a calendar page last night the number of times we have to physically change location and/or drag our luggage from place to place, 10 Days!!!! Each group on the trip is going for a different amount of time so that will be different for some, but for DH and I we are moving our baggage 1/2 of the days on the trip! Now he didn’t seem to think we were moving around a lot or that taking bigger bags would be a big deal, I on the other hand, think that having to take that bag with me for a full 1/2 of the days of the trip is a lot. I intend to pack up everthing on my list into the 2 bags (carry-on and day-pack) and then weigh each bag. If they weigh more than 20lbs each I’ll be taking stuff out. Its going to mean some tough decisions, but I really don’t want to be struggling with luggage and I know I’ll be less crabby if I make sure the bags are as light as possible. On the other hand, I’m a total gear head and love to have just the thing or gadget for every situation. I have a longer list of stuff than I do of clothing so I may have to seriously reevaluate what I want to bring for stuff. Even the knitting projects have been cut from 3 down to 2 just to lighten things up even more. Someone asked me if I was sawing the handle off my toothbrush the other day . . . . I might even consider that if it seems like it will help!

Already, off to get some things done, have a great day!

An almost perfect evening

When I left work yesterday I had no idea it was going to take over an hour to get home. We had some heavy rain yesterday afternoon, which I got caught in going to my car and was soaked through. The roads going home were flooded out in a number of places; people were lining up to slowly drive through at the highest spot just to get home. Occassionally some jerk in a truck would plow through the empty, deeper lane at double the speed the rest of us were going and send water over everyones cars, making it impossible to see where you were going for a brief moment and making it feel as though you were inside a car wash instead of driving home. It was a long, wet ride.

When I did finally arrive home last night, I discovered my husband had been cleaning! This is a wonderful thing as we had a lot that needed to be done. He had cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and even washed the floors! Fantastic! Then he proceeded to cook a steak dinner! After dinner he had more calls to make about the trip and set to work while I got to read for about an hour before doing the dishes! Then we watched Law and Order:SVU together on the couch before it was time for me to head to bed. It was an almost perfect evening, the only thing missing was that I didn’t get to do any knitting or spinning.

Why is it that once I figure out what I’m going to pack I suddenly start getting ideas about what else might be better? I had the whole packing list worked out and even typed it up for easy reference. Now I’ve been looking in my closet and thinking maybe I should take this outfit or that sweater instead . . . . I have to make some decisions. I can not try to take it all, that just won’t work. I really do want to keep my baggage as light as possible . . . .

The thing I’d really like to figure out in the next couple of days is what I am bringing for knitting projects. I think 2 would likely be enough . . . . the question is what two to bring? I’m thinking of taking a pair of socks to work on and maybe a hat project or something like that . . . . or the hat and mittens for my niece? It needs to be small stuff so that I can keep it in my daypack without a lot of weight or space. Any suggestions?

Well, off to get some things done, have a great day!

Slightly Calmer today . . .

Okay, so I went on a major packing list craze yesterday and have come up with lists for most of what needs to be done for the trip. . . . and last night I dug out the suitcase I’m taking and the day pack and started to actually pull together the stuff that will go in them. I can see I’m going to have some decisions to make in the next few days about just how much to take along but at least I’ve started to identify the things that are missing so I can start getting them together . . . . and I have a better idea what will actually fit in the bag I plan to bring (not much) but then, I don’t want to lug a very heavy bag anyway . . .



Hey, have I mentioned that I’m trying to pack light?

I also have to sort out a bunch of stuff at work before I can go away, tons of calendar changes and still working on getting a temp to fill in. We had someone, but she backed out last minute . . . . so now we have to find someone else. Fortunately, I have a friend in HR who is working on it and I’m sure she’ll find someone good. I am a bit worried only because there is so much going on here, it really isn’t a good time for me to be going away in a lot of ways . . . .

and on that note, back to my stack of emails!

Have a great day!

Happy Monday!

Wow! What a wild and crazy weekend! So much to do and so little time! And I’m still feeling rather sick, its gone from stuffy and feverish to runny and coughing. Yuck! I just hope I’m better before the trip!

Speaking of the trip, we have just 10 days until we get on a plane! Yikes! I’m not ready! Not even close! I need to figure out what I’m going to pack and then cut it in half. I don’t want to be stuck lugging too much stuff this trip! And the all important question, what am I bringing to knit? I’ll be limited in what kind of projects I can take, both for size/weight reasons and because I don’t want anything too complex to work on . . . I’m thinking a pair of socks and perhaps the hat & mittens for my niece for Christmas . . . and I’m wondering if I should bring a ball or two of fancy scarf yarn for really mindless (garterstitch on big needles) knitting just in case? I also really don’t want to bring too much so this is a tough question. I know we are going to 1 yarn shop, though I have no idea what they have, but they are most of the way through the trip! Such a dilemma!