FINISHED! Well... almost!

On the ride home from Maine I finally finished my shawl, but I didn't have a needle to graft the final few stitches together.  So last night, that was done.  And now, I'm trying to figure out when I'll have a spare hour to wash and block the thing!

I'm thinking the way things are going (work gives me only about an hour of free time, and we're going hiking Saturday) I think Sunday is my best bet to get it done... here's hoping.

For now, it's sitting on the back of that couch I hate, so waiting for me to look happily at it while I eat, or read blogs, or whatever it is I'm doing.

P.S. - that's my basil plant in the first picture.  I made pesto from it today!

Getting Closer to the End

With each row I end

The next is faster; and so

I race towards the end

I've wanted to start some new projects recently, but I told myself that I shouldn't until I finish something that I'm working on.  So, of course, I pick the oldest project.  I'm surprised at how easy the garter stitch is, how few delicate stitches I've dropped.  I went to work on it today while Dan was reading a book and I noticed that I have less than a dozen rows until I finish! I'll probably finish it on the way back home from Maine today - and then comes the best part, the blocking!

Hope you are all having a good weekend - I have lots of Maine photos, but the internet is slow here so I'll do a photo post when I get back.

... And in with the new!

My mom came to visit this weekend, so, there's one excuse for not knitting as much.  The other, is what my mom brought with her.

... A new TV! I am freaking out right now.  We've already watched a movie, played flash games, browsed reddit... now Dan is playing Metro 2033. 

Setting up the TV made me realize how much clutter we have in our house.  We've lived together for almost a year, and things still don't have a "place," you know? After we set up the TV, I had the overwhelming urge to start organizing things.  I started to think about how much our "styles" clash.

For example, this /lovely/ couch... With embroidered pillow and stuffed animals (mine),Star Wars poster (his), plants (mine) and Dungeons and Dragons paraphernalia (his.)  It's just... kind of strange looking.

Anyway, my next project is this:

I call it the "hobby room," buut I think the technical word is "that room in the house that you put everything that you don't have a place for."

Game of Thrones Needlework

I've been working on this since I saw an episode of Game of Thrones where they were talking about stitching the different house mottos.

"We do not sow"... change one letter, and it becomes adorably ironic. Pair that phrase with my subpar sewing abilities, and I think that it looks pretty good!

Because really, I don't sew.  My grandma taught me how to sew when I was little (before I learned how to knit) and I ended up sewing most of what I tried to sew to my pants leg.  My dad has a few things that my grandma urged me to make - a needlepoint of some girl holding a present, a cross stitch of a cat.  I even have a pretty epic pillow that I made when I was in the third grade, but mixed up most of the colors.  It looks pretty wild and crazy.

Anyway, I don't sew.  But sometimes I get the urge to sew, and lately it's been hitting me.  Lots of blogs have been posting cute needlepoint kits, and I've been looking at this kit on etsy almost every day... but not buying it, because money's tight and maybe I'll wait until I get Christmas money or whatever.  You know.

So when I got the urge, I just sort of did it.  I sketched out the image of what I wanted first, so that I could make sure it was symmetrical.  Then I used transfer paper to put it on the fabric, and just followed it with thread.  Here's a photo of the drawing in case someone wanted to print it out and do it themselves.

The Lace Panel is Finished! Also, Maine.

My Maine mini vacation was really fun! I got to see sunsets like this...

Jump off docks like this...

Swim in the ocean like this...

And hang out in parlors like this.

Oh, and this:

I'm done with the lace panel of my shawl! Now all that's left is the rows and rows of garter stitch decreases.

So, take a good look because I will not have an update for a while, haha!

Oh, and another crafty thing - while I was there I got a watercolor lesson from Dan's grandma.  The right is my picture before the lesson.  The left is after.   I think I improved :)

Hope you all had a happy July 4th, whether you're in 'MERICA, or somewhere else.  

Coloring

I'm almost done with the lace panel of my Rock Island shawl.  I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'm going to take it with me on our four-day weekend to Maine... I don't want to get sand on it!

As I finish each row, the next gets shorter and easier to do.  And I reward myself by coloring in a row of the chart with marker.

For some reason I get an incredibly large amount of enjoyment from this! I love doing it.  Does anyone else have those little things that just make them feel really happy?

My birthday weekend!

Thursday was my birthday, and on Friday my Dad visited and we tooled around Southern NH.  Friday we went to Portsmouth and saw the USS Albacore, a retired experimental submarine.

It was really cool! The tour was self-guided, and we got to see where people lived on the sub.  My dad got some awesome pictures of me in the tight bunks and sitting in the mess.  The best part, to me, was how they seemed to fit everything to support themselves on such a small ship.  That was some legit organization!  Can you imagine working in this office?

Then we went to Hampton Beach and had lobster rolls on the beach and admired the sand sculptures. Have you ever had a lobster roll? I wasn't impressed.  I thought the amount of lobster they gave me would be enough for three sandwiches!

Between the lobster roll, the oyster that I tried (BLECH), and the drinks we had I felt pretty sick on Friday, but I was fine after sleeping it off and going into Boston yesterday!

We took the train in from Lowell and got to see the USS Constitution.  We didn't want to wait in line for a tour - it was hot! But we got to see the ship and the ship's museum before going to Bunker Hill. 

Then we walked down the greenway to the aquarium, where we DID wait in line for an hour to get it - but it was so worth it!

I love the Boston Aquarium. I didn't get as many photos as the last time I went, but I got some good ones!

After that we headed back to Concord for some Mexican Food.

My dad left this morning, so I'm going to use the day to catch up on chores and just relax.  After three days I'm ready to head back to work and be productive!