As I write this, the kids in my neighborhood are trick-or-treating, and I get interrupted by the doorbell now and then. And some of those kids look way too old to be trick or treating, in my opinion! I'm actually not a huge fan of Halloween, to tell the truth. But that's a very long story.

Anyway, progress is being made on Clessidra. I will see how much I finish by the end of this weekend. But I've turned the heel and finished the gusset, so I'm thrilled. I can't wait to wear these socks...and then finish up other projects...

Even more progress.

I promised a picture of Clessidra progress. Here you go.

But I've been working on something more mindless (the so-called-scarf. BUT! While I was knitting, I encounted an impossible tangled up mess--so I pulled some of it out from the center of the ball...and this is what I found.


















I spent part of the morning untangling this unholy mess and winding it up into a ball. Then I proceeded to knit a few more rows...

I think I'm making excellent progress, wouldn't you say?

The Dreaded Brooke's Column of Leaves

I'm sort of getting caught up. Over the weekend, I knitted tons, and I'm down to the ankle on the 2nd pair of Clessidra (picture coming later). And, over the weekend, I finished this:

Finally. This is one of the few projects that I've done, which made me want to poke my eyes out with knitting needles. I have decided that I absolutely hate knitting lace. When I first started (even after frogging the beginnings of this scarf a few times), I was optimistic. The first few repeats, once I figured out where all the yarn-overs went, I was like, aha! I can do lace, whee!

But by the halfway point, I was starting to get tired of it. I'd pull this scarf out purposely and think to myself, Gotta finish this, and I would do maybe a couple rows and shove it back in my bag. In the meantime, I would work on other things, like the monkey socks or Clessidra. Or the sweaters. Anything but this darned scarf.

I finally finished up that second skein, and if you know me, you know that I love super-long scarves. So I joined the third skein of yarn to this scarf, knitted a couple rows and put it back in my project bag. This must have been in June, because the last time I worked on this scarf was on the drive back from Columbus after my brother's graduation. (Incidentally, I also found my CD, Ohio, by Over the Rhine in this project bag, after wondering where I had placed that CD).

So this weekend, I pulled out this dreaded scarf and told Terra that I was sick of it. Her suggestion was a good one. "It's long enough, so just finish it."

Finish it I did...and I still have a whole ball of sparkly merino. I'll find something to do with it, but I also just feel so relieved that this stupid scarf is done. And I doubt I'll seek out lace patterns anytime soon.

And although I finished this long ago, I don't think I actually put up a picture of the finished project. Here is the Chevron scarf (the Noro!)

The saga of the Sonata

Well, the past few weeks have been busy. This is why I have not written anything. In a short amount of time (in about 3-3.5 weeks), this is what I have done:

1) Trunk show. As you may or may not know, I am hooked on a certain brand of jewelry, and we planned a trunk show, which did end up being busy (except on the day the rep was there—can you believe it????). After the big weekend, I spent time preparing for

2) My aunt’s visit. My aunt decided at the last minute to come to visit (and to take care of things here, such as social security, etc.). So this meant that I was cleaning house, working and trying to study. Meanwhile, while all this was going on, I was also getting ready for

3) my friend’s wedding. Not just that, but I was a bridesmaid, so I did fab things like get a haircut, a manicure (my first one ever!) and buying last minute things, like a pair of flats for the wedding reception (I purchased a really gorgeous pair of stiletto heels but realized that while I’m taking dance lessons, I’m not experienced enough to swing dance or do the cha-cha-cha in stilettos. One other thing I brought with me was a draft of

4) a research proposal/grant. Basically, my prof and I sent in a proposal to a large funding agency in the hopes that people will love us and give us lots of money for three years to investigate our topic of interest. I hope we get it. If we do, it means I will have a job for three years.

But all went off without any great drama. Well, I wouldn’t say “without” – I should say with “relatively little drama”, or as little drama as one can experience at a wedding, for instance. Like, I caught the bridal bouquet—with my head (it hit me on the head and landed on the floor right behind me). As usual, I was standing in the back of this crowd of women and girls who were vying for the bouquet. Very surreal. The bride’s mom also got sick but soldiered through (you seriously would have never guessed that she felt like crap during the reception—it was only after the reception was over, and that they were back at the hotel that she went to the hospital with a kidney infection). I do plan on selling my bridesmaid dress—it’s not my style and I have no idea where I would even wear it again. And a little extra money is always nice.

Now, last week, in addition to plugging away at Elizabeth Bennet, I also went car shopping. I swear, this is the saga that never ends. It started Saturday afternoon, and I tried out a Hyundai Sonata (a bit over 17,000 miles and around $14K, used), in great shape. I then tried out a Toyota but did not like the salesman. Monday (since on Sunday, the dealerships were closed), I tried out a Honda and a Nissan, but still, the only thing I could afford was the Hyundai. So we called the first car salesman, said we wanted to sign papers, etc…but…

Here’s the thing! Despite the fact that I actually make enough money to make payments each month, I don’t have enough income to make the car dealership let me buy the car (not to mention that I have super credit). Anyway…so the next day (Tuesday) I had to go to the bank, get a loan, and go back to the dealership to get the car.

So, I took my beautiful new car home, drove to dinner with my boyfriend (in my car, of course). Came home, and my dad tried my key to open the car door—but could not do so. So bizarre—I can get in my car with the little remote control but not with the key? But I can drive with the key…

Wednesday, I go back to the car dealership, but the salesman I worked with is not there, and no one knows where he put the extra keys. So I went back today, and the car salesman cannot open the door with his key either! So off to the service department, where the guys try and figure this out (meanwhile, I am sitting in the relatively posh waiting area, with a bunch of Golf Digests, Sports Illustrated, a couple Forbes magazines and one lone copy of Teen Cosmo, and a couple sections from the paper). So I read everything in the local paper, flip through that horrible Teen Cosmo and trade the paper for a different one (whom another bored, waiting woman had finished reading).

It turned out that the previous owner had taken the car in to get the ignition changed…but the locks were the same (factory). Now, the guy who has the power to call up all the specs and make the keys was not there today, and the mechanic guy who was working on the car today couldn’t figure out how to call up the code to make the key.

Guess where I’ll be tomorrow…stay tuned...