Snow Day!

Yay!  We had a snow day on Friday, and I took the opportunity to FINISH my goddaughter's dress.  Sad to say that it was a Christmas present, so it is two months late.  I'm so happy it's done, though!  It turned out to be quite cute.  Here are pictures from before and after blocking.

Before Blocking

After Blocking

Here's another picture that shows the stitch detail much better.

I also had a chance to get some good work done on the blanket for my fiance's future niece or nephew!  The baby is due in a couple of weeks, so I need to get it done soon!  I have a long ways to go yet, but now that all my other knitting gifts are done for now, I can focus on this project.  I've also got a renewed energy for working on it, so I'm excited to get it done!  I probably won't see the baby until the end of March, so that also buys me a few more weeks of knitting time.

 

I have thirteen repeats of the pattern completed.  I estimate needing about thirteen or fourteen more.  Thankfully, this baby blanket has much smaller rows than the last blanket I did with this pattern, so rows don't take me twenty minutes to knit.  I am really enjoying using this yarn.  It's so soft and snuggly!  I'll want to make one for my own baby someday!

Injured Reserve

So my last batch of bread has put me on the injured reserve list!

Two weekends ago my fiance took me cross-country skiing for the first time.  It was great!  I have an old shoulder injury from high school softball that still acts up once in a while (tendinitis), and this made it stiff.  Nothing that surprised me.

A week later I decided to bake bread.  It's quite yummy.  I was proud of myself for kneading it so well to just the right consistency and I was thinking of the great workout I was getting...then I woke up the next day to find that my right arm hurt very badly and was very weak!  I had to ask my students to open and close my dry-erase markers for me!

It's improving, but directing choir tonight wasn't a treat.  I'm still in some pain.  Hopefully some stretches, rest, and exercises will keep this from happening again.

That didn't keep me from knitting at my fiance's volleyball game last night, though.  That baby's due in two weeks...I need to get the blanket done!  I listened to my arm, though, and put it down when my wrist was tired.  It was still worth it.  I still got a bunch done!

Hopefully more soon...with pictures!

Emily

Has My Thumb Turned Greener?

With the last post being entitled "It's Been Far Too Long", I had no clue what to name this one!  Maybe "No, I'm Not Dead Yet"?  Anyway, I haven't given up on the blog.  I just need to make a better effort to keep it up.  Maybe no one's reading, but I'll never learn if I don't keep trying!  :)
 
Maybe I'm just being silly, but I've decided to give growing another try.  Last year didn't turn out well.  I had a seedling or two kind of peek it's head above the dirt, but other than that, I didn't really have anything.  The flowers we bought me also died quite quickly. 

I'm trying impatiens and basil right now.  I've been told that impatiens are easy to grow, and they work well in shade, which is just about all I have in my apartment.  I intend to keep them close to my balcony doors for the sunlight that comes in in the morning, but not too close that they get the cold air.  It's Wisconsin.  We could have cold temperatures for a long time yet!

Basil I'm just giving a try.  I want to have fresh basil so badly, so I though I'd give it a go. 

I may end up taking these plants to my fiance's house if they aren't working at all here.  He has four sides of a house with windows, whereas I have one side of an apartment :(  If they start here well, I may also just take them there later since they'll end up there at some point this summer!

I want to keep the impatiens as an inside plant, and I want the basil to be a kitchen plant.  How nice the kitchen will smell with fresh basil growing!

Here's a picture of my "progress" so far.  I have managed to fill the pots and put the seeds in.  Yes, I watered them as well!  The clay-colored is the impatiens and the green is the basil.  

Wish me luck!  I'll need it!

Emily