Thank God Its Thursday

Only another 12-13 hours of work to go then I am on vacation. In just over 24 hours I will be on a plane.

In the meantime, here is a progress shot of a crochet project that I have started. It will be a bedspread in northern CA when it is done.

It's Thursday, Right?

Please don't tell me if it isn't Thursday. I desperately need for the week to be nearly over. I need to be able to be home before 11 pm. I need to not be in the office practically every waking moment. I need a day without work.

My office has a trial that started this week. The trial is scheduled for to last 2 weeks. I am not in the courtroom this week, but nonetheless the trial is consuming my life too. Fortunately the last 2 nights I have been home by 11, which is fairly early for a trial, but even still, I am exhausted.

With my work schedule I haven't had much knitting time, before the trial started though I started the Fitted Lace Tee from Lingerie Style.

I have the back done, and about 1/2 or so of the back was knit in one day, so it moves quickly when I actually work on it.

I don't have a round trip bus commute with the trial, but I am still riding the bus into work each morning, which means that I am continuing to make progress on my Gothic Spire sock.

The only thing keeping me going right now is the knowledge that next Friday night I will be on a plan for Paris :-) I have some euros, I have my prepaid European cell phone, I have my International Driver's Permit, my train ticket, and passport. Not sure what else I will need, but I will somehow get it figured out before I go.

More from the Out Doors

During Spring I decided that my goal for the summer was to spend one weekend per month hiking/backpacking and 3 weekends each month going on long bike rides. Somehow, the long bike rides haven't materialized yet, but I have been out backpacking in April, June, and July. I missed May, but I did go for a 9 mile hike in May, so perhaps that counts. This past weekend I went up to the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I did not manage to cover much distance, but I did reach the top of 6 or 7 of the Presidential mountains, including Mt. Washington, which is the highest mountain in the area with an elevation of 6,288 feet. Unfortunately I don't really have any photos to share from the top of Mt. Washington. When I was on the top, I was in a cloud, so the visibility was very poor.

On the last day of hiking I saw a Gray Jay. I didn't realize until this trip that Jays came in any color but blue, so seeing this one was pretty cool.

Because of this excursion I don't have a lot of knitting progress to share. I started a pair of Gothic Spire Socks, and the first sock traveled with me, but only a few rows were knit.

Too Wound Up to Sleep

As you know, I started a new job a few weeks ago at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. I really like it - it's challenging and interesting. I get to work on aerodynamic issues related to GA's UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), the Predator:



I have to say that working every day has been an adjustment from the laid back student lifestyle. I come home every night and pretty much lay on the couch until it's time to go to bed. This week, though, I've had something to do almost every night, so I'm particularly exhausted. Tonight, I went to a happy hour with people I worked with years ago (before I went back to school) and I was out until 9:30! I almost turned into a pumpkin (that happens if I'm out past 10). So, I'm a little too wound up to sleep. Instead, I thought I'd show photos of a park near where I work where I occasionally eat my lunch and knit:





A family of ducks:



This is my seat:



The little pond is full of turtles. Aren't they cute?



Who knew such wonderful things existed in suburbia?

Alive and Knitting

I haven't blogged for awhile, but I have been knitting. My knitting has just been rather unremarkable. Until Monday (I think) I had nothing finished. Before then if I showed you my progress you would have wondered why I was showing you the same thing over and over again.

Monday though I managed to finish my Rhiannon knee high socks. In this heat I can't imagine wearing these anytime soon, but come fall I will be happy to have a pair of cabled wool knee high goodness.

These socks were knit using approximately 5 skeins of knitpicks essentials sock yarn. The pattern is Rhiannon from Cookie A. I knit these on size 0 addi's using magic loop. Most of the cables were knit without a cable needle.

The down side of these socks is that I feel like they make my calves look bigger than they are. Generally I like my calves and feel like they have a nice shape, but in these I feel like they are gigantic, oh well, they will be worn anyway.

On WRS I am up to row 32 of the second repeat. It still pretty much looks the same, so I am not going to share a photo.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!