Back and better than ever

I am back and better than ever. I had my post-op appt. with the surgeon and it turns out that my appendix was the major problem and the cyst was just a bonus. Apparently, I have been suffering from a chronic appendicitis. The surgeon said that I have probably been suffering from it for the past 3 or 4 years.

Last week was my first full week back at work. It was good to be back but also exhausting at the same time. I played a little golf this week too just to get my game back. I would say that it is coming along quite nicely as I shot a 51 yesterday for 9 holes. Not quite Tiger Woods or Anika Sorenstam but pretty good for me since I just started playing in May.

I really haven't been doing much in the way of knitting lately. I think it's because it has been so hot. I do have one sock finished and I started the second one. I will post pics later in the week. I am going to hurry up and get the Indigo Ripples Skirt finished. I have totally neglected it. I also have something really cool to share with all of you. My daughter took wood shop class last spring and made me a really cool chest for me to store my yarn in. Take a look!

Isn't it cool?! This thing is huge! She even made a tray that slides back and forth so I can see all my yarn.

Socks

I just finished my first sock! Well okay, its kind of a sock. See....


Okay, I know its not an actual sock that I can wear, but my soda sure is enjoying it.

I have tried several times to knit a pair of socks without success. I am extremely determined to complete a pair of socks. I have met Erin of Damn Knit, Ariel of Stariel Knits, Shannon & Stephanie of SSK, Charles of Stitch Stud and His Bride, and Patricia on Skype and they are going to get me through this pair socks. Stephanie and Shannon of SSK podcast started a Skypecast virtual SnB a couple of weeks ago on Skype and it is a total blast! You should come join us on Skype. My handle on Skype is renorainy so give me a buzz sometime and I will introduce you to everyone!

Here's a couple of pictures of my first sock in progress.



On another knitting topic, I have joined the Summer KAL-CAL Purse Round-Up. Marly of Yarn Thing and Jill of Woolcrafting started this KAL-CAL. They are going to be giving away some great prizes. Go check it out and join us!

Indigo Ripples Skirt in Progress

Well here is my progress so far on the skirt. I don't have nearly as much done as I would like to have done. I have a few more rows of increases and a ton of straight stockenette....ugh....before I start in on the lace part of the pattern.

It really is going quickly as long as I don't get side tracked with other things such as golf. Yes, you read that right! My family got me golf clubs for Mother's Day and I have been busy learning to play. We have a superb golf course here in town (Oak Hills Golf Club). After spending an hour every day for a week at the driving range, my hubby decided that I was ready to hit the fairways! He says that I am doing really good for a beginner and that I caught on really quickly. I am really enjoying playing and have been out there everyday so we decided to purchase an annual membership. My oldest daughter is on the high school golf team and she is doing really well. Her team won the state championship last year. She was their #2 player this year and is going to be their #1 player next year.

My Cat is a Dork

I was busy minding my own business working on the Indigo Ripples Skirt and watching TV in my bedroom last night when my cat decided that she needed immediate attention. So she jumped up on my lap without warning, nosed her way under my arms and the knitting needles and snuggled up as close as she could. She then readjusted herself and placed both of her paws on each of my hands and sat there while I knit away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing so I hollered to my hubby to grab the camera and come take a picture. By the time he got there she had readjusted herself again but the pictures are still cute.










Sometimes I just don't know what to think about my cat, she is such a dork.

Indigo Ripples Skirt Knit-Along

I just picked up a copy of the Spring 2007 issue of the Interweave Knits magazine. There are soooo many cute things in this issue that I want to make, but the first thing I am going to make is the Indigo Ripples Skirt by Kat Coyle. Unfortunately this is not a free pattern on the Interweave Knits website, so you will have to pick up a copy of the Spring issue.

Click here to see an up close picture of the skirt.

I am going to start a knit-along! Please leave me a comment or click the marquee at the top of the page to send me an email if you would like to join the KAL. I will start up a blog for the knit-along for everyone to post their progress and their finished Indigo Ripples Skirt.

I am going to be using Lion Brand Cotton Ease in the Violet colorway.

Knit, Knit, Knit

Thats what I have been up to lately. I have finished several things in the last month. So much so that I think I wore out a pair of circular needles.....LOL

Here is just one of the things I have been working on. There will be more photos later today of the finished Kitty Pi and other finished objects.

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

WIP's, Computers, Weather & Willow

As I promised a long while back, here are some WIP's!

I am working on the City Wrap pattern by Patons and I am using their Decor yarn as suggested in the pattern. It is worked up using 2 strands of yarn held together. I love the color of this yarn and the colorway is called Secret Garden and it is 75% Acrylic - 25% Wool . It is working up really fast. I started it the night before last and only worked on it for about an hour yesterday. Click on the picture to get a better look.

And this is what I am calling Green With Envy. My oldest daughter loves the color lime green and she wanted a funky scarf to go with her lime green ski jacket. It is almost complete. I am using size 13 needles. The yarn is Lion Brand Fancy Fur in the Spring Garden colorway and I'm using 4 skeins. I cast on 18 stitches using the long tail cast on and I am just working it in garter stitch.

And here is the Irish Hiking Scarf I started a while back. I made a bit more progress on it but not much. This is a project that requires a block of time to work on because of the cable pattern. Its not like the other projects that can be put down in mid row so it is slower going.

My hubby surprised me this morning by telling me he was going to order me a laptop for my birthday. He let me pick out the features with his help (since he is the computer expert in our household--he builds desktops from scratch for a hobby.) We were on Dell's web page putting it all together and when we were finished we clicked on the order button which took us to the order screen. We were just about to click the finalize order button when I noticed there was a place to put a coupon code. I said "Hold on, I think I have something on my blog that takes you to a list of Dell coupon codes." So I checked my blog and sure enough there was. So I clicked it and low and behold there was a coupon for the laptop we were ordering. The coupon code gave us $400 off the laptop! My hubby was really impressed and excited with the fact that he got to save $400. So if anyone is in the market for a new laptop and are going to make a purchase from Dell, just look on the right hand side of my blog and scroll down to where it says "Look Who's Watching" and click on the Dell Coupon Code link.

This is what it looked like when I got up this morning. Pretty to look at but not enough to keep the kids home from school. We are supposed to get more snow this evening. The weather service is predicting about 1-3 inches of snow for this evening.

Terminated?

I accepted the job offer from the doctor's office for the medical assistant position on Monday and I submitted my letter of resignation giving 2 weeks notice. In my letter I stated that my last day of employment would be effective February 15th.

Today I received a call from my boss that she was terminating my employment as of today. I am assuming that just means she is letting me off the hook and I don't have to complete my last 2 weeks of work ( hence letter of resignation means I quit and you can't fire me because I quit). I let my co-workers know that today was my last day and their response was "We're surprised she let you continue working as long as she did. She never lets employees continue to work after they give notice."

So on my lunch break I called my new employer to notify them that I could start tomorrow instead of the 16th. They were very excited to hear my news. Their exact words were "We are very excited to have you work with us and we are glad to hear that you are able to start earlier than expected." So I will report to work at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. One of the benefits of this new job is that every 8 weeks, the doctor takes 10 days off and I get one week off during the time he is gone. How cool is that!

Now that I have updated you all on my work life, I wanted to give an update about my knitting life. Sunday was the Super Bowl and Knitty Gritty was having a Knit In. I worked on a couple projects and learned a new knitting stitch (the butterfly stitch). I will post pictures of my works within the next couple of days. I would do it now but I am just not feeling in the mood to take pics right now.

Anyway, I will let you know how my first day at the new job goes tomorrow.

Now I Can Relax

I left the first weekend of January for a week long class on Life & Health Insurance and I spent all of last week studying for the exam. I took the exam today and I passed! Now I can relax and have some fun.

Speaking of fun, I have been working on the Irish Hiking Scarf with the purple alpaca yarn India sent me. I didn't realize how easy cabling was. Take a look at my progress.

Here is a picture of the crocheted afghan I have been working on. This is going to be one of those projects that I work on a little here and a little there. My attention span won't allow me to just sit and work on it until its done.
Now maybe I can get back to some knitting adventures now that I have completed all my studies.

I almost forgot! I joined the local gym and I have been working out 6 days a week using the "Body For Life" plan. So far it is working and I have lost 2 inches from my waistline. Goodbye size 16, here I come size 8!