loads of fun

So, Erin and Dave left this morning. :( We had lots of fun while they were here, though. See?
Erin reading the Freedom Trail brochure to us:


Dave's first cannoli! (At Mike's Pastry)


Erin at the Make Way for Ducklings statue:


It was HOT while they were here. We went to the Cape on Sunday and loved the sea breeze that cooled things off.
We're sad that they're gone. sigh.

Backfired

Any of you who have been to our house in the last few months have witnessed the "creative" places I was using to store my circular knitting needles...doorknobs and the stair railing, to name a few. So when I said to J, "I think I'll make a circular needle holder" he said, "Great Idea!"

Seriously, he was that emphatic...I guess that the needles rattling on the bedroom doorknob were annoying when he was trying to sleep or something.

So here it is:

I used the pattern from Stitch and Bitch, but altered it near the end to make it easier (it was almost midnight). Those alterations include making one large foldover flap instead of the two flaps (which make it so it could go on a hanger that doesn't have the bar). I also got to use the cool iron-on tape I found on clearance at Wal-Mart for our (I mean mine, J would never admit to having one) Dymo label maker. See, it's useful after all!

It will not hang in the hallway like it is pictured here...I was trying to get as much light as possible for the picture. It is hanging in the guest bedroom closet, near the yarn, so they can talk and become friends before they come together to fulfill their fiber destiny. :)

The one drawback? When I showed J (and it was loaded with the needles), he said, "I didn't know you had so many needles!" Oops. Plan backfired.

Hoorah for Summer!

So, session two of Woodworking ended today, so I AM FREE AS A BIRD UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST. Of course I have an eye doctor appointment and all of those annoying things, but still, that's a lot of time on my hands. I'm not sure what to do with myself without a deck to build or windows to install or a bathroom to renovate. I'm sure I'll find something.

Erin and Dave arrive next week for their first visit to Boston. We want to show them a good time so they will want to come back. Hopefully there will be good pictures to post about our adventures.

J started his graduate school class this week and boy am I glad that I didn't do graduate work in English...the amount of reading he's already had to do is quite amazing.

Secret Pal Extraordinaire!

My secret pal emailed me last week saying she was going to send me (a relatively new knitter) some of her "extra" needles along with my skein this month....I was very excited, to say the least. The package arrived today and HOLY SAMOLIANS!!! I am a lucky girl...Addi Turbos, Fiddlesticks, HiyaHiya, and Susan Bates. And check out that awesome alpaca yarn from Misti Alpaca! The color is 2050, called LIPSTICK (tee hee hee). I can't wait to make something from it, maybe this scarf or this cable hat. Which one do you think? My pal said that she bought herself some and she keeps petting it...I keep petting mine. :) I agree with her that this is much easier and more cost-effective than having a cat or rabbit to pet.

Remember that awesome feeling in college when you got a package slip in your mailbox and you got to go and get it at the pickup window because it was too big to fit in your box? This was just as exciting! I was on the phone with Krissy and kept exclaiming about what was inside.

Sweater Action Shot

Janine, Glen and Amelia are in Boston for a visit, so I got to see Amelia's sweater in action! This is the first time I've seen one of my bigger knitted projects on the recipient, so it's very cool. Isn't she adorable?

Outdoor photos

I mentioned yesterday that we've done some work outside. Here are some photos:
The new deck benches were made completely out of materials we had left over from building the deck last year (well, except for the cushions, but that's it, really!):




We also expanded (by about 4x) the size of our planting bed in the back:
(The first is a far-off shot, the second and third are two close-ups)

Outside Adventures

We've been doing a lot of work outside at our house, and I'm pleased to announce (on J's behalf) that we have our best lawn ever! Now, I'm not talking 100% grass or anything (let's not be silly, people), but we're definitely at about 85% grass, 15% random junk that floats in and decides to grow. Compared to 40% grass when we moved in two years ago (and I am being generous with that 40%), it's a TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT! I can actually walk barefoot without it hurting! To add to that, we were recently gifted a Toro lawn mower very similar to my dad's. It is 20 years old, but in working condition. It was sitting in our neighbor's father's shed and he no longer uses it, so now it's ours.

Besides that, we expanded our back planting bed and built two benches for our deck. More details (and photos) on those two things later. Until tomorrow (when I can photograph said things), here are a couple of photos of the things we've got blooming around our house right now:

Yes, I've been knitting

It's just that I keep giving the stuff away before I can take a picture. These are all projects from Mason-Dixon Knitting, my latest favorite knitting book. The washcloths and baby bibs make great little gifts and they're perfect mindless car-ride (and summer school snack break) knitting. Believe it or not, it's quite fun to clean your kitchen when you've made the washcloth yourself.

First Batch of Birdhouses

Not only do they look adorable holding the birdhouses like that, it protects their identities...are we clever photographers, or what?

We have a total of 30 students in the 3 one-hour sections, so don't be thinking, "of course they can build birdhouses if they only have 5 kids all morning." :)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Well, even though the PawSox lost, we still had a lot of fun at the game. I even made J pose for a cheesy picture since it was a birthday present. I did take that picture early, before most people were there.

It's a great stadium...not too big, but very modern. The first lowest two sections of seats are assigned seats (that's what we had...third row, almost behind the plate...you can tell our vantage point from the photo, because he just walked down in front of where we were sitting), then the rest are general admission--including a cool grassy area in left field where people bring blankets, etc.

It was a very fun night. And besides the tickets being much more affordable than the Red Sox, we got there in less than 45 minutes, had free parking, and didn't deal with traffic on the way out, either. Gotta love it.