...MonkeyKnits... A Knitting Blog

At the Lake

I took these photos the last time we went to my parents' house. They live on an inland lake in Minnesota, and they get to enjoy this view every day.

On the weekends during the summer months, this lake is full of people trying to escape the city and take advantage of lake living for a few days. During the week, however, things quiet down a little, and the lake's residents pretty much get the lake to themselves.

I look at these photos and the phrase, "Having a great time... Wish you were here!" comes to mind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I did! John and I travelled north to spend a long weekend with my family. The food was great -- my Dad makes the *best* stuffing/dressing -- and it was nice to see the fam. I always forget how cold northern Minnesota gets, and the crazy thing is that it's not even cold-cold yet. But we got to enjoy the parent's new indoor hot tub, so I guess it really didn't matter too much that it was freezing outside.

I did get some knitting done while we were away. No photos, yet, but I've started a scarf project -- Loopy ala Knitty.com -- and I am thisclose to being done-ola with the Vogue Astrakhan wrap sweater. Whew! I did enjoy knitting that sweater, but the finishing work is soooo tedious! You cannot see the stitches with this yarn, which apparently makes me frustrated. I shoulda-coulda-woulda knit it in the round, but since it's a store sample for my LYS, I thought I would follow the directions. But, it will get done, and I do believe that this will be one of my nicest FOs to date.

John and I also got to catch up with one of our long lost friends from our previous lives in St. Paul. We had lunch with an ex-co-worker whom we met when the three of us were employed by a giant evil phone company. Our friend still works there and we got to hear the latest horror stories from the mill. You know, they really did fool us there... Training was so fun -- it was almost like camp, and you bonded with the people in your training class, got to play games and have potluck lunches. And then they throw you out onto the floors and it's not even the same job, I swear. Poor John, he only lasted 1.5 days. I think I stuck it out 5 months. And our friend has been there 4 years now! Sheesh! He's either a saint or a sucker... Love ya, David!

I leave you with a photo of me and John from this weekend. We had dinner at a local Bar & Grill, and they had a giagantic two-headed northern mounted above their fireplace. Real or fake? I'm not sure, but we wanted to be photographed with it. I guess it made us feel a little less weird... Happy Thanksgiving!

Travelling Fool

create your own visited states map

The red states are the ones I've been to. All twenty-six of 'em. I guess I didn't realize that I had covered so much of the United States. True, a lot of it was just driving through to get to a final destination. But I've been to all these states, nonetheless.

• Most Fun: Washington state or Washington, DC (Oh, and of course, Florida - Disney World)
• Most Beautiful: Northern Idaho - gorgeous!
• Still on my list of places I'd like to visit: Colorado, New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts.

Maybe John and I could drive out to Colorado for a little belated honeymoon. My baby won't get on a plane, so if (when) we travel, we must drive. That's fine with me, I don't mind being in the car because he drives mostly and I get to knit and navigate! But I do wonder what would happen if he had to get on a plane. Like, what if my parents were travelling and something happened where I had to fly out to be with them... Would he get on a plane and some with me? Would he drive out and meet me? Let's just hope that doesn't have to happen.

In knitting news, I've finished two swatches in the last few days. I'll post photos when I get home from work tonight. It's Stitch n' Bitch tonight at my house. I'm not sure what I'll work on... here are my choices:

• Swatches for buddies
• The matcher to John's sock
• AbFab v2.0
• The Monkey

I think the Monkey is too concentration-y for SnB night. I'll probably just work on the swatches. Or I'll have Amanda help me with the kitchener on Koigu sock #1.