Back from the boonies

The entire Plaid Patrol rode to south Texas for the week of Thanksgiving.  It's a long darn drive, but then we spent the whole week with family.  We were only able to do that because we'd hired a pet sitter to come in twice a day, to keep the elderly cat at home & happy.  And he seems to have warmed up to the sitter, even playing with her and letting her pet him, and he was quite happy to see us back.  I would have posted from Texas, but never got near enough to an unused (& functional) computer.
I delivered the Diamond Halter top to niece A, did not get to see her in it but made her promise to send me a picture.  I'm still working on the red tweed capelet, just have about 6" of ribbed turtleneck to go on that one.  I got about an inch of ribbing done while there, but most days we had other fun stuff to do and the knitting just stayed in the bag.  Speaking of bags, Sis did not disappoint in the "birthday present" bag: It's a Dooney & Burke tote with Pittsburgh Pirates themed print on white leather, just gorgeous and a great bag for the knitting.  I will have to send her something wonderful and knitted asap.  Sis brought Pup over from his assisted living facility Tuesday, then Disco, Plaidman, the nieces & I went to the facility the next day and had lunch with him.  Later that afternoon Plaidman went back to Sis', while us ladies went to Savers.  Guess who we found there -- the Shopping Queen herself, aka Sis!  We all spent some time together there, then the nieces departed for home.  I spent way too much money there, even with the 30% discount card Sis gave me.  Most of it was for stuff Disco wanted, I wish I could find the receipt to show her!  We finally got all our purchases out to Sis' Giganto Craft (an ancient Escalade), then it took all three of us (Disco, Sis & me) to get me into the front seat.  I am not anything like nimble anymore.  In fact, since I stayed in the upstairs guest room, I had to climb 16 stairs every evening to get to bed, and come down those stairs (dressed & ready for the day) every morning.  I thought my knees would give out.  Then there was the guest bed, wonderful to sleep in but so tall that I needed both a stepstool and my walker to get into it.  Slept like a stone, until it was time to visit the loo.  And that was for six nights.  I've been home a few days, and I've recovered some.  Thursday we had Pup back over to the house for our noon Thanksgiving supper.  Afterwards, the annual T-Day lawn tournament was held out on the front lawn, with 3 father & daughter teams and one niece + boyfriend team.  Pup teamed with Sis, Steverino teamed with the Peerless niece, Plaidman teamed with Disco, and Miss A teamed with Seth.  Pup has macular degeneration, so his shots were guided by other players standing near the "hole" and waving.  It was agreed that Peerless & her Dad won the tourney.  I wasn't the only spectator, we had some neighbors come by to check out the game.  Then we all went back inside and played LCR; Peerless took a $27.00 pot!  Just her day.  Pup got delivered back to his home, and we all pretty much called it a night.  Friday Peerless treated a bunch of us to a movie, Justice League,
which we all found marvelous.   Saturday we began the long drive back home, and got here about 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Goodbye and good riddance

We signed papers, closed the sale of the northern property, and got a modest sum for it.  I am thrilled, and so glad this could be done before another season passed.  The ugly little house will no longer be our concern.  I'll ask the Plaidman to turn off the ele ctric.
I did a lot of knitting on the Half Circle shawl last weekend, getting into the third repeat of the final lace section before the edging.  I haven't been able to knit the last several nights, because my hands are sore from lots of computer work. It's frustrating, but I know I'd better give it a rest.
I have found a knit pattern for a classic halter top, and it's free from Knitty!  It's the Diamond Halter Top; and I've even tracked down & bought the yarn called for in the pattern--discontinued since publication.  Thank goodness for Ravelry.  Work on the Half Circle shawl will be suspended until I get this halter done.  I've read the notes other Ravelers made on their Diamond Halter projects, and may just continue the top portion with the smaller needles.  I was also considering I-cord trim across the top of the back and up over the bodice, perhaps snugging up the edges of the bodice?  As there are still about 7.5" of ribbing to do before the bodice portion, I think I'll just mull over that idea.  It occurred to me that this is only the second Knitty pattern I've ever tried -- pretty odd, since I love the 'zine.  Oh, and yesterday I got the latest Interweave Knits!  Some nice stuff, but oddly some of it just looks so similar.  If you've seen the pullovers in the first section, you know what I mean.

 I took some pics as we were finishing up clearing out the ugly house, but haven't loaded them to the computer yet.  I think this is from one of the last times Disco posed for the camera at the old place.
Well, I have another Knitty project in mind, the Aeolian shawl.  I was thinking of Knits Picks Bare Gloss Lace, yes to beads though not too sure whether they should be clear or pearlescent, yes to nupps though I've never worked them before (!!) and oh BTW I might need to buy some Stilleto point needles from Signature Needle Arts.  Whew!  and this will be a semi-stealth project, for an unnamed party, but if she asks, it's for me.  Got that?

Camp Loopy project #2

I've just been "winging it" with the mittens I'm making for the 2nd Camp Loopy project. The first one is nearly done, just one round of knits and Kitchner stitch the top of hand, then pick up for the thumb. I believe I'll be able to get the second one done a bit faster, which is good as I have a paying customer wanting me to make her some gloves. I feel another learning experience coming on...
She's got an idea to have gloves with removable tips on (all) the fingers, which sounds like way too much work to me. I'm going to show her Cigar from Knitty, and see if she'll accept tips on just those 3 fingers each hand.
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Ok, ETA next day: I've finished the first mitten! Plaidman & I went to the eye doctor yesterday & had eye exams, my issues turned out to be severely dry eyes. I have a very expensive drop I have to use, plus I'm supposed to use artifical tears a lot. I'm also getting glasses just for working on the computer. Plaidman needs new glasses too; but the doctors we see aren't providers in our vision insurance, so we'll go elsewhere for the glasses. I think WalMart is a provider.
I got the fall IK in the mail yesterday! There are a couple of things in there that I'd like to have. OOO, and we bought a new printer for the computer; it scans & copies too. Looks like I can stop making copies of patterns at work! That's if we can get the thing installed....the installation is on a CD, and our hard drive's reader is borked :(. But there's a support thingy on the manufacturer's site, for folks without a CD reader--I came to the library to get on their site, and have copied the install program onto a thumbdrive. Sure hope this works!