Last Time I Looked, I Was Still Here

Although lately, it hardly feels like it. Our office manager left with very short notice 3 weeks ago, so we have been occupied with hiring her replacement, getting her replacement trained, getting used to our new office manager and still doing our regular jobs. The back-to-school rush also started at that time, so I have been a very busy bee.

But not too busy to miss out on knitting. I have continued to work on the Baby Albert jacket and have now picked up the stitches for the back. I really love working with this yarn:



I have ignored the 2 baby kimonos this past week or so because I thought that the reason I was making so many really stupid mistakes was because I was trying to knit on 3 baby jackets at the same time. So I put these down in order to focus on the Baby Albert. But I wanted a small, portable project also so I started a baby washcloth using a Leisure Arts pattern called "Elfin Lace" (although I think that's a typo and the real pattern name is actually "Effin Lace"):


I have finished it since taking this photo yesterday. It turned out to be very charming, although there are mistakes galore all over it, including the mystery of how I started off with 47 stitches and ended up with 45 on the last few rows - I looked and looked to figure it out but never could so I decided it looked just fine and bound off. I love the yarn, which is Classic Elite Premiere (cotton/tencel blend). It is so soft, it feels and drapes like a very soft wool or alpaca. I'm going to knit a pale pink one in either a windowpane or diamond brocade pattern using the same yarn.

I sent off a big box full of squares that my church knitting group made for Greensburg. We sent 54 squares, which I think is enough for one entire afghan! Laura's received over 3000 squares as of this past weekend! She's going to need some major help getting those squares all joined together. If you aren't busy on September 15 and you live within reasonable driving distance (Eldorado, Kansas is just southeast of Witchita), please, pretty please consider joining the seaming party. In case you haven't heard, the Yarn Harlot is going to be in Witchita the very next day, and you'll just be a little ways down the road, and why not make it a weekend?

Bonnie the foster pup had a sleepover guest this weekend - you'll never guess who (he's the one on the left).




For those of you who were reading back in February, this is the former Oreo (now named after Negro League baseball legend Buck O'Neill). He was one of our first foster puppies. Hard to believe he was once this small.


His family had to go out of town so we offered to let him stay with us. He and Bonnie hit it off immediately and we took them to the football field at a nearby school to run off all of that puppy energy. And Bonnie was an excellent hostess, she was very generous about sharing her toys. Of course, she assumed that meant she could grab all of his toys, but they worked it all out. It was so good to see him again. He has a great family, which is what makes it easier to let the pups go after you get attached.

In a final bit of news, I received my invitation to join Ravelry! I can't wait to check it out and get started, but with the crazy schedule recently, I may not get around to it for another month or so. It'll probably take that long for me to figure out how to use it.

So now it's off to bed, to dream of 35-hour days and temperatures that stay permanently in the 70's, with no nasty ozone or high dew points (a fancy term for humidity so high it smothers you). Stay cool.