FO Friday - Temporary Amnesia Edition

Hey you guys!  How the heck are ya?  In case you missed the update, I was all set to write a WIPW post this week, and then got an email on Wednesday morning from a blog friend (Hi, Nikki!)  asking if I was okay since I'd missed posting two weeks in a row.  I was really, really confused for a minute as I'd been totally convinced that it was Tuesday.  Yeah, not so much. 

The upshot is, I'm alive and well, and utterly unable to keep track of the days of the week any longer.  Ah well, there are worse things, right?

So here's a tiny update for you:  When last we spoke, I was still in California, taking care of my newly surgerized fiance in his business-trip hotel room.  I ended up flying home on Thursday, and happily they sent him home with me to heal up for a few days.  He did, and is now back in California (sans appendix) working away.  Phew!  It's a bummer to be apart again, but I'm happy to have him healthy and be back for normal pre-wedding stress levels. 

And now for the FO Friday/ Fiber Arts Friday portion of the festivities:  I'm still knitting away on the wedding puffs, and despite having some serious trauma with the heart puffs (yeah, I know, there's nothing much "hexi" about them), they're coming along.  Here are the first 8:

Pretty cute, no?  I'm definitely getting faster at them and have high hopes for at least a couple of dozen of them hanging from the apple tree at the reception.

My other FO for this week is wedding shoes!  Sounds silly, I know... but it took 5 phone calls, 1 store visit, 2 internet orders and 1 rather painful mail order return to get them done.  I'd say that cements their FO status, don't you think?  Anyway, here they are:



I don't love them on their own, but they're really pretty spectacular with the dress, which you'll have to wait a bit to see since Mr. Right some times reads my blog (Hi, love!).  So take my word for it and I promise to share lots of pics when the time comes (44 days -- eep!)

I'd show you the invitations too, but I can't figure out how to blur the details and I don't really want to invite the whole of the internets to the wedding.  Ooh!  But I can maybe crop it so you can just see the design my friend made for us...

There's not really a black outline around the edges, but it got a bit lost on the background without.  Aren't they so cute?  And in case you haven't guessed it yet, my next wedding DIY is making flag bunting to hang on the fence at the reception.  Stay tuned for pics of that progress next Wednesday, provided I can figure out what day it is.  Until then, have a spectacular weekend!

Work in Progress Wednesday v.99

What. A. Week.  Seriously, you guys... I'm done with drama.  I don't chase it, and I don't live my life in a way that encourages it, and yet it finds me...

As you may remember, Mr. Right is in the middle of a 2-month-long business trip that will end just before our wedding in August.  I stayed at home, making wedding plans, taking care of the dog, and getting ready for a big ol' wedding.  Easy enough.  On Thursday, we are notified that the founder of our parent company is making an unannounced visit.  Bad news.  About an hour later, I speak to Mr. Right, who tells me that the stomach pain he's been having has returned.  I harrass him until he agrees to go to the doctor.

Flas forward a couple of hours...  Mr. Right spends his lunch hour plus 2 more hours waiting to be seen at urgent care.  So much for urgent.  They can't get to him and he has to go back to work.  Meanwhile, in Colorado, our founder arrives, assembles everyone in the conference room, and announces that he's put our division up for sale, that he doesn't really expect anyone to operate us as a going concern, and that he's sorry.  We're all given layoff packages.

At just about that moment in California, Mr. Right's appendix ruptures.  Talk about timing, eh?  He finishes work, goes back to urgent care, gets seen and is immediately trucked over to the hospital for tests.  At just after midnight, they decide to operate right away.  In Colorado, I hang up the phone, say a prayer, and buy a plane ticket for the next flight I can get.  Unfortunately, since he's a bit out of the way, the earliest flight isn't until the next afternoon. 

I've been here ever since. 

There are silver linings, though:

#1 -- He's okay.  The surgery was more involved than usual because of the rupture and the infection and the mess, but he's having a miraculous recovery.  He says, "Hi"...



Why yes, he is high as a kite on painkillers, why do you ask?

#2 -- My last day of work will be one week before our wedding.  This is pretty awesome timing, if there is such a thing. 

#3 -- I haven't talked about it here, but I kind of hate my job and it's been tough to stay in a dying industry.  It's good to have a kick in the pants to start something new.

#4 -- It's pretty here, and while all my friends are cooking in 100+ degree weather in Denver, I'm wearing a fleece because 60 degrees is just a touch chilly for me.  I'll take it.



#5 -- I got some knitting done!  More wedding puffs:



And a tiny bit of progress on my scarf.



It was actually way more progress, but when you knit lace on 90 minutes of sleep you end up tinking.  A lot.  Like 15 or so rows of scarf.  It's a bad idea.  Trust me.

**By the time you read this, I'll be back home, heading off to my soon-to-vanish job and worrying about wedding stuff, which is lots more fun than worrying about life and death.  I'll also be visiting all my WIPW peeps because that's fun.  And I deserve some.


**Okay, not so much.  We made it all the way to the airport, but realized he was too woozy to drive himself back to the hotel.  Another flight change, and now I'm going home on Thursday...

ETA:  Sorry peeps, I completely forgot to announce the winner of the book giveaway.  I'll link up to Yarn Along today to make the announcement, even though I forgot to stick a book in my suitcase and this week's reading has been limited to prescription bottles...

Anyway...Random.org's lovely number generator chose comment # 23, left by Kathy B!  Enjoy your book, Kathy!  I'll drop it in the mail this weekend.

Work In Progress Wednesday v.55

I have this fantasy life wherein I update this blog more than once a week, but somehow am unable to make it a reality at this point.  Sigh.  At least Wednesdays are still happening pretty regularly.

I think I must've fallen into some sort of hamster-wheel-style time warp this week, since I've been working and knitting and knitting and knitting and I'm in pretty much exactly the same spot as this time last week.  How does that happen?

Mr. Right and I are still working on stuff.  Not much progress on that front this week, unless you count swinging from happiness to despair and back again as progress.  I do suppose that we'll get it worked out one way or another eventually, but just between you and me... limbo kind of stinks.

On other non-progress fronts, Hedgerow Sock #1 continues, and is getting cuter by the inch.  (This is the part where I apologize about the crappy photos.  A big cloud came just as I was setting up in my driveway outdoor photo studio.  Sorry!)

It really is bigger than last week, I promise.  One more round to go, then it's heel flap city, baby.  It'll look different next week. I'm almost sure of it.

And then there's the Vest (And no, it's not really purple this week.  See photo disclaimer above...) I spent about 4 days (I guess that's why I don't have more to show for myself) picking up stitches for the shawl collar.

 Have I mentioned that this pattern is not my friend?  Grrrr.  Anyway, eleventy billion attempts later, I actually have the correct number of stitches on the needle and am ready to actually *gasp* knit.  It still doesn't fit AT ALL, but I'm happy to report that it does fit one of the ladies in my lunchtime knitting group, and looks pretty great on her.  Providing I ever get the dumb thing finished, she's promised to give it a good home, and has offered to buy the yarn for my next sweater in return.  I'm pretty excited about this arrangement, I gotta say.

Speaking of being pretty excited... I just booked a plane ticket to head out to the east coast next month.  I have friends from Colorado who will be staying in Pennsylvania for a couple of months, and invited me to come visit.  Who am I to turn down an offer like that?  And, I have other friends in New Hampshire who I'll drive up to see while I'm there.  Very cool, especially since I have a burning desire to visit all 50 states, and haven't hit New England at all yet.  You can knock out something like 5 states in a day over there-- utterly mindboggling to this California girl.  Here's where I've been:

That makes 19 so far.  31 to go!  How 'bout you guys?  How many states have you visited?  Inquiring minds and all that...  And after you've told me about your travels, make your way over to WIPW and check out everyone else's progress this week.  There's some seriously crafty crafting going on over there!   

Work in Progress Wednesday v.54

Greetings from RollerCoasterLand, where Mr. Right and I will forever be apart.  Together.  Apart.  Rinse, repeat.  It's been a tough week, as Mr. Right is preparing to head to Hawaii (!) for work.  For a month.  Really?  We're inseperable for 5+ years and he goes nowhere exciting for work, and then we're apart for 2 months and he scores a trip to Hawaii?  Life is *very* unfair (Yes, I'm completely aware that life gets WAY more unfair than this in all kinds of ways. But at the moment,  I'm not coping all that well.)

In other news, I cooked for the first time in 2.5 months -- dinner for 6 -- on Sunday night.  It was kind of weird being back in the kitchen, but but also fun.  And sad.  Dinner turned out pretty well though.  We had lasagna, artichoke garlic bread, caesar salad and dump cake for dessert.  All in all, a pretty good evening.

I also managed to get back to knit night on Monday, and worked a bit more on the Vest From Hell, which is behaving itself at the moment, but is definitely going to be too big when it's finished.  Hmmph.  Perhaps it would make a good blog giveaway prize?  I guess we'll see once I get it all wrapped up.

I got home early enough to take a picture in my driveway (lovely concrete, no?), to give y'all a better idea of the actual color of this thing. That part I like. A lot.

No more progress on the Hedgerow Socks as I seem to have mislaid the pattern and haven't bothered to print another copy.  But I have decided to keep on knitting them, thanks to all your helpful comments last week.  I think they'll be pretty cute -- and loud! -- once they're finished.   But here's a slightly better shot of the color.  Yay for sunlight!  It's RED, for sure...

But the more I look at it, the more I like it. I should probably look for the pattern or something, assuming the knit fairies aren't going to show up and work on them while I'm sleeping...

That's about all the excitement I have to offer this week.  Fortunately for you, there's lots more interesting stuff going on over at WIPW.  You should go check it out.  Seriously.

Work in Progress Wednesday v.51

Hey, look at that.  I'm still here.  Gotta say, there were a few times in the last week when I felt pretty sure I was going to curl up into a little ball and die.  But it didn't happen.  Not yet, anyway.  By way of celebrating, I figured I'd give y'all a WIPW update.

The week of No Contact was super hard, but ended tonight.  The good news is, we had a super-encouraging session with our counselor -- the first one where I left feeling better than when I arrived.  At the moment, I feel more hope for us than I have for a while. 

The bad news is that the good result has netted us 2 more weeks of No Contact.  And that, my friends, is a reeeeeeeaaaaalllllly long to not talk (or email or text or...) to the one you love.  I have no idea how I'll get through it, but I guess we'll see.  And if 2 more weeks apart is what it takes, I suppose it's a lot shorter than a lifetime apart.  Perspective, right?

Anyway, I did some stuff this week:

I knitted.  Since it's dark, and late, and my camera doesn't work so well, you'll have to take my word for it.  But I picked up a project and did some stuff and knitted some rows.  More than once, even.

I went to a new knitting group that's kinda nearby.  This is a HUGE deal for me, because generally I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than walk into a group of people I don't know, but I did it.  And it was fun.  And I'm kind of proud of myself.  I'm even thinking I'll go back next week.

I also read 4 books (don't mock -- they're AWESOME), and watched a lot of Mad Men and Glee.  I'm less proud of that.

I got a sassy new haircut and highlight.  I love the girl who cuts my hair, and it cheered me up a bit. 

On Sunday, I hiked a 14er.  For those of you who don't live in Colorado, 14er is the nickname for one of the 54 peaks in the state that are 14,000 feet or taller.  This one was Gray's Peak.

It's not quite as impressive as it sounds, since the trailhead was at 11,280 feet, but I gotta say:  3,000 feet of elevation gain over 3 miles is a whole big lot, espeically since there's not really any air in the air up there.

At that elevation, the snow is still melting off...

The trail started out innocently enough...

But didn't really stay that way for long...

The wildflowers are just getting going up there now.  This little guy was way above the treeline, and so pretty...

And the view from the top was beyond spectacular...

I was feeling pretty good about my accomplishment too, until I started down from the summit and passed two guys who were *running* to the top of the mountain.  Seriously?  It's not enough to make it to the top?  I kind of hate them.

Hope y'all are doing well this week.  I just wanted to say "thanks" one more time for all the good wishes and kind words you've left for me the last several weeks.  They've made a world of difference, and I really appreciate them.  Now, who wants to babysit me?  I've got 13 days to kill here, people... 

Work In Progress Wednesday, v.50

Hey y'all,

Just me, checking in to let you know I'm still here.  Kind of.  Here's what's up around these parts:

GOOD:  I picked up knitting needles for the first time today, and actually knit a little bit.  It was nice.
BAD: I was knitting The Vest From Hell, which hasn't really redeemed itself during its long time out.
UGLY: I picked it up because the only other thing I have on needles at the moment is Mr. Right's wedding sock #2, and well...

GOOD:  I was actually able to concentrate long enough to read a whole book -- Gregor the Overlander.
BAD:  It's a kids book, but hey... Rome wasn't built in a day, right?
UGLY: I went out and bought the next two, just in case I have an attention span longer than 15 minutes again. Ever.

GOOD: Mr. Right and I are still working on stuff.
BAD: Tonight we agreed to a trial separation -- no contact for a week -- which might not sound like much, but the longest we've ever gone without being in touch is about 48 hours.  The idea is that it will bring some clarity.
UGLY: I know I'm supposed to want clarity, but what I want is to live Happily Ever After with this man I love more than anything.  And I can't for the life of me stop crying.

I'll bet I'm not the only one who's  hoping for cheerier posts soon.  All this is pretty depressing.  Apologies.


Here's a pretty picture.  I heart Colorado.  Even now.


This week's WIPW post is brought to you by our sponsors*:
My Seriously Broken Heart
Mr. Clint Eastwood
My Mother's Obsession with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

okay, not really.

Work in Progress Wednesday v.48

Hi!  Remember me?  My apologies for being AWOL from WIPW last week.  It's the first one I've missed.  45 in a row!  And it took a seriously broken heart and a nasty computer virus (excellent timing!) to derail me.  Ah well, I guess it's not the end of the world, since my one and only WIP at the moment is my relationship.  No pictures of our progress, but we're still working through stuff, still in counseling, and still holding out hope.  Could be worse, right?

The eating has gotten a bit better, but still isn't back to normal.  Lucky for me, I have plenty of reserves to work with and a closet full of clothes that suddenly fit a whole lot better.  Silver linings and all that.  The knitting mojo still hasn't returned, but I'm holding out hope.  Maybe I'll be able to pick it up again this week.  Here's hoping.

I gotta say, I'm eternally grateful that you all are still stopping by and checking up on me and leaving me sweet comments and sending really thoughtful emails.  They've made a HUGE impact.  Y'all are seriously awesome. 

Anyway, since I don't have any knitting to show, I thought I'd share a funny little tidbit from Before.  I'd been saving it for a rainy day and just ran across the pictures.  So here you go...

I'm kind of a creature of habit.  Every mornng, one of the last things I do before I leave the house is feed the dog.  This is the dog:

She's cute, for sure.  But we think she bears a striking resemblance to another creature we came across recently:

Can't you see it?  Trust me.  They're cousins, for sure.

Where was I?  Oh right.  Feeding the dog.  So every morning when I dump the kibble in the dish, I kiss the dog on the snout (the top of her snout, not on her nose -- I have standards, you know), she scarfs down her breakfast and we both go on about our days.

Before we continue, you should know that this dog LOVES her food.  It doesn't matter what it is, if it lands in her dish (Mr. Right refers to this as the "kill zone"), she'll eat it immediately, if not sooner.

Anyway, one morning a few weeks ago, I was running late.  I dumped the kibble in the dish while the dog was in the backyard doing her morning walkabout, and ran out the door.

When Mr. Right got home about 10.5 hours later, he found this:

Right next to this:

The poor thing's eyes were bugged out of her head and she was whining like the world was about to end.  So he (because he is a smart guy), kissed her on her snout and then backed away.  Five seconds later, we had this:

And all was right with the world.  Apparently, I am not the only creature of habit around here.

Thanks again for being so great while I try and figure out which way is up around here.  I'll try to poke my head in more often, but be patient with me.  For some reason, laying on the couch watching episode after episode of Mad Men has become strangely compelling of late.  Go figure.

Work In Progress Wednesday v.43

Aaaaaaaannnnd... we're back!  But only just barely, so this will be sort of a quickie post for WIPW.  NY was great (post coming!) and Kansas was really super great. (For serious.  Post coming there, too!)  Unfortunately, the only real knitting time I got in the last week was on the plane to and from the east coast.  Not even a middle seat between two guys who were each too big to put their armrests down (ugh) was enough to deter me.  I knitted the whole way with my elbows pinned to my sides.  To be honest, I think the pointy sticks were the only reason I had any room at all. 

Anyway, it was enough to finish Secret Sock #1.  Yay!  It looks pretty good, I think.  There are a few glitches in the pattern, so mine doesn't look exactly like the Yarn Harlot version, but I think I'm the only one who'll notice.  Also, following the instructions means you end up grafting the stitches in a line that's perpindicular to the toe of the sock.  Weird, no?  Again, I think I'm the only one who'll care.  Also, I've learned something very important with Sock #1, and it is this:  Boy socks are crazy HUGE!  Holy cow, these things take FOREVER to knit. 

Secret Sock #2 is now officially underway.  It looks like this:

Not much, I know.  I blame Mr. Right.  Last night, after the Big Road Trip, we started mowing his lawn.  No small task, since it's about a third of an acre, and he hadn't mowed it yet this year.  So instead of knitting, I have this:

That's my sweetie with his Darth Vader mask (he's violently allergic to grass, and the last time he did the lawn without it, we almost ended up in the ER.  Now he looks like a dork and everyone's healthy). 

That's also 13 trash bags filled crammed with cut grass, plus one regular garbage can plus one super-sized garbage can.  Let me save you the calculations:  It's a freaking lot of grass.  And  it took the two of us about 6 hours over 2 days.  Phew!

And now, I'm going to go guzzle some allergy medicine myself and collapse on my bed.  When I wake up though, I'm going to go visit all the WIPW posts.  I missed you guys last week!

WIPW v.42 - Rebus!

Hallo, WIPW peeps!

Greetings from the big

That's right, I'm in

this week for

And so, I dont have any progress pictures to share with y'all today.  Rest assured, by the time you read this, I will have one l o n g

under my

and another one looming ahead of me.  Much

will be

Proimise!

Plus which, about 12 hours after I land back in

and I will be heading out on a

to beautiful

We've booked ourselves into a cute little B&B, and are going to do some research on my Dad's side of the family.  I'm hoping to solve lots of

while we're there, and will definitely take tons of pictures, and promise to share all of it as soon as we're back in town.  For his part, Mr. Right will be chauffeuring and attempting to

his way through America's Farmland.  Wish us luck!  And while you're waiting for more news from this neck of the woods, go check out all of the other little WIPWersnappers (Heh.) and see what they're up to today...

It's My Party!

So... Saturday was my birthday.  It was not the best timing, since Mr. Right had been away all week on a business trip, but was scheduled to come home on Saturday night.  He figured he'd take me out to a birthday dinner on the way home from the airport, and then we'd have a small party with some friends on Sunday.

Not quite.  He got the news on Thursday that he needed to extend his trip til Sunday.  No dinner.  No party (most of the invitees were traveling with him).  Bummer, man.  And so I spent Saturday alternately cleaning and sulking.  Not my best moment.  Mr. Right, bless his heart, got up at 3am to catch a 6am flight so he could be home as soon as humanly possible.  And we spent a really fun day together, just hanging out and catching up.

And then there were PRESENTS!  I'm not ashamed.  I like presents a lot.  And the guy totally outdid himself.  Look what I got:

It's a Knit Picks Swift!

And it opens (and the only counter it fits on is in my kitchen, lucky for you I just cleaned)!

AND a Knit Picks ball winder(!!)  Can I just pause here to say what a cool thing the KP wish list is?  Okay, moving on...  He also got me a set of locking stitch markers because I lost mine, how amazing is that?  You're right.  Pretty amazing.

So I pulled out my favorite skein of sock yarn...

And then I draped it around the swift, and hooked it up to the ball winder, and let the magic happen.  Look at the magic happening!

Ah, bliss.

At the moment, I'm fighting the urge to wind every skein of yarn I own.  It's big fun. 

No worries, though.  The cake and the friends and the party have been rescheduled for next Saturday.  Think everyone will be as excited as me about my neatly wound center pull skeins?  One way to find out...

The Big Birthday Surprise

As some of you know, my very own Mr. Right (finally!) turned 30 yesterday.  And, being the scheming sort of SO that I am, I've been plotting for the last 6 months to pull off the surprise of the century.  Long story short -- it worked! 

The longer version is this:  Since we've only been in Colorado a couple of years, most of Mr. Right's good friends are in different parts of the country and he almost never gets to see them.  Last June, I snuck into his email account and stole the addresses of his best friend from elementary school, his best friend from high school, his college roommate and his good friend from work here.  I emailed all of them (who I mostly don't know at all) and invited them to come out for his birthday.  I figured if one of them showed up, it would be a screaming success.

With the exception of Elementary School Guy, all of them (!) agreed to come.  I rented us a house up in the mountains for the weekend, and everyone bought plane tickets.  And, while Mr. Right was visiting his folks after Thanksgiving, I cooked.  A lot.  I made 24 chocolate cupcakes (with cream filling and chocolate ganache on top), 2 lasagnas, 26 twice baked potatoes (to go with a couple of tri tips that I picked up) and 3 gallons of beef barley soup.  Phew!

Since the plan was to make Mr. Right think the house in the mountains was his birthday present, I froze all the food and stashed it at our friend A's house, since he was the only local attendee, so he could bring it with him and Mr. Right wouldn't be wondering why I was packing food for an army for our weekend in the mountains.

So on Thursday night, we headed up to this cute little house in the Rocky Mountains...

That even had a river out front.  It was almost frozen, but not quite, so we could still hear the rushing water...

Mr. Right was a happy guy...

And on Friday, High School Guy (Mr. Right's friend K) and his girlfriend, H. arrived...

I didn't know either of them at all.  And they turned out to be great -- super fun to hang around with just plain easy.  Yay!

A few hours later, College Guy E. and his girlfriend J. arrived (after a 3 hour flight delay)...

I know E. pretty well by now, and both he and J. are awesome.  They even got to stay an extra day and gave us an excuse to take Monday off.  Bonus!

Shortly after that, A. arrived, having hauled all of our food up the hill.  Awesome guy, A.  Here, he's demonstrating what happens when you complain about having your picture taken...

Sorry, A. 

All in all, a spectacular weekend.  There was plenty of Guitar Hero-ing...

and a ton of eating, but no pics of the food, sadly.  On Saturday, we went snowboarding with varying degrees of success.  It was my first time on a snowboard, but I did okay, mostly.  I made it down the bunny slope twice, and then down a much longer (but still green) run, all without any trips to the emergency room.  I consider that a smashing success.

On Sunday, we sent to a Christmas festival in one of our favorite teeny tiny Colorado towns -- Georgetown.  They close down the main street, and haul in reindeer...

And they have horse drawn carriage rides...

And a really cute little outdoor market.  Unfortunately, on Sunday they also had sustained winds blowing at around 60 mph.  It was enough to pick up Mr. Right's full coffee cup off the table and dump the whole thing onto my pants.  Boo.  Short visit to the Christmas festival this year.

Before we all said goodbye for the weekend, we decided to take a group photo.  So Mr. Right lined everyone up on the porch, and set up the timer on his camera on the footbridge.  He had 10 seconds to skitter up the slope (it had been snowing), run over to the porch, hop over the rail and stand next to me...

He didn't quite make it, which apparently I found hysterical.  Also, turns out the railing on the footbridge wasn't quite level. Hmmm.  Let's try again...

We set up again in a spot with easier access, and Mr. Right spent an eternity lining up the camera just right...

Better, but maybe a smidge off-center.  So I cropped it for him...

And no one will ever know. 
I'm super thankful that everything went so well, and everyone had a great time.  I'm also super thankful that it's over -- surprises are tiring!