my knitting model is on vacation

OMG, I finished a sweater!  And in less than 30 days.  This is the first sweater I've ever finished.

Unfortunately, my normal knitting model is currently on vacation, so you'll have to put up with a bad photo of me instead.  Ravelry link.

The ends have all been woven in now, and it's ready to be washed and blocked tomorrow (Saturday).

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After a horrible week, I think the ants might be under control.  I worked a 16-hour day on Wednesday and came home to find them everywhere.  I left yet another message for my spray company.  They called back Thursday morning and said they would go under the house to spray.  I took a quick shower, packed up Callie, and took her over to my parents' house.  I'm still finding a few ants, but I've been promised they should all be gone by the end of the weekend.  The house smells pretty bad, and I know it makes Callie sick, so she gets to stay with my parents for a few days.

things could be better

My sweater is currently in time-out.  We had a bad mishap on Sunday night.  I don't think it's ruined, but I'm still really upset.  It's my own fault.  I couldn't even bring myself to look at it last night.

This week is not starting out well at all.  Yesterday was a lousy day at work, and this morning I woke up to find ants in the living room and the kitchen.  I'm dreading what I will find when I get home from work today.

In hopes of making myself feel better and give myself something look forward to, I sent an email to Purlescence Yarns to check on the new Cascade Heritage Prints sock yarn that should be arriving soon.  I made a list of the colorways I must have:
08 Cotton Candy
12 Spring Bouquet
05 Frosty Morn
13 Nightfall
04 Iris
02 Pop
01 Hawks
16 Summertime

sweater progress

I really wanted to finish my sweater this weekend, but it's just not going to happen.  This weekend has been filled with work and a very needy lap-cat.  I should be able to finish it this week.  The body is done, and I started on the first sleeve.

My recovery from surgery is progressing well.  I'm back up to being able to walk a full 2 miles.

I might be a little crazy

I can knit a sweater in 30 days, right?  It's t-shirt sized, in sock yarn, on size US 7 needles.  I might be a little crazy.

This all started when I saw another sweater featured by WEBS, and I realized I really want something I can wear next month in Minneapolis.  My wardrobe is just fine for Silicon Valley, but I'm pretty sure adults my age in other states don't wear gamer/printed t-shirts out to family dinners.  After a hunt on Ravelry, I selected this sweater:  http://charlypopette.blogspot.fr/2012/10/tuto-du-pull-grasshopper.html

I used google translate on it, and I think I can mostly figure it out.  Now to see if I can find yarn for it and complete it before we leave.

socks and surgery

In good news, I finished a pair of socks that I've been working on for over a year.

I got to spend a fair amount of time knitting while I waited in urgent care on Sunday, July 6th.  I had no clue what was wrong at the time, but it turns out my gallbladder had had enough of me and was revolting.  I just knew I was in a lot of pain, had no appetite, and was losing weight.  I went in for surgery on the afternoon of Thursday, July 10th.  I went back in for surgery the next day to stop the internal bleeding, but not before I'd lost about half my blood.  What was supposed to be an uninteresting out-patient surgery turned into 4 days in the hospital.

My mom is a retired RN, and my parents live 2 miles away, so it made sense to relocate Callie the cat and myself to their house before I went in for surgery.  What I'd been told would be a few days of recovery turned into 2 weeks of a rather rough recovery.  Having less than the desired amount of red blood cells means I tire easily, and it will take a month or more for my body to replace them.

On Sunday, July 27th, Callie and I returned to our own house, and I went back to work on Monday.  We've both been a little mopey and are readjusting after spending the 2 weeks with my parents.  It's nice to be home, but it was so nice to stay with my parents, too.

My latest pair of socks is coming along quickly.  The first one is ready for the heel flap.

Tangelo stitching finished

I always love when I finish something, and I finished my Tangelo on Friday night:

(please ignore the shadow of my hand)
I think I want to get this framed so I can hang it on the wall.  I have no idea how I go about getting it framed, but I will deal with that later.

The supplies for the online class (Sudoku Delight) I'm taking arrived on Wednesday.  Callie was rather helpful as I set everything out and attempted to go through the instruction booklet.

I picked up stretcher bars from Exclamation Point on Saturday, and I think I'm all set for the class to start on the 8th of July.

Tangelo needlepoint

With my shawl done, I've been focusing on my needlepoint.  Back in October, I took a class at Needle In A Haystack from Kathy Rees.  Tangelo (her sample):

Part of the class was to pick colors that we liked, so I went for blues and purples.  This is how far I got in the class:

I've been working on it on and off over the last few months, but now I have a new needlework project coming up, so I want to finish this one sooner rather than later.
My progress a few weeks ago:

My progress as of Friday night:

I worked on it Saturday night after work and Sunday on and off all day, and I'm almost done.  I've really been enjoying this.  The stitching process is very relaxing and nothing like the focus I needed for my lace shawl.  I'm looking forward to working on it again tonight, and hopefully finishing it.