How'd I do?

1. Have lunch with both of my parents, individually
   Managed lunch with my dad, but not my mom, which apparently caused a stink. Can't win for losing.
   
2. Have lunch with my wife
   
3. Fix the closet doors in our bedroom. We got new carpet almost a year ago (yikes!) and the closet doors need to be trimmed to fit now.
4. Organize my knitting closet
5. Hang out with my friend Joe & play video games all day long
   Check! And I had the sore shoulder/arm/wrist to prove it.
   
6. Get the bathroom tub re-glazed. My wife's been wanting this since we moved in, I thought it would be a nice surprise for her.
7. Make progress on my Vintage Red Wings sweater. This includes both knitting and removing dye from the red yarn. I bought some of these to help.
   Got the yarn flushed (holy crap there was a lot of extra dye), but made no progress on knitting the sweater. Technically you could say I made negative progress since I'm now going to have to re-kint a sleeve because the stupid Shout dye catchers didn't work.
   
8. Finish the pirate bag. Includes sewing a lining and installing a zipper.
   Hand sewed the lining, but balked at the idea of hand sewing the zipper and lining to the actual bag. Should have gone to my mother's to use her sewing machine. Would've helped with #1.
9. Dye some yarn. I have two more skeins of Knit Picks bare merino, I'm thinking something blue and green.
10. Take the dog to the groomer for a haircut
11. Research and possibly book a vacation for the week after the 4th
    If you consider calling on a chalet up north research...
    
12. Make some serious progress on my argyle socks
13. Take a break from argyle sock my knitting a BSJ for my friend's new baby
    Totally got this one nailed. I almost finished it before the week was over.
    
14. Finish up all the random WIPs I have lying around
    
15. Remove the dirt from an old flower bed and fill in the holes around the tree in the back yard
16. Move bricks from said flower bed off the patio
17. Plan 4th of July party
    Lists have been made and initial invites circulated
    
18. Locate and purchase Jeep decorations for 4th of July parade
    They're pretty garish, but we got em.
    
19. Make home cooked meals as many days as possible
20. Sit outside as much as possible and enjoy the nice weather
    Considering I had a nagging cold hiding in the background all week and I did manage some significant yard work, I'm calling this one done.
    
21. Pull weeds in front yard
22. Remove bush next to porch
23. Trim trees so I can walk under them

Eh, so I didn't get everything done. I didn't really think I would. Point is, I enjoyed my time off and got enough done to where I didn't feel completely lazy.

Finally, here's an update on the Accepted Argyles:



and a rear-view:



I absolutely love these socks. Knitting the accent lines as you go is definitely the way to go. Hopefully they fit.

Vacation To Do

I'm on vacation starting today (well technically this past Friday) by myself. It worked out that I had an 'extra' week of vacation, so unfortunately, my wife is at work this week. Since the prospect of a week off was proving to be overwhelming with possibilities, I have constructed a list of things to accomplish during my vacation.

In no certain order:

1. Have lunch with both of my parents, individually
2. Have lunch with my wife
3. Fix the closet doors in our bedroom. We got new carpet almost a year ago (yikes!) and the closet doors need to be trimmed to fit now.
4. Organize my knitting closet
5. Hang out with my friend Joe & play video games all day long (in progress today)
6. Get the bathroom tub re-glazed. My wife's been wanting this since we moved in, I thought it would be a nice surprise for her.
7. Make progress on my Vintage Red Wings sweater. This includes both knitting and removing dye from the red yarn. I bought some of these to help.
8. Finish the pirate bag. Includes sewing a lining and installing a zipper
9. Dye some yarn. I have two more skeins of Knit Picks bare merino, I'm thinking something blue and green.
10. Take the dog to the groomer for a haircut
11. Research and possibly book a vacation for the week after the 4th
12. Make some serious progress on my argyle socks
13. Take a break from argyle sock my knitting a BSJ for my friend's new baby
14. Finish up all the random WIPs I have lying around
    
15. Remove the dirt from an old flower bed and fill in the holes around the tree in the back yard
16. Move bricks from said flower bed off the patio
17. Plan 4th of July party
18. Locate and purchase Jeep decorations for 4th of July parade
19. Make home cooked meals as many days as possible
20. Sit outside as much as possible and enjoy the nice weather

Ah, a nice round 20 item list. I think it's a nice mix of fun stuff and responsible things, don't you?

Right Back Where We Started From

After a week, I'm back to where I began on these, only four stitches wider. *sigh* I hope these fit, because they look AWESOME.

And since it's probably in your head now...

ETA: And I apparently decided to switch the colors around! :-)

Congratulations Detroit Red Wings 2008 Stanley Cup Champions

Tagged

I knew it would happen eventually, I've been tagged for a meme. I generally don't like these, but I've noticed this one floating around in blogland and it looked interesting.

First here are the Rules:

Answer 6 questions, then Tag 6 people by visiting their blog and leaving a comment that they’ve been tagged and to find the rules they come back here. Then I must tell my tagee that I have posted my answers.

What was I doing 10 years ago: Enjoying summer break after my first year of college and cheering on the Red Wings as they won their second Stanley Cup in a row.

5 things on my to do list for today:
1. Persevere through the last two hours of work.
2. Figure out how to get downtown for JoeVision since there are two concerts going on.
3. Drink a frosty beverage at The Joe with my friends.
4. Buy a Red Wings t-shirt.
5. Cheer on the Red Wings to victory until I'm horse.

Snacks I enjoy: M&M's, Lofthouse cookies, sunflower seeds, Orbit gum (seriously, I have 6 different flavors in my desk at work)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Invest wisely. Buy these cars, and probably another classic car to restore. Buy the Carolina Hurricanes and move them back to Hartford. Buy lots and lots of yarn so I could knit whatever I want. Give the rest to charity and others that need it more than I do.

Places we have lived: Michigan. Yep.

6 people I am curious about: I'd like to know more about all the people who's blogs I read and who read mine, but I'll leave that up to you. Let me know if you fill it out.

My eyes!

It stings the retinas

My wife's aunt (aunt-in-law?) commissioned a matching hat and scarf set in the pinkest possible color. I think I got pretty close. The pattern is from Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman, a book I purchased well over a year ago and from which I had yet to knit a pattern. It's a basic braided cable, so nothing to strain the brain, but I'm glad to have an easy/mindless pattern to turn to because... I've started another pair of argyle socks. Unfortunately they're turning out too small, so I'll need to frog, but I'm super stoked about these. I love the colors and I can't wait to show you. Perhaps I'll take a photo before I rip them out and create a tangled mess of yarn. This time around, I'm knitting in the accent stripes instead of leaving them to be duplicate stitched afterward (the first pair are still not done!) so that's four extra lengths of yarn. Yikes!

ETA:

Ta Da!