Weekending with Irma

My weekend plans pretty much consisted of a birthday party, a meet up with friends, long walks and football.  We had a great time celebrating Charlie's 3rd birthday [I forgot to take photos].  A couple weeks ago Katie mentioned there would  be make your own trail mix and mimosas-I was sold, then Mary blogged about the cupcakes- so yea-jackpot!  The weather was glorious and we spent most of the time on the back deck.  Andrew kindly let me nibble on the wonderful biscuits from this place, along with some delicious berries.  Saturday afternoon Sophie and I did something we haven't done in quite a while- an afternoon walk!  She managed 1.6 miles before she was ready to head home.  I went out again so as to hit my target of 4 miles total. Sunday morning brought the same brisk temperatures, winds, and loads of sunshine.  I headed out for a walk before meeting up with Brenda and Joyce for our monthly sewing get together.  Another 4 mile loop- sans Sophie, so I've now established a good route for cycling and walking around my neighborhood.

While Irma brought us lovely weather for Saturday and Sunday, it also brought 2 days off from work as south Georgia and the metro Atlanta area braced for high winds and rain.   Before bed we made sure everything was charged and our camp stove was at the ready.  Fortunately for our area of DeKalb County we only lost power for about 20 minutes Monday morning, after the coffee was ready-that was good timing.  There were some serious high winds intermittently throughout the day, but I don't think they ever reached the predicted strength.  Andrew, Steve and I, plus the dogs spent the day hanging out, talking, and watching TV.   I did manage to finish listening to The Boys in the Boat and binge watch several episodes of Turn.

I got the baby sweaters finished-or so I though and blocked [after multiple re-does of the button bands on the green ones!]  While I was completing the green ones I kept thing that something just looked off about them, and then when I was switching out the towels it dawned on me what I forgot to do.  I re-read the pattern, and yep- I forgot a whole set of decreases at the yoke- ugh!  So the grown up knitter in me is going to unweave the ends for the button band AGAIN and finish the yoke decreases, and reknit the button bands AGAIN.  These sweaters are going to the UK, so it's not like their sweater weather is going to end anytime soon.  However, since these are a gift, I want them to be as near to perfect as I can get them.   Since I know what I did wrong, and can fix it, I'm going to be a good knitter and invest the time.

There wasn't much cooking as there wasn't anything in the freezer to cook!  I did bake some pumpkin cupcakes which were delicious.  Not too sweet and just the right amount of fall-y spices.

Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday except taking the dogs out for their potty breaks wasn't nearly as miserable as Monday.  I devoted all my knitting time to working on this project, Shells and Tide, which is a Christmas gift for my Mom.  She bought the yarn a long time ago, and was going to make a shrug.   When she cleared out her yarn stash she gave the yarn to me.  It's an aran weight merino/silk blend I couldn't find anything to knit for myself, and since she is always cold this will be the perfect thing for her to wrap up in.  I'm maybe 1/2 way finished, and I plan to use up all 12 skeins.  This is pretty much all I'm working on right now, I have some socks that are in various stages of completion which I hope to tackle this weekend to give myself a break from the shawl, but don't want to start anything else until the big project is finished.  Our families made it through the tropical storm with no significant damage aside from losing power which was no fun for them.  My hope and prayer is for all of those who are having to re-build and re-group are able to do so soon.

Weekend Lens

Now that I've released myself from Project Life, I hope to be a better blogger. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to use my digital camera a lot more. I managed some pretty good photos on both the digital camera and my I-phone. I also got LOTS of things done, but I did fall short on finishing 2 things that I was sure I could make happen. I guess I really can't knit in my sleep! Saturday included the final bit of cutting before sewing some exchange blocks together-trying to use the self timer!

Fresh baked bread on Saturday AND Sunday, I love this book, and I FINALLY realized a couple things I was doing wrong in my baking. The stone goes on the very bottom, and the broiler pan that holds the water goes above the bread-duh. It is actually in the baking instructions how'd I miss that?! Also, the oven has to be at 450 degrees for 20 minutes before the baking begins- yea that was in the instructions too. Am feeling really inspired now to try more of the recipes in the book.  Also, made some chocolate chip cookies-there is nothing better than fresh baked goodies.

I got some deep cleaning accomplished, laundry, and rode my bike indoors for my exercise.  Looking forward to warmer weather so I can ride outdoors-so different and very invigorating.

I dropped off what I hope is the final load of stuff at Goodwill until we actually put our house on the market, and need to do a final purge.

Moved all my knitting books and patterns to my side of the office, and dropped off 79 books at the library.  It felt really good having completed this task.  The basement warehouse is much more empty than it was a couple months ago.

Sewing blocks for the exchange-ended exactly where I wanted, but realized I may be missing the squares for another club members blocks-ugh!

I started this hat which I actually hoped I'd finish, but I took advantage of the daylight to work on Aperture-I'm only about 1/2 way through the short rows on the collar, then I still need to weave in the ends and block-will this project EVER be finished?!

Sunday was church, sewing, knitting, grilling, and spending some time with Sophie in the back yard.  It was on the cool side, but so nice to be outside.  

I also finished The Light Between the Oceans and LOVED it!  I started Daughter of Fortune, and am pleased that I'm making serious headway on my Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge.  I'm looking forward to a pretty simple week, with activities planned for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  One of my goals for 2015 is to keep my schedule simple and open, and enjoy the right now.