If I could turn back time

Oh where oh where has my summer gone? Oh where oh where could she be?

It's hard to believe that it is already the middle of July, but the calendar doesn't lie. Hubby and I just got back from a fabulous trip to KY to see our family and friends. We were there for 4 days, but it's just never long enough. But, we had a BLAST! We played with our niece and nephew, ate tons and tons and tons of yummy food with our family, and met up with friends each night for a few drinks. I realized when I started looking at the pictures that Jason was the one behind the camera the whole time...only managed to get a few pictures of him.

Jason and his sister enjoying the sun

I also took a short trip up to Indy to spend the day with my sister and brother-in-law. They usually come down to KY whenever we make it into town, but they already had their son shipped off to the grandparent's house for the weekend so they could work on getting the rooms ready for the arrival of my nephew. It was a short trip, but an absolutely wonderful one! I got to help them out with their cleaning and laugh at all the funny stuff they found. The bonus came when my sister found a tape recording of her 3rd grade violin concert. We sat in their car...where the only tape recorder could be found...and laughed at the whole thing! Again...too short of a visit :(

Many people would groan at the thought of an 8 hour car trip, but I saw it as a chance to finish a few things up. On the way out, I worked on an Emma Grace Headband for my niece until it was so dark that I couldn't see my needles anymore. When I saw her the next day, I measured to see how much more I would need to make it the proper length. Both she and her brother were quite enthralled watching me knit...maybe next time I"ll have more time to sit down and teach them! I managed to lose one of my DPN's in the car...and it still hasn't been found. A small price to pay to bring a smile to this one's face.

Isn't she adorable?

On the way back, I tried so hard to finish the final border on my Sheep Dreams blanket for a close friend. But it is just an agonizing pattern so I can only do 2 rows at a time. For row one, you increase 1 into EVERY stitch...for row two, you K2tog or P2tog along all of the 240 stitches that you have on your needles. It's hard on my fingers and boring as hell. So, right around Columbus, I decided to cast on my new blanket for another friend having a baby. It is an Aran blanket design and is turning out just beautifully. I love the simplicity of this pattern, but it looks like it is much more involved when you see the final output. Here's what I managed to get done in about 5 hours:


So, now it's back to work again. Of course, I do have to wait for one more thing...a special FedEx package from KY. In all of my insanity of packing to leave on Monday morning, I left my laptop and laptop bag at my parent's house! In it are not only my wonderful computer, but also ALL of my files for every paper I'm writing, every project I'm working on, and every data file I need to work on everything else. Thanks to my hubby's wonderful family for breaking into my parent's house and shipping my lifeline back to me as quickly as possible. You are all wonderful! So, until I get that back, I'll be trying to come up with things to work on...guess my blog and Ravelry will do for now!