knitting!

Look at the great surprise I got in the mail yesterday:

It's from the SWTC traveling sock project! I signed up on Ravelry a few weeks ago - you join a team of people to collaborate on a sock.

Each member knits an inch or two and then passes the sock onto another knitter who takes up the next bit. The same yarn and needles are sent with the project so you can have some options of yarn to work with, but everyone is using the same tools. You can use any pattern you like, but you have to document it so the next person can see what you did.

I'm the last leg of the journey (which would be a great pun, except I've actually go the toe). They're currently being worked 2 socks on two circulars, which should be lots of fun, and a good challenge. Here's a better look at the socks themselves:



Now I just have to decide what toe I want to put on them and how colorful I want them to be. It was so neat to get this - like a little present in the mail, plus I get to see how all the different yarns knit up. I love how beautiful the sock are so far - each person chose their own pattern to knit into them.Here are all my fun choices:



My other project is coming along. After all the trouble I had with the pattern portion the first time I didn't want to get through the front and then have the same issue once I got to the back. So once I got to the stockinette portion of the front and the end of a ball, I used my next skein to start the back and work through the pattern now that it was fresh in my mind. It went really well. I didn't have hardly any of the problems the first time, and instead of a week, it took closer to 2 nights to get through the majority of it:



The only issue is that the 'front' or first section I knit, (on the bottom) is a bit looser than the 'back' - which is funny to me because I'm usually a pretty loose knitter, and most of the time as you work a pattern you get looser as you get more comfortable. I kinda did the opposite. As I figured out the pattern I was tighter and neater. I even did the second side on larger needles which I find slightly humorous.

I'm hoping it won't be a problem and it'll block out, but I may continue on with the 'back' as if it was the front just because it seems neater to me. That way the most presentable side will face forward. I don't think anyone but a knitter will notice - but depending on how long the new 'front' takes me to finish, I'll see what I need to do about the other side.

Mike is working on where to go for his internship for school. He has to find a master plasterer who is willing to take him on as an apprentice/intern for the summer. I know he's really nervous about it. I'm just beginning to realize that that means we'll be away for 3 months again. I know it logically, but it hasn't really sunk in emotionally. I want him to go where he's going to get the most out of his experience, but it'd also be nice if it was close enough to visit as well.
The house is back on the market and empty. I'm not as worried about it because I feel like it's beautiful enough to show well even without furniture. But as we look into all our options, I'm debating renting. I just don't know how much of a hassle that will be with us not being in the same city. Anyone have any experience with this?

Things are going well at work, and tax day is supposed to be big for me, but I'm almost afraid to say too much because I'll jinx myself - just know that one thing may be off our plates by then - and it's not our taxes, they're already done - yeah!