Grumpy day.

Nothing in the lab is working, and I have a ton of green card- and name-related paperwork to do, and I am getting very grumpy about it.

On the other hand, I've been getting a lot of stuff done--I love that little tingly feeling when you know you're completely done with something, even if it's kind of small and unimportant! After Aai left on Saturday, Tejas and I went into full-out cleaning mode. Now the bathroom and kitchen have been scrubbed (and bleached...I might have cheated on the all-nontoxic-cleaners diet a little bit, but it was under severe provocation. On the other hand, my kitchen sink is beautiful and you could probably eat out of it) to within an inch of their lives, and we have more clean laundry than we know what to do with.

Oh, and remember the melon stitch shawl? That I was supposed to send back with Aai to give to Tejas' gramma, only she moved her departure date up by 20 days? I was so close to being done last Friday that I decided it would be stupid to finish the day after she left. I knitted like crazy Friday night and Saturday morning, and by 1 pm Saturday afternoon I was ready to block. We were going to leave for the airport at 3:30, so Tejas helped me set up a super-quick blocking system: the shawl pinned out on the futon by a string run through every point (it took up the entire length), with two fans blowing over it full-blast. Tejas' brother was there to say goodbye to his mom, and boy did he give us some funny looks! Luckily it was a hot day and laceweight dries fast--by 2 pm it was ready. We snapped a couple of photos (to be posted soon...forgot 'em today) and shoved it into Aai's bag, and that was that. I hope its new owner will like it.

I also finished the Yellowstone Vest (pictures to come of this, too), though I still need to get some buttons for it. (Trace-trace! I want my button box back! I refuse to buy ten thousand buttons for charity sweaters if I keep knitting for Afghans for Afghans. Give me back my box, you button-thief! :) ) It turned out all right--not as much curling as I was afraid of after I blocked it, though the front edges still curl a little bit (should be okay when buttoned up). I still think there's got to be a better edge-finishing method, though...or maybe I'll make the next one in garter stitch.

And finally, I'm halfway through the foot of the second Undulating Rib sock (in Fleece Artist "Forest"), which means I can expect to finish sometime soon. This is very good, because I promised myself I wouldn't start another "complicated" sock pair till I finished this one, though it's actually pretty easy (I can read and knit it no problem). Next up: monkey socks in Socks That Rock "Nodding Violet," for someone who occasionally reads this blog, mwahahahahahha! I think they're going to be a Christmas present. After a month with no socks knitted, I'm feeling the sock-knitting instinct kick in again!