After a rather rough week at work, I took the opportunity to rush home yesterday and knit. I finished up the back of Cherry:

And started the left front, which is just zipping along:

I’m making good progress! We’ll see how much further I get this weekend.

The other night, we had a thunderstorm, and I woke up to Lani firmly wedged into my lower back:

I love it when she does stuff like that.

I’ve been cataloging stash, and I clearly have reached critical mass. I’m clearing some of it out, including some sweater quantities:

Details on my stash page on Ravelry.

You can contact me through Ravelry, or drop me an email at daishan97@gmail.com.

June Goals:
1. Finish Brad’s Phildar sweater for NaKniSweMoDo. Done
2. Finish Nebula. Done
3. Finish sewing for the bedroom (vanity table and bed throw) Done

July Goals:
1. Finish Cherry for NaKniSweMoDo.
2. Make progress on Aphrodite.
3. Finish Marlene
4. Make progress on the argyle socks
5. Start socks for my sister
6. Start on the baby blanket.
7. Finish my first baby item.

I had a plan: yesterday, my sister had the ultrasound, the one where they find out the gender. I was going to very calmly consult my (private) queue once I knew, and place an order for some yarn. I was going to continue to knit on Cherry, and wait until the humidity wasn’t 99% before attempting to knit for a winter baby.

I failed. Michele is having a boy! I get a nephew. I promptly figured out what I could knit right now, and I’ve got 5 inches of a sweater back. Of course, this leaves me kind of short for pictures today (the blanket will be public, as she picked it, but there have to be some surprises in life!).

So, my anniversary yarn (bought with my gift card from Brad) arrived – I got Mirasol Nuna in Prussian Blue. In August, it will become Henley Perfected.

And when all else fails – look, Lani!

On Saturday, Brad and I went to a pick-your-own strawberry farm. After all of the rain we’ve had, it takes a little more effort to find the strawberries that haven’t gotten waterlogged and split. I only managed to pick a quart and a half before my recovering-from-moldy-lungs self needed to sit, but Brad was a trooper and powered through:

We supplemented by picking up another two quarts (far right). We had the obligatory cider donut and strawberry ice cream, but I think in the future we’ll skip the picking part. Barely cheaper than just buying the strawberries from the farm, and they had first pick.

All the real work came in at home on Sunday:

Thankfully we have an AC unit in the kitchen. Lots of heat coming from the stove. But after all was said and done, I had my very first strawberry jam.

Then I made some strawberry-lemon marmalade, which was even better. I froze a bunch of berries for future combinations with fruits later in the season, like figs, but I don’t know if I can wait!

I finished my first seamless argyle sock (finally).

The weaving in of ends alone took almost an hour!

Now I have to go to work and give a presentation that I didn’t know I had today this time yesterday. To my boss’s boss’s boss as well as his boss. No pressure. At least I found out in time to wear a suit and not “causal Friday” jeans!

I finished my first Marlene (FINALLY) this past weekend:

I’ve just started the second, but it’s sharing time with the arygle sock (first one of that should be done tonight). I am dying to get back down to one pair of sock on the needles at a time. Too many and I feel overwhelmed. Not to mention I’m way behind on the 6 pairs I had intended to make my sister this year (only one in so far).

So there was some work news yesterday – we’re having our second round of lay-offs now, with our third round to happen in September. My job is safe (at least past September, don’t know if there will be a fourth round). It’s kind of a mixed bag for me – I get to do more of a job I absolutely love, but then some of my time will also be spent picking up some of the stuff where there are holes from a departing team member. But overall – I’m grateful I still have a job, and while loving parts of my job isn’t the same as loving all of my job, it’s also not the same as hating all of it. I think the biggest challenge for me is going to be to not fall into the trap of working way too much again.

1. Work. OMG.

2. I ordered yarn yesterday for Henley Perfected, which will be my August NaKniSweMoDo sweater. There was exactly the right amount of yarn left (it was a closeout) and it was $2 more than my gift card. The knitting universe was aligned.

3. I need to get some unloved (by me) up for sale. It’s been gross and rainy, but once I can get good pictures, expect some stash sale.

4. We’ve been teaching Lani to go up and down the stairs slowly, as she’s fallen down them quite a few times in her blind haste, and apparently has not learned her lesson. She had a breakthrough this morning and managed it without a leash.

Or taste different. Because it’s actually a peony. Thanks for the info yesterday – next time I’ll flash a picture before I make something from random plants in my yard because I clearly do not know what they are. Thankfully, peonies are edible. Whew!

Not doing so well with Cherry, either – when I got home last night, I realized that I had knit a very lovely back, but it was measuring less than the needed measurements (yes, I did swatch, but I think the slipped stitch cable might be pulling in more than expected). I was almost at the end of the first skein, so I just knit directly from the old to the new:

Luckily, I’m doing well on Aphrodite – I’m up to row 60:

And Lani’s plan to take over the universe with her cuteness is also continuing on schedule:

We literally couldn’t go to bed because she was too cute to disturb. *sigh*

I was lucky enough to get one of Norma’s lovely jars of rose petal jam with her recent charity push, and once I tasted it, I was immediately horrified at the thought of running out. Then I realized what I had next to my driveway:

No idea what kind they are, and I certainly have never sprayed them, so I immediately pillaged:

Using the recipe that Norma recommends here, I tried my first foray into freezer jam:

It looks milkier than hers, but I enjoyed it. I also have some actual canning equipment on the way, so my next attempt I’ll actually be able to process. This is all part of my plan to become a domestic goddess that neither cleans nor cooks dinner.

I did get some knitting in as well – NaKniSweMoDo #7 is out of the gate in the form of Cherry:

I just happened to have the exact yarn called for. So far so good!