Whirlwind Catch-up

I just barely eked out that last blog post and my life hit "hyper drive".  The lazy/hazy days of summer are just a dream, this summer kicked offt with a gunshot!

Let's start with the biggest news of all- how I did in the Stampede this year.

I DID WELL!

First in my Category and another 2nd place finish overall.  On top of that I was chosen as the Gina Brown Memorial Needle Arts award, which according to my google fu means; "the Gina Brown Needle arts award is open to anyone entering the Open Section in the Knitting, Crocheting & tatting, Sewing or Stitchery Sections. The winner of this award is chosen by members of the Creative arts and Crafts community."  So um... WOW, did not see that coming and SO SO flattered.

I want to state adamently how pleased I am with this finish and this award and how truely flattered I am to be recognized.  I will admit that I'm already trying to think about what's going to put me over the top to get a First overall because I really REALLY want that ribbon in my collection now.

I was unable to go to the Stampede to see for myself (and all of the entries) until later in the week, so I was so greatful MiL was able to send me a quick text pic... which I got just as I was about to leave the country.

YUP- I had to get some stuff out of the way because we flew out on July 2 to DENMARK to go to a wedding.  Copenhagen was lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our extremely quick (4 days) there.  On our last evening, late in the day I walked by a yarn shop by accident and was crushed that it was closed.  BUT on the upside to all of this, the travel sock got to see some action again.  (Transatlantic flights are excellent for progress making...)

Knowing that I had to go away for a few days I really felt the pressure to get my two charity blankets out the door BEFORE me so that I didn't hold anyone else up.  This is "Mother's Day" (knit in your mom's favorite color... so pink section for me) and "Raspberry Surprise" (knit in combinations of red/pink or white).

Getting those charity blankets out of the way, however, kept me from making more progress on the Tickled Purple blanket.  That was a shame because baby Claire had the AUDACITY to be early!  (GAH!)  And, while I just finally, FINALLY caught back up to where I had screwed up enormously LAST NIGHT, it's not going to be ready for a while yet.

(Deja vu anyone?  Believe me, this photo is new)

That leaves me with a tough choice to make because I don't really want to be too behind on baby gifts and there is only so much left in the "overflow" for blankets.  These are friends we socialize with regularly and would like to give them something a little extra special.  Husband thinks I could give them the "More Than I Can Chew" Blanket from many MANY moons ago.  In fact, (as I don't see a post about it) I think this blanket was before this blog even existed (2007!).  Here are some photos of it:

This blanket is lovely and I DO feel it hits that "special" note but I have one issue with it.  There's an error right smack in the middle.  I'll need to look at it again and see if it really bothers me enough to let it go or not.

And that brings you up to date on the knitting progress around here.  There is progress, I just haven't been around much to talk about it!  I'm hoping to finish the purple blanket and get back into the mittens- I really just want to work on those mittens for awhile.  So, hopefully that will be the story soon and we can ease into some simple, quick projects this summer.