Bind-Off Boogie

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Tonight I finished doing the picot edge bind-off on my shawl, binding off all 485 stitches!!! And it looks great if I do say so myself. Where are the photos, you might ask. Well, I still need to do an applied I-cord on the neck edge to add stability to that edge, so the shawl is not finished yet, but it is getting darn close! I have to go on YouTube and find some video tutorials on how to do applied I-cord, which stands for idiot-cord, and then I can start that last part of the knitting.

So I have some photos to share from Jeannie. The first 2 are from Michal's annual Christmas tree bonfire. This major pyro event had to be postponed a few times because of all the rain and snow that Tennessee has received. The first photo is of the 600-plus trees that were collected, awaiting the light of the match. The second photo is of Michal, Elizabeth and an unknown friend (unknown to me, I am assuming that Michal and Elizabeth know that person!).

Jeannie sent us this next photo after Bob and Joanie visited Jeannie and Mark on their way home from Florida. In spite of the cooler weather that Bob and Joanie experienced in Florida, they both still look like they got a bit of a tan!

Speaking of Florida, Jim and I will be taking a 5-day, all expenses paid trip to Naples, Florida in May. How come? Because Jim is the recipient of a big award at work and the award is being presented at the Ritz-Carleton in Naples, where we will be guests for those 5 days! I am very proud of him, and am sooooo glad that he asked me to be his guest! Maybe I will wear my new shawl at the presentation dinner!

This has been a fairly typical week around here. The usual nights out, but nothing really noteworthy happening. Our snow should melt pretty good in the next few days because the forecast is for sunny skies and temps in the 40's. I took my car to the carwash on my way to work this morning, so it is ready to shine in the sun!

Corey is in Boston to run in the IC4A Championships at Boston University. Jim thinks that stands for the Inter-Collegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America. Good Luck, Corey!

Tucker called tonight to tell us that he is headed out on a 5 day trip down the Salt River in Arizona. Tucker now has a blog that chronicles his adventures with Aquaponics. Curious? Click Here for a link to that blog.

I'm headed over to YouTube now. Wish me luck.

Hope all is well.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I have been such a spectator this weekend and it has been great!

Of course, the Olympics have continued to be spectacular. There has always been a good story to go along with each event. And today the USA/Canada hockey game did not disappoint. Although I would have preferred that the Americans won, I am still very happy for our neighbors to the north. Now, I write this as the Closing Ceremonies are being broadcast. There has been a wonderful re-cap of all the events, which is fun to watch.

Last night Jim and I went to the RIT hockey game versus Canisius College with Gram and GrandDad.
The RIT team beat Canisius 8-0 on Friday night, but last night we saw a more competitive game with RIT coming out on top 5-4. From the hockey arena, we went back to Gram and GrandDad's to watch Syracuse play their arch rival, Villanova, in basketball. This game was a sell-out in the Carrier Dome with 34, 616 tickets being sold. Corey had one of those tickets. To show the importance of this game, Corey wore his orange pants! We got home to see the second half of the basketball game and Syracuse put on a real show and soundly beat Villanova! Corey said the celebration in Syracuse continued on through the night once the final buzzer sounded to end the actual game!

So today we wrap up the Olympics. But to keep me from getting in to a sports-withdrawl funk, Jim reminded me that March Madness is right around the corner!

We had Gram, GrandDad, and Grandma here for dinner tonight. I made Wegman's ribs and they were delicious. Corey called while we were finishing dessert and we passed the phone around so he could talk to everyone.

Here is a photo of how much snow we got. If you are having trouble reading the tape measure, the snow depth is a hair under 19 inches~a very respectable snow storm!
I see from my poll about cleaning behind your sofa, that there our cleaning priorities cover a fairly wide spectrum!

My seascape shawl is progressing nicely. I have 4 more rows of 485 stitches each and then will finish off the bottom edge with some nice picot edging. Then there is an i-cord that I need to knit onto the top edge to stabilize the edge that goes around my neck. I can hardly wait to finish knitting this and then block it to see the lace patterns pop right out.

Have a good week.

Hope all is well.