Okay, freaking out is over (for now). I'm feeling much more sanguine about the move now. I'm ordering moving boxes from this website which offers free overnight shipping, because it's just much easier than scavenging for them in the neighborhood. I took a good look around my apartment and decided that it really won't be that arduous to pack. And I already feel very welcomed by knitters in Massachusetts! (see comments to previous post) Thank you! Between the knitters and church, I think I'll have an easier time meeting people than most would. Plus I'll have Scott, my dad, my sister & her fiance, as well as one of my oldest friends who lives nearby... so at least I won't be lonely.
So in between all the goodbye parties, reading Harry Potter, and not packing, I've actually been doing a fair amount of knitting lately, not that you'd know it from reading this knitting blog. When we last left the Peacock, I had ripped the whole thing out and started again. Well, it only took me a week to get back to where I was (and I'm glad I did it - the correct decreases do indeed look much better, at least to me), and I'm now on the seventh (and penultimate) chart. This is where it gets really fancy. Wendy and Julia recently called it the 7th level of nirvana, but I wouldn't quite go that far, because some rows take more concentration than I'm accustomed to giving my knitting. But it sure is lovely, and I guess I'm getting the hang of this chart now that I'm in the middle of it.
Of course Wendy is now finished with hers. Yesterday I was jealous of her ever-speedy progress, but today I'm not. Sour grapes? Who me? No, surely it's because I'm enjoying this project very much and don't want it to end. And if I finished, I would probably want to knit another shawl, and it's starting to occur to me that I might have enough shawls. I could gift them, you say? Ah, but I am very selfish, and also I don't know anyone else who wears shawls. And part of me feels that only other knitters can truly appreciate lace shawls, but that's probably not true.
I'm also knitting socks for Scott, in stripy Trekking sock yarn. This is my first toe-up sock, and I like it very much. Knitting them this way, I almost can't see why anyone would knit socks any other way. I decided to finally try it because I'd like them to be as high as possible, but I don't know how far the yarn will go, and Scott is a tall man with proportionally large feet.
Ah, this entry's getting long and the day is getting short. I'll cut it off here. Look - three entries within a week! What is the world coming to? I must be really avoiding the packing.