I am taking three days off of work this week. What else could time off be but awesome? Well, I’ll tell you.

  1. I have time off by myself. Did you hear that? By myself. Mike is at work, as it is not time off for him, and that means I get the whole day to do with exactly as I please. Now, realize it isn’t that I don’t like spending time with Mike. In fact, I absolutely love spending time with Mike, and this is the problem: when we’re both home together, I want to spend my time with him, not doing the solitary things that have been stacking up for the last, oh, I don’t know, year or so.
  2. It is extremely hot outside, but it is quite comfortable inside our house. This fact allows me to look outside at the jungle that needs to be weeded and cut back, the jungle that the landscape designer who is making her first visit to our house tomorrow will be horrified to see, and feel absolutely no shame for leaving it in that condition. Who in their right mind would weed in 90° temperatures?
  3. I am finding it incredibly easy to finish up the things I’ve had hanging over my head, the very things I suspect are keeping me from falling asleep at night. Today was laundry/computer day. Four loads of laundry got done and put away by 12:00 pm. I took pictures of knitting. I wrote the HTML for the web page documenting our crazy Ultimate Magic Kingdom Touring Plan attempt on our vacation back in May. I’m blogging. My to-do pile is shrinking.
  4. Three days is the right amount of time off. Day 1: Work on things around the house. Day 2: Do all the errands that never get done because I never seem to find the time to do them after work or on the weekends, like taking the car in for service, or getting my hair cut. My sister, Michelle, will be so pleased about that last one, since it’s been either 8 or 14 months, depending on how you figure it, since I’ve had a hair cut. Day 3: Sitting around on my butt doing crafty, organizey things, like scrapbooking the aforementioned vacation, putting all my completed knitting projects in the completed projects binder (yes, I have completed projects binder — that’ll have to be a blog post for a later date).

So now we come, as promised, to the knitting picture portion of this post. Gaze in wonder at the Calla Lillies!

These are from Sundara’s Petals Collection, and they couldn’t be more lovely. The pattern is on 4.25×11″ cards, a much more convenient size for tucking into a knitting bag than the more typical 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. I’m really looking forward to the next shipment.

Now cast your eyes on the Fancy Silk Sock!

These are, of course, from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks, in Cherry Tree Hill in Dusk, knitted on my favorite Inox #1 dpns. I like the lace pattern in these a lot, but be forewarned that a loose cast-on is mandatory — I made mine a little tight, which should be okay for Shannon and her slender legs, but they’re still pushing it.

And a parade!

Everyone is gathered in the sun on the sidewalk. And who is the mystery cuff? Another Nancy Bush pattern, “Gentleman’s Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern,” for Mike. The yarn is Art Yarns Ultramerino 4, and I’m really liking it a lot, more than CTH, I think. (I’m also psyched that I have another couple balls of it in my stash for me, in pinks and creams.)