Takin’ a break from The Major House Cleaning/Organizing Day. Oh yes. Very much needed. Later I will also be posting a bunch of stuff on eBay that I’ve been meaning to as well as dropping off some Goodwill stuff and bringing phone books and light bulbs to be recycled. The latter stuff may get done tomorrow, depending on how far I get with everything else. Oh yeah, and returning the Swivel Sweeper I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond. The idea is great and if I had no pets and only hardwood floors, it’d be great. Instead, it gets jammed up immediately with the slightest puff of cat fur. Sure, it comes with a neat doohickey for untangling the roller bars, but it totally defeats the purpose of the “no-touch” dirt cup. Bleah. Zoe was similarly unimpressed.

Oh – and I went in for that checkup and blood test…and my cholesterol is now down to 184!!! That’s down 66 points!!! W00t! My triglycerides are still high, but everything else is back in order (although now I could stand to raise the good cholesterol, lol). I’m also no longer anemic, but still under-ironed, so I’ll still be taking the iron every day for now.

So, the diet changes and the exercise seem to be working! I’ve done the Wii nearly every day for a month (today will be day 30 – I wonder what the game’ll do when I sign in, lol…it likes to “reward” you). My weight is still zig-zaggy, but now it’s hovering just over and under the normal/overweight BMI line (between 145-148 lbs), so I have lost a few pounds already. I did the free run last night for 20 minutes while watching TV and was fine except for my knee aching a little, so the stamina is increasing also. Hooked on Wii Worked for Me!™

In more knitting-like news, I have an FO!!! Dark Scarlett made her debut yesterday after being sewn up Thursday night:

Love it. Fits perfectly, the yarn was great to work with and it’s nice & comfy. Wearing it yesterday even inspired one of our customers to buy up the last of the Matsuri and the Noro Joy book, so I guess I definitely did well, lol! I did the fronts at the same time and realized I forgot to do the buttonholes…and decided I didn’t care. Yesterday I just used a hair stick as a closure – I will probably use some of those metal hook and eyes to make permanent closures at some point, lol.

Among the next items on my list to work on are my Bel Air Cables and my Cash Island fingerless gloves (I need to decide on whether I want to design a cable to go on them). Here’s where the gloves are right now…well, one of them (I’m working 2 at a time)!

But, more immediately, I am working on a pair of socks for my godson. He requested them over the summer and after an in-depth interview on color preferences with the determination that red is the favorite, I found some Happy Feet at the store in the perfect shade!

He’s only 10, so I probably won’t need all of both skeins, but just in case I got them! I’m using my Sensational Knitted Socks charts as a reference, but I’ve made up a cuff pattern to make it a little more interesting for me. It’s basically all K1 / P1 rib with a six stitch cable on either side of the sock that I twist every 10 rows. So far, I like!

I’m hoping to finish these by the holidays (I wish I could finish them by Thanksgiving, but HA! I don’t think so.). For the goddaughter I have some hot pink Polarspun I am thinking of making into a hooded scarf (if there’s enough).

I still have some sewing projects I owe them as well – for the GD a skirt that she picked the fabric for, but then quickly outgrew, so I have to find the extra fabric so I can put gores in and change the waistband to elastic for more longevity.

For the GS, I have SUCH a languishing WIP. YEARS, and I mean YEARS ago he was super into all things American Flagish. Like he wanted them EVERYwhere. I decided to make him an American Flag Quilt of my own design as I was delving a little into the quilting at the time. I managed to finish the top and I think I attached the batting – and then Life Happened and it all got put aside. For a while I misplaced the backing fabric (which has since been recovered from the depths of STASHZILLA) and then it had been so long I wasn’t even sure if he still wanted it anymore.

So, last night I call his mom/my cousin to find out his shoe size for the socks and she hands the phone to him to tell me himself. While I’m asking, I inquire about the flag quilt – does he still want me to finish it for him or has he lost interest? He says casually, “Yeah, I still want it.”

When he gives the phone back to his mom I mention the quilt and she starts telling me that it’d be so great to have it since he has not stopped asking about the thing since I first told him I was making it ALL these years. I was amazed – and encouraged. Well, now my confidence is restored and I’m finished that damned thing. Maybe even in time for Thanksgiving when I’ll see him next.

So, I’ll be getting back to the mass cleanup project, which will soon involve Mopping and Vacuuming. Fun! And perhaps the outside errands will get done tomorrow…that wind out there is just howling! Brrrrr…