Monday, what a lovely day

Seriously, it's a dreary day here in Nicholasville. Cloudy skies, it's threatening rain, perfect day for drinking coffee and knitting. I will work on the lace scarf today; my goal is to complete at least one full repeat of the pattern. I also want to cast on the lace socks with the lovely souvenir yarn that I brought home from Gatlinburg.
Work is going good. I must say that I have a beautiful view from my dining room at Keeneland. The room overlooks the track, right at the start/finish line. It doesn't suck at all.
I'm off today, and I should be cleaning the house and doing laundry. The dishwasher is running right now, so I'm well on my way to having a clean house before Donnie gets home this afternoon.
Easter was fantastic! Thomas had a fun time, and we had fun watching him play outside with his bubble mower. I love being able to spend time with my family.
It's time to start knitting for the day. I could probably dust, too, and pass the vacuum, but there's always tomorrow!

Running to the mountains...

Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?! We were enjoying a beautiful day outside, playing cars and trucks.

I'm getting ready for our trip to Gatlinburg today. We are leaving this afternoon, heading to London to spend the night with Donnie's parents, and then we will head to Gatlinburg tomorrow morning. I'm really excited about it! I'm just amazed at how much stuff we're bringing. I've been obsessively checking weather.com to make sure that the weather will be nice. I've packed three knitting projects, and we're going to a yarn store, so I should be able to get through the weekend without running out of knitting.

Speaking of the knitting, I'm almost done with the first sock, and I'm hoping that I will have the second sock started this weekend. The lace scarf is now languishing in the knitting bag, so it's coming along, too. I'll take pictures of everything this weekend, hopefully out in the nature.

Professionally, things are looking up as well. I went to the Keeneland spring meet job fair this past Tuesday, and they want me to come in for Captains training next. Their captains are like dining room managers. The director of dining services, who I interviewed with, said that if they didn't have a captain's position that suited me, then I could go to the servers' training. So, more than likely, I will at least be serving at Keeneland this spring meet. I'm excited about it; it feels good knowing that I'm going back to work, especially after not working for so long.

Well, the dryer is done, so I've got laundry to fold. If I have Internet access in the Great Smoky Mountains, I will post updates this weekend. Otherwise, you'll just have to wait till next week!

Why I knit

So I started knitting Thanksgiving, 2006. So I am a fairly new knitter. I've read that there are 2 types of knitters, process and product. I am definitely a product knitter. I love the feeling of making something out of a ball of yarn and some pointy sticks.
I got inspired to learn how to knit over a game of Scrabble. I was playing with my sister, my brother and his wife. She was crocheting something, a blanket I think, and I thought to myself, I want to learn how to knit. My mom had a book that teaches knitting, along with some yarn and needles. Thankfully, the book had instructions for left-handed people, otherwise who knows what hobby I would have picked up!
Since then, I've made scarves, socks, hats, baby toys, washcloths, and lots of mistakes. But I've learned more than just how to knit. I've learned patience, some math, and dedication. Knitting has given me focus and the ability to see things long term. It takes some imagination to look at a ball of wool and see a lace scarf hiding in there.
It also gives me a connection to my family that I didn't anticipate. My mom has always been crafty, and she makes some of the most beautiful needlepoint. My sister-in-law knits and crochets and is great at both. My sister does gorgeous orgami. We all have this creative drive in common. It also makes me so proud to see someone that I love wearing something that I made for them. There is something to be said for seeing your loved ones being sheltered from the cold by something that came from your hands.
I'm working on my first lace piece right now. It's coming along, but right now it looks more like wet noodles than lace. Patience is a virtue, right?
So that is the beginning of my knitting story. There will be more chapters to come.