See Ya Later, Alligator!

We're sitting in the airport, ready to head out on our trip! I'm blogging from my phone (isn't technology wonderful?).
It took us until 3 AM (and then another frenzy this morning) but we managed to get all of that stuff (and more!) packed into one small checked bag and one carry-on each. Not too shabby.
I have two skeins of Trekking XXL packed for my trip knitting.
Africa, here we come! See you in mid-September.

p.s. Happy Birthday to me! And Richard Gere, too!

p.p.s. Have you bought Arrested Development Season 3 yet? All the cool knitbloggers are watching it...

Trip Preparation

Our trip is coming up sooon! To recap for those who don't remember (or who just stumbled on the blog), Dan and I are going to Africa! Tanzania, to be specific, and we're going to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, where we'll hopefully see tons of wildlife. We leave on Thursday. For those keeping track, that's also my 30th birthday!

So we've gotten our shots (um, like 8 of them), gotten our visas (thank goodness the embassy is here in town!), what else was left to get? Apparently a lot.

Yikes! Cat included for scale

We did a little consumerism over the weekend (and the past few weeks) trying to get everything we might possibly need. Since we're trying to pack it all into just two duffel bags, this could be interesting. Luckily, there's a lot of extra bulk there. The Amazon box just above Linus contained two Compact Flash memory cards and lots of packing peanuts. : )

We've spent quite a bit of money, but I'm trying to remember that it's a once in a lifetime trip (well, until we go back) and that we got a bunch of stuff that we'll use for years to come. And we'll have pictures (and video) to last us - and to torture our friends (and blog readers) with! And it's my birthday, and our anniversary, and Christmas, etc. But the bottom line is that we both work, don't have kids, and choose to spend our money on travel (it's certainly not on designer clothing or furniture, as those who have visited me can attest to).

The box I'm sure that you all care the most about (even if you don't realize it yet) is the small white square one on the top right. Here's a peek inside:

Oooh, Trekking!

This is the yarn for my trip - Trekking XXL in colorways 108, 105, 100, and 110, clockwise from upper left. Or at least two balls of it will go with me. I'm going to be limiting myself to socks and see how much I get done! I've already cast on the first one - a Pomatomus in 108 - the blue/brown upper left - inspired by Jodi's sock seen here and this lovely pair (scroll down). I'm trying to decide which lucky other ball gets to come with and what pattern (if any) to use... what do you think? (and Mom, those foot measurements could come in handy... but I'm just sayin'...)

And another thing I'm packing is my postcard list. Want to be on it? E-mail me your snail mail address and I'll hook you up!

Next time... more trip preparation, with wildlife!

(And for any criminal elements who might be reading this and thinking our house will be empty - we're getting a catsitter. So there! Ha!)

Making progress...

OK, Picovoli is finished! And not yet blocked. No photos yet.

But to tide you over, there has been progress on a WIP. If you'll remember, I started Celtic Icon in May. This is definitely a gradual, back-burner kind of project, but I have been working on it all summer. Earlier this week, I hit a milestone:

Milestone!

That's right, it's time for the underarm bind-off/begin raglan shaping! I swear this was one of those projects that just seemed to go on forever... Before shaping, I had to knit 18.5". I knit 16", knit another inch, measured - 16". I knit another inch, measured - 16.5". It went on like that for months at least. OK, slight exaggeration, but you all know what I mean. At least I know that Stephanie knows what I mean (and writes about it far more eloquently than I do).

But at last, I hit that magic 18.5" and bound off! 6 stitches! Per end!! This reduces my workload by 12 whole stitches! And every other row I get to eliminate 2 more!!! I think it's pretty clear that it's flying now. In fact, here's a graphic:

Fun with Photoshop!

Since I bound off on Monday, I am already at Line #2... and this is without too much knitting time. A little bit longer and I should be able to get it done. And then I'll have one whole sleeve finished! (I could dwell on the fact that I still have two fronts, a back, another sleeve, and a hood, but I won't. Tonight is for celebration!)

Here's a few more photos to document the momentous occasion:

Such progress!

Pretty cable