Improving

I'm happy to share with you all that I have not been cursed with any more major misfortunes since my key/toilet incident and I am beginning to think that my luck is on the rise.  My ankle was healing nicely, and I now have a key for my room again, and for those things I am thankful.

Sometimes, however, we do have a bit of control over our lives and I have to say that I've sort of screwed myself this time.  This past week I had Thursday and Friday off from classes as our mid-term break, and it happened to be perfect timing for several reasons.  The first being that my little sister is in a circus and I was able to drive home to see her show on Thursday night.  It was really fun (and quite frightening) to watch the circus! - she does the trapeze.

I was home long enough to snap a picture of my latest creation before heading off on the second part of my weekend adventure.

I wish I had taken better pictures before leaving, but as it is I snapped this one while running out the door, so it's the one that you get.

If you can't tell, that is a knitted pear.  I mentioned Salihan Laugesen's Perry the Pear pattern on my podcast a while back, and she sent me the pattern for free as a thank you!  I definitely recommend checking out the pattern as her pear looks much more adorable than mine.

I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece held doubled for the body (in the "Willow Leaf" colorway) and I think US size 7 DPNs, but I didn't actually ever check the size, so I'm not positive.  This was one of those grab'n'go projects.  All I knew was that I wanted a sufficiently tight gauge for a stuffed toy, so I wasn't too preoccupied by the yarn or needles I was using.  I also used little scraps of Cascade 220 for the stem, mouth, and leaf.  I substituted this leaf pattern because I liked the shaping details a bit better.

He may be a bit frumpy, but he served his purpose, which was to act as a quick knit to contrast the other more long-term projects I have on the needles.  (Let's face it, I needed something to show all of you wonderful people).  I was going to stuff him with some really horrendous novelty yarn I have locked away, but I was afraid it would peek through, so instead I cut open an old pillow and used its innards to stuff him.  I have some Cotton Fleece in two other shades of green and am toying with the idea of making a couple more pears to add to this one, but I haven't decided yet.

Oh!  Back to how I screwed myself.  The second part of my weekend adventure was that it just so happened that my three very best friends and I all happened to have this weekend free.  Seeing as how one of us is married, one is in grad school, another is doing the "real world" thing, and I am living in a completely different state, we don't get to hang out very often.  We jumped at the opportunity and decided to spend the weekend at the Wisconsin Dells!

I re-f*ed up my ankle on a waterslide (it was totally worth it!   ...the first time), but other than that it was really fun!  We have a tradition of going on water-themed vacations (water parks, canoe trips, lazy rivers, etc.) and they are always a blast.  I am so happy that I was able to spend time with my friends again and I reeaaaallllly needed a break from school (5 weeks left!).  The screwing myself part came when I got back to campus and was instantly ambushed by the mountain of unfinished homework that I happily ignored all weekend.  This week is going to be a bit of a stress-fest, but it's the price you have to pay, right?