Ready... GO!

Our flights, trains, and hotels are now all set for our trip! There are so many places I want to take Hubby but I don't know how to pick what the best things to show him are! We are going to spend a few days in Tokyo and then it's Hokkaido all the way!!!
After we finished booking everything last night I got a call from the credit card company. They wanted to check if my card has been stolen since suddenly there were some big ticket items on it. I was trilled that they called and they that really are watching my account! It was nice to have that happen.
Only a few more days and my grandmother comes to visit! I am so excited to see her. Last time she came was only for a few days at Thanksgiving. I wasn't able to go and see her this year. I love when she comes. She has a ton of energy and she can't sit still. I hope that when I'm her age that I have her passion for life. I'm always active now, but I hope to stay this active when I am a senior citizen! HA HA, I have a while to go before I get to that point in my life! ^_^
Now that my sweater is finished I did move on to that sleeveless shell. I only did the first 4 rows, but I LOVE the color and how it will look so far!

One More Month

One month from today we will be on our way to Japan! I am so excited about it!!! It's always nice to go back and it feels like going home for me. It's such a special place and I miss my friends so much!
Today I also finished the sweater!!!! It's soaking at the moment. and then I'll block it. I am so pleased with it. I have to have some help to sew in the zipper, but the knitting of it is done! It fits great everywhere but the arms. With the border on them they are a little longer than I wanted, but the border will protect and keep the edge nicer for longer.
I am ready to start my next project today. I have a light summer sleeveless shell that I'm going to make. I got this great rust colored yarn and later tonight I'll cast it on.
This weekend we are going to get our flights to Hokkaido and our hotel in Tokyo and we will be set to go!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweater of Doom!

I did it!!! I sewed the sleeves on my sweater and now the last part is the border. I'm so pleased with it! I made the sleeves longer that what the pattern said I should, but I'm happy with their length. Here is the body before the sleeves:

Here are the sleeves before I sewed them closed:

And of course here are the sleeves attached to the body: I have started the border about three times now. I didn't like it the first time, the second time I made a major mess-up and the last time I dropped a stitch somewhere. So, hopefully, the fourth time I can get it going and on there like it is supposed to be!

FREEDOM!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'm done with school for the summer! See, teachers get just as excited as the kiddos!!
Anyway, I'm been plugging away on my sweater. I finished the sleeves and I sewed them up. I'm now trying to match them up with the body so that I can sew them in. This task is becoming more of a challenge that I thought it would be. That's ok, I have ALL day to sit around and work on it!
I also have been working on sewing a canvas bag. I've learned how to change the needle and tension on my machine. If I can finish it that look out Project Runway here I come! (yeah, right...)
My Nana comes up in a few days so in addition to my knitting and sewing I have to clean my house for her visit. I love seeing her and having her come in the summer is always a good time. It's shaping up to be a busy and fun filled summer for me! ^_^

Busy Busy Time of Year!

It's that grand time of year when the kids at school are done and the teachers have a few days in the building before we can rejoice and enjoy our summers! I will not be seeing most of my kiddos for the last day of school. My coworker signed me up for a project, so I'll be doing that instead of playing end of the year games with my kiddos.

I am supposed to be typing up my report cards right now, but I am looking at fun stuff on e-bay and reading other blogs... not getting it done in other words. Of course they are due tomorrow, so I will have to get in gear at some point today.

I am also distracted by the fact that Thursday my coworker gave me her old sewing machine! That's right, FREE! I have wanted a sewing machine for a long time. My mom use to sew all kinds of stuff for my brother and I. Now I want to make stuff for me! I went to the library to get out some books on sewing machines, since the owners manual is not with it. For a machine that has sat without use for two years, it is in amazing working order! I made a "quillow" for my first project! A quillow is supposed to be a quilt that then folds up and fits in a pocket sewn to the back to make a pillow. Mine is not a quilt... that was too advanced for my first project. I made mine out of fleece. I told hubby that it is for our LONG flight to Japan. I now have an extra pillow or a blanket when I'm cold. The blankets and pillows that one gets in coach on international flights are not so great! Hubby thought this was a good idea and now he wants one.

Here is my Darth Vader quillow as the pillow:Here it is as the blanket:

Last night my brother and his girlfriend came to town to do a show. It was a good time and as always it was fun to see them. They did try out for Last Comic Standing in Toranto, Canada, but they didn't make the grade. Too bad! It was a nice evening out and now I should really get back to my report cards...

...I think I'll sew Hubby's quillow first...

Sweater Update

I managed to finish the body of the sweater I have been working on. I started the sleeves the other day and yesterday I was able to sit and get them looking more like sleeves than parts of a scarf! It's looking good so far and I'm really happy about the progress I've made on it. Of course, knitting heavy wool when it's hot out is not the best idea. I'm thrilled with how good it looks and I can't wait to finish it. In fact I like this one so much I am thinking of making a second one. My cousin is moving up to our great state of New York in a few months. However, she has never really braved the cold before, being that she is from Florida and all. So, I am thinking that when she gets up here I'll take her to my favorite place of all the yarn store and have her pick out what color she would like. I think it would be a nice warm gift for her. I know that she would wear it a lot at first since 1.) she has a small amount of warm clothes, and 2.) she is NOT adapted to cold winters and lake effect snows!
Anyway, I hope to get new picts of it up here soon!

Our Trip Plans

On Monday we got the invitation to the wedding in Japan! It is so cute! I love the card that she picked out. Now it's official that we are invited and going! Of course it was before too, but having an invitation makes it less like we are crashing the party!
Last night we ordered our train passes. They are a bit pricey up front, but let me tell you that this is the best thing to get BEFORE you go!! Last time I went I made up the price of my train pass in the first two days. It is sooooooooooooo worth it. So we should get the exchange order for them in the mail within the next two weeks. We then have to take the exchange order to the train rail office when we get there to exchange it for the train pass. Totally worth it! I'm excited because my husband LOVES the trains, so we will definitely ride a whole bunch of them while we are there.
Now that school is in it's finally stages for the year I can really think about our trip and get excited about it more now! I still have to think about next school year and finding a job again., but there are some things in the works so maybe I'll know before we leave. That would be great and relieve a LOT of my stress for the summer.