It's sure hard to believe that it's September already, but I'm happy to be heading into my favorite time of year. And, I took Friday off (I had to work until 11 PM on Thursday due to a public hearing--another thing that I'm glad is o-vah), so I'm enjoying an extremely delightful and much-needed four day weekend.

I'm speedily moving forward on Nerissa and have the back completed, and a good start on the front. Since there are no sleeves (yee haw!), this is one knit that should be done soon, although I don't think I'll get to wear it until next summer.Yet again, I'm appalled at how poorly this purple color photographs--this makes it look really blue! The true color is shown fairly well at this website--the color is #334 Delphinium.

I also couldn't resist starting a lace project from "Victorian Lace Today", which I purchased a month or two ago (along with "Fitted Knits" which I am also swooning over). Me, actually working on two projects at once, shocking eh? The book is full of lace patterns that are for the most part simple, yet beautiful. The pattern I ended up choosing, the Victoria Shawl, is particularly plain, but I love the crazy edging:I am making it in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in "Mist", a pale bluish-white color, slightly variegated, that Jeanne so generously gifted to me (thanks again!). Looking good so far, although I think I may be using a slightly smaller needle that I should.The yarn is wonderful to knit with, so soft. Believe it or not this is the first thing I've ever made with Knit Picks yarn!

So, back to my long weekend, the original plan was to perhaps do a short backpacking trip. Unfortunately, I had slightly injured my ankle back during our Cape Cod trip (I will say nothing more than it happened after a long night of partying and involved some deck stairs), and while it is not painful to walk on during my normal daily routine, it is a bit sore when it is bent a certain way. Since hiking is an activity rife with the potential for ankles to be bent in strange ways, it seemed safer to not go, particularly since the section we were planning to hike is quite rugged and remote. Apparently ankles take forever to heal too, so I'm not sure if the planned hike will happen this year or not.

Even more unfortunately, I had to face up to what I really need to do this weekend: a long list of chores that have been put off all summer. The weather is projected to be gorgeous all weekend, perfect for washing and waxing the vehicles (groan).

So today I washed a car, and even better, I was able to make a needed repair to it. Behold:
Back on some horrid day in late March, I went out to open the passenger door one morning and the plastic door handle completely broke off without any serious effort. A strange bout of weather had led condensation to build up around the door gaskets, then froze the doors shut in a way that was not visible. So for the last five months, whenever G and I wanted to drive this truck anywhere, we had to open the door from the inside to let the other person in (it did make a handy redneck security system though, LOL!). Finally we bought a replacement handle and this morning I worked up the gumption to try to install it. And, it actually worked! Well, it works for now, anyway. I think I broke a bunch of stuff inside the door while installing it so we'll see for how long things hold together, ha ha.

And for another ha ha, last night was the final evening of our summer couples bowling league (candlepin, bien sur!), and I had to show off our fabulous his-and-hers trophies:Don't you just love that gleam, like it's the Heisman trophy or something? And the fact that the figure on my trophy is wearing a skirt? Hilarious! We actually didn't really win these for anything, since our team (go Wild Cards!) came in dead last. But since it was such a small league of only four teams, they decided everyone needed a prize. So much cooler than just a "Participant" ribbon, huh? Actually the teams that won the first and second place trophies were kind of jealous of our groovy retro statuettes. They will surely have a place of honor in our abode ;)