Knitting... only not so much

Before I went on my trip I thought for sure I would have all sorts of time and that I would spend it completing knitting project after knitting project. I packed two books, a small stack of printed patterns, three skeins of yarn, a whole bunch of needles, and all my little gadgets (point protectors/measuring tape/needle gauge/you get the idea).

This is the progress of the first sock as of last night. Picture half of that, and you have what I did while I was away.

I did, however make it to two craft stores, one of which was beyond huge. Take about five AC Moore's and you're on the right track. There was SO much stuff there. I went with two other coworkers/crafters, and we spent over an hour in the store. We could easily have stayed much longer.

I almost decided to take up cross stitch, mostly due to all the really nice kits they sold. I was good though and saved my money.

...Instead I spent it on two Father's Day gifts for Brian.

So far he has only used one recipe for chimichangas. He did, however, spend lots of time looking through both books and reading up. I was excited to give him the sausage recipe book. It was a good find. The Mexican cookbook was on sale for $5 or $6, and we had just been talking about the fact that we wanted to try cooking Mexican at home. It had no pictures, but it was cheap, and it had lots of basic Mexican recipes.

MMmmm. Mexican.

Buying stuff for Brian and Tommy was fun, and it helped a little as I missed them like mad, but I did try to make the best of my trip, and I admit I actually had a good time. I went for training and shared two weeks of classes with a really great mix of people from across the country. We stayed in a terrible hotel together. (I won't go into detail now.) The airline forgot my luggage and my friend and coworker's luggage, so the two of us almost went to our first day of class in the same jeans and tee-shirts we had traveled in all day. Our hotel shuttle forgot to leave the hotel and left us sitting at the airport without our bags. We stayed in a small city where you can get a ticket for driving one mile over the speed limit, and there wasn't a whole lot exciting going on, but we still had fun. We sampled some terrific restaurants and took a stroll downtown. We went bowling, swimming, and mini-golfing. Of course there was the craft store. And the mall. And the shoe store. (I didn't buy any.) We went for walks and drinks and watched movies in the hotel (yarn and needles not forgotten). We even went out dancing and shot some pool. I enjoyed it. Now though, I'm glad to be home with Brian and Tommy, and I am really looking forward to our family vacation in July. It's coming up!