I went to a great knitting group at a Seattle bakery last night. Fun group of women. I had a wonderful time and I met some Miss Finch fans! Hi ladies! I also got to see the Paris Loop Poncho being knit by Christina, and got to feel its crazy yarn. I liked it before, I LOVE it now. I was literally fondling her project all night. Knit up, it makes an irresistible fabric you just want to wrap around yourself. Hmmm, I think I need one.

The backpack ends are all woven in. WOO HOO! I was going to sew on the straps at the knitting group, but I need a table I can spread out on without worrying about landing the flap in somebody’s soup. (After the third close call, I gave up). So I cast on the front of mom’s sweater instead. I didn’t get very far because I kept making dumb mistakes, so cast on is all the progress I had made by the end of the night.

Health Group is tomorrow, don’t forget, and I’m off to a physical therapy appointment!

I’ve finished the back to mom’s sweater. Hooray! Working on the backpacks has been a nice break, but I’m ready to go back to the merciless cotton. Um, I mean mercerized cotton.

Now on to the front!

They’re done. My contribution to the Meathead Knitup is complete, and they will soon be making the trip back to Portland where they may experience the fame and prestige associated with being showcased in an art gallery. Would that we were all so lucky!

I finished the straps last night, got everything wet, spun them out in the washing machine, and pinned them to a towel on the floor.

I don’t know yet how much the blocking will help with the twisting problem, but it seemed to relax a bit as I was pinning it out last night. I am SO ready to move on to a new project. So much so that I forgot to finish weaving in the ends before getting it wet and spinning it. Oops. So I have that left to do, sew on the straps and buttons, knit the little hanging loop, and make a liner.

I was able to work on the backpack this weekend. Saturday, I finished knitting the main bag, and the drawstring.

Then I wove in the ends on the flap, and have the inside of the bag left to weave. I have started the straps.

This picture should illustrate to you the problem I’m having with the backpack. The whole bag is severely twisted. It must be the stitch. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t get it to line up or lay flat at all. I am going to block it today and hope that fixes it, or at least significantly helps.

Wow, I slept in this morning.

OK, this week wasn’t good for me at all. I didn’t do any physical therapy. I didn’t do any weights. I kind of did aerobics yesterday as I was figuring out the treadmill, but it was only for about 30 minutes. I did spend a lot of time on the garage getting it ready for the treadmill. And now it is beautiful.

Those are my weights in the front, the physical therapy ball is behind them, and the treadmill is in the back. The other half of the garage is all the shelves and such, and the girls bikes are over there now.

Last Saturday, after posting, I went for a walk and did upper weights, along with most of my physical therapy routine. Today, I intend to do the same.

The girls are in school now and I feel that I will be able to settle back in to a routine very quickly. I really do miss the exercise. I feel SO good when I do it. PLUS, I was back up at 228 this morning, so I’m hardly going to sit around and let THAT happen.

Hopefully, some of you out there have had a more successful week than I have. I’d love to hear about it.

Postscript- today is my 100th blog entry!

Nothing whatsoever. BUT, it does pertain somewhat to Health Group, which is tomorrow.

I spent the day yesterday getting the area of my garage that you see being occupied by a workbench ready for a TREADMILL that my husband’s wonderful sister, and her husband, kindly and lovingly donated to the cause of my health. That is the “before” picture. The “after” picture will come tomorrow, as I am not yet done. Right now, the treadmill is up and running, but the garage isn’t quite settled yet. I ended up going through the entire garage, once again justifying the existence and space worthiness of everything in it. I love getting rid of stuff. The problem is that when cleaning a garage, you inevitably end up with things to dispose of that can’t just be thrown in the trash. Sigh. I have a bucket of toxins that will need to be hauled off somewhere and disposed of responsibly. It’s such a hassle. Because I dislike it so, I am very careful what chemicals I buy, to avoid any unnecessary disposal problems.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get any knitting done on Abby’s backpack. I have high hopes for this weekend.

Hey, hey, HEY! The moment that you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! (Well, ONE of the moments you’ve been waiting for. Abby’s isn’t done yet, so you still have something to look forward to. Of course, there’s also the issue of exactly WHY you’d be waiting for these moments of completion…. Is it to see the finished project? or to not have to read anymore posts on backpacks?! :-).

I will post a couple shots of Olivia and her backpack, and then, through clicking the link at the end of the post, give you a visual account of our 30 minutes at the bus stop yesterday afternoon where we waited for it to FINALLY arrive so the poor kid could go to school. For those who are interested.

Have you noticed that my children love the camera?

There it is, in all it’s functional glory.

This is an artsy shot of the liner and drawstring. Isn’t that liner neat? Once again, “Yvette, you rock! Thanks!” I am a grateful recipient. I wish I could post the fabulous smell of the lavender soap that accompanied it. Mmm, lavender.

As promised, here’s the link. There are ELEVEN pictures in this link, so be warned. I made the files small, but still, eleven.