On Saturday, Ruth, Lynette, and I went to a lovely brunch hosted by Caitlyn. The food was yummy, and it is always fun to knit with friends.

Of course, when four knit bloggers get together, everyone should take lots of pictures, right? Ha! We are truly the worst bloggers ever. Even though several of us had cameras, no one even thought to take any pictures until Lynette mentioned she was going to stop to look at cameras on her way home. Cameras! Of course! So, out came the cameras, and we managed to get a few pictures to document the event.

Here’s the tasty spread - a fruit salad made by Caitlyn, quiche from Ruth, scones & muffins from Lynette, and my cinnamon rolls. It was very yummy, as you can tell by our empty plates!

And, our knitting…

Finally, a picture of the whole gang…

We’ll definitely be doing this again - it was fun trying everyone’s recipes (all of which were wonderful), and great to see everyone.

Tomorrow I’m off uber-early for a camping trip to Yosemite. Back next weekend with pictures, and hopefully some finished knitting! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the bears don’t think my merino wool yarn is food. Apparently the bear situation is pretty bad there, and they go after anything with an odor… toothpaste, hand sanitizer, deodorant. Yikes!

Have a great (and bear-free) week!

I’ve been knitting and knitting on the Estonian Garden Stole, and every single time I count the number of repeats, I’m still at repeat 35. I swear it is getting longer (much longer!), but I don’t seem to be making any progress toward the end goal of 41 repeats. It’s like the stole is in some sort of space-time-knit continuum. I don’t get it. Sigh. Maybe it’s time for a break from the stole?

I certainly won’t get any more of it done this weekend. (that seems to be the theme of my summer so far!) We decided at about 9:30 tonight that we’re going to go camping tomorrow night through Sunday, with the dogs. Talk about a last minute decision… we haven’t been camping at all yet this summer, and since I work all day tomorrow, I have to get my camping stuff packed tonight. And the dogs? They’ve never been camping before. It should be interesting… schnauzers are fabulous watch dogs, which means they will probably be completely obnoxious at the campground, barking at anyone and everyone within a 500 yard radius. I’m hoping for the best though, because it kills me to leave them home (with a house sitter, of course) when we go out of town. It should be an interesting weekend!

Purly had a great idea for Friday posts… post a picture of something pretty or interesting.� Thus the�name, Eye Candy Friday!

For this week’s picture, I’m posting the picture that is the background on my computer.� Whenever I need a little getaway from whatever I’m doing, I minimize all my windows and look at this picture.

��

I took this picture in August 2004, on�Ke’e Beach in Kauai.��� Aside from the fact that this is a beautiful picture of the beach at sunset, it also brings back some great memories of the trip for me.�

Happy Friday!�

Ah, back to California, land of millions of people and exceedingly hot weather.� Although it is home, nothing about living here feels “homey” to me after a trip to the state where supper is dinner and bars are a dessert.

If you had asked me ten years ago if I’d ever want to move back to North Dakota, my answer would have been “never in a million years!”� Now, after two trips home in the past year, I’m longing for the wide open spaces, friendly people, and slow, easygoing lifestyle that I was so eager to get away from as a teenager.� We won’t be moving back anytime soon, but I certainly have a new appreciation for the state that I’ll always consider to be home.�

I think part of the reason I’m a bit homesick these days is my family.� (whoa - never thought I’d say that either!)� When I moved away to college twelve years ago, my brothers and sisters were really young, and in my mind, a bunch of whiny little troublemakers who always messed up my stuff.� (and, to be fair, I was the mean, bossy older sister who was always ordering them around)� Now, they are all grown up and many of them have families of their own.� And, we get along surprisingly well.� It is very strange.� But nice.

Anyway.� The wedding - it was beautiful!� My little sister, Kim, was a gorgeous bride.� The wedding was in a cute little small town church, with unfortunate astroturf green carpet and poor lighting, so I don’t have any good pictures of the ceremony.�

��The bridal party, L-R (click to make big): Groom’s sister & her husband, my sister, groom’s brother, my sister, my brother, the bride, the groom, groom’s cousin, another sister, another brother, and me.�

Yes, you counted right - there are seven of us.� I wasn’t able to get a family picture with my brothers in it, but here are all the girls.� I love this picture of us.

��And, just because it is too cute not to share, a picture of Kim leading the bunny hop at the reception.� In ND, a wedding reception without the bunny hop just isn’t a wedding reception!

��As I suspected, I got very little lace knitting done on the trip.� Most of my downtime was actually spent working.� Ugh.� Only 5 more repeats of lace got done, with way too many left to go.� I’l post a picture of it tomorrow so you can see evidence of my slooow progress.� Thankfully I’m not knitting on any sort of deadline for this project.�

Does that mean it *is* a fingernail clipper?� Because that is the sound I’m hearing from�the other side of�my cubicle wall right now… eeew.� Wasn’t that a Dilbert comic strip one time?� Ah, I’m living the dream!

No posting for nearly two weeks means no knitting has been done in nearly two weeks. And I hate to go on too much about non-knitting, non-sewing stuff on here. But, I’ll at least show you why there has been no craftiness around here lately…

Oh yeah! It’s a boat! OUR boat! A few years old, but with low hours and in great condition.
We took it out for first time yesterday.

I’ve got a lot to learn when it comes to boating. First and foremost, I need to figure out how to go out on the water for a day without getting sunburned (ouch!) - not an easy task, since I’m allergic to most sunscreens. Then, there’s the problem of knitting while boating. Can it be done? Should it be done? I certainly hope so!

Wow, what a week it has been. It’s all gone by in a blur… the upshot is that it is all OVER! No more law school, no more studying, no more bar exams, and, for those of you who know what a basket case I’ve been lately, no more stressed out Cyndi! Whew!

Graduation was awesome. It was so nice to have some of my family there with me. And, the best part of it was that not only did I pass the bar, but all of my classmates who took the bar and went through the ceremony with me passed too!

And that, my friends, is the end of my blathering on about law school stuff. The end. YAY!

Tomorrow: Back to irregularly scheduled knitting content - the silk shawl begins

Thought I’d share the good news with the internets.� I’m a lawyer now!� Woohoo!�

You can read more about the results here.� I’m off to celebrate!� Wheeeeee!

There has been an extreme lack of knitting at chez Needles lately. I’ve been a bit, um, preoccupied with other things. There was this little three day exam that I took way back in February, and the results are finally going to be posted next Friday night. One week and one day from today, I’ll know for sure whether my summer will be spent knitting and sewing with abandon, with weekend bike rides and camping trips, or spent locked in a dark room studying for a re-take in July.

Unfortunately, the release of test results coincides with my “official” law school graduation ceremony, which is next Saturday. (Technically, I already have my diploma, the ceremony is just that - a ceremony.) To celebrate my graduation, various family members are planning visits, starting with my brother and his wife, who arrive on Saturday, followed by my mom in the middle of next week. I’m anticipating no crafty time while the fam is here, and probably few, if any posts.

For the next week, while my stomach is doing flips, I’ll be repeating my new mantra: “There are worse things in life than failing the bar… there are worse things in life than failing the bar…” I know in my heart it is true, yet failure is the thing I fear most in life. Regardless of the outcome of the exam, I am still extremely fortunate in all aspects of my life. And I am writing this down now, so I can remind myself over the next week, and next Friday night, if need be.

No need for words of encouragement - the reality of it is that only about 40% of the people who took the exam will pass, and a lot of really smart, dedicated people will fail. I’ve seen it happen to my friends. And it could happen to me. And I will be able to deal with it, no matter what the outcome. Because there are worse things in life than failing the bar. Really.