Wip's, SP10 and Dashed Hopes

What is that saying about "Best Laid Plans?" One of mine was to keep WIP's in check and only have a couple of things otn.....well....you know how it is when you get just totally bored with something...and you are having "issues" with the other something...lol! And, of course, circumstances sometimes dictate a different type of project is needed.....like riding in the car!

The run-down is this....DH and I did make the trip to Tulsa on Saturday. I dropped him off at the Oklahoma Aquarium for his Comas meeting and I took off in search of LYS's! I have finished the back and one sleeve of the summer tee...working on the front, but was on the lace-work at the bottom and didn't want to mess with trying to keep up with a chart in the car.....and I am doing a new kind of heel (for me anyway) on the intarsia socks for Savy and having issues with that so I HAD to cast on something mindless for the drive!!! Had to, you know!

I chose to start a basic pair of socks...plain ole ribbing, stockinette foot, etc. out of some Austermann Step I had in the stash. It's the one with Aloe and Jojoba in it. Working with it doesn't really feel all that different than working with Opal in my opinion...I guess the true test will come with the wearing! Of all the socks I have done...and it really isn't all that many since I just started doing them last July.....I still always grab the basic socks out of Opal if they are clean. I have noticed that my wardrobe has become really limited since I learned to knit socks.....I always choose the same outfits over and over......to match whatever hand-knit socks are clean...lol....I guess some would consider that a "quirk"!

I did manage to hit 2 stores in Tulsa and only spent money in one! I try, when on road-trips, and visiting yarn stores to only buy things I haven't seen in "my" LYS's! I want to keep them around, you know!!

This round I picked up one of those WIP tools to help with unlabled stash and some skeins of sock yarn I haven't noticed around here but have read about online. I got 2 skeins of Panda Cotton in Red Cinnamon. It looks more orangey than red to me. Also got some Celestial Merino Dream by Lucy Neatby in Fiery Fuchsia. A girl came in the store with a pair of socks on she had done out of it and they felt sooo soft! Last, but not least...some Colinette Jitterbug in colorway Raphael 70. All-in-all...I didn't behave too badly!

Then when we got home....the heritage afghan Amanda and I decided to do just kept taunting me! I couldn't stand it and started one of the squares! Other than the intarsia sock everything I have going is an "idiot knit", so I guess having another one I have to concentrate on a little is not a bad plan...you think?

On the SP10 front, I have heard from my pal again! She is just too awesome!! She has been emailing me with "hints" about my next package. The girl sure knows how to build anticipation! She has sent me two links recently and says the next box should go out this weekend. The links she sent are www.knitpicks.com and www.schoolhousepress.com Pretty interesting, huh? I'm also almost ready to send out my next box to my SP!! I still have to "embellish" a couple of things and go get another thing before I let it fly. Not going to say anything more because I don't want her to accidentally figure me out in case she reads participant blogs looking for clues!

On to the dashed hopes.....not really though....I have felt all along that our endeavor to purchase a local business was iffy at best and I honestly do think that if it were in God's plan for us, things would work out. When talking to the banker yesterday he sort of threw a monkey wrench into the plan!! Both DH and I both left the bank with the same interpretation about the amount of cash injection needed to get the loan....an amount we felt we could pull off. Well....yesterday the banker made an off the cuff comment about the amount being 10% more than what we thought!! We would have to mortgage/sell/leverage pretty much everything we have to do it and I'm just not inclined to do that! If we were in our 30's or maybe even 40's...maybe...but I just can't justify putting our future that much at risk....even though I do think it's a good business with a lot of potential. Anyway...unless the current owner is so desperate to get out of the business and is willing to do some creative financing the deal is pretty much dead. I still can't tell you the name of the place since it looks like we aren't getting it and they don't want employees to know they are trying to sell, but I can tell you it is a bakery. DH has been in that industry his entire life and knows it inside/out. He even did the wedding and groom's cakes for all five of our kids and they were gorgeous!!! A good fit for us, but not the right timing, I guess! Worst case scenario is that I have had some good excercise for the old brain cells for the past 6 weeks working on the BP and SBA packets...lol!