Seattle is for lovers (of knitting)

by Wednesday I had knit enough on my gauge swatch to figure out parameters for this brown hoodie. I cast on that evening so that once I got on the plane on Thursday afternoon, all I had to do was start knitting and the plan worked great. The pattern called for four inches of 2x2 ribbing to start and I got about halfway through that in the 2-hour flight with a break for complimentary beer, chips and salsa (way better than a tiny cup of Pepsi and dry-roasted peanuts!). I was a little discouraged that it seemed to be taking so long, but ribbing is slow, like seed stitch. I finished up the ribbing on Friday while hanging around with Grandpa and the rest of the family and by the time we settled down to watch the Angels demolish the Yankees after lunch on Saturday, I was rarin' to go and I made incredible progress that afternoon. When we left for Pike's Market (closed at 5pm! what?) I was feeling very satisfied with the day's knitting. Sunday we got to the airport early (thanks to the complimentary with a scary-ass driver shuttle service from our hotel) and I got in a few more rows before settling down for two solid hours of knitting on the plane. By the time we got home, I had all this completed (see picture at left). I haven't measured it yet to see how much more I have to do before starting to shape for arm-holes, but this is the most productive knitting weekend I've had in a long time.
Add in visiting with Luke (home from Iraq), Mom, Dad and Grandpa, plus a fun traveling adventure with my sweet husband, PLUS a Mariners game and I'd say that measures up to a really fun weekend too.
We arrived at Santa Barbara Airport at 10:30 on Sunday morning and by the time we got back to Ventura after dropping off our ride, picking up cars and checking in with Wes' squad (they were all working!) we got home around noon and started making up for the time away: checking mail, making grocery lists, etc. We watched a fun movie last night after dinner and I was able to knit a little more, but mostly was paying attention to make sure I got the jokes :)