Thanks to all for the comments on Milano. I've worn it out into the world twice this week, and I'm really digging it!
Next up on my list is the Knitting Pure & Simple neckdown raglan that I've mentioned before. I started this one over the weekend when I finished Milano, and it's going pretty quickly. I'm on my third skein of yarn and I've already gotten past the armholes and am rapidly approaching the waist. (I know the picture is a little washed out and lacking in detail from the flash, but just pretend you can see what's going on there, ok?) I've decided to add a little waist shaping that the pattern doesn't include, so keep your fingers crossed for me that my math all works out! The Manos cotton is interesting to work with. The strand of yarn has crinkles in it that make for a slightly uneven texture in the fabric, especially at the gauge this is worked in (18 st/4"). I swatched a slightly tighter gauge initially (21 st/4") that I liked, but besides the fact that the pattern is written for 18 st, the looser gauge seems more casual to me and has more character so I'm going with it.
I'm feeling pretty much moved into my house at this point. I've only got 4 unpacked boxes left, and out of those, 3 of them contain yarn/knitted items. The other one has a large mirror in it that will be hung in the dining room as soon as I locate an appropriate stud (in the wall!). I've got a few other pictures to hang as well, but other than that, I'm about done with the moving. I've gotten to the point where I'm living in the living room, dining in the dining room, and cooking in the kitchen.
There are plenty of other things that need to be done here, but they're more in the home maintenance vein of things. We had a massive downpour of rain here the other day at which time I discovered I really, really need to clean out the gutters. So I started that yesterday but my ladder would only reach around half of the house. So now I've got to figure out how to get a 12' ladder home with a MINI. Do you think Home Depot will deliver? I'm also going to have all the windows updated in the house. The ones I have now are old, probably original to this 1937 home, and are so inefficient. I haven't seen an electrical bill yet, but I'm scared already. So that's in the works... I found a guy who my real estate agent used, and he's pretty cheap, almost a third the price that H.D. quoted me. Hopefully he's not too good to be true, but definitely seems like a nice and reasonable guy.
Anyway, that's what's going on on the home front. And in my spare time, I've been taking a bartending class too! That's been a total hoot, and tomorrow I'll be a licensed bartender! Think I need to put that on my resume?