It's.....



Sleevie Wonder!

(Get it?)

(There's really not that much of an exciting way to say you are working on a sweater's sleeves. I'm probably not quite midway on the first sleeve of the sweater but it's going faster than sleeves often do. I'm once again doing the switch-every-row trick, which does a good job of mixing the "no dye lot" not-quite-matching colors of the yarn.)

I've been devoting most of my knitting time right now to this. I have also been picking away at the various socks - including a "simple" 7 by 1 ribbed sock made out of one of the newer Opal colorways - from the most recent Rainforest line.

It's an extremely bright (yellow with pink and orange) colorway, patterned after some tropical bird. The "name" of the yarn is die Stolze Harald, which I think means "Harald the Proud" or "Proud Harald." I'm up to the heel flap on the first sock of these. It's kind of nice to have a simple thing on the needles for when you're just tired and want to knit, but without following a pattern or keeping track.

I was also pleased to find out this afternoon in my piano lesson that my teacher is going to be offering lessons over the summer (at first I thought she might not, what with school being out). I've asked her to tentatively reserve a slot for me on Fridays (remember that summer classes do not meet Fridays for me). She seemed pleased I wanted to do it; she also made a comment to the effect that having students like me is 'rewarding.' I assume that's because I practice and I have a desire to learn and to get good beyond what some people have (I am sure some juvenile piano students' motivation is mostly the pushing/cajoling/bribery/threatening of their parents).

I remain surprised at how much fun practicing is, compared to what I remember it being like as a young teenager. I think it's because it's an attainable challenge - the stuff she assigns me is just challenging enough that I have to work at it, but not so hard I can't master most of it in one week - and for me, seeing myself progress on something, seeing myself get better and learn and develop skill is a powerful motivator.