Well the time has come--

There are less than 70 days till the wedding... and I still have thousands and thousands of stitches to knit... And I haven't knit any for days now.

Yesterday was the bridal shower—and I helped out with work (the bridesmaids did the planning)--picking up the cake, and the party gifts and party favors, and the florals, too. It was a lovely day—hot—put plenty cool inside the restaurant's.   Emily and Matt received so many lovely, beuatiful gifts. But goodness knows where they will put all the stuff! Emily's apartment was not small, (2 bedroom) but when Matt moved in with all of his stuff, it became a bit overstuffed... And now a truckload (really, they filled the bed of the the F150 pick up truck!) full of more stuff... Some of it, things Emily wanted (like Kitchen Aid Mixer) are so big.... (and she has counter space that can be measured in inches..) They will have a real job of sorting through and organizing things.

It was wonderful meeting some of Matt's family too, his father (and grandparents) and aunts, et. al., were neighbors--they lived just 2 blocks away--and went to the same school--well--sort off.  The parochial school I went to, (OLM) had 2 schools--a boys school (with 1 order of nuns, and a totally different philosophy and educational program) than the girls school--with had a different order of nuns--So I really knew very few boys of my own age from grade school.  (and Matt's father is close in age to me) But my youngest sister remembers Matt's aunts (all of whom are 3 to 20 years younger than I am--and even remembered playing games in Matt's grandparents house.. Small world, isn't it?

Last night I was keyed up—but too tired to knit—I got most of the Sunday NYTimes crossword puzzle done (I hope to get the last few crosses today.)

As for the shawl, I did get a few rounds knit in the past week; I am now working on the “plain round” that followed the make 9 stitches in 1 (the full part after the large eyelet eye) —and that brought the stitch count to 1560—So now the real work starts. The end is in sight—but it's still far far away!

I'll finish the plain round, and get (I hope!) another 2 more rounds done by tomorrow—and show you a photo of my progress then.