Knitting Away...

Saturday was official World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP Day, to the initiated!), and I worked on my wedding smoke ring (i.e. veil-like thing that is not a veil):


It is slowly but surely coming along...another week, perhaps, and EJ will build me a blocking board so it gets 'stretched' out and you can see the lace pattern that makes it up...and understand why it's called a smoke ring!*


*because it is a light and airy, almost ephemeral, circle scarf. Kinda like a smoke ring, in yarn form.

Heed the Announcement!

Save the Date announcements have been addressed, stamped, and mailed.

I guess we have to add some "interesting" content now, as ::hopefully:: some of our potential guests will be visiting here shortly!

I hope they leave comments....

Attire Progress

Last weekend Jen and I went "fabric" shopping for my dress. I say "fabric" because what I am using is non-traditional - but then what else could a Viking BBQ be? LOL

I had a *very* difficult time picking exactly which colors I was going to use - the selection was pretty good. And no, it was not between "white" "snow" "eggshell" "ecru" etc - non-traditional, remember? We were careful not to pick anything exactly from the wedding palette (with nine colors to choose from, it was difficult), and I kept being drawn to the blues (my mental image has always included navy or a deep blue for the dress) but THERE IS NO BLUE IN OUR WEDDING (EJ was actually joking with me about this before we left for shopping). And, picking the colors/fabric seems so, well, *final* (nothing like putting a 50% deposit for our photographers - that was actually fun!) After a lot of back-and-forth and comparisons, I made my decision.

This is what I finally chose:

Two sets of jersey sheets; the picture does NOT do the colors justice. The green is a deep sage-y green, and the gray is very much "stone" (Jen keeps calling it "taupe" but there is no brown to the color - the pic makes it look like mint + heather gray, and that's totally inaccurate).

I'm still (1) working on the prototype shirt, to practice my technique before I cut into  my "yardage", and (2) frantically trying to locate a dress or top/skirt pattern that will *work* for me. Slow and steady, I guess. At least I still have time!

EJ's fabric arrived in the mail at the beginning of June; I will post a pic once I take one, and then I will distribute swatches of all three fabrics to the Minions (um, because they want them).

A Necessary Evil

So, I just ordered our Save the Date cards (or StDs, as they are known to the wedding-wise. There are a lot of sexual innuendo'd phrases in the wedding world. But I digress). It was arduous.

Between personal malfunctions (could not find an appropriate picture *anywhere*), font frustrations (why does NO ONE have an ornate font THAT INCLUDES ORNATE NUMBERS! why?!?), the technological one almost sent me over the edge.

I was seriously contemplating handwriting each note, then tying it to a rock and throwing it at our invitees. Seriously. The Vikings would have wanted it that way....

I was using PSPrint, which is an overall good website with Excellent Customer Service. I know, because I spent about 20 minutes talking with their help line or whoever answers the 1-800 number trying to figure out why my uploaded photos would not show up. The employee was fairly patient with me, was able to research exactly what was going on, then hand-hold me through the rest of the process. I *really* appreciated that!

We should receive them next week, then we can address & stamp them (sorry, you are all getting computer-printed address labels on these!) and get them in the mail. The #1 downside is that apparently PSPrint will NOT put our blog address on the cards. Sooo, guess who gets to stick little labels on all the postcards with our blog address??? (hint: his initials are E J)

::ugh::

Had my third wedding-related dream last night. The first to qualify as "bad dream".

It centered around things that are out of my control, and that I can't ultimately change. Kinda helpess (like those the-bell-rang-and-youre-late-to-class-and-getting-detention dreams I had in high school).

Woke up feeling disappointed and worried; sure hope these don't continue!

((The other two were also circumstances outside my control related, but I woke from those thinking, "oh well!" And feeling pretty OK))

Crafting Update

Inspired by a project on The Long Thread, I spent some time two weeks ago at a Quilt Retreat making a ribbon wreath for the wedding.

Ribbon bought on sale (70% off!) at Tall Mouse going out of business sale; 12" foam wreath bought 40% off at JoAnns; completed wreath. I followed the directions completely, but I did end up using a LOT more ribbon than reccomended. I wanted a very full wreath.

I think it will be hung on the front door of the Wedding House...

(I also worked on our string of pennants, but wasn't able to get them sewn up by the end of Retreat. Planning on finishing them and posting a few pics within the next week or so!)

Proposal, Redux the Second

It is interesting how *different* people's perceptions can be of the same event! Luckily we have it on video (Mom video'd the entire event, minus the dog pooping part at the end)

First of all, I will say that my freaky spider-sense went off about 5 minutes before he actually proposed. And I attributed it to brunchtime revelry and faint paranoia (brunch was accompanied by mimosas - and Brian makes them heavy on the 'mim').

Secondly, I had no idea Karen was ready to burst into tears if she looked at me - I figured she had had a bad morning. She also gave herself a mild allergy attack by breaking open walnuts; it was a clever ruse to mask her anxiety LOL. When I did find out (much later) *why* she was anxious, I felt very bad for her!

Thirdly, Rachel and Dougie were NOT there - they weren't even in the country. Not sure how EJ thought they were; the only people present were: me, EJ, John, Karen, Jen, Brian, Mom (FMIL), Francie (Mom's BFF), and Francie's grandaughter. No English people.

Fourthly, EJ technically did not kneel, he squatted down about 4 feet away from me. When I finally noticed (see "mimosas" above) I said, "why is everyone suddenly so quiet?" And EJ said, "Because I'm about to propose to you." Then he stood up, choked me with the necklace, I kissed him, said "nuh-uh!" Then said "Yes!" Then there was laughing and crying and celebrating.

And when we went outside to take pictures in the backyard, Jen+Brian's dog Bear decided to join us and celebrate by crapping directly behind us in the pictures, which is why I am cracking up *so* *hard* in the pictures LOL!

Mom still swears I said an affirmative when I kissed EJ, tho...!