Happy 4th of July!

I would be a horrible aunt if I didn't post on my adorable nephew and rack up some embarrassment points on his behalf by posting this bath picture in honor of his first birthday which took place on Saturday. Really, how cute is this little guy!?
That Guy and I are both actually off today so we've made plans to celebrate the fourth. He's off at the moment hanging out with his hospice lady. We're driving out to Elgin for the afternoon to a friends party and then coming back in to town to watch the fireworks from the roof of the theatre I work at! It is the best place ever to watch them because they are shot off from the baseball diamond in the park adjacent to the theatre building, so you can see them shot off and exploding above - really fantastic! It's within walking distance of our apartment also so we get to avoid the traffic.
And now for some finished objects!
Looking at my list of what's on the needles I realized that a couple of things actually have been finished. This linen facecloth is pretty much done. I may add a crochet border and it needs a good blocking, but otherwise it is ready to go in the gift pile (at this point it is the gift pile!).
I wasn't happy with any of the handle options I explored and then one day I realized that the felted bag was really meant to be a pouch. Last night I sewed in a zipper and ta da! It quickly found some yummy Patagonia organic cotton nestled inside for a future project.
Perhaps the most important FO of them all - the Longhorn Hoodie is finished! This picture is of the inside intarsia work, although there are a few places where it was more logical to carry the yarn which is why you can see some stranding going on. I'll try to get That Guy to take some action shots of me wearing it to post. The couple that I took of it on the dress form don't look all that different from some of the progress photos, except there aren't any ends hanging down now!

I've wondered for some time now - am I a process knitter or a product knitter? I've worked on this hoodie for several months now and was particularly pleased with myself when I figured out how to make the chart and the results when I swatched it. It's my first sweater and the first project with lots of finishing required. As I got closer and closer to finishing I resisted all urges to cast on another project. Yet now that it's finished I've simply moved on to the next thing. I did show it proudly to That Guy and plan to show it to several people at work, but I was surprised that I didn't feel like going around knocking on the doors of my neighboring apartment dwellers and completely weirding them out by shoving the thing in the face and asking them how cool it this! It could also be that the temperature in Austin reaches highs in the 90's everyday and I won't really be able to wear it for another 5-6 months! Given my excessive yarn hoarding during the past few months and the sheer number of projects I have planned I guess I'm mainly a process knitter who likes to see things get done. This bodes well for the long anticipated Pearl Buck Swing Jacket, which as you can see below I have cast on and started. I just tell myself that it's cheaper then therapy.

Have a very safe and happy holiday out there!
Tschuss