Up for air

Here are the first blooms on our roses. They are peaking right now, all of them are blooming at their best. They look good the rest of the summer but never as good as the first bloom. I am always amazed at how stunning they look, I just have to look up from the books and take them in.

Today we had our comprehensive exit exam, 3 hours, 180 multiple guess questions. It was brutal, we all stumbled out of there wondering if we passed or not. We only have to meet the national average which is 72%, it doesn't seem like it should be so hard to reach. We have 3 chances to take it before graduation, but I sure don't want to have to repeat it. We all got together afterwards for a beer and tried to remember as many questions as we could to help us study for the next time (if necessary). I have to say that I felt better after that, I don't know if it was the beer or that I my answers were in line with most everyone else's, probably the beer. We should get our scores on Monday. Luckily (or not) I have two 12 hour shifts at the hospital and class at 8am on Monday so I will be too busy to fret about the test. It hardly seems like enough time to come up for air before we dive right back into studying. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel though. We have just 5 more weeks before we are done!

I wanted to show you the finished sweater for my newest niece, Erin. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but just got it in the mail yesterday. Good thing she is a tiny baby so it should fit her. Here us the ruffle detail that is on the sleeves and the hem.

Here is the detail on the neckline.

And finally here is the finished sweater.

The yarn is Cabin Fever Cotton Tweed DK 45% cotton, and 55% Acrylic. The pattern is from a Cabin Fever book of top down baby sweaters. The pattern is called Little Tumbler. It was pretty easy and quick. I hope little Erin is cozy in it.

Then I started the next baby sweater for my nursing school classmate that just gave birth last week to a little girl, Olive. Another Cabin Fever pattern called Arabesque. It is the same yarn in red. Here is the beginning of it. The detail is a fake cable, made by slipping a stitch , knitting two and passing the slipped stitch over. I like true cables better, but this is cute.

Got to go, Brian is making a special celebratory dinner, pasta, fish and asparagus, all of my favorite things. I think he is looking forward to the day school is over for me and life returns to "normal". : )