It’s official! We’re married!

Nick and I tied the knot on Saturday, October 6th. The day went flawlessly. All the craziness and stressful planning paid off several times over. The ceremony was beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled as much as I did when I walked down the aisle, arm-in-arm with my father, and saw all the faces of our loved-ones in the pews. And then seeing Nick — it was the most emotional moment I’ve ever felt. The reception was SO much fun too. (I hope all our guests had as much fun as we did!)

My favorite part of the day had to be the horse-drawn carriage ride. It was great because it was just Nick and I snuggled together in the carriage. It gave us some private moments between the ceremony and the reception to just glow and bask in the idea that we had finally become man and wife. It was also amazing because as we rode all over downtown Erie, people cheered, waved, and yelled “congratulations” to us. Kids hung out of car windows to wave. As we rode passed the Star 104 radio station, they turned on their outdoor loud speaker to shout their well-wishes. It was so neat — complete strangers offering such kindness.

Believe it or not, I spent the week prior to the wedding finishing up a “Fill a Coffee Mug”-swap for Craftster. It was my first ever swap, and it really helped me keep my sanity! I didn’t get a chance to photograph my swap items, but my swap partner posted some great photos on her Flickr here.

I’m starting a sock knitting class at The Neighborhood Knit (blog) shop on Tuesday. They have a nifty “Sock Club” going on, and I signed up for it before we left for the wedding and honeymoon. As part of the class, we got copies of the new Cat Bordhi book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One.

In preparation for Tuesday’s class, we had to knit the two pairs of practice socks from the book. The first sock is a top-down baby sock, and the second is a toe-up baby sock.

I had to warn Nick right away that I wasn’t knitting baby socks because I’ve got a case of baby-rabies or anything! Just because we’re married doesn’t mean I’m itching to start a family (yet!). Ha ha.

Anyway, I knitted the top-down socks (pictured) first. I used size 3 DPNs and Adriafil Knitcol yarn (colorway #43). I screwed up and left out a couple rows in the first sock, so they wound up being two different sizes. (DUH.) But it was just for practice, so I wasn’t too concerned about it. (Besides, it still looked pretty good on Gracie!)

I knit the first toe-up sock last night, and I cast on the second one this morning. I’ve never knitted toe-up before. At first I was going to attempt to do it via the Magic Loop method (because that’s what we’ll be doing in our class) — however, learning two new techniques/styles (toe-up and Magic Loop) all at once was just too hard, so I switched back to my trusty DPNs. I struggled at first with the figure-8 cast on but once I got the idea of it, it turned out to be really easy! I actually like the toe-up method quite a lot: it seems like you get a better idea of what your sock is shaping up to look like.

For our sock class, we’re going to be knitting the Lola Walking Rib Socks pattern. I’m anxious to learn the Magic Loop method. The ladies at the LYS swear by it, saying its much fater than using DPNs. I just hope I can catch on to it!