sad but true

I wonder if there is some kind of award for wifery (wifeing? wifeness?), as I think I may be deserving of it, or at least a nom in the "awesome gifts" category. J will turn the big 3-0 on December 1, and I bought his gift this weekend—2 tickets to see Metallica at the Verizon Center (D.C.) in January. I was really surprised by the prices for the nosebleed seats, but, vaguely remembering hearing a lot of promos for the concert on the DC rock station, I dashed to their website and found a presale deal: same price, but much better seats. I'm also irate, as usual, that Ticketmaster's various fees tacked almost $40 onto the final price! Greedy bastards.

So now I have a bit of a dilemma. The tickets come with a free copy of Metallica's new CD, which I should get in the mail next week. So what do I do with it? If I wait until December to give it to J, he will have certainly downloaded the album by then, but if I just give it to him next week as a random gift, he will be suspicious (we aren't really a "random surprise gift" kind of couple). Hmmmm . . . I certainly don't want it. I don't think Metallica's had a good album since the so-called black album in 1991. I'm old school like that.

Oh, right, the knitting. That's why you're here. Well, I finally managed to cast on the Tangled Yoke and it hasn't been difficult so far, just slow. It's a lot of stitches, so I've only managed to complete about an inch and a half:

I've been focusing on Tangled Yoke, so not much to show for Henley; I've worked the back up to the point where I start the lace—which means no subway knitting now either, as it's difficult to knit in motion as it is without trying to decipher lace charts.

Just need to pick up a few odds and end and I'll be shipping the first package off to my Falling for Ewe spoilee. If I can manage to let the yarn go, that is . . .