Journey

Road trip

Conference

Visits

Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North, Virginia near the Cumberland Gap. A couple additional hurry-throughs.

A little knitting.
A little reading.
A little breathing.

Nice to do some things on the summer list as well as to follow a few impulses.

Impulsively threw some slipper knitting into the car.  Wasn't in the summer stash knitting list, but definite stash knitting all the same.  This was a full skein of Noro Kureyon from a years-forgotten impulse purchase.  Have to guess which second skein will yield a sisterly slipper mate.  Then on to more slippers for three sisters and their mama, my wise friend Liesl.

I have unpacked halfway, swept and mopped.  Need to get cranking and leave for the day, but I wanted the bathroom floor to dry.  Time to plan the rest of today's productive reentry into life and work and summer's end.

Hope your summer journeys are fruitful.

Anniversary FO

My mom gave me a number of my grandmother's UFO's.  Among them was a repair project.  At their wedding, my aunt and uncle had received an afghan made by the groom's sister.  Years of good use and little boys toes and perhaps a couple outdoor cats napping inside in the winter window sun had resulted in some damaged squares.

My grandmother had the afghan to see if the rest of the squares could be resewn into a lap throw.  The mission moved on to me.  No rush, my mother said.  

This past week I realized there was a 35th  anniversary to mark.  Well.

Five damaged squares removed.  An end row removed for reconfiguring.  Some border crochet undone at one end.

Voila.  Three days.  

It's anniversary day, and it's going in the mail.

A Fourth of July Morning

How nice it is to be sitting at my mother's kitchen table, looking at cookbooks, drinking iced coffee from a silly glass.  I've worked past the halfway point on my nephew's scarf replacement.  October birthday package nearly prepped!

Breakfast was lovely, too. Local berries.  Yum.  Definitely a cereal morning.

I'm going back to doing some garage scraping and priming.  Call me strange - and you'd not be the first - but this makes for a lovely 4th of July morning!

Found: Five Bucks

Or so....

Spent about 30 minutes on one of those Warhol-like boxes I want to eradicate from my sewing space.  

Had to stop because I ran out of focused pitching mode.

How do you keep from saving addresses you'd like to save but probably won't write to?

And what to do with birth announcements from kids now grown, parents split?

I stopped working on the box when I stopped being ruthless. One hour of progress is it this morning.  And most of a sheet of stamps, 14 cents away from their first-class prime time.

Maybe I'll have better luck in the office.  Much file purging to do there, too.  I'd rather knit.

ETA:  hmmm good thing I posted this nonsense.  Discovered previous blog posting failure.

Paper Trail, Happy Trails

I am at the paper-sifting portion of my packing. There are the receipts I need, the programs I'll want, the fliers I may not need, the evidence of lovely knitterly moments of stopping in a couple of shops.

Once again, the new yarn is tucked into te suitcase, there are too many books, and the recycling pile needs to grow, but I need a break.

Dublin has been lovely, despite the spareness of sunshine. As an extra treat outside the agendas, I was able to sit and knit with a group who knit regularly at the Brooks Hotel in Dublin. They were kind and gracious, and it was clear they are as patient with drop in knitters as they are caring of their regular, steady community. Lovely evening! Made me long for more Mondays in Oak Park, remembered gatherings at Arcadia, past summer evenings knitting in Logan Square, and knitting alongside summer s'mores in Wisconsin. Good reminder to stop more often, wherever I am, for a bit of a sociable craft night!

Who Packs a Hat?

Not this one. I packed knitting. I would like to wear my silly hat yet while traveling. Of course, I was working diligently on socks. This is a break from the socks which are nearing heel number two.

Meanwhile: Dublin! Just outside This is Knit, having cake and coffee at the Pepper Pot just outside it. Looks outdoors but is in a glass roofed courtyard.

I am tired, so the storytelling urge is feeble. Being here and having time to have cake and cappuccino and knit and post so? Not feeble at all.

This is grand, far as I see it. Of course, I packed yarn rather than a hat. Consider the source.

Casting Off

I love the fact that the terminology for binding off has historically included casting off.  I am also probably writing the 838th blog post in the knitting blogosphere to that effect, but I don't care.

I am binding off the color affection shawl I'd been working on this fall.  Doing a slim i-cord bind-ff.  If it were here, I'd show you a picture, but it's in the car.

I am casting off.  Tomorrow I head out of town for some small Thanksgiving.  A little family, a little down-time, and a LOT of driving.  I won't get to knit in the car until the second and third legs of the trip.  I'm on my own for the first and last, me and a lengthy list of podcasts.  Will be done with weekend road tripping early enough to have one bit of weekend At Home.  Looking forward also to some playing hooky At Home on Sunday morning, knitting with coffee and pyjamas before heading out, at the end of that day, for a work call.

Tomorrow at 3:00, though, and traffic notwithstanding, I'm leaving the work behind.  NOT packing it. I'm taking one book, the historical novel Wolf Hall - don't know if it's frivolous or not, but it'll serve its purpose.  And the knitting.  I am packing knitting.  TONIGHT.  In fact, most of it is already in the car - the shawl and the green gloves are ready to go.

I need to be ready to go.  Not binding off.  Casting off.

Happy Thanksgiving.  (I don't pretend anyone reading this lives beyond the middle part of North America, or minds the myopia, US expats notwithstanding..... )

Happy Day

This day has

Good coffee,

Playing pantomime games with third graders,

Leftover lunch from lovely dinner with friends yesterday,

Lovely dinner plans tonight, complete with a snow plan,

Tickets for Race at the Goodman Theatre,

And a little time to get things done in between.

I may even knit a little.

Now

Past:
I didn't catch up on posting holiday knitting pictures. Captured a couple for Ravelry. I knit some unassuming and manly hats for all but one of the male adults in my close extended family. I knit a hat for my mother and the previously posted entrelac hat to my newest cousin (she married my cousin, but we're all family).

I put the pause button on the placemats - having made some excellent progress, mind. I will be finishing those in the next month and packing them into the gift box for sending out in November. This of course makes them past and future projects.

Future:
I have some ideas of what I'd like to knit this yearI assembled some knitting requests for the coming year. I have vast ideas of some sewing I'd like to do. I also have some graduation quilts I need to get rolling on. The blocks of the first one are done, at least, having been done for some time past. A future and past project, that one.

Now:
I am working on a quick bulky scarf loop. Call it what you will, and infinity is high-minded, but it is just a loop. Georgeous warm brown, this wool from Australia is a warm, cozy blend of merino and cashmere, happily a sale, happily also stash that has been sitting around awhile. It is not a gift. It's for me, and it's to wear now, now that we are having some winter for winter. I have knit through half the wool - more than half - and have hopes of finishing this week.




Now:
I have leapt from holidays to very busy January. Three road trips already since the holidays, I am feeling a little like I need some down time. However, I'm trying to sleep now, whenever I can, with the earliest bed times and most frequent naps in two weeks than I recall. I am getting a fair bit of work done, besides, and am teaching a class that I love. The class is half a day long, and it calls for being immediate, to be there now. I'm looking forward to resuming it on Tuesday.

Now:
Having indulged my at-the-desk-break by posting here, I need to walk a few flights of stairs and stretch so I can get back to some good desk time.

Finger Puppets

A friend of mine makes adorable little finger puppets and sells them on Etsy. She makes custom orders as well.

Adorable.

Sh! She doesn't know I posted this.

Losing Track, Staying on Course

I have more hand printing play underway. I'm tackling some embroidery for costume. Costumes are on schedule for several projects. Knitting a quick hat. Working on other knits.

BUT I'VE LOST TRACK OF MY FLICKR ID details. Honestly.

I just timed out my efforts into a 12 hour lockdown.

At least the important stuff is on course.

I'm just losing track of the passwords.

Play

I have given myself permission to play a tiny bit this fall.
Here's one piece - I am taking part in a handpainted fabric swap, sponsored by Leslie Keating of onegirl - now Maze & Vale .




Last week I found a lovely piece of plain linen & cotton yardage in the remnants section of Vogue Fabrics. It could serve for the fat quarters, but I'm feeling indecisive. This past weekend I picked up some 100% cotton canvas yardage. (If I don't use it for this project, it's targeted for some cloth bags.) Will be going through some other on-hand yardage, as well, and have started the prewashing of the fabric I just picked up.

This decision-making sea of choices is part of play. I invited a friend over yesterday to meet me in the shop to play with some fabric paint printing. Tried our hand at using a variety of found objects. Decided that was the focus of the sampling activity for the evening.

It was good to play and think about what I might best do for this project.

Summer meets September

This summer, I decided I would take better care. You could list just about anything there, and it would fit. Eat better, walk more, cook (I used to) more, separate from work more, connect with friends, write a letter, sew, clean, read...

The last few years I have been particularly unkind to myself, and it doesn't help me care for others particularly well. I got a little lost.

This summer I took a couple road trips. It sounds super ridiculous any way I type it, (and I've backspaced five times now), but I had lost track of my better me.

I'm happy to report that I'm hanging onto a bit of that summer resolution. The fact that I'm hanging onto a bit of it in what is usually a whirlwind month of activity is pretty remarkable.

My alarm just went off. I have to get a cup of tea going so I can get into my next several hours of work with lots of people.

Here's a glimpse of my September report:







I'll come back for story telling. In the meanwhile, I hope you'll make something yummy. I may make another apple crumble tonight!

Knitting Summer

Practicing slowing down.



Visiting friends.
Remembering I cook.
Walking.

Getting rid of stuff.

Thinking about blogs and letters.

Going to a few plays.

Oh. Look at the time. I better not slow down now. Curtain waits for no slowpoke.

Worn out but in awe

I consider myself quite fortunate.

I have had some amazing students. They work hard, they struggle uphill when they must, they challenge themselves, and they go extra miles.

I am exhausted right now. It has been a spring of madness on the heels of an endless winter and an overbusy fall.

I'm also looking forward to having them go away for a little while: I can't wait to have some knitting, sewing, and cleaning time for myself.

Still breathing. That is, when they don't take my breath away.

Awe, I tell you.

Oh Heck, it's up to my neck!

With apologies to Shel Silverstein, as I misappropriate and misquote "I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor."

Busy. More later.

Too much sewing. I have to scramble to the top of the pile.

A present from the past

17. Family - past and present



My dear cousin found this sweet little photo and shared it with me yesterday.

I am this old.

16. It is not always a curse to live in interesting times.



This was on in the waiting room, I understand.

Darkest before the dawn OR Quit whining, already....

I had a rough day on Wednesday. It was hard to count good things during a countdown to a decade change. I worked hard. I got a bunch done, but so what...

And then I had to shut up, because:

13) I have work.
14) I have shelter and food.
15) I have health, and where I am imperfect I can regroup.

Fortunately, Thursday was better.

Taking and Marking a Holiday

I'll cut to the chase. It was a Holiday. I took it. I marked it.

11. Watched a rerun of the six hour series King while I knit. I am just, just old enough to have been alive for the full, brief term of Kennedy's presidency. I have heard the stories of my aunt's bus ride to an interview during the grief-filled riots that burned down areas of Chicago when Martin Luther King was assassinated. But I was little, too little to know. I like to hear the stories, to watch the retellings, to see where we've been, to recognize where we still are, to see where we might go.

12. I stayed home. I wanted to go in to do some work. I didn't want to go in to do some work. Was kind of in a stay-in-pyjamas funk. BUT. I stayed home. Cat was pleased. In the end, I expect this was a good thing.

I packed up the blanket knitting for a little while. Cross training. Cotton knitting works the wrist a bit, it does. Will return to the navy sock.