Christmas Knitting (Almost) Done!

Here's the Christmas knitting roundup:

For my neice, a pair of Faux-Felted Mittens (and a second pair, not photographed, for my sister) --

For my Aunt Alice, a sweater with a story --
This sweater was knit on size 13 needles with three strands of yarn in different colors held together. Aunt Alice gave me the bag of yarn and pattern (ordered as a kit from a magazine some years ago) this fall, saying she was never going to get to knit it (she has carpal tunnel problems) and so I might as well have the yarn and needles. I decided to go ahead and knit her the sweater for Christmas :) Her birthday is January 1, so I mailed both Christmas and birthday presents late last week, so she may be getting it today -- surprise! Even Don commented that it looked funny with me knitting on those huge needles. The most interesting part was crocheting the covers for the buttons -- I should have gotten a picture of me with my ipad on my lap, open to a crochet tutorial, while working on these.

Next up, the biggest project of the holiday, a sweater for my mother:
A few years ago, I offered to make my mother a sweater and she said she'd rather have a quilt. Well, it took a couple of years to get a quilt done for her, much to her dismay. Once she got a quilt she kept commenting how much she'd like a sweater like one or two I've made for myself. In August, there was a LYS near my sister which was closing and having a big sale. I scored this beautiful red Lambs Pride Worsted and made the cardigan version of Nordic Impression by Donna Kay. I have the same sweater in blue (also Lambs Pride), knitted when the boys were in 5th & 6th grade and it is one of my favorites. This one got presented with needles and yarn still attached on Christmas Day, but was finished the next day in time for Mom to wear it at the extended family Christmas party in Hermon. It fits!

And, last but not least, a Japanese Vines scarf from a cotton/linen blend yarn (Classic Elite Allegoro) for one son's girlfriend who is allergic to wool. This is the same woman I made the Saroyan scarf for last Christmas out of wool and alpaca -- they didn't tell me about her allergy until last summer. I hope this will soften up a bit when I block it. The yarn is rough on my fingers, but it is moving along pretty quickly now that all of the other projects are taken care of. She is coming to visit on Thursday, so that is my deadline.

I hope all of your holiday knitting is finished and that you are enjoying a breathing spell as you contemplate projects for the new year!

Santa Scene!

For years, we've done very little decorating outside our house. While cleaning out my parent's garage after their move last August, I inherited the family Santa Scene. The reason I inherited it is that I was there at the beginning of this project. You know how you have a few crystal clear memories from early childhood? Well, this is one of mine. My father found this pattern in one of his woodworking magazines. He made slides of the pattern and then he and I used a projector at the school where he was principal to draw them on plywood (well, real woodworkers would dispute whether it is plywood). That's the early memory - in a dark classroom, mesmerized by the magic of making the pattern bigger. Probably that was one of my earliest brushes with technology.

Then my mother painted the reindeer and Santa after my father cut out the shapes. So, this scene is at least 50 years old at this point. And, despite some uncertainty on Don's part, we have it up!
Now Don is inspired to put lights up - I guess he's getting into the holiday spirit :)

Little Treasures That Get You Through the Week

I was sharing a couple of smile moments from my week with Don and he commented that they were "little treasures that get you through the week." How true that is! Here are a few of mine:

1) Two of my students got into medical school and I learned about it just as I looked at my e-mail for the last time before leaving work on Friday. For one, it was her first admittance. For the other it was his second, but it was his most hoped for school. Nice way to end the week!

2) Another student e-mailed me a question to which I responded in my typical round-about fashion, indicating that there was no single answer and inviting him to come chat with me. He told me that he found my e-mail so thoughtful and helpful that he came to see me, then proceeded to pull out a printed copy of my e-mail with several things highlighted! Must be that wonderful liberal arts education I got that makes my e-mails so profound.

3) I finished a baby sweater which, darn it, I didn't take a picture of. But, it was cute.

4) My manicure from last weekend lasted all week.

5) My cat has sat in my lap two mornings this week. She likes to reach up and hold her head against my chin and makes me feel so loved.

6) One of our sons passed his oral defense of his senior comprehensive project. It is beginning to look like both of our sons will actually graduate from college in May (fingers crossed).

Not bad for what was actually a rather difficult week. The end of the semester is always full of tension on campus and that, combined with everyone's mounting holiday stress, the full moon keeping me from sleeping well, and the short days and early darkness really tends to make me weary. But, little treasures do keep you going!

Best Entertainment Around

I'm thoroughly enjoying our new washing machine, which arrived in our basement yesterday afternoon. As might be expected, it seems to clean really well, use less water and less detergent, and work very quietly. But, as an added benefit, it has a glass lid and I've pretty much watched it go through two washes because it is fascinating!

Our old machine was a workhorse and got us through 22 years of laundry for a family of four with very few complaints. We probably should have replaced it years ago, but our repairman (who has worked more on the two dryers we've owned over the years than on the washing machine) always enthused about how much easier it was to repair older machines, so we just kept chugging along with it. Plus, there were sentimental attachments. We "inherited" this washer, along with dryer, when my Great Aunt Ruth passed away. I was pregnant with twins and my aunts voted me as the most in need of a washer/dryer at the time, so it joined our family when we moved into our house 6 months after the boys were born. Lately, though, it has been leaking sparodically but with evermore frequency when we would run a load of laundry. I decided to take the proactive move of replacing it and then the agony of deciding what to purchase began.



We ended up with an LG energy efficient top-loader (with a glass lid!), purchased at our local Home Depot (they had a sale going on, free delivery/take away, and actually recycle the old machines they pick up instead of dumping them). The tub is huge! Don was home yesterday with his laundry waiting for the new machine to be delivered so spent the afternoon learning how to use it. Today is my turn. The tub wiggles and jiggles, swishes a little then swishes a lot, spins a little then spins a lot -- fun to watch.

We're slow around here to adopt new technology, but I think this one is going to make us very happy. It even plays a little tune when the cycle is done :)

On My Needles:
Still working on my mother's cardigan for Christmas. I've got half a sleeve left to do and then will do the neck and button bands and assemble the whole thing.

I've got a bunch of things that just need assembly and finishing, but I've been loathe to do it, for some reason. My Sprössling is blocked and ready to assemble. My Debbie Bliss cabled sweater is blocked and ready to assemble. I have a Baby Surprise sweater ready to assemble. And I have another sweater that my aunt bequeathed to me as a project she would never get to all knit and ready to assemble (that one is going to be my aunt's Christmas present, which should surprise her). Gosh, this is sounding like an issue I need to do something about. Maybe I'll make it the goal of my vacation (I'm looking forward to having the whole week of Thanksgiving off; even though it does involve a couple of family events, I'll have a couple of days to myself) to get some/all of these projects wrapped up. We'll see.

Even More Babies!

I wrote in June of two colleagues who were welcoming babies into their lives for whom I knit sweaters. Since then, there has been an explosion of people in my life having babies!

A third colleague in the same office as the first two is having her first child this winter. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are having their first, his third, a boy, in December. The woman who was the secretary in my office for many years is going to be a grandmother any day now (a girl). My niece in South Carolina has announced she is pregnant with her second child. And, one of my cousins had a baby a few months ago (a boy) and I'm going to be seeing her next weekend. Anyone else out there I don't know about (hopefully not!)?

Luckily, I have a baby sweater stash. I think I'll be making most of my gift selections from this group of sweaters (though a few of them still need buttons):

I've also got a red and white Baby Surprise Jacket off the needles, but not sewn together, that will be perfect for a December baby.

And, believe it or not, there are at least three other baby sweaters still in my stash :) They are like knitting candy. But, the real knitting candy obsession is about to start:
I tried to rotate this picture for you with little luck - sorry. This is this Christmas' first miniature sweater. They take a few hours each, are lots of fun to knit, and make great little gifts to friends. Last year, my basket group practically rioted over them when I laid them out and let them each choose one!

I'm going back to work today after my two days off due to a cold. This is the first morning I've felt near normal all week. As always, when at home I expect myself to "get things done," but I spent most of the past two days snoozing, interspersed with knitting, podcasts, and reading. Time to get back to normal routines!

Away (From Blogging) A Long Time

My very small readership has noticed that I've been away from blogging for quite a while. I know I get annoyed when the blogs I like to read go "dark" and so have meant to get back in the habit, but too much has gotten in the way this fall. So, what were those impediments?

I usually take some time to sort through emotionally difficult situations and it seemed that all of my attention was directed toward emotional family events at the end of the summer and into the fall. Frankly, I wasn't able to write about those events while in the midst of them, and they were so overpowering that I felt like there was little else to talk about.

1) My parents, having been on a wait list for about a year, got the opportunity to move to an independent-living apartment in a residential community in August. That put into motion a host of decisions, events, and tasks that seemed to take over my and my siblings' lives. The house my parents moved out of was not my childhood home, but it was still full of memories and STUFF that evoked memories and downsizing and moving was not FUN for anyone involved and provoked a particularly difficult reaction in my mother. I'm pleased to say that we seem to be on the other side of this and both parents are settling very nicely into their new home.

2) Every time I went to help my parents pack/move/clean out, I came home with boxes and bags of STUFF. Some of it has been subsumed into my household, but much still is in boxes stashed throughout my house. Those boxes contributed to some major clutter we already had in our house, awaiting a couple of pieces of organizing furniture. We had piles of books, for example, behind the couch in our living room for months. I had ordered new bookshelves from a local furniture store, but finding time to stain and polyurethane them during the weeks we were working most furiously on my parents' house was nearly impossible. Getting them installed and loaded with books evoked a huge sigh of satisfaction.

Besides the bookcases, my father had been working for about a year on a cupboard/entertainment center piece of furniture for our "fireplace room" (sort of a parlor, in addition to our living room). He finished it up during the move experience and we brought it home to our garage. Just like the bookcases, it needed to be stained and finished. Working on it one day each weekend for three weekends in a row (desperately trying to get it done before cold weather settled in as our work area was out in the driveway), we finally finished it two weekends ago and the installation of it in our house has also helped to reduce clutter. The idea behind the piece was to put our stereo behind doors and give me a place to keep my knitting projects and clutter out of sight. Before and after pictures tell the whole story:



3) My brother's wedding came one (or was it two?) week after my parents officially moved and I wanted everyone in the family to be able to focus on that joyful event, so was pretty driven to accomplish a lot having to do with the move before the wedding so that we would feel less like it was hanging over our heads. It was definitely a fun and joyous event, not the least because it was an opportunity for my son who stayed at his campus in Pennsylvania for the summer to come home for a few days. Add in that we had gorgeous weather! Here I am, dancing on the lawn at the reception, with my husband:


4) The academic year took off like a rocket this year. I've never been busier at work, including working 2-3 nights each week throughout September and October. Spending half or all of each weekend working on my parents' house gave me little recovery time each week, so it has been a rather exhausting semester so far. I'm particularly grateful, though, that I am not an only child. My sisters and brothers all pitched in and have been great about communicating and sharing information as it developed. The communication part of being in a big family can be particularly challenging, and Facebook has been an invaluable way to keep all five of us updated and in touch.

5) So, those are my excuses and explanations. But, I have found plenty of time for knitting -- especially on car rides back and forth on the weekends! I'll have to photograph some of what I've been working on, but here's one I can share. This is a lace stole I made for my new sister-in-law:

Life Limps Along At Blinding Speed

I apologize to my few readers for not posting much lately. Blogging does encourage me to take time to assess what is going on in my life,but life has been moving much too fast lately to allow any kind of time like that. As much as there has been a lot going on that I'd like to reflect on, this has been a time to act rather than think. With life is moving at this pace, thinking tends to take place in the middle of the night, when I'd rather be dreaming than spinning around in my thoughts, unable to get back to sleep. I'm exhausted by 8 pm, and laying awake at 2:30 am. And that kind of thinking is rarely productive for me.

But, I'm healthy, have a wonderful husband, a warm bed at night, a positive work setting (not to mention, I have a job!), decent weather, two warm & furry cats, and lots and lots of other things to be grateful for. I'm happy to count my blessings and to have many to count. And, retirement to, hopefully, look forward to, when I'll have a much slower paced life!

Still Still Cleaning

That about says it. More cleaning out of my parents' house this weekend - maybe the last of it? Then, the reward of attending the Common Ground Fair!

Still Cleaning

Most of this past weekend was dedicated to a very joyful occasion -- my youngest brother's wedding. And, joyful it was! Everyone in the family is very happy to embrace her as a Talbot and I hear the feeling is mutual on the bride's family side. You know it is a good wedding when your face hurts from smiling at the end of the reception!

Sunday, however, was more of the same -- cleaning out my parents' house. Each time we walk in we look around and wonder how we can work so hard at this every weekend and still have so much left to do. But, after 7 1/2 hours of hard work yesterday, it really does look better. All furniture left is in three piles -- in one room is everything my other brother is taking home with him at the end of this week (after he spends several days helping my father clean out the basement), in another is furniture that is slated to be picked up by somebody or other, and the garage has still more stuff and furniture to be picked up. The cupboards and closets are empty (except one that my mother hasn't discovered yet, but which will be cleaned out by the Open House on Saturday) and we washed walls, windows, light fixtures, curtains, drawers & shelves and vacuumed everything else. Someone was coming in this morning to clean and "wax" the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room floors.

I was discouraged about our project until a neighbor stopped by and said that it is the details that count when looking at a house (they just moved into the neighborhood a few years ago so have recent relevant experience) -- "If the details are taken care of," she said, "buyers will assume the big stuff is well taken care of too." So, we pitched in with renewed commitment and I think we did make a lot of progress.

Combine all the cleaning and wedding celebrations with the beginning of the school year and I'm not home very much. So, very little knitting is going on here at the moment. With any luck, and another couple of weeks, I'll get back on track. Looking forward to it!

Cleaning Out

I spent the weekend helping to clean out my parents' house. I have to say that we had a great team to do the work and enough of us to take turns dealing with the emotions of my mother who is having a very difficult time letting go of anything. We got a lot of work done in two long days, but probably the most exhausting part is the emotions.

I did, however, realize that I'm capable of the hard physical work. Although I was sticky, stinky, and dirty, I felt physically strong. It was a good feeling. And, I'm hoping to put some of that strength and energy toward cleaning out some stuff in my own house -- there are some drawers, closets, and boxes in the basement that could use some of the same cleaning out process we've been doing for my parents. Since this is the new year holiday for our education family, I think that will be my new year's resolution.

Class of 2015 and Other New Beginnings

Everyone who works in education knows that the real "new year" celebration comes at the beginning of the academic year. Growing up in a family where education was the profession, then being a student myself, I found the two years when I wasn't in an education setting to be rather odd in September. I guess that is one reason I was drawn to working with students, just to have the rhythm of the school year as the center of my life. Working for a college and being married to a high school teacher, there's no question it is the "new year" this week.

First-year students arrive at Colby tomorrow morning, with the rest of the student body returning next Tuesday. Both of my sons are beginning their senior year in college -- one tomorrow and the other on Thursday. I'm more excited about the new year than I've been in a couple of years due to my taking the never-before-done step of setting a deadline for pre-med applicants of August 1 to complete their files. It takes the committee about 3 weeks to complete the composite letter for a candidate once their file is complete, so I'm happy to say that we finished virtually all of the nearly 50 letters this year by August 24! I'm starting the academic year able to focus entirely on the start of the academic year and it feels great. I've been heard to say frequently this month, "A deadline is a beautiful thing."

On the topic of new beginnings, my parents were safely ensconced in their new apartment the day before Irene blustered her way through Maine. We fit a lot of stuff in a tiny apartment and they are happy to be there - even my Mom! There's still a lot to do with their house before it can be sold, but progress has been made.

Irene, as I said, blustered through our part of Maine yesterday. I had decided to spend at least part of the day reading (The Help), but ended up spending the entire day reading on the porch. The power went off around 2 in the afternoon, so then I had no choice but to read until it got too dark. Then I did some knitting by candlelight (Almondine socks by Anne Hanson from the new Master Sock Knitting book by Ann Budd in a rust-colored hand-dyed sock yarn from Cherry Hill that I got on the sale shelves at Yard Goods) and we went to bed early. The power came on around 10:30, but by then I was sound asleep. Despite the weather, it was lovely, relaxing way to end the summer. And the fried Spam sandwiches we had for lunch and dinner hit the spot.

So, Happy New Year everyone!

It's All Emotion

That is a line my DH and I use when we need to remind ourselves that certain situations just can't easily be handled by logic or rational thinking. Both of us prefer logic and clear-thinking and get a bit overwhelmed when emotion runs rampant.

We just used that line to prepare ourselves for a weekend that we knew would combine some good times with some major emotion. Even with the mantra running through our heads, it was tough weekend. Not all bad, but not easy.

My parents are, later this week, signing up to move into an apartment in an elderly housing complex. They'll be moving into a one-bedroom apartment in an independent living building. It is most definitely, for any number of reasons, the right thing to do. But it is something that carries a lot of emotional baggage for everyone involved. And, even though it has been anticipated for some time, it suddenly seems to be happening very quickly (probably because it is!).

It is particularly hard for my mother, but even I have some significant up and down feelings about the whole thing and am so looking forward to getting it done so we can all move forward. One of my sisters has blogged about how strange it will be not to have any reason to go back to our home town. I, too, feel that same sadness - even though I'll be passing by it often as it is between where I live and where my parents and siblings live (one brother and one sister live in the town my parents are moving - a great relief for all of us to have them close by my parents). I never lived in the house my parents are leaving, but it is less than 50 yards from the house I did spend most of my childhood in and therefore the neighborhood I called home.

Then there are the emotions of dealing with others' emotions. My mom is not handling this very well and that is wearing on all of us, and most distinctly on my father. I feel sad for my mother, defensive of my father, mad about the negative emotional energy swirling around, and even worried for my own future (I hope I'll end up being a charming and cheerful old lady, not angry with the world and holding onto that anger for all I'm worth).

On the positive side, we had a lovely reunion gathering on Sunday with all of the Talbots and Brooks families (my father's side of the family) - including cousins I have not seen in about 4 years. Only two people were missing -- one of my sons and my cousin's son. It was really, really nice to see everyone there. We also attended an elegant and lovely wedding shower for my sister-in-law to be on Saturday with all of my mom's sisters ("the Aunts"). It was fun to meet the other side of the family my brother will be joining.

Throw in our interim priest's last service (our newly called rector joins us in three weeks) and readings chosen to highlight change issues on Sunday, and a poem read in yoga class last Thursday about change, and change clearly has been the theme of my life for the past few days. With several bubblings-up of tears, anger, concern, confusion, joy, and just about everything but the kitchen sink thrown in, you can imagine my state of mind. And, it isn't pretty.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

The Maine Quilt Show, held the last weekend of July every year in Augusta, Maine, is my personal mini-vacation. I usually sign up for at least two days of workshops (the listing comes out in January or February, so I commit way up front). I do this on my own -- sometimes a friend comes to view the show with me at some point during the weekend, but I don't do this in tandem with a friend or group of friends. However, it is very rare for me not to see someone I know in my classes. And, I always run into other people throughout the weekend. This year I spent some time catching up with another ballet Mom from way back when.

This year's classes were great. I took my third class from Leslie Volpe-Muir on miniature quilting. I've taken her intro class twice, and this time went for a Mini-Medallion class. I love doing things in miniature - remember the sweaters last year? When I was into cross-stitch, I always gravitated toward the smallest count fabric. I've always wanted a real dollhouse with miniature furniture, but that will have to wait for my next life, I guess. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Here's the outcome of the class, along with a packet of tissues to give you a sense of size:
As you can see, it is still in pieces - hard to believe that sewing all day results in a 6 1/2" square. Since the show, I've finished the other zig-zag paper-pieced border pieces and sewn them on. There's one more border after that which I've partially done and will finish soon. This piece, however, will likely not ever be backed, quilted, and bound because it will be helpful to be able to refer to the back when I try to do another one - there are some neat tricks that you can only see on the back. When I was getting my mother's quilt ready to take to the machine quilter, I actually used one of the tips I learned in a miniature quilt class to handle where the many points of a pinwheel come together. Thank you, Leslie!

The second class was with a quilting rock star, Jo Morton. Jo, while not a miniaturist, works with "small" quilts. She likes to find ways to make her quilts look old, but doesn't go in for bed-sized quilts. We worked on a wall-hanging size quilt that was also a medallion-style quilt (which means there is a center motif surrounded by layers of borders rather than a center of multiple blocks). The center was a LeMoyne Star. Essentially this is the same star that was the center of my miniature quilt the day before, but we used an entirely different technique for putting it together (and it was bigger). We mimicked, on our sewing machine, the way you would hand-piece this star and then did this nifty swirl of the points to eliminate the bulk at the center. We also did flying geese blocks in a completely new way to me (and, again, different from the ones I'd done just the day before).

Jo tends to gravitate toward traditional, reproduction colors and prints, but I tried to just use fabrics from my stash, so ended up with a red, white, & blue combo. Here's the result at the end of the class:
We spent the whole morning on the center star - I was actually the first in the class to finish it! I'm never the first - I enjoy taking my time, but this just fell together for me. The next step is a whole border of flying geese. I'd like to get it done this summer, but it will likely be floating around, unfinished, for a while, I'm afraid.

For reference, here are the two projects side by side:
And here's where they are now, pushed off to the side of my work-table while I work on Nate's quilt:
More about Nate's quilt and other projects taking my attention at the moment in the next post.

When It Rains, It Pours

In the past seven days, these are the highlights:
1) One son's computer appears to have kicked the bucket. He's taking it to a computer repair place today to see what can possibly be done. Hopefully they can at least recover everything. With any luck at all, they can get it to where it will be able to get him through his senior year. Fallback plan? I'll be mailing my laptop to him.

2) We bought a car. It wasn't in the plan for another year, but the chance to buy a Toyota Rav4 from a professor came up quite suddenly and we went for it. Don spent yesterday "detailing" the VW so I can list it for sale this week on the Digest at work.

3) My parents finally came to the top of the list for an apartment in an elderly housing community. They'll be moving in the next month, just as several of us (me, my sisters, DH) are gearing up for the school year AND we all get ready for my brother's wedding on 9/10/11. Yes, it is a head-spinner.

4) My mother-in-law fell at the barn yesterday, where she goes every weekday morning to feed and care for her and everyone else's horses (others do weekend duty). I don't yet know all the details, but she broke her hip and was in surgery until about 9pm yesterday.

5) A second friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer in the space of a month. Both friends have such great, positive attitudes, but it is scary.

6) My iron died. But, the happy ending (I hope) is a new Rowenta that I picked up on sale yesterday.

7) We had N's company for a week, with his girlfriend visiting at the end. This is actually the positive highlight. It was lovely to have him/them visit and be able to spend some time with them. Most of the time we see him/them at larger family gatherings, but got to have his whole attention and vice versa.

There's not a lot of knitting going on, but I am doing some quilting. Next post will be about the Quilt Show.

All Well With Cats, Pretty Much

The girls survived their annual exam at the vet's. We had a new vet this time, and she had very good news for Lydia - she's no longer overweight! This vet felt that Lydia's overall bigger size (she's longer and taller than Pandora) suited her weight just fine - but she shouldn't get any bigger. Pandora, however, is on a diet to lose a pound this next year. Other than a little gingivitis on the now-svelte cat who never chews her food but inhales it whole, they are quite healthy.

Here they are today in their matching IKEA chairs that we bought them last summer. Were we really thinking that WE would sit in them?

Ms. Pandora who is 11 1/2 years old, which translates into 60 in people years. If I'm only one pound overweight at 60, I'll be very happy (doesn't she look happy?).

Her svelte-ness, Lydia.

I've been neglecting my blogging, but promise to get back on track! Lots going on with knitting, quilting, family, work is all I can say.

Ah, Summer

Real summer has finally arrived in central Maine. The sign? We're using our fans at night now. I absolutely could not live where it was hot and humid all of the time-- the next two months will give me more than enough of that weather.

Other signs include the arrival of MIFF (the Maine International Film Festival) in Waterville. We've already used our pass twice and have plans for using up the rest of it -- we purchase and share a "partial pass" which gives 10 entrances to movies. We never have trouble finding interesting films to see -- so far we've seen our annual Bollywood film (Dabongg - probably my least favorite of all the Bollywood films I've seen) and Madame Butterfly (in technicolor). MB was beautiful and very enjoyable, even though it was in Italian with intermittent English narration, but no subtitles. Lt. Pinkerton was a cad.

In addition to MIFF movies, we've been catching ourselves back up on Harry Potter. We somehow managed to miss seeing Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows, so needed to see that before going to see Part 2. We watched that last night.

The garden is growing leaps and bounds -- we've already harvested radishes and spinach. Soon we'll have beans. Flowers are going nuts -- lots of previously empty spaces are full of blooms that are attracting butterflies and bumblebees. We've been enjoying dinner on the patio when we can.

Although the hot weather isn't entirely conducive to knitting, I've been making good progress on a number of projects. I cast off the back of Isla last night and cast on the fronts. Following my recent habit, I'm planning to knit both fronts at the same time and then both sleeves at the same time. The yarn and colors are just scrumptious, though I did just notice that my swatch, which I soaked and blocked, is actually somewhat lighter in color than the sweater. I think I'll try steam-blocking the sweater instead of soaking it when I finish it. Even faded it is a lovely color, just not as intense.

I was able to get a shawlette out of the rest of my Jewel yarn from MochasFibers. I did have to take out two four-row repeats, so it is about 2" shorter than it would have been if I'd done the whole pattern, but those two inches don't keep it from being useful as a lace scarf. I loved the yarn and hope to get some more when she dyes some colors I like -- stock is low at the moment.

I've finished the vest I bought the yarn for on a whim. Can't think of the yarn name at the moment. When I say I finished, I mean that I finished the knitting. Now I need to review how to use a crochet hook as the instructions include slip-stitching the shoulder seams and single crochet around the neckline and armholes. I have to re-learn crochet every time I need to use it.

I also finished (really finished) the Skew Socks which I've been working on for way too long. They were an interesting exercise, but not my favorite project ever. It also gave me an excuse to use some sparkly sock yarn. Who knows how much I'll actually wear them.

And, I picked up Mom's quilt last Friday morning from the machine quilter (Marcia O'Donnell in Albion - she does a great job). Yesterday I made the binding and sewed the first binding seam. Now I need to hand stitch the binding down around the other side of the quilt. A good project to pick up and work on bit by bit, though not great for hot weather as you're always sitting under a blanket. My plan, at the moment, is to have it done for her birthday, which comes after my brother's wedding. I'm thinking there may be a bit of letdown after that big event and hopefully this will cheer her up.

Speaking of quilts, the Maine Quilts show is less than 2 weeks away! I'm taking two classes (Friday and Sunday, I think) and need to start getting things together for them. One is being taught by Jo Morton, a quilting rock star, and focuses on some traditional blocks and accurate piecing. The second is by one of my favorite teachers, Leslie Volpe, who specializes in miniature quilting. She's from Maine, so I've taken a couple of classes with her over the years. Regular blog readers will know about my fascination with all things miniature (remember the mini-sweaters last winter?). Maine Quilts, in the words of one veteran, is almost always the hottest weekend of the summer -- keep your fingers crossed that the AC at the Civic Center doesn't give out like it did one year (in fact, that was the first time I took one of Leslie's classes!).

So, that's my project update for the moment. Working half-time is lovely -- a good balance of busy time at work and flexible time. I just work the afternoon today, so I need to go get some birthday stuff together this morning! My sons turn 22 on the 22nd -- maybe not so momentous as last year's 21st birthdays, but important nonetheless.

Happy Camper

Ah, summer has finally started for me. April, May, and June are mostly a blur -- too many things (all good) packed into a short time and sometimes one directly on the heels of another. It started with back-to-back conferences at the beginning of April and ended with back-to-back trips in the past two weeks. First to PA, then to camp in Western Massachusetts with my siblings (all but one) on our annual trip to hear/see Prairie Home Companion's broadcast at Tanglewood.

I've been listening to PHC since I first lived in Montana in 1983. Yep, that's a long time. And I still consciously organize my Saturday evening around the program whenever I can (it is great knitting time!). One of my sisters has been going to see the show at Tanglewood for over 10 years, but we've just been going the past three. One of my favorite parts is the sing-along that takes place after the show -- usually over an hour of old songs and an audience of geeks who can sing in parts, not to mention know all the words of songs from folk to hymns to 50's pop. I felt as if I was in the company of hundreds of really nice people.

This was our group on the lawn of Tanglewood at the show, using umbrellas for shade this year, instead of for rain:

From there, we went to RI to visit DH's family, including relatives from Georgia, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Maine. We were only missing two grandchildren, one being my son in Pennsylvania. Papa D provided us with a feast -- lobster on Sunday and a clam boil on the 4th of July. And, lots of time sitting out on the deck, knitting and chatting. My favorite observation was all of the grandchildren, and members of the older generation who had smart phones (not me, alas) spent hours playing Words With Friends together. If we'd pulled out a Scrabble board, no one would have shown any interest at all, but they literally played this game for hours. I got to participate by suggesting words -- one of the benefits of an English major is a fairly broad vocabulary.

I managed to finish the Bitterroot Shawl just before leaving for the trip (photos when I block it) and decided to try to squeeze a small size one out of the yarn that is left. I'm nearly through to the last graph with about 30 rows to go, but am not sure if I'm going to be able to complete it as patterned. I'm happy to keep knitting, though, and see how close I get. Then I'll back up and take a section out if I think that will work. I'd like to use up some of the beads, though, and can always give this as a gift as it will be more like a scarf than a shawl.

I also got a substantial amount done on the back of my Isla cardigan. The String Theory Caper Sock yarn is gorgeous and feels delicious while knitting. Everyone who saw me working on it commented on the colors (Rose Collage - I don't see it on their site at the moment) and I'm really liking the way the colors blend with no pooling. I started out by putting the decreases and increases about 1/3 of the way in from each side, but didn't like the way it looked, so ripped back and moved them 25 stitches in from each side. It looks a lot better. This was a suggestion of Amy Herzog in our Fit to Flatter class, that the fitting details may work better if they aren't just done along what becomes the side seams. I had to stop, however, because I'd left my Fit to Flatter notebook at home and couldn't remember the length measurement we'd decided was just right for me and didn't want to go too long before starting the sleeve/shoulder decreases.

I came home from RI on my own on Tuesday so I could work a couple of days this week. I've got a day at home today before I go retrieve DH from his week in Newport (which included more time with his brother from Georgia, a Red Sox game, and a bike trip around the island, visiting all of his old haunts). Most of the day will be devoted to tackling lots of the things that get neglected when we're busy. I've already updated the checkbook and paid bills. Last night's task was cleaning off the sideboards in the kitchen where a number of piles of things had accumulated. This morning I've already sorted through the stuff on the dining room table - mostly mail and bills. I need to do some work in the garden -- our peas desperately need something to climb. And, I ought to clean the refrigerator since it is fairly empty after our being away so much the past two weeks. Basically, I'll be puttering around all day -- my favorite kind of day!

So, this post started with my describing a happy camping trip, and ends with me being a happy camper. And here is my DH, who is usually a pretty happy camper himself:

Away for a bit

I've been slacking on my blog, I'm afraid. June absolutely flew by -- I feel like I was always off on a trip or trying to recover throughout the whole month, with time for nothing else. The latest trip was a long weekend to visit with my sons, both of whom are working away from home this summer. I took one with me to visit his brother at his college in western PA - he'd never been out to see his brother's college. Despite the nearly continual rain and the cancelled/missed flights in both directions, it was a fun visit.

Now we're getting ready for a combined trip -- camping in western MA so we can attend the Prairie Home Companion broadcast at Tanglewood followed by the 4th of July in Rhode Island. The 4th with DH's family is a tradition that stretches back to the first year of our marriage. PHC at Tanglewood dates back that far in my sister's marriage, but has been part of our June schedule for just 3 years now. Both are not-to-be-missed events for DH and me!

I'm trying to figure out if I can fit in a side trip to Webs on the way to the campground, but haven't mentioned it to DH yet. I just got their annual Valley Yarns catalogue and I'm drooling all over it. On the other hand, my LYS has its summer sale starting tomorrow, so I could spend my money locally when I get home after the 4th. That is what I'll probably settle for :)

The trip to PA gave me lots of knitting time. I spent almost all of it working on my Bitterroot Shawl, including doing the first few of the beaded rows with a bowl made out of my sweatshirt in the Charlotte, NC airport. I'm just three rows and the bind-off from finishing, but will likely leave it at home to finish next week. I was also working on a simple cowl from some glittery yarn I picked up at Fiber Frolic, but it wasn't the most forgiving stuff to work with and broke my Knit Picks Harmony wood needle -- right where two of the layers of wood come together.

Now I need to pack and think about what I'm going to take with me for knitting on this trip. I did knit a swatch of the String Theory yarn from Fiber Frolic and washed and blocked it. I usually am pretty good about making swatches, but have never washed and blocked one before. I'll measure it this morning and decide what size needles I'll use to make the Isla cardigan. That would be good traveling knitting because it is all stockinette and I'll be able to knit without looking at my work. There is lots of good people-watching at Tanglewood and I don't want to miss anything!

I have already started my shopping list for my LYS sale. Hard to believe, but it is time to start thinking about Christmas knitting. I want to make some more of those faux-felted mittens for some people, so should stock up.

Here's a photo from our trip at the end of May to Acadia:

Babies Everywhere

I finished two baby sweaters last night. Both are from Berroco's Comfort DK yarn, and the patterns were from a Berroco Comfort DK #274 booklet. The first, Caleb, was on the cover and was the reason I bought the booklet. I bought the recommended number of balls of yarn for it and found I had nearly 1 1/2 left over at the end, so I went ahead and made Caisey, which was similar, but a cardigan instead of a pullover. I needed to buy one more ball of yarn, but got two baby sweaters out of 5 balls of very reasonably priced yarn.

While I was sewing on the buttons, my older cat came and kept me company. She has developed a habit of perching on the back of whatever chair or couch I'm sitting on and snuggling with my head. In the winter she likes to be in my lap, but when it warms up she wants to be close, but not too close. Plus, she's always had a thing for people's hair and she gets to nuzzle mine in this position.
These two sweaters are going to two colleagues who are both having boys -- one is due in July and the other's wife is due in December, I think. They work in the same office, so it will be fun to give them "matching" sweaters, though that wasn't my intention when I started the second sweater. I just figured I'd have a sweater "on hand" for future gift-giving, but found out last week that the second colleague had just found out they were having a boy. Just good timing, I guess!

I have another baby to start knitting for, though. My sister-in-law and Don's brother are officially pregnant, due in January. We got to see them on Saturday and I pulled a baby hat out of the bag and sewed in the ends on the way there so I could give them an early gift. I didn't get a picture, but it is out of Lorna's Laces variegated sport weight and has 5 little corkscrews sticking out at the top. I got two out of one skein and gave the first away about 2 years ago. And, I have two nieces who are likely to have children soon, so having some sweaters in reserve would be a good idea. Luckily, I love knitting baby sweaters -- they are fun, and quick, and I like to make them colorful. The blue of the two sweaters I just finished is one of my favorite colors and I didn't get tired of knitting with it.

On other needles, I am making progress on the Bitterroot Shawl - I've moved to the second chart out of 6 or 7. The yarn is so soft and lovely to knit with. Once I get started, I hate to put it down. I'll get lots of time with it this weekend when I travel with one of my sons to visit the other. We'll have time for knitting and conversation - my favorite combination.

Happy Bloomsday!

Even as an English major for whom reading the Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was an intellectual bright spot(in my freshman year English comp class), I can't claim to have read Ulysses, but love hearing about Bloomsday and have celebrated it occasionally with a Guinness over the years.

On the knitting front, I've blocked my Sprössling but haven't gotten around to piecing it together. I planned to not cast anything on until I had finished it, but couldn't help myself when I got the yarn from Fiber Frolic wound into balls using my friend's large ball-winder. I dubbed the ball-winder the "Big Mama" when I handed it back to her last night at choir. I really struggled with the String Theory Caper Lace on my regular-sized ball-winder. 575 yards was just a bit too much and I kept tangling it underneath the cone. The Jewel sock yarn from Mocha's Fiber came in an 1100 yard skein! I absolutely could not have wound it on my own winder.

Anyway, the Jewel yarn, a 65% superwash merino and 35% rayon of bamboo mix won me over. It is in the Aegean colorway, a lovely mix of sea blue/green colors and so soft! I'm making the Bitterroot Shawl from Knitty winter '09 and have beads already purchased for the edging. This is one of those yarns that feel wonderful to knit -- I can hardly put the project down and already know I'll be sorry to finish it. But, the 1100 yards will probably give me two projects -- one shawl and another shawlette/scarf, so I'll enjoy every minute. Here's a progress photo:
But, the sun is shining today and my usual Thursday yoga class will be followed by a graduation party tonight, so I probably won't get much time to fondle my yarn until Friday. We're having dinner with family - even my brother from Maryland will be there - to celebrate Father's Day and my parents' anniversary a couple of days early. I'll get to knit in the car on the way to dinner (over an hour away)!

Boston Conference

I've just returned from 4 days at a conference at Boston. It was a great conference -- lots of good information, updates, conversation, and... food!

My professional development conference of choice for many years was a national student affairs conference, usually in a major city where, if I was lucky (and feeling spendthrift), I would indulge in one nice meal in a restaurant on the trip. Mostly, I was trying not to spend too much of the college's money, feeling just very grateful to be able to attend. More recently, however, as I've begun to advise students about law school and medical school, I attend the conferences for those specialties and find myself in a different world. At the Pre-Law Advisor's conference, which this was, the meals are all "sponsored" by law schools. Breakfasts, coffee breaks, lunches, afternoon dessert breaks or receptions, and dinners -- every single one included as part of the conference and delicious. We even had a lobster feed on the first night! As a Maine native, I definitely had an advantage at the lobster feed and had to coach a few of my table-mates.

Anyway, it was a great four days, and not just because of the food (oh, and wine and beer at every reception and dinner). I did get a free hour on Thursday and cruised over to Windsor Button, which is the only yarn store in Boston proper that I'm aware of. I hoped to get to stores in Cambridge or Brookline, but the timing didn't allow. I ended up not buying anything, but that is because, when I ran in to pick up a set of needles at my LYS before leaving on the trip, I was talked into (it wasn't hard) a splurge skein of yarn: Blue Heron Yarns' Cotton/Rayon Seed in variegated blues which came with the Sea Turtle Vest pattern. It is very simple, knit from the top down, and uses a brooch or shawl pin as a closure. I can't wait to start it, but need to borrow a larger cone winder than I own to get it out of the skein. But, I also need that to wind my Fiber Frolic purchases, so am going to have to prevail on a kind friend very soon - before I find myself trying to wind it myself the old-fashioned way, on my hands!

I managed to find a bit of knitting time (and I wasn't the only knitter at the conference), especially on the bus to and from Maine to Boston. I'm still working on the Comfort DK yarn which led me to do a second baby sweater. The first called for 4 skeins, but only used about 2 3/4, so, with one more purchased, I'm getting a second sweater out of the yarn. I've cast on the first sleeve (which is picked up and knitted from the body down to the wrist) and could have this done very soon, so I'll wait to photograph it then. But, I will share a photo of some of our irises. They were just coming out when I left for Boston and I feared I would miss them completely. Two varieties (we have other colors, but they haven't bloomed yet) -- a variegated/stripey one and a dark purple:

Thanks, Gratefully Received

I had a lovely weekend, starting with Friday afternoon. It is reunion weekend at Colby and alumni from the 1st and 10th reunion classes made a point of stopping by to see me and thank me for the help I've given them over the years. One is now, after admitted ups and downs in her life, settled into work that she loves and excels at in disability services. She commented that I "helped her more than you know" through our conversations while she was a student and several phone calls throughout her first post-Colby job search. The second young man graduated last year and hopes to apply to medical school in another year or two. He spent a lot of time worrying about his future while he was a student (but, fortunately, also made connections with two of us in the Career Center and got lots of support), went out and did a year-long volunteer/teaching position and said he "learned a lot" in his first year out of Colby. He seems much, much more self-confident and centered than when I last saw him a year ago and is off on a new work adventure this fall.

Then, on Saturday, I attended a memorial service for a cherished faculty member who passed away last fall. It was really nicely done and I ran into some past classmates from my year and the year behind me (it isn't my reunion year). Then I took a stroll down Roberts Row (aka Frat Row) where I know that the one-year reunion class hangs out. It is always like stepping back in time -- students aren't allowed to do this nowadays, but in my day (oh I sound old!), this was a familiar scene: beer die tables and kegs and other games going on and people hanging out on a sunny day. I got all the way to the end of the crowd before I came across some really familiar faces, but then got to talk with two of my pre-med alums who will be going to medical school next fall who graduated a year ago. They were glowing with the experiences they've had during this past year and with the excitement of what lies ahead for them. They were both people I (strongly) encouraged to take that year before going back to school and they thanked me for pushing them to do that. One laughed at how she used to be insistent when talking with me about how she wanted to go directly on to school and said that this past year was the "best year of her life" and thanked me for encouraging her in that direction.

These are the experiences that keep me wanting to do the work I do. Yes, I love the daily interactions (at this time of the year, mostly e-mail and phone conversations), but seeing the results of my efforts and care with students pay off is so rewarding and confirming. I feel privileged to work with students who are going through this complex, often frightening and overwhelming developmental stage. I often want to put my arms around them and tell them they'll be OK (and sometimes I do offer that hug and those words) in ways they can't even imagine. I can't guarantee there won't be ups and downs, but reassure them that even their classmates who appear to have everything together will have ups and downs too. And, they won't stop learning and growing just because they graduate from college. This weekend, I got to see some of this in real life and it makes me excited about going back to work tomorrow.

So, if someone has helped you along the way in college -- reach out and tell them. It truly makes a difference. And, if you haven't yet reached out to someone at your college (you know who you are), know that there are people (yes, even "administration" staff as well as faculty) just waiting for you to ask for their support and help. Take advantage of their caring and their wisdom. If the first person you reach out to doesn't "connect" with you, find someone else. You don't have to figure everything out on your own, though you have to live what you decide to do. Having a supportive older person in your life can help you move in whatever direction you head with confidence. "Real life" is actually a really nice place to live.

Fiber Frolic Finds

Yesterday was a lovely, even if a bit nippy, day for a frolic! Outside of the sunny places it was a bit chilly and breezy, but that is my best weather, so I was quite happy. Plans to meet with fiber fanatic friends came together at the very last minute on Friday afternoon and stayed "loose." We agreed to start meeting at the main gate at 9 and then every half hour after that so that if anything slowed anyone down in getting there, it wouldn't keep everyone waiting around. Two of us arrived right at 9:30 and then we found a third person already purchasing something in the first building and soon ran into a fourth fanatic. It was a cheery, fibery group!

I am still trying to save money for an iPad and all the necessary accessories, but did spend some of my savings on some gorgeous yarn. First, I was intending to buy some String Theory yarn to make a Bitterroot Shawl. I ended up buying yarn for a sweater instead. One of the sweaters I tried on and loved at the Fit to Flatter workshop was the Isla cardigan (I can't find a picture of it to link to) from an old, unavailable Rowan magazine. I've been thinking about finding/designing a similar very lightweight cardigan ever since. Then, one of my friends mentioned that she'd found the pattern book in her collection! She's halfway through making it herself, out of String Theory Caper Sock Yarn. I opted for the even more lightweight Caper Lace Weight in Rose Collage and it is so soft and beautiful. The colors, as I worked one into a ball last night were just mesmerizing in their changes -- rose is the main color, but there are also shades of purple, green, and aqua in it too! The photo below doesn't do it justice, but it is the three pinks (including one ball):
The little ball in the front was a last -minute splurge. It has metallic yarn mixed with a silk variegated yarn and came with a pattern to make a charming little neck warmer that really looks more like a fancy necklace. I'll probably knit that first as it is easy-peasy and will be great Fiber Frolic instant gratification.

The aqua skein is going to be used for the Bitterroot -- it was a great deal for 1100 yards of fibery loveliness. Again, the photo doesn't do it justice. One of my friends described the colors as "almost alive," and she's right. After leaving the Fiber Frolic I went directly to Beads on the Kennebec in Augusta and picked out the tubes of beads I'll need for the shawl -- there were lots of good choices, which tells you more about how variable the colors are in the yarn. But, before leaving, I took some photos of llamas and alpacas and had a lovely Gyro sandwich and iced tea.
These 4 Alpacas moved as a group and, at times, had their necks almost intertwined. They had just been shorn - you can see the lines on their necks and backs where the clippers were directed.
This little one looked like it was smiling.
I've always loved llamas, but seeing the alpacas first makes these guys look huge! I'd love to have one :)

So, it was a very nice outing. I didn't spend too much money and came home with some things that will give me great pleasure to knit over the next year.

Before I knit anything new, however, I'm planning to block my Sprössling today and get it sewn together before heading off to a conference in Boston. And, I need to finish sewing my Debbie Bliss sweater together. Then, I think I can start something new.

Anticipating a Frolic

Fiber Frolic is this weekend -- go if you can! I'll be there!

Weekend Knitting - not so much

I did do some knitting over the weekend, but didn't make what anyone would call "progress."

I pulled the lace shawl out of time-out that I've had issues with before. It was one of the first lace projects I attempted, so I thought that my greatly advanced skills since then would make it easy to finish. Ha! When you start thinking you have advanced skills, that is a huge caution flag! I managed to make a mess that will require me to tink back (un-knit) at least two very long rows of knitting (hundreds of stitches in each row as I'm in the first third of the last lace section of a round shawl), taking me back to right where I was when I threw it into my bag on Friday. I'm going to do it sooner than later -- I'm tired of feeling defeated by this project and am determined to get it finished this summer. I've been knitting it on a Knit Picks nickel round needles and have decided to try moving it to a Knit Picks wood round needle (my current favorite needles for everything -- flexibility for my hands, color, and nice sharp points -- I have the interchangeable round needles set). I've got a few of the nickel needles but find myself hating to pick those projects up. They are fast, if you want fast, but the tips are more blunt and the needles more slippery than I need for this lace. Stay tuned...

So, I moved to the sock project that is also on nickel needles. These are lace-patterned knee socks from Dream in Color Smooshy. It is a slow project, but I'm getting there. I think I got two repeats of the 8-row lace pattern knitted, which is good progress.

And, I'm working on another baby sweater from the yarn left from the one I just finished. I'll need one more ball to finish the sweater, but that's not bad. I just found out that another colleague's wife is pregnant, due in September, so there will be a home for it soon. But, I got ahead of myself on the second front side and forgot to put in the buttonholes, so just frogged that piece last night and will start it over. It is good mindless knitting, though, and I like having a project going in that category, so I'm not crying over this one. Plus, it is a baby sweater -- so small!

25 Years

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary! I remember a friend, about 20 years ago, celebrating this anniversary and I couldn't quite imagine getting there myself. Not because I thought my marriage wouldn't last, but because it seemed like an unfathomable length of time. Marriage is often hard, often joyful, but mostly just living together day-to-day. My husband and I each are grateful to have found a partner that is patient with our foibles and loves us despite our imperfections. I'm happy to celebrate 25 years with my best friend!

To celebrate, we went camping. We started camping the first year we were married (it was something my family did a lot of while I was growing up), buying a used tent with some of our wedding gift money. That canvas tent is still in the garage, but we have upgraded, big-time. We have a big tent with a screened "front porch." Don calls it the "fabric cottage." We've also upgraded to a full-size inflatable mattress, though I haven't convinced him to bring sheets and blankets instead of sleeping bags yet :)

This trip was to Lemoine State Park, near Ellsworth, Maine. It is a lovely, little park, right on the water. It is on the mainland, just across from Mt. Desert Island. Maine's state parks are wonderful gems! We started out on Friday in a leisurely way, stopping for lunch at the Riverside Cafe in Ellsworth. We may try the Irish Pub in Ellsworth on the next trip. Then, on to Lemoine where we set up camp. At that point, we realized that we hadn't followed our usual camping protocol and used the packing checklist developed by my family (I still have a photocopy of the one I typed on our old-fashioned typewriter many moons ago) and had left a few things at home. The pots and pans, for example, and the dishpan and tablecloth. Luckily, Reny's is just 8 miles from the campground, so we went on a bit of a shopping adventure and stocked up. Then, we cooked dinner.

It rained all Friday night, but was just gray and misty on Saturday. Again, we moved at a leisurely pace and had a late breakfast after which we struck out for Acadia's carriage trails. We picked out a 6 mile loop around Eagle Lake and headed out.
The view was somewhat obscured by fog, but it didn't rain on us.
One of our "rest" stops -- the first two miles were all uphill!
Near the end, we stopped for lunch, lakeside.
And then, on to Bar Harbor for a walk-around which included running into other people from Waterville in the brewery where we were enticed in for the free beer tasting. I can highly recommend the Thunder Hole Ale -- we brought some home and had it with dinner on Sunday. The finale was an Italian dinner at Guiness & Porcelli's and a campfire back at the campsite.

Breaking down camp was pretty easy, if wet, and after a walk around the 1-mile loop trail at the campground, we headed home (with a stop for coffee in Ellsworth). A very satisfying camping trip and a great way to celebrate 25 years of togetherness and talk about plans for the next 25!

A Little Sun is a Wonderful Thing

The sun came out today for a brief, happy appearance. I needed to find a piece of paper that I knew was in a pile of papers in my home office, so went home at lunch to look for it. My task was accomplished more quickly than expected (or than deserved, given the state of my record-organizing these past few years), so I took the rest of my lunch hour to install 15 geraniums I snagged over the weekend for .99 each at the big box store into the side and front gardens. I love geraniums of any color or variety, and find the red ones to be an easy way to add some pop of color to the garden.

And, they'll coordinate so nicely with the way our neighbors have painted the front of their house this week. They have wide aluminum siding on their white house and have painted every other strip of siding in red -- kind of like a flag, but not really. Sigh.

My seed order arrived today -- it came really quickly! I can highly recommend Pinetree Garden Seeds here in Maine. They offer small packets of seeds, which I like so I don't have partial packets hanging around for years. We also got row cover (to keep the neighborhood cats out of the garden until things start to grow). I think we'll find some time this weekend to plant our vegetables and keep our fingers crossed that we are going to get past this wet, gray weather pattern we've been in for weeks.

Sprössling is done, but I can't put my hands on my blocking wires at the moment (really, there's no excuse for being this disorganized), so will have to look for them this weekend and get that and the wedding stole blocked, finally. Once blocked, I can sew the sweater together and knit on the button bands - can't wait to see it completed!

Will Knit for Sun

Two summers ago, we had a rainy, rather cold season. Plants rotted in people's gardens - tomatoes were especially hard to grow. For some reason, that summer didn't bother me too much. I'm really, really, really not fond of hot, humid weather -- it turns me into a puddle. But, in the past two weeks we've had exactly one sunny day and it is starting to get to me. I'm tired (despite getting full nights of sleep), grumpy, my back hurts (well, who knows if that is related, but I'm blaming the rain and gray skies), and I'm worried that our plans for a garden this year will be for naught. This is graduation weekend at Colby and if it doesn't stop raining, I think I'll skip the whole thing. My favorite event is Baccalaureate, but due to reductions in seating in the chapel, I can't march in it this year, so the thought of standing outside just to listen isn't really appealing given the rain. With any luck (and the forecast is promising), I'll be able to go to Commencement tomorrow at the least. The most exciting thing about graduation this year is that it is not on Memorial Day Weekend! We actually have a holiday weekend to ourselves this year! The downside: we're not used to having to go to the office the day after graduation. I think we'll be able to cope, though :)

I'm working away on my Sprössling -- I just got up to where the decreases for the sleeve caps begin, so the end is definitely in sight. The nice thing about finishing this sweater is that it is light enough to be able to wear once in a while during the summer -- nice and lacy.

I also blocked my Emily's Firmament Shawl and wore it to our choir concert last Sunday. It is really quite beautiful and hangs in a lovely way when I wear it. I'm thinking about wearing it to a graduation dinner tonight:

Today's View

The view from my dining room window this morning is full of our crab-apple tree in absolute peak bloom.
This tree was planted on Mother's Day when my sons were 9 months old. We love the shade it provides the front of our house all year, the birds it hosts (ooh, there's a pair of bluejays flitting around in the tree right now), and, especially, the few days of blooms each year. We love to go and sit under it while the birds and bees work the blooms over -- they are so busy that they don't even know we're there!

We have a birdhouse made by my father that is currently hosting a chickadee family. I tried to get a picture of them (one seems to really enjoy sitting on the perch on the front of the house) but they aren't available for photographs at the moment.
Even in winter we enjoy this tree (you saw pictures of it measuring our snow pack last winter). One day a flock of cedar waxwings descended upon the tree and cleaned off all of the lingering apples. They were so much fun to watch with their black eye masks and the bright yellow spot on the end of their tail that looks like they dipped it into a can of paint.

We've talked several times about cutting it down, but can't get ourselves to do it. I guess it will stay until someone who doesn't know the joy it has brought us owns the house. In the meantime, I'm hoping the rain clears up enough that I can find time to sit under my Mother's Day tree today or tomorrow.

Dragging Myself Through May

I've been neglecting my blog this month, as one faithful reader reminded me this week. It isn't because I haven't been knitting, though my knitting time has been limited by end-of-year events and other time conflicts. In fact, I've been doing a great job of finishing stuff. I think the biggest impediment to blogging has been end-of-year letdown and the gray weather. I blog over breakfast, you see, and I've been having a hard time getting up in the morning the past few weeks. At first it was from fighting off a late spring cold, but now I think it is just the chance to slow down a bit and the fact that we've had so much rain and overcast weather -- the one sunny morning we had last week, I bounced out of bed and felt great. That was a week ago.

But, as I said, I've finished some projects and promised to share one with you. It has been a long time coming, I know. This is a quilt for one of my sisters that has a story behind it. When I was in college, I made her a quilt to take to college (she's 4 years younger than me, so was a senior in high school when I was a senior in college). The quilt was simple -- it had four stripes of color (each was a quarter of the quilt) and on each stripe there was a large star appliqued and satin-stitched. The stars were arranged diagonally. If I remember correctly, the quilt was red, green, yellow, and white. Well, that quilt eventually disintegrated. It was made in 1980 when the fabric available for quilting was pretty poor quality (not only was that all I could afford, but, truly, there was nothing else available to me), and polyester thread was also the only sewing thread available. Many quilters now know that polyester thread will cut and shred your fabric over time and we are fortunate to have beautiful all-cotton fabric and a variety of cotton threads to sew with. And, the internet makes it possible to find and get what you need so easily!

A few years back, I was at the Maine Quilts show and a vendor had a sample quilt hanging in their booth which had large (12" x 12"?) squares, each with a large star in them. But, instead of being appliqued, they were pieced! I immediately thought of my sister (who has always loved stars, hence the theme) and purchased the pattern. She came to the fabric store with me and picked out a fabric she liked, which I then used as a basis for choosing the rest of the fabrics for the quilt, pulling on the colors in the original fabric. The result is a quilt I thoroughly enjoyed working on and finally put the finishing touches on last weekend, right before my sister was coming to spend a night at our house. Here are photos of the FO (finished object):

The best part about this? I had double what I needed to make the quilt, so have another set of blocks made and will be making them into a quilt for myself ...soon. I ended up loving the fabrics so much that without that "quilt in reserve," it would have been extremely hard to give this quilt away, even to my sister :)