Traveling and Knitting

As mentioned in my last post, life has been a bit more complex and overwhelming lately. Along with being a particularly busy time of year at work, my parents' health issues continue to dominate the thoughts and concerns of me and my four siblings. Mom fell out of her chair the other night and they had to call 911 to get someone to help her up -- that kind of thing. I also had two conferences to attend, back to back, last week, and travel, while fun, is always a hassle I could do without. Travel went smoothly, however, except for the nasty cold I developed a few days into the week.

I was in Baltimore, MD for the first half of the week and started off that part of my trip with a couple of days with my brother's family. It was a real treat to spend time with them and I even got to go with them to take my niece back to college after her spring break and see where she goes to school (working in higher education, I'm always happy to visit yet another campus!). That little jaunt gave me the chance to complete the back of a baby sweater I'm knitting for a colleague who is having a little boy in July:
I've started the front, but have stalled a bit. This is "Caleb" in Comfort DK.

The conference in Baltimore was for ACPA, a national student affairs organization. I've probably attended this conference 20 times over the course of my career, but very infrequently in the past few years. This was, for many years my professional home away from home. I got to go this year because a new staff member in our office is now doing all of the things I used to do -- serving on the Commission for Career Development, etc. She had proposed a program and it was accepted, so I got to go along and present with her (which went very well). In some ways, it was a bit sad for me -- I used to be very "connected" at this conference, and on this trip I only saw a few people I knew. However, those people were wonderful to see -- especially one grad school classmate that I haven't seen in at least 20 years, another who shared an office with me at BG, and two of my professors.

From there, on to Newport, RI to attend the Pre-Health Advisors regional conference. In Newport, I stayed on the other end of the island with my in-laws. It turned out to be a rather boisterous place -- my niece and her 3-year-old son were visiting from North Carolina, and my brother-in-law, his wife, and his two teen/young adult daughters arrived the day after I did. And, it was my mother-in-law's birthday AND my father-in-law retired from his job on Friday that week. It was nice to see all of them, though I was leaving before they got up each morning and returning around 7 pm (or later) each night. By then, I was seriously sick with my cold, so I wasn't a lot of fun, I'm afraid.

The conference was excellent, however. This is my 4th year attending this conference and, for the first time, I finally felt like I know the job pretty well. In the past, my head would start spinning on the first day with things I needed to learn and understand. This year, I brought a faculty member who advised pre-health students over 13 years ago and is going to partner with me starting this summer to advise students. It was gratifying to see that his head was spinning by the end of the first day :) We've got lots of ideas on programs, improvements to advising, etc. and I'm glad to have a partner to do them with.

Along with the baby sweater, I managed to finish a pair of socks (all except the grafting because I didn't bring a darning needle with me)! They are Cookie A's famous Monkey Socks in Panda Superwash bamboo by Crystal Palace. I love the colors and softness of the yarn, but did find that it was easy to snag between the separate plies and had to pay attention to my needles. I started these last fall when I went to Boston on a business trip, and finished them on a second business trip.
I'm afraid the photo doesn't do the yarn justice -- there are some beautiful hints of green in with the blue. And, so soft!

Back at home, I find myself picking up the wedding stole every chance I get. I've completed 2 of the 8 1/2 repeats on the second side of the stole. Steady progress is gratifying, and I'm so looking forward to blocking it and seeing how it turns out. Much of the beading, without blocking, appears to fall to the back of the piece, so I want to see how the blocking pulls those to the front and brings the whole thing to life.

And, we're off to visit my parents and attend a memorial service for a family friend who succumbed to old age and Alzheimer's this week. Driving time is great knitting time!