(mis)adventures of spindlerose

12. Yawn

Toni expresses how I'm feeling today. I thought I was snapping a picture of her adorable face, but she yawned just as I pushed the button.

Every time I think I've got a handle on life, and a regular schedule, things get interesting again. This week has two curves: summer colds and home construction. I have a horrible summer cold, and I think D has caught it, too. I spent the past four days dozing, reading, and knitting just a little. Today I ventured to the office to polish a presentation and prepare for tomorrow's meetings. I doubt I will last all day, though. Yesterday, our master bathroom ceiling was replaced. The roof has leaked in heavy rain since we moved into our (then brand new) townhouse 2 years ago. It caused significant water damage and mold in the master bathroom. Last week, the builder finally fixed the roof (on the fourth or fifth try), and this week they're installing a new ceiling. Today D is home sick while the painters make everything look as good as new.

The little girls have been troopers throughout the construction. We just corral them into D's office for the duration. Yesterday, the did not cower behind the computer the whole time the builders were working. They enjoyed watching the world go by and demanded love every time I checked in on them. Maybe my cats will stop being afraid of visitors soon.

11. Three Wonderful Wallabies

for three fabulous kids. Of course, I can't find a recent photo of the fabulous kids, so you'll have to settle for bad pictures of their birthday Wonderful Wallabies.

   

L to R: Light Rose and Sage for M, Hunter and Tan for B, Cherry and White for D. Click for big.

I knit all three from Dark Horse Fantasy—a reasonably priced acrylic and nylon blend. While my sister is capable of hand laundering kid sweaters, it seemed unfair to send handwash-only sweaters intended to be loved and worn as hooded sweatshirts by kids who love to play outside. M and B received theirs in March (hence the horrible iPhone photos from the days of broken camera) and wear them whenever possible. I mailed D's yesterday, so he should be wearing it this weekend.

Wallaby Trio
Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby from Cottage Creations.
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy in colors listed above.
Notions: 4.0 and 5.0 mm
Time: M: January 26 to February 13, 2008; B: February 15 to February 29, 2008; D: April 19 to May 25, 2008
Comments: I had fun knitting lots of love into these three sweaters. Toward the end, it did feel like something of a death march. I kept things interesting by mixing up the stripes and experimenting with cast on techniques. On the first two I did a tiny bit of intarsia in the round at the base of the placket to make the contrast.

After a winter and spring of knitting for others, I'm totally ready for a summer of selfish knitting. I'm planning to finish three half knit summer sweaters next month and to get my needles ready for the Summer of Socks.

10. Random Wednesday

1. I know I have gone too long between blog updates when both D and my dad start to complain that I haven't posted in a while. Oops.

2. I worked from home today. A big black fly and the kitty-girls provided hours of afternoon entertainment while I talked to customers. The fly sneaked in the front door when I ran out at lunch to mail my nephew's very late birthday Wallaby (more on that later this week, I promise). The cats spent the afternoon stalking it and failing to capture it despite acrobatic jumps and intense stares.

3. I will have a husband again in a week! The post-trial response briefs are due in one week. After that he'll be back to a normal big-firm associate's schedule instead of the insane trial schedule he's been on since December.

4. Barring a surprise business trip, I don't have to get onto an airplane until July 12.

5. My clever ploy (drive straight from the fairgrounds to the airport and park the car for an 11 day business trip) to avoid Maryland Sheep and Wool purchases worked. I bought only two skeins of sock yarn.

6. It has taken 15 days for me to recover from the 11 day business trip that started May.

7. I bought a lot more than two skeins in the Blue Moon market at Sock Camp.

9. Seattle Weekend

The weekend started poorly. I arrived at National Airport about 90 minutes before my flight and discovered that US Airways had cancelled my ticket. I checked in on-line Thursday afternoon, but Friday I had no valid ticket. After several phone calls and a 45 minute wait, I had a ticket again and a crummy middle seat for the Philadelphia to Seattle flight. In Philadelphia, we sat on the ground in a massive queue of planes trying take off into the crowded Northeast US airspace. We finally took off 2-1/2 hours late and made it to Seattle at about 11:45 instead of 9:00.

As I said last week, I was more excited about spending the weekend with Paul than I was about Sock Camp. We've been friends since middle school. He was my first crush and first boyfriend. We were debate partners and orchestra stand-mates. He stood up in my wedding. Even though we haven't seen each other for 6 or 7 years, we caught up on the essentials in just a few minutes. As you can see, we've both changed a bit in the last 20 years (top: French IV class, spring 1988, bottom: last night). We had a fabulous time seeing Seattle, eating, cooking, sharing photos of our lives, and catching up.

Saturday, we joined 55,000 people at Safeco Field for Seeds of Compassion. His Holiness the Dali Lama was humble, insightful, and surprisingly funny. After the event, we enjoyed the sunshine and walked to downtown where we visited the public library and Pike's Place Market. Yum—snacks of squeaky cheese curds and Chinese buns, wild salmon for dinner and a glorious bunch of tulips for the table. I shared a picture of the Koolhaus hat I knit in December as part of explaining my glee at seeing the building that inspired a popular knitting project.

Sunday, Paul took me on a driving tour of his favorite Seattle places. We saw the University of Washington, the Fremont Troll, the arboretum, the 501st Legion in Gasworks Park, the Sip Canal Locks, boats, and rain. Paul cooked Saturday's wild salmon for dinner. Before dinner, we ate fabulous cheese and drank champagne.

After dinner we drove to St. Mark’s Cathedral for Compline. The service was a lovely contemplative end to a great weekend. After the service we took in a few more sights—the view from Queen Anne Hill and the Frank Ghery building at Seattle Center. Then we talked much to late since we had to wake up early this morning for Paul to go to work and me to catch the seaplane to Camp.

Edited April 15, 2008 to fix a few place names.

8. Good news, bad news

Good News
I finally looked at Canon's Web site and found out that they published a service bulletin promising free repair of my broken camera. Why didn't I make the 2 minute Web search in February? All reports are that Canon does a quick repair and gets the camera back to you within a couple of weeks. Until then, I'm still camera-less unless the Earth moves and D agrees that it's time for a serious camera upgrade (very unlikely—see Bad News below). Maybe I'll be able to find a loaner to take on vacation next Friday.

That vacation next week is Camp Crow's Feet. I still have to knit my secret homework, but I have a plan, a husband-less weekend (see Bad News again), and a long flight between me and the deadline. Before camp, I'm spending a weekend with one of my oldest friends. As excited as I am about camp, I think I'm even more excited to spend two days seeing Seattle and catching up with him.

I'm probably going to get to both MD and NH S&W. MD for sure, and NH if it fits into my whirlwind weekend in Boston plans for May 10-11.

Bad News
We did our taxes. We sent a really big check to the IRS this week.

Law widowhood continues. D actually had a day off last weekend. We tried to go to the Air and Space Museum, but got stuck in the crazy traffic around the Kite Festival. We gave up and went grocery shopping instead. Tomorrow, he flies to CA for a Sunday (!) deposition. If there are cherry blossoms left next week, we'll get together for a picnic lunch at the Tidal Basin on Wednesday.

My work is almost as crazy as D's, but not in the fun, we're about to release a new product way. It's in the we're down a few members of the sales team and Rosemary is picking up a lot of the slack and our annual summer conference is a month earlier than usual way. I truly love my job, and that's probably all that will keep me going for the next 6 weeks.

7. How did it get to be March?

I'm sitting on the sofa tonight listening to the wind howl outside and wondering what happened to February. It flew by in a rush of travel, the mini-trip to Hawaii, post vacation catching up, and a stack of excellent novels.* And frantically trying to finish two Wonderful Wallabies in time for the twins' birthday last week. I finished the knitting in time but haven't found my way to the Post Office yet. That errand is on my list of things to do tomorrow (along with laundry, cleaning, and packing for the next round of travel).

D has been buried by the firm since just before Christmas with no let up expected until sometime in May. I'm doing my best to entertain myself, but I do miss him. He had a brief reprieve on Leap Day; I was working on a new demo at home when the garage door rumbled at about 3:00. We spent the late afternoon sitting in front of the fire playing British Rails and snuggling with the kitties. After that brief reprieve, his Blackberry rattled early Saturday morning. We haven't both been home and awake for more than an hour straight since.

Like others in the greater DC area, I found a few irresistible deals at the Hanami on Wednesday. If I'm quick, I will be able to wear it to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. If I'm not quick, or I'm out of town for the whole festival, at least I will have had the enjoyment of knitting cherry blossoms this spring.

* Books (without links because I'm feeling lazy and you know how to search Amazon or your local public library's on line catalog)

• Pride and Prejudice
• Kushiel's Scion and Kushiel's Justice but Jacqueline Carey
• Mr. Darcy's Daughters, The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Althea Darcy, The True Darcy Spirit, and The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston
• A handful of historicals by Eloisa James

6. Happy Birthday Mom!

I am a dreadful daughter. I remembered to buy a card last night, but forgot to mail it this morning as we were dashing to the airport.

I hope you and Dad had a lovely day on the golf course in sunny Phoenix. Travel home safe.

5. Sunshine, finally, but no pictures

I was all set to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine this afternoon to photograph my recent knitting production—and recent yarn acquisitions—but my trusty digicam refuses to read any of the memory cards in the house. Something tells me I will have delayed photographic gratification from our quick trip to Hawaii next weekend. The trusty Nikon 35mm takes great pictures, but then we have to wait for processing and digitizing. Maybe D will agree to go camera shopping before we leave on Friday. Or I'll suck it up and use the camera in the iPhone for unsatisfying knitting and vacation photos.

Unfortunately, I can't show you the adorable pink and green Wonderful Wallaby I finished for Miss M's 7th birthday yesterday. Or the pile of hunter green and tan Dark Horse Fantasy that will become her twin B's birthday Wallaby. Or the stunning Waving Lace socks (from the cover of Favorite Socks) in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Red Rover I finished while I was in Ohio last month. Or my finally complete Mr. Greenjeans. Or the two new pairs of socks I started last week.

I'm not doing so well on the no new yarn resolution lately. First, I cheered myself up after the awful day with yarn for Miss M's birthday sweater. Then, when I visited Shannon at Stitch Cleveland two weeks ago, she lightened my mood with a lovely hank of pink wool she dyed with the end of a dyepot. It is absolutely perfect for Hanami. When I arrived home from Ohio, I found the lovely Rockin' Sock Club skein in my mailbox. Last weekend I was hanging out at Knit Happens when Mama E delivered a bunch of sock yarn; two balls of Merino-Tencel Sock Yarn—Gregory and Chocolate—followed me home. Last Monday, the mailman delivered Lucy's stunning January 2008 Sock Club installment.

I was so looking forward to sharing photos of the finished stuff and the lovely new yarn. For now, use your imagination and send happy electronics thoughts my way.

4. I was sick, but I'm finally on the mend

For the 3rd annual Bloggers silent poetry reading (Margene reminded me), I offer the poem I memorized and recited in 7th grade English class.

Sick
Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

from poetry.org

In my case, I'm going out to vote since I'll be traveling for work on February 12. Luckily, Alexandria offers extended Saturday absentee ballot hours during the weeks before election day. I'll probably swing by Knit Happens for a bit after I vote since I'll be in the neighborhood.

Finally, thank you to everyone who sent condolences, thoughts, and prayers last week. D, his extended family, and I all appreciate the support. The trip was very sad, but we're both happy we went. We are going to work at staying more connected to that part of D's family so that we see them at events other than funerals. One of his cousins is planning a family trip to Washington, DC, in March, and another cousin is getting married in August. I'm looking forward to those happy occasions.

3. No words

One of D's young relatives died suddenly yesterday. I do not have words to express my feelings today, so I give you CJ's. Part of me will always remember this young man as the 3 year old boy who charmed the guests at our wedding by catching my garter. It is one of my favorite wedding reception memories.

Yesterday reminded me how important it is to hold our children close. I want to reach across the world and gather in my niece and nephews and all my honorary nieces and nephews and tell them I will always love them and be proud of them no matter what happens. Please reach out to the young people in your life this week and do the same.