Author: yarn & yarns

Those Last 3 Months (and 2 FOs)

| yarn & yarns

Why the long radio silence? Here goes…as quickly as I can.

Shortly after the year started, I found out that the woman who owns the house we were renting in ABQ wanted to put it on the market. Couldn’t blame her as I was coming to a similar conclusion about the house I was renting out in Minneapolis. But where and when to go?

Perhaps it was because my 46th birthday was nearing, kicking me into what I hope is the second half of my life—hey, I come from some hearty Scandinavian-Irish stock with many a 90+ birthday celebrated, so it’s not irrationally optimistic. Perhaps it was because when I started looking around at the piles of crap lovely stuff that had followed us across the country on our Westward moves, I started to feel like a Hoarders intervention could be on the horizon. And perhaps—no, most definitely—because the past few years had redefined intense.

And so the Great Downsizing Dream was born. A small, cozy place with less space and objects to clean. Pre-baked landscaping with the beauty that I, frankly, lack the patience or skill for. Maintenance and repairs in someone else’s hands, and checkbook. A downsized, yet upsized, life.

In other words, step off the moving sidewalk before you’re catapulted face first.

A lovely apartment was found. The first of dozens of Goodwill trips were made. A spring break moving “vacation” was planned. (The kid would eventually forgive me—the new place had a pool!) I was a woman determined and in control; I would live in 1/2 the space with 1/3 the stuff. With God as my witness, life would be clutter-free!

And then work got crazy in a way that I can’t describe, mostly because I’ve so thoroughly blocked it. The planned-for vacation time got cut short. The remaining charitable trips were replaced with a frantic call for a junk van. Seriously. Here’s the photographic evidence.

 

Fast forward 2 months to today, with work back to it’s “normal” pace and the apartment finally losing that warehouse veneer. My knitting needles are once again in action. There’s the dish towel that started this post to christen the new kitchen. And a scarf that, while blocked back at the house and worn several times in February, didn’t get photographed until it was unpacked in April.

 

More later…I’ve still got some unpacking to do. And a house in Minneapolis to sell.

Puppy-Sized Update

| yarn & yarns
Why don’t I just carry the theme forward and begin this post with: How can it be May already? That’s certainly a lot easier than explaining where the past three months have gone. And since it’s Friday, that’s really all I have the bandwith for.Violet turned one a few weeks back and Izzy fretted long and hard, determined to make it “her best birthday EVER.” I tried to take the pressure off by interjecting that, honestly, the bar was low. First birthday.

Kid was havin’ none of it. She wrapped and rewrapped the chewtoy several times. It’d be fun to watch Violet tear through wrapping paper. Then again, a gift bag is so much…more. At least the cake was an easy decision — a “pupcake” from our local cupcake emporium, complete with a mini bone on top.

Here’s how the celebration played out from Violet’s point of view.

Hey, whatever this is about, swear it wasn’t me.
  
Maybe they didn’t find that chewed sock under the bed…
 
 
Frosting!
 
 
Is that what I think it is?
 
Toy, what toy? There’s tissue paper to play with!
More than anything, isn’t it comforting that first birthdays are all the same?

2011 FOs: Sugar and Spice

| yarn & yarns

How can it be February already? This year the calendar seems as caffeinated as I’ve been to keep up with everyday life. To start, an FO that’s a first and old hat all at once. It’s the first FO that’s been worn multiple times before getting documented here. (It was photographed back in mid-January, though.) It’s also the third of the back-to-back Saroyans I’ve knit. This one for me, using yarn purchased during the trip to Taos. I’m pretty sure I’m done with this pattern … for now, at least.

Pattern: Saroyan 


After those multiple leafy, lacy scarfs, is it any wonder I was craving something bolder and faster to knit? When my friend Chris posted a Craft It Forward invitation on Facebook, I jumped right on board. And when I found this stunning handspun in the inoxia studios Etsy shop, I snapped it up for Jane, who has signed on as one of the five people I’m passing the the crafting on to. The hardest part about this project was finding a stitch “pattern” that let the yarn shine. I settled on a simple K1P1, which also gives the cowl plenty of stretch.

And, yes, that is snow. And, no, this wasn’t taken in MN. That’s NM snow you see.

Super Dog, Super Kid

| yarn & yarns

Nine years ago today, Isabel and I flew home together from Guatemala and our adventure officially began. (The photo’s what went out with my announcements, taken about a week after we were back in Maryland. And because this is a knitting blog and someone is bound to ask, yes, I did make the sweater she’s wearing.)

I still feel the way I did on that day, like I won “baby lotto.” Can’t believe the universe brought this funny, sweet, firecracker of a kid to me. And while life as a single mother can be harder than I ever imagined, I wouldn’t trade a single moment. (Yes, even emergency room earache visits and tween tantrums.)

Recently, we were laughing about the small-but-mighty Violet, who has taken to ferociously barking whenever a large truck or semi drives along the road behind our house. One look at her in action, and it’s clear Violet believes she can take down a ton for each of her 11 pounds. From there, Izzy made the leap that Violet needed her own superhero cape, and set about designing and making one with the mini sewing machine she got for Christmas.

Yep, I’ve been blessed with quite the dynamic duo.

New Yarn!

| yarn & yarns

Are there sweeter words in the English language? Tonight, I arrived home to find the purchases I made with my KnitPicks gift card (an utterly fabulous holiday present) a day earlier than expected. Hands down, best moment of the day.

First up, my choices for the Fiddlehead Mittens, which Chloe was kind enough to inspect without prompting. It’s the new Chroma (worsted) in the Galapagos and Bittersweet Heather colorways for the outside, Gloss DK in Woodland Sage for the inner mitts.

And then an assortment of other goodies. The far-left skeins of Gloss Fingering in Robot and Cosmos are intended for the Woodsmoke Scarf by Jared Flood (Brave New Knits). The other three fingering skeins, though, have yet to be spoken for (Imagination Hand Painted in Mermaid Lagoon, Stroll in Blue Violet Tonal). Hmmm, socks? Shawls? Both? Let the Ravelry browsing begin.