A Busy End to the Old Year- and a Busy Start to the New

What happens when I don't blog for a long time, and then I have a lot to write about? Monster Blog!!!

Thanksgiving
It's been a very busy holiday season at our place. We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Both Offspring were home, and I was off work. We did the whole Turkey thing-- and it was fantastic.
We took advantage of a lot of online shopping deals, and a little in-store shopping which included a family gift for The Husband-- a new TV.
It was quite the production. The Son came up with a plan to return home on Saturday to assist with the purchase and set-up. The Daughter and I went out on Black Friday night in search of a stand which we hid in her car under the doggie hammock. On Saturday, The Husband and The Daughter went to the VT/UVa game. The Son and I met at the "BuyMore" to select the set. We got a pretty good deal, schlepped the set home, and settled in to watch the game. (We won-- Go Hokies!!) As soon as it was over, we began to rather overwhelming task of taking the existing setup down-- and identifying the steps we'd need to take. The first was moving a very heavy dresser from the dining room where it held table linens and candles. The Son decided he could use it at his place, and I bid adieu to one of the first pieces of furniture that I purchased at a flea market nearly 4 decades ago. We removed the very heavy, very large TV set from the corner unit in the family room-- this involved clearing out all the VHS tapes that hadn't been viewed in Lord knows how long. The corner unit went into the dining room, and we began to put together the stand.
(The corner unit is great in the dining room. We have more room, and a great place to put the linens, trays and pewter serving pieces. It makes me happy!)
At this point, The Daughter texted to tell us they're on their way home. I replied "STALL!!!" She convinced her Dad that they needed to stop for dinner, which bought us a bit more time. We got everything constructed, connected and working before they arrived home, and gave him his early Christmas present. He likes it plenty.

Cookie Bake
My Gramma was an amazing cook and baker. She baked cookies all the time, and sent them to us at camp, at school, and she'd bring them to us whenever she came to our house. Many years ago, Sister #1 started to bake with her before Christmas, and eventually it became a family event. Since Gramma passed, we have made this an annual event, usually the weekend before Christmas. The Offspring and I travel to the Chicago to join as many of our family as can attend.
We start in the morning on Saturday at Sister #2's house (she has an amazing kitchen-- designed for cookie baking, if you ask me...), and bake from Gramma's recipes all day, making enough cookies for our 9 families and our Dad. We haven't quite figured out how many we actually make, but Sister #2's very long dining room table is pretty much covered with aluminum pans full of cookies.
This year, the cookie-baking festivities were kicked off on Friday night with a party for a niece and her fiance. Lots of fun to be together, and much pizza was eaten.

Christmas
The week leading up to Christmas was a lot of fun, because I finally got some decorating done, the monster TV was picked up by a charity, the tree went up, and it really felt like Christmas. I knew that both Offspring (and The Daughter's dog) would be coming home. I finished knitting a Christmas stocking for one of The Daughter's friend's new spouse-- and got the over-stitching patterns done as well. The grocery shopping was finished, and I wrapped all the gifts. I was ready for whatever course the weekend would take.
I was scheduled to work the entire Christmas holiday. I'm not upset about working over holidays-- it's part of being a nurse, since of course, patients don't stop being sick just because it's Christmas. But we're sometimes able to be off on one of the days if we want to, because we "staff up" to make sure we have enough to take care of any big changes in census.
The Daughter and I came up with contingencies-- how we'd handle Christmas depending on if I'd be off on any of the days, or if we'd have dinner and celebrate after I got home.
I was very fortunate to have Christmas Eve off, and it was terrific. We were all together, and enjoyed a very nice Christmas. Spending time together was the best. We had our yummy beef dinner and exchanged gifts. I received a Kindle Touch, which has already proved itself to be a terrific device.
I worked on Christmas- spending time with my co-workers and our patients' families.

New Year's
My family gets together on New Year's eve. It started a long time ago, when my parents realized that my brothers and sisters were spending all day on Christmas, traveling throughout the greater Midwest in order to see both sides of their families. My very wise mother told everyone to spend Christmas wherever they needed to be- with their own new families, or in-laws, and to try to be with them on New Year's Eve. As a result, it turns into another family get-together that we look forward to and cherish.
This year, December 30 also served as a destination, as my niece (one of the 26 collective nieces and nephews) was married. It was a lovely ceremony, a terrific reception, and story fodder for years to come.
Since we were all up quite late on the 30th, we decided to celebrate "East Coast" New Year, allowing us to wrap things up a bit earlier. It was another wonderful get-together, and a great beginning to 2012.

Resolutions?
Maybe-- probably the same as before-- only more general. Be healthy, do my best, and knit more. We'll review progress in about 12 months.

Commitments and Over-Commitments

This seems to happen to me every Fall. It's my favorite season, since the weather becomes tolerable and the colors are breathtaking. And it's time for football-- our beloved Hokies, our friends in Blacksburg, and time away from the DC craziness spent at our little apartment.

But it's also a time when a lot of deadlines hit me. Compounded with the time away, I end up with an almost overwhelming amount of "work stuff" that all seems to come due at the same time. I'm just past the worst of it, just in time for the beginning of the holiday season.

I attended a conference today focusing on Ethics and caring. It's what I do-- caring for people, and sometimes I don't realize the toll it takes. It's wearying.

So, a few more days, and then a bit of time off with family for recharging my batteries.

And getting back to some serious knitting-- for my saKnity.

Dear Madelinetosh--

I love your yarn. I love the springiness and stitch definition of Vintage. I love your colors.

I love the way that cables and twisted stitches pop and come to life.

But I swear to God that if I ever get a skein that is as messed up as the one I tried to wind last weekend, I will never buy another. There is just no excuse.

Hey-- I'm Still Here!

Alive and kicking.

And why haven't I been blogging? I have no idea, except that I haven't been feeling inspired. Also, since my cute little new camera left my life, it's more trouble to include pictures, and generally, I like to include pictures. We have pictures today, but it's a bit more complicated-- card reader to a desktop, download pics, email to myself and process through the laptop. Yes-- there are cords and card-readers I could use-- but I don't have them, so...

I have actually been rather occupied with a number of things.

Knitting: I had this really neat idea-- make hats for my sisters and sisters-in-law for Christmas. It started out all right, but I needed to make 7 and only got 4 done in time. Part of the reason was that I got involved in a neat hat for The Daughter. She has 2 degrees from Virginia Tech-- one in Psychology, and the other in Biochemistry. We found this pattern in Interweave (The Proverbial Cap by Meg Swanson), and she fell in love with it. It is done with twisted stitches-- a new technique for me. The Daughter noticed that if we changed the bars in the helices to horizontal vice vertical, they would appear to be base pairs, and the helices would look like DNA.

So I knit it, using Madelintosh Vintage. The actual colorway is a bit darker than in the picture-- maroon with dark red highlights. I am going to do a single crochet around the bottom and then block it-- which it so clearly needs. I'm going to do a scarf to match, featuring the "DNA" double helix.


I also embarked on a new-to-me health program. Making progress. Hopefully more to follow.

Beautiful Autumn

First of all.... no pictures. Not that I didn't take lots of them on our cruise to New England and Canada--- and to/from Blacksburg for football games, and lots of beautiful foliage pics.

Someone decided that they needed my camera more than I did, and it was apparently stolen from my boss's office at work.

It's been an amazing time, though.

After a couple of losses, the Hokies are doing quite well--- rebounding and leading the conference division. We've had some wonderful weekends with The Offspring for game weekends, and it's been precious time together. We've spent time with dear friends at tailgate parties, and it's been good.

Work continues-- I love my work-- I just hate going to work. The traffic gets worse by the day, and my patience requires constant bolstering.

Our cruise took us to Newport, Rhode Island; Halifax and Sydney Nova Scotia, and Quebec. We had time to relax, and time to be together, and we met some terrific people. Since the pictures are gone, the memories will have to live in my heart.

I've been knitting again. I'm doing hats now, which seems to be working well, because I can get them finished in a reasonable amount of time, and I'm hoping to give them to sisters and sisters-in-law this Christmas.

Today and tomorrow will be focused on shopping for and preparing baked goods for our bake sale at work.

And I might just get myself a new camera.

Over The Top-- Or Hidden Beneath It

I love to knit.....

but REALLY?????????

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I go to the ballpark in Washington DC once a year, except for this year when I went twice this week. My place of work has an annual outing for nurses who are certified in their specialties, and we look forward to it. It was scheduled for Thursday (last night)

The Husband was a bit jealous, so he decided we should go see the Cubs playing against the Nationals on Tuesday night. Being a Chicagoan, I like ALL Chicago teams-- and while I might have a bit of a preference for the American League--- really-- it's baseball!!!

The Cubs won, and it was a great game.

And.... I had my annual Ben's Chili Bowl Half Smoke all the Way. If you've never had one, all I can say is... you really, really must.Last night the Nationals played the Cardinals. A good game. A really good game.

I saw a guy who was a co-worker and friend 20 years ago. We had a chance to catch up-- it was great to see him. When we worked together last, my kids were little bitty, and now they're both graduated from college!

I had a SECOND annual Ben's Chili Bowl Half Smoke all the Way. (Seriously back to South Beach now-- no further discussion!!!) And the game kept getting better. It was tied in the bottom of the 9th when we left, as many in our group had to work today. When I got home- an hour and a half later-- I turned on the TV. The game was STILL tied, and STILL going on. So in the 13th inning, the Nats got a run, and won. And I could finally go to sleep.

It's not too hot, so I've been able to spend some time outside--- a welcome break from an unbelievably busy, busy time at work.

An Era Ends

Stef and Katie check out patterns
Holly
Elspeth


I'm still trying to catch my breath, and imagine my world without Knit Happens.

The knit shop I go to (soon "went to") is closing after 6 years. The Manager has had too many hassles with the landlord, and she decided to take a new turn in life. We've all been through a lot together--- weddings, deaths, travels, kids in college, job changes, (weight changes).... these are my away-from-work adult friends. KH (Knit Happens) is where we met every week to catch up, be creative, check on each others' progress, and breathe. It was the "safe place". So now, we need to figure out a new plan. There is another lovely shop in town, but this was "my" LYS.

In other news, progress is being made on February Lady Redux. (See Elspeth above, modeling hers in grey.) I was able to get about 45 minutes of knitting in during a traffic hang-up on my way back from Blacksburg on Thursday. I was hurrying to meet up with "The Irregulars" for KH's Irish Wake, and was making great progress when all of a sudden, traffic just stopped.

So I sat on I-66, amongst some 20 miles of cars, and knit.

Back to the Needles

<-- That's not me; it's a picture of the designer wearing the sweater. Ok-- here's the story.... I started the February Lady Sweater quite awhile ago. I'm knitting it in Water Lily in a wonderful variegated muted orange color. Made pretty good progress. Needed to put it down for a bit. Picked it up again. Started doing the shoulder increases on the wrong side. Looked terrible (it was quite apparent to me-- would have been even from the back of a galloping horse.) Put it back down. For a long time.

So when I was getting ready to head south to the mountains for the weekend, I unearthed it, thinking I could fix it. I picked up some little dpn's at Mosaic in Blacksburg, and ripped the offending "make-one's" down to where I messed up. I figured I could just knit them back up, but the beautiful pattern made by the twists in the "make-one's" would not reappear. So I frogged the whole 3 skeins' worth.

I started over, and I think it's going to be ok. I cast on for a smaller size to make the neck ride up a bit higher, and calculated that with 8 increased stitches every row, it'll only need another 2 rows to catch up with the pattern.

I finished 12 repeats of the neverending (well, truth be told, it will only be 31 repeats) garter stitch. I'm happy with the second buttonhole. The first one is a bit sketchy looking, but I'll crochet or stitch around it so it looks prettier.

So-- the question is whether this will actually achieve FO status. I'm back on the needles, and hope I'm back in the saddle.

(stay tuned---there WILL be pictures)

Back to Reality

Just got back from an incredible family get-together in Minnesota. It was bittersweet-- a few tough moments. We raised a glass of Dalwhinnie in honor of Mom-- and as she would wish, proceeded to have a fantastic week.
In Lighter News...

One of the big summer events in Nisswa, Minnesota is the weekly Turtle Races held on Wednesdays. This week's had over 600 entrants. Our group of 40+ attended in force-- with matching t-shirts designed by a family member. It was a sight to behold. (we pretty much took over a couple of the heats).

So here's the deal. You pay $4 to enter, and you get a button with a number on it. Groups are called- 20 at a time- and you choose a turtle to use for the race. The rules are that your feet need to be inside the yellow line. The first turtle that crosses the outside yellow line wins. (you can't see it in the picture). 2 of my brothers and one of my nieces won the "Resort" challenges. They competed, and Brother #2 won the competition:
Nice medal, isn't it?

I Golfed

Yes, I did.

Sunsets
I couldn't decide which I liked the best, so you get several:

More Celebration!

The Daughter graduated last weekend with her second Bachelor's.

Well Done, Bebe'.

I am so proud of The Offspring.

Celebrate!

An exciting weekend coming up.
I'm picking up my Dad at the airport tomorrow.
The Son is graduating from on Sunday.
Mothers' Day.
What a gift.
Well done, Buddy.

April 16th

We Remember


“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness.

We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech. “

Nikki Giovanni
April 2007

A Blast From Childhood

Duck and Cover

Cilantro

I know I'm not crazy or overly picky.

I also know that cilantro is the one food I cannot eat, even to be polite.

The New York Times agrees.