Last Sunday I Ran Away From Home

I ran away from home. For real.

Sunday morning, bright and early, I hopped into SarahLou's car with Mary and DaleAnn, and we drove to Chicago! We went to meet up with some knitter friends, and to swap a skein of yarn for Sarah so that she could make matching knee socks. (Her skeins were from different dye lots.)

Our destination was Dearborn Station, home of Loopy Yarns.

Once we found parking, we found our Friends of P and went to breakfast. Mary, DaleAnn, Erika and Becca.Erika, Becca, Kristy (way in back) and SarahLou.
I also made plans to meet my blogger friend Karen while I was in the Windy City. Thanks for joining us at Loopy!

Jen, Becca and Erika. Look how energized Jen is. She's always that way. Seriously. That blue striped sweater? That's Beth. Sorry Beth, for cutting you out of the photo.

FoP* Feet! Of course we all had our beautiful handknit socks.

*Friends of P

After an afternoon of knitting, cupcakes, side-splitting laughter, dinner at Bar Louie and a loooooong drive home, the Toledo bunch arrived back home at nearly midnight.

WOOF!

Then and Now

In the middle 1800's, women dressed like this:
And this:

Young girls dressed like this youngster, or in garb very close to what she is wearing.

While I can't picture myself covered head to toe, even fingertip, in all that fabric, and being limited in movement by the hoopskirts, hats and petticoats, the ladies of that time period and I do have something very much in common. By now, you've probably even guessed what that common thread might be. Yes, knitting.

The thought occurred to me as I sat on the sidelines of a Civil War Re-enactment yesterday. Bill and I took my kids to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center to watch a battle and tour the Presidential home. I sat on a paved path beside a shaded, grassy lawn, watching the drama unfold, all the while knitting on my latest project. Clad in jeans and a campaign t-shirt with an orange wool sweater over top, I watched these ladies parading by, some toting little costumed children, and realized that over 150 years ago, during the Civil War, they were knitting too. Even some of what we knit is still the same; socks, mittens, scarves. Things to keep our loved ones warm.

This skill, knitting, that has been around for centuries, provided those women with the same benefits it gives me. I'm sure they knitted to keep themselves busy when they were worried. I'm sure those women knitted to calm themselves, and help assure their families that all would be well. Even with this going on outside, all would be fine if Mama was sitting down with her knitting, right?

Even as my son posed in front of the gates that Pres. Hayes stole from the White House when he left office, I couldn't help but feel connected to the past... and grateful I don't have to wear those ridiculous dresses!

Playing Catch Up

Last week, just before I was supposed to leave for A Wool Gathering and Parents' Weekend at Wittenberg, my darling son had a small mishap. Absent-Minded Professor fell and broke his left foot! It happened Thursday evening and Friday was spent going to doctors and getting x-rays and getting fitted for crutches. The break is small and we're 90% sure that he won't need a cast on his foot at this point. I was worried Thursday night about my weekend plans, though!

Saturday morning dawned clear and beautiful. Bill and I set out early for Yellow Springs/Springfield. We knew the drive would take 2.5 to 3 hours, and we timed it so that we arrived just after the gates to A Wool Gathering opened. My first stop was Booth 85 where Dianne of Creatively Dyed fame had set up shop. All I can say is yum, yum, yum! I bought fiber, and yarn and on Sunday went back and bought more yarn! Dianne is fun and cheerful and she also had Ravelry buttons!

Creatively Dyed roving

Wool Gathering was loaded with sights and sounds and textures. We saw sheep, alpacas, and so many different types of fibers and people. There were people spinning and weaving and knitting and eating ice cream (yum!). Bill happily schlepped all my purchases.

These guys have the sweetest faces and are so gentle. Meh!

This guy was shearing sheep, and has won competetions all over the country. Now his sons compete against him.

This man and his dogs demonstrated herding. The dog usually herds sheep, but was OK with making the ducks do what she wanted.

After leaving Yellow Springs, we had a short drive up the road to Springfield and found our hotel. It was only a few miles away from College Kid's "mansion" that he is renting with four other friends. For Parents' Weekend the boys were having a cookout, and it was my chance to check out the "Animal House." Really, the place wasn't too bad, and it's only a block away from campus. In it's day, the house was probably amazing - an Arts and Crafts style home with great woodwork, fantastic wood floors, big bathrooms, a butler's bedroom and back stairway to the kitchen. The evening was fun, and we had the chance to eat, drink and be merry with the boys and their parents. They invited some sorority friends over and other guys with their parents. Fun.

And one last bit of fun for you...

Are you sure you're going the right way dear? That sign says you should go...

(That is known around here as a "Bill joke" I put it in just for you, Luv! xoxoxo)

I will have to show you my purchases later!

Ahoy, Mates

Ready for another field trip with me and the kids?

Between thunderstorms, which seem to be ever-present lately, we headed downtown to the Portside area bright and early today. Our destination was The Sandpiper for a morning Maumee River cruise. Mayhem and I packed a picnic brunch of bagels, blueberry muffins, fruit salad and juice. We picked up coffee, then Buddy Bill, and arrived at the dock as the crew finished readying the boat. Grey skies threatened more rain.



The sun did come out, though, and we had a beautiful, two-hour cruise, up the Maumee and back. UP the Maumee means inland, not out toward the lake, in case you didn't know, since the river flows toward Lake Erie. Buddy Bill managed to photograph the elusive T-Townknitiot, along with her Absent-Minded Professor.

There was knitting on-board as well.

I took along the Dream In Color shrug to work on. Guess what? The First Mate, Mary, is a knitter! She and I sat and talked about knitting in between her telling us passengers about the sights we were seeing along the way... Like Toledo's High Level Bridge, also known as The Anthony Wayne Bridge.

Shortly after docking, the sky got black and the clouds opened up once again. We had our picnic. I had a relaxing morning. Being out on the water, on that boat, was the most relaxed I had been in ages. I've always been a water person, and today reminded me that I need to make that a part of my life.

Back In Time

Now that school is out, and summer is in full-swing, the kids and I have some day trips planned to see things close to home that we haven't visited yet. Our first outing was to Providence Metropark to take a ride on a real canal boat pulled along a towpath by mules. Ohioans traveled like this in the 1800's and it took 9 days to get from T-Town to Cincinnati, at the rate of 4 mph. Mayhem had the experience of doing laundry with a bar of lye soap and washboard while onboard The Volunteer. Afterward, she and Absent-Minded Professor played a game of checkers on the shady porch of the wood and grist mill. The slow, lazy ride would have been perfect for knitting, but I was busy taking photos!

Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone. They really do like each other!

Stay tuned to see where we go next. You might even see some knitting!

I've Survived Another One

Yes, I have lived to tell the tale of another whirlwind tour of Washington, DC with a huge group of seventh graders. The weather was hot and beautiful. The kids were well-behaved and fun.

What a great experience it is to walk through Mount Vernon and, as we're climbing the stairs at the big house, hands on the banister, remind the kids that 200 years ago, George Washington's hands ran along that exact same smooth railing of wood. It's priceless to stand on the north steps of the White House, looking over the lawn as we exit, and remind the kids, "Hey guys, the President stand here to give speeches. Right here, on this spot." It brought tears to my eyes to watch "my kids" reverently, silently, run their hands along the thousands and thousands of names on the Vietnam Wall.

It's fun to put the kids in matching shirts and be able to turn them loose to run up the steps at the Lincoln Memorial, and know I can still see them all.



Buddy Bill did the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington this year. This year was Bill's 25th time running this trip for the students, and so many things fell into place for him doing the wreath laying (OK, helped along by me), which he has always wanted to do, but never had the opportunity to do. Making the trip about the kids has always been the priority. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event for Bill, just as it has been for so many students over the years.

And knitting? I cast on for the Dream In Color Shrug in Lipstick Lava once we hit the road. That sparked conversation with one of the mom chaperones on the bus, who also happens to be a knitter. Know what else? Her mom is one of the ladies I knit with on Tuesday nights at my LYS! Hi Heather and Annette! Knitters are everywhere. I didn't get as much knitting done as I had hoped because I wasn't feeling well for a good portion of the trip, but I'm making some progress now.

It's good to be home.

FO Alert

Have you been wondering where I've been?

I've been trying to finish things I've started.

Buddy Bill received a kitchen dishcloth I started for him a while back. Funny thing is, he says it's too pretty to use. He has it hanging on his refrigerator as artwork, much like someone would hang pictures their kids did at school. Magnets at the corners and all. One day I'll just go over and use it for dishes as it is intended to be used, and that will be that.

Pattern: Chinese Waves - from Maggies Rags

Size 7 US needles

College Kid arrived home for the summer and was greeted by his red and green striped socks, which he immediately unwrapped, tried on, walked around the apartment wearing, and declared "just right, a perfect fit!" Another FO. Smack me if Mr. Size 12 1/2 asks for more socks, OK?

I also had a trip to my hometown planned in order to meet up with some high school friends. One dear friend, who seems to be the glue that binds us all together, was home from California, and he rallied the troops. We gathered at the regular watering hole for the evening, and when they shut it down in the wee hours of the morning, I drove a group of us to the greasy diner for a long breakfast and then shuttled the guys home. It's interesting to see how the dynamics can change among people from 1985 to now. The guys who used to chase cheerleaders aren't chasing them anymore. The cheerleaders aren't cheerleaders anymore. Some of us still manage to be out until 3:00 AM without too many ill effects! That hasn't changed about us! It was strange to see the children of people two classes ahead of us in the same bar, though, old enough to legally drink. EEEK!

Mayhem is playing softball and that's the best place to work on my Log Cabin Afghan! Her team is 4-2 so far and she has scored in every game. Not bad for a first year player! And I might actually finish this afghan. :-) She's almost as tall as her coach, you see?

Where Did It Go?

Spring Break, I mean. Where in the world did the time go?

In the morning, I head back to work, and the kiddos go back to school, much to their dismay. Of course, having "spring" break at the end of March meant it was cold, and we had two major snow events during the week off.

The trip to Chicago was great fun, and we were blessed with beautiful weather for our whirlwind Wednesday. The kids had their first taxi cab ride and thought that was great fun, too, until the cabbie nearly got us into a wreck by text messaging on his phone instead of paying attention to driving. eeeek!

While Buddy Bill was driving to and from Chicago, I knitted and watched the sides of the highway for deer to keep the kids entertained. College Kid's socks are coming along, and I'm hopeful about completing them before he finishes the school year. It would be fun to send them to him at school as a gift at the end of the pledge process for this fraternity he's in the process of joining.

The rest of the week was spent shuttling Mayhem to softball practice, running errands, doing laundry, and getting the kids to the things their dad wanted to do with them this week.

Spring Hasn't Quite Sprung

Somebody better tell Winter that Spring has arrived - at least on paper! Six inches of snow fell here Friday and Saturday, just in time for Easter weekend. Don't the kids' baskets look lovely in the snow? Poor Easter Bunny.

True to form, this absolutely wacky weather had almost no impact two hours south at my mother's. The egg hunt at her place today went off without a hitch and there were even some signs of spring.

Look! Crocuses blooming in my mom's backyard. Mine are still buried under the snow. I checked when I arrived back in town today.

The kids and I are off school/work this week for spring break. Hahahahahahahaha. Think it will snow some more?

Mayhem's request for the week off was to go to the museum to see mummies. The museum here in T-Town has only one mummy that I know of, and it's often in storage. That got Buddy Bill and I talking on Friday while out to brunch during my car's routine maintenance. We are both big fans of The Field Museum in Chicago. Along with having mummies, and whole a permanent Egypt exhibit, it also houses Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton. Bill and I both thought that my kids should see The Field, and, being prone to being a bit spontaneous at times, I reminded him about being off this week. After comparing calendars, we decided that leaving town after Absent-Minded Professor's allergy appointment Tuesday afternoon would work best. We booked a suite at a tall hotel. We planned out where to go in addition to The Field Museum. Now we're off for a whirlwind tour of museums and Shedd Aquarium and Hancock Observatory and Museum of Science and Industry (but mostly that last one so Bill and I can see the glass exhibits!).

The kids will be worn out at the end of it all, I'm sure. The grown ups will be too, I'm betting. It's definitely the stuff from which memories are made, though!

Out and About

Leave it to Sarah Lou to hatch a plan to go head to yarn shops on the shores of Lake Erie in November! Marblehead is, believe it or not, home to not one, but two yarn shops. Sarah found out, via Ravelry, about an Open House weekend at these two shops, and decided to organize a group of us to go check out the goings-on. A little after 9:00 this morning we met up, caffeinated ourselves, and loaded into my car for the drive.


Front: Me, Sarah
Back Row: Patti, Cher and Alana

Christi's Just For Ewe was our first stop. We were greeted by vociferous sheep and gentle alpacas. The shop was small, crowded, almost claustrophobic, but very friendly. I found it a bit disconcerting that the yarn was arranged by color, not by type of yarn. All the blue yarn was together. All the pink was together. All the green. One then had to paw through to find if there was a particular type - wool, cotton, bulky, worsted - or brand of yarn.

After that, we went to A Yarn Shop. Yes, that's the name of the place. It was much more open, neatly organized, and more typically arranged. Drawing a slip of paper out of a bucket awarded me a 15% discount on the Colinette Jitterbug, Copperbeech sock yarn I chose.

Lunch was simple and satisfying; soup, sandwiches and salads at a local place recommended by a family friend of Sarah's. We had to check out a couple of the shops right beside the restaurant after eating.

No trip to Marblehead is complete without a visit to the Marblehead Lighthouse, built in 1821.

Alana, Patti and Sarah were knitting socks!

Hope you are having a gorgeous weekend. I will have another FO to report in my next post.

Eleven

Once upon a time, there was a teeny-tiny early bird, a baby boy born 15 weeks prematurely. At one pound, 12 oz, his name was bigger than he was. Just before his delivery, the doctors and cast of thousands present at his birth, warned us of all the handicaps he would likely have because preemies born that early in 1996 usually lived, but rarely without a handicap or two or twelve.


That teeny-tiny early bird is my Absent Minded Professor, and he is ELEVEN years old today!




Yes, he's pretty much as normal as any eleven year old. Video games. Harry Potter. Star Wars. Yu-Gi-Oh! Bike. Scooter. Tortures sister. He loves rocks and fossils, so we went spelunking at nearby Seneca Caverns yesterday. Tomorrow we have plans to go play miniature golf with two of his best friends.

Look! Two monkeys in the cave!

Nobody gets past me!

All the way at the bottom of the cave, over 110 ft. below the surface, was a river. Cold, cold water (49 degrees Fahrenheit) and Absent Minded Professor had to put his arm in, of course. The water was so clear that in this photo, part of his sleeve is underwater, and it's hard to tell.

In knitting news, I'm not knitting much at all. I have been beseiged by sudden-onset wrist pain that even my Rx naprosyn isn't touching. It's my right wrist, and that's my dominant hand. Before I call my doc, and use a visit to hear him tell me to do the usual things (rest, ice, heat, anti-inflammatory drugs), I decided I'll do those things myself and report to him the results after my trip to Arizona next week. Today I did not knit at all. :-( There is plenty of housework and laundry and... *sigh*

Bye-Bye, BSJ

I thought about calling this post "Weekend Highlights," but there's no way I can publicly post all that went on while K2 and I were together this weekend. Sorry. There are just some things the world may NOT know!

The beautiful, radiant, gorgeously pregnant E loved the Baby Surprise Jacket. Here she is just after unwrapping it at her shower. It earned major "awwwwwwwwww!" from the ladies!

I was really surprised, though, because there were about 40 women in attendance at this shower and my gift and one other were the only two handmade gifts given. With the number of crafters I know, especially those that knit and crochet, it just struck me as odd that more people didn't create a more personal gift. Does it seem odd to you, or am I the odd duck for having made my gift? Gift registries, while coming in handy, just seem like grocery shopping lists to me.

My car hit a milestone on the way home. Two, actually. I had my camera ready, on the Ohio Turnpike to mark the occasion. Best gas mileage ever (actually 27.2 mpg just before the photo was taken) AND we hit 15,000 miles yesterday. I love my car! I drive a 2006 Ford Freestyle which I bought at the end of 2005. It's considered a "crossover," not an SUV, not a minivan.


Eeek! Don't look at where I had my cruise control set!

On The Road Again

Thelma and Louise, er, Karen and Sarah Lou trekked to Lansing, MI to visit the reknowned Threadbear Fiber Arts store. The best way to describe it is to picture a store about the size of your local Michael's, filled just with yarn and knitting/crocheting supplies. Top to bottom. Front to back. I think I'm still a bit high from the wool fumes.

See some of the group? Sarah Lou, Knitter Bunny Kelli, Sarah Peasley (one of her patterns was on display in the shop... Dude!) and in the front right, Nia. The green shirts in the background are Renee (ponytail) and her mom. Kelli wanted to know immediately where my pasties were!

Sarah and Kelli are comparing bags. Hmmm, Namaste (Karen's bag) vs. Lexie Barnes?

Normally, I'm not a fan of orange. This yarn spoke to me. Once I had it in my hand, and read the name of the colorway, I knew it had to come home with me. Look at the closeup...

Yes, you are reading that correctly!

It's "Mayhem"!

I finished sock one of my Thuja pair today. That makes 1/2 of a pair done for Summer of Socks!

I bought more yarn than that Mayhem, friends. Colinette, Opal, Trekking XXL... All sock yarn!

Leaving Threadbear, Sarah and I went to Melting Moments in E. Lansing, right across the street from the Michigan State University campus. We needed a little something to tide us over for the drive home. People's Choice (vanilla ice cream with peanuts, caramel and chocolate covered pretzels) in a waffle cone was just the thing! Once we hit T-Town, we decided dinner was in order and stopped for some delicious sushi.

Another successful, fiber road trip is added to the log book. Threadbear was great.

I do have to say one thing, though. Dudes, your store is great, your website is beautiful Now, BUY A SIGN! A store like Threadbear should be visible!

Pull Up a Lily Pad

Join me in the frog pond. You won't croak. I didn't.

Yesterday I frogged not one, not two, but THREE WIP's. It wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I've become accustomed to the idea that my knitting doesn't have to be perfect, but I do have to be happy with the end result. If I'm giving it away, then I really do have to frog it and fix it.

First, the Baby Suprise Jacket. I was at the halfway point, and things just weren't working out. Beth and I shared some emails and she sent some tips to me. After looking everything over, I decided the best thing to do was to start over. *Ripit. Ripit.* My BSJ now looks like this:

I have plans to put myself on a strict knitting schedule to complete the jacket in a week to 10 days. It WILL be done before the July 15 baby shower for K2's sister.

Next, I frogged my Victorian Lace Sock. I was only just beginning the lace, on size 1 needles, the smallest I've ever used. Somewhere my stitch count was off. Back to the beginning I went! These socks will be gorgeous when complete. I need to concentrate to get going on them. Concentrate = no kids. (They leave Friday for 5 days with their dad.) *ripit* Notice it was just a little croak?

Thirdly, my secret Scotland silk and cashmere project got frogged back to the setup rows. Not a big deal. I was able to re-do all of the knitting last night. It looks even better with the corrections in it! Sorry, kids, no photos yet. Soon. Buddy B reads the blog. And he's not allowed to see it yet!

All is not gloomy, though. On Sunday, partner-in-crime Sarah Lou and I are going to Lansing to ThreadBear Fiber Arts! We'll meet up with Knitter Bunny Kelli and some other Michigan knitters there. I met Kelli and Sarah Lou both on April 1 in Ann Arbor when we gathered to hear The Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak. Anyway, I'm sure some mischief and fiber madness will ensue.

Thuja sock #1 is almost done. Yay!