xoxo-

KT

Knitting my Trick or Treat Swap socks was great fun.  They remind me of Good & Plenty candy.  The Good & Plenty socks are knee socks and the cuff can be worn either up or down.  They are knit out of Socks That Rocks, Medium weight in Rhodonite.  The colorway isn't available currently, it appears. They are knit top-down and each sock weighs about 100 grams. Left over was 68 grams from one skein and 72 grams from the other.

The Good & Plenty socks are on their way to my Trick or Treat Pal and I am a bit sad to see them go.  Hopefully she will like wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Shoe size: Men's14/15

Yarn: Socks that Rock Heavyweight (Better part of TWO skeins)

Color: Henpecked

Needle size: Addi #3. 2 circs

These are freaking HUGE.  They are a gift for a very tall friend, who threw down the gauntlet when he said: "Oh no, you don't have to knit me socks".  Riiight.

I knit the entire first sock then realized I did not have enough yarn to complete the second one, so I ordered more.  And of course, though the same colorway, the second was far more intense than the first.  This would be why on just about every single yarn label on the planet, it is advised to buy enough yarn at one time to complete your project. So I ripped back the toe and the foot AND the gusset AND the heel flap and reknit them with the second skein.  Then I knit the top of #2 with skein number one and the bottom with skein number 2.  Balanced.  Phew!

Anyhow, they are done and to be gifted today.

And if they don't fit, he can darn well frame them.

Part of my time this past summer had been spent knitting one of the most poorly written patterns that I have ever encountered. It was not a difficult pattern, just really truly frustrating (a decent tech editor would save the day), and it has sent me running for the simple.  In the round, stockinette with lovely hand painted or hand dyed yarns are terribly satisfying right now.

Done is better than perfect and warm is much better than worrying.  I LOVE this sweater.

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay

Color: 118

Skeins used: 8

Needles: Knit Picks Options, wood size 10

There is no pattern for this sweater, just features and measurements that please me.  The extra long neck, the very fitted arm scye, and the very long ribbed arm cuffs with thumb hole all tickle me. 

A Redefined Superstar, I'd say.

Last night, talk turned to costumes. Sketches were drawn, logistics were discussed and Angus was convinced that being a fire truck (not fighter- truck) again was not the best course of action.  I have made fire truck costumes in the past, very successfully- who said studying sculpture in college wouldn't be helpful? So the fire truck nixed, I tried to sell him being a sky scraper.  He nixed that.

Angus has been learning how to knit, so as a lark I suggested that he go as ...

A Giant Ball of Yarn

Loving the idea, Angus started drawing sketches.

The show stopping question:

Me: "Angus, you really need leg holes- where are the leg holes?"

Angus: (teary) "No, Mom, I do NOT want leg holes.  No way, Jose!"

Me: "Well, how do you expect to trick or treat?  You want Mom & Dad to roll you around the  Neighborhood?"

Angus: "That is perfect, Mom!"  (pause, scratches forehead) "Or you could just build a steering wheel into my giant ball of yarn. Yep, I think  that would be better.  Thanks Mom!"

My husband of ten years (we say HA! to all the nay sayers!) is even more wonderful than the day I married him.  I do not regret my choice for a second, though when I married him it was a huge leap.  Yes, marriage is always a leap and my personal leap seemed rather large even by marital leap standards.

Turning 40 has been fantastic.  Nary a qualm.  For a minute I thought maybe I was pushing the thoughts away and I was wrong.  From where I stand today, life is sweet.  Being a wife and a mother is soul satisfying in a way I never knew it could be.

Love you all to bits-

KT

The most beautiful flowers from the three guys.  Between the colors, the textures, and the variety of flowers, I am beside myself. 

Yesterday I was treated to flowers, handmade cards, a corsage made by a seven year old and breakfast in bed.  Angus scrambles a mean egg.  Duncan told anyone who would listen that he buttered the toast with the BIG knife and stirred my coffee  A LOT so it was EXTRA delicious just for MOM.

Then a great and remarkable thing happened- nobody rushed off.  We were all doing our own thing, together.  Someone was on the computer, conversation distance from someone else who was knitting while staring at the flowers while two small someones weaved in and out.  It was delightful.

STR (shocking, no?) Medium weight (shocking, yes!) in a Rare Gem which was purchased at camp. While each Rare Gem is well, rare- I was able to score 2 skeins that were very similar.  Perfect for knee socks. 

Thank you so much for all the encouragement last week for my nerves and Angus' health.  Your well wishes and thoughts really helped prevent what was sure to be an enormous anxiety attack. We are all much better this week, which is good because I could use a little boring right about now.

Love you all to bits.

I want to go slow so as not to miss anything, because there  is a LOT and also wanting to go fast because I am SO excited!

First the haul, minus the socks because as really great the haul is, the socks are magnificent.

Clockwise from 9 o'clock (let's see if I can actually pull this off):

A great lined notebook- clearly meant for knitting notes while on the go!

Sticky notes & a magnetic note pad- more note taking- good idea with the Mama addled brain!

Cute sheep card.

A very well hidden napkin caddy with great Orange Parrot Tulips on them.  Darlene those are one of my ALL time color/flower combinations.  You nailed it.

Coffee!  From Birmingham.  Oh how I do love Alabama.

Trekking in color #135.  Perfect!

The Trekking is next to 2, TWO really great tulip themed draw string bags- perfect for the on the go sock knitting!

Some beautiful stitch markers from Alabama Fiber Dreams.  They are small and perfect for socks.  Plus they are lime green & orange.  So me!

Then tissues with flowers, a super cute watering can key chain, flower seeds, a soak sample and some note cards. Very needed- all.

A very pretty and dare I say ladylike coffee cup.  I will take care that she will not get roughed up by our Pacific Northwest brutish coffee cups.

And finally some STR Medium weight (Yay! Medium weight!  I have enough Heavyweight to sink the Titanic, so variety is welcome) In the color "Mesa" which I have never seen before.  It is well documented, my love of STR!

And now, my friends.  Calm yourselves.  Breathe in, Breathe out.  You are not prepared for the absolute perfection that are my socks.  Darlene you are a marvel!

Thank you so much Darlene.  I am positively overjoyed with my perfect colors, perfect fit, perfect length socks.  They are a thing of wonder and I could not have picked something more perfect for myself.  Thank you for all your care and kindness. You have my heart.

Been up since 4am, fretting, administering insulin, testing blood sugars, drinking coffee and well, fretting more.

Too tired to knit even though I could use a bit of a simple repetitive task.

Today would be a perfectly wonderful day for my May Day Swap Socks to show up.

Here's hoping!

Love you all to bits.

xoxoxo

We have a Winner!  Actually, there were two correct guesses Jill & Frieda!  (Jill please email me with your 411 and preferences at kt at theeislers dot com- Frieda- I totally know how to find you). You will both receive a skein of BMFA Knitters Without Borders and an additional skein of BMFA in a weight  & color of your choosing from the stash.

And now- drumroll........................................................................

Hold onto your hand knit socks- my Mom is turning..........................

SEVENTY!

She is truly beautiful and amazing.  Her outsides are not nearly as wonderful as her insides. May we all look half as good at 70.  Mom, you are a wonder and we love you. 

Clicking through the finished socks on Swapper's blogs, there are sure some real beauties.  It is exciting to know that a pair are on their way to me.  Which ones will they be?

This wee strip of holes makes me happy beyond measure.  In my knitting skill set, there are many things I can do and yet lace has always seemed elusive and confounding. I managed to find a local class during school hours and today was day one.  A great thing about this class is three fold. First, we were not assigned a class project but rather were allowed to pick whatever lace project we wanted.  I picked The Flight of the Honey Bees Shawl by Sharon Winsauer for Alpaca with a Twist.  Second great thing about this class is the instructor, Becky (Ravelry Link).  And third, I am using some righteously beautiful yarn. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci in a mystery colorway that I purchased in Scappoose at Tina's stash sale in November.  Score!  The color is perfection for a honey bee pattern.

Don't forget, Mom's contest end tomorrow, Friday May 2 at Noon PST. 

Leave your guess!  Good luck to all!

Love you all to bits- KT

Don't forget about the FUN contest!  Here is a picture of my Mom who is having a Milestone Birthday this May.  Guess her age, on the nose, and win a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Knitters Without Borders" in Lightweight plus another skein of BMFA STR in a weight & color way that is the winner's preference (plus other fun goodies).

Just leave a comment by Friday May 2, Noon PST.

And thank you to all have left guesses- Mom aka Charlene is totally tickled by your interest!  And she was VERY bummed that she couldn't pose a  guess and win the yarn herself.  No cheating, Mom!  And we will have none of that having your friends comment to win the yarn for you! (Her LYS is Jennifer Knits in Brentwood- so I am on to all of you!)

And if you are not Mom or part of her posse posing for Mom, you could win something out of this beautiful cabinet (which might be significantly more full after camp):

So, come on- Step Right Up and give a guess.  If you know shhh and one guess per customer!

Step Right Up, leave a comment with your guess!

Love you all to bits- KT

And Mom- no faking!

My May Day Swap socks are done! Except the grafting.  The yarn is BMFA Sapphire in Heavyweight. Perfect Spring morning socks, when there is still a bit of a chill in the air.  or if you live here, great for when it is dumping snow in late April.  Here is hoping my pal will like these and that they fit! There was much gnashing of teeth and ripping back in terms of fit.

Each time I knit a pair of socks, I find that I internalize another piece of the sock puzzle which is completely invigorating. One of the actions which I find truly energizing(regardless of the item) is ripping out and reknitting it. Which not only did I have to do that several times on the above socks but on these too. Must finish giant socks!

Camp was wonderful.  It was much harder this year to be away from the boys, though we all have pulled through in fine form.  I find that I want to tell you more about camp and as it is incredibly experiential for me, this is proving difficult.  Great fun is apt but not terribly descriptive.  It was great fun all the same.

Duncan is home with a fever and whine today, so lots of knitting whilst wiping of a little nose (not with the knitting!) and giving comfort.

*********

In the hold on to your horses department:

My Mom was tickled that her photo popped up on the blog AND she gave me permission to tell her age.  It is going to be a contest!  Guess my mom's age, on the nose- it is a milestone birthday- and you will receive 1 skein of Blue Moon Knitters Without Borders in Lightweight (not yet available on their site), plus one more skein of Blue Moon Yarn (weight & color tbd by winner's preference) and other various goodies.  Leave a comment by Noon, PST Friday May 2.  And if you know shh.....Also, if there is more than one correct guess, we will do the name in the hat thing.

One guess per customer.Good luck!

Love y'all to bits!

We had Duncan's big 5 year old birthday party on Saturday and it was wonderful.

Here is a super cute if a little dark picture of my Mom & Duncan.

This year is really a year of milestones- Craig & I will be married 10 years, Duncan turns 5, I  turn 40 in August, my Mom turns "X".

We FINALLY sold our house in Virginia after almost 12 months on the  market!  Yea!! Angels singing!

Love to you and hopefully I will blog from Camp.

If you are reading- THANK YOU!!

Love -

KT

Today my baby turns 5.  What a cacophony of emotion.  It is thrilling that logic and reason are starting to creep in and heartbreaking that there are no babies in the house.

Every Friday Duncan gets out of school at noon, so we have some special time just the two of us.  Each and every Friday he says, as he gets in the car: "Mama, can we have a Gluten Fest and then go to the fabric store?"  So off we go for pizza (we are a gluten free house- big brother has Celiac) and about half way through lunch, Duncan says to me :"Mama, do you think the fabric store has anything new for my stash?"

And yes, he has a stash.  If you were wondering what the stash of a barely five year old little boy looks like, here you go:

(motorcycles, dolphins, firetrucks, police vehicles and crowns)

But he does have some mighty big shoes to fill (this isn't all of it- trust me)

Happy Birthday Duncan.  You have my heart- always.

Love to all of you- back with much to tell.

.

There are a few questions that I have been working on that I would love input on, if you have any. The MDK pattern says to cast on 72 stitches. I would like to make mine bigger. Is it just a multiple of 3 that I need? Others say just cast on any odd number of stitches. Which formula do you use? Have you altered the basic recipe? How?

Please, I need the scoop!

Second, I was thinking that it would be feasible to cast on 144 stitches, put a marker between stitch 72 & 73 and treat them as 2 separate miters though they would be joined. Instead of 2 squares I would get 1 rectangle, or half a square. This would literally cut my seaming in half. Clearly this needs to road tested to see if can go from concept to really cool technique. (Scurries off to knit furiously.)

Oh, I feel like such a clever little bunny! It worked- Look:

You just need to remember to twist the constrasting colors on the wrong (private) side so that there are no holes. This is great! Only one long seam per large square. These colors I used are for test drive purposes - I just grabbed what I had wound up.

This pleases me WAY more than it should, but we all geek out on something. Uh oh, I think I just rained on my own parade. Having just read the entire Madness category at the extraordinary January One, I realize that my method will not give me as much freedom to switch squares around. Not sure how much this matters to me, I'll have to ponder that.

Also, I am contemplating what kind of rules I want to follow- I can already see that without them I will go completely around the bend and then feel awful because I didn't do what I wanted to do- knit the blanket that is. So far each square will have a single main color and there will likely be main color repeat. It did cross my mind to have only one or two main colors throughout the entire blanket and 4 different contrast colors per square.

It is already apparent to me that this project will be eating me alive. No complaints, though.

Lots of knitting going on here. I am determined to finish this sweater- scroll to the 19th- before I go to sock camp this year. Here are the colors I am going to use for the tartan:

The pattern is Tartan Jacket from Zoe Mellor's Colorful Knits for You and Your Child. This is the second time I have made this sweater, here is my first version of the tartan:

I wear this sweater constantly and it has stood up to wear so well for about 9 years. I blogged about it here. I should mention that the color chart is as knitted and it not the same as photographed in the book. In my current version I will knit it as photographed in the book in STR Heavyweight Bluemoonstone, Lemongrass & Sunstone- the main color is Lover's Leap.

The bottom sweater (the original) is in Magpie (moment of silence) for the body and Lambs Pride for the tartan.

Last but certainly not least, I was awarded by both Emily & KT the "You Make My Day Award". Thank you ladies I love you both muchly, you have both made me laugh so hard, and care so much. You two have made my life a much more beautiful and inspired place.

Instructions are "give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

Okay so, without further ado and pithy commentary (and in no order, other than how they came into my brain):

January One Hola Chica! This one rocks it about as hard as one can. Heart as big as all outdoors. And a tot on the way. Some people were just meant to be parents. The knitting and level headed-ness are awesome,

Angry Chicken The one and only. 3 little ones and SO productive. Shame!

Posie Gets Cozy Clover Meadow and beautiful crafting? Get out!

Yarnstorm If you sleep with her book under your pillow you will have the sweetest dreams.

Six and a Half Stitches Sublime. Structured and dreamy simultaneously. Quite a feat.

Hop Skip Jump The animals? Divine! And awaiting a baby boy any moment.

Hello Yarn In my dreams, I aspire to be her.

Amuse Bouche Yummy food and lovely pictures.

Gerrie Congdon Such dedication and what an eye. Sigh.

Bemused Jan is such an inspiration.

Say la vee Too good.

Pea Soup Just perfect- and the view? Stunning!

Knitiot Savant My Secret Pal. Nough said!

Emma Very Happy Belated Birthday, you wonderful woman !!

Special Bunny Blvd Such a lovely gracious human. And the mothering? And the productivity? Oy. I am in awe.

There are so many more folks that I wanted to give this award- I was supposed to limit it to 10 but splurged on 15. Thank you, for the award and for making my day!

Love you all to bits and pieces!

KT

Here is what I decided to do...

Weigh knitted sock and leftover yarn from cake #1

Done! 196 grams

Weigh cake #2.

Done! 200 grams

Rip back sock to heel.

Done! Look!

Then I will add about 3 more inches to the leg of this and then switch to cake #2 for the foot. So the leg will differ from the foot yet both socks will be the same.

Scintillating, no?

Long story short, I remembered and then our friend said: "Why don't you just knit me a scarf?" To which I replied: "You may indeed get a scarf in the future, but I AM going to knit you socks!" See our friend has size 14 feet. This was a challenge I was not going to hide from. I was going to rise to the challenge and then gloat and brag and make everybody listen to me rattle on about how I knit size 14 socks.

It is still my intention to do that and in order to torture you all, I need your help first. Ha! It is a lot like Brutus asking Julius Caesar :"Hey, could you sharpen this for me?"

Here is the rub: In 2006, I bought 2 skeins of STR heavyweight in Henpecked (at the same time, thank you very much). Do you like how I made it sound as if that was all I bought ? (kt- be quiet!)*cough* I took one skein and made it into a cake, then made that cake into a very nice sock, with my very first short row heel, nonetheless. The heel was ripped 3 times but no holes! So last night I took the second skein, wound it into a cake and in the midst of winding started to feel a wee bit queasy.

Here is the yarn left over from the sock (wish I had made the leg longer), next to the second skein. See the problem? What do I do? Please weigh in.

As I see it here are my choices:

A) Frog the whole thing (which I am willing to do ) and then intersperse the two skeins in the new pair.

B) Frog to the ankle, knit foot in the new skein. Knit other leg from skein #1 & from ankle down from skein #2.

C) Just knit sock #2 from skein #2 and be done with it. (this option appeals to me the least)

It just makes me madder than a wet hen when you can't unsee things.

Love you all to bits.

ps: I only have myself to be upset with. If I had actually thought about it I could have known this was going to happen, as I can see clearly in this picture down) Smacks forehead.

ETA: Choice A should read- A) Frog the whole thing (which I am willing to do ) and then intersperse the two skeins in the new pair. I just can't get the formatting to behave- sorry!

Craig loves his new job, which is at a company that has been very good to us in the past.

It was my supreme pleasure to go to sock camp and make many new friends. April cannot come soon enough so that I can go again. SO EXCITED.

I have met many lovely bloggers in the flesh: Jessica, Ryan & TMK, Cousin Tom (eat your hearts out- he is one AWESOME monk!) The other KT (who is moving here!!!!), hung out with the gals from Blue Moon at the stash sale (serious crushes all around), and kept in touch with some of my fave bloggers .

Plus I have been teaching knitting to Duncan's class 4-6 year olds. We have been doing finger knitting so far and are soon to move onto needle knitting. The best ones at the finger knitting? The Kindergarten Boys. They are seriously fierce. Teaching finger knitting to four year olds? A special kind of Hell.

On the not so pleasant side, we have had 8 kabillion bouts of Pink Eye, a Thousand bouts of Strep, Angus vomited more times in that single day than he had in his entire lifetime (vomiting when you are diabetic is serious business.. insulin is administered to combat food- food comes out of the body but the insulin stays in and you get very low blood sugar which can result in seizure or coma), a surgery for Duncan, a endoscopic biopsy for Angus, one ER trip for me and one for Duncan, which involved 2 hospitals and a rush hour ambulance trip across a floating bridge. Who knew that strep could present with abdominal pain and that an appendix could be so hard to find via ultrasound? A diagnosis of Celiac Disease for Angus, which by the way is a COMPLETE ASS KICKER. There is gluten in EVERYTHING. I seriously wept when I found gluten free stuffing cubes at Whole Paycheck at Thanksgiving. I had no idea how much I was dreading Thanksgiving without stuffing. And it was great!! I thought there was going to be no gravy either and the potato flour saved the day.

There were many icky hairy things about 2007. We are holding many good thoughts for 2008, I have my creative goals roughed out, we seem to have somewhat of a handle on our medical issues (I still think that if the software business ever tanks we could get a gypsy caravan with a sign reading "The Eisler Family Traveling Side Show of Medical Oddities and Semi-Misfortune ").

There are two happenings in early 2008 that give me such joy and hope for the world. Both this gal and this gal are going to be welcoming children into the world. We may have a fighting chance yet.

If you have stuck it out this far, a special treat- Angus picked out this yarn for me to make him socks- it is BMFA Sherbert in Heavyweight with Ruby slippers heels and toes. Knit on size 3's. 6.5 sts to the inch. How can you not feel happy when your 7 year old boy wants pink socks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!! MUCH LOVE AND PEACE. NOW GO FORTH AND KICK ASS IN THE SPECIAL WAY THAT YOU KNOW HOW. SHOO! GO FORTH AND KICK ASS!!!

Love you all to bits and pieces-

KT

Thanks for all your good Juju- Angus was so brave. The procedure was a breeze and the result stinks.

Love y'all to bits

blanket, knitting corner, wall color, swatch.

Well the recipient of this blanket is now about 6 months old. The good news is A) She is a six month old and therefore cannot tell time, B) It is finally getting chilly here, C) It is off the needles, washed, wrapped and ready to be given to her, D) It is a gift for Angus' teacher's daughter- and if Nicole (the teacher/mommy) were to bust my chops about something I highly suspect it would not be about the lateness of her daughter's gift.

As mentioned previously, this is STR Heavyweight in Jade, Bronze, Amethyst,Rose Quartz, Blue Moonstone and Boysenberry. It is about 3 foot square and knit on size six or seven needles. Fun to knit and very easy. Also I gave it a bath in Fibre Wash and the hand improved dramatically. I have no basis for comparison- just soaking it, it may have felt just as lovely- not sure. Laid it out flat over night and when it was still wet this morning I threw it in the dryer on low heat for about 20 minutes. The tumble dryer did not diminish it one little bit.

For the past few days I have been reconfiguring my sewing/knitting laboratory. This is my new knitting corner. We have had these chairs for nine years and I had never sat in one to knit. Divine! But you must use the foot stool. The color on the wall is being auditioned- it does get rather grey here and I find this color very energizing. All my life I thought that this acidy green was puce. Wrong. I am a bit disheartened as I thought color was my thing.

The needles on the arm of the chair are a holding a swatch (in the round, thankyouverymuch) of BMFA STR Lightweight in January One. It is pretty amazing to me that I find size 1 needles easier on my hands than say 11's. Speaking of January One, you must go see a most beautiful profile taken during her 20 week ultrasound.

Now the good JuJu part. Angus (who is doing remarkably well) has to go into the hospital tomorrow morning for a short testing procedure AND they have to give him light general anesthesia. We anticipate being home by lunchtime. We are not worried about the result (he is fine and more on this later) and yet I find my self a bit nervous about the whole deal tomorrow. So please, good thoughts- send your love our way. Dance naked in the woods, light a candle, say a prayer, chant (that would be you , you skirt wearing monk)- how ever you do it could you send us your good JuJu? Thanks.

Love to y'all

My boys took very good care of me this morning. A beautiful breakfast of a pepperjack omelette, bacon, toast, coffee and gifts. The smiles and love on their faces was the best gift. I am so blessed.

A wonderful way to begin my birthday. 39 is going to be a great year.

Love to all of you.

Remember when I mentioned that I took a stack n' whack class? Well, I've nearly finished the top! (Need to square up and maybe add a border).

This was really fun to make and I learned loads. Up to this juncture, I had never done point, just squares. At first it was intimidating and I think most (not all) of them turned out pretty well. Exhibit A:

The colors in the 2nd photo are pretty accurate. Also, I had never done any sashing, let alone a trellis technique. I loved the meta-construction and can see myself applying it to lots of quilts in the future.

I tried to really push the colors and I do love it. Lots of room for improvement in my piecing, though!

Have a great Saturday!

Love y'all to bits-

KT

There is a lot more I could say, but right now- I can't.

He was a great man, his contribution went way beyond making me happy. Had I known who he was when I was young, I doubt I could have thought he was any greater.

Hoping you are enjoying the pictures flying by, Tom.

I am off to Fire up the Colortini.

God Bless and all my love. You are missed.

In the middle of March 2000, there was a death in our family and Craig could not attend the services which were in the mid- west of the continent, so I went to represent and help with the arrangements. From there, I went onto Brooklyn to see my best girl friend from college (I was more than half way to Brooklyn anyhow. And no I did not sleep on the plane! Ha- I crack myself up!).

I walked into Heidi's apartment in Bay Ridge and very tactfully said: "Oh my GOD! What are you cooking? It smells AWFUL!" She asked if I was okay and I said that I was really sore. She took one look at me and said: "You're pregnant."

My reply: "Get serious! I am not!"

For the next several days both she and her husband, Mark, encouraged me to take a test, finally on day 3 I relented. I dug a stick out from under her bathroom sink- yes it was still sanitary and wrapped. I did what I had to do. I went down stairs and talked to Heidi & Mark. Then I went up stairs and phoned home (Yes, "K.T., Phone Home" has been popular ever since the movie came out). Here is how the conversation with Craig went:

KT: "Hey Babe, its me. How are you?"

Craig: "Great, my brother is here and we are just hanging out, doing computer stuff."

K: "Do you have a sec?"

C: "Sure, what's up?"

K: "Are you sitting down?"

C: "Yup."

K: "No, really, you should sit down."

C: (somewhat exasperated) "I am sitting down!"

KT: " I'm pregnant."

Craig: (dead silence, then...) "Oh my god, I need to sit down."

I love that story.

When I was pregnant with Angus, Craig bought me a sewing machine to replace my great-grandmother's Singer that I inherited. It was not as ancient as it sounds, she bought it in 1982 and she passed in 1992. Pearl Nile Rappaport was her name and I miss her every day. She was married to my Boppa (Julius Rappaport) for over 50 years (Mom, is that right?) even though he was her 3rd husband. The first 2 went out for a pack of smokes or a carton of milk and never came back (as family legend has it). Anyhow, they were really my true grandparents and so much of who I am is because of them. Boppa & I had a garden, Grammy painted a beautiful sign that said""K.T.'s Garden". I spent a lot of time with them when I was growing up. We had Sunday dinner almost every week. Pearl was a very accomplished seamstress, painter, very devout in her faith and loved me with all her heart. I can still feel her aged hand in mine when I said good bye to her. She was so happy that I told her, if she wanted to - she should leave the planet.

Anyhow, Craig bought me a sewing machine when I was pregnant with Angus and I did sew with it but because it was bought online, there was no store I could go to for support, classes, etc. We made a deal right before we moved back (after 7 years of me struggling with the blasted machine)- If I could not find the support/classes, etc that I wanted/needed then I could buy a new machine. At first, I think he was pretty appalled that I wanted to forsake my machine that HE bought me. Once I said to him: "What if I bought you a computer and there were no updates, support or software- would you want a new machine?"

That sold it. I would like to introduce you to Althea Pearl. She is a gorgeous Bernina 730E and we are currently having quite the fling.

The store I bought her from is taking wonderful care of us and offers a great many classes. I took a Stack N Whack Spinners class from the lovely Pat French.

Also I start my mastering my Bernina class series today. Very exciting!

Another exciting thing- On Sunday I went to a fête for a certain Buddhist Monk, thrown by his cousin and her partner.

Have a great day and I send my love to all of you.

I don't even know where to begin, my heart is so full. I could make this really long or really short- I am just going to write and see how she turns out.

People, you are my community in a lot of ways and today I got to be back in another community that has been a part of me and I have been a part of for a great long time.

Long, long ago I moved to Seattle (1989) and spent about a year here. I lived on Capitol Hill and went to art school for painting (Cornish) and worked in a pie shop (Peerless Pie) that I could walk to from my $350 a month BEAUTIFUL studio apartment. I took a trip to Berkeley to see a girlfriend and met a guy who was for the record and in hindsight a total loser and decided that I need to move to the East Bay and live with him, which I did. (who she of course had a crush on but none the less she said "go for it" and then never talked to me again). Don't even remember how long it lasted- a year- ish maybe. I left and rented space in a loft (makes it sound glamorous- it wasn't) that was also a glass blowing studio. It was fun and boho and I dated and tried to figure who and what I was. I got an retail job (Whole Earth Access) that I could walk to from the loft/glass blowing studio which, oh by the by was located inside a bronze foundry (in Emeryville). Got an office job that I could also walk to.Then I was making enough money that could move out of said boho space and rented a beautiful mother-in-law in Kensington. It was so sweet the view was fantastic. It was a 3 bridge (Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, & Richmond), 2 prison (Alcatraz & San Quentin) view. For you who are not sure why this is great I could see ALL of the San Francisco Bay while laying on my bed. The MIL apartment had a view, a patio, was close to North Berkeley - it was a real step up and I was so happy and proud because I had done it myself. I got a job in San Francisco and then, I was a commuter! So fantastically grown up and professional. I worked for a firm that did Instructional Design and interstitial programming. I ended up moving to San Francisco and living on 14th & Geary (right around the corner from House of Bagels).

During that time I met Robert. No not a flame. Robert became a confidant and good friend. He was a support and a joy and on some level we just clicked. Another way to say it is that we just were. Robert asked me to be part of his commitment ceremony and I was- what a great honor. And I wore the HOTTEST red dress- well to be honest- I made it hot. Must find picture.

I got a new car and drove by Robert's apartment with the top down (the car's, not mine) the day I got it and leaned on the horn until he stuck his head out the window. You get the idea. I adore Robert.

Then through some wild turn of events- oh I remember- I realized that I wanted to get married and have a family and could not really picture raising a family in San Francisco. To those of you who do- right on! I just realized that Seattle was more my style and I moved back. No job, a bit of savings and a spot on the fold out futon of M&M- I stayed three months- they are a generous people and are my friends to this day. M&M (who move to England very soon- bon voyage!) and Robert are friends- they introduce me to P&P. Robert moves to Seattle and meets a wonderful man, D. (The commitment ceremony guy turns out to not to be such a good fit) I found a job working in a wholesale rose warehouse for the craziest boss ever and not crazy in a good way (accosting the pizza delivery guy that the pizza was too greasy by picking up a piece and thrusting it at him. So glad that is in the past.)

So now we have Robert & D, M&M and P&P and me. These are amazing people. And they in turn introduce me to M&A, who are a great couple who live in a little house on a lake WAY out in Redmond. I get a job (contracting) at Microsoft and eventually meet the most fabulous husband ever, Craig. I introduce Craig to the whole lot of them. Craig and I buy a house WAY out in Redmond and get a very nice 4th of July invite from M&A to come to there lake house for the 4th.

Craig & I went there every year on the fourth, eventually including Angus- until we moved to Virginia.

Well, today we went to M & A's (which they have spectacularly remodeled, renovated and built an entire top floor on) (women who are general contractors- gotta love it) for the fourth. It is precisely 2 minutes from our new house. I walked in and A greeted me with a huge hug and a tour of the gorgeous house. Then I saw the female P, who I have known for almost 13 years, and Angus was talking to quite excitedly. While I was talking to her somebody came up behind me. It was Robert! The whoop that coma outta me was so happy, so involuntary and so perfect. I could barely pry my arms off of him. That hug felt so, so good. Then onto D who I adore! They have been together since there first date- it will be 11 years on July 7th! Congratulations- you are so good together.

Then I saw the male P and then I found M. Hugs all around. These are my people- they KNOW me- they know all the 800 shades of me and just get who I am. I got to show them my kids as big kids and what fine young boys they are. D took Angus paddle boating on the lake for almost an hour today. Craig showed up- more big hugs all around and eventually he took the boys and they did secret Eisler boy stuff and I got to sit and chat and cry and connect with people who have know so many versions of me.

I was talking to M, Girl P, Robert & D and I just welled up. I looked at each of them and realized I was exactly where I needed to be. With people who have known me forever and love me no matter what and without whom I would not be the person I am today. I told them that I never ever expected to be sitting on this deck on the 4th again (we thought we'd stay in Virginia forever- HA!) and that it was a honor and a joy. M raised her arms and said "Welcome Home".

You know- I turn 39 next month. I have known Robert since I was 25.

Coming home is good.

So very very happy to be here.

Love to you all- I have missed you- KT

This past weekend was the exception. There was togetherness and making things- making things together even! My sewing/knitting Laboratory has always been off limits to the kids with very good reason, I might add. Occasionally, they would be allowed in until they couldn't sit still anymore. This weekend Angus came with me in there and worked, quietly for about 40 minutes. There are now a couple of ground rules: Rule One of Mommy's Magic Sewing Room- Follow the Rules! Rule Two of Mommy's Magic Sewing Room: They are all Mommy's Rules! These seemed to work pretty well. Angus asked me for some pins to use on the scraps he found. His plan for the fabric is for me to sew a pocket...

Not exactly sure how that is going to work, but far be it from me to tell him that. I completely decline to squelch any interest he has in the fiber arts. When he was done pinning and began telling me how to make the quilt I was working on, it was time for some diversionary tactics. I asked him to pick out some fabrics that he liked and we could make something from it. Here is what he picked:

And let me tell you this MIND BLOWING OCCURANCE! First- I left him ALONE in my sewing room!! Can you imagine? I couldn't imagine but I DID DO IT! When I left there were scraps and pins EVERYWHERE. When I came back in Angus, ALL BY HIMSELF, had put all the pins back in the box, put the lid on the box and put ALL THE SCRAPS IN THE TRASH CAN!! Holy Crap! He had no help, it was his own idea and he executed it PERFECTLY. This feat of wonder earned him the right to have his own little corner of work space in in Laboratory. He is really getting the connection between initiative and rewards earned. Very Cool and I never, ever thought I would see the day. My secret hope is that he will turn into a version of Jane's Thomas- advising, helping and playing.

Do you remember this quilt top? I finally got around to putting the borders on it this weekend! And I think I found the fabric for the backing and binding. Now all I have to do is make the sandwich. EEEK! This gives me fits of jitters but I do have my pins, masking tape, floor space and a quiet house. The pansies in the front are for the binding and the large leafy is for the back. What do you think? I am liking it, though I would never have picked the lotus fabric for the outer border. Followed a suggestion from my new local quilt shop- WHICH I AM LOVING! Will tell more about them later. So whaddya think?

Here is a bigger picture, and again I am pretty pleased though a wee bit uncomfortable with the wide border- still not sure if I am 100% about it or not. And I am willing to try new things, plus fabric is a renewable resource, Right?

There are two more parts to my very quilty weekend. They have nothing to do with each other.

This was a fun, but not very personal post- Laura- I pledge to get more personal. Yes, I promise to take the coaching!

Thank you to all of our service people who stand tall and ready to defend our lives. God Bless you. I cannot manage more on Memorial Day as I get too choked up. For more read my post from last year here.

Love you all. Thanks for reading and Be Good to Yourselves!

As much as I hate to admit it, my grammar and punctuation suck.

While I shouldn't, I often begin sentences with "I" or "And". The shame is immense.

My use of the semicolon is dismal; however, I love the semicolon.

The quarter inch seam is as elusive as the lost city of Atlantis.

My youngest son announced at 5:50 AM that he was a rooster and his job was to Cocka Doodle Do from the rooftop to make sure the family was awake. (He was in our bed, and thankfully not on the roof.)

(Oh, and I love parentheticals.)

Pretty sure we are done having babies which has me desperately sad and somewhat relieved.

Two nights ago I dreamed about Jane's Allotment quilt throughout the night.

I dropped out of College.

Tom Waits and Bob Dylan are my favorites.

I am adopted. Can I tell you how shameful I feel for not knitting for the Red Scarf Project? That could have been me, easily.

One of my favorite words is idiopathic.

Though I am 38, almost (August 22) 39 I have yet to feel like a grown up.

My Mom looks better than me (and most) than I ever will. We each have our lot in life.

My husband's love confounds me on a daily basis.

My kids will call out "Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!" and then I realize they are calling me. How did I get to be the mom? Yes, I do understand biology...

Being the Change I want to see in the World is hard and wonderful and awful all at the same time.

Post Secret is a guilty pleasure.

Both my kids are in school all day, 5 days a week and while I have MANY things to occupy me I often wonder what to do.

The thought of them leaving home is crushing to me.

The "Let's cure everything RIGHT NOW" culture really weighs on me.

I have never, ever checked my stats for who or how many of you read this blog. Ever. It would make me too nuts.

I love you all (whoever you are)!

Crap! The iron is on upstairs! Crap!

Oh- I hate wooden spoons of all varieties.

My current obsession is knitting that resembles marquetry floors!

Mwah!

Mom: Wow, look at all that beautiful, colorful yarn!

KT: Oh that is the Blue Moon yarn I have been telling you about, Socks That Rock. You should take some home with you!

Mom: Why? I am never, ever, EVER going to knit socks. I just don't do that. (not an exact quote but you get the idea-imagine I suggested she tatoo a barcode on her forehead.)

KT: Mom, you can make a bunch of things other than socks with this stuff. (I whip out the mitres, the snake scarf for Duncan, the sweater, the baby blanket)

Mom: But because it is sock yarn, you must use a really tiny needle, right? (Tiny for me is size one, tiny for Mom is a six.)

Then she felt all the squooshy loveliness and I suggested that the Blue Moonstone would be perfect for her and I saw it. That little spark in her eyes that she didn't think I saw/wanted me to see. Four skeins of STR heavyweight in Bluemoonstone (and some other things) later she was on her way! Our plan is that she get in touch with the BMFA gals and order the same color in a fiber that she can carry along with it so it can be knit on an 8 or 9.

Oh my goodness Lookie!!!! My folks went to Japan and look what they brought me back! It was so kind and generous of them- Thanks Mom & Jerome! This particular set of parents (yes there is more than one- I should org chart it for the blog-HA!) have some very good friends that are Australian, lived in Hong Kong for a good long while and have travelled to Japan frequently over a great number of years. Off the four of them went with a wee request from me... If at all possible could they score me some Japanese fabric? John & Judy took time out of the trip to show my folks fabric shops and I think markets and what they found was enchanting! Some of these are available here (shhhhhh! don't tell) and I couldn't care less as they are fabrics I never would have picked for the stash and that is good! It is always wonderful to find uses for things that you might not normally pick. Expanding horizons and all that.

First there is some Kaufman fabric. This falls into the category of something I would not pick and will love to find a use for. Very exciting as the fabric will always be special to me and the funny part is my maiden name is, indeed Kaufman! No relation as far as I know, though my grand father used to own textile mills.

The next lot I thought were fat quarters but upon unpacking them I saw all the edges are sewn down. Placemats ? Japanese doilies? Panels? Don't know and I will certainly find a use for these too. Jan (or anybody else who knows about all this)- if you are reading and have any insight into any of these Japanese mysteries- we would love to hear them!

There are two more lots and I am not certain which I find more wonderful. The first is several squares that feel like Bark Cloth but are most certainly synthetic- maybe rayon? I love these so much and may have to incorporate them into some sort of clothing....Appliques on a T-shirt maybe? Who knows! I love these to bits.

The last lot has a charm all its own. Look at how these bundles are put together! Sewn though the middle. I find this so practical and basic and lovely and decadent (piercing the fabric? oh I adore it!). Never have I seen this before, it is such a contrast from all the prettily tied fat quarter packs I have seen in my local shops. I think my preference is this way....

The pieces seem to be completely irregular in size. There is a LOT of bunny fabric, which I find perfect. These little bundles came from this shop:

If those folks do not fix this problem soon, I am going to have kittens. The internet is out again. Lord only knows when this will post. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day they lay the new (temporary) pipe, we shall see.

Today was a pretty neat day for all of us. (The following may not seem like a big deal, and for us it is. We weigh each gram of food that our son eats and strive to make sure that his diet [as it pertains to Type One Diabetes] is in check. ) Each month Angus and his class take a field trip to the big library in town. As it was the last trip of the year today, they got to have smoothies on the way back from the Library. So I popped into the juice joint, put some insulin in him and off I went. He got to hang out with his friends, be a cool kid and I had a pretty big exercise in letting go. While I am at it, I would like to give a big, HUGE, public shout out to Jamba Juice! I do not know much about this company and what I do know impressed this mother of a diabetic. All and I mean all of the nutritional info for all of the smoothies and other goodies they sell is available online and in the store. This means that we were able to go online, read the info, Angus got to pick what he wanted and I knew ahead of time what the correct dose of insulin to give him was. Because this company took the time and effort to do this, my kid got to take part, we as parents felt confident and I commend them 100%. We really wish that more folks took the resources to do this. Jamba Juice will now be a special treat in our family.

This baby blanket has been a really interesting knit. Garter stitch log cabin, interesting? Why yes, you nay sayers! The most challenging part of it has been thinking outside of my colorway box. As I have said before, it is not that I do not like these colors, I just do not think in these colors. For the colors I see and think and dream in, look at my last post. So, in a way this blanket has also been an exercise in letting go. Trusting you about jewel tones has been a big achievement for me. There have been several times that I have really, really wanted to abandon this project and reclaim the yarn. Then I realized it didn't matter all that much. Yes, I want to make a beautiful gift for a baby girl whose mother teaches my son everyday. Yes, I want this to be treasured and used and loved. And it will be, almost regardless of what I make it look like. Alice in the Heartland (would you get a freaking blog already?), whom I met at camp, advised me of the most wonderful thing....that I think too much. This comment was taken to heart and yes, I have heard it before. So, I chose to just go with it. Add a color, switch when I want to, more of this and less that. More of the spirit and less of the letter. Oh and did you know that Iowa has 2 coasts? When I assemble my knitting posse for the underground bunker, Alice is SO on the list. You are too, don't worry!

One more thing. Today before the juice joint, I stopped by an old haunt of mine, Ben Franklin Crafts. Years ago (on a planet far, far away) I used to shop there. Sure it was not the toniest of places and yet they always had something that was fun, new or new to me. So, I went back today and holy cow! The yarn selection used to be very, very limited and in a dark back corner of the store. Now it is almost one whole wing and the selection was pretty darned good, not perfect and much better than expected. One of the reasons I like this place is that they are locally owned and have been there for 32 years. Yes, BF is a franchise operation and not a one-off but at least the dollars stay mostly in the community. It was a really pleasant surprise.

Have a great day!

The main color is Lemongrass and the contrast is Backstabber. (Love that name and it is perfect for the color!) Both are STR Heavyweight. Knit on size 4 needles, 6 sts to the inch-unblocked. Please ignore the seaming, I am going to unpick the seams, block this and give the seaming another go. The Backstabber started as a full skein and after I was done, I weighed it and it was 6oz. (having started at approximately 7 oz.). The entire square weighs 3 oz, so I figure that from one skein of heavy weight I can get 3.5 finished squares, or 14 mitres in the main color and 28 mitres in the contrast. The 4 mitres sewn together are roughly 11 inches square. Mainly I am telling you this so that I can have a record of it that I will be able to find later, ha! Btw, I have not seen the Backstabber on the site- I bought it at camp and wish I had bought more. Oh which reminds me of something that I was really happy to hear and I suspect that you will be too. All the colors of STR are available, even if they are not on the site. Just call em and if they have it already fini, then you can have it right away and if not once enough people have requested it, they will dye more. I think I got that right. So if you thought your favorite colorway went bye-bye, call 'em- I bet they will have it!

I will make more of these for sure. In all honesty, I tried making some last year and I kept making them so the stitch count was off at the end. And I was WAY too embarrassed to admit that I couldn't knit a mitre correctly, so I clammed up about it. So, Emily to answer your question- that afghan didn't happen. It might be really interesting to make something (a blanket*cough*) where the main color was the same throughout and the contrasting color changed from square to square. Hmmm. Now I am not saying this will turn into anything, proclamations are always the death of me, it was just really fun to make. I may have a few other color combinations kicking around in my head...

ps: This will get posted IF the internet ever comes back on. It has been going out pretty regularly at about this time each day- you know- the time I have the whole post laid out in my head.

eta: the square was unpicked and steam blocked. It looks beautiful! Even if the square unblocks itself (it is superwash afterall ), it will have been worth it to make the seaming easier. Let's see if I can get that badboy seamed and photographed before the internet makes a return.

eta: This post was written Tuesday and not posted till now because we had zero internet for over 10 hours! I will post a picture of the blocked and seamed square later today- I just want to get this post up before the internet goes out again!

Okay, before my whining is over there are a few more things I want to mention:

a) When the icemaker (yes I am grateful to have one) is about to make ice, it sings like a Humpback Whale for about 45 seconds beforehand.

b) The microwave (yes I am grateful to have one) is a bit of a relic, I call it Hanford.

c) The gas stove (yes I am grateful to have one) lights only when it wants to.

*WHINGE OVER*

d) All of these are easily replaced and we DO love this house (Really, Annette- we do!!!!!).

e) The tree peonies are blooming and knocking my socks off! Holy cow!

f) The boys are outback counting tadpoles in the pond.

g) The tooth fairy comes tonight for Angus.

The point was to talk about how easy it is to not think big, to get pigeon holed or in a rut and too caught up to realize that you are not thinking big that you are indeed thinking about your microwave. And I find myself not thinking big of late and I do not like it at all. It hurts. I was watching Duncan play the other morning and asked myself: "Do I lift him up? Do I help him to dream, to be creative? Or do I reprimand too much?" Then I asked the same questions of myself, about myself. The answer was a resounding "Yes!!"

The cure? Dream a little dream and sing along to the song of the Humpback Whale.

I will knit a pinwheel blankie (Thanks Cece!)and I will do one like we did at camp, Carla (who is blog free-not blog-less. Carla, for the record I will continue to use center pull yarn cakes from the outside. Chin up in the face of ridicule, I say! <snort>). But not for this project, I think.

Yesterday I was in a complete color frenzy. After reading Cara's method that she adapted from Ruth, I spent about a zillion hours mucking about in photoshop. This was the initial inspiration...

Saturated color just about puts me around the bend. Full strength color is an elixir to me. Tonal color ways may make me completely giddy. Primary colors? Sometimes and not together. Tertiary colors turn me into a puddle of goo.

Angus' new teacher Miss Nicole (sic) is a knitter! Yay! (How often to you get to ask your child's teacher if she knows the Harlot?) And almost any minute Miss Nicole (sic) is expecting a baby girl! Baby knitting! And baby girl knitting? That n-e-v-e-r happens around here. A very exciting opportunity. At first, I thought I would make baby socks, having just taken Cat's class... that is what the class was about- socks! (Still my experience of Cat eclipsed what the class was about- though I will say I learned some AMAZING things that I had a hard time understanding and Cat let me noodle it out and now the knowledge is MINE and in my` little lizard hind-brain forever. Freaking love Cat. She is the Feynman of knitting.)

Now I am looking at my recent Camp Purchases and thinking that a blanket might be in order. A blanket out of STR Heavy Weight...

So in the Conga-Line of pick up (not hook-up which sounds way, way more provocative), I asked Miss Nicole if she knew the colors of her new daughter's room. No, they have not picked yet. So I asked the next logical question: What colors do you like? Bright? Subtle? Primary? Not Primary?

This was my downfall. I should never have asked. Really, we all know that I am going to knit whatever the heck I want regardless of what she tells me. Her answer was Muted and not Primary. I stink at Muted. (But if you call it Tonal, I'm all in. Weird, I know.) One of my cousins is married to a wonderful gal who was born in the UK and they now live in Atlanta. We bought one of their daughters a dress that I thought was extremely Muted and to them it was Neon. Sigh. Cousin's wife does genteel and I do WAAAAAAAAAA!!!! and yet I fool myself that I do genteel.

So what colors do I use? I am thinking of doing mitres or maybe a log cabin. I thought about the curlicue and realized I do not have the energy for it.

A healthy discussion is welcome. What do you do when you love brights and the recipient loves muted? HELP?

What a few weeks this has been. Moving out west again, new house, camp, two sets of houseguests, Duncan's 4 year check up, Angus' first Diabetes check up. When you are diabetic (at least a kid with type one), you get a check up quarterly. He did GREAT and everybody was really in praise of the job our family is doing managing his blood sugars. Honestly, I did not sleep at all the night before and finally I figured out why- I was afraid we were going to get another bombshell. (There are many things that Angus is now prone to, which are scary and awful and I am just going to ignore in the moment.)

In other Angus news- he did great on his "trial day" for the elementary program and is now in school as a rising first grader! In the fall he will be in the same class as an official first grader. In our old school he was a kindergartener and the oldest in his class (Montessori does mixed age class rooms). Now he is the one of the youngest and the change has been phenomenal and overnight. He is showing a maturity and poise that blows us away. They went to the library yesterday (on a field trip) and upon returning home, Angus grabbed his book and announced that he was off to do research. Research! Imagine!

Onto the knitting. Yes, really.

This color is a bear and a half to photograph. STR Heavyweight in Lover's Leap. Did two at once sleeves and they are fini! Yay! Doing both fronts and the back at the same time. Making good progress, I'd say. The color in the middle (the back & the fronts) is probably the most true.

The classes were perfect. Color theory with Tina? It was all I could do to keep from weeping tears of joy. Grok the Sock with Stephanie? Holy crap. Plus she gave a brief tutorial on intarsia in the round- a problem I have been trying to solve for YEARS. My brain is a happier place for learning this. Cat's class? Don't even remember what is was called, and honestly it doesn't matter- "Cat's class" says it all. Freaking love Cat.

My fellow campers were perfect. There is really no way to describe something as experiential as our few days together on Orcas. This week will be in my heart for a long time. Here are just a few pictures (I took about 800. 839 to be precise).

More to come, I promise. Love y'all.

Today he is Four.

Duncan, we love you Bigger Than the Sky.

There are no words.

All my love-

Mama

knitted like a fiend on the plane. my carry on consisted of ten cakes of bmfa str and medical supplies. knitted for two hours in the lounge then about five hours on the plane.

pictures of it all tomorrow.

have not felt this relaxed in about five years.

i really missed this washington. it is a place that is home for me. lived here mostly since i was twenty. almost thirty nine. still love this place with a stillness and a craziness that are inexplicable.

miss you all and so happy that you all have come with me in this move. especially in my heart.

too blissed out for upper case letters.

Kiss me. Now.

As I have mentioned, the company that is providing all our relocation services is treating us like rock stars. Well, my knitting and sewing friends, let me tell you about Marion.

Marion is my On Site Moving Manager- yeah, - I know hate me if you want, at this point I could give a fig. Not not Sandy's Fig- we love that Fig. What is an On Site Moving Manager? Essentially she is my handler. Sounds pathetic and wonderful all at the same time, yes? She makes sure my wig is not too big, answers questions from the crew, and even humors the kids when needed. At about 10 am Thursday morning Craig, Marion and I were chatting and I BLURTED out..."This is the easiest move I have ever had!" It was SO calm, so quiet and so kind. (Yes, we are Montessori parents.)

Remember how I said my La-bor-a-tory wasn't where I wanted it to be? Well, Marion kept me away from the open windows and helped me finish the organizing . At one point she was folding fabric and went to put it in a XXL Ziplock (LOVE THOSE). Marion said to me-"We can't put it in that other bag, because we KNOW that Fabric and yarn CANNOT go in the same bag!"

Yes, my friends- Marion is one of us. She is a Knitter. She is a Fanatic. How great is the Universe when it sends you a Knitter to help organize your stash?

PS: Marion had never heard of Mason Dixon or The Harlot so I slipped her a couple of books (evil giggle here). And she wasn't too clear about blogs- so I explained. Also I asked her permission to post her picture, with the agreement that if she was uncomfortable or didn't like it I would remove it on Monday. (She comes back Monday and I will show her then.)

PPS: In the picture above, we had just spent a whole bunch of time finishing up my Laboratory. Then I went into the bedroom and found my nightstand full of yarn. While we laughed out loud I realized I could not pack more yarn. I had reached my moment of It Is What It Is and May the Wind Be At My Back. Marion is taking the yarn and packing it up for me. Bless Her.

Thank you all so much for all the moving good wishes. Love to you all. Going to bed. Hope to sleep in tomorrow-No movers at o'dark thirty. We fly Thursday! Yay!

MWAH!

We have moved FIVE times in the last NINE years and this crew is the most wonderful and efficient I have ever encountered. A very productive team of five beats an inefficient team of twelve ANY DAY.

My knitting room- 33 boxes. No joke.

And tomorrow, I will tell you about Marion. She rocks it HARD.

Love you all- KT

ps: Today with the move- I was BLISSED out and spent most of the day in my Jammies.

Love y'all (again!).

The knitting has not been happening all that much and the organization of the sewing room is not what I envisioned. Eh. At this point, I am envisioning waking up a week from Friday in our new home.

Ack! The movers are driving in the driveway! Wish us Monsters! (right Susan?)

Did you hear the great news? Eunny is the new editor at Interweave Knits. So very exciting for all of us. Her writing, her tutorials and her esthetic are wonderful and I couldn't be more excited. She is very inspiring to me in her vast knowledge and the way her brain works. Eunny has me wanting to devote more brain power to my knitting...On that note, miles to go before I sleep...

I have a confession: lace confounds me. I can Yo. I can do all sorts of things but when I tried just the sample beginner swatch in Victorian Lace Today (and other patterns) my stitch count varies from row to row. When it is not supposed to. This is really frustrating and a wee bit humbling. No idea where I am deviating from what I am supposed to be doing. Maybe I am overthinking this...I realize my confession is vague but I need help! I will ask Craig if he will take some pictures of what I am doing so we can figure this out together.

Off to knit now. Mwah!

Move date: March 29

New House: Bought. Close on March 15. Yikes, next week!

School for boys: Check! Duncan will be home with me till Summer program starts and they are going to evaluate Angus for the Elementary program for Spring and if that doesn't work out (which we know it will), he will do the Summer Program and both boys will be in full day in the Fall.

Pets: Check! The pet transport people pick them up on March 21.

Craig: Check! Really excited about his new job, starts March 30. Flies out to close house and set everything up for us next week. Then flies home- Pack & Load- and we all fly out on the 29.

Packing: Nope- they do it all. We are being treated like rock stars and I am soaking every last ounce of it up- once we get to Seattle it will end. Sigh.

Knitting: Yep. Crazy ass cardigan, which I have knit before (out of Magpie-moment of silence for our dear departed Magpie). This time out of STR Heavy Weight- Main Color- Lover's Leap. Doing the 2 sleeves at once thing- here is a peek...

This is about half the fabric stash, some quilts that need binding and I will try to take a picture of the wool, but you may need medication before you see it. There is quite a lot. Right Emily?

Me: Pretty calm through all this. Freak out occasionally but all in all doing really well.

Angus' Diabetes: It has been three months now and I can report he is doing AWESOME. He is the most even kid now (while still being a 6 year old little boy). All the things we thought were behavioral/bad parenting/ ADD kid- SOLVED! through the magic and science of insulin. His attention span has grown exponentially and the kid I always knew was in there is coming out. His sense of humo(u)r slays us.

You: Love you all and have missed you terribly.

KT

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.

Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.

He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;

Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.

Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.

If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;

It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,

And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,

He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;

And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:

"It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold, till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.

Yet 'tain't being dead -- it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;

So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;

And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.

He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;

And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,

With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;

It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,

But you promised true, and it's up to you, to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.

In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,

Howled out their woes to the homeless snows -- Oh God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;

And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;

The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;

And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;

It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."

And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;

Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;

Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;

The flames just soared, and the furnace roared -- such a blaze you seldom see;

And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;

And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.

It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;

And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;

But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;

I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.

I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; ... then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and said: "Please close that door.

It's fine in here, but I greatly fear, you'll let in the cold and storm --

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

If you want more info about the silent poetry reading, go here.

That spur of the moment blogging last night was really fun. I think entirely too much about blogging and do it entirely too little. I was kicking this thought around in my head last night (as I have been for a long while) and it hit me. About a year ago I saw an acquaintance of mine and she said: "Hey, I saw your knitting blog." Simple enough and yet I felt totally stripped bare, invaded and grossed out. My reaction was visceral. She had (to my mind) gone too far. Never had I mentioned that I knited nor that I had a blog. She wasn't a knitter and she was ON MY TURF. IN MY WORLD. I didn't like it one bit and I felt exposed. Then I started to get self conscious and started to fret about what was blog fodder and what wasn't. There are many blogs that I love and for different reasons. Some people do a great job of letting it all hang out and other folks do a great job of keeping it very civilized. I admire both sorts equally. What I admire most is people who have figured out what works for them, what is real, true and authentic. That is admirable and enviable. Qualities that I want my kids to have- be yourself and make your way in the world- just make sure you have good manners, dammit!

So when we moved to Virginia from Seattle about three years ago it was almost a lark- hey, let's do this and see what happens. Let us see if this is our way...It seemed fun and brave and an adventure. The kids were young enough (Duncan was 14 months and Angus was 3 and a half) and I love to travel and meet new people and WOW! The Nation's Capital! How can you go wrong around all that history? The day trips and one of the best school districts in the country? Bring it on! Plus, honestly I was a bit done with certain aspects of the particulars where we lived and relished the change. I was looking for a new way.

We came here so the Hubbalicious could take a job at a company that has three initials in its name and deals with computing type things. You know who you are Big Company and you know how you treated my husband. May you sit on a DPN and may it puncture you in awful, old boy network places. My husband is a persistent and dedicated man. Truly I have never met anyone with as much long term vision and determination to make something happen. How else would this Bennington College going, Grateful Dead following, used to live in a glass blowing studio gal come to be a suburban soccer mom and think it not such a bad idea too boot? There are other facets (like my love of luxury leather goods and fine yet interesting upbringing) to me but these illustrate my point beautifully. The husband is BEYOND A BULL DOG.

Never in our years together have I seen him hit the wall so hard and so fast with a job. Never. The people (I use the term very, very loosely) are like the Dementors from Harry Potter. They just suck the life and passion right out of you. We discovered after a month or two into the job that Hub was MISERABLE. Finally, it looked hopeful- like MAYBE it would work. Then someone did something and all Hades (Hi Cara!) broke loose. It was beyond appalling and hurtful. In my opinion, that person's Mama just raised 'em WRONG! Shame on him/them.

Stay with me folks.....there is a point- I promise.

We began to talk about other options. We talked about moving to London, we talked about moving to Canada, we talked about California (where I grew up- in Malibu no less- ha!), we talked about staying here. We talked and talked and talked and TALKED. Then Angus was diagnosed with diabetes. We talked of nothing but that for a LONG time. When we talked about moving again (as there is very little for us here- and really no reason to stay), we realized that while I would love to move to Helsinki (yes, it really was an option) that sorting out a brand new place with only one or two options for where Hub works, did not work for us and our family. Finding our way as a family is awesome and hard sometimes. I had resisted moving to the best place for us in terms of opportunity and quality of life and almost most important FAMILIARITY. The diabetes sucks and is awful and could be something SO very much worse. Really, right now I don't want to pile a new geography and a new way of life on top of Angus' diabetes and a new ROCKIN job for the hub.

That is right, my friends we are moving back to Seattle. Redmond to be exact. This will be the third time in my life that I have moved to King County, Washington. Possibly the universe is trying to tell me something? We are targeting the middle of March, but not the Ides. We are very excited and relieved. Furthermore- I am SO SO SO happy to let this cat out of the bag- it has been weighing on me for a LONG time. Oh and last night? That post? Craig was on the phone with the recruiter, being made an offer. He goes out next week to accept, look at schools and look at houses that I found on the internet.

This is all joyous news- we have been stewing here for almost THREE years. Wahoo!

Love- KT

ps: did I ever tell you we bought our current house without ever going inside it first? And we love it!

pps: knitting and pics very soon

ppps: this post is probably the closest to me that I have come in blog land. Feels good.

KT