Home Sweet Home

We're not completely unpacked and settled, but we're getting there. Enough so that I didn't feel (too) guilty enjoying the first lazy Saturday morning in months. And yesterday morning was a gorgeous one — sunny with a hint of chill in the air. So nice after July's record-breaking heat.

I hadn't realized how much I missed our three-season porch until I grabbed a cup of coffee and a book, laying back on the loveseat with the backdrop of blue skies and leafy old trees. After finishing up the highly enjoyable The Age of Miracles, I even knit for a good hour. Ah, bliss...

I'm not alone in loving this cozy spot. Both kitties have gladly taken up their porch perches again. (Chloe can be seen peeking in on the right.) And anywhere there's a lap and a view is just perfect as far as Violet is concerned.

Life is pretty sweet these days and I'm feeling truly blessed. When I made the decision to move back to MN without a job lined up, I was filled with anxiety...tempered only so slightly with the knowledge that I'd been freelancing and saving for the transition and was fully prepared to take whatever contract work I needed while looking for my next gig.

How sweet and unexpected that the universe dropped a dream job in my lap. While the challenge of building a new website is daunting to be sure, I'm loving being back in the world of education and being back at an organization with some of my favorite people in the world. All this while surrounded by family and dear old friends. Bliss squared.

Now, a good six weeks in, I'm finally feeling rested enough after the crazy transition — left my job in ABQ on Friday, drove with Izzy and the pets all weekend, arrived in Minneapolis Sunday night, and was at work Monday a.m. at the new job — that I can start to take moments like yesterday morning. I even blocked a shawl in the afternoon. Photos and that update soon.

Life Part 2: Where We're Headed

By this time next week, we'll be on the road. Destination? Well, here's a photographic hint.

Mosquito repellent and a book of dog sweater patterns.... Yep, Minnesota! After 3+ years in Albuquerque, we're headed home. This time, though, the "little CRV that could" will have three pet carriers. May the travel gods of animal spirits smile (or at least not frown) on us.

It's been a spring of tough decisions (and, as you may have noticed, miles and miles of comfort garter stitching). Thing is, despite a good job (the one that brought us to NM) and some of the best friends Izzy and I could ever hope to make, we belong in Minnesota. (I'll spare the laundry list of family/personal reasons.) By April, I knew it was time to say goodbye.



We're excited, not to mention relieved happy that our well-loved home in Linden Hills awaits us. A nice reminder that sometimes the universe has a good reason for dropping obstacles (bad real estate markets, property management struggles) on our path — and that even without those obstacles, the path is always winding.

FO: Summer Color Affection

I queued this pattern back in March shortly after I first saw it and even bought three skeins of yarn (selecting shades of my favorite colors: green, blue, purple). Then I made two swatches and couldn't decide — indecision no doubt enhanced by the fact that I was in the middle of making some pretty big life decisions.

Thank goodness for the announcement of a TFA KAL — and the Yarn Harlot getting infected with the Color Affection bug — so that when I posted the swatch photo on Ravelry asking for help, my fellow TFA fans knew the pattern and helped me pick, with a few weeks to spare.

Even so, I got a late start casting on for the KAL since I wanted to finish up another project. But all proved well and good. This is an easy pattern to memorize and really flies off the needles — well, that is, until you get to those final, reeeaaalllllly long rows. Not that I was suffering my way through them — in fact, when I started to worry that I was running out of the Atlantic, I discovered I had read the directions wrong and had already knit an extra six rows of the three-color-stripes section.

Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Välimäki

Yarn: TFA blue label (Atlantic, Plum, Olive)

In the "bigger is better, right?" frame of mind I decided to leave them and start on the Olive border. Warning: This is one big, cozy shawl. It blocked out at more than 7 feet, not that my six extra rows really tipped the scales.

It's sure to keep me warm this winter. But more about that in the next blog...

FO: Stained Glass Is Sweet

More than most projects, this one has quite a few miles on it. I started it before we headed off on our vacation, getting in several rows on that lovely porch swing in Carlsbad. It traveled to all the Saturday ice skating lessons and Thursday practices, and even made the trip to Santa Fe for the competition. 

Mind you, when the yarn contains cashmere and silk, I'm happy to carry it anywhere. Anytime. The pattern was as sweet as the name promised. Yep, pretty much loved this project from beginning to end. What more can a knitter ask?

Pattern: Sugar Is Sweet by Rose Beck

Yarn: TFA Red Label (Stained Glass)

Life Part 1: Where We've Been

Long time no blog. In addition to a big freelance project, life with the kiddo has been keeping me (happily) busy.

This past weekend, Izzy skated in a competition, something she's long wanted to do. Here she is before her first event, a bit nervous but so much more relaxed than I would have been.

Can't tell you how pleased I was to discover the whole thing was more celebration than competition. Medals for everyone! Izzy got a 3rd place and 4th place, which are already proudly displayed in her room. We went up to Santa Fe the day before (her practice ice time was an ungodly 6:45 am on Sunday) and visited the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, which I'd yet to see.

A few weeks earlier, we celebrated Violet's second birthday with a hotdog dinner and new toy for the birthday pup. (Yeah, Izzy was pretty tickled by that "bad to the bone" embroidery.)

And last, but certainly not least, Izzy, Violet, and I took a vacation over the Easter holiday. We headed south to Carlsbad and spent five days hanging out in the desert. It was the perfect combination of exploration and unadulterated relaxation. Our base camp was the most charming little cabin with a porch swing (that saw some knitting) and a table inside for ongoing Monopoly games.

We went to the International UFO Museum in Roswell (a hoot, well at least I thought so).

Made an unscheduled stop at the Smokey the Bear museum (yes, it does exist) when we happened to drive past it.

We went to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, where we saw just a few animals out in the midday sun but some spectacular scenery...

... and a few hard-to-categorize indoor exhibits.

The best outing, though, was Carlsbad Caverns. And given that we spent nearly three hours taking the hour-long tour, I'm thinking the rock collecting of Izzy's early youth was no passing phase; might just have a budding geologist on my hands.*

* Clearly the iPhone flash is not intended for cave photography.

FO: Zuni Truffle

Not sure what it is, but I find myself liking the look of garter stitch these days.

No doubt, it's partially tied to working with some gorgeous hand-dyed yarn. Who would have thought that bumps showcased color variations so well? While I've done my best to capture the greens and purples that emerge from this chocolate brown, it is even more swoon-worthy in person.

Life is also in one of those "buckle your seatbelts" phases, so the Zen-like nature of garter is not to be argued with. Evidence: Entry #3 in my 12 in 2012, which was knit in a few weeks, only to lag for nearly double that time before blocking and photographing.

Pattern: Zuni Shawl by Danielle Chalson 

Yarn: TFA Blue Label Fingering (Truffle)

FO: Bunny Nuggets

Happy spring / Easter! These fuzzy little critters were a fun stash busting exercise. I only wish I'd seen the recommendation by one clever knitter to insert bread ties into the ears before I'd sewn them all on. In this squishy soft yarn the ears are beyond Peter Cottontail floppy. Even so, I had waaaay too much fun posing them outside in the best patch of returning grass I could find. (Yeah, it's been that kind of week.)

Pattern: Bunny Nuggets by Rebecca Danger 

Yarn: The Knitting Goddess DK Alpaca & Silk (Topaz & Dove)