splityarn

call your mother

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

(Sorry, I didn't have a 70's photo with all of us. Your eldest son always seemed to be the one taking the picture.)

And your grandkitties love you too.

a marathon weekend

One of the bonuses of having family fly into town is getting to take some time to see the city as a tourist. Boston has hosts the world's oldest marathon and is a major prestige event. My mum and my aunt flew in last Thursday ahead of the crowds here for the marathon. My aunt had qualified to run and Mum was coming in to offer some support. Conditions on Monday were sunny with a nice breeze so it didn't get too hot. Mum, my cousin-in-law and I set up about a half mile from the finish line and waited until my aunt ran past.

I didn't expect to get as emotional as I did, but the enormity of running 26.2 miles and the amount of people running toward the finish line quite often brought tears to my eyes. We cheered everyone who had their name written on their bib and encouraged the few that were faltering so close to the end.

My Aunt kicked some serious marathon ass and finished in 4:02:18. She placed 20th out of 154 in her division (60-69 year olds) and resolved to do even better next year. I'll be there supporting her again for sure.

366

My father was our family's official photographer. Everywhere we went, at every age, Dad was there capturing the moments on film. Mum has boxes and boxes of slides at home documenting our family from the day they met(!) until well past the day the baby of the house moved out (that's me.) The only drawback to all these photos though, is that we don't have very many of the photographer.

At the end of November, I decided to take part in the Flickr 365 Days project. In a nutshell, it's one self-portrait a day, for an entire year. At the very least, I'll document how much I change over the course of the year and get some fun pics while I'm at it. The best part of the project so far though, is that it's forcing me to use my camera every day and really pushing my photography skills forward.

The entire set is here. I've been doing it for more than 100 days, which is way further along than I ever thought I'd get. If you've thought about doing the project too, we have a smaller, supportive knitterly group to play with. I know at first glance it seems narcissistic, but trust me, once you get going, you'll find it's almost the opposite.

it's snowing!

Scratch that, it's DUMPING out there. In what can only be fortuitous timing, on the exact day that my new boots arrived, one hour before I had an appointment to get snowtires put on the car, the first big snow storm of the season hit.

I immediately cancelled the car appointment, put on my new boots and walked down to Mind's Eye Yarns to grab 2 skeins of Cascade 220; a dark tweedy purple and a creamy white for the Bird in Hand mittens. Tonight's schedule is a little shovelling, a little soup and a whack of knitting. Hey Mum, want some new mittens? The purple is for you!

New boots, an LYS within walking distance and snow. I think I've died and gone to heaven.

no means no

Husband Sweater Numero Dos is coming along. The sleeves have been attached and I'm working my way up the raglan decreases. Along the way I've found this sweater's nemesis though; an 8.5 pound kitten named The Keymaster. Teek is still learning what he can and can't play with in the house. Knitting WIPs are definitely on our No list. Night before last he ate one of mum's scarf projects so I've endeavoured to secure every last piece of yarn in the house before the situation gets out of hand. While getting some sweater progress photos this morning, he zeroed in on the excitement. The spray bottle seen with the sweater is not for blocking, it's for cat discipline. I left the scene for one minute to refill the bottle and returned to find him INSIDE my project bag, paws around the yarn ball.

He's learning slowly but at least with all the water spritzing, he'll be clean.

a giant list

...as a weak attempt to get back in the swing of things and catch up at the same time. This once a week posting thing is a touch on the lazy side.

- Page 7 of the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts issue. See my needlecases!? I'm stoked beyond words to have been included.

- The kitties are all in Boston and for the most part settled in. Indy and Teek are getting along fabulously. Bicoe is still somewhat out of sorts, but it's the first time she's ever moved, so it's to be expected.

- I was supposed to go to Rhinebeck with an amazing group of gals, but I was levelled by a sore throat and cold. I didn't want to be the new girl that got everyone sick, so I took a raincheque for next year. I've been jealously trolling flickr for photos since Friday night.

- I have started another Zimmermann sweater for The Husband.  Sleeves are finished, body has been started. Hopefully I'll get this done in time for Thanksgiving.

- Tuesday I fly back to Austin to meet up with Mum so we can drive the car up. Mum and I haven't travelled together since our trip to Russia in 2001, so I'm looking forward to it.

the many phases of moving

I have a few general guidelines to moving that I've tried to follow. In your college years and early twenties when you move, you do it all yourself. 80 million trips back and forth in a car is really nothing. You give your pals beer and pizza and they'll help. When you get to late twenties/early thirties, you hire a truck. You still pack everything yourself, but you're better off hiring a couple guys to schlep all the boxes in and out. (Funny how your late twenties friends are usually busy when you call for help.) Mid-thirties is time to start hiring folks to pack for you. That's where I am right now. I packed 95% of the house in the last 5 days, but I'm letting the moving company pack all the breakables. It's a huge relief not to worry if dishes get broken along the way. Ideally the next time we move I'll be well into the next phase of moving. The much-glorified "hire someone else to do the whole lot of it" phase.

One can only hope.

of cardboard and packing tape

Over the 11 years I lived in Whistler, I moved on average once a year. Ski resort towns typically have transient populations and consequently roommates and abodes change frequently. I learned early on that the best moves are quick and organized; you need labels, proper packing materials, quality boxes and items grouped by function. When it came time to move back to Vancouver, I paid for movers to put everything on a truck. The moving foreman said he had never seen a client so prepared and organized when the crew arrived. My entire two bedroom townhouse was loaded in less than 45 minutes.

I'm hoping that I still have that packing mojo because four days ago, The Husband and I signed a lease on a house in Boston. In exactly one week, the moving van is arriving and we're getting out of Dodge. True to form, we're doing this move fast and (hopefully) efficiently. Better to just tear the band aid off, right? I'm sorry Austin, I'll miss you, but Fall is on the way and I'm ready to start wearing handknits!

resurfacing

The longer I'm away, the harder it is to settle back into the routine. Breakfast, blog posts, email, dishes all seem foreign at first until I'm a couple days in when I almost forget I was gone at all.

Vancouver was a whirlwind. I was there for two weeks with nary a down day. Quality time with my best friends, some visits to old haunts, a quick meet with a new pal and an almost daily hangover. I miss a lot about Vancouver, but it feels good to be home in my own house. Too bad I'm only here for a day before we fly to Nashville for the weekend. It's getting quite ridiculous, isn't it?

celebrating a firecracker weddin'

Not only is today Independence Day in the US, but it's also our third anniversary. In 2004 we said our vows on the 18th hole of course #2 at Austin Putt-Putt. Beer, tamales, good friends and plenty of mini-golf. We're celebrating in Canada this year so we won't have any fireworks, but it's a holiday for the two of us just the same.

Happy Anniversary Husband!