Monthly Archives: January 2007

This is random and likely long- get a beverage and hunker down.

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.

Right this very minute now Craig, the Hubbalicious, is on the phone. This conversation could result in a great deal of change. Good change, welcome change. Pins and needles change. I will keep you posted. This is B-I-G folks. Details and back story later. Love to you all.

KT

For years I have wanted to knit a Clapotis. Also for years I have been looking at cashmere from Two Pointy Sticks. In full disclosure, my reading of Jane’s post completely inspired me. When I saw her Japanese Maple Clapotis, I was in love.

Now in our house we have a a way of doing gift business that some might consider unorthodox or perhaps a bit unromantic. Well, folks it is neither and here is how it works: When I discover there is a particular thing I would like for a gift, I send e-mail to the Hubbalicious with a link to the item. He clicks buy and if he is really lucky, he clicks “gift wrap”. (Wrapping gifts is the bane of his existence, it runs a close 2nd to a root canal. As he would say, at least there is anesthesia with a root canal. His hatred runs deep.)

The beauty of this arrangement is I get exactly what I want and Craig gets to be St. George slaying the dragon, plus he does not have to go to the mall and scavenge. This way works very well for us and it keeps me from getting gifts that I will never use. Sometimes I do forget that we do it this way, which is exactly how I ended up with a two foot high Chewbaca Pez dispenser for my birthday. No kidding. My fault completely, and in his defense Craig completely and wonderfully made up for this.

This Christmas season, I decided that I was finally grown up enough for cashmere from Axelle. Not really clear why I decided this after years of pining, but decide I did. After picking the color (Japanese Maple) and weight (Aran/Pippin), the mail was sent off to the Hubbalicious. The box arrived, which I was not supposed to see and then I had to wait and pretend that I was ignorant of the box. It was not easy, I tell you.

When I brought the box from the mailbox to the house I thought it felt a little light but reasoned that my experience with pure cashmere yarn was minimal and I was being paranoid.

Christmas morning, when I opened the package it really was beyond my expectations. The color- breathtaking! The feel- butter! If you ever buy some of this yarn, get a manicure first- any roughness in your hands will catch the yarn- not damage it, just catch it.

So, five beautiful skeins of cashmere and I have the thought that I might want to check Knitty to see what the actual yardage required for a Clapotis is. The yardage needed is 820 yards. I had 500 yards in front of me. This was clearly not going to work. Meet my Irish Hiking Scarf, Japanese Maple from Two Pointy Sticks. (In progress)

ps- How did this happen? I confused the 100 gram weight of the Lorna’s called for with the 100 yard length of Axelle’s yarn.

pps: I have a new crush. Franklin, you completely crack me up. Thank you for being so fantastic.

ppps: KnitPicks Options needles are great. ( a full review to come) Thank you Santa.