Monthly Archives: March 2007

today i lay on my window seat in my new library/office and watched the beautiful northwest rain fall from the sky. when i sat up and looked out the window i saw more shades of green than i ever remember. all the green was off-set by our beautiful new orange family pet in the little pond outside. the frogs here are chorusing up quite a bit…any frog experts out there? what is a group of frogs called? what is the call and response they do called? too blissed out to google.

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.

Well, we are completely packed. Many, many boxes. 413, to be exact. We load in the morning. Note to self- do not eat food with raw garlic on the day they pack your toothbrush. Especially when you can’t find the back up one.

Kiss me. Now.

So to any move there are many moving parts. And there are many, many parts to our move. Debra runs the whole show (she has been talking me down every day for weeks), then there is Zack who manages a specific segment of our move (Hi Baby Loretta!) and then there is Marion. Oh how we love all of them!

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!

That was really good for me! By the time the movers left tonight they had packed ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX BOXES (by my count). They packed over two thirds of our house- and we are pack rats in the EXTREME. The entire basement-packed! My LA-BOR-A-TORY packed! Our kitchen, half our pantry, half the play room, the dining room. the sitting room, and SO much I can’t even recall- PACKED.

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!).

Our animals flew to Seattle yesterday and will be boarded in excellent places. Earl will be boarded at the place he has gone since he was a puppy. He even went to puppy boot camp there for 5 weeks when he was 6 months old. He loves it there and they love him. I feel very confident that he will have a great time. And the kitties are very complacent. Also as long as they are together, they will be great. Here is a picture of Earl the Wonder Dog. Man, I miss him already.

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?)

Often times I will sit and knit, feeling guilty about all the stuff I am not doing that I currently need to be doing. Enough of that. As the pace around here picks up I am going to carve out time for myself. Two hours a day to knit. The boys will be in school until the day before we leave, so most likely it will be in the morning. Yesterday was the first day of my new regime and it worked wonderfully. After two hours of committed knitting I emerged a happier, more peaceful person. So to avoid The Head Weasels my goal is to knit two hours a day and check in with you each day. Craig is getting on a plane tomorrow (back Tuesday) and get a little anxious when he travels. I would get anxious before Angus’ diagnosis but now I get anxious. Funny when he is home, I sleep like a log and would sleep very late if I could. Knowing that he will be travelling Wednesday, I have been waking up at about 5am for the past few days (no alarm clock). Also having dreams/nightmares that I forget to give Angus his insulin or give it to him twice or that his number is really high (888 to be exact). GAH!

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!

The Stats:

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