2016 Ravellenic Games!!

Now that Cursed Child has come out and I've read it (I have mixed reviews.....I liked it but I didn't LOVE it) it's time for the next thing:  the 2016 Ravellenic Games!

The Ravellenic Games, formerly known as the Knitting Olympics, is something that Ravelry puts on and takes place during the Olympics.  You challenge yourself to do something yarn-related starting during the Opening Ceremonies and finishing during the Closing Ceremonies.  I've done it twice, getting medals during the 2010 games in Vancouver and the 2012 games in London.  (I don't know what I was doing in 2014 during the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.)  Looking to add 2016 in Rio to my Knitting Glory List.

Usually I cast on something new and challenge myself to finish it.  The first time, I was a green knitter and cast on a simple scarf.  In 2012, we were on vacation and on the road a lot.  So I challenged myself to make as many baby hats for charity as I could in that time period.  This year, casting on something new seemed daunting.  So I am wrestling with WIP's.  (works in progress.)  I chose six things:

My Hufflepuff House Scarf, which just needs ends woven in and fringe.

My Sewanee shawl, which is off on it's stitch count before I can do the lace edging.

Oh my goodness---my spring cardigan.  This thing.....I want to finish but I don't know if I ever will.  I'm going to try!

A newborn hat and sock set--I can remember working on this in 2014 and tossing it aside, since it didn't have an intended recipient.  Hat and one sock are done, and how hard can it be to pull off a second sock?  Pretty hard, I guess.

Sundance lacy hat for charity-a little white lace hat that I started the other night while waiting (fuming) on additional yarn for something else.  (I'm not ready to talk about it.)

And finally, the damned, damned blue vanilla socks.  

Thanks to Brian hooking up a fancy antenna to our TV (no channel 7 on DirecTv because of some crazy dispute) I will be watching the Opening Ceremonies and starting on the WIP pile.  The way I see it, I'm a winner if ANY of these things are completed by the end of the Olympics!!

"Legendary Stash"

I've officially crossed into "SABLE" status in terms of my yarn stash.  (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy.)  I can hear my husband's eyes rolling as he's reading this, and probably nodding enthusiastically in agreement.  I finally put away all of my yarn from the Webs Tent Sale earlier in the month and made the mistake of telling him how many yarns I have stashed in Ravelry.  (Answer:  triple digits.)  He did some quick calculations to see how much I spent on all of it and almost fell off the couch.  Dude, don't do the numbers.  We don't wanna know.

This year's Tent Sale was on May 14th and was fantastic as usual!  A gorgeous day, not a whole ton of people the second we got there and a small group to boot.  I had been squirreling cash from yard sale items and things for quite a while and was pretty proud that I covered all but $10.00 of my yarn with it.  We had a fantastic lunch at Northampton Brewery and then Maureen and I headed home to get our knit on.  We've also picked out a new KAL project, "The Joker and the Thief."   (Photo courtesy of Melanie Berg, on Ravelry.)  mine will also have grey as a base color, but then varying shades of turquoise and purple.  Fitting, right?  :)

Anyway, I wish I could say that I'm going to go cold sheep (no yarn purchases until a set amount of time/stash is used) but I know that I don't have the willpower for that.  Especially since I'm making my first trip to the Maine Fiber Frolic with Maureen and Cindy this weekend!  AND Mom and I are trying to make plans to go to Rhinebeck in October.  Yep.  The stash will continue to grow, though no exponentially.

End-of-Year Gifties

Believe it or not....it's almost time to think about the end of the year for school.  I'm talking about making plans for summer camp, what the heck we're going to do between school ending and camp starting, etc.  And most of all.....teacher's gifts.

I asked Will recently if he would like me to knit his third grade teacher an end-of-year gift and he said yes.  He wanted a scarf, and it should be colorful because she likes lots of color.  Well good....because I already have a ZickZack scarf knitted up and it is quite colorful!  :)

I asked Sean the same question and he readily agreed.  However, when I asked him what I should make he surprised me.  "How about sweaters for her kids, Mom?  She has a 2 year old and a one-year old."  So sweet.  I pondered on it for a little bit and you know what?  It's a great idea.  Not only is it a kind and generous gesture on Sean's part, it's not a typical "teacher" gift.  In talking to my friend Jen (who's younger son Pat is in Sean's class and happens to be one of his best friends) she loved the idea and offered to make one of them.  Awesome!  So I took the 2-year old (girl) and she took the 1-year old (boy.)

After poking around on Ravelry a bit, I picked the Gidday Sweater.  It comes in a multitude of sizes and is really cute.  I decided to stick with the gray with red stripes, after "agonizing" for a while over colors.  (Navy blue and white?  Purple?  Pink?)  It's a unisex sweater, so her little brother can wear it later.  It'll be adorable with a pair of jeans and a white tee underneath.  

Now I'm just waiting for my yarn to arrive!  

Future Yarn Plans

Happy New Year!

I've already finished the first project of the year:  boot cuffs for my friend Lauren.  She was over with her son the other day (my oldest and her son are best friends) and I had finished the knitting.  So I seamed them while she was there, and she wore 'em home!  She loves them, almost as much as she loves wearing boots.

Now I am a bit obsessed with boot cuffs, and I've cast on a pair of gray ones for my hairdresser, as a little gift since she won't be back at the salon til June.  (college coursework)  AND THEN I have another pair for a friend, who's insisting on paying me for them.  My first for-profit knitting.  Not something I've ventured into before, and I don't think I want to make a thing out of it.

So many plans with my yarn and needles this year...I'm making hats, blankets and sweaters for babies at the hospital that the boys were born at for Project Nathaniel, and I've signed up to crank out mittens as part of the Secret Santa program that the local police does every year.  But first....time for some things for me!  I always cast on one or two things after the new year, to balance out all of the Christmas knitting.

See Ya, 2015!

It's time for the annual sum-up-the-year post.  Here we go!

2015: A Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before?

Let's see......I lost weight.  And put it on again by stress-eating.  The first part is something I'd never done before and the second is something I've done more than once.  I also got hearing aids last January.  It's been an adjustment but overall I couldn't be happier.    


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn't make any.  And right now I have no plans for resolutions this year.  But never say never.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?  My niece Grace was born in August.  The first girl in a long time on Brian's side of the family.  She's a real cutie.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  Not this year.  


5. What countries/places did you visit?
Our family vacation was in New Hampshire this year, we needed a bit of a low-key vacation after Disney last year.  We haven't decided on vacation in 2016 yet, we'll work on that right after the holidays are over.

6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?

My older son was diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder this year.  It was a long time coming and we're starting to understand better why he does the things that he does and how we can help.  We definitely need more, though, and are going to work harder on getting it in 2016.

7. What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 

Nothing super-noteworthy happened, not that I remembered the date for, anyway.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Let's see.....I finished my Christmas knitting early!  That doesn't sound like much but trust me, it is.

9. What was your biggest failure?

No BIG failures, but certainly little ones.  That's ok, Failure is part of the process.  It's inevitable.


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  It hasn't been too bad a year for that.  I did get the flu in February and miss a week of work, that was miserable.  Other than that....anything going on has been dealt with.  I can hear properly and I'm at my lowest risk for more kidney stones.  Can't ask for much more than that, I'm thankful that it's been a quiet year.  


11. What was the best thing you bought?

Honestly, I have no idea.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Anyone who does good deeds for their fellow humans.  Those are the people that news stories should be written about.  


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?Terrorists.  Donald Trump.  And people that text while driving.


14. Where did most of your money go?

I had no idea hearing aids were so damned expensive.  

15.  What did you really get excited about?

Yarn-related things.  Surprisingly, I was pretty stoked about my 20th HS reunion, which ended up being a lot of fun.  Something that both excited and saddened me:  my "baby" going to kindergarten.   

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Definitely happier.  The holidays were really tough last year.  Sometimes things were stressful/overwhelming this year, but overall it's been a much better year.   

b) thinner or fatter? about the same.  I want my 40th birthday gift to myself to be better health.  And that will start right after the holidays.  

c) richer or poorer? Both, rich in some ways and poor in others.  It all offsets in the end.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Is there such a thing as too much knitting time??  :)  

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying about things that one cannot control.  Getting frustrated when trying to view the future in a crystal ball, only to find out that I don't HAVE a crystal ball.  

19. How did you spend Christmas?

We hosted a nice celebration at home.  It was unseasonably warm and pleasant, feeling more like springtime!  It's a little weird to have your windows open during the month of December and I never really thought that "the breeze knocking ornaments off the tree" would be a problem.  

20. Did you fall in love in 2015?

No.  But I continued to love.

21. What was your favorite TV program? 

I gave "Once Upon a Time" a whirl over the summer, binge-watching the first four seasons.  Also, The Big Bang Theory continues to be a favorite and I love the new half-hour comedy "Life in Pieces."

22. What was the best book you read?

According to my Goodreads account, I read 43 books.  Many of them are worth mentioning and I will do so in a separate post.  But of all of them.....my favorite would be "As You Wish:  Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes.  It's one of my favorite movies and it was just amazing reading about the making of it from Westley.  


23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That pop is good for exercise but swing or George Gershwin is good for cooking.  And I think I've always known this but know so even more now:  Christmas music is fun at first but then gets really, really old.  OH!  And I am still so surprised to discover that Garth Brooks tickets were attainable!

24. What was your favorite film of this year? 

I enjoyed "Divergent" but after that the series left me cold so I doubt I'll  see the other two films.  But my favorite?  "Inside Out" without a doubt.

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

It was a Saturday this year.  I spent it with my family and then drove down to Mohegan Sun in CT to celebrate it with my friend Maureen, my "birthday buddy."  Same birthday, only she's a year older.  


26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

That's a tough call.  Better drivers around me?  Maybe.


27. What kept you sane?

Brian.  Making time for myself.  My kids.  


28. Who did you miss?

My far away friends and family.


29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015:

"An empty cup can't fill other cups."  If you're not taking care of yourself, you have nothing to offer others.


30. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Dear reader, please excuse the language.  But Pink's "F*%ckin' Perfect" sums it up for me.  Minus the f-bombs it's exactly how I feel.  

Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated
Look, I'm still around

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel
Like you are less than, less than fuckin' perfect
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing
You're fuckin' perfect to me

You're so mean when you talk about yourself, you were wrong
Change the voices in your head make them like you instead
So complicated, look happy, you'll make it
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game
It's enough, I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel
Like you are less than, less than fuckin' perfect
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing
You're fuckin' perfect to me

The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in line, and we try try try
But we try too hard and it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They don{t like my jeans; they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that

Why do I do that?
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby
Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel
Like you're less than fuckin' perfect
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel
Like you're nothing, you're fuckin' perfect to me, yeah
You're perfect, you're perfect
Oh pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel
Like you're nothin' you're fuckin' perfect to me

This is the End of the Line

Well, yesterday was the completion date for my Day Zero List.  

How did I do?  The list was 60% complete as of yesterday.  But honestly...I'll bet that's better than most people do.  

And now, a breakdown.

Items that I just wrote down to fill up the "100 Things" list and probably never was going to do:

37.   Ride in a hot air balloon

63.  learn how to throw a football with my kids

100.   Put $5 in our savings account for every item not completed. 

Items that I thought that I wanted to do, but later on it turned out that I had no interest in doing them:  (Hey, people change!)

1.  Read "Anna Karennina" by Leo Tolstoy.  

I gave this a good try.  I had bought it five years before because it was part of "Oprah's book Club" and the sheer number of pages was intimidating.  Guess what....it turns out that I didn't read it not because of the number of pages...it was because it was boring as hell.

55.  send flowers to someone “just because”

It turns out, it is really hard to send flowers "just because."!  Every time I thought of sending someone flowers, I had a reason to send them.

77.  Renew our passports

Passports are damned expensive.  And with nowhere to go, really, why bother?  I'll get the passports when we need them.  I'm not at an age where international travel opportunities just "present themselves" and you need to hop on a plane NOW.  

27.  take a cake decorating class.

It turns out that I don't care if I decorate the cake.  I just want to eat it.  Hell, half the time I want Hubby to bake it and me to eat it.  :)

51.  Send a secret to Postsecret

I mulled this one over a lot....but really, I don't have any juicy secrets.  None that would be interesting to post on Postsecret's blog, anyway!  I'm pretty boring.  

And lastly...

Items that I still want to do but ran out of time before the list deadline

12.  take the kids to the following places in PA:  Sesame Place, Crayola Factory and the “Please Touch” Museum.

This list item is partially finished.  We went to the "Please Touch" Museum and loved it!  I heard recently that they may lose their funding and I hope that isn't so, because we would love to go again.  We decided that not only are our kids too old for Sesame Place, I'd heard a lot of unsavory reviews from friends about them.  We still want to go to the Crayola Factory, though.  

29.  take the boys to their first drive-in movie

We're lucky to have two drive-ins nearby.  It's just a matter of picking a night to go, next summer!

35.  Get a tattoo

I have a design picked out and I've decided where it's going.  I just need to find a good place to go and then GO DO IT.

44.  build a snowman with the boys

We had a ton of snow last year and by the time I remembered this item, it was too late.  This winter for sure.  

45.  go tent camping

50.  See a Flyers home game with Brian.

Again, just ran out of time.

57.  visit the Ben and Jerry’s factory in Burlington, VT

I may actually get to do this one next Spring.  The annual RSC conference is in Vermont and a group of us were talking about hitting this on the way home!

76.  Ask my parents to tell stories of our family’s past, and write them down.

83.  Knit sweaters for my husband and children

I knit a sweater for Sean and he got it for Christmas last year.  I'm working on Will's for his birthday next month (I think I can, I think I can!) and I have the yarn for Brian's in the house.  I'm kind of glad I've waited this long, though.  He's lost 30 pounds in the last few months and his sweater would've been too big after that.  I'll start it after the holidays.  

99.  Visit Washington, D.C.

Sooooo......did I learn anything?  I did, that it's fun to make a list and try to stick to them.  And it's a lot easier if it's fun things instead of the tedious, never-ending to-do list.  Will I do another Day Zero list?  Probably not.  But it certainly helped me to prioritize and find time to do fun things with my family.  

Letting Go of "Someday!" Stuff

I got a tagged in a facebook post recently from a "band friend."  She was calling out near and far to all her "Band Geek" friends to see if someone had an instrument that they were looking to sell, because her daughters wanted to join our ranks.

It so happens that I have two in my garage:   my trusty old clarinet, and a flute that was gifted to me.  I had a tenant at my first housing job, she was a bit of a nut.  But cool in a lot of ways too, and one of those ways was that, at age 84, she was taking flute lessons.   I found this inspiring, because though I played clarinet for years, I had always wanted to play the flute.  And for reasons like my friend is looking for an instrument, I took my aunt's clarinet from when she was in the marching band in high school because it was free.  Well, that resident ended up transferring to an assisted living facility within 6 months.  But before she left, she gave me her old student flute, saying that I should take lessons someday.

Someday!  That magical-sounding word that makes you feel like you have all the time in the world.  So yes, Someday I was going to take flute lessons!  Also in my someday pile:  a sewing machine, some hiking boots, Spanish language and culture texts, books about geneaology.  DVD sets of TV shows that I may sit and enjoy Someday.  Because time is on my side, friends.

Well.  It's been thirteen years since Ruth went to the assisted living facility.  That flute sat in my basement for many, many years.  And when we moved it was placed on a shelf in the garage, with the Christmas decorations.  It only took me a minute or two to decide and send my friend a message back.  She thought that I was nuts at first, saying that she could just have it instead of buying it from me.  And when I told her why, because it would get used instead of rotting in my garage, she sent back a message with kind of a giggle, that there's a guitar and some knitting needles/yarn in her closet for Someday.  So it's not just me and I'm willing to bet that it's not just Jessica, either.

Sometimes it really is OK to survey your "Someday!" stuff and realize that they don't fit in your life anymore.  I work full-time and have two kids with activities, etc.  I have activities that I already enjoy:  knitting, reading, cooking, a little gardening, other crafts and so on.  I'm glad that the flute is going to someone who will use it and a family who will appreciate it.  I think that Ruth would, too.  Not giving up my clarinet, though.  Or my sewing machine.  Someday, I really want to use those!

Fourth of July Weekend!

These are all the things that made for a special Fourth weekend.  We tie-dyed shirts (and I'm still washing dye off my fingers, and oddly, two left toes.)  The next picture is of my mom at my SIL's annual family picnic in RI, showing off her homemade pie skills.  (It was just as delicious as it looks here)  The last one is of my boys playing with the BALL that comes out at the picnic each year!  It was the first time that the picnic was held on the fifth of July, due to rain/thunderstorms/Hurricane Arthur.  It was a gorgeous day for it, though.

But the biggest part was finally letting the cat out of the bag to the kids....We're not going to the Cape for vacation as promised....we're going to ORLANDO!!!  At first they were a little skeptical, now they're totally excited!  And making lists and schedules of what we're going to see, Will watching the TV special of "The Making of Diagon Alley" the newest Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios....etc etc.  We're all so excited!

The Last Box

It's done.

7.  send a box of handmade baby items to Stitches from the Heart every six months (6/29/14)

The last box is packed.  

This time it's 24 hats, three blankets, and one little pants and hooded sweater set for a lucky preemie boy.

I shouldn't call this "the last box" because it isn't.  I'll still mail hats and blankets to Stitches from the Heart.  After all, I've made 169 hats total and I'm not sure how many blankets and have no intention of stopping.

However, after the frigid winter we had this past year, I want to make some things for older kids.  So, I'm attempting to organize a group effort from my knitting group to a homeless shelter in the city.  I sent an email to one of the bigger shelters on Friday afternoon to inquire about how many people approximately to knit for, to donate to this November.  My knitting friends that I meet up with on Wednesday nights are on board, and it's going to be fun!  I'm on a hat-making binge, having just started an adult pink hat at 11:59pm on Friday night and binding it off this afternoon.  And mittens!  Kids need warm hands.  So do their moms and dads.  Warmth=kindness, and that's what we're spreading.  Who doesn't need a little kindness!  

Last Day of First Grade!!

For the last day of school today, let's show the evolvement of a photo.

 Yes, I know that you're sad this morning.  Let's be happy for a minute and do our annual "End of the School Year" photo.  Remember, this summer we're going on vacation, and you have a list of things that you want to do that you wrote yourself?  Focus on that for a minute.

 Cheese!  What, you don't want Dad in the picture?  C'mon buddy, a little smile.  We're gonna watch the last Star Wars movie today!  I only take pics a few times a year.  Indulge your mother, huh?

 Ah, you perk up at Star Wars huh?  Awesome.  Now let's work on a smile that doesn't belong on a robot.

He's laughing because I said "Great.  Now give me a smile that doesn't look like The Joker from Batman." And we have our winner:  a big natural smile from a kid that's looking forward to summer.

It's been a long year with a lot of adjustments.  But we're coming through the tunnel on the other end of the school year and we all survived.  And there's lots of good things that happened this year, too.   I can't believe this kid is going to Second Grade in August.  (Is it me, or are summers shorter than when I was a kid??)

Happy Last Day of School, everyone!