Life, in a Nutshell

OK, so the freelance gig is great. I have no complaints.

But the workload is tremendous, and will be until about April 5. I have four sports in season, so that’s eight deadlines a week. Again -- this is a great opportunity for me and I’m making it work. But it’s really killing my crafting time.

I wake up in the morning, make breakfast, have a cup of tea and work until bedtime with side-trips to the gym or other obligations. My knitting/sewing/weaving time is shoeboxed between when I get home from the LYS on Saturday nights and when I go to bed on Sunday night. That’s it. That’s the list.

So I ask that you, my loyal readers, bear with me for the next 2+ months. I promise I’ll catch as many WiP Wednesdays as I can. And when I have finished stuff, I’ll be happy to take a bunch of pictures and tell you all about them. But in between? There may be a bunch of radio silence.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning to this:


I thought we were supposed to get 1-2”. We got a little more than that, but it was manageable. I shoveled the Incredible Shrinking Driveway …


Why is it shrinking? Because at this time of year the hardest part of shoveling is getting the new snow up-and-over the barrier of old snow. Ugh. But it’s done, and the Big Ball of Fire in the Sky had it completely clear and dry in no time.

And before you ask, yes, I still prefer shoveling snow to raking leaves. No contest. Yes, I am the freak that loves winter. Why do you ask?

I’m nearly finished with the mug rugs. With a little luck, they’ll come off the loom some time this week. Which means I’m winding my next warp. This time? Rep weave placemats!


Looks great, right? Well, I’m not quite done winding the warp. Why?


Yeah. I need 30 more yards (ish) from that nekkid core. (and another 30 yds from that skinny middle cone, but we're not going to borrow trouble on that one.) Obviously, that’s not going to happen, so I’m eagerly awaiting a make-good cone from the vendor. Since this was sold as a kit, running drastically short of one of the three colors is kind of a problem. At least it wasn't my project-planning error?

Oh well. These things happen. Fortunately, I am not on a deadline!

Finding My Stride

Aside from doing my best to not cough up a lung, I’m doing just fine. I’ve been spending the vast majority of my time writing up a storm. (Lemme know if you want a link or two. I’d rather not link there from here)

And because I’ve been spending all of my time writing there, I haven’t been doing as much crafting as I’d like so I don’t have much to show you. I’ll get into a routine with my new work and find a balance. I’m just not there quite yet.

But we got a nice little snowstorm here today. So I took a few pictures.


My street

My neighbors

Cool shot of the pine tree next to our front door.

We probably had about 4-5” of snow, but it was super light and easy to shovel. I’ll probably do the rest of the driveway tomorrow.

Wearing my new hat!

Yeah, I know I’m a knitter and I can make my own hats blah blah blah. But if there’s one thing the NHL Winter Classic has become known for, it’s some truly kick-ass hats. This one isn't quite as awesome as some of its predecessors, but I still liked it enough to bring it home. I went Christmas shopping at Consol Energy Center (the shiny new home of the Pens) last month and was truly disappointed in their hat selection. But when I braved the mall today (had to exchange a gift), there was a new team apparel store that had a much better selection of Winter Classic hats. I liked this one, so I bought it!

I’ll be back in a few hours with a shiny new WiP Wednesday. Still knitting mittens!

I did NOT pack for this!

I have been in Columbus, Ga., since Wednesday. We had a beautiful day in the high 60s on Thursday, a good morning of weather on Friday, then Noah started to figure out where he had stored his Ark.

We got in 15 of an originally planned 50+ games. And woke up this morning to this:


Roaming Tigger got into the act too

Brrr!!! We're in Georgia, right???

I thought we left this weather at home!

We were supposed to drive back to Starkville, Miss., today. But someone in our travel party (Those who know me off the blog can guess and probably get it right. ::sigh::) got the Yukon stuck up to its axels in the mud at the field. So three of us stayed here in Columbus until we can (hopefully) get the truck un-stuck in the morning. At that point, we'll head to Panama City Beach, Fla., for the second tournament.

We had to change hotels from the Columbus Marriott to the Phenix City, Ala., Quality Inn for the evening. Please send happy thoughts for un-sticking the truck tomorrow!

Meanwhile, we're warming up by the fire in the Quality Inn lobby. Comfy couches and basketball on the TV to go along with the fire!

All Hail … Hail!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. And yes, I know I should have.

Today was a slightly slacker-ish day. And kind of a bummer. But that’s OK.

We had some decent-sized storms come through during the end of the U.S. Open. A few thunderstorms, then it backed off.

Around 7, it started again. So being the diligent blogger I am (heh), I whipped out my camera.


Ooh, nifty slanted rain shot (no, not really)

Then, I started hearing the rain change its sound. So RT and I went outside


Hail! I don’t remember the last time I experienced a hail storm.

That’s about it from here. I finished the Leafling socks tonight while we watched this movie, and I’m about to turn the heel on the Softball Socks. I’ll try for a FO-to shoot tomorrow on Leaflings. That is all!