Changes.

Hello, friends. I'm still here, just taking a looooong break. Not from knitting, mind you - just from blogging. But I'm slowly starting up again, but in another location. Please come visit my new site.

Few And Far Between.

OK, there's just no getting around it anymore. I just can't keep up the blog on an every-other-day schedule right now. Work has gotten very busy very quickly and it's getting in the way of my knitting and blogging in a bigger way than I thought it would. Plus, Husband of A.K. is also incredibly busy this month, pulling long hours at the office and will be on the road quite a bit for the next 5 weeks or so. Which leaves me tending to Baby A.K. a lot, which makes me even more tired than usual. So, bear with me for a bit while I try to juggle my life and somehow get some knitting done, which, although I'm still burned out with my current projects*, I miss terribly.

*(I am, however, making progress with Wrapper's Delight. Finished the body, moved onto the first sleeve, which is going quickly.)

What You Can't Do At Chuck E. Cheese.

As far as knitting goes (and as I've previously mentioned), this week was a wash. At the last minute, I was in a class for the entire week, which has only added to my workload since I missed quite a bit at the office. I tried to handle some important matters during class breaks and whatever time I had afterwards before running off to get Baby A.K. from daycare. But knitting? Too busy during the day, too tired at night.

But... I did think about knitting today. I thought I'd have the opportunity to break out Husband's socks and... gasp... talk to adults for a bit. Because, my friends, we were invited to a birthday party at...
Chuck E. Cheese.

I'm so old that I remember when this place came into being, but believe it or not, I've never actually been there. This was to be a new experience for all three A.K. family members. I knew, though, that it was a safe place for kids to run around and play while the adults... did something else. And for me, that something else was supposed to be knitting.

I know you know what's coming, so you can stop laughing at me now.

My fantasy of sitting in a corner somewhere and knitting died the minute we walked in. The place was loud, hot, and mind-numbing. The birthday party we were attending was one of, I swear, 15. One of our friends who was in attendance even commented that she'd never seen the place so crowded. Lucky, lucky us.

With both of her parents in tow, Baby A.K. picked her way through the masses of children carefully, taking it all in. Little by little, she became bolder and vaulted herself towards the games with great excitement. Although I tried to leave her in her Daddy's capable hands so I could run away screaming knit a bit, she wouldn't have it: "Noooooo, Mommy, you come, too!" At some point after cake and before the sun went down, Husband looked at his watch and said, "Did you know it's 5:30?" The birthday boy's family had already packed up their car, and no one was left from our party... except us. We gathered up our things, cashed in our tickets (for Baby A.K.'s favorite: a lollipop), and went home.

So, to sum up: when attending anything at Chuck E. Cheese, don't even kid yourself about grabbing any "me" time. Won't happen. Ever.

Not Much Time This Week...

... to knit when you're running to classes that you were approved for at the last minute, and are also on your own with a very adorable but very wacky Baby A.K. because your husband is busy interviewing this woman. The best I can do right now is to direct you to this site, and also to this one, for some excellent primary/government coverage (if you can stand to put the needles down, and if you're not completely and utterly sick of the primary/government by now).

Soaking Wet, But Renewed.

whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug. whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug.

It rained all day and all night yesterday, so much that today, much of Central PA is bailing out of flooded roads and streams. Whenever this happens, whenever the National Weather Service says that the Susquehanna River is going to crest, it also means that my basement is in danger of flooding, too, even though I live many miles away from any large bodies of water.

whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug. whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug.

How is this possible? My backyard is mostly made up of a giant hill, and when we get a ton of rain, all that runoff goes straight to my basement. It doesn't happen often, of course, but when it does, I'm treated to 36 hours of the sound of my sump pump doing its thing to rid us of excess groundwater. It should be a comforting sound, but it makes me nervous. A few years ago, the sump pump stopped working during the remnants of a hurricane, and we, like so many others, spent days bailing out and drying out and combing through the wreckage of water-damaged collectibles and music equipment. In all, the damage wasn't too bad (especially when you add in the nice check we got from FEMA), but I'll never forget that heart-dropping feeling when I went down to the basement that day and saw my cat's litter box floating towards the laundry room.

whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug. whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug.

So my trip to my LYS did what I wanted it to do: reinvigorated my spirit of creativity (read, spurred my butt into action) and renewed my interest in Wrapper's Delight and Husband of A.K.'s socks. And for good reason: I have a nice, easy Spring project in the queue that should help get my mojo going again. It'll be a cute dress for Baby A.K., in pink chenille with some funky stripes of a ribbon yarn going through it. Easy... maybe too easy... but so cute, I couldn't resist.

whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug. whirrrrrrrrr. glug glug glug glug.

I promised pictures, but I don't have any. Still. But I will soon. I'm very close to having something to show for my renewed energy - the body of Wrapper's Delight and one finished sock. So hang in there with me... maybe by the time my sump pump slows down, I'll have something to take pictures of.

Getting My Groove Back... Slowly.

Wow. I'm having an epic bout of winter blahs that has manifested itself as utter aversion towards knitting. Can you believe that? Except for the monthly Stitch 'N Bitch, I haven't picked up my knitting, and haven't missed it. This is getting serious. I need inspiration... and fast.

Ask and ye shall receive. Inspiration seems to be manifesting itself as little signs scattered hither and yon:

• I knit a little bit on Husband of A.K.'s socks during lunch these past few days, and lo and behold, I'm almost done with the first one. It was one of those moments when you feel like you'll never finish something, then you look down and realize you're done. Whew.


• Baby A.K. actually asked for a knitted item. Not socks, mind you... a dress. This is a project that's impossible to resist, knowing how friggin' adorable she'll look in a little summer handknit frock.


• I got a really nice compliment from a fellow knitter on Ravelry about a past project - a fitted Spring/Summer pullover from Filatura di Crosa. After the couple of weeks I've had at work ("mind-numbing", "confidence-draining"), I can't tell you how happy I was to read this.


• My cubicle neighbor has taken up crochet again after many years of leaving it by the wayside, maybe partly due to my enthusiasm about knitting. She recently went to a craft store and raided their Lion Brand section, buying enough yarn to make an afghan for one of her daughters. Now that she's fully under way with her project, she said to me today, "I'd rather be home crocheting. I wish I could get away with working on the afghan here, under my desk!" Truer words were never spoken... I wished at that moment that I was knitting under my desk, too.


• Mother of A.K. complained yesterday of missing Baby A.K. very much. Not having heard that conversation herself, Baby A.K. complained this morning of missing Mother of A.K. (aka Gramma) very much. So... we're going to visit Mother of A.K. this weekend in NJ. You know what that means, don't you? A visit to my fave LYS, of course.

Let's see what this weekend brings.

Spring Knitting.

Even though I'm still working on Husband's socks and Wrapper's Delight, I'm definitely thinking ahead for Springtime projects. And a theme keeps rearing its head: cute, fitted short-sleeved tops are all over the place. Interweave Knits is showing them. Cascade Yarn is showing a cute one as an advertisement. And my LYS has one as their Project of the Month. I really want one. Certainly this kind of project won't take long - a front, a back, and short sleeves must make for fast knitting. And with my current projects proceeding so slooooowwwwwwly, all I want right now is a project I can finish quickly and start wearing - something that makes it feel like Spring.

Anyone else have a project for Spring in mind?