Knitting?

Why yes, in fact I have been knitting!

Most satisfyingly on this...

..."Wisp" by Cheryl Niamath from Knitty . To be honest, I was never attracted to the pattern on Knitty but I kept trying to "Favourite" the thing on Ravelry when browsing patterns there.

I'm frequently finding I see patterns knit up or on Ravelry that come from Knitty and I can't believe how much more appealing they are to me than the pattern photos on the site.  I should probably slow down a bit, and look through Knitty the way I look at Ravelry patterns!

The work on Mom's estate is proceeding (If you care how your loved ones will fare following your passing, get organized! Thank goodness Mom's stuff is in order because its still a huge job to distribute the pieces of life well lived.)

One of the jobs I've undertaken is to organize and sort the mass of 120 years of photos and newspaper articles related to the family she, as the eldest in her family had in her possession.  I did a bunch of work to create a lengthy slide show about her that we had playing at the wake and at the post-funeral reception but since she was not the only member of her family, that piece is but the tip of the ice berg. Nonetheless I've now broken the back of the task in terms of organizing and sorting and I'm ready to start scanning and rebuilding the crumbling albums.

After the work of the day on matters related to the estate as well as trying to catch up with things in my own life (currently groceries are in very short supply in this place!) I need something mindless and calm to work on in the evenings. Wisp seems to be fitting the bill just perfectly.

As an added "bonus", Number One Son thinks Wisp looks "Sick!" ( in the current vernacular of kids in their late teens that's apparently high praise!) His view of the item below is not "Sick!" just "sick". As in "what were you thinking Mom?"

Well, I was thinking I'd like to reuse some yarn and so I did and before starting Wisp late last week I was very much enjoying working on EZ's  Last Minute December Sweater. Its ready for finishing the currently rolling hems with contrasting yarn which will hopefully give the piece more structure and finish (and shrink the thing 4 or 5 sizes so it will actually fit me? Fingers crossed! ;)  )

Beatnik is well past the half way mark with most of the back knit and the sleeves done but I need some clear headed thinking to figure out where I am in the chart (my post it notes dried up and fell off during its' 6 week period of neglect :(  )

I even finished a Bandana Cowl (Free Pattern from Purlsoho) to give to a friend. I'm going to try to get that FO post done this week!

So I have been knitting and its been very enjoyable and I can't say that about a lot of things these days so Yay for Knitting!

And "Yay" for knitters like you dropping by today! 

'Gotta Love Him!

One of the annual Christmas events around here has, in recent years, become Number One Son's last minute flurry of activity in the wood working shop in the Garage under the Master Bed Room.

We now customarily fall asleep Christmas Eve to the muffled sounds of the electric grinder, sander or saw.

Christmas morning there are all manner of crazily wrapped parcels that were not in evidence (or possibly even in existence!) when we went to bed the night before.

You might recall this...

or some of  these past efforts...

In December I had been working on re purposing the yarn from a knit I'd stopped wearing. The necessary unraveling and wrapping of yarn into skeins for washing and then winding into balls prompted some requests on my part of others in the house to "give me a hand" as it were.

Observing that process become the Number One Son's inspiration for this...

  ...His 2012 Christmas Gift to me - this custom designed "Extra pair of hands". 

When I opened it we all marveled at its ingenuity... the likeness he achieved in rendering the hands... 

how clever and sturdy and useful was the triangular stand...

Then we all noted the decorative letters..."SPN"...what did SPN stand for? We were all puzzled.  For his part, Number One Son was perplexed at our question - wasn't it obvious??

"S"el and "P"oivre "N"its!

"Oh, wait..." he said..."it was so late when I was doing that..."

You can imagine the gales of laughter that followed. Right after that there were cheers of ...

"Merry Chrimas!"

(Another year he made a late night Christmas Tree Ornament featuring a spelling mistake that prompted  a saying now also synonymous with our Christmases.)

'Gotta Love Him!

Climbing Back in the Saddle

Here it is, the first day "back" after 2 weeks that were more Roller Coaster Ride than "Holiday".

The conditions with our Mom that lead up to our whirlwind "Break" really had been building since last January with a spike in activity in September but things had settled into a new "normal" of late. Mom attended the One of a Kind Craft Show (in a wheel chair with Number One Son "driving") to do her Christmas shopping. (She even got to meet Blogger Brenda while she was there!)  She also attended the Theatre and various holiday events in December with her sister and their friends.

Right up until Christmas Eve she lived, as she wanted, in her own place, supported by a team of family and a dear childhood friend for everything from meal delivery (and lately, even service) to laundry and housework, shopping and transportation around town. As Christmas approached we had someone (Sometimes a succession of "some one's") with her all day until she went to bed for the night.

Christmas even started out pretty well. She happily wore a stylish outfit on her newly slender body. Under the tree there were gifts wrapped from her to everyone in attendance. She had a wonderful family visit after her triumphant arrival here on Christmas Day. After that though it was back to back all-nighters at the hospital following the emergency ambulance run, Mom's peaceful passing, my sister's arrival back in town then the flurry of activity around initiating duties as co-executor of Mom's estate, producing a 175 slide, 20 minute photo presentation of her life (18 hours over two days of scanning - my New Year's Eve and Day), two funeral home visitations, a big church service and reception, cremation and then internment, graveside ceremony and then finally a family dinner at mom's condo.

I know Mom would have been tickled pink at the send off. That feels good to be able to say!

On the home front, My Beloved, using up 2011 holiday days, held down the fort, or at least that's my impression because I rarely even saw him. Darling Daughter acted as my technology liaison working the phones and the Internet retrieving everything from maps and directions to telephone numbers to finding caterers and florists.Number One Son, with a heavy load of end-of-term homework and assignments looks like he's lost about 5 pounds in the absence of the usual meal service around here and the dog has taken to all kinds of terrible behaviour as he yearns for the attention he usually enjoys.

As for me, my head is still spinning!

There was knitting - so useful to wind down before trying to sleep each night. As you 'll soon see, the results are less than inspired!

Now though, I must head out into the sunshine, there's a fluffy white "fellow" here who's badly in need of a full grooming but who is also letting me know, as he always does, that no matter what else is happening, exercise has to happen too!

Thanks so much for all the kind words of encouragement and condolence in the comments. It was wonderfully heartwarming to read them at days' end when I could gather a few moments at my desk!

Thanks too for dropping by today!