Madly Off in All Directions

"Lord Ronald said nothing, he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions"

Steven Leacock  - "Gertrude the Governess", Nonsense Novels

Pretty much sums up my life of late - figuratively "flinging" myself from blogging while attending to myriad other necessaries during the unrelenting cold of Winter 2014.

There was knitting (more on that later) but "forced" rather than "honest" if you know what I mean. Until shortly after the closing ceremonies in Sochi when I began toting my all but completed Olympic project around the house with me, not ever really feeling like picking it up and working on it. So I didn't and still haven't.

Last week, noting a bleak mood in his Beloved, my Beloved suddenly asked "Hey how long's it been since you've knit anything?" Then quickly checking the corners around my chair added "Where is your knitting?" From the next room Darling Daughter chimed in with "Yeah, I haven't seen you knitting in a long time! Whats going on?"

"I've been madly off in all directions" I explained. They both agreed that I had indeed been doing just that.  Then they went back to their activities with an ease that told me they understood it was a knitting hiatus they had noted as opposed to a possibly permanent cessation. They long ago recognized, along with Number One Son that a knitting wife, means a happy life for them! They may not find my knitting particularly interesting but they don't want it to disappear either!

So why the blogging/knitting hiatus? Physical as well as technical pain. Intense knitting throughout the autumn and into the Christmas season and early new year caused shoulder and neck problems that during the Olympics only got worse and worse. The technical "pain" was computer/tablet based. Carefully attending to both has improved things but, as is often the case, has taken a lot of time and effort and both things got much worse before they began to get better.

'Couldn't knit, couldn't even go online to write or read about knitting. The resulting excess time and energy then, like an uncontrolled explosion of sorts sent me...Madly off in all directions!

I've cleaned out everything from drawers to closets to computer files (Apparently a Photography hobby+knitting obsession+blogging +documenting family life = 30,000 photos since 2005 in the computer alone!)

I started purging our stores of paint in the garage (Using up what's out there does double duty - gets the cans off the shelves and tidies up the dings and marks on the walls and woodwork in the house.)

This of course also leads to the purchase of more paint...ultimately more painting.

Sorting the fabric stash is a similar exercise - recover a headboard, slipcover a daybed, make a new dust cover for the sewing machine etc. and you get the fabric out of storage and into its intended place in the house. Each completion justifies two check marks on the the to-do list - one for cleaning out, one for improving something!

I got that bulky bag of fibre fill out of the cupboard and that roll of quilt bat and plumped up all the throw cushions and seat covers I bought the stuff for in the first place? Check! Check! Check!

When I found the big basket that contained every card, note, list, photo and a bunch of other stuff related to our wedding I culled it down to what really matters and would fit into a small box.

I also took two classes a week with Hudson and worked lots and lots of daily (indoor!) practice aimed at getting ready for the upcoming Obedience Trial season.

Then there has been the techy-stuff. The research and purchase of a replacement computer, decommissioning the old one and all its requisite cables and peripherals and CD's etc. etc. That primed me for purging many other now unused bits of technology stuffed into closets and drawers around the house and trying to figure out how to use some of the great features our TV has for viewing home movies and photos...oh yeah to watch the old videos I had to have them reformatted onto DVD's...Check! Check!

This is a tip of the iceberg summary and there's lots still to do but now I am able to blog again - check email - I may even knit tonight at craft group! I'm off now to bake something for that gathering. Number One Son has a couple of days of annual medical tests starting tomorrow that will give me more time for waiting room knitting. Who knows, by the end of the week I may even have another FO to write about. I'm looking forward to catching you up on what has come off my needles since those wee Tom Tens in December!

If there is anyone still out there dropping by I'm super glad you have and a special thank you to Bonnie for that little push I needed to get back on the proverbial "horse"!