Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Backup A Minute Here

So yet again I find myself writing another "I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything" post.  And thinking that I don't really have that much to say.  But it isn't really true, it's getting to the point where I have so many projects in various stages (and a slightly staggering number actually finished, blocked, and already given away) that I'm hitting the point where I don't know where to really start.

There's been some more baby stuff (no, not for me, sorry mother-in-law), some interesting very different side projects, and a whole whack of socks.  Lots of socks.  If it wasn't for the baby stuff I'd start wondering if all I knew how to knit were socks.  Even most of the recent UFO sightings in the stash are socks!

Andre and I have talked, and while we don't normally do this, we've decided on a not-quite New Years resolution.  This year will be better.  It will be a fresh start.  We will get things done, we will move on, and we will do better than just survive.

So I've just dumped the yarn related contents of my phone camera, and our good camera into a huge folder. I'm going to start sorting through them and writing blog posts.  Some of this stuff is from a while (years!) ago, but I never got around to sharing.  Another surprising bunch is from the past fall when (sock) knitting reentered my life with a vengeance.  But mostly, I just want to get this stuff off the "I should do that" list.  I have a few hours before work, so here it goes.

For my birthday, as is becoming custom, I got a yarn store gift card.  And so off I trundled to Wool Thyme with the vague notion of wanting more self-striping sock yarn.  I'm often looking for a pocket project to take to family gatherings, the movies, etc, and socks are so super easy.  A couple of balls of Patons later (and probably some stuff out of the discount bin, but with the wool fumes, my memory is a bit hazy) I had my fix.

Fast forward to October and the Annual Carleton University Butterfly Show.  This show has been going on for as long as I can remember, and through my volunteering at the university, I became intimately involved in the coordinating of 1200 school kids and teachers for guided tours.  Three years in a row.



Even though I've long graduated, and there isn't really much pulling me back to the building for visits (just about everybody I knew then has graduated and is gone), this show is essential.  While I can't work the week days like I used to, I'm there open to close both weekends.  We have 12,000 visitors, and while Ed the Amazing does what he can, there are a number of volunteers (Jim & Catherine, Rick, Ed's family, and some core Let's Talk Science volunteers) that just appear every year to help out.

For many years I was a smoker, and so was more than willing to spend most of my volunteering time outside "working the lines".  Basically I am entertainment for the crowds as they wait upwards of 2 hours just to get in.  It means that I do a lot of talking and answering the same half dozen questions over and over and over again ("what happens when the show is over?" "how many species" "what's happening to the monarch butterflies" etc).

This year, without smoking to keep me entertained until the crowds get really going I brought my knitting.  I figured I would get a couple of rounds on one pair of socks, but low and behold over 2 weekends I had knit 3 whole socks!

Pair #1 in a lovely set of greens and purples had originally been intended to land in either a gift box or for me.  But Ed's wife mentioned how much she loves green, and so the "maybe for later" gift was carefully wrapped up and left in a little bag on Ed's doorknob with care instructions.  Plain, fraternal, self-striping warmness.  And their daughter wants me to teach her to knit next year!



Pair #2 which saw 1 sock knit and the second just started the second weekend of the show became a Christmas gift for my darling friend Christine (of Irate Avian fame).  We're curling again this season, and she's picked up a second night and may have hinted at a second pair to keep her warm.



You'll note that these are identical socks.  I don't normally knit identical socks from self-striping yarns, I normally can't be bothered since it needs to be perfect.  Christine is one of those friends that will not only appreciate the identical-ness, but that it's not normally something I do and will so treasure them a wee bit more.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I did use smoking in the past tense.  Today makes one whole year - 365 days - without a single cigarette.  It was rough for a while, and I didn't want to mention earlier in case we fell off the wagon, but if it's good enough for the insurance companies, it's good enough for us.

André and I are ONE YEAR SMOKE FREE.

I'm proud of us.

And little Hunter of Arr Baby fame and his first birthday party last weekend.  It was pirate themed! Apparently he loves the outfit, so much that his parents provided a coordinating hat.  Too much cuteness!

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