decisions, decisions

Traveling has always been exciting for me. My dad took me on my first big trip to Mexico City when I was about 7 - I've been hooked on traveling since then. The only bad thing about traveling these days is figuring out what knitting to bring with me! Do I need a second suitcase for my knitting projects? Will I need to bring all my needles in case I buy new yarn (assuming I find a yarn store nearby)? What will I knit on the plane for 5 hours? What is easy to pull out and knit in the airport? Ack! Decisions!

I'm off to a conference next week across the country - Here are the projects under consideration:

1. My So Called Scarf - for the hubby
I heart Malabrigo! Easy to carry on the plane. I'll get bored with this after a few hours on the plane though...Could work for conference sessions.

2. Tangled Yoke Cardi - for me
Had to rip out and will need to start over
Easy to carry on the plane. Complicated pattern. Could keep me busy on the plane, but would be too complex to knit at a conference session.

3. February Ladies Sweater (see this post)
If I take this I need to pull out the rows where I messed up - I'm not sure if I'm up for that today.

4. Swallowtail - Love this yarn! Could be good for the hotel room or the plane. Wouldn't work for dinner or conference sessions.

While I make my decisions, I think I'll have a bite of this AWESOME zucchini bread the hubby made yesterday for us and our friends. We have so much zucchini right now in the garden that we ate this bread as well as fried zucchini last night for dinner. Is there such a thing as zucchini poisoning? :D

Life

Since our trip to Cary last weekend, I've been trying to keep a "normal" schedule. I get up and fix coffee and breakfast, take a shower and get dressed for work. I work until 5pm and then come home and fix dinner for the hubby (or more often than not, he fixes it for me). Despite this attempt at normalcy, Nancy is never far from my mind. Even if I had not met her during our time in Cary, it would be difficult to not get attached to her through the media frenzy. I hate the media and at the same time I'm using it to give me some connection to a former life. The hubby and I can't stop remembering our previous life in Cary. It's all so different now.

While we obsess over these difficult parts of the day/week, life marches on. No where is that more apparent than in our veggie garden. The garden is at that point where everything is ready to eat. Our neighbors will be happy as I'm certain zucchini bread is coming their way.

poor kitties

Poor, poor kitties! These hats from Spindles and Spice are hilarious, if not a little scary. I have to say that I'm intrigued by this little beret from the French Hat blog post. Would a baby beret make Blooregard behave?

february lady sweater progress

It's coming along...I didn't get too much done this weekend (although, I did manage to mess up one of the lace rows, which I'm contemplating whether to ignore it or back it out - a common dilemma for me unfortunately!) Thanks to O-Wool for setting me straight on the yarn - it does get softer the more you use it, so I have no doubt that once it's washed it will become even more cuddly.

blooregard strikes again

Le chat is again in trouble (and 2 posts in 1 day too!). Tonight he raced down the stairs at top speed with a scarf trailing behind him! He also had fuzz in his mouth, which can only mean one thing - he was lovin' on the scarf...*sigh*...Doesn't he know that his boy parts are missing?? :) Poor thing.

Tomorrow, when Bloo has decided to forgive us for leaving him this weekend, I promise I'll post about knitting :)

blooregard

Does this look like the face of a growling bully? Well, it's true. The hubby & I have spoiled Bloo so much that he now hates all other humans and animals. As we prepared our trip to NC to see old friends and attend Nancy's memorial, we decided to leave Bloo at the Holiday Barn. He deserved a vacation, right? You would think that he would love this place - they have windows and personal fish tanks in all of the kitty condos. We even bought him extra snuggle time. I'm not sure how he behaved over the weekend, as he didn't get the usual report card for good behavior, but he did learn some new techniques. For example, he has a new meow that sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and he now growls. Yes, he growls, but not at us thank goodness. He made it very clear last night and this morning that he was not happy about our weekend away. He's been a very bad kitty. Last night he woke us up at 1am, 1:30am and 2am. I finally got the good sense to lock him in "his" room so we could get some sleep. This morning, I opened the back door to put the trash out and Mr. Bloo ran out past me and started chasing, growling and hissing at a cat that happened to be (much to his misfortune) in the yard at the time. Who raised this type of bully I ask?! He chased that poor cat out of the yard and all the way down the back alley. I guess Bloo's behavior has ensured that he remains an only child. Oh, Mr. Bloo, what will I do with you?

nancy

Nancy Cooper

By now it's all over the media - the worst has happened. Nancy has been killed in the seemingly safe community of Cary, NC. I've been hesitant to post as what is there to say but that we're utterly shocked and heartbroken for the family & friends - My heart goes to our friends in Cary and to Nancy's family and her beautiful little ones - May you rest in peace, Nancy. We have fond memories of you...


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Update: I forwarded to friends in the Triangle to pass the information along.
It looks like the map has been added to the blog below to outline search efforts.

http://nancycooper.blogspot.com/
NBC17 news story

My friend in Cary, NC forwarded this to me this morning about a wonderful woman that Ben and I know who is missing. She went for a jog in her neighborhood and has not returned. Although I know I don't live in the area any more, I'm posting in case anyone sees it and knows where Nancy may be. Our thoughts are prayers are with you Nanner.

love,
Susan + Ben

Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder

I've been waiting to post in order to have some cool project to show off. I'm on a pseudo vacation this week (I take vacations to prepare for interviews & upcoming talks at conferences - how sad is that!) and thought I'd get a bunch of knitting done. Instead, I'm starting a ton of projects and wondering how I will finish them all!

I'm typically the type of knitter who works on one project at a time. I've always been surprised by this, as I don't exhibit this behavior in any other part of my life (the hubby cringes when I say 'Let's repaint this room again! It will just take a weekend!'). So...long story to say that I'm a little baffled by the fact that I'm starting all of these projects. I've decided to embrace the chaos however, and see where it takes me:

Project 1: February Lady's Sweater
See this post for details.
I'm not happy with this yarn. I want to be happy with it. The color is gorgeous. The yarn is organic wool. What's not to like? It is tearing up my hands and actually making my shoulder hurt to knit. Maybe this isn't the right choice for this sweater? Does this yarn get any softer the more you use it? Please advise if anyone has used O-Wool Classic and not had their hands bleed! (Sorry O-Wool - I typically love your yarn!)

Project 2: Dinosaurs
The hubby requested Trice - How could I say no?
I'm making this out of Blue Sky Organic Cotton leftovers

Project 3: Tangled Yoke Cardigan
I LOVE the yarn I'm using for this cardi. When you get a chance, go online and buy Brooks Farm Solo Yarn. You'll be amazed at how beautiful and soft it is. See this post for a pix.

Project 4: Manly Scarf
I'm using Malabrigo for this wintry scarf for the hubby.

Project 5: Secret Special Gift - See this post for details.