August 15, 2010

Here and There and Here Again, repeat

I've run into that place where I've been away from the blog so long, and now have so many blog-able items that starting up feels daunting. And I've finally realized (not for the first time either) that the only way to fill a hole is to start throwing dirt into the bottom. Or something like that.

Last post; something about the weather, my dad and my son. We'll start there.

During the cool weather, I noticed that quite a bit of my hand spun stash was undocumented. No notes as to yardage (is it meterage in the metric system? the spellchecker doesn't think so) or weight. I probably thought I'd remember all that stuff when I needed to... right. So I started weighing and winding onto the niddy-noddy and making notes and taking pictures, with the goal of adding all the information to Ravelry.  The notes are right here in front of me, and I am pretty much adrift in making sense of at least half of it. I've decided its easier to get the blog caught up than figure out my notes.

Evan finally did wake up, and I've heard some of the stories and yes, it was a great trip. I'm very glad he went.

My dad never did get that MRI. The short story is that Dad doesn't tolerate the confines of the MRI very well, so arrangements had been made for him to be sedated for the procedure, one of those "twilight sleep" type of things. Dad wasn't sure that would be enough (he wanted the full knock out) but in the end it didn't matter because nobody told him he wasn't supposed to eat for 6 hours before the MRI. Whilst working to schedule another MRI, the good doctors decided the CAT scan was sufficient after all. During all this, I did manage to cast on the garter stitch kimono baby sweater, but not much else.

here fishy, fishy fishy
But I knew I'd have lots of time for knitting in the next week because I was going on a trip with Dad and some other family members, down to the Los Cabos area of Baja California. Dad wants to catch a dorado, also known as Mahi-mahi. We went fishing one day, and didn't even have one bite. But I do love being out on the ocean, and at one point we saw hundreds of young Manta rays leaping from the water. Some were trying for style points and would even somersault (wow, I wonder where that word comes from?) in mid-air.  And towards the end of the boat ride we saw some dolphins, always a treat.

Other highlights were lots of family time and a para-sailing adventure, which turned out to be even cooler than I expected. But I didn't try knitting while para-sailing. Or knitting in the pool, near the swim-up bar where we spent most of our afternoons . Which is a sort of silly name because nobody swims up to it, they wade up. I know, I spent hours researching this. We spent all that time in the pool because while the hotel is on a lovely beach, the surf conditions were black flagged - considered dangerous enough to be fatal. Even though most of our group is very ocean savvy, growing up in coastal Southern California, we didn't test the waters. During this trip I worked on a Simple Lace Scarf using my hand spun silk/cashmere yarn, the baby kimono sweater and packed the yarn for another project that I didn't start.

I came home on August 1, 2010. I want to remember this date for something I saw, that I don't expect to see again. But, if I could have called everyone I know at the same time, I would have. I saw a shooting star in a still blue sky. Not dark twilight blue but regular daytime blue! I was standing out in the driveway, facing east just before 8 p.m. when I saw a meteorite streak across the sky from northwest to southeast, burning white and then a flash of green before disappearing. It happened so fast that the only thing that escaped my mouth was "ohhh, oh" and it was gone. As far as I know, nobody saw it but me, and I wish I could show it to everybody.

hair cut prep
I had enough time to pay some bills, buzz Evan's hair, do laundry and repack, this time a road trip (more knitting time) to Davis for Evan's freshman orientation.. Evan starts school there next month.  The good administrators of UC Davis wisely include a full program during orientation for parents of incoming freshmen, and I enjoyed the experience very much.
I like it so much I want to go to school there. And maybe I will one day. During the trip I finished the Simple Lace Scarf, just about finished the body of the Garter Stitch Baby Kimono sweater and cast on the Daisy Cardigan in Plymouth Happy Feet DK. I love this yarn, btw, but went up 2 needle sizes to get the right gauge and drape.

Once we were back home, I took a good look at the baby sweater and decided I'd like it better on bigger needles, so I ripped everything back and started over on US #4. Its simple knitting, but very boring. There is still more to tell, but this is enough for now. Happy Tales!

3 comments:

  1. Great to hear news from you. I know what you mean about not blogging for a while. A trip to Cabo sounds heavenly! Yep, fishing is pretty lousy this year, water too cold, I guess. Am impressed at your organization with your yarns!

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  2. That's how I cut my boys' hair too, big 'ol trash bag over the head.

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  3. Love the trash bag look!

    Davis is wonderful. My sister went there and I used to visit her. I'm sure Evan will love it.

    A few years ago, while we were skiing in Colorado, there was a massive meteor shower. My husband and son got up in the middle of the night and went out on the ski slopes to watch. It was amazing--hundreds and hundreds of meteors. (I slept through it. We had a baby at the time.)

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