A little consolation

Happy Easter, or whatever!

It's been a long week -- busy at work, busy at home. And for the first time in about eight years, I have to work today. The Schedule Goddess (that would be me) tried, but she saw no other way. How could I ask my coworker with the young child to come in today, when her son was up and dyeing Easter eggs with his grandmother when she left for work yesterday?

So the two of us who will be at the store today will be ready. You know, in case someone needs a magazine or something. Or The Velveteen Rabbit. We'll close in time to get to the wonderful dinners that will have been prepared without our hanging out in the kitchen with our families and friends. They'll be happy to see us when we get there, tell us they love us, and then sit us down to a delicious meal and lots of fun. That's how I'm consoling myself, anyway.

Would you like to see a little more of my New and Improved home? This is where my shelves and desk used to be:

Peaceful, sweet and refreshing. The clutterless state of this side of my apartment is a joy (you won't be seeing any panoramic shots, for good reason). And as I look at this picture it comes to me: everything in it has to do with my friend K. The Real Reeves wheel. The amazing Shaker chair, built by K and R, and on permanent (I suppose) loan. Even the little footstool was found when we were on an antique store crawl on the Eastern Shore. It's not a shrine, I swear. It just demonstrates that I hang out with people who have excellent taste!

I do knit. Really, I do. I have so many socks going on right now that I don't know where to turn, but once the pair I'm knitting on a deadline is finished I might just cast on for a Backyard Leaves scarf. I have some pretty geen yarn that just might do.

Some knitting, at least

Knitting this sock is like sitting by the Caribbean (or so I imagine). It's warm and bright and oh-so-blue. Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop yarn is extra-extraordinary. The day may be damp, dreary and chilly, but who cares when I have this to work on?

I've been doing lots of not knitting this week. I accomplished the next phase of my life reorganization. I didn't start out thinking of it this way, but it's become a real overhaul. After moving, shifting, shoving, and tossing for most of yesterday, I now have more open, uncluttered space in this little home than I've had for the seven years I've lived here. It feels wonderful. There are still piles and boxes and baskets all over the place, but now I can take my time and go through each one. They're just the little parts of the big picture.

When I walked into my apartment this afternoon it felt peaceful. Not busy, not overwhelming. Restful. I spend every day in very busy surroundings. It's not just active and loud; the bookstore is also visually busy. There's nothing to rest your eyes on, because all those books and lights and things are practically vibrating. It's energizing, for the most part, but I'd begun to crave something at home that I wasn't getting.

It's coming now. I'm making it happen. Slowly, perhaps. But slow and steady wins the race!

No knitting again

But I have more life-rearranging to show. This is my new desk. It's actually my mother's Swedish Aunt Sigrid's Gate-Leg Table. It deserves a title, it does. I don't know if the table is Swedish (probably not) but Aunt Sigrid certainly was. I'm so pleased to have a little bit of my mother's Swedish side, and I promise to take good care of it. It replaces my other Swedish furniture -- the Ikea desk!

I'm moving slowly through my apartment, shifting things to make it less cluttered, but I need to do it in stages. The first stage happened on Sunday. Judy and I removed some more Swedish furniture, the Ikea crate shelves. Here's my question: why is my cat not bald? There was at least a cat's-worth of hair back behind those shelves. And all the missing Mousies have been found. We haven't got a SRM like Chaos', but we do have Mousie Innards.

Putting the computer on the desk was today's stage. Next I'll move the printer and the scanner and the other tidbits, but that will require shifting something else. My life is like one of those little plastic sliding puzzles that you have to shuffle to put in order. My lovely clear counter is clear no more, but that's how it goes. It's supposed to be temporary.

I'm knitting, but there's nothing to show. Soon, but not now. It's not ready.

Today has been another beautiful Spring day, and one to celebrate. When I drove down my street yesterday afternoon, with the windows open, I heard peepers. Peepers are guaranteed to make me feel good. Then today, when I was out in the world, it seemed as if all the trees and hedges are getting ready for something -- things are looking fuller and brighter. Leaves will come, following the daffodils that I saw on the road.

I did some errands, had a nice lunch with my friend S (the company was way better than the food, which was just okay), and came home to contemplate the shifting of the desk. That was it for the day, apparently, because it's 6:00 already!

:::

How does a person celebrate her 200th post? I'd have a contest, but frankly, I don't have the energy to think about it. In the past few weeks I've had conversations with some people in my real life who've begun reading my blog. It's interesting to have a face-to-face conversation with someone about my virtual life. A little Twilight Zone-ish, but good.

My addle-brained conclusion: I''m so happy to be here, I wish I could get it together to write more regularly, and I just love this community.

I'm a winner!

And a lucky, lucky knitter! This is the Sock Hop yarn that was my prize in Teyani's blog contest. It's called "Blue Suede Shoes." Not only do I get to make a pair of socks with this coveted yarn, but I can now see how the roving I'm spinning compares. I think I'm doing okay, on both counts.

So I made it home on Sunday evening, safe and sound. Annabelle didn't even give me the usual cold shoulder! There were so many interesting kitty scents on my bags that she was a little busy. I'd spent a day on Maryland's Eastern Shore with K, who has three cats. We talked and knitted and had the best time -- thank you, K and R! I came home with lots of ideas and inspiration, and some sock yarn, too. K and I traded some bits and balls of yarn, and I'm pretty sure I got more than I gave. I'll fix that one of these days...

K has just finished a beautiful sweater out of this alpaca yarn. He made Elsebeth Lavold's Aud from the Viking Knits Collection. It's stunning. That's all I can say. He's got a pretty serious cashmere addiction going on, too. You know, it's a wonderful thing to see a knitter's eyes light up as they talk about yarn and what they want to knit with it.

I made a little progress on a couple of things, but not enough to show you. I'm about to finish the sock I was knitting on my trip, and I worked a bit on this ongoing, neverending scarf, but that's it. I got to have a little visit with my friend V, and we talked Life and Parents and Fiber and such. She's making some delightful handspun crocheted hats, sweet sturdy round shapes that she makes up as she goes along.

Re-entry has been strange -- where am I, and what day is it? I'm happy to be home and back to my regular life, even though it involves making my own coffee and my own bed. My mother continues to improve in the little ways that mean she will be allowed to go home soon. Although we know that this setback was just one more in the long, inevitable string of setbacks, we're trying to be relatively positive about it. What else is there to do, after all?

Today is one of those brilliant, blinding days that says it's Spring, but reminds me that our Spring is always very slow to unfold. The trees haven't begun to swell, the bulbs are nowhere to be seen, and though the sun is warm the temperature isn't. I'll still enjoy it, though. It's my day off!