The month is nearly over...

and I have managed to work towards finishing a thing or two in the last week or so. If I can manage to finish up at least one thing per month, either quilty or knitty or reading or life related, I will feel a sense of accomplishment. But, the year is young...

Last weekend was the Knitter's Weekend at Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. It was my sixth year of attending and, once again, it was a great event. I attended the Friday evening opening night which was wonderful. It included wine and cheese and trunk shows from the two instructors for the weekend, Ellen Mason and Thea Colman. It was lovely to see their work in "real life", as I have been a big fan of Baby Cocktail's designs (Thea Colman's) for quite sometime. I was new to Ellen Mason's work, but after hearing the rave reviews from people who took her workshops and seeing her work in person, I would definitely take part in one of her classes in the future. There were also book signings by Barbara Parry (Adventures in Yarn Farming) and  Gudrun Johnston (The Shetland Trader), who also gave a wonderful lecture about the Shetland Islands, where she was born. Additionally, prior to the event, the Slater Mill had the Brown House open for people to enjoy with warm and cold beverages of all types, both modern and traditional, and more crackers and cheese, etc. available. Each of the historic rooms had a roaring fire in the fireplace and there was music and warm and cozy locations to sit, chat, and even knit if one so desired. It was a lovely evening and I look forward to next year!

On Saturday, I took a workshop with Thea Colman on design. We learned to look at yarn through a designer's eye, and make appropriate choices for pattern and design to use with that yarn to make a cowl. In the four hour course, I barely got to the swatching of my pattern design choice, while others were well on their way to working on their finished cowls. It wasn't about the product in this class as it was about the process, and I learned so much. I will never look at my yarn stash and project choices the same way again. If Thea returns again, I would not hesitate to take a class with her! She stated that our Saturday morning class was her first "official" workshop given outside of her home. I was so lucky to be a part of her initiation! She is a wonderful teacher and her work is inspiring!

It has otherwise been a crazy week. Weather has caused us to have another snow day (our second) which will make for tons of fun in June when we have to make them up. It is the last week for my oldest to be under this roof..she has found her own apartment and will be moving out next Saturday. I obviously have mixed emotions, as contrary to what others believe, I will miss her. But it is time. She is only moving a short distance away, and as we work in the same place, although differing programs and buildings, we will be seeing quite a lot of each other I am sure. It is time. The spousal unit has also receive his first work offer in over 6 months of unemployment, which is wonderful news. I believe he will be accepting the offer, which will make life a bit easier financially around here. This has been the longest stretch of unemployment for him..although it has been several months in the past as well. For all of our sakes and sanity, thank goodness something has finally turned up.

I am almost finished with my Rhinebeck sweater that I started last summer which was supposed to be done in time to wear it to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival last October. I am hoping to have it done in time for this week's Knitting Guild meeting on Wednesday. But with school work being of more importance (the new semester started this week as well), it is not a top priority. Maybe tonight while watching Downton Abbey and Sherlock I will make some progress.

This Tuesday I will be bring the girls to a concert in Boston. It is the Acoustically Irish concert with Ryan Kelly and Neil Byrne from Celtic Thunder. It is at a little restaurant/club venue and should be fun. It will be good to see my youngest as well. I'll let you know how it all goes. Later...

Almost a week later...

So I'm not doing too bad so far this year keeping up with regular posting. But the year is young.

Last night I spent a wonderful evening with family celebrating my cousin's and her husband's 25th wedding anniversary. Her daughter, and his daughter, combined forces and put a wonderful surprise party for their parents. It was a great night getting to see extended family members that I don't get to see that often, unless it is a wedding, graduation or funeral. I was happy that my sister was able to make it down from New Hampshire to attend the party as well. It is always good seeing her.

Over this past week or so, I became obsessed with starting new projects that I know will be a challenge for me to work on, let alone finish. But they were all so intriguing that I just couldn't resist. Two of them are Follow Your Own Ending type mystery shawls, while the other is a pair of mystery socks. One of the shawls is a Downton Abbey MKAL, which I am very excited to be joining. However, the yarn that I ordered from Jimmy Beans Wool in the Bated Breath colorway has not arrived yet, so I am already a bit behind in that project already.Episode 2 is on tonight and certain elements of the show are used to provide clues in the knitting project. I will have to DVR the episode so I will be able to focus and do the clues when my yarn arrives. The other project is a Ysolda Teague mystery KAL for which I am using 2 skeins of Malabrigo Sock yarn in Impressionist Sky, which is a lovely, semi-solid blue. I haven't swatched, but other folks in the group who are using the same yarn were able to come close to gauge using size 6 needles, which is the recommended size, so that is what I am going with. That KAL starts tomorrow, but I haven't wound my yarn yet, as I was hoping to have a marathon winding session with my Bated Breath yarn as well. It is on it's way, so maybe it will be here tomorrow and I can at least start one of the KALs if not both.

A new discovery for me this week was downloading E-books from my local library. I knew it was possible, but I had never explored the actual options and titles available until now. I downloaded "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. I am enjoying it so far, and hopefully I will be able to finish it before my 21 days of downloaded time are up. That is the only drawback to not buying the E-book, is the fact that I am under a deadline to finish it. I wonder what the renewal options are for E-book borrowing? hmmmm...

I am hurrying to finish my Rhinebeck Sweater (aka Monday Morning Cardigan) before this weekend's Knitter's Weekend, which is an annual event that is held at the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI. The knitting guild that I belong to holds their meetings at Slater Mill, and we are also having a bake sale table as a fundraiser that weekend as well. I am taking a class with Thea Coleman which I need to prepare for this week some time, as well as attending the opening night reception/trunk show on this coming Friday night. It is a wonderful event and I am very excited to be participating in it again this year. Last year I took a steeking class with Ragga von Ericksdotter, which was great. This year will be wonderful as well, I am sure!

I have several quilting type gifts that I need to make very soon as well. I want to make a table runner for a friend who has kindly gifted me her extra seat at a recent performance of "Phantom of the Opera". It was the most amazing piece of theater I have ever seen (and as a theater major, I have seen a lot) Her seats were 4th row center orchestra..amazing! For the last time she brought me, I gave her a gift certificate to Joann Fabrics, as her daughter was making costumes for a play she was directing and could use the money, and also my friend with the tickets does card making and scrap booking, so I thought she might be able to use it for that as well. Now I want to make her a quilted gift to show my appreciation for her generosity. I just have to find the right fabrics to match her dining room.

I also need to make a get well soon quilt for a teacher that I work with who has suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was riding his bike on the Sunday before Christmas when he hit a pothole and was thrown from his bike. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet, but he was knocked unconscious and was in a coma for several days after. He spent several weeks in the hospital and has now been moved to a rehabilitation hospital near Boston to further his recovery. So I want to make him something that will remind him that I am thinking of him while he works to get back home. According to the doctors, it is going to be a long journey, but he should be able to return to most, if not all, of his life before the accident.

Okay..enough jabbering for this week..I am off to work on my sweater and watch a DVD, Cloud Atlas, on the new blue ray/dvd player I got last week. My old one died several months ago, which hindered my dvd playing significantly. And considering I have had this particular netflix dvd for several months now, I think it is time that I watched it and send it on it's way.

Happy 2014 and other stuff

Alright..so much for my actively and regularly updating this blog. It is now three days into the new year, 2014, and this is my first post in well over a year. I managed to skip right over 2013 entirely. To say that I was busy last year would be an understatement.

 Last year was the year that I decided to tackle one of the biggest, and longest, unfinished projects of my life. Back in the mid '70s, I started my college career pursuing a bachelor's degree in theater. After the fall term of 1978, I left college without a degree, and it has been one of the only major regrets that I have had throughout my life. So, during the fall of 2012, I decided to finally apply to, and got re-accepted at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to finish what I started nearly 40 years ago. I began classes, completely online, in January of 2013 and I have now completed six classes, maintaining a 4.0 average. It has been a ton of work, all being done while working full time and continuing to design costumes for all of the school productions where I work. And I tried to simultaneously have a life.

 Right now I am taking a well deserved, in my opinion, winter break from classes, although they do start up again on January 21. Until then, I am trying to catch up on knitting, reading and mindless television watching. And, in my usual manner for the new year, I am trying to organize my life in some ways. I spent a good part of an afternoon organizing computer files on my school laptop. I got as far as buying a couple of plastic bins to try to manage the yarn monster that is my stash. (Once again, both myself and my yarn purchasing are on a strict diet for the foreseeable future). I have been trying to finish up a Rhinebeck sweater that is on the needles which was started in September but was obviously not finished in time to wear to this year's New York Sheep and Wool Festival this past October. I am aiming for the Knitter's Weekend which is scheduled for January 17. I think I will make it. I also have several KAL's which I have insanely signed up to do, which will probably be additional UFO's, but I am motivated to at least start them before my classes begin. I have managed to finally finish the summer reading book, Defending Jacob, only three months late. And I have only a little bit left to read in Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children which was started last spring. So, am I making progress? I think so.

 This year is going to be another crazy one, with a full plate of classes and work and a huge costume musical, Wonka, to attack by April. But hopefully, it will all work out..fingers crossed. And once again, I hope to faithfully chronicle some of it here in this blog. No one may be reading it..but that is ok. I think the act of writing it is helping me to remain accountable, and that's a good thing (sorry Martha).

 Happy New Year!