Catch Up Time - found camera!

Well, I finally found my camera and have a lot of updates.

First: This weekend I finished the knitting portion of the baby sweater. Here it is before blocking and pinned out after a thorough dunking in cold water:

I've started on the bonnet and will most likely be ready for hemming and sewing tonight if the sweater is dry.

Also, as promised - my new offices! Main office on left. Secondary office on right (corner office with real wood furniture!!

There's even a full blown credenza!

And, I know I bothered a whole mess of you with constant geese stories when I first came on board here, but THEY WERE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW doing stuff like this all day!

....Always

I've been dreaming about Minneapolis a lot lately. I moved here to CT[1]about 12 years ago to be with p~. I've never really warmed to CT; now that he's gone, I'm not sure what's keeping me here. I guess it's mostly that he loved our little house and to leave it behind would feel like betrayal.

However, I continue to dream of large warehouse/loft apartments in downtown Minneapolis and pleasant times wandering the bustling streets of Uptown. Occasionally an old boyfriend pops up and I feel guilty.

I know it can't be the same as it was 15 years ago. I know I'm not the same.

But I want it to be; I want me to be.

It's all about loss. I guess that's what the next few years will be all about: loss.

The baby sweater is almost done - pix to follow.

Just had some stuff I had to get off my mind....

d~

[1] aka: "the fifth ring of hell" per Denis Leary in _The Ref_ - and he lives here!

Sometimes...

…I’m convinced I need to leave this place:

Police find pipe bomb stuffed inside chicken
June 10, 2008

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SIMSBURY, Conn. -- Authorities in Connecticut are wondering who stuffed a raw roasting chicken with a pipe bomb and left it on a roadside.
Simsbury police Capt. Matthew Catania says a motorist noticed the chicken Monday morning. He says the bomb was large enough to harm a person if it went off.
The road was closed while the Hartford Police Department's bomb squad came and blew up the chicken.
Nobody was injured. No arrests had been made Monday night.

Babies, babies everywhere...

It seems that everyone is having babies again. My mechanic's son just had a baby girl - my mechanic's first grandchild.

Now, most of you are thinking: "Your MECHANIC!?"

But, you must know one key fact to understand my relationship to my mechanic. My late husband used to own an Alfa Romeo.

We got to know our mechanic REAL WELL. In fact, I know the shop's phone number by heart. When we were married, Mike (our mechanic) INSISTED that I allow him to drive me to my wedding in a vintage (1953) Jaguar.
So, when I found out his son just had a girl - I dug around in my library and through my stash and came up with this:
Cotton yarn that I plan to use for the bonnet and booties as well - if the stash supply holds up.

I've gotten about twice as much lace right now. Made a quick stop to Michaels for some really nice ribbon and a lined basket to use as a gift box.

Unfortunately, they already have my car fixed, so I'm not going to be able to give it too them when I pick it up. :-(

I have about 7 or so projects already on the needles that I'm pretty much ignoring. This gave me a GREAT reason to start something new and get back to the knitting.

Hey, Buddy, can you spare some time?

Hey! I've got a new job that requires me to create surveys. I've been playing around with SurveyMonkey and if you have a spot of time, could you fill out my test survey so I can have some data to play with? There's just some stupid questions - you don't even need to be honest with your answers - I just want to see what kind of reporting capabilities are there.

Thanks! and feel free to pass it on to others!!

ps. Pictures of my office and the geese outside to follow as soon as I get a chance.

5 years

Greetings. I'm finally dragging myself out of the pit of my grief. Decided to bring this blog back into my life.

Thought I'd use today as the re-start point as today is the 5th anniversary of the 'start' of the war we are currently in.

I'm not going to preach or lecture or try to depress anyone. I just want to share some words that have remained with me since a high school English class when our super cool teacher said to us, simply:

"War is ishy"

For those of you with loved ones deployed - - here's to hoping they come home soon and safe.

Quick update

Well, the 2008 Stitch 'n Bitch calendar came out. I'm November 22.

I'm a bit disappointed:
1) I never got my complimentary copy.
2) They didn't print my blog address with my name.

#2 above had me a bit miffed and not quite so motivated to post. That, and (of course) a spot of depression due to grief.

Photos soon of finished sweater and a hat/mitten/scarf set (once I get it back from my SIL who promised to return them after xmas eve....). I've got another sweater (a cardigan this time) and a decorative (as opposed to *warm*) scarf in progress.

More later - as 2008 I plan to be more diligent with the postings.