Kate needed a couple of totes for a little pack-up & move of her Etsy workspace, so I emptied a few for her… my workroom was already a mess, a little more yarn on the table rather than in a tote for a few days wasn’t going to make much difference!
I started repacking those totes yesterday, with a discerning eye. I’ve unpacked & repacked much of it before (perhaps several times), so it was time to make a call on a few things.
Six baby sweaters that have all been knit, but not entirely finished. Some of them need complete sewing up & finishing, some of them need just a sleeve attached, and some of them need only buttons.
I posted about them on FB with a call for takers… I don’t have any babies on the horizon, and I’m just not going to finish them.
Kate’s packing them up, as we speak, to ship them off to a taker in Monterey, CA. I found at least three other sweaters in similar shape since I took photos & posted, so they’re going, too.
Hello, what? I’m definitely a “process knitter.”
It feels so much “lighter” in my workroom — what a difference nine little sweaters can make!
Our Airbnb guests departed early yesterday (it’s a long drive back to ND!), so I went over to get started on the laundry… which also means, continue seaming the blanket. I had maybe 12″ to go on the second-to-last seam, and thought I’d get a good start on the last.
I posted on IG and said, “The end is in sight. 🔎😍🎉”
Lori (my one-and-only known true birthday twin) said, “Finishing such a big project feels so momentous. Congratulations!”
I replied that I’m not finished YET! My usual MO for Laundry Day @ the Airbnb is to plug along until the laundry’s done… that big square table is so perfect for the work!
But Lori’s comment… oh boy, FINISHING SUCH A BIG PROJECT… WOULD FEEL GREAT!!
As the calendar stands now, I won’t be back there for another laundry day for a few weeks… and the more I thought about waiting, the more I couldn’t stand it, so I just finished the damn thing!
There are a few ends to weave in, and a border to knit, but I don’t need a big worktable for that! The end truly is in sight. 🔎😍🎉
_ _ _ _ _
April 28th. My Grandpa was born 115 years ago today! I wrote a post on this day in 2010, for his 100th, if you’re interested — lots of great old photos! (As ever, so thankful for the shutterbug side of the family.)
Here’s another…
In the cottage at the flowage. Grandpa was learning to read again after a stroke, and was reading one of the kids’ books to Ali (in his lap), my cousin’s stepdaughter, and Kate. It was about dinosaurs, as I recall.
Today we celebrate the last of the April birthdays!
We celebrated Kate’s (40th) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) birthday on Tuesday! We made Asparagus-Gruyere Ravioli & Mint Pea Pesto w/Balsamic Romaine Salad from a nicely timed Marley Spoon* delivery that day. We celebrated again on Wednesday with the other Marley Spoon dish, Coconut Turmeric Mahi Mahi w/Blistered Tomatoes & Rice. Then Ali & the kids came down for singing & tea cakes!
Today is Maddy’s 34th. She gets to celebrate double, since it was her birthday “yesterday” in Australia and today here! I can’t wait to see her in a few months!! I sent a gift certificate to a nice restaurant with plenty of GF options; she & Viv have been there before, but it’s been a few years. Looking forward to a report!
I’ve been knitting… sort of… the littlest thing makes me set it aside.
After several months, I picked up the MKAL gnome from December… which is not a mystery anymore! I really loved knitting the faux embroidery on Gnana’s cape & body. I’ve stalled at the “add weighted stuffing” part. Also, it looks like I need to stuff that body a bit more & hopefully get a more rounded shape, though there may not be enough “give.” And I need to seam her cape. Little things. There’s a long weekend ahead, and I’m going to give her a push!
On the hunt for more NA/AF/Alcohol-removed options, we stopped by Total Wine & More the other day, recently opened in our area — it was my first time there. They have way more options than the grocery store, though the NA section in the grocery store liquor department has definitely grown over the past year or so.
Needle & Thread is not an alcohol-removed wine, but isn’t that a great label? I love looking at wine labels.
Finally, when Maddy & Viv were here last summer, I blogged about a bunch of stuff that was going on, including meeting Patrick Martin, a musician who is the cousin of Maddy’s BFF’s husband. (How many degrees of separation is that? haha)
I took a series of photos & Google made them into a GIF! I love it so much that it lives in my Pictures folder with a few others of the girls & me… I watch them once in a while… they just make me happy! Patrick is in the back on the right, next to Viv.
I shared a couple of Patrick’s links in last summer’s post, including a Spotify preview. Since then, I’ve been following him on IG @patrickmartin and the other day, he posted about one of his songs that’s played at the beginning of S1 E9 of Netflix’s new show, Ransom Canyon! I haven’t watched that show yet — it was just released last week! I’ve heard it described as a PG version of Yellowstone. I have been listening to Patrick’s song! It’s called Lean In.
He had the cutest post the other day about what happens when a small artist has a song featured in a Netflix show. I’m so happy for him!
As mentioned a few days ago regarding the Airbnb, the NFL Draft is happening this weekend. It’s a 3-day event and folks have draft fever around here! I’ve never watched before, but we just happened to land on it last night just a few picks before Green Bay’s first-round opportunity, and we picked a wide receiver… I guess it’s the first WR we’ve drafted in over 20 years. (Who knew?) (I bet Addie did.)
That’s all I’ve got! Have a great weekend… I know I’m gonna!!
*If you’d like to try Marley Spoon, I have 10 boxes to give away (and I get some sort of reward, too) (#ad), just click on this link.
…are now available!! My fan-fucking-tastic friend Cara (aka @january_one on IG) has been working out the frustrations that so many of us have been feeling in her own, very Cara way!! I couldn’t be happier to share the news about this fucking pattern, and $5 from each sale will be donated to the ACLU.
I had to make a stop at the credit union for work on my way home on Friday…
…and ended up stalking a sandhill crane! From the drive-thru, there’s a row of employee parking, then a large expanse of grass, before reaching an apartment complex. I have seen sandhill cranes there before, but never so close — it was just on the other side of the row of cars! I stalked/took pics from my car… didn’t want any trauma.
I also stopped at Ali’s on the way home from work.
The upstairs bathroom/laundry wall, now with plumbing and electrical roughed in. Rusty’s been working on priming & painting baseboards and acquiring/installing sheetrock/flooring.
Saturday was low-key. The kids had an early visit from the Easter Bunny, and it was nice enough for a trail walk.
The ravine has exploded with snowdrops. Ginny is holding one of many bouquets. She also found an old bottle down there, which she cleaned out & used as a vase for some of that handful.
Had a funny teaching moment later that day when Junah emerged from the bathroom & said, “Oh, I used up the toilet paper.” Well, thank you very much for telling me, but… “AHEM!! Whoever uses it up installs a new roll!” Ta-da!
Sunday was spent doing some laundry at Ann’s. The NFL Draft is in Green Bay this week and we have some people driving over from North Dakota to attend! I did a little seaming on the Family Temperature Blanket while I was there — there’s just a little bit to go with joining panel #4 to #5, then the seam between #3 and #4 will join it all together. I should have some time this weekend to hopefully get that done!
While the washer was going, I walked down to Ali’s & removed all the prisms from an antique chandelier that was left in the house — 120 of them, from little buttons in a couple of different sizes, to various sizes of teardrops & other dangly shapes, some of them close to 4″ long. They were filthy, so I washed them all & assessed. There’s at least one medium size teardrop missing, but I likely have a replacement. I spent a little time watching YouTube videos on how to join the prisms together, and will be ordering some parts… and a special pliers… adding “antique chandelier restoration” to my list of skillz. I brought that chandelier, along with another, in for re-wiring/repair today (which I thought about doing myself, but naaahhhhh).
cape & body. I’ve stalled at the “add weighted stuffing” part. Also, it looks like I need to stuff that body a bit more & hopefully get a more rounded shape, though there may not be enough “give.” And I need to seam her cape. Little things. There’s a long weekend ahead, and I’m going to give her a push!
