Oh, the chaos!

You would think that with the amount of chaos I seem to attract that I’d always have plenty to write about and entertain my huge audience of blog stalkers But, no, most days it’s tough to update my Facebook status – it’s all just same ol’ same ol’, yanno?

So.

Switzerland rocked. Yeah, imagine that? The kids had a blast. The hubby & I had a blast. We hiked or took the train all over the area we were in (the Graubunden, if you want to Google it). Absolutely breathtaking territory – I have over 400 pictures, I’m still trying to decide which ones I should post. My children now understand the difference between pizza in Switzerland vs. pizza in the US – they’re pretty different critters. We’ve all come to the conclusion that we MUST learn German before we go over again.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see my relic bag Apparently, it is owned by a church that keeps their museum off limits to non-clergy. I did get to drag the kids to every church in Chur and listen to them whine until Hubby & I took them to a park and let them run wild. Hopefully they appreciated the beauty & history we were looking at, but I think what finally drove them nuts was going through the cathedral that still has an active congregation – there was an awful lot of “Don’t touch that!” “Don’t climb on that!” “Keep your voice down!” “Have some respect for where you are!”

Poor things. I’d've gone nuts too!

Since then, I’ve done one major ECS event (Coronation ) and one minor ren faire (Darkwell, sadly, a faire fraught with problems ). I’m watching my “Must Be Done before Vegas Faire” list get longer, and my time to do it in get shorter. At least our term as sovereign is going pretty smoothly (knock on wood).

Work is interesting, as ever. We had another round of layoffs – this time a lot of management went. Kinda creepy. As usual, my work load is “feast or famine.” Right now it’s supposed to be feast but there’s a lot of “email so-and-so and update Document X based on their response.” Not terribly helpful when so-and-so doesn’t get back to you in a timely manner. Ah well. It’s a paycheck, and usually the work is pretty fun.

I made a flip remark on one of my knitting lists that I’d love it if some generous patron would send me over to Switzerland so I can see the Sion and Chur relic bags (see Post #82 to help understand my infatuation). Well, then I find out that between the family company and a generous patron I can fly my entire family to Switzerland and have a place to stay for the cost of one airfare. Holy. Cow. Wait, it gets better! The town we’re staying in is very close to Chur, where one of the bags is housed, and reasonably close to Sion, where the other four bags are. I’m awestruck. Really. Now I just need to see if I can arrange to actually get into the churches where those bags are stored. I wonder if they’re on display? I’m bringing my poor, crude, copy of course. How could I not?!?

I have SO MUCH to do before we leave! I mean, really, should my airplane knitting be socks or a shawl? Lace? I probably ought to pick up some good travel clothes and walking shoes, fortunately there’s a shoe store near the yarn shop. Hmmm, a silk lace shawl? Nothing beaded, of course, that would be a nightmare if we hit turbulence. Pi R Square, maybe? I’ve got to pick a pattern and get it copied, probably best to put it in one of those plastic sleeves. Nothing with too big a chart, of course…

I’ve been having a real tough time with Dad’s death lately… Part of me still expects someone with a camera to jump out from behind a bush laughing about what a great practical joke it was and Dad’ll be there… and it seems every time I turn around there is another reminder that he’s gone, another push towards, well, acceptance, I guess. I’m trying to keep from crawling in a hole and pretending the world doesn’t exist.

I’ve decided to give up on ever doing the German Dress. Oh, there are a number of reasons, but the shortest answer is that I realized that the questions that I want answered before I start on the dress will never be answered without a time machine (or possibly access to the original dress…). So, moving on. Now I have to pick a new dress, and get over my phobia that I’ll screw it up. Oh, I have an idea, of course (Scroll down to “Viola’s Riding Habit”), and I have a pattern that I think will produce pretty much that dress…. I do need to dig up the velvet & jacquard that I bought for the German dress and see if it’s salvageable – I bought it when I was younger and less wise and it’s been stored poorly (folded up in a Rubbermaid tub), and the jacquard may be the wrong type (I think it’s rubber backed…)

Work has picked up – I realized I’ve had four bosses since Dad’s death 5 months ago, which is a little disturbing, but the company has gone through some shakeups due to the economy – I’m quite relieved to be working. My new(est) boss has taken it as his personal mission to ensure that I am kept quite busy, and I find it hard to complain . It has cut down on my time to play on Ravelry and the Knittyboard .

Of course I haven’t. I’ve spent way too long upgrading Wordpress & repairing my theme (note to self: before doing an upgrade, back up EVERYTHING, not just the stuff you think you need)

Actual content update? Maybe Monday….

She lost the baby.

I am a bad BlogStalker Mommy In my defense, there has been Stress, and… well. Stress.

The topic this time around is a virtual potluck and favorite holiday tradition.

To the Virtual Potluck, I bring you Soft Ginger Cookies. I actually made these for the company pot luck yesterday and I’ll probably make it for the pot luck my Norse studies group is having Saturday. Mmm, ginger cookies and spiced mead

My favorite holiday tradition is something we haven’t done in a loooong time. When I was younger, before my Grandfather died in 87, we used to go Christmas Tree Hunting. The entire family (Dad’s side – so we’re talking aunts & uncles & grandparents & cousins & dogs & thermoses of hot chocolate…) used to go out to some snowy tree filled wilderness and cut our Christmas trees. I miss that, a lot.

(moment of silence)

Anyway.

Yesterday I finally finished the sweater I was knitting for hubby. It’s pretty plain compared to what he wants (he’s a heavily cable encrusted aran kinda guy), but it looks awesome on him.

Details: It’s knit in charcoal grey Cascade 220. I used the Incredible, Custom-fit Raglanpattern, pretty much as written. I did put cables on the cuffs & hem, and knit a crew neck.

Photographic evidence:

In Ren News, Hubby and I have decided to run for Crown for our kingdom. I’m a little nervous, and a lot excited. I think we’ll have enough support to get it, but you know what they say about counting chickens before they hatch…

We’re also working on networking more in the area. We’ve found a few pirate groups and we’re hoping to be able to do some “Cross play” with them, help all our groups grow.

This week the BlogStalkers have a two-fer, to make up for a certain organizer *coughmecough* slacking on her responsibilities. So, “What makes you human in the morning?” and “what is your favorite breakfast?”

My usual Morning Requirements are a good, hot shower, and hugs from my kids. I hate going to work on days that they’re out of school (or worse: away!) – mornings seem a bit less cheery.

As for breakfast… well, I have a tough time eating breakfast, so I usually just feel good if I remember to grab some instant oatmeal in a paper cup at my desk at work. Weekends however, usually involve going out to breakfast with the family. Our latest foray was to IHoP, and they have what could be the bestest breakfast ever. Nutella Crepes. That’s right, crepes with nutella spread, bananas, and nuts. Oh, and whipped cream and powdered sugar, because everything at IHoP has whipped cream and powdered sugar.

As for the news… I’M GONNA BE AN AUNTIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh, what am I gonna knit? There are SO MANY choices! I gotta go to the yarn shop!

So, yesterday I get home from work and there is a phone call from my neighbor, who lives at 9*8 MyStreet and he has a package for me (I live at a different 9*8 MyStreet). Apparently FedEx did a ding-and-dash at his place, without giving him a chance to redirect them. So Mr. Wonderful Neighbor tries to call the people who were on the return address label, has no luck, then decides to hit google with my last name and our street and finds me. Yay!

The box contained three things: two books that a friend was getting rid of that Hubby and Miss Daughter would be interested in, and – the real gem here – a signed copy of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust for me

Thank you, my very dear friend, for shipping is those books. I am absolutely floored by the autographed Stardust.

I remember as a little girl – 10 or so – sitting with my grandmother and knitting needles that just seemed huge and this great green wool, trying to figure out how to knit. Of course, knitting Just. Wasn’t. Cool., so I annoyed grandma for a while and then ran off to do something else, like play with paper dolls or Barbies. You know, important stuff.

Years later, Grandma was gone and I was pregnant with my first baby. And dammit, there was going to be a baby blanket, knit by mom, for the sprog. By the time I muddled through teaching myself to knit, the sprog had been born and her little brother was on the way and they’d both gotten crocheted blankets . I knit then-hubby a sweater, without a pattern (thank you Elizabeth Zimmerman!) and even (gasp) STEEKED the sleeves (for non-knitters: this means I cut my knitting in order to sew the sleeves in. It probably doesn’t sound like a scary thing to you, but it is.)

I still knit frantically for various reasons: a nice sweater that is EXACTLY what I want, something to do with my hands, the pride of seeing someone love a gift that was made just for them, absolutely a one-of-a-kind.

I love my husband because he always makes me smile.
I love my knitting because it helps me relax AND never feels like wasted time – even if I rip more than I knit.
I love online communities because they make me feel less like a freak.
I love hot tea because it keeps me warm in my freezing cold office.

So… Americans, didja vote? I did – I got there before the polls opened (yawn) because I was convinced there would be a huge line. Yeah… not so much. I got out of there 15 minutes after the polls opened, and that included time to deal with technical difficulties with two voting machines.