Randomly on a Tuesday

1. I am leaving for Madrona tomorrow.  After a wicked sprint this last weekend, everything for the workshops and classes and (almost) the Teacher Talent Show for Charity (You’re coming, right?) I am pretty much packed and ready.

2. That’s a lie. Everything for work is packed and ready, but I haven’t packed clothes or anything personal, like knitting or… anything.

3. I am sitting here at my desk, surrounded by piles of paper and post-it notes and the little baby sweater I was so sure would be done on Friday is sitting here too, and still isn’t anywhere near done.

sweatersleeve 2016-02-09

Progress has, in fact, slowed to a crawl – which is what happens when you don’t really knit on something – or in this case, don’t knit on it for hours a day. I keep picking it up to do a row here and there, but the gauge is 32 stitches to 10cm, and that’s not a quick knit anyway you slice it, and I don’t know what I was thinking when I thought it was.  I am a lunatic. (Note to self. Pack buttons.)

4. I’m doing a book signing at Madrona – Saturday between 5-6.  Swing by and say hello if you’re around. I’d love to see you, and you can even bring a book if you like. (I don’t think there are any for sale in the Marketplace, so maybe plan ahead if you’ve got your heart set.)

5. Debbi and I busted a move, and the Strung Along April Retreat is open! We don’t have tons of spots, but there’s quite a few, and we’d love it if you came.  If you want, there’s more information on the retreat page.  The theme is Colour and Texture, and Judith MacKenzie will be there to teach spinning, and it should be really amazing. We’re excited, and can’t wait to share everything we’ve got planned.

6. Earlier today I was booking my shuttle to and from Madrona, and I was giving the very nice lady my flight information, and I told her I was arriving on Wednesday the 10th, and leaving on Monday the 14th. There was a pause, and then she said “You mean, Monday the 15th?” I scanned the flight information, found the date and read it out loud to her.  “Nope, it’s definitely the 15th. I’m looking right at it.”  I paused here to read it aloud to her (although I’m super unclear on how that would be proof, since she can’t see it)  “Flight XXXX, leaving Monday, the 15th of March. It’s the 15th for sure.”

There was this long silence, and she said “March?” and I said “That’s right.” Another pause… “Your textile conference is a month long?”  I boggled at the thought of that, and was just about to say something about how great a month long textile retreat would be, when It hit me like a ton of bricks.  My flight was wrong. I got off the phone just about hysterical, and called the airline and it’s all fine and I’m not staying in Seattle for a month, and there were absolutely flights free on Monday (this Monday) and the change was fine, and after I had it all sorted, I wondered what happened.  “Man, I can’t believe I did that” I said to the airline lady. “Wishful thinking?” She said.  “Maybe… ” I said, and then I imagined a month just for knitting and was momentarily disappointed.

7. I am super glad I discovered this today, instead of at the crack of dawn on Monday morning at the airport.

8. I am not a morning person.

88 thoughts on “Randomly on a Tuesday

  1. bahaha! Love your “randomly on a” [whatever day] posts. Love the baby jacket. Love the airline story (if it had happened in the USA it would not have been such an easy fix, just saying, and kudos to Air Canada – presuming here – for being reasonable about changes), Wish I was going to be at Madrona
    Enjoy!

  2. You have GOT to start listening to these subtle signals…an extra three weeks in Madrona practically guarantees the completion of that baby sweater.

    It’s the Universe just sayin’.

  3. Watching the football game Sunday night I discovered that I can no longer knit fair isle while watching football. At least not this fair isle. (might have been a poor design decision to use 3 colors on a row) and I didn’t have a purse sock going, so I ran upstairs to hit the stash… and the thing on top was a skein of cream cashmere blend. Just cream. No colors, no dye, no fancy.. just really really soft cream cashmere…

    So I grabbed it and some needles and started a sock. It was soft. It was lovely. It didn’t require any thought at all…

    2 inches of cream ribbing later and I’ve added little blue diamonds because while it’s really really soft… 8 stitches / inch of cream ribbing going round and round gets really boring really fast.

    Have fun at Madrona. Wish I were going to be there.

    • I’m with you on Superbowl knitting – I had to bring a very simple fingering weight neckerchief – all garter stitch all the time except for an occasional row of YO, K2tog, and increases every row so no “which row am I on” questions…it was perfect; got alot done!

  4. Began two color knitting today and found out that it is not as scary as I imagined it to be and that…I LIKE IT! That baby sweater is now a possibility for me.

    Pattern please…pretty please..maybe, sorta…kinda???

    bjr

  5. Booking the wrong date is ok; at least you were going the right place.
    DH nearly booked a flight once (it was such a great deal!) to Birmingham, Alabama instead of Birmingham UK. No wonder the price was so amazing.

    Also, you have to stop posting pictures of cute baby things. I’m not having more kids, darn it!! 🙂

    • Maybe some friends or relations will have some, just so you have an excuse to knit cute kid stuff! If that fails, check online for charity knitting, especially NICU hats and blankets for premies.

  6. While you’re at it check to make sure your drivers license didn’t expire last year. I spent my morning saving my husbands butt – he go to his car rental and they told him no valid license, no car. So luckily I could renew it for him online. Got to his hotel and he realized he’d left his knitting on the back of the couch. He’ll just have to yarn shop in Tucson I guess.

        • You could find one at my house. On his third jersey as we speak. And our first grandchild born 9.2.2016 came home from hospital wearing a hat his Dad (our son) knitted for him.

    • Knitting husband??? Awesome! I have a cooking husband which is pretty cool too. My husband conned me into cycling and now I love it, but he still shows no interest in my knitting except to request really boring items. He loves plain socks, no stripes or colorwork on ANYTHING ;). He is trained on any trip he takes to find a yarn shop and ask for ‘local yarn’ for me though…

  7. Hilarious! (says she who is avoiding grading while having a wee (really wee #2 if we’re being honest) cocktail and wishing she were knitting instead). Also, it seems that this is the year I’m finding out about all the freakin’ amazing retreats (run away! run away!) that I could go to…if I had the funds. The Strung Along April Retreat sounds fantastic. I’ll have to keep this option in mind. Happy traveling.

  8. oh have a great time!
    I would love to be able to go to a retreat!

    Your name is all over Mason Dixon Knitting right now…

    • I had to have a look. Wow.

      I would put Steph there too – and Ravelry-Jess n’ Casey, and Techknitter. If nobody has heard of her, then all the worse for their knitting. How one person may come to know so much is beyond me – almost every skill that elevates my knitting to true craft I’ve learned from her blog.

      The rest of my list would be Scandinavian designers and bloggers. =)

  9. The thought of being able to stay on a retreat for a month sounds great…but would you be able to even get in the front door when you got home? Especially now that it is not just Joe at home?

  10. one of the lovely things about retirement is that it IS a mini knitting retreat all the time, even my brief hospital stay for a mastectomy(I’m fine now/cancer free). I guess not alot of people knit in their hospital room cuz I sure got comments! But if one has to be tethered to a hospital bed overnight by IVs, machines and whatnot….I got a ton of knitting done 🙂 My only concern was keeping the yarn on the bed so I didn’t bother the nurses with “can you retrieve my yarn from the floor”…..

    Glad you’re all sorted; have a wonderful time. Looking forward to Strungalong in June!

    • Wow. When I had my breast cancer surgery, I was so knocked out and my hurt so much after the surgery that I couldn’t see straight, let alone knit in that hospital bed.

    • Try explaining that you’re in an international sock speed knitting contest and that the oxygen monitor on your finger is slowing you down if you want great comments. Just sayin’

  11. Just think of all the seattleites you could stay with in a month! We also have blur skies & 60 degree weather. Spring is here. Flowers are blooming. Hope to see you @ madrona

  12. I had to touch the clock, month of just knitting in Seattle! I might miss my husband and kids a little. Props to the lady who knit after her mastectomy, I salute you! Some of the best people are on this blog.

      • Whoa, clone that surgeon! I felt like a Mack truck had run over my chest after my first mastectomy, though the second one (same surgeon both times) was breeze by comparison.

        • my prior lumpectomy was the Mac truck kind…this was a breeze. I guess you can never tell. Hope things are good for you now.

  13. Thank your lucky stars for leap year, or it would have been Monday the 14th of March and you would have blissfully booked your shuttle for four weeks before your flight.

  14. It’s a good thing it’s a leap year. If if wasn’t then the 14th would have fell on a Monday during both February and March — then the shuttle person wouldn’t have questioned you. Glad you got it straightened out. Have a great time in Madrona.

  15. Don’t feel bad–I used to be in charge of travel for my organization, and I once booked a flight for two coworkers that had the return flight A YEAR LATER.

    Yeah, I felt like an idiot. And I couldn’t even use the excuse that I wasn’t awake yet….

    Have a great trip!

  16. I’m the queen of getting dates wrong–last week, I showed up for a dr appointment in Seattle a week early! Luckily, they squeezed me in, but that’s just the latest example. See you soon–I have a surprise for you! Best, Terri

  17. I’m guessing you booked your flight on-line. For some reason, some of the airlines advance the month automatically for the return trip. It almost happened to me. Maybe it is another way for them to drive us crazy and make an extra $ on rescheduling fees?

    Love the baby sweater. It is beautiful.

  18. I feel your pain on the travel plans snafu. I’m always afraid of that happening. As I sit and type this I’m thinking to myself, “I really need to double check my flight dates for when I go to Vancouver in March.” Even though I’ve looked at it a million times and know my dates are correct, I’m going to look again.

    This also happened to a friend of mine, but he unfortunately did not find out until the day he was to fly home. He went on a long weekend to NYC and bragged about the great price he got on flights arriving Friday Morning and leaving Sunday evening. Well Sunday evening he discovered at the airport that his return flight had actually been on Friday evening. The same day he got there. Of course the flight was oversold and the last flight of the day, so he got stuck there and had to fly out the next day.

    I’m going to check my flights for Vancouver now, just to be on the safe side.

  19. Everyone has an airline booking horror story. That’s what binds us together as human beings.
    Darling baby sweater…How to you keep the sleeves from getting that annoying “jog” with dpn’s? I am at that stage on a wee cardigan now and am thrilled that I can do the wide kimono sleeves on a short circular. I use dpn’s all the time for socks with no problem, but my sleeves are always a nightmare.
    Anyway, safe and happy journey……

  20. I’d say that cute little baby sweater is coming along very well! I love it.

    Oh man, that whole flight thing happened to me, too, one time. I booked the dates I wanted, but totally wrong month. My brain had a glitch or something. Don’t think I was as lucky as you. I had to shell out a whopping fee to change it the right dates. Lesson learned. (I hope.)

    Safe travels tomorrow! I hope the retreat goes wonderfully.

  21. Oh heavens . . .you’re not done with that baby sweater yet??? It will be voting before you’re done!

    Oh, well, you can try to finish it on the way to Madrona. Have fun!

    • I commented on the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog tonight without looking at others’ responses, spending some time thinking about who has inspired me to knit.

      Then I read all the comments — you should take a look! Wow.

  22. I have done the airplane thing twice and it wasn’t pretty either time. Imagine arriving at Newark airport with a family of four, ready to go home, where you must be the next day, only to find out that it is the wrong day. Or, imagine finding out ahead of time, fixing the error, paying the fee, and arriving at the airport to find that the airline computer has lost two of four reservations and doesn’t recognizexthe confirmation number even though they are in sequence. Did I mention that another airline is on strike and the lines are a mile long. And that I cried until a manager was called who fixed it with a,stroke of the keyboard? You were blessed! Enjoy!

  23. Gadz my heart jumped at those dates. I create flights, hotels, shuttles, dinners, etc., as part of my job and that is my nightmare. The baby sweater is delightful and I can’t wait to see it blocked. Sometimes stuff goes slowly.

  24. I think between all of us in the yarn community in the greater Seattle area, we could have each put you up for a night to get you to March 15th! Each night a different hostess!! 🙂

  25. Oh my gosh, that baby sweater is the most adorable thing I’ve seen in ages! And you have gotten a lot done on it, since the last photo you posted.

    Your flight reservation debacle rivals my checkbook fiasco today! I thought I’d written out a $450.00 check for a bill a couple of weeks ago… turns out it was only written for $50.00, but my check register said it was for $450. I know that means I had $400 more in my account than I thought I did, but it wasn’t gonna fly with my creditor. Suppose we’re having age related issues? Nah, I didn’t think so either, we’re good!

  26. Once my sister accidentally booked a flight to Dayton instead of Daytona. I think this was before online booking so I’m no sure how she managed to do that…

    And one time my husband and I showed up at the airport promptly in the AM for a flight that turned out to actually be at the same time but in the PM – thank goodness that was his error, that’s all I can say! 🙂

  27. I am so glad to know its not just me that would book the dates entirely fine except for one small detail like the wrong month.

  28. My beloved American husband still has the occasional problem with the 24 hour clock system used for travel here in Britain, and occasionally arrives/departs 2 hours late, reading ’17:30′ as 7:30 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. Once he managed to reverse it and turned up 2 hours early … no idea how he did that. Overcompensation?

  29. That happened to me once, except there were no flights and I had to drive! Thankfully no across international lines and it was only 6 hours but the airlines probably see more mistakes now that we are all doing our own booking and our screens are much smaller than a computer monitor. Have fun knitting and touching soft and wonderful yarns. I look forward to joining you one year.

  30. So glad you sorted that out. These retreats you organize sound wonderful, and one day (when I don’t have littles running around everywhere) I hope to be at one. Have fun!

  31. In December I took a bus ride to a nearby city and on the ride back, I was told that my ticket had been booked for the day before. >.o Ugh. Luckily wasn’t too much of a problem except the ticket is under my legal name of course and the lady was trying to be polite, so kept saying my legal name. Just hasslesome.

  32. Have fun in Madrona! Just wanted you to know that I am on vacation in Jamaica. The only other time I’ve been out of the U.S. was to visit YOUR lovely country. Anyway, I an staying away from reading all emails, all internet sites with the exception of Facebook (as that’s how I’m staying in touch with family and my mum took a nasty spill the day before we left) buy there was no way I was staying away from your blog while I am away. Oh! And of course, I took my knitting.

  33. If you want to stay in Seattle for a month, you can stay at my place. I have plenty of yarn, and a couple of wheels. You’d do just fine.

  34. Coming home from my first year of college by way of visiting a friend going to school in the South, where we were going to drive home together from there in her car, the travel agent (I found out during a plane change in Chicago) had booked me not for Columbia, South Carolina but Columbus, Georgia. There were certainly no cell phones, I had not a cent to my name (my parents had paid for the flight) and some airline employee took pity–but that meant I had ten minutes to race across O’Hare to meet a different plane. Somehow I pulled it off.

    Glad you got yours straightened out early and at home!

  35. Huh?

    [quote]
    I told her I was arriving on Wednesday the 10th, and leaving on Monday the 14th. There was a pause, and then she said “You mean, Monday the 15th?” I scanned the flight information, found the date and read it out loud to her. “Nope, it’s definitely the 15th. I’m looking right at it.” I paused here to read it aloud to her (although I’m super unclear on how that would be proof, since she can’t see it) “Flight XXXX, leaving Monday, the 15th of March. It’s the 15th for sure.”
    [/quote]

    You said “Monday the 14th” and she said “You mean Monday the 15th?” and you said “Nope, the 15th”?

      • Yes, that’s only fair, I’m just relieved to have it confirmed that it was the quoted date not making sense rather than me losing my mind! (Still might well be losing my mind, of course; just nice to know that this isn’t specific evidence of it.) 🙂

  36. I love that sweater – but I think you’ve knit it once before, right? I bought the pattern because you knit it or something similar a while ago. It’s a beautiful sweater. Love your blog!

  37. It’s a beautiful little sweater, but the gauge is giving me horrors. Next time you start a baby sweater, how about reaching for the DK yarn and the size 6 (4mm) needles?
    Are you making this up as you go, or is there a pattern you could share?
    Julie in San Diego

  38. Oh man, do I need a month long knitting retreat. So many things to knit, so little time. *sigh*

    Also, I’m totally with you on knit projects that I could’ve sworn would be done by a deadline, not being done. I’ve been working on my new cowl for what seems like eternity, and I’d very much like it to be done and wrapped around my neck, since the temperatures have dropped. Sadly, no.
    Oh well! Keep on trucking! You (and I, hopefully!) will be done with y(our) projects in no time.

  39. Soooo the 15th of March is a Tuesday… Hope you got home ok!

    And I see a comment up there… I definitely narrowly avoided having my driver’s license expire because the TSA lady noticed it while checking my ID. Phew!

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