Finishing

Today is a day for finishing things.

I finished Game Boy's new knucks.

I finished curtains for our bathroom.

I finished this very long trilogy (over 1300 pages of fiction.

And tonight I'll be finishing my 30s. 

Tomorrow is for starting:  new projects, new decades, other new things.

A Love Affair

One of the things that has surprised me is how visceral my love for where we live now has been.  I've lived in a variety of places:  Kansas City, Sarasota, Lexington (KY), Madison County (KY), and Sewanee, TN.  There have been things and places that I love about all of them, but somehow Walla Walla trumps all of that.   When I am out riding, there is always something that takes my breath away (and I'm not talking about riding up the hills). 

I rode out of town (easy enough) and went toward Oregon.  As I rode down Cottonwood, I could see the mountains with their snowy summits and the green moving its way up from the valley through the foothills.  As the altitude decreases, the green becomes deeper and deeper.  Spring, with all of its promise, is here.  Everything is new and green (soon we'll have shades of gold and brown, with the deep blue sky looking over it all) and it's easy to see why some of the pioneering people stopped here instead of pushing to the coast and said, "This is home."

I agree:  This is home.  My home, and some days I am amazed that I have the privilege of living here.

Word Clouds

from here.

What to do

when concentrating is hard.

The really big clapotis

It covers most of the hammock

 The clapotis (pattern on Knitty.com) I started the day before Wiz's surgery.  I messed it up, though.  I added 6 extra increase repeats.  I had to buy more yarn, and I knit only 9 straight repeats.  It's warm, and huge, and almost a blanket.  It was just complicated enough to be interesting, and not too complicated that I'd mess it up while working on it at the hospital.  I wove in the ends the morning before Wiz went back to school for the first time.  (I used Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Moondance and knitted it with size 7 needles.  Really lovely yarn.)

Swirly socks for the Collar

 On the drive over to Seattle, I finished these socks for the Collar.  I mostly worked on them in waiting rooms.  (Serenity Sock Weight in Picasso Marble--just simple easy stockinette socks.

skinny cozy made with super bulky yarn, so the heavy skinny cozy

 Before we went over, I knit this.  I have no idea why.  I'm not sure it even has much use!  But now, I can concentrate again, so I've started this:

Stranded mitten.  Complicated knitting is available to me again.

You Think You've Seen Snow?

Mount Ranier, March 2010.

Yes, Game Boy is in shorts.  He usually is.  I have other battles to fight.