...the road ahead

...so, another year well underway.  Just returned from a holiday jaunt.  Had the opportunity to spend some quality time with a dear friend during the trip.  This friend is always good at spurring thoughts about what I have done with my life up to this point and just what I shall do with the future.   She helps me to sort through regrets and happy memories.  She challenges me to think outside the box when I talk with her about dreams -- she's really good at getting me motivated to make those dreams the stuff of everyday life.  She helps me see that the ordinary is not always boring and when things look bleak, they are not so much so when put in perspective with all the other things going on around me.  She helps me to see some of the harsh truths regarding aspects of my life and is never slow to point out that there are just as many, if not more details to counter the harshness.  We used to do all this over tea and coffee at the kitchen table.  Since she has moved away, this is not possible.  But once or twice a year, I am privilaged to a visit at that very same table.  We pick up as if it were just a few hours ago that we had last sat over a cup.  This is certainly a mark of a good friendship. 
...I must admit that over this visit, nothing definite has come to light as to where this year's road might lead.  Some small details made themselves known -- a new faboo work out in a mag at the PT's office;  ideas for better eating habits, again from a "gift" mag her hubby brought back from GB; project ideas for knitting; renewed interest in modern arts from a visit to "the Dali"; thoughts on renewing friendship and relationships with our husbands and children and good friends...so many little things that will affect the big picture in some manner, I am sure.  ...looking forward to sharing the stories yet again at that table, but until then the cell and computer will have to do.

...what I need

...really, saw this on the interstate going through Nashville.  Could have probably used a bit to settle my hand when taking photos, don't you think?

...dali, what a head trip

...HAD to check out the new and improved Dali Museum in St. Pete's.  Wow, this has to be one of the most fantastic museums I've been in.  I did not think they could make it better than the old place, but they did.  More prints/paitings/drawings etc...than the other.  It was wonderous and head-spinning.  Each one more bizzar than the next.  I absolutely loved it.  The new building was fantastic, but for some odd reason we could not find the entrance on the first try!  It was only obviously marked with an arrow showing it, but yet we walked the perimeter of the building.  It was worth the trek around.  The grounds are well designed -- the rocks (I did not get a photo -- why I did not think of it is beyond me...) looked just like ones Dali had painted in many paintings.  It didnt hit me until we were through a better part of the gallery.  Came home with a few goodies from the gift shop to savor the memory...

...have knitting, will travel

...so, here you see my knitting basket -- on the road.  Finished a no-brainer scarf project requested by my son.  He will be happy to have it around his neck when we return.  But the dilemma now is which project to start next.  In the photo you can see the wool for two of the three remaining, planned projects.  The blue wool is for a sweater pattern I found in a Rebecca magazine.  The self striping is for a pair of leggings.  The third wool is hidden under these, also a self striping ball of Opal for a pair of socks.  I'm really wanting to start the sweater, but it is a german pattern -- not as detailed and "hand-holding" in nature as american patterns.  My mind is definitely in VACATION MODE and does not want to process the steps to figure out the german pattern.  Its a cable/bobble/intricate pattern thing that will be lovely when done, just a troublesome thing to get set up and started (as I believe I may rip out a few times before I get it just right...)  ..."destination procrastination" on this one, I think.  Then the leggings one is a flat pattern that I wish to knit in the round.  Sounds simple, but I just cannot picture in my head why the cast-off and cast-on are where they are in yet another european pattern...left brain/right brain NOT co-operating!  Then there is the sock pattern -- not in the mood to do socks, but it will probably be the pick, as it is the one of the three projects that IS no brainer...
...oh, and I would like you to take notice of my FAVORITE knitting tool in the world...my hand-turned Nostepinne...I love this thing!  Thank you Adam for making it for me!!!  It has been very therapeutic for me to wind balls of wool using it...they look so pretty sitting like little eggs in my basket, I think....

...on the road

...leave at midnight, drive like crazy until 1pm, find hotel, watch game.  This was the start to our get-a-way.  We made it to Beckly, WV, we are in a cozy hotel, well fed, drinking beer and its half time (we are ahead 14-0!)  Kiddos are holding down the fort (we hope - also, have oma and opa's help with this one -- LOVE them!)
Long car rides ALWAYS mean knitting projects -- especially winter driving.  Its a great distraction for me so I don't slam on the phantom breaks floor side passenger seat!  This time, though, I was the driver for the snowy part of the trip -- ugh!  Thank God it only lasted a few miles...freak squall.  I have finished Jack's scarf request and have supplies for three projects - pair of socks, pair of leggings and a beauty of a sweater.  Let's see where that goes, eh? 

...wow! Has it REALLY been that long?

...I am sooooo surprised that no one has actually lost their life!  I am coming off of a VERY long dry spell of needle-less activity.  I've been getting my "career" in order, my social schedule more balanced with my "responsibility schedule".  Then the holidays just fell into the mix.  That is what brought the needles out of the dusty vase where they reside these days.  Granted the knitting was not the PLEASURE knitting I would have hoped for.  It was gift knitting -- a different creature altogether. 

  Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't mean to say I hate knitting for other people, its just a different mind set from the start.  Deadlines, preferences of others over personal creativity and the like sometimes makes gift knitting more of a "job" than my regular knitting.  I'm still finishing off a gift or two, but it is more like "request" knitting.  A scarf for "the boy" (soon to be "the man" -- whoa!) is what I'm working on right now. 

  I just really wanted to post to let any stray soul who might happen to actually follow this blog know that I'm still alive...bordering on the insanity that mid-winter in the northern Midwest USA brings...