Hi! Remember me?

So, back in April when I moved the videocast over to it's own blog, I fully intended to leave this one up and to continue to blog here about my own personal knitting and fiber and life stuff. Heh. That worked well, eh?

Sorry.

Really didn't mean to leave you hanging like that.

If anyone is still checking in here after four months of radio silence, I'm happy to tell you that I am going to begin blogging here again, f'realz. Not sure if it is the impending change of seasons or what, but I'm feeling that old familiar feeling of wanting to blog again, to get back into a routine (in general, really, not just in the blogosphere). Not sure how often I'll be able to post, but I'll try to make it regular.

A few things that have been going on in my life since you heard from me last...

 I went to Spring Fling in April, where I got to hang out with Steve from Dramatic Knits...

 ...and with Stacy from Tempted Yarns.

 In June, the kids and I spent a week in Florida visiting my mom and stepdad...

 ...and spent lots of time on the beach and in the sun.

 ...and I endured the after effects of a really ill-fated decision to try platinum highlights (this was after they were "fixed" but still...ugh...)

 It got hot and we all had to find ways to stay cool. Muffin's favorite way has been to sprawl on the wood floors like this.

In July, I got a new tattoo!

 And at the beginning of August, we went to NC to welcome our oldest home from his seven months in Afghanistan!

Then I got to spend the next weekend back in NC, taking my grandson to visit with his dad for a few days. First time they saw each other since January. What a happy day!

And of course, there has been a lot of dyeing for the shop, and a LOT of knitting!

Bakersfield

 Plain ribbed socks out of some of my hand-dyed yarn...

 Springtime Bandit out of some of my handspun...

 Flutter-by Socks out of a colorway called Tiny Umbrellas!

 The Arcadian Shawl, which was my first Camp Loopy project. I finished my second project, too, but the third has done me in. I'm a Camp Loopy drop out!

And I've done a bit of designing, too!

The Twistygoo hat...a free pattern downloadable on Ravelry. :)

I'll stop there. I've got more to share, but it can wait! I will say I have a couple more patterns in the works...a sock pattern that is out to test knitters right now, a shawl pattern I need to edit and get out to testers, and another sock pattern that I'm still knitting and writing up. So, yeay!

And we started our 12th homeschooling year on Monday, definitely a harbinger of fall!

Is it too soon to play catch up?

Seriously, it's only mid-January, and while I'm feeling quite on top of some things, there are other areas where I feel behind. I've been mentally composing a blog post for days now. Too bad that doesn't automatically get it up here. ;)

So, we're home from our third and final trip to North Carolina. We spent two 14 hour days in the car with two days of time with our son and grandson sandwiched in between. It was an interesting visit, as we were based out of our hotel room the whole time we were there, and we were driving a vehicle that seats five, only we had six people. So anywhere we went with the whole crew, it involved me driving everyone there in shifts. As it turned out, a major snow and ice storm came through Jacksonville the Monday we were there, making everything a grand mess. Many businesses and restaurants shut down that day because they get that kind of weather so infrequently that they aren't prepared for it.

The weather made it necessary to say our goodbyes to him earlier Monday than we'd planned so I could get him back to base (which was also closed to all non-essential personnel) before the next wave of ice came through. I'd had my major emotional meltdown the week before when I'd returned him after New Years, but it was still hard to say good bye again. What was harder, though, was having to watch him say goodbye to his five year old son. I'm not sure how much our grandson understands about where his dad is going, he just knows he'll be in first grade before Daddy's back home again.

Our drive home Tuesday was nerve-wracking due to the bad roads and continued snow and ice. I was so thankful Kevin was driving and not me, but even I was tense. It feels so good to be home. I spent the rest of last week taking the Christmas stuff down (finally) and trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning as well as getting us all back in the swing of our school routine.

In the midst of all the crazy, I have been knitting and spinning! During the ride down to NC and the first day there, I made a pair of worsted weight socks for our son to take with him...he won't be able to wear them in uniform, but they'll keep his feet warm when he sleeps!

Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Color; Generic toe-up sock

I started this Moody Kerchief shawl while we were in NC, and it was my drive home knitting, during which time I got most of it finished.

Moody Kerchief by Kirsten Kapur; Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino, Ginger Honey colorway.

I ended up modifying the pattern a good bit. I was using two sets of color gradient mini-skeins from Three Irish Girls that I got in the Pick of the Knitter club a couple years ago. That gave me far more yarn than the pattern called for, and I wanted to use as much of it up as I could. I added a lot of extra rows to the straight knitting sections, and then I ended up adding some extra sections as well.

I'd envisioned the color changes happening at section changes, but that didn't work out completely. Still, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I finished it the day after we got home.

And right now, I'm in several swaps. I try not to do swaps too often because the pressure of getting the right things for my swap partners tends to stress me out. LOL But somehow, I managed to sign up for three swaps going on simultaneously, two of which involve the requirement of a knitted item. I've never done that kind of swap before, so...extra pressure! Ahh! I do have my first knitted item finished, but I won't post pictures of it until after it is received. I will say I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope its recipient likes it too!

For one of the other swaps I'm doing, I decided to spin my own yarn for one of the yarn requirements. I must say, I am totally loving this yarn...

The fiber itself looks good enough to eat...

It's BamHuey, a bamboo/merino blend dyed by NewHueHandspuns. I've worked with this fiber before, spinning the Sun Beams colorway for my Caricia shawl. It spins like butter, seriously. It is fabulous! And I think the color will be perfect for it's recipient.

Oh, and just another note about our deployed son to bookend this post. He actually called us last night...from Afghanistan! Seriously? I was tickled to hear his voice (and he seems to be doing just fine), but do you know how surreal that is? I mean, I know technology has changed the face of war in so many ways, but I can't help but think how in the not too distant past, families waited weeks or months just for a letter home from their loved one who was off fighting. Now, they're just a phone call or e-mail away. I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about that, but I'll spare you. Because honestly? I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about many things lately. My brain is working overtime, and it's all I can do to keep up.