The Fairy GodKnitter

November:

Cookie suggested bullet points, here they are:

1) Thanksgiving - nice, quietish, with a dog underfoot (Phoebe the Beagle) and a last minute extra at the table (a friend of Griff's from middle school who's mother was too busy drinking to cook). 

2) My sister and that dog were here all week.  I loves them both, but by day 5 1/2, I am ready for my house/life back.  Also, I made the mistake of shopping with my sister, a brilliant person who cannot make a retail purchase without someone saying "we're buying that stove or we are never buying a stove, in fact we are never eating again."  It's the same with shoes, handbags, houses, apples - she slays me.

3) Various days/hours were spent with both my niece and nephew.  They are both fine, the niece is bouncing back from her recent breakup and the nephew is waiting for his GF to finish up her Navy time in the Middle East.  I predict a 2013 wedding.

4) Connor was here all week.  It was lovely, he slept a lot and worked on a ton of homework.  By day 5 1/2, he was also ready to get his dorm room/life back.  We see him perform next week and then will pick him up a week later for his 3 week Winter break.  He recently decided to change is majors from Psychology/Theater to Biology/Theater - he can do this without falling behind if he takes one course next summer - I think this is a good move and proof that he has let go some of the baggage from his illness.

5) Griffin started Winter Crew - a sport that does not involve real water but does involve one of us picking him up at school 4 evenings a week.  If you are looking for me, I'm in the car.

6) I finished spinning some yarn:

1800 yards of 2 ply Alpaca/Merino/Silk from 8 ounces of my batts.

7) I received some amazing yarn in the mail:

Cookie spun up about a million miles of merino mohair madness, plied it, skeined it and sent it back to me.  Truly amazing (as is everything she does) and destined to be knit into a shawl next year.

8) I finished a shawl:

It's an up sized (5 extra chart 1 repeats) Swallowtail Shawl out of my handspun BFL/Silk.  I added a bead at every double decrease and still knit the nupps.  It is a gift for Connor's voice teacher, a woman so fabulous (although I've yet to meet her) that she deserves her own post someday.

9) My oldest friend's (35 years) father died last week.  The funeral was yesterday and the funeral left me with a bundle of memories and emotions to sort out.  Not bad stuff, just stuff.

10) That long, lost brother of mine has called a few times and friended me on FB (I don't really do much on FB).  The long, lost brother of Gary has not popped up again.  Poking around on FB to see who my brother is currently in touch with, has led to me contacting a guy I knew in high school who is now a sort of high profile hair stylist, this could be interesting.

11) My fake re-found brother (Jim) has started a super wonderful project for me.  He is relocating, expanding and customizing my dye studio.  When the new sinks, work area and lighting are finished, I will be able to work easier, smarter, better, safer.  He is also switching our electric range to a gas one and sloowly filling in the blanks of his 4 year estrangement. 

12) Our Todd was here the other day to clean up and cut back the gardens.  It took him 7 hours, but we are now more than ready for winter.  Mrs. Our Todd is expecting their first child in a few months, I/we expect her to deliver early, so I need to get moving on a baby gift.

13) Add to all this my best month ever in the Etsy shop, a new set of tires on my car, more rainy days than sunny days and my gearing up for a major sewing project, and that is where I have been.  I hope to blog better in December, I really do, but don't worry if I'm not around, it's just stuff.

Decompressing! Talk to you soon!

"Cue dramatic music"

said Connor, when I told him about some of the plot twists that have been happening around here lately.

Sadly, my beloved niece and her BF of 3 1/2 years have split up.  The split itself is not the sad part, the sad part(s) are logistical and emotional and financial.  Her brother (Navy Boy) will be here this weekend, as will my sister and Phoebe - this will help a lot.

Weirdly, my long lost brother (the one (I have only one) who called and then dropped off the face of the earth for the 2000th time a few months ago) has resurfaced.  He is scattered and anxious (strung out?) and not exactly saying what it is he wants/needs except for a chance to talk to our sister.  There is also a story about an accident, hospital stay and a new relationship.  Our poor mother is hyper worried.

Even weirder is that Gary's similarly long lost brother may be reestablishing contact again after a few years.  That one is too soon to tell.  I have never met him, but I'd know the voice on the phone and so far the calls are coming from one of his cronies.  I don't know if he knows that their father has died or if this is just another one of his scams (he's a been a drug addict for over 40 years).

And weird-ish is that our old friend Jim, who dropped off the face of the earth with no explanation over 4 years ago, reached out through FB a few months ago and has since become a frequent and practical visitor.  He is a contractor, so I've been able to have dozens of little things (loose towel rack) to medium things (shower dripping like Niagara Falls) fixed with little expense.  He may be able to help me with a few bigger projects once I finish adjusting to having him around again. 

He was a great friend, someone who was good brother like when he was around, but then he distanced himself and that was painful.  I'd like to think that his return (along with a huge apology and promise to not ever let us down again) is balancing, but it's too soon to tell.

So anyway, all of this has had me preoccupied and pensive, thinking way too much about the past. I have been knitting/spinning/working less than I've wanted to, but that's fine, I need to be ready for whatever the next week brings.

Connor will be coming home tomorrow (for the week!!!), Gary and Griffin are sweet and steady as ever, it's all good, just different and distracting.

I'll be back with Phoebe photos, yarn photos and at least one more anecdote from the weird files.  That one is a doozy.

 

And 20!

Twenty years ago today, we were married in this beautiful church:

When I first started dating Gary and discovered that he drove across town every Sunday for Mass here, I immediately counted this fact as one more reason (on a list of 100's) why he was the one for me. 

That was because this was my first church, in the neighborhood of my first 8 years, the church where I was baptised, made my first communion, wore lace doilies on my head.  

It was the perfect place for us to marry, baptise our own children and commute to, even after we moved to the burbs. 

This church no longer has it's original name (having been part of a merger) and I no longer attend church much (having serious conflicts that I won't discuss here), but today is all about remembering a beautiful November evening and looking forwaqrd to the next 20 or so.

(clickity here for a look inside this amazing building)

Updates!

First of all, the Matchless DT wheel that I mentioned the other day sold in record time.  I tried to get back to everyone who emailed/commented about it, but if I overlooked someone, I am sorry.  And if you really wanted it, but it was gone, I'm even more sorry.

I was glad to have it settled and packed up before Sunday, because that day nearly did me in. 

I had planned to get the family out the door by 8 to drive to Elmira and take Connor out for lunch before watching him in Brighton Beach Memoirs. 

Our neighborhood looked like this:

But the fog was clearing.

And then, as we approached the river and our bridges, it was not clearing.

In fact, it was so foggy, damp, icy, slippery that this happened.

And our view for almost an hour was this:

They really had no choice but to shut the bridges down and wait for the sun to burn off the ice. I just wish that we might have been diverted to the North (and not so steep) bridges or told to stay home. 

But the state really doesn't care about Grand Island residents since we pay discounted tolls.

It was 9AM when we started moving again and noon when we got to campus:

This gave us 20 minutes of Connor time before he went to his dressing room and we went to lunch:

The play was great.  Connor was very funny and the rest of the cast were terrific:

(Matt (next to Connor) would like the world to know that the mustache was only for the role)

Connor had to help strike the set, so I drove us back home (somehow I made it in 2 1/2 hrs, not 3) and, of course, we haven't had a bit of fog since.