Friday, August 31, 2012

moving on, moving out

I have been checked out of blogland for a little while now, and doing very little sewing -- except for a quick little bias-cut skirt made from raspberry Hope Valley "thistle leaf" for my dear friend Freda (yes, I have multiple Fri/edas in my life, as I do Melindas!).  Other than that hour of sewing, my machine have seen very little action.

The semester is gearing up, I have been on campus to do advising over the past two weeks (the university where I work, for those who don't know me well, is a 75-minute commute from my home...and with bad weather or any kind of slow-down on the highway, it can easily take me two hours to make the drive).

It was also my birthday this week and my sweet husband arranged for us to overnight on Algonquin island, which is one of the Toronto islands -- just a ferry ride from the financial core of Canada, but also a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of our city.  We rode our bikes to the docks, took long rides on the island -- illuminated by the full moon, drank a bottle of champagne at lakeside, and had another great bike ride the next morning.

birthday full moon, Ward's island

heading home from Ward's island


homeward bound
good morning, Toronto!


Once we were back home, we thrown back into the madness that has been brewing (of necessity) chez nous -- prep for my son's move to university.  Eek.

We have a very small house for a family of 5, so we can't maintain a room for Jackson while he's at university; instead, he has had to sort through a lifetime of hoarding, mountains of artwork and computer gear, trying to figure out what he wants/needs in residence, what he would like to store back at home, and what can be tossed or given away.  I have been pretty concerned about his (in)ability to do all this and do it quickly, but he has definitely risen to the challenge.


getting ready for university move-in day -- not a pretty sight
I will admit that I lost my mommy-cool at one point yesterday, but he is in good shape today -- and now we have very full garbage bins, a few bags of giveaways, and a mountain of stuff in our living room, ready to pack into the car.








And finally, although sewing time has been scarce, I have been dreaming about future projects in fabric and paper, poring over Heather Ross Prints, which is better than I expected, full of project ideas and crafting instructions.  Little Frida adores it.


we like Heather Ross's new book


I also have been knitting a bit -- truly enjoying it again after a long hiatus.  I don't think I want to tackle a large knitting project this Fall: I can't even start to count the number of sweaters I have knit over the past 30 years, and although all were well-made, relatively few were very well-used...many felt more like crafting challenges, intellectual projects -- if that makes any sense -- than processes that produced useful items. I just don't feel like heading down that road again, at least not right now.  So for now, I'm back to making socks!


diagonal lace socks, still in progress


These are the "diagonal lace" pattern from Wendy Johnson's  Socks from the Toe Up, made from yarn I have had in my stash for over five years.  Stash Love, yarn edition :)

And now it's time to rouse The Boy so he can finish packing up his room.  Best to all!

6 comments:

LizA. said...

Wow--I'd say that young man did a bang-up job of cleaning and sorting. Maybe I should borrow him to help me with my sewing room......

Happy belated birthday-- looks like you had a great day.

Love the socks - Wendy's book is definitely my favorite.

Lesly said...

Good luck with your baby bird leaving the nest - he'll have a great time! Lead-up to second year is much easier on parents than first year! And happy belated birthday - sounds like you had a great last hurrah before term time. I am frantically doing course prep as well as trying to get a SSHRC app in. Ugh - kill me now. My sewing machine is a distant memory.

Catherine said...

Looks like your little mini break was a success. I didn't realise you had such a long commute to work, do you do that every day during term time?

Patchwork Daily Desire said...

Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to you!!!

Nic said...

Happy birthday. What a lovely gift the night away was.
The socks look great. Love the yarn.
I know what you mean about knitting sweaters. I have three at the waiting to sew up stage, and one that's almost there. I need to get past that as all are garments I'd really like to wear.
Hope you get some more sewing/knitting time soon

Claudia said...

Wishing you a belated happy birthday. I will be in your shoes next year, my son will be going away to college as well and is hoping to go FAR away from home, LOL.