Three Things on Thursday... 

Thing 1:

I have about 150 rows to go before Rusty's temperature panel is complete!

This was taken early yesterday evening... there was a fair bit of knitting afterwards to a couple of episodes of Yellowstone! I am so excited to start another panel!

I am especially happy with how much Rusty likes it!

Thing 2:

Stats!

Are you still playing Wordle everyday? I think of it as a good way to engage my brain every morning. I've played more games than this, but for the past 54 days, I've been playing exclusively on my phone; therefore, accurate stats. Most days, I also play Quordle... usually after my brain's been good & engaged for a while! haha. I like that there's a practice mode.

Thing 3:

My #1 daughter has her #1 official Colossal by-line.

Check it! 

My weather app and the weather are on two different planes this morning, and I couldn't be happier. It's been gloomy/damp all week and I expected the same today; instead, the sun is shining (though some clouds) and it's wonderful! It may still rain later, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the surprise sun break.

Kate picked up the keys to her new flat yesterday -- hers & only hers! She gave us all a video tour and it's adorable! Lots of storage, a small guest room, a big bathroom (by Euro standards), and an amazing kitchen. I'll share more photos as she settles in. The flowers are from her new landlady!

Meanwhile, she will be here a month from today! That visit will include another #whirlwindarttripwithkate! Man, it's been a while. This time we're going to Denver, which also ticks another box on my list of revisiting places where I lived as a child. I'll also be meeting up with an old friend of my mom who still lives there -- Char lived in the same apartment complex and had a son, Davy, who was my age. It was in Denver, when I was 18 months old, that my twin sisters were born, and we lived there for about a year.

I am giving the CSA a year off. I will visit their farm store from time to time, and I've ordered plants! I won't pick them up until mid-May, but I'm looking forward to growing basil, celery, zucchini, tomatoes, watermelon, and bush beans. 

I'm so excited that Maddy, Viv & Kate have all secured their tickets for visiting in July, as have Ann & her family. It's going to be a fun summer!

And Rusty, Kate & I are knee-deep in planning a late September trip to Scotland! It's going to be epic if it all pans out: more Highlands, Orkney, Harris & Lewis, Skye, and Edinburgh. Y'know I love planning a vacation, and usually I'm pretty loose about it -- one or two things set in stone, and the rest is "come what may." But when time is short and there are multiple ferries operating on schedules that can vary depending on what day of the week it is, then planning ahead is crucial. And I'm on it! So much fun.

Regarding all of that... fingers are crossed, I'm knocking on wood, and wishing on falling stars!

It occurred to me that I never shared a finished photo of the laundry room here.

We're so happy to have that job done, and we cleaned out so much junk & streamlined/optimized a few things in the process. As of today, the tops of the washer & dryer are still visible!

Last, but definitely not least, it's Malina's birthday today!

Can you believe that this little sprite (sporting evidence of a yummy Girl Scout cookie) is FOUR today?!!

I've been having a hard time putting together a post (or two or three) about Puerto Rico. There's a lot going on right now -- in the world, in my life. I wake up one day, such as yesterday (my day off), thinking that I'm going to tackle taxes & bookkeeping, only to end up running out to buy a laptop for a certain adorable nephew in Peru (his logic board fried), shipping it to arrive across the state by Friday to Annie's boss (who happens to be visiting for a few days), who will then schlep it back to Lima/said nephew. By the time that was done, it was noon. I grabbed a quick bite for lunch, and then had a scheduled video chat with Kate to get her taxes filed & paid (she was running into a roadblock), along with some other chit-chat (for an hour), and then I needed a nap. Ali & the kids were due after dance class! I guess I did get some tax-related stuff done, as originally planned, but it wasn't mine!

So let's try small bites, shall we?

I'm joining Carole & friends today for Three Things on Thursday... 

The only concrete engagement on our vacation "itinerary" was a guided trip to Gozalandia Falls on Saturday, from which I have three photos to share.

I had a couple of vouchers from Airbnb -- perks for maintaining Superhost status -- and we'd enjoyed our first Airbnb Experience in Mexico (just before the world shut down in 2020), so I searched for something similar in Puerto Rico. Our host/guide was Reynaldo, and he was intimately familiar with the whole property, having helped build some of the infrastructure (paths, stairs, etc.).

Rusty's taking a dip in the pool at the first falls. There is also a rope swing for sailing out over the water -- hopefully beyond the big boulder just under the surface -- and splashing into the pool. Rusty didn't do that, but it sure was fun watching other people do it!

It wasn't easy getting photos without people in them! Certainly most visitors found their way all by themselves, and we could easily have visited and enjoyed these falls without a guide.

But without Reynaldo, I would never have walked up behind one of the falls. Nor would I have hiked through the river from one waterfall to the other. I have few photos because all my stuff was in Reynaldo's dry-bag backpack, and good thing. I didn't fall, but I definitely needed my hands to steady myself a few times, jumping from rock to rock, sliding down bigger boulders, and needed all my wits about me instead of worrying about my phone getting wet (or dropping it). It was a fun -- wet & dirty -- challenge!

I didn't know just how dirty until we got home -- after stopping at the supermarket -- and noticing that my butt was not only wet, but super muddy, too! Rusty never told me! I bought a small bottle of laundry detergent on our next trip to the store and did some laundry in the sink. (Because my packing skills were MIA when prepping for this trip and I actually had only a few appropriate/practical/things-I-wanted-to-wear clothing items.)

BONUS:

We learned that the movie A Perfect Getaway was filmed at Gozalandia Falls!

The movie is actually set in Hawaii, but it was cheaper to film the waterfall scene in Puerto Rico, even having to truck in thousands of flowers... and equipment, crew, etc.! I was surprised to see Timothy Oliphant as one of the leads, along with one of the Hemsworth brothers, and we enjoyed it more than expected.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

Y'know, Rusty's panel for the Temperature Blanket.

It's coming along... I'm at about 200 "days."

My stitch count was off last night and I found a dropped stitch. I didn't have a crochet hook handy, so it's on hold for now.

READING:

I finished listening to AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON the day after our book club discussion. I had less than an hour of listening when we met, so I was able to fit together some random pieces from the conversation!

I am currently listening to MIRACLE AND WONDER: CONVERSATIONS WITH PAUL SIMON by Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Hedlam & Paul Simon, with contributions from others such as Sting, Rosanne Cash, Art Garfunkel. It is fascinating!!

It's the First Day of Spring and it feels like it!

It's also the 18th anniversary of my sitting down to create this blog! How about that? It kinda blows my mind! It's overwhelming to think of all that has happened in these 18 years (much of it recorded within). The biggest perk is having met so many wonderful people -- some virtually, some in real life. I can't imagine my life without any of it.

My first blog post didn't even have a photo, but I did talk about knitting (of course... it's almost all we talked about on blogs for a very long time) and being inspired by knitters! Though the platforms have changed, and we can be connected in many other ways, I continue to be inspired by knitters... and so much more!

Rusty's panel of the Temperature Blanket with shadow from the pergola. I'm just about half-way! I'm not super excited about the sections striped with Cumin & Ginger (especially that big one just finished on the top left), but it is what it is. There are so many exciting colors that aren't even tapped for this panel... I can't wait to move on!

I don't know how I managed to purl half a row in a 100% garter stitch project... but I did! And I'm leaving that, too.

Thanks for being here!

It's the "golden birthday" of THE QUIT!

Seventeen years! Or 6,210 days!! And probably upwards of 124,000 cigarettes & $35K that hasn't gone up in smoke.

I'm chuffed!

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Next, we'll have to do some rearranging so we can move the washer, dryer & a large 4-drawer lateral file cabinet in order to lay the rest of the new floor.

So close! I have a dance recital to attend tomorrow, and Rusty has a tutoring gig, but hopefully we'll make some progress around those commitments.

Have a wonderful weekend! It's going to be cold here (3°F overnight & 21°F is tomorrow's high), but I spy 60°F and a little sunshine on Wednesday!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

As mentioned the other day, I finished Close To You over the weekend -- bound off on Friday, blocked on Saturday, modeled on Sunday, and worn on Monday!

Ginny was my "it" girl... STRIKE A POSE!

• My Ravelry Project Page: Close to Puerto Rico
• Pattern: Close To You by Justyna Lorkowska
• Yarn: Make.Do Be (Hellebore colorway)
• Needles:  US 6
• Start to Finish: March 5-14, 2022

Cast on & set up just before leaving on vacation (because traveling with long straight aluminum knitting needles in a carry-on), it was the only project I worked on while in Puerto Rico.

I wasn't so sure... I love that colorway, but it was looking a little muddy at first. The little pops of green some nice sections of the stronger colors, along with the texture & overall design -- it looked better as I progressed, and I'm glad I stuck with it. It looks great with black, which is the color I wear most often.

It looks great with polka dots, too!

MORE KNITTING:

Well, last night there was some ripping... 10 rows yanked because I spotted this:

My stitch count was off the other night and I "fixed" it, thinking I knew where the problem was. The real problem was here, at the beginning of the row and I never noticed until I picked up my knitting last night and, of course, it was glaringly obvious! I pondered possible solutions for about one second, and then started to rip... it was the only way!

So, 10 rows backward and a bunch more forward, and now I'm here:

The colors are a tad more vivid in this photo than in real life, but it's close. The day/high temp side will "grow" and the nights/low temp side will "shrink" by about 10 more stitches before they start going back the other way. This panel will be quite symmetrical since Rusty was born just a few days past Winter Solstice.

READING:

I continue listening to AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON.

I started the bind-off of Close to You on Friday night while awaiting the arrival of Airbnb guests...

...and, to my surprise, I finished it!

That meant that on Saturday, I gave the shawl and soak and spread it out on the blocking mat to dry.

There are quite a few little picots along the bound-off edge, but only ONE of them is GREEN! I love it. Details on Wednesday!

On Saturday & Sunday, I was back to Temperature knitting!

It's grown by quite a few rows even since this photo was taken. Update on Wednesday!

We've hit the laundry room floor project in earnest since we returned from vacation. I've been finding all sorts of relics and old papers -- receipts & warranties for things we don't have anymore, business bookkeeping that could have been tossed several years ago already.

Back in the day, when we had only one computer, the "laundry room" was the nerve center! I kept books, paid bills, did ancestry research; the kids played (educational) video games and/or wrote fan fiction; Rusty could barely turn on a computer at that point in time. Times sure change.

That's the first digital camera I bought... a whopping 4.1 megapixels! (The camera on my current phone is 12!) We have two of these cameras, because Sharon's came into our possession after she died. I was thinking of donating them, but they might be put to better use by the kiddos -- they can document their gardening this summer (among other things).

At Christmas, I gave them a year-long, weekly "Gardening for Kids" course offered by a local naturalist. I print out each week's lesson & give it to Ali to add to the main binder; they each have a smaller binder with all sorts of paper -- graph paper for plotting, plain paper for drawing, lined paper for writing -- a cute notebook, markers, etc. They're beginning prep to start seeds soon!

Ali & the kids came over yesterday -- it's the first time I've seen the kids since returning from vacation, as they were passing a little bug around amongst themselves last week! I recruited a new model... you can get a little preview of the finished Close To You shawl in my Instagram Story.

I get a little irritated with Ravelry sometimes when 3-4 months go by and there's nothing new on the Home page.

There's a new post as of yesterday, though, that is on point. "Search designers by country..." specifically Ukraine. (There's much more info on Rav about how to customize the search as desired.)

Ravelry is waiving invoices for February sales of Ukraine-based designers and will continue to do so while the conflict/war persists.

I've made purchases this morning from a couple of designers and thought that you might like to consider doing the same. I'll likely go back and buy a few more because, WOW, there are some beauties!

Sunrise from the newly dubbed Sunrise-Viewing Room (aka, Garden Room) (thanks, Cathy!).

I hope that peace & freedom are soon restored, and that you have a wonderful weekend.

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I brought a bunch of mini-skeins of yarn for some small crochet things that I thought I might do -- even put it in my carry-on -- but I never even looked at it.

I had some balls of yarn, DPNs, and a couple of gnome patterns... but I didn't look at that, either.

I was recently reminded how much I loved knitting & wearing my Close To You shawl and I've always wanted to knit another, so at the last minute I wound up a ball of yarn that's been hanging around, gathered needles & pattern, cast on and knit the first couple of rows, and tucked it all in my suitcase.

It was perfect for vacation, as it starts small and grows. I'd knit while we caught up on Olympics or watched a movie before bed, and it was great for knitting on the beach, too.

I love the subtle pops of green...

...and I think that those pops will get a little bigger & brighter as I progress through the skein.

READING:

Maybe those bits of "neon green" spoke to my subconscious... I've finally begun reading again! I started AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON on Monday and should be finished in time for the discussion.

BACK TO KNITTING/CROCHETING:

As established a while ago, it wasn't practical to bring my Temperature Blanket along on vacation, but I could bring the data/charts that still needed work! Everything is stored in a Google Drive folder, and Rusty brought his laptop. I took a planned break for an hour on Sunday afternoon and attended my first Vogue Knitting Live event -- a virtual talk by Cara about temperature/data projects! I was happily surprised that she gave my project a little shout-out in the presentation -- along with Kay Gardiner's projects (plural!), Suraya Hossain's Heirloom Temperature Blanket, and Tara Seifrit's NH Year 1 Temperature Blanket (one of my biggest inspirations when planning my design) (which I hope works). Inspired (again), I did a little work on my chart and nearly have it finished!

Anyway, I can't wait to get back to that project -- and my Hexie crocheted project -- but I'm really into knitting this shawl right now. First, the colorway is HELLEBORE (which I dyed a few years ago in a couple of yarn weights), and it'll be perfect for SPRING (which is happening this month), and it sure seems like a long time since I've had a finished object that wasn't a gnome or a hat. So, it's going fast and I'm just going to go 'til it's done, and then back to all those other things!

Rusty & I had a great vacation in Puerto Rico and both got what we needed most...

Him: Lots of beach time.

Me: Lots of sleep.

I slept in every single day, and napped when I could, too.

We did much more, and I'll tell the tales...

...but mostly it was this.

And a little of that! I'll have more to say about that tomorrow for Unraveled Wednesday... but right now, I'll say that I'm still amazed at how much that colorway (Hellebore) matches the coral that Rusty found, and that'll make it the perfect reminder of the trip (since we left the coral behind).

Rusty's "note" became a lovely record of our week in Puerto Rico.

_ _ _ _ _

Meanwhile, my heart is in Ukraine. I am so uplifted by some of the stories I've read about Ukrainians...

...along those lines.

And their president is incredible.

I am also lifted by the amazing work of people like Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen, who are not only helping to feed hungry people in Ukraine, but all over the world. If there is a disaster and a need for food, WCK is there, slinging hash and taking care of people. I've donated what we might otherwise spend going out for dinner, and perhaps you'd consider a donation, too.