Taking The Long Way Home

When I have a lot to do, I seem to get more done, in less time, if I slow down a little bit. It's kind of like thrashing around in the water vs. relaxing and going with the current. It's been that kind of week for me. I'm here by myself for a few more days, and I've had a steady stream of projects in the works. I've been following my interest wherever it leads, jumping from one thing to the next, wandering back, finishing, starting, finishing another. I'm really enjoying this organic flow of creativity. Here's what I've finished in the past week... None of these are big projects, and the seat cushion was almost finished, so I only had to put it together. I did start another one this week, and it's almost finished, but not quite, so it didn't make the photo. The little bags are something I've circled back to many times over the years. I just love making them every so often. The little bottles are dressed up with some cu...

Rick and I live in a very small house. It’s not officially “tiny,” but 600 square feet of living space can be... cozy. It works for us. Usually. There are times when I’ll send him out to do something just so I can be home alone. He’s good about that. He does all the grocery shopping, goes to the library to write his own blog ( Scattering Birdseed ), and recently joined the Elks Lodge, just so he could go there to play pool with a couple of his friends. Rick is a Very Good Guy, and gives me as much space as he can. I will admit though, that the trips he makes to California to visit his daughter and grandkids are really precious nuggets of time for me, because I get to stay home alone. I have one such nugget starting today, as a matter of fact. I have only one plan to be with other people, and the rest of the time is mine all mine. In fact, I may not even go to the twice-a-month get together of neighborhood women friends tomorrow. I’m dodging invitations, and flat out refusing to be...

I'm in my outdoor office this week, at the picnic table on the patio. I have a favorite vintage tablecloth, lilacs in a martini shaker, and tea in my new favorite cup, made by Charan Sachar . I'm considering a new format for my blog, which I'll try here today. I suspect that only three people actually read this, and yet I persist. I like to write, so that can be good enough. I have lots of things to talk about, so I'm going to try dividing my time here between Life Stories and Ponderings, and of course, Knitting. Feel free to tell me what you think, or even just grunt if you're out there. Really, have no idea. Pondering... I like meeting new people. But I hate the inevitable moment when New Person will politely raise their eyebrows and ask me, "And what do you do?" It's sort of like the human equivalent of dogs sniffing each others' butts. We need to size each other up somehow , right? What better way than to sniff out what a person d...

I never leave the house without my knitting. You never know when you'll get stuck waiting someplace, and I'd rather knit than stare at my phone. I like to have three projects going at any given time - something big, like a sweater, that I only work on at home, something random, like the giant crocheted "fence doily" I'm working on this week (you'll see it later), and always a small, easy, memorizable, one-skein scarf. That's the one I take along wherever I go, whether it's coffee in town, happy hour in Astoria, or a road trip where I know I need something to keep me busy in the passenger seat (or I become a very unpleasant copilot.) My favorite scarf/shawl to take along for the ride is based on the lovely Chale Facile , by Emilie Marechal. It's free on Ravelry! I love how easy it is to make, and how absolutely wearable it is. I usually make it with fingering weight sock yarn on size 6 needles, but you can use any yarn and needles you have. One sk...