A as in Absence, Air Travel, Allergies, and 'A Few Days Late'

...And an Apology for being away from the blog for so long.

I spent a week in California helping my mother to clear out 20 years of stuff and dust in her house so she can put it up for sale. If you remember when we last left our heroine, she (me) planned to replace a house with one to share with Mom that will suit Mom's current and future needs better than the ones either of us own currently.

We ended up with all of my siblings and a few accessory family members there for the weekend, too. I'm the oldest of five, so we had lots of help. Plus, my mother works much harder than most 80 year olds. I expect her to be around for another decade, at least, especially given her family history. And we finished the whole house in a week. Anyone who has been through this with a parent will appreciate the effort that took.

Fortunately for me, Vicki runs a fairly loose ABC-Along, so I can feel OK posting these Photos several days late for A now that I've re-emerged. They are still in alphabetical order.

I caught the Airporter bus just as the sun rose and the city started moving around.

Just as I ran out the door, I realized in my late-night packing I hadn't wound the yarn I planned to knit on the plane.

Luckily for me (I'm on a streak), Stephanie had recently blogged on Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton knitting from a skein. As in 'Don't Wind Your Yarn Into a Ball'. You just untwist the skein, lay it over your knees or other support, and twist it back up when you stop.

This works surprisingly well with the set-up on a plane - no ball to roll away and a handy tray as support for the hank. You do lose the ability to hop up quickly when the restroom becomes vacant.

Vicki-note the purple squares in that photo. I started on the group project. Unfortunately, that last square is not much further along, though it's been past that point twice since this flight.

I tossed the whole pile into my purse as I got off the plane, then managed to pull the needle out of the knitting while digging something out of my purse. The other tries related to techniques that didn't work as well as I liked.

That pretty much covers the last week and a half worth of knitting , until today. Today I attended the first of two workshops on socks with Cat Bordhi (of the knitting around on two circulars and Moebius knitting). See here for a good description of what a workshop with Cat feels like. Details tomorrow.

Comments

[poetryman69]

I am amazed they let you take those needles on a plane...sometimes the world favors the creative.

[margene]

Hopefully you'll have time to relax and enjoy some knitting now that you've accomplished so much for you mom.

[Vicki]

Wow, that's quite an accomplishment -- I can't imagine getting through my mother's house in a week... or even a month. She has SO much stuff (though she is almost OCD in her organization of it all, so perhaps that would help).

[Karen B.]

Three cheers to you and the family for making quick work of the clean-up!

Beautiful color yarn, by the way. And pulling out the needles totally sounds like something I would do.

[ashpags]

Welcome back! I can't imagine cleaning out my mom's house...she & I are both pack-rats, and I have a terrible time parting with old things. I'm looking forward to hearing about the workshop with Cat. =)

[Laura]

How nice that there are so many of you to help, and that your mom's doing so well. Glad it all got done quickly. What a relief!

That moebius cast on of Cat's is nothing short of genius.

[RobinH]

Wow, a week to clear out a house? Even with help, that's quite a chore. I'm sure that it must have been hard for your mom, too- it's stressful to have to leave a home you've spent years in.

Glad to see you back!

[Laura]

I hope you're feeling better, gf. BTW, go drop by my blog for a minute. I left a little something there for you. ;-)

[ann]

if it were me, that hank would have ended up in a tangled mess!

[ann]

if it were me, that hank would have ended up in a tangled mess!