Memorial DayFrom the time I was a little girl, my memories of Memorial Day were of a rather boring day spent with my parents and sisters driving to and from cemeteries. My parents would visit with people I didn't know, and everyone was so serious. As the years passed and I lost my grandparents, visiting the cemetery became more important. I would often go "visit" my grandma's grave, and if peonies were blooming, I would take her a vaseful as peonies were her favorite. In the last five years or so, I have watched as so many friends of my parents have passed on. I began attending the Memorial Day program honoring the veterans knowing that sometime, I hope later than sooner, my father will be amonst those on the Wall of Honor and will have a flag planted in the field of flags as he served valiantly in WWII.
This year Memorial Day has really hit me hard. Most of you know I lost my son last September. This year has been a year of firsts for me: the first Thanksgiving without him, the first Christmas without him, etc. Today was the first Memorial Day I have spent decorating his grave. It's been a beautiful, yet difficult, day. I was very comforted in that so many people remembered him. I hope you won't mind my posting a picture of his cemetery plat in remembrance of him today. I love you, son!
Sockapaloooza Socks!Upon returning home from work one day last week, I noticed a package next to my mailbox. Thinking to myself, "Huh, I don't remember ordering anything," I picked up the box and noticed right off the return address was Tokyo, Japan. Double checking that it was, indeed, addressed to me, my puzzlement increased. Upon opening the package, I found the wonderful contents.
Is that the cutest wooden box you have ever seen? There is also a gorgeous postcard of a Tokyo train station. Not just any old postcard, either; this one is hand-inked by the artist, himself. How cool is that? And to top it all off, look at that fun Japanese candy!!! My brain has finally clicked into the fact that all these wonderful goodies are from my sockpal. Yep, upon opening that darling box, I found these inside.
The socks are gorgeous and fit me perfectly! They were knit with some lovely yarn purchased in Switzerland and are that fabulous
Pomatomus socks. My photo does not do these socks justice (I'm blaming crappy lighting), but take it from me, the socks are works of art. I absolutely love them!
So now all can be revealed: my fantastic sockapaloooza pal is
Kat. Kat is an Australian, married to an American, who is living in Tokyo. Cool, huh! Thank you, again, Kat!!!
Peruvian Hand KnitsMy nephew just returned from a two-year LDS mission from Lima, Peru. He brought home a lot of gifts and souviners, some of which were hand-knitted items. They are so beautiful and well-made.
First is my nephew wearing an alpaca sweater his "pensionista" knitted for him, and also a chullo hat. He is holding a picture of himself wearing the hat that was painted of him by a local that he befriended.
Next is a gorgeous hand-woven authentic Aztec poncho like garment (I do not recall its actual name.) The colors are gorgeous!
Finally, my sister wearing a hand-knit alpaca sweater. The yarn is fingering weight in natural shades of alpaca. Don't you love the llamas and other characters on it? Again, the workmanship is impeccable!
I just had to share!!
Finished New England Socks!
Just a fly-by post of the New England socks, finally finished for Sockapaloooza. I am very pleased with how they turned out. Hope my pal likes them!
The pattern was a much enjoyable knit. I recommend it very highly to those who have not knit it.
I am excited to be able to knit something else, just don't know yet what it is going to be. Too many items are in my queue.
I'm a 'looozer!(Cue The Beatles; sing-along "I'm a loser, and I'm not what I appear to be . . .")
I am still trying to finish the socks for my pal. I hope she isn't waiting by her mailbox tomorrow, or even Friday. I plan to get them in the mail by Friday or Saturday as they are theeeeese close to being done. Have your read the poem over at
Pip and Tom's dedicated to we 'looozers? If you haven't seen it yet, you must go read -- NOW! Quite a kick!
Life has been a bit crazy for me this last week or two. Not that I am trying to make excuses for my sock tardiness (well, maybe I am), but I have had a lot going on.
1. Noall Wootton, a good friend and my boss for 16 years passed away Thursday. Besides being a wonderful man, he is probably most known as being the person who prosecuted Gary Gilmore. There was a nice write-up in the newspaper. If interested, check it out
here. His memorial was yesterday. It would have been extremely tacky to have taken my sock-in-progress along, although I would have had a lot of knitting time while standing in line.
2. May is a month of birthdays (3 nephews), Mother's Day, graduations, Memorial Day. I am trying to attend everything, and I am budgeting my paycheck for lots of gifties. Nope, no one is getting anything hand-knitted.
3. I had a
stamp class last night. There was a very nice turnout and everyone made some cute things to take home (plates, cards and a few scrapbook pages). Of course, no knitting there.
4. My nephew, who has been serving a two-year LDS mission in Peru, gets home 1 week from today. There will be a lot of celebrating his return, as we have sure missed him! (My family is extremely close -- my nieces and nephews are almost like my own children!)
5. My son, who has been "away" (don't ask) since October will be home next week. I am having quite a bit of angst about this. (Ditto "don't ask.")
So, blogging will be erratic for the rest of May; knitting time will be found here and there like during my lunch breaks and before bed. I'm not going to be on the 'looozer list for long!
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