*Sigh....*

Today I am feeling overwhelmed by everything.

The reality of our pending move and its ramifications is setting in and while I am very good at looking at decisions with a clear head, sometimes my emotional reactions will sneak up on me. I think one of the hardest things about this is the reality that our large family will be strewn across the globe. Intellectually I am okay with that. We have a lot of children who are not really children anymore and who are ready to explore on their own and "try on" adulthood. However, as a mother, and as someone who has had that as a primary identity for the last 20 years, I am having to admit to myself that this is not an easy thing for me. I am used to my oldest daughter being away at college, but I am also used to the idea that she is only one long days drive away should she need me (or I need her.) I am okay with another daughter being in Germany for a year- however her situation there is not going so well and she has to find a new position now- and being here, we can do nothing about this or help in any way. My son, with my blessing, has made the choice to stay here and live with his dad and our lovely Hannah. I am okay with this, and yet the realization that he is going to be leaving this house soon has got me spontaneously breaking down in tears. Not so easy for me. I have other daughters who still need to figure out their paths and fortunately, at least one daughter will be coming with us to India so that I can still be a mother for a little time yet.

While I am dealing with these emotions I am also looking around at this house and all of the material souvenirs of our shared lives over the last 10-20 years and realizing that I am the one that is going to have to sort through this piece by piece. I am going to have to decide, should this stay or should it go? Should it stay with us and go to India, or should it stay here in storage while we are India, or should it not stay with us in any way and go from our lives.

Yes, I am feeling overwhelmed.

In the meantime, here is a little video on Bengaluru/Bangalore for your viewing pleasure. A little preview of what we will be experiencing. Hmmmm... Okay it did make me laugh!

...lemon squeezy

I remember when I was a kid in the 70's (yes I am that old!) that it was quite popular to have motivational slogans on posters. The start of the new schoolyear always brought excitement about just who your teacher was going to be. I remember walking to the school every morning to look to see if the class list has been posted on the office window yet, such excitement! But back to the posters- These would line the walls of our classrooms at the start of every new year and there is one that somehow stuck in my brain and meant something to me. Maybe it was because I did not have what would be described as an idyllic childhood, or perhaps because it had a certain poetic justice type quality to it. Regardless, this slogan and it's bright yellow poster have been part of my internal life since grade school.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.


Well, I have a bunch of "lemons".

My husband has a job offer somewhere far, far away.
So far it is on the other side of the world far.
So far that you can either head west OR east to get there.
Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), India far.
We should be leaving at the beginning of January.

Now, I won't even launch into the issues that relate to knitting things like sweaters and socks in a tropical climate. I won't mention that I have not been able to find a yarn store thus far in the city we are moving to. It doesn't matter. We are going. It will be challenging, stressful, exciting, alien, interesting, colorful, hot, lonely, and hopefully a little fun.

Luckily I like Lemonade. :)

Rejected - but not dejected!

Well, it's official. I am a Knitty reject.

I submitted a pattern for a scarf I designed to be considered for the Fall issue, BUT- no go.
Oh well. At least that means I can blog about it now!

So here is....

The Best Friend Scarf!

I designed this scarf after I realized that the scarf I usually wore is made out of alpaca -which I have developed an allergy to. So, a new scarf was needed. I chose a yarn made out of wool and silk because it was soft and light like alpaca, I also like the shine that comes from the silk. The light colored version was made with RYC Silk Wool DK in the Limewash color, the red version was made with RYC Cashsoft DK in the Opulence color (no silk in this one though).

I am going to try to figure out how to have it available here somewhere, but in the meantime, If you would like a copy of the pattern just let me know and I will send it to you.


UPDATE: I am a Knit-geek! I now have a link that will allow you to download the pattern. It is just above my profile. If you knit this up I would love to hear how you like it!

And The Winner Is...

I have been surprised before by knitters and their competitive streaks.

We have had the Knitting Olympics.
There was Sock Madness.
I have even witnessed competitive spinning... (you have to scroll down a little for this one)

And then there was, well wait. I am getting ahead of myself.

So, this was quite the weekend. You all know Hannah, right? She has been mentioned before on this blog and since she is somewhat unforgettable I will assume that you all know of whom I speak. Hannah. Sheep Costume. Need I say more?

Lisa and Hannah

Now there is also Lisa, whom I have not known for as long, but who also makes me laugh like nobody's business. 'Cause you don't want to know what we're laughing about. Really. Trust me.

Well somehow I realized this weekend that both Lisa and Hannah were working on finishing their first ever pair of socks. I know Lisa started hers around Easter time (Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway) and Hannah, well I know that it was close to about the same time. Well, they had each finished one sock and were about on the heel of their second socks. I suggested that I would buy a Margarita for who ever finished their pair first. Oh my. Now, we will, for the time being, forget that Hannah has a size 5 1/2 foot and Lisa is about a size 10, they decided that the race was on.

Freecia, Hannah, Margit and Lisa

You wanna hear trash talk? They brought it. Asking for help in a sweet way, cause Hannah is so good at that, was summarily banned by Lisa. I did make an executive type decision that Lisa could use a different yarn once she realized that she was running out, but really Hannah and Lisa fought hard and dirty.

Hannah is working on her heel...

And the winner is...? Well, I will let you go see for yourself.

California Dreamin...

The Summer days are so glorious at the moment. The backyard is beautiful this time of year and it is lovely to take a cup of coffee or a glass of wine outside to enjoy it. Yes, I take my knitting too. This is my view from my favorite place...

I have been knitting away on the Mystery Stole and am almost done with clue 4, but I am realizing (and was convinced this morning by Hannah) that I need to lengthen the stole, so I have a bit more knitting to do before I can get to clue 5, aka "the wing". Interesting design idea really. I look forward to seeing how it turns out. I am ALL about lace these days.

I haven't done so much on the Print o' the Wave lately, but I have been working away on Thelonious, which is a really fun pattern and looks great with the Tofutsies, don't you think?

There are lots of exciting things happening here at Casa de Teenagers, we are getting ready for a new school year, Giselle is off to Germany for a year to be an au pair and there are many other things brewing which I hope to tell you about in the weeks to come. In the meantime, I am going to go stroll out to the backyard and enjoy that lovely bit of paradise that is California Summer. Wish you were here!