Is this a knitting blog?

I suppose it used to be. I am indeed knitting, though not to the extent that I used to!
During our long cross country drive, I did manage to finish knitting a sweater for our new nephew

        

This is the Sunny Side Cardigan which I knit using Claudia's Handpainted in Celadon Dream. I ended up making it short sleeved because this newest addition to the family lives in North Carolina and it would be a good layering piece for the Fall. This was completed while we were in Michigan so, I've been most recently slogging (yes, I say slogging) away on Stripe Study. This is a great knit, seriously, but I cast it on the week Silas was born in March and have been working on it in fits and starts. As a result, I feel like I've been knitting on it for an eternity. I expect to bind off in the next day or so!

It still feels a little strange bringing this blog back from the dead, but it's nice to see others are doing the same. What are you working on? 

Settling in

Since we last spoke, we drove from Michigan to Chicago where we had a great family visit with the Tall Guy's aunts, uncles and cousins (and all the photos are on his phone!). From there, we made it to Omaha for the night and then made the sprint to Denver in time for dinner last Monday night.
In the last week, we have looked at A LOT of houses. Figuring out where you want to live when you're new to the area is always a challenge and we're slowly finding our way around and narrowing our search scope.

Lest you think we aren't having any fun, we have made the time to go on a family hike and today Silas had his first swim. He thought he was pretty hot stuff in his loaner swim trunks (Thanks Ava Bean!) and T shirt from Auntie Amy!

 We've only been here a week but, I think we've come to the conclusion that while we miss our friends in D.C. dearly, we are quickly falling in love with Colorado.

Please send good house-hunting ju-ju!

Midwest Reststop

I'm so happy The Tall Guy and I planned a week stop over at his parents house in the Detroit suburbs before continuing West. We've been adventuring around and visiting lots of people while we've been here. It has been so nice to take a breath in the midst of all of the chaos of the last few months!
A few pictures!
Lunch with Grandma, Aaron eating a Jersey Giant sub, Silas meeting Aaron's long-time friend James.

Fond farewell

Today we left our little rowhouse on Draper Lane to start our new adventure.
Our "compound crew" was there to help get us on our way, assist as we had to switch gears on the fly and bid us adieu as we headed out and it once again reminded me of what a different world we live in at this point in our lives compared to our parents. We know we'll stay in touch with these people. They'll read this post, we'll look at each others pictures on Facebook and end up in each others cities for work conferences and vacations. FaceTime and Skype are tools used all over now (I had a Skype interview the other day!) and the world is a much smaller place these days when you can write a blog post from the backseat of a car in Ohio (ahem).
Anyway, this is all to say that this blog will likely be making a resurrection as we travel cross country and I feel the need to document in a way that Facebook and Twitter don't really allow.
I'll leave you with two photos from the day. Both make me sad, but it's gonna be okay. I've left dear friends before and know they're all there, even when spread all over.

Dear DC, We're Over.

It's me, not you. Really, I swear. After ten (almost to the day) years together I'm finally biting the bullet and leaving you.
It's been a roller coaster these 10 years and I've always loved to hate you. The fast paced life, the insane career drive you foster, the terrible drivers,  people asking if I'm worried about a terrorist attack and, of course annoying tourists on the Metro. I've loved to complain and lasting ten years is really somewhat of a badge of honor.
Along with the negatives, you've also been pretty awesome. My career has flourished. I've made life-long friends. I  met and married my Tall Guy. We  picked up Annie along the way and of course had our amazing and perfect son.
As we pack our bags for Colorado, I hope you know that I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for you, dear city and will always defend the same things I complained about when I hear others speaking badly about you. I'll miss seeing random "talking heads" picking up take out at our favorite spot in Takoma Park. I'll miss using the Capital, Lincoln Memorial or other famous landmark as a point of reference in giving directions. I'll miss being an hour flight from our families. I'll miss the neighborhood we've lived in for the last 4+ years and having neighbors that you could borrow a cup of sugar or a pencil from and know that they would happily let out your dog when you were stuck late at work. I'll miss my knitting friends, who it took me years to find. I'll miss adventures to Annapolis and last minute trips to Baltimore. I'll miss it all.
This may be the hardest break-up I've had to do, Washington. When all is said and done however, we had to make a decision that feels right for our family.
DC, I'm going to the Denver area unemployed. Something I've never done in my life. For the interim, I'll be a mom and get us settled and will be looking for a job in the Denver/Golden area. I can't imagine what it will be like not working in the Nation's capital, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

The picture I'm leaving you with is of the Tall Guy's new office ( the building in the bottom corner). Can you really compete with that?

Striking a balance (where I overuse the word time)

I've been thinking a lot about balance lately. Work, baby, "me time", friend time, time with my Tall Guy, making sure said Tall Guy gets "his time" now that he's home with Silas for the summer, time to possibly exercise, being an active team member in keeping the house going... The list goes on!The one thing I think is clear is there just isn't enough time! My question is- how do you make it all work?
I'd like to get back to some exercise but, I'm having a hard time fitting it in. I'm at work full time now, which ends up being close to 10 hours away from home a day. This makes it really hard for me to justify taking a yoga class after work or spending that much more time away from my family in one day. Do I get up early? Forgo exercise for awhile? I'd love to know how other people and moms make it work once there are a lot more competing priorities in your life. I suspect the answer may be "sleep less", but it would be nice to know I'm not alone in trying to do it all!

Growing!

Silas is growing before my eyes. I can't believe how fast he has gone from a floppy little newborn to a wee boy. Pretty sure I'm going to blink and he'll be in high school!

I return to the office this week with a heavy heart, knowing I was lucky to be off 4 months. It's still going to be
hard leaving this schmoo!

Let's be honest...

Is there anything more cute than a baby in handknits?

The quilt that Twitter built

About  5 years ago, I started this blog as a way to keep my family abreast of my adventures and to track my new-found knitting projects. As time went on, I made a few "friends"- people who found the blog and we'd comment back and forth etc. Jessie and I bravely had a blind-date and I had a new knitter friend!  Then, there was Ravelry. And then, Twitter. I always sort of joke that I "Tweet for Joe". Joe is my brother-in-law and has worked with/for Twitter for a few years now and when I started exploring it, I thought it was neat, but didn't quite "get it". And then, one day a few months later, I realized I was bringing up conversations I had with people on Twitter to the Tall Guy, thinking about what I would tell my friends on there and slowly, but surely started actually meeting some of these people in person. It's sort of amazing how much the knitting/craft community embraced Twitter and I wonder if it's because our hobbies are sort of solitary unless we seek other people out, either via Knit nights or the internet. Anyway...

A lot of my family/friends like to make fun of me for my tweeting and online activities. My Tall Guy refers to me as the Queen of Social Media (which, I'm sorry, but at least 85% of you reading this beat me hands down) and I know it seems like these connections are just people that live inside my computer/iPad/Phone...but. (I'm getting to a point here), it's so much more than that and this photo explains a lot, if not all of it (as well as the other awesome gifts that follow!)

This amazing, gorgeous quilt is the "Quilt that Twitter" built for Silas. (More on him in a moment) I have never met in person 6 of the 12 women that had a hand in creating this quilt for Silas. The ones I know and have met in person? I only met because of the internet. And they are all awesomely talented, supportive and amazing women who while often only living inside my iPad have been such a source of inspiration, support and humor as I went through pregnancy and these early days of having a baby that I'm starting to think that all new moms should be handed an iPad upon discharge from the hospital. As for the creators, in no particular order, thank you to Jessie (Jessspress), Ann (AnnMT), Rachel (Rachellake), Chawne (cauchy09), Elspeth (AgentElspeth), Sarah (onestitchshort), Paula (woolarina), Cathy (Runnergirl713), Carrie (carrieoke), Carolyn (Duff), Autumn (AutumninDC) and Amanda (theotheramanda). I only have so much brain power at the moment, so here's a link to Jessie's flickr photo with each square credited.

In addition to the quilt, other goodies came in the package.  An Aviatrix hat and little bag (which matches the quilt Jessie had made me earlier this year for Silas!) came from RachelLake, this amazing cabel-y sweater is from Monica (mnappe) 

This tag blankie is from Danielle (aswiminknits) and  from Blair (trimblair) an offset wraplan!

And, for my own Finished Object.. (hehe), Silas Arthur.. joined us March 14th at 7pm. So far, we're just trying to keep our head above water. Thank you all for the handmade love, well wishes and baby smooshes. We are so lucky to have you all in our life, whether you're right down the street or across the country. Now, off to change a diaper. 

So many words for a universal occurrence....

Life's about to change a lot!