Yooo Hooo! Any body here?

Yes, I realize I've been silent for a LOOOOONG time.   I've meant to get back to the blog, and this week a couple of friends sent nudging emails so here I am.  I'll try to give the long story short to get everything caught up. 

Last fall, our son and his wife separated.  You may remember that our son discovered he had a daughter from a relationship before he met his wife.  The pull of a relationship with his daughter, now 15, after missing so many years was too strong for him to resist, so he moved to Texas to be near her.

Since then, we've had the opportunity to "meet" our granddaughter via Skype, email, phone calls, and FaceBook.  It's wonderful to be able to see her, hear her voice, and keep in close touch with her.  Not nearly as wonderful as it would be to grab her and give her a giant hug, but close!

I'm not even going to try catching up on what I've knit in the last several months; frankly, I can't remember!  But my first original pattern was released to the world last fall!  Knitters, I present to you Haberdasher which was included in Beyond Toes: Knitting Adventures with Judy's Magic Cast-On by Judy Becker.  I've done 3 or 4 book signings and will do another one later this month.  The pattern seems very well recieved; everyone seems to like the design; but so far, no one except the test knitter has posted a project in Ravelry.  I'm dying to see more of them and how they turn out.  I'm also REALLY dreading that first "Dear Designer" letter telling me how badly I screwed up the directions!

More recently, I've been fortunate enough to recieve yarn support from Tactile Fiber Arts for more of my own designs.  I met with Maia in February to discuss some ideas and she was a wealth of information and encouragement.  She gave me some luscious yarns to work with, including a skein of her Occidental DK in Pomegrante.  From that first conversation came these:

Office Assistant Mitts, a free pattern on Ravelry.  The pattern has been up only a three days and it's been downloaded over 90 times!  I'm hoping Maia sells a ton of yarn for these; they only take a single skein and the Occidental DK makes them warm and luxurious.  They have a twisted edge that's worked flat before joining and knitting the rest of the mitts in the round.  Do you see that lovely little thumb gusset?  That little do-dah gave me a few headaches, let me tell you.  They're knit all in one piece without breaking the yarn, so only two ends to weave in.  If you knit a pair, please post them on Ravelry and let me know how you like the pattern.

I've still got a couple of skeins of yarn from Maia, and several patterns rolling around in my head, so there will be more to come.

Last, but certainly not least, we said goodbye to Andy Rooney at the end of March.  It was the hardest thing ToolMan and I have ever done, and I'm not sure we're over it yet.  Andy was a loving companion from the day we brought him home at 5 weeks old.  He ate with us, slept with us, traveled with us (although not well), made us laugh, aggravated us, and made us cry at the end.  Old age, diabetes, and Cushings' Disease finally caught up with him and his bad days outnumbered the good days.  It took weeks for us to make the decision and we second-guessed ourselves until the last minute.  And often still do.  Finally, we made the decision based on what was best for him, not the easy decision based on what we wanted. 

Good night, sweet boy.  We love you still.