May Highs and Lows

May has always been a whirlwind month for me.  This year was no different-it started on some very low points.  I got a call on the 1st that my Mom's brother passed away suddenly, but not unexpectedly.  What made it even more difficult was not being able to be with the family since they are in the UK.  The 2nd was equally difficult as it would have been PJ's 25th birthday.  Steve and I have begun a tradition of eating Mexican on his birthday; still it's just not the same.  The 4th is our wedding anniversary and while Steve was away on the day of he did surprise me with some lovely flowers.  Hard to believe it's been 27years!  We did celebrate with a lovely meal a couple days later.

Things definitely began to look up when Andrew was able to come visit for about 10 days, and we picked him up on the 11th from the MARTA station.  Sophie was as thrilled as I was to see him!

Saturday the 12th we went to visit my Mom for an early Mother's Day-we took lunch and had a nice leisurely visit.  That evening we gathered at Maggiano's to celebrate my niece Paula's college graduation.  We are all so proud of her.  Mother's Day included a visit with Steve's Mom and since it was also Andrew's birthday we had snacks and ice cream cake.  I think Andrew looks so handsome in his suspenders, and this is his work "uniform".  It has been very nice having Polly close by.  We watched baseball and golf, and I got a bit of knitting done.

A week later was my Mom's 80th birthday, and we celebrated at our old church with afternoon tea.  She had a delightful time, and there was lots of we yummy food.  I was lucky that Mary, Karen and Polly were able to help get things set up.  Here she is with her friend Josie, and so many others where there to celebrate her special day.  Unfortunately, we had a pretty tight timeline for the day as Andrew was flying out, and we had to take Mom back to her apartment then head to ours to gather Andrew's belongings, grab dinner and then take him to the airport.  He got there in plenty of time- who knew that the world's busiest airport would be a mad house at 9:00 pm on a Sunday!  Poor kid didn't get to his apartment until 1:15 am and he had to be in the office the same morning.  I know his dog Cocoa was thrilled that he was home after being gone so long.  He was fortunate to have the concierge from his building help him with dog sitting.  

The next day was Steve's birthday, and we had a low key celebration of just us.  He wanted bacon and blue cheese burgers with onion rings no cake.  The burger were yummy and we spent the evening watching TV and he opened his cards.  Needless to say by the time the long Memorial Day Weekend rolled around I was ready for some down time.  My weekend started early when my boss let us leave at 2:00 on Friday.  I got the apartment cleaned and the laundry done.  I spent Saturday organizing the nook and crannies that tend to get cluttered this time of year and get stuff ready for donations.  I worked on some WWKIP items, and some other "administrative" duties.  Sunday I was able to go on a bike ride, the first of the season, and it was great.  I spent the rest of the weekend doing some knitting planning.  Here's all the projects laid out.

First up is my warm weather knits- Plain and Simple, Michigan, and Puntilla.  After swatching I've decided to use the middle yarn for Puntilla and the off white for Michigan.

There is a cowl [not pictured] that will be in the rotation at some point, and then I've decided to do Heidi Kirrmaier's Walking on the Moon with my Brooklyn Tween Quarry that was a intended for Thea Coleman's Stillhouse Vest that was an epic fail.  I think I need to use a worsted weight for that pattern.  I found a Berroco poncho pattern [you'll have to wait a while for the name] to use up my Lana Aran yarn that has been in my stash for a few years.

I frogged two sweaters last year and Mountain High by Heidi will be knit with my Swans Island Worsted, I know I'll get tons of use out of this pullover.  Footprints in the Snow will be the yarn from my frogged Cornice out of Rowan something?  I have deleted the project from my page so all I know is that is is a DK yarn.  Note to self do not delete frogged yarn until said frogged yarn is used up!

I plan to use my Rowan Fine Tweed to knit Joji's Separate Ways, I only have 2 colors, but I think it will be fine.  I will be swatching before hand to be sure.  My yarn plans are warm weather to cold weather, and I'm sure I'll sprinkle in other knitting in between, but this is yarn that I'd really like to get out of my stash.  I've already cast on the Puntilla and I'm nearly done with my Balise cardigan so of course I need to have at least 2 more sweaters going since I've  . . .

Finished two sweaters.  Here is Sunshine Coast knit out of Seta Tweed- I LOVE this sweater.   Sorry for the weird photo, but I have yet to find a good place to take FO photos where we live and a photographer.  Oh well, this will do for now.  I've worn this several times and it is so light weight.  I even got a compliment from a co-worker who was surprised it was hand knit! I also finished Beckett.  It is knit in Rowan's Finest which is a merino, cashmere, alpaca blend.  I won't be wearing it anytime soon, but it is done, the fit is perfect and it's ready for cold weather!

I wasn't lying when I said May was filled with highs and lows!  I'm looking forward to June what it will bring.  I have plans for a staycation which really means TONS of knitting.  Work is also easing up and having time to walk away from my desk to have lunch has been quite a treat.  What are you looking forward to in June-yea I can't believe it's here either.