Walking to Tampa

I spent almost all of yesterday on planes - flying from a mid-sized city to another mid-sized city means changing planes, and mine happened to change in Chicago (where wind conditions made both flights late), which made for a longer day.

Add to that:

a lack of shoes for my class (I asked a VERY kind cab driver to stop at a mall so I could run into Sears and buy a cheap pair of flats),

an exploding bottle of conditioner which spilled on a bunch of my Romantic Knits items(I had it in my zip up toiletries bag, which seems to have been unzipped at some point during the TSA check and not completely zipped closed - the items are rinsed and just fine now)

and you have a brief view of my day in the air. Is it any wonder that I prefer to drive when it's at all possible? My moving-in-sore legs hurt so badly I feel as though I walked to Tampa.

The first flight to Chicago was fine, but on the second flight down to Tampa I sat behind a woman with two kids - a very upset toddler and a very active pre-schooler who put his seat all the way back so that he was practically in my lap, then bounced for 20 minutes. The mom, who obviously had a more stressful flight than anyone else on the plane, was great about moving his seat back up when I asked.

It was a loud flight, though - there were a LOT of kids on the flight, and a lot of hugging grandmas waiting just past security in the airport. It made me miss my mom a bit - she's been on my mind so much lately, I have wanted to call her several times during the move, and I know she would just LOVE our new home!

Last night I got to the convention center in time to freshen up a bit, clean out my conditioner-infused items and prepare for my Combination Knitting class. There were 29 folks signed up (I think we were short a few in the actual class) and it was a really wonderful group. Lots of folks from all over the country who'd ended up down here, a real all-American mix of knitters.

I felt like I was stumbling over my words - mush mouth - and although the class went VERY well, I wished my energy would have been clearer. I did get to show everyone the cabling without a cable needle at the end of the class, and was gratified to see so many lovely cables all over the place as folks were leaving.

Ironically, I usually forget to talk about my books (my sales pitch) at the end of classes until someone reminds me, but last night I remembered. It was ironic because of course I didn't BRING any books with me because I couldn't find them in the mess that will be my front porch work area. Oh, well - hopefully if they liked the class they'll visit Amazon or my site and check out the book!

KID STUFF
So far the verdict is - St. Paul schools are great!

Both kids are VERY happy in their new schools, they really like their teachers and they have begun to make friends. Aside from some scared tears when Hannah got lost walking home from her school on the first day they're both embracing their new St. Paul lives with gusto! Hannah got out of school earlier than we thought, so we weren't there to meet her and she took a wrong turn and was a bit of a basket case by the time she found her way home.

Hannah walked herself home the next day with no problem - we're only 2 blocks from the school - but in a new town everything looks odd!

We celebrated with a trip to IKEA to buy some storage containers for mom's TONS of yarn. Max found a french fry with aspirations to art (we call it kjurge, it just seems so - IKEA-esque. Incidentally, is that a beautiful boy, or WHAT?)

Being away from him and Hannah and Gerry is like a physical pain this weekend.


WORKING STUFF
I'm patterning on a crochet piece that's due at the end of the month. The yarn hasn't arrived yet, so I've been working up a "muslin" with a different yarn (same weight) so that when the yarn arrives I'll be working off of a finished pattern. I toyed with the idea of just using the different yarn, but it's not right for the pattern, so I'll wait for the real stuff. It's a pretty simple garment, I should be able to do it in just a few days.

Another crochet piece is finished, I'm debating a finishing detail, which I may change, but it's coming together beautifully and I just have to finish the pattern. I have submissions that I'd like to turn in on March 1st, so I'd better get on the stick when I get home!

I am glad to be here teaching this weekend, but I was SO SAD to leave the house. I feel like the living room and kitchen are just beginning to come together (we've decided to make the dining room an extension of the living room and forego a formal dining room - we'll eat in the kitchen) and I'd like nothing better than to curl up in my window seat with an audio book and some yarn. Ah, well, soon I'll be home - in St. Paul!

Today I have a presentation at 11:30 (the aforementioned Romantic Hand Knits garments) and then at 6:00 my cabling class. Then back to my very nice hotel room (a suite!) for a full night of rest (I found it hard to sleep on a bed that wasn't resting on the floor last night - go figure...) and a flight home on Saturday morning.

Yes, once again I'll be changing planes (this time in Dallas - uh oh, there's supposed to be storms in the area...) and I'm hopeful that any slowdowns in Minneapolis (10" of snow expected on Sat) will be cleared up by late Saturday so I'll be back with the family by Saturday evening.

Well, at least I'll have my computer with me so I can work on writing some patterns, and I'll probably have some knitting with me, too!