Apologies and updates

First, apologies yet again for a long absence. This Master's program is more work than I expected, but classes are going great! I'm working on two really interesting projects at the moment: one on learning theory as applied to knitting and another on the volunteer management system for Army Family Team Building. Very cool stuff!

Secondly, Momo found a new friend! And so did I! Amanda is another Army wife that I met through a knitting buddy, and her 11 month old puppy Lucy is Momo's new BFF. It is such a hoot to watch these two little monkeys play with each other. And, of course, the extra benefit is that they wear each other out so we get some peace and quiet! Harley tolerated their shenanigans, and even tried to get into the fun while chasing the ball outside.

When she's feeling especially lonely and I'm busy knitting or reading in the nap chair, Momo has taken to planting her face between my feet. It's so cute that I can't even get annoyed at how distracting it is.

On the crafting front, it's been pretty low key since I finished the big red chair. Lots of fun little projects and nothing overly ambitious. I've made a few shrugs for ladies on base, and a dear friend of mine commissioned a knitted work: she wanted an obscenely large knitted diamond ring. I am pretty darn proud of the fact that I designed the whole thing all by myself and that it actually came out the way I envisioned! I must be getting good at this knitting thing...
Here's a shot to give you proper scale for the finished product. That's one BIG diamond! And I got to use my new knitting machine to make the band.

The El Paso Knitting Guild had a yarn swap a while back, and I picked up this beautiful bamboo yarn. It's super soft and looks stunning with the way it patterns. But I'm using a size 3 needle and working these fingerless gloves in all rib stitch, so it is taking FOREVER to finish! At least I'm doing both gloves at one time or I would probably never finish the second one...

Just a few years ago I picked up a pattern booklet from Paton's that included felted Mary Jane slippers. I'm pretty sure I bought it just for that pattern. Well, I finally knitted up a pair and they are even cuter than the picture! I had to make a few adjustments, but they are soft and warm and cute and wonderful! And, yes, I will be making many, many more of these. Christmas is right around the corner, after all.

Apart from all the knitting, I also stumbled across an amazingly clever idea: book purses! Who would have guessed, transforming old, hard cover books into charming little purses. I made a practice run with a Lemony Snickett book, then tried it for real on this book about Texas.

It certainly isn't a "throw everything you might possibly need for a two week trip" kind of purse. But it definitely has some style to it. I have a few other old books I snagged from the Goodwill. Let's see how those turn out...

When we moved to El Paso I had this idea that we'd be relatively warmish when most of my New England friends were shivering in their parkas. Sadly, it seems that El Paso doesn't comply with many of my expectations. This morning as I walked the dogs it was a whopping 34 degrees. In all fairness, it's supposed to get into the upper 60s later today. But still. Grrr.

Oh, the cuteness!

I had a surprise visitor in my backyard this morning. As I was watering the herbs and veggies, I heard a soft scraping noise coming from the back wall. Being in new and somewhat unfamiliar lands, I was a bit wary as to what might be causing the noise.

After staring long and hard, I finally located the source: this adorable little turtle!
He was oh so tiny, but very brave. It only took a moment of being handled before he stuck his little head back out and started walking around on my hand. I can only guess that he's a land turtle, since there aren't any lake, rivers, streams, ponds, puddles or leaky faucets around. Any guesses on what kind of turtle he is? I emailed the University of Texas at Austin with a picture, but haven't heard back yet. Update: according to UTA, this is an ornate box turtle.I tried to keep him safely in my herb garden containers until I could establish what kind of turtle he was and where would be the best place to release him. But he managed to escape the garden and is now off on his next adventure! Kinda makes me want to knit a turtle, if I could just find a pattern...


And, just because it's been a few days since I've posted pictures of the girls, here they are keeping me company while I search for jobs. Mo is getting so big so fast that it's hard for me to believe that she's less than 5 months old. Hopefully she won't get as big as Harley!

A long, long drive

I know these are a little late in getting posted, but I've been a tad busy...

About 2 weeks ago, Brian and I headed out of Dad's driveway and pointed our cars West. For the next 1600+ miles I followed Brian's tail lights (except for a little detour around New Orleans...).

At first, the scenery didn't change much. When you're on I-10, Georgia looks like Florida, which looks like Alabama, which looks like Mississippi, which looks like Louisiana.


Even the far eastern edge of Texas looked pretty much the same (though it was getting hotter by the mile).


It wasn't until we were a little ways into Texas that the view started to change. Hills got flatter, trees got smaller and more sparse, and the horizon opened up before us.

The dogs did really well on the trip. They pretty much just slept in the car, sniffed at the rest stops, and wanted to play in the hotels. All in all, it could have been a lot worse!

After three days of driving, we finally made it home! I've been busy unpacking, looking for work, playing with the puppies and occasionally poking around El Paso. Last week Brian and I even took a walk through the El Paso Border Patrol Museum and the El Paso Archaeological Museum, which had a neat nature trail outside.

I have to say, I like El Paso more than I expected I would. That might be due in part to the fact that hardly anyone I spoke to had anything positive to say about it, so my expectations were fairly low. But the heat isn't too bad as long as I stay out of the direct sun, the view of the Franklin Mountains is gorgeous, and we have a really comfortable home. Oh, and I'm finally living with my husband. What's there to complain about?!

Daily dose of adorable!

Not much time to write, so I thought I'd keep you entertained with adorably cute photos. Enjoy!

Daddy's pup, Roscoe, hiding under the table to avoid Mo.

Mo, enjoying the comfy doggie hammock on the drive out to AL.

Mo had a blast sniffing around the rest stops on the way to AL. Look at that stance!

The carpet at Poppa's house is great for napping.

Puppy play dates tucker Mo out!

At 3 months old, Mo weighs in at 14.7 pounds.
If we can just get this UTI cleared up we'll be doing great...

A finished knitting project: a happy little bluebird!

Finally Finished Crafts and Puppy Dates

For starters, Mo is 10 weeks old already!! It's hard to believe how much she has grown in the month that we've had her. She really is a sweet little thing, and pretty well behaved, as puppies go...

Several years ago (about 6 years, if you really have to know) I started saving corks to make a wine cork message board. As I myself don't actually drink wine, it took me a good long while to get a sizeable amount of corks (many thanks to the plethora of corks from the Inn at Stonington!). After I got a small box full, I sorta put the project on the back burner. As I was organizing for the pre-move logistics, I unearthed the box of corks. Vowing that I would not move a box full of corks yet again, I broke out the glue gun and went to work!

I also unearthed a Sisters journal that I have had for so long I can't recall... I forced myself to sit down, put the pictures in the sheets, and write out the 4 pages worth of sisterly quotes that I had gathered from the internet.

Gotta say, it's pretty darn cute!

This morning was Mo's very first ever puppy play date!! She had a lot of fun romping around Daffin with Raina and Diego. She was by far the smallest of the three, and often tried to climb my legs for a moment's peace.

We even had a visit from some Goldens that were enjoying the dewy field. All in all I think she enjoyed herself. I know that Harley has enjoyed the fact that Mo has been passed out almost all day!