I FINALLY went to see my Tricopine (Knitter friend) Laure in Montpellier and had a wonderful time at her shop. She has so many local and French yarns as well as a very tasty menu for brunch, snacks, or whatever. And if you’re a fan of tea, you’ll never want to leave!

Thanks so much to both Laure and Christian for a wonderful visit. I wish I’d planned my visit better and hadn’t been so jet-lagged. I missed out on a wonderful tour of Montpellier that Christian offered to do for me. He knows a lot about the city and the architecture. I learned a lot during a brunch with him and wish I’d have gotten out of bed the day of the intended tour instead of rudely turning off my alarm without texting that I had been unable to sleep overnight.

It doesn’t hurt for knitters to know a little chemistry.  I am in love with this video and had to share:

I’m not sure if I still deserve the capital K in “Knitter” anymore.  I seem to be in the hobby of collecting hobbies lately rather than truly being dedicated to one full time.  I went model train crazy after I’d already gone musical instrument crazy (I own 6 saxophones, 3 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 1 keyboard, and a full set of boomwhackers.)

I have a fairly completed HO scale train model that I haven’t touched for a couple of months or more.

I log in from time to time to ancestry.com but haven’t really done a lot of that for a while.

My DSLR (Canon EOS 6D) is lying dormant in its bag.

And now I’m collecting stamps again.  Whew.

And I’m playing a lot of WoW.

I have sweaters and socks I need to finish.  I have a book or five that I want to write.  I need staff.  I need an entourage.  I need an exceedingly efficient personal assistant.

Or a cure for ADHD. . .

How is it I forget every year how absolutely wonderful the Men’s Knitting Retreats are? Always so relaxing to knit with guys who feel like family. And every new person feels like family right away. I was so happy at Dumas Bay this year after the crazy two years we’ve had. So wonderful to see everyone and hope to see some of the past attendees return next year!

Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water. . . another tub of yarn found in the “storage” area of our basement. Yes. A tub. I guess my yarn stash length is going to reach Chicago after all. Okay, perhaps not, but it’s getting closer.

And when I work with my stash it makes me want MORE yarn rather than less. How does that work? I’m looking at enough yarn to open a shop and I’m supposed to think, “Okay. Time to destash or at least stop buying yarn.” Instead, I think, “Oooh That one is so pretty! I should get some more.” Sigh.

And this tub is Area 51 because it has more UFOs than Roswell. Nice sweater that I did, at least for this one project, wonder where it went. Then three bags with a one-and-a-half socks project in each that I don’t remember starting at all. And a scarf that I started making for someone from yarn she handspun. It’s not pretty because the yarns don’t match well. The two yarns would be great each on its own but they don’t play together nicely.

I’m finally doing it. I’m putting my stash into Ravelry. This make take a while. In fact, it may take a lot of whiles.

I was already a big fan of the library on Ravelry. Great to be able to find a pattern that I already own! Then at the last Men’s Fall Knitting Retreat (2022) someone pointed out to me that putting one’s stash on Ravlery also helps one find one’s yarn. As in, “Stored in Closet behind the stairs” or “Stored in Sock Yarn Cubby.”

So I’m sold. And now I’m going through my stash. Whew. Wish me luck!

I opened CNN this morning around 4am and shouted in alarm when I saw that Queen Elizabeth II had died. I didn’t expect to react that way to something that would surely be coming soon. I happened to have this blog opened in another window so I felt I should say something at least. For what little my opinion matters in the universe, I really respected her. She was forced into a position she didn’t want and still did her duty as best she could. The Queen is dead, long live the King!

I’ve been working on my stamp collection again. Well, actually, I’ve created a whole new one that is much more humungous. I guess model railroading and saxophone playing weren’t taking enough of my time away from knitting. Sigh. So many UFOs. . ..

Back in the Seattle again!

Has it really been two years since I last wrote anything here?  Why, yes it has been!   Tomorrow is mine and Dani’s 5th anniversary of marriage, although in gay years we’ve been together 15 years.  (We counted when we met as our anniversary until marriage finally became an option.)  Anyway, days go slowly and years pass quickly and here we are.

My favorite lambkin, Paul, is with us this trip.  Well, his name is Michael but he also goes by Paul and I’m not sure what he’d want to be called in a blog post.

We’re having a great time.  We got to Seattle on the 25th of  August and spent last night, the 28th, in Victoria.  We’re staying downtown in Seattle again tonight before heading down to Dumas Bay for the retreat tomorrow.   But we’re not going down there until I get me some Ivar’s chowder!