Big Things

Hi all! It has been a bit since I have posted anything. Here at Chez Things, we have had a lot of big things going on, some of which are shareable, some of which will be shareable at a later time. Plus I have just been in a winter funk that always hits around February and blogging seemed like a tedious nightmare so rather than fight to come up with something to say, I just didn't. And it was great.

One of the big things that has happened is that the Husband is starting a new job at Virginia Tech in a week-woohoo! He is a Civil Engineer (which means he knows a lot of stuff about earth moving, water pipes and drainage, and land development-you know, boy things!!) He graduated from VT and has always hoped to one day work for them and now he is going to! We're happy about it and he's super excited because his new position will have more to do with building and construction and dirt than ever before. Break out the Tonka trucks, y'all-it's a little boy's dream come true! Oh, and he gets to contribute to the advancement of higher education and all that good stuff, too.

As for the biggest thing that has been going on, well, you can just wait a bit longer and you will find out soon enough. And no, I am not pregnant. Nor planning to be. Just thought we'd take care of that right up front.

In playing-with-yarn news, in lieu of actually knitting for the most part, I have been busily working to get the supplies sent to the kiddos in Ethiopia and it should be shipped in the next day or 2. There are over 100 skeins of yarn, many of them full, in this box and I am so glad to be sending it to them! It was so awesome packing it up thinking about who was going to be getting it and what they might create with it. There were several yarns I love and have been hanging on to for the "someday" when I was struck with inspiration and I realized that I was inspired to give them away! I thought about some of them for quite a bit but then realized I can replace just about all of them or find some equally exotic, exciting yarny goodness any time I want just by popping down the road to Mosaic or hopping online. These kids do not have that luxury, nor any luxuries really. How could I keep it? I could and would not. In the box it went-it was so fun! I will tell you that the plastic bag yarn (plarn) was more of a project than I imagined! I cut up about 30 bags into strips, then knotted them all together then rolled them into a ball, like so:

With this, they can knit or crochet market bags that they can either use or sell, both of which will be an improvement to their daily chores and hopefully a fun project to boot! (just what does that expression "to boot" mean? where did it start? it sounds weird and looks weirder when I just typed it...) I am going to send some instructions on how to make the plarn and the bags and send them along with the other yarn. Plus, I realized I LOVE having all those plastic bags out of my house so I went right down to the grocery store and bought some of the reusable bags and have been using them for everything in the past few days-it is so much better!!!! So it is a win-win for everyone-yay! Other than the orphanage knitting stuff, most of my knitting has been very sparse and unmotivated. I am sort of doodling around on a super easy garter stitch scarf for when I want a zone out project, I am working a little bit on a sweater I started for the Husband before I was even pregnant with Thing 3, but I have found it is just as boring now as it was then so I know why I stopped knitting it in the first place. Funny how those things don't really get more exciting from being stuffed in the bottom of the knitting basket for a few years. I believe that is operating under the same law of clothing that dictates that the clothes that are in my closet that did not fit me the last time I tried them on still do not fit me, no matter how much I want them to. (And yes, I am sure it is completely unrelated to the lack of exercise and crummy winter eating. Hush up now. It is "insulation".)

I'd love to hear from you if you come by here these days-it has been awhile since I have posted regularly and awhile since I've heard from lots of folks-give a shout out and tell me what big things you've been up to! 3 weeks till Spring-woohoo!!!!!