Ravelry!

I love Ravelry.

Wait -- I REALLY love Ravelry.

I love Ravelry so much that I've spent most of the last month's 'online time' updating my stash on the Ravelry site. I've barely blogged. I've been photographing new yarn purchases, uploading them into Flickr, and putting in all my books, FOs, UFOs, etc.

I believe the big opening to many folks is happening very soon, so get in line and get ready to be wowed.

So, in the real world (i.e. not virtual), I'm back in Tokyo (a whole 24 hours now), and I've unpacked most of the bags. I have put all the newly purchased yarn in ziplock bags, and stuffed it all in the big TV cabinet (that no longer has a TV). It is now full, and I've imposed a 'no purchase rule' on myself. (I've heard from reputable sources that sock yarn is not counted in these rules.)

While in Minnesota, I purchased enough yarn, patterns, and books to keep me knitting for a few years. As a matter of fact, I entered a lovely yarn store while on vacation, and fondled many lovely things, yet BOUGHT NOTHING but a gauge and needle thingy. My husband seemed impressed at my restraint, and I honestly told him that he should be very afraid if he saw such restraint because it meant that even I now believed that I had too much yarn. Incredible, I know.

Must sleep -- jet lag makes me cranky.

Back from the lake

Back from the lake -- about a 3.5 hour drive for some people, I hear, but I've never done it that fast. Today was a personal record for me in the incredible length of time it took to get home. 12 and a half hours. Yep. Something to be proud of. And I went the speed limit the whole time I was driving -- no traffic jams, really. Here's how I frittered away the day:


9:00 am -- vacate cabin.
10:00 am -- give up waiting in line at freakishly crowded diner, go to coffee shop and buy latte and the two day-old cinnamon buns they have left
11:00am -- finally leave Walker, MN
11:20 am -- swerve wildly to avoid a head-on collision with a truck towing a boat that had been tail-gating a car that decided to stop suddenly to make a turn (why, why, why would anyone swerve INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC ON A HIGHWAY to avoid rear-ending someone instead of swerving onto the shoulder?) Thankfully, ALL cars in both directions had quick wits and there was no accident.
12 noon -- Lunch in Baxter -- subsequent yarn shopping! Stash enhancement: 3 patterns, and 7 skeins of merino-alpaca blend and one Mountain Colors (same shade as the 7 skeins I bought in the same store on the way UP north 1 week earlier)
2:00 pm Leave Baxter
3:00 pm Get gas and snacks near St. Cloud, MN.
4:00 pm (?) arrive at Albertville Outlet Mall
6:00 pm -- stay indoors at mall due to thunderstorm/tornado warnings (not that we were planning on leaving anyway)
8:00 pm Leave Albertville Outlet Mall

All I gotta say is, the COACH store at this outlet mall had WAY better prices that the outlet store in Gotemba in Japan -- WAY better. Everything else I bought at the outlet mall was for the kids' school clothes.

9:00 pm -- arrive in suburban MSP, hitting the edge of the big thunderstorm
9:30 pm -- arrive home, unpack car

I get home, there's a leak in the garage in the corner where my car and stuff are, and I had to spend an hour moving boxes and throwing stuff away that has water damage (apparently there was a lot of rain today). Luckily, most of the stuff was not really important, so I don't feel like I've lost anything but time.

Speaking of losing time, it's 1:19am, and time for me to have been sleeping for hours by now!

Bridge down?

The last 24 hours have been a bit surreal. The 35W bridge is down, as the entire world knows. There are a lot of bridges in Minneapolis. I even drove over the Mississippi River 4 times (on 2 different bridges) on August 2nd, hours before the 35W bridge collapse. Quick calls all around assured us that our friends and relatives were not on the bridge, and we are thankful, yet stunned. I keep thinking about the families who escaped, who are injured, or who have missing. I think of the bravery of the divers in that muck -- what a mess.

I had taken the safety and security of the roads here for granted. Now each bridge I drive over or under (and there are a lot of them) I take a little more notice.

Hug your loved ones again today.