Monday's Musing

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." - Willie Nelson


Had a lovely time this past weekend at 3 Kittens Needlearts and Yarnover in Minneapolis! Pictures will follow this week - I'm estimating Wednesday Thursday or possibly Friday. I SO enjoyed teaching my classes, meeting new people, getting to know others better, and just generally having a wonderful time. Plus, I finished up my second to last sekrit project on the plane headed home. What could be better?!


Have a great week!

Monday's Musing - late edition

“Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” - Abraham Lincoln


I've decided to be happy. What about you? :)

Gratuitous cuteness

Almost all of the little white boxes have gone to their destinations. Just a very few remain. There are always a few that elude me somehow and I find them when going through one of my double, triple, or quadruple checks. It's always so difficult waiting for people to get them! But wait I must. I'm hoping at least one will make it to its final destination tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, there's something I've been wanting to show you. It's a gift from my California knitting friends. We met every Saturday for years - it must be 7 or so. I miss them terribly. But they sent me away with some knitted love. I had no idea they were doing this gorgeous thing.

I have always loved this pattern (it's Lizard Ridge from the brilliant Laura Aylor), but never had time to knit it. So my knit group, led by my dear and brilliant project managing friend Anne, made this afghan for me, including a square all the way from Texas from The Tiny Tyrant herself (her move preceded mine). And when I came into knitting group and said my time's up, they put it together for me, and Carol crocheted the edging. That week was such a frenzy of packing - because we realized we had to go before Mr. Romi's surgery; there would be no time afterwards. And yes - there's a long story, but it will have to wait until later for a full telling. After we moved, we came right back and stayed at my friend Sheri's wonderful vacation rental in the Alexander Valley so that Mr. Romi could have his shoulder repaired. (Anyone traveling to the wine country needs to stay there). It gave us, and especially poor Mr. Romi, a place that felt safe and home-y in the middle of a wrenching period of time. And when the boys and I got back from leaving Mr. Romi at Kaiser and hitting Trader Joe's, there was a box on the dining room table. "What's that?" I asked #1 Son. He gave me a look - a nice one - and said "it's from the Knotty Knitters." I opened it; out came this incredibly beautiful piece of work. And I cried.

So today, when the afternoon light was just perfect, I wanted to take some nice pictures of the blanket to show you all. I got one.

But Otto (remember him from when he was a little smaller?) had other ideas.

He thinks he's way cuter than the blanket.

Okay. You're adorable, Otto.

He looks at the blanket as quite his own.

I know this is gratuitous, but I can't resist.

Because he's just so stinking cute.

What?

Is there a problem?

Sigh. Off to wrap up in Otto's MY afghan!

Monday's Musing

"Make it so." - Jean-Luc Picard

This is what I am working on. Well, I often work on it, actually. Less contemplation; more doing!

Have a great week everyone!

Little White Boxes

And you all know what that means. Right? April's installment of the Pins & Lace Club is shipping out this week!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you. :)

Lucky 13

Happy Friday the 13th! Perfect day to announce the winners of the Easter Egg Hunt, wouldn't you say?

1st prize (copy of the upcoming shawl eBook subscription plus a shawl pin): Michelle - MistySnow on Ravelry

2nd prize (copy of the upcoming shawl eBook): Sally - SallyGeorgia on Ravelry

3rd prize (your choice of single free Romi pattern): Shelley (I will email you since I wasn't sure you'd want your last name posted!)

Congratulations ladies! It will be a couple of months before you get your eBook subscriptions, but I promise I won't forget! Thank you ALL for playing! I had an absolute blast and I'm so happy to know that you all enjoyed the fun!

In other news, things are getting into more of a routine here. The boys are really enjoying the swim team, but they haven't started back to school yet. Who knew it would be so difficult and time consuming to get them transferred from California Virtual Academy to Nevada Virtual Academy? We thought it would be so much simpler to have them finish out the year in that school (same company, different state) rather than trying to enroll them in physical school. We were oh! so wrong! At least they have extra time during summer to catch up.

I took another trip to my local yarn shop to knit with the knitting therapy group (love it!). They were wonderful and welcoming, and I found out that all but one of them is from California, as well. Heehee. While I was there, I had to score a skein of yarn that I had been dreaming about ever since I saw it last week.

You've gotta love a store that uses purple bags.

Am I right?

It's Ella Rae MEGA, and I'm dreaming up a quick and fun "moose lace" project. It's a little cold around here lately, and I think I need a neck warmer.

I'm getting my April club packages together, and things look like they're coming together. :knockonwood: And the taxes are almost done! Woot for Mr. Romi!

I'm off to a "mini meet" at the pool this afternoon. Have a great weekend!

Hippety hop

Down the rabbit hole for me! Things still seem so surreal. I feel like I will wake up any moment now back in California! I feel a little like I am sleep walking. But back to reality now....

I wanted to thank you all for hunting my eggs! I had a terrific time hiding them, and I'm so glad that you all enjoyed the hunt! There were over 400 entries, so I am still going through everything and will post winners soon. The eggs were hidden in Erato, Cáliz, Maia, Taygete, Toque Yo, Calliope's Odyssey, Lisianthus, Kleio, Polyhymnia's Triangle, Madroña, and Fiori di Sole. And the 12th egg was, of course, on my blog. ;)

While you wait for that announcement, I thought I'd show you the first skein of yarn bought in my new state. Isn't it pretty?

MadelineTosh from The Pioneer Yarn Company in Minden. The photo above is in the shade. The photo below is in the direct afternoon sun.

I love the way this colorway, Dusk, changes in light. It may be my imagination - no, it's not really: the colors here look more vivid. There is something different about the light. I am seeing shades in yarns that weren't apparent before. It's wonderful. I love love love color. I've just been staring.

Well, back to work with me. I have more to do before hitting my pillow!

Monday's Musing

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been thinking this a lot lately! :)

Hope you have joined in the egg hunt fun! If not, you still have until midnight PST tonight (Monday, April 9th) to send your answers to egghunt@designsbyromi.com!!!

Have a great week! I will tell more of my story about moving later on this week.

Play time!

I think it's time for some fun, don't you?

How about an Easter Egg Hunt???

Here's how it will work....

I have uploaded 11 pictures of dyed eggs into my pattern pictures on my Ravelry designer page. You can access my pattern collection here. Click through my patterns and find those eggs! Once you have found them, email me at egghunt@designsbyromi.com with the pattern names where the eggs are hiding. Do not post the answers here! You have until midnight PST on Monday, April 9. Oh wait! There are prizes too. :)

Prize 1: If you find all 11 egg pics, you will be entered to win my next subscription shawl eBook plus a shawl pin.

Prize 2: Find 7 and you will be entered to win my next subscription shawl eBook.

Prize 3: Find 3 and you will be entered to win a free single pattern of your choice.

If you tweet or Facebook or post about my little egg hunt and let me know, I will add another entry for you in your category.

Are you ready? Let the hunt begin!!!

Magical

I think the most striking thing about this area - our new home - is the scale of the beauty. It is grand. Magnificent. Wild and untamed. And I keep thinking of the pioneers coming to the eastern side of the High Sierras and wondering what went through their minds when they saw the next stage of their journey. Did they watch storms blow down the sides of the mountains like I did today?

It was a little cloudy this morning over the Sierras.

And then a mist of snow began drifting down.

The clouds started coming in faster then.

And in another five minutes, more of the mountain was invisible behind its shroud.

But it was still sunny here in the valley.

There were flakes of snow blowing through the neighborhood, and it was cold, but the friendly warm sun stayed out, only briefly blocked by cloud cover.

It was darker and darker over the mountains, and the boys drove into it on their way to swim practice (at the lovely indoor facility).

Over on the other side of the valley, there were incredible cloud formations.

And directly overhead, bright blue skies.

The clouds retreated back to the top of the mountains by evening.

And the moon came out.

Magical.

Monday's Musing

"Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgement that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. For now you are traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be." - Meg Cabot

We are back home and Mr. Romi and I are sitting at Starbucks using the wifi. Yay Starbucks! Today we are working on returning life to a semblance of normality. The kids need to get enrolled in school, wholesale orders need to be put together and shipped, patterns need to be finished, internet service needs to be obtained, garbage service at the old house needs to be cancelled.... Did I mention that the house we're in is a temporary one? Heh. We are trying not to unpack! The pup is doing well, the cat is slowly coming to terms with the interloper, and Diva the Rabbit is ignoring everyone and lying about like the Queen of Sheba in a sunbeam. Worst news alert: all my shoes - except my Keen sandals and rain boots - are missing in the mad pile of boxes and furniture in the garage. At the moment, I am sitting here in my only warm foot coverings, a pair of fur lined slippers. Luckily, no one is staring at my feet.

There is snow on the mountains, the air is clear and crisp and wonderful, and the sun is bright and deliciously warm. Terry in my Ravelry forum totally nailed the location of the picture I posted of the mountains: the Sierra Nevadas seen from the stretch of 395 between Carson City and Minden, Nevada. For those of you who have never seen the Carson Valley in Nevada: it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. The funny thing is that - even though I was born and raised close by in California - I had never been through this area until we all went to a swim meet in Carson City. I had been to Reno, Elko and Las Vegas, but this little piece of heaven completely escaped me, and when I saw it, I fell deeply in love. But more about that later.

Thank you all so much for all the kind wishes and thoughts you have sent our way. You have all buoyed me when I was so tired I could have dropped! These are not bad changes, so please don't worry about us! It is exhausting and time consuming and everyone is a little shell shocked, but all will be better after the dust has settled. Mr. Romi is doing really well and the boys are adjusting. I'm off to get some things in order and find my shoes. Love to you all!