The most pointless day ever

A,
Have you ever had any of those days where you think to yourself, what was the point? Why did I even bother? Sometimes I feel this way with my knitting when I realize I need to rip back and start completely over. Or when I finish a sweater for my mom and then realize that it's just a tad too small and that she will never wear it. Or, listen to this.

James and I were going to fly to Minneapolis this weekend to go to a funeral. We left our house at 7am on Friday to drive to the airport. Flew to Denver for a layover. Everything fine so far. I took great note of the fact that there appeared to be grass near the runway. A plus for Colorado. The sky was also overcast, not something I'm used to seeing. (By the way, are you still thinking about CO as a final living destination? James and I spend quite a lot of time making plans for the future, and they change drastically from week to week, but I'm keeping CO in mind whenever I think of the next few years)

Our connecting flight was late arriving at the gate. This began to get annoying, as we thought about the fact that we were spending less than 24 hours in Minnesota, and it would be nice to make our flight soon. When the plane finally did come in, we were informed by the passengers that they had hit a bird during their take-off and sometime during their flight they had also been hit by lightening. . . Some time later we learned that our flight was canceled. You may be able to imagine why.

Following was a long wait at the customer service desk. There was another flight leaving for MN that evening, but by the time that we reached the front of the line the flight was full. So there was no way we were going to make the funeral the following morning. Plus it had started blizzarding outside and we were worried about more flights being canceled. We decided take the 6 pm flight back to AZ--which we just barely made before the plane left the gate.

However, blizzarding continued and de-icing failed. So we were told that we would be waiting on the runway until the snow abated.

I feel that I have to mention at this point that the airplane seats were the most uncomfortable seats that I have ever sat in. They were concave, which simply did not lead to proper or comfortable posture.

As you can imagine, it was quite a wait on the runway for the snow to pass. Eventually the skies cleared up, but it wasn't time to celebrate yet. Because we learned at this point one of our engines had failed and that we had to be towed back to the terminal so that someone could look at the engine. By the way, this engine that failed was the one that controlled our air temperatures and circulation. Without it, the cabin became unbearably stuffy and hot.

After five hours of sitting in this plane, we were able to finally take off. Dehydrated and starving, (we hadn't eaten since lunch) we returned back to AZ, drove home, and made it back by 1:30 AM to our house.

And what had we accomplished? Absolutely nothing. We spent the entire day at the airport, and we just ended up back home.

I bought a book while we were in Denver, and I finished it before our flight back even left the ground. That's how ridiculously long this day was.

Were you able to go to Katie's wedding? As you can see, I was struggling with other travel plans that weekend, but it would have been nice to see y'all. I hope your weekend was less pointless than mine.

K

A fine crumb

A,

Why baking bread is similar to knitting:

it's a tactile, hands-on process
smells wonderful
often involves following a recipe
you want to show everyone your finished product


Why baking bread is not similar to knitting:

you can eat bread
you can wear knitting


This is my sourdough starter. It is over 250 years old.


Plus, it's amazing. I even made waffles out of it.

I hope you're enjoying the holiday. My Easter bunny says hello.


Yes, that's an Easter turd next to her.

Happy knitting and happy baking.

Love,
K

Alpaca Farming

K,

Your are timely as always. I was getting really nervous, because I didn't know when Lock and Load was going to come in the mail. I really think he should change his name, however, to, "My Precious." Because that's how I feel about whatever you send me from those alpacas. Oh my gosh. So lovely. I don't want to spin it or do anything with it, hardly, for fear of ruining it. I love it sooo much. Yummy yummy yummy.

So you slipped in a pamphlet/sheet of paper on alpaca farming in the box, which was perfect, because apparently one of Kris's fellow physics graduate students Brad feels that life may not be treating him well at the moment and that perhaps he may want to step into the wonderful world of alpaca farming. This was not on any suggestion I made. I did not even mention alpacas. Kris just came home and told me that Brad was considering alpaca farming.

Delightfully, I knew I had just the thing, and sent Kris back with the pamphlet that informed Brad about how alpacas might spit on him. I also sent off 3 samples of fiber, the raw clip you newly sent me, the grayish alpaca you'd sent before, and some baby suri alpaca that I'd had in my fiber stash. (And I told Kris to be very careful.)

Apparently Brad was very impressed and took the pamphlet home to his wife. His father may own some 40 acres of land that he's not doing anything with that he'd let Brad use if he wants to. Now he just needs alpacas. And expertise. And time. And food for the alpacas. And everything else to take care of the alpacas.

Maybe a loan.

I've been working on my owl sweater, and while it's been going quickly, I don't know if it's going well or not. I feel like there's this bulge in the back from the way the shaping in done, and no matter what it wouldn't really go away. And so, rather than just knitting until I had to frog it all later and cry, I'm blocking it on the needles at this very moment.

Hopefully this makes the bulge go away. Hopefully. Cross your fingers. Other than that it looks pretty good. Most people in my class think it's a hat.

Love,
A