Wednesday, August 20, 2008

New School

Lucas was accepted into Lincoln Charter High School in Denver. He thought long and hard about it and finally decided that was the best place for him this year. He started on Monday, the 18th, a week earlier than his friends at Bandys. He's playing soccer for the school team and has his first game on Thursday. I've never seen him so excited about school! He's really enjoying his high school experience at Lincoln Charter. It was a good decision.

As for our plan to move to the Raleigh area, that has been put on hold. We will continue to try to sell our house, and when it sells we'll buy something in the Denver area and stay here until Lucas graduates from high school. I really hope it happens soon. I'm ready for civilization again!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

New Classes

It's almost fall; can you smell it in the air? Or is it just wishful thinking on my part? I'm so ready for cooler weather, color in the leaves, and brisk mornings that beg for warm, woolen sweaters. I yearn for my favorite sofa, a hot cup of tea, and needles in my hands knitting stitch upon stitch, creating something special for someone I love.

New knitting classes offered this summer at Baskets of Yarn include the A-line Jacket from Runway Knits (Karabella), Bettna Jacket by Noro, Dragon Melody Shawl and the Autumn Entrelac Shawl with that beautiful lacy edge by Jojoland, and Plymouth Yarn's Leaf Wrap made in the luxurious Royal Llama Silk yarn.
Yesterday's A-line Jacket class was fun. It was part one of a two-session class, to be followed up next Saturday afternoon. Susan, Cindy and Saundra were enthusiastic students and made great progress in the short time we had together. I expect lots of knitting this week so they'll be ready to assemble their sleeves next week!
Trish, the sock teacher, gave me a few minutes of her time to help me get started on another pair of toe-up socks. She knows a very special cast-on technique that is virtually invisible once it is mastered. She is definitely a 'sock diva' and the Queen of Socks in my opinion.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

What have you been doing this summer?


My summer has been saturated with soccer. Soccer, and getting ready for the wedding of our grandson, Matthew, to his beautiful bride Elenie. By 'getting ready' I mean finishing my Stash Jacket, knitting the shell I wore under the jacket, finishing their wedding quilt and making sure Lucas was dressed appropriately. Oh, there was that pesky packing and traveling, too. And don't forget the airport snafus: late departure from Charlotte and a cancelled flight in Chicago to come back home, and finally a 3-hour delay on the flight we finally did manage to get to Charlotte. All in all, I can't say I'm glad we made the trip at all, but I sure am glad it's behind us.

Lucas was accepted into Lincoln Charter High School for this year. This, after he spent the entire summer in soccer practices for Bandys High School soccer team. He has been going twice a day for awhile and had been getting up at 5:00 a.m. for a week before we knew for sure he would get into LCHS. He had a huge decision to make about his future, and he very carefully weighed all aspects of his decision before finally selecting Lincoln Charter. He'll hopefully spend his 4 high school years there. He begins school on Monday, August 18. Thus, the carpool begins....

If we are able to sell our house on the lake we're hoping to find something in the Denver area that will be closer to his school (and nearly everything else we enjoy doing). Ahhh, to be close to shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations, doctors offices, hospitals and schools again.... It truly does sound like a dream, it has been so long that we've lived in the boondocks. After listing our house with a popular realtor in the area for 6 months, we've only had 3 showings and none of those were productive. We're pulling our house off the market for now, making a few more improvements, and will list again later.