We're back!

And we're all sick. Except Bill, who hasn't gotten it yet, but he will eventually. Right now he's home from work, taking care of the rest of us. Sydney had a 104 degree fever yesterday and looked like she was on the brink of death. Owen wasn't much better and we confirmed w/ the doctor this morning that he has another ear infection. It has been hard to get anything done on our return home because both the kids want to be held all the time. Owen even insists on being held and rocked most of the night, although last night I figured out that if I propped him up on some pillows so he wasn't totally flat, he was able to get some relief. Despite all of this, the kids were fine on the flight home yesterday. Go figure.

We had another fun surprise waiting for us when we got home. Last week before we left, Bill noticed a musty smell in the corner of the basement. He figured water was seeping in someplace and we might have some mold growing down there. When we walked into the house yesterday, the smell was really strong in the living room and almost unbearable in the basement. I thought it smelled like something had died and sent Bill down to the basement to look for a dead rat. He opened up the little door to the crawlspace and heard something growl. He shined the flashlight around and slammed the trap door shut as soon as he realized that there was a big old raccoon staring back at him! Apparently the front of our porch has an opening between the wall and the foundation which is screened off except for one spot. This is where our new pet crawled through and made himself at home. Boy, are raccoons stinky! We've now got a live trap set up so we can catch him and haul him away. Then we need to seal off the hole somehow and clean and disinfect the crawlspace. In the meantime, the whole house reeks of raccoon crap. Lovely!

Other than the illness and pestilence waiting for us on our return home, we had a great vacation in the frozen midwest. Here are a couple of lovely pics of the view from my mom's house in Duluth.


These are taken out the front windows. They have a bunch of rocking chairs facing out towards the view, and one of my favorite things to do is sit and rock, watch the big ships go in and out of the harbor, and drink some coffee/tea/cocoa. And of course knit. Here are some pics of what I got accomplished (all pleasure knitting, BTW):


Whitby from Knitting On The Road knit in Artyarns Supermerino. I love this yarn and these socks. They are so yummy on the feet and as soft as the yarn is in the hank, it's even softer once it's been washed.

And here are the shorty socks I made out of one of the hanks of No No Kitty Kona.

I ended up having quite a bit left over, so I could've made them a little longer. I like short socks, though, so these worked out just fine. I think I'm going to make a pair of fingerless gloves or mitts out of the green hank.

Check out the rest of the holiday photos here.

Finally, I had some good news on the designing front. I got an e-mail from Cast-On (the TKGA mag), and they want to buy one of my designs for the summer issue. Not only that, they want a one-page article to go along with it! Yahoo! Then, when I got home, I had a message from another publisher who is putting out a couple of books this summer and she wanted to buy a couple designs as well. I'm also going to start self-publishing soon, hopefully within the next few months. I'll have patterns for sale over on my business site. I'm also starting an e-mail newsletter to announce new patterns and talk about general knitting stuff, so join up, why don't you!



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Hope you all had a great New Year. It's good to be back!