Memorial Day 2022

I finished the Miss Purl's Party Shawl and switched for the weekend to working on scarves for veterans.  I know it's Memorial Day, but they have fellow soldiers who returned and can use a scarf.

I also did the University of Chicago Alumni & Friends 5K.  Technically it's a fundraiser but I didn't feel like asking others to support me since it's a do-when-you-will sort of thing.  That started during the pandemic and they kept it because it enables more people to participate.

I wore some of my favourite UChicago gear, and took pictures while on my walk:

It's the first time in a very long time that I've not had to work during at least part of a 3-day holiday, especially the Monday.  I am not entirely comfortable about it, but I can adjust and accept it.

Tripping.

For the first time since March 9, 2020, I went on an airplane.  I have now been on five, thanks to a connecting flight and a total of two round trips.

The first, and most important one, was to visit family in North Carolina.  I went for ten days, working part of the time, taking off some time to be with the family, running errands, visiting my uncle at his new residence and meeting the administrator, and doing other things.  I saw my brother's new house and land, including my sister-in-law's she-shed and my brother's workshop, and the rooms belonging to their college-aged girls, and the one for the cats.

I didn't take family pictures (we're mostly private) but I did take a number of selfies while I was out walking on some of the days.  I signed up for the Livingston Wong Memorial 5K because a friend works with that organization, and since I often walk 5K of a morning, it's not anything that strains me.  I actually did it three times - once didn't count because I did it the day before the walk week began.  I wore the same shirt for the walks, washing it between of course:

 

 

I am not good at taking selfies.

Then yesterday, Hallowe'en, I zipped down to Baltimore to see a friend.  Southwest has a program where the high-level frequent flyers can maintain their status with two round trips taken in a certain timeframe, as opposed to having to fly many trips in a year.  I used to get the status by July, but not this year!  So I thought of just flying down and turning around, but this was more fun.  As my friend reported it:

You guys! I had such a wonderful day! I have this online-only knit group that I have been a member of for more than 15 years. In the beginning I was a moderator of that group. The group’s owner, Margo Lynn, travels a lot for work, and once, about 11 years ago or so she was blowing through BWI and so we met for brunch. Fast forward to now. Because of the pandemic our group has expanded to include a Sunday Night Zoom, which has become a highlight of my still mostly isolated week. One night a few weeks ago I was knitting on my Silk Garden Santa hat right before the Zoom was supposed to start. And my yarn broke, right in the middle of a cable cross. Grrrr! I was so mad when I signed on for the meeting that night I said the project was going in timeout and that since it had broken in a decrease section on the hat (that is, not actually having to be stretched over my head at that juncture) that I had half a mind to just glue the stupid ends together and be done with it. Of course I was (only half) kidding, but my knit friends would hear nothing of it. I had lots of offers to fix the knitting for me. Margo Lynn even said she could come down (FROM CONNECTICUT!) for the day and fix my knitting and leave. I was like, whaaaat? Really? I had no idea she would really do a thing like that but bright and early this morning there we were, picking her up at BWI! We made a quick run to Starbucks on the way back to the house and my knitting was fixed before 10 a.m. We had a

lovely time

together. I showed her some of my many WIPs that she has only seen glimpses of online. She met Bonny the Cat, who NEVER comes out when company comes, but somehow decided that Margo Lynn must be ok, and we had a wonderful lunch together. By 3:15 we were headed back to the airport, and Margo Lynn was safely home in time for our Sunday Night Zoom. (Oh, and check out this amazing skein of Spun Right Round yarn that Margo Lynn brought me. She said she had found it a few years ago and it screamed, “me.” And she’d been hanging onto it should the day come that we would see each other again. For like, years. How cool is that??) Thanks, Margo Lynn, for a wonderful day, and for creating such a fabulous memory together!!

I was "The Blue Screen of Hallowe'en", and have a motherboard mask but didn't wear it in the photo.

Mini-Resolutions Report

Not much progress.  I took the Magical Miniskeins sock to North Carolina and did nothing on it.  I did get to the lace part of the Q3 MAL shawl and am debating whether to add a few more rows to the body, and thus another repeat of the lace pattern.  I've decided to replace the lace pattern on the Omega Shawl with something I like better, or I may just keep working it as a solid item.

I did finish a book (My Dear Hamilton, which I donated to the library at the clubhouse of my parents' community, along with the other book about the Hamiltons that I finally was able to return), and found The Ballad of Frankie Silver which I think I'll work on finishing next.

I checked the beginning-of-year KnitTalk Resolutions list and I said I would knit the Falling Leaves Cardigan this year.  I guess I should cast on, shouldn't I?

Virtually 5K

Technically, it was a virtual 5K, since I definitely walked that distance - over double, since my FitBit said I walked 11.54km this morning.  I've done a number of virtual 5K walks in the last year-plus; some friends have signed up for multiple walks as a personal challenge and also because I think one person loves to collect all the badges and medallions.  I decided to do ones where I support the cause, such as the ones for Foodshare in April of this year and last September.  Usually their walk is in May, but of course last year's was postponed, and then they went virtual.  To keep people interested they set up a theme for every day of "Walk Week", and apparently I posted on Facebook but not here.  These are the outfits I wore:

The themes were:

• American Football, and I thought I'd be different so instead of my Bears T-shirt I wore my University of Chicago Big Ten Champions shirt.  Yes, it's been a while......
• The Yard Goats, the local minor league baseball team, since recent walks were hosted in their stadium.  I do not have anything by either them or the Hartford Whalers, so I wore my Cubs shirt.
• Past Foodshare Walks, and while I hadn't kept any of those (usually, I wore the shirt of my congregation, as we walked together, so I didn't have collectibles) the "Stronger Together" shirt was a Foodshare fundraiser.
• Local shirts, preferably for your town but this is all I have.  Love it!
• Fancy Friday - I wore the formal only for photography purposes and a bit of the workday, I definitely did NOT want to do the walk in it!  Especially as the day was warm and sticky. 

On June 26th I did this one:

It's hosted by The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri which has a VIP Veterans Packs program providing food and food and toiletries to over 400 veterans in twelve Missouri counties.  You could do it in a local park or virtually.  Of course, I wore something appropriate when I walked:

I also have a University of Chicago Alumni medal from our Virtual 5K which raised funds for the Odyssey Scholarships.  I also got a participation prize for posting a picture on social media.

Today's walk was for the Saint Andrews Society of Hawai'i.  A friend who is a badge collector is an officer of that organization, and it was a fundraiser, so why not?  I told her I'd try to wear a clan sash or something, but it was hot and sticky today, so I wore this:

It turns out I received an extra badge: Because I walked so much today, FitBit sent this: