I have been here in Georgia almost two months now and beginning to feel settled. I'm feeling like a Southern girl again as the South is where my roots are since I was born in MIssissippi. Before I know it, I'll have a southern drawl too!
The physical move was stressful. It encompassed two large trucks; one 27 ft and the other 17 ft. plus my car, my two dogs and my cat. My son, Ryan drove the larger truck and my friend, Michael, drove the smaller one and I drove the car with all the animals. We left Thursday evening at about 7PM, drove until 4AM, stayed in a motel and then drove until 10PM and stayed in another motel. We arrived in Cumming, GA at noon on Sat. the 4th of Dec. I had never seen the house I was renting in person so it was thrilling to arrive to and see how perfect it was for me. There are two angel statues in the front yard yard to watch over me. The back yard is fenced so it is perfect for my dogs. And the back of the house faces a beautiful church which is lit up at night showing off the steeple which for me is a reminder that God is watching over me. It's a 3 bedroom ranch and my favorite color...green.
When I stepped inside there was a huge floral arrangement of red roses and green spider mums from my new landlord, Susie, welcoming me home! What a lovely and thoughtful gift. And she is just as lovely!
Two hours after I arrived my girlfriend's daughter, Char and her husband, Phil showed up with about 30 people to unload my trucks. In one hour everything was off of both trucks! Can you imagine the kindness of people that didn't even know me! I was so completely overwhelmed. Next, my friend, Priscilla, showed up with an entire load of groceries. The kindness and outpouring of love has been overwhelming. I feel so blessed to have such good friends; both here in Georgia and also in NY. They enrich my life in more ways than I could possibly explain. I feel so blessed
As you can imagine I haven't done lots of knitting but the week before Christmas I made hats for Char's three boys. I have 20 plastic tubs filled with beautiful yarn but I have nothing that is appropriate for children that can withstand washing and drying so I was off to the local yarn store, Fleece. It's a beautiful yarn store here in Cumming . There I purchased Plymouth Encore in 3 different colored heather yarns. I've never used Encore before and was surprised at how nice it was for being 75% acrylic and 50% wool. 
The boys were so excited to have their new hats. And they have come in handy because we have had record breaking cold weather and snow this year.
January 9th Atlanta and the surrounding area had 5 snow followed by 2" of ice. The entire area was shut down for a week. They are not equipped to handle snow and ice here s the roads were treacherous. Schools ended up being cancelled until the 18th. Can you imagine? They missed 5 days of school and then MLK Day was in there too, hence the long time off. Businesses were closed including stores, banks, convenient stores, gas stations, grocery stores , etc. I went out briefly on the 10th ad couldn't find anything open. But I have 4 wheel drive which most people don't have here.
And I also finished a sweater I had been making for my favorite cousin, Richard. It's Jared Flood's Huron pattern. Drum roll please. I started this sweater Sept. 2009 and thought it would be a quick knit but life got in the way and it took over a year. Jared's patterns are so nice and easy to follow. I used Knit Picks City Tweed HW and it came out lovely. City Tweed is a great yarn and I highly recommend it. Since Richard lives in Colorado, I had Ryan model it but he didn't want his face in the picture.
When Jared first published his book, Brooklyn Tweed, I was lucky enough to be in the first group of workshops he held promoting his book, which was in August of '09 (see my Nov. 2009 entry) and I thought I'd be the first one to complete Huron. Now that is a laugh! But better late than never!

Here it is ready to be wrapped and mailed. Ryan took it to the post office for me and a had a laugh when the postman asked if he wanted to send it expedited shipping. He said, "Well since he's been waiting on it for two years I don't think another few days will make a difference!" Shame on me for taking so long!
I also finished a scarf with Windy Valley Musk OX
Qiviut. Now that is a dream yarn to knit with but the
cost
is quite steep so I only used one ball and s it's not really long enough to wrap around the neck the way I like. I've even thought about frogging it and making a lace neck warmer instead. Here it is unblocked and it didn't grow much after blocking either.
I always have a few pair of socks or simple scarves on my needles for mindless knitting but I would like to start something else.
I'm trying to decide what to make next and am thinking about making Chic Knits Ariana in Lima by Rowan. I have a beautiful green I purchased a year ago at JDill's in Milford, PA. I also have a Cascade Eco alpaca to make Girasole by Jared Flood. And then I bought some alpaca from Shalimar Farms in Warwick that is to die for. Oh dear I wish I could knit all the time.
Moving gave me the opportunity to really see my yarn stash. And I actually felt embarrassed because I have enough beautiful yarn to last my lifetime and maybe someone else's as well. I gifted two huge garbage bags of yarn before moving and I still had 20 large plastic tubs, plus a BR chest filled with yarn. And what I realized is I tend to choose patterns I'd like to make and then the yarn so I often don't have the yarn appropriate for the pattern I want to make. Plus I tend to think I can knit faster than I do.
So this year I really need to focus on using yarn from my stash. We're almost into February and I have not purchased any yarn this year!
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