Packing Light

Off to Tennessee tomorrow for the fourth section of my training in yoga therapy. Above, my version of packing light. Really, I'm better at this than I was a few years ago. Somehow, it soothes me to just keep piling whatever I think that I might want to take on top of the suitcase, then allow time and space for a natural winnowing process. Deadline is tonight before I go to bed to make final decisions and close the suitcase up. (My husband just asked, "are you all packed?")



Below, the heart-rending decisions of what books and knitting to take. I'll have a medium-length flight with plenty 'o time in the airport going and then waiting on the other end for the shuttle to the retreat center. But once I get there, not much time at all for anything but the easiest knitting and maybe a mystery to read before bed.

The yarn is for a hat for my older daughter. This time, I'm going with washable wool. But perhaps she inherited her ability to felt. Before, here. After, below:
Unfortunately, the picture lacks scale, so it's difficult to tell that the sweater now is literally about ten inches long and has sleeves that only a Barbie doll's arms would fit through. I was doing some post-knitting sizing down of the sweater and threw it in the machine on hot water to felt. When I felted my Malabrigo mittens, it took at least five cycles to bring them down to size. This time, I let the sweater agitate for about one and a half cycles, which was one and a quarter cycles too long. Perhaps I'll get creative when I get home and figure out a way to open up the sleeves, knit in a placket, and make this into a bolero. Or, my older daughter, let's take all those felted hats and this sweater and make them into potholders?

So, happy beginning of October. Not sure if I'll be able to post while away, so see you in a few weeks.