There was Letterboxing and hiking with a borrowed dog up Chick Hill. There were lobster dinners and takeout meals from all the favorite places they missed from being two time zones away. Strawberry shortcake and strawberry crepes.
There was bookmaking with Steph. Sara needed another lesson in Paper-Pieced quilt blocks so we dragged my sewing machine out onto the deck to enjoy the wonderful weather.
Then they flew away to be grown-ups again.
And I didn't know what to do with myself. It always takes a few days to readjust to the empty nest but this time it seemed harder. Part of the problem may have been that I was tired of crocheting and was ready for the normal recycling of hobbies. What had been obsessively filling idle time needed to be changed up.
So I decided to figure out how to make mittens. Mostly I wondered if I could make knitting the thumbs not suck so much. (Still NOT my favorite part!)
I tried out several free patterns and have settled on a method to call mine.
And then of course I did what I always do: I kept knitting mittens.
About 25 pair within 2 months.
Actually I'm still knitting them. 15 pair have been made for the kids at Downeast School.
And then we bought a new puppy!
