In addition to my kids, I have generally been caught up in technology, with my career and personal interests. Digital photography, blogging, social media and current events have been my core focus for years and years, and through all of that I have let my older hobbies of creating arts and crafts fade away.

Over the holidays, as I reflected quite a bit about my life in general, I decided to take up knitting, and it has been a therapeutic relief from some of the chaos that typically rules my brain!

I started with a book, and quickly learned that it wasn’t going to be an effective way to teach myself. YouTube followed, and I took it up a notch by signing up for a knitting class at Main Street Yarn Shop in Hartford, Wisconsin.

The class was really fun, and I enjoyed sitting for two hours with women I’d never met before. It was cool to see eight other people who wanted to learn this skill for many different reasons.

The store is adorable, and I wish it was closer to my home. You see, when I signed up for the class, I wasn’t paying close attention and thought it was in Hartland, which is only a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from my house! But, the class is only three weeks long, and I’m already glad I did it. Two more weeks, and I should have one hell of a dishcloth.

There is something very fascinating to me about taking a string and making it into something much more substantial. While I’m still very green when it comes to knitting, I’m definitely making progress and have gotten my kids interested in it. I’m hoping that as Drue gets older, she’ll want to learn and we can share the hobby.

Brett even wants to learn, and if he still does when he’s old enough, I’m all for it! He actually said a few weeks ago, “Mom, it will be so nice when all free of us can knit togever.”

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been very busy working. Additionally, my home wireless connection went “kaput” quite some time ago. After several ire-inducing phone calls, I finally got a pleasant (and competent) technician who diagnosed the issue to be that my wireless router was dead.

I obtained a new router through the generosity of a friend and colleague, but despite my best efforts, I could not get my lil’ old Compaq to pick up the signal.

During this frustrating time, a technician for the cable company came out to determine just why my PowerMac G5 wasn’t doing well with connection speed, plugged directly into the modem. He was kind enough to assist me with my wireless issue, even though I know he wasn’t “supposed to.” People are really good, you know? And frankly, it’s sad to think he could get in trouble for simply providing good customer service.

I haven’t been totally idle in my writing, however. I have been blogging for 28 Hours, the Work-Life balance blog on MyPath.

I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking about ways to simplify and get more joy out of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an unhappy person, but I’ve been examining the complication of things lately and realizing that it just doesn’t have to be so… Um, complicated! I’ve taken up knitting and crocheting, and just taking a few minutes each day to knit a row or learn a new stitch is very therapeutic.

So, there you have it. I’ve been busy and busy. But I’ve been taking a lot of notes, so stay tuned for more!