Things I Have Learned My First Week as an Empty Nester...

[iamonlyone]

1. I need more underwear. Only doing laundry a couple times a week means I have to resort to tier-two undies (ones I don't like as much).

2. I need a hobby. Hubby and I have the evening routine finished, assume it's time for bed, and then notice it's only 8:30!

3. Two people cannot eat two spaghetti squash for dinner. Dh came home from the farmers' market with 7 tomatoes and two large spaghetti squash for dinner. I laughed and said he must be really hungry! We can get through the tomatoes this week, and squash stores well, but we need to adjust the food quantities we buy!

What about you? Any revelations about life as an empty nester?

Edited August 22, 2018 by iamonlyone

[Kareni]

2 hours ago, iamonlyone said:

Any revelations about life as an empty nester?

What struck me when my daughter went to college was how quiet it was at home.

Also, I'm not a movie watcher, so it was generally my husband and daughter who watched movies together.  He really missed that when she left.

Regards,
Kareni

[iamonlyone]

1 hour ago, Kareni said:

What struck me when my daughter went to college was how quiet it was at home.

Also, I'm not a movie watcher, so it was generally my husband and daughter who watched movies together.  He really missed that when she left.

Regards,
Kareni

Yes! I find myself talking to the cats. Oh dear, wondering if I have "crazy cat lady" in my future...at least we only own two.

[ThisIsTheDay]

With ds moving to college four days ago, so far I've learned:

1. I don't have to close the bedroom door to change. (I hope I remember when one of my kids comes back home!)

2. It's nicer when the animals don't sleep in the same room, but now they are both in with us.

3. TeA--can be had anytime, anywhere. Even the thought of that makes me happy!

4. No more big meals. I think I'll be losing some weight out of this!

[Chris in VA]

Son is still home, but today was the first day without dd.

I keep tearing up at odd times. Not for long each time, but oh man, I miss her. I really, really miss her. 

This was on my FB feed, and I include my own post. 

"Always is what you miss."

Yeah, I texted Mar this am. I just wanted to know if she slept well, to touch base a bit, to see if they figured out their room arrangement. Maybe I shouldn't have. But she texted back, and graciously told me what I "needed" to know. 
I had a lot of peace, leaving her yesterday. I know she is capable, ready, and will be just fine. 
It's just the daily-ness that will feel weird, the lack of connection. I am glad, though, really and truly glad, that she is able to leave, because I want her to be a strong, independent young woman, and if she were too afraid to venture out or not ready or willing to, I'd have other worries! 
Launching is good. Letting them go to grow is good. 
It's just always is what you miss.

 

Dania Richardson Williams is with James Joseph Williams III.

January 10, 2016

"It's not a death. And it's not a tragedy. But it's not nothing, either..."? I feel like this little boy walked out the door today, not the fine young man we've raised. Today is hard. Very hard.

"I wasn't wrong about their leaving. My husband kept telling me I was. That it wasn't the end of the world when first one child, then another , and then the last packed their bags and left for college.

But it was the end of something. ``Can you pick me up, Mom?" ``What's for dinner?" ``What do you think?"

I was the sun and they were the planets. And there was life on those planets, whirling, non stop plans and parties and friends coming and going, and ideas and dreams and the phone ringing and doors slamming.

And I got to beam down on them. To watch. To glow.

And then they were gone, one after the other.

``They'll be back," my husband said. And he was right. They came back. But he was wrong, too, because they came back for intervals -- not for always, not planets anymore, making their predictable orbits, but unpredictable, like shooting stars.

Always is what you miss. Always knowing where they are. At school. At play practice. At a ballgame. At a friend's. Always looking at the clock mid day and anticipating the door opening, the sigh, the smile, the laugh, the shrug. ``How was school?" answered for years in too much detail. ``And then he said . . . and then I said to him. . . ." Then hardly answered at all.

Always, knowing his friends.

Her favorite show.

What he had for breakfast.

What she wore to school.

What he thinks.

How she feels.

My friend Beth's twin girls left for Roger Williams yesterday. They are her fourth and fifth children. She's been down this road three times before. You'd think it would get easier.

``I don't know what I'm going to do without them," she has said every day for months.

And I have said nothing, because, really, what is there to say?

A chapter ends. Another chapter begins. One door closes and another door opens. The best thing a parent can give their child is wings. I read all these things when my children left home and thought then what I think now: What do these words mean?

Eighteen years isn't a chapter in anyone's life. It's a whole book, and that book is ending and what comes next is connected to, but different from, everything that has gone before.

Before was an infant, a toddler, a child, a teenager. Before was feeding and changing and teaching and comforting and guiding and disciplining, everything hands -on. Now?

Now the kids are young adults and on their own and the parents are on the periphery, and it's not just a chapter change. It's a sea change.

As for a door closing? Would that you could close a door and forget for even a minute your children and your love for them and your fear for them, too. And would that they occupied just a single room in your head. But they're in every room in your head and in your heart.

As for the wings analogy? It's sweet. But children are not birds. Parents don't let them go and build another nest and have all new offspring next year.

Saying goodbye to your children and their childhood is much harder than all the pithy sayings make it seem. Because that's what going to college is. It's goodbye.

It's not a death. And it's not a tragedy.

But it's not nothing, either.

To grow a child, a body changes. It needs more sleep. It rejects food it used to like. It expands and it adapts.

To let go of a child, a body changes, too. It sighs and it cries and it feels weightless and heavy at the same time.

The drive home alone without them is the worst. And the first few days. But then it gets better. The kids call, come home, bring their friends, fill the house with their energy again.

Life does go on.

``Can you give me a ride to the mall?" ``Mom, make him stop!" I don't miss this part of parenting, playing chauffeur and referee. But I miss them, still, all these years later, the children they were, at the dinner table, beside me on the couch, talking on the phone, sleeping in their rooms, safe, home, mine...."

- Beverly Beckham

 

 

[CAJinBE]

Well, I still have one at home, but so far it is quieter, less food (quantity and variety), and less driving. More checking my phone for text messages with the joy when there is something there and sadness when there isn't. My dh is taking it harder than I am at the moment. I'm sad, but still feeling the happiness of managing to graduate my first and get her safely enrolled in the school she wanted to be in. Her birthday is in October. I wonder if she will come home for the weekend?? I"m having trouble focusing on doing the prep work for my other dds school year other than purchase the online classes. I still have to schedule out our last school year and start looking at colleges with her. I feel like the empty nest is right around the corner.

[MysteryJen]

I still have two at home, but they are both in public school. ds2 left yesterday and I worried about the dog all day. She was so, so sad in this empty house. 

So yes, I talked to her all day...

So I have busy-loud for 30 minutes before they leave for school- super quiet with my dog- and after practices-dinner, loud, help with homework for a couple of hours.

After a month of all five around, to have only two at home is so so strange.

[iamonlyone]

I agree that my response to my text tone has cranked up to a higher level of anticipation! And, ThisIsTheDay, I love your positive outlook! (Not that I didn't like reading the other responses too, but I am now challenged to find the silver lining!) ?

20 hours ago, ThisIsTheDay said:

With ds moving to college four days ago, so far I've learned:

1. I don't have to close the bedroom door to change. (I hope I remember when one of my kids comes back home!)

2. It's nicer when the animals don't sleep in the same room, but now they are both in with us.

3. TeA--can be had anytime, anywhere. Even the thought of that makes me happy!

4. No more big meals. I think I'll be losing some weight out of this!

 

[HollyDay]

What I've learned:

The house is way too quiet.

I miss the connectedness.  I miss her coming home from work or school and talking with all her animated energy about her day.  Even if she is not talking to me but rather on the phone or with her sister, I can still hear and enjoy the sounds and laughter. 

I miss the sounds...the laughs, the music, the talking and playing

I miss my companion.  Dd and I used to do quite a bit together.  Even if it was "just" washing the dog, it was a time together. 

I am so proud of her.  I am so glad she wants to move on and out and be a strong independent woman.  I raised her that way.  I raised her to have a voice and be strong and explore.  And I love that she is all those things. 

I miss homeschool.  My education job is over and I really, really miss it.  It was my job, my calling, my focus for nearly 20 years.  And it is gone and I miss it.

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by HollyDay

[GailV]

This week I went to an actual meeting for something *I* wanted to do for *me*.  It involves other adults with whom I interacted! Woohoo!  

Aaaaannnnddd, during the meeting my kids were texting and calling me from their respective towns, going NUTS needing things RIGHT NOW.  It was crazy!  It was like a flashback to trying to go to the bathroom by yourself and having everyone pound on the door.  I had the phone on silent, by the way, but it was making a vibration whenever a new message came in. They were actual, legitimate concerns (well, sort of -- one had to do with either dd or her broker not keeping track of emails and thereby thinking paperwork was missing).  But, sheesh, my first week of *thinking* I was going to start living my own life, and it turns out I'm still on call 24/7.

When I got home the cats started yelling at me for being gone, which was just sort of the icing on that cake.

[CAJinBE]

Just when I thought all the admissions stuff was finished, I got a text that the school hadn't received official AP score report yet even though I requested it in July! I'm not happy about having to revisit this issue. I hope the CB responds quickly or the report suddenly appears because I want to be on to other things.

[wintermom]

I can only imagine the emptiness and missing all the busy times of juggling homeschooling, driving dc around to activities and frantically trying to feed them all. I saw the writing on the wall when my dc started going on exchanges in the summer, and I've enrolled in Graduate studies so that I can re-launch into a career for myself. I know that I'll need a lot of stimulation to fight off the upcoming emptiness and boredom. 

Edited August 26, 2018 by wintermom

[HollyDay]

I learned something else today......

Dd has a great deal of support through her school and the community there.  She has room mates and RL and RA and advisors and councilors.  She visited a church today and people were so welcoming and encouraging to her.  She has new people to meet and dinner invitations and coffee invitations and study group invitations.

And I don't have any of that.  No one, no one is coming alongside me to offer encouragement.  Or advice.  Or companionship.  No one is saying BTDT so lets get coffee and chat. 

[Hilltopmom]

I’ve realized we can plan whatever meals we want ? ds was picky with sensory issues and loved meat so we’ve had lots of meat heavy meals for years- I’m looking forward to planning vegetarian and veg/ grain based meals! (The rest of the family happily eats anything)

[regentrude]

1 minute ago, Hilltopmom said:

I’ve realized we can plan whatever meals we want ? ds was picky with sensory issues and loved meat so we’ve had lots of meat heavy meals for years- I’m looking forward to planning vegetarian and veg/ grain based meals! (The rest of the family happily eats anything)

Same here. For years, I cooked meat for picky eater. I can now eat vegetarian.  But I think I would happily continue to cook what ds likes if he were here ?

just driving back from visiting him to take stuff. The house will be very quiet when we get back home. 

[iamonlyone]

8 hours ago, HollyDay said:

I learned something else today......

Dd has a great deal of support through her school and the community there.  She has room mates and RL and RA and advisors and councilors.  She visited a church today and people were so welcoming and encouraging to her.  She has new people to meet and dinner invitations and coffee invitations and study group invitations.

And I don't have any of that.  No one, no one is coming alongside me to offer encouragement.  Or advice.  Or companionship.  No one is saying BTDT so lets get coffee and chat. 

I am so sorry! Our daughter's college started a Facebook page for incoming freshman parents early summer. It has been awesome for some of the reasons you mentioned. Moms are asking about formatting college mail and asking if anyone else's kid is homesick (and then others tip off their own students to be a friend to that student) and moms are commiserating about missing their kids. It has been very therapeutic; I wish all colleges would do this!

Do you have friends you can call? I made sure to schedule lots of stuff for me these first two weeks: classes at the library, free workout classes with friends, a homeschool organization alumni planning meeting... I am still having my blank times when it is way too quiet, but scheduling things is helping. I'm also having things like carpet cleaning done that will be easier without as many people here—not fun, but something on my calendar.

[iamonlyone]

7 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

I’ve realized we can plan whatever meals we want ? ds was picky with sensory issues and loved meat so we’ve had lots of meat heavy meals for years- I’m looking forward to planning vegetarian and veg/ grain based meals! (The rest of the family happily eats anything)

While our daughter had her first college cafeteria dinner, my husband and I had salmon—something she doesn't like but we do. I told her ahead of time we planned that menu so she would be glad she wasn't home! ?

[Chris in VA]

On 8/25/2018 at 8:57 PM, HollyDay said:

What I've learned:

The house is way too quiet.

I miss the connectedness.  I miss her coming home from work or school and talking with all her animated energy about her day.  Even if she is not talking to me but rather on the phone or with her sister, I can still hear and enjoy the sounds and laughter. 

I miss the sounds...the laughs, the music, the talking and playing

I miss my companion.  Dd and I used to do quite a bit together.  Even if it was "just" washing the dog, it was a time together. 

I am so proud of her.  I am so glad she wants to move on and out and be a strong independent woman.  I raised her that way.  I raised her to have a voice and be strong and explore.  And I love that she is all those things. 

I miss homeschool.  My education job is over and I really, really miss it.  It was my job, my calling, my focus for nearly 20 years.  And it is gone and I miss it.

 

This this this. Hugs to you. 

[HollyDay]

I am so thankful for this board and the folks who come here.  It is indeed my connection. 

[dirty ethel rackham]

On 8/22/2018 at 10:39 PM, Chris in VA said:

Son is still home, but today was the first day without dd.

I keep tearing up at odd times. Not for long each time, but oh man, I miss her. I really, really miss her. 

This was on my FB feed, and I include my own post. 

"Always is what you miss."

Yeah, I texted Mar this am. I just wanted to know if she slept well, to touch base a bit, to see if they figured out their room arrangement. Maybe I shouldn't have. But she texted back, and graciously told me what I "needed" to know. 
I had a lot of peace, leaving her yesterday. I know she is capable, ready, and will be just fine. 
It's just the daily-ness that will feel weird, the lack of connection. I am glad, though, really and truly glad, that she is able to leave, because I want her to be a strong, independent young woman, and if she were too afraid to venture out or not ready or willing to, I'd have other worries! 
Launching is good. Letting them go to grow is good. 
It's just always is what you miss.

 

Dania Richardson Williams is with James Joseph Williams III.

January 10, 2016

"It's not a death. And it's not a tragedy. But it's not nothing, either..."? I feel like this little boy walked out the door today, not the fine young man we've raised. Today is hard. Very hard.

"I wasn't wrong about their leaving. My husband kept telling me I was. That it wasn't the end of the world when first one child, then another , and then the last packed their bags and left for college.

But it was the end of something. ``Can you pick me up, Mom?" ``What's for dinner?" ``What do you think?"

I was the sun and they were the planets. And there was life on those planets, whirling, non stop plans and parties and friends coming and going, and ideas and dreams and the phone ringing and doors slamming.

And I got to beam down on them. To watch. To glow.

And then they were gone, one after the other.

``They'll be back," my husband said. And he was right. They came back. But he was wrong, too, because they came back for intervals -- not for always, not planets anymore, making their predictable orbits, but unpredictable, like shooting stars.

Always is what you miss. Always knowing where they are. At school. At play practice. At a ballgame. At a friend's. Always looking at the clock mid day and anticipating the door opening, the sigh, the smile, the laugh, the shrug. ``How was school?" answered for years in too much detail. ``And then he said . . . and then I said to him. . . ." Then hardly answered at all.

Always, knowing his friends.

Her favorite show.

What he had for breakfast.

What she wore to school.

What he thinks.

How she feels.

My friend Beth's twin girls left for Roger Williams yesterday. They are her fourth and fifth children. She's been down this road three times before. You'd think it would get easier.

``I don't know what I'm going to do without them," she has said every day for months.

And I have said nothing, because, really, what is there to say?

A chapter ends. Another chapter begins. One door closes and another door opens. The best thing a parent can give their child is wings. I read all these things when my children left home and thought then what I think now: What do these words mean?

Eighteen years isn't a chapter in anyone's life. It's a whole book, and that book is ending and what comes next is connected to, but different from, everything that has gone before.

Before was an infant, a toddler, a child, a teenager. Before was feeding and changing and teaching and comforting and guiding and disciplining, everything hands -on. Now?

Now the kids are young adults and on their own and the parents are on the periphery, and it's not just a chapter change. It's a sea change.

As for a door closing? Would that you could close a door and forget for even a minute your children and your love for them and your fear for them, too. And would that they occupied just a single room in your head. But they're in every room in your head and in your heart.

As for the wings analogy? It's sweet. But children are not birds. Parents don't let them go and build another nest and have all new offspring next year.

Saying goodbye to your children and their childhood is much harder than all the pithy sayings make it seem. Because that's what going to college is. It's goodbye.

It's not a death. And it's not a tragedy.

But it's not nothing, either.

To grow a child, a body changes. It needs more sleep. It rejects food it used to like. It expands and it adapts.

To let go of a child, a body changes, too. It sighs and it cries and it feels weightless and heavy at the same time.

The drive home alone without them is the worst. And the first few days. But then it gets better. The kids call, come home, bring their friends, fill the house with their energy again.

Life does go on.

``Can you give me a ride to the mall?" ``Mom, make him stop!" I don't miss this part of parenting, playing chauffeur and referee. But I miss them, still, all these years later, the children they were, at the dinner table, beside me on the couch, talking on the phone, sleeping in their rooms, safe, home, mine...."

- Beverly Beckham

 

 

< sniff, sniff, sob>  Exactly how I feel.

On 8/25/2018 at 7:57 PM, HollyDay said:

What I've learned:

The house is way too quiet.

I miss the connectedness.  I miss her coming home from work or school and talking with all her animated energy about her day.  Even if she is not talking to me but rather on the phone or with her sister, I can still hear and enjoy the sounds and laughter. 

I miss the sounds...the laughs, the music, the talking and playing

I miss my companion.  Dd and I used to do quite a bit together.  Even if it was "just" washing the dog, it was a time together. 

I am so proud of her.  I am so glad she wants to move on and out and be a strong independent woman.  I raised her that way.  I raised her to have a voice and be strong and explore.  And I love that she is all those things. 

I miss homeschool.  My education job is over and I really, really miss it.  It was my job, my calling, my focus for nearly 20 years.  And it is gone and I miss it.

 

This.  This x100.  

I am so happy for dd and for ds.  But my life is missing that connectedness.  Dh and I are trying to do more things together.  And my schoolwork is challenging enough to be a distraction.  But when I need a distraction from my physics homework, I'd much rather it be dd telling me her latest news or a funny story.  

One thing I did learn was how to snapchat ... and that the button with the video camera is not to take a video to send, but it is video calling.  Good thing ds is a good sport about being woken up early when he didn't need to be.  

[Mom22ns]

On 8/26/2018 at 1:14 PM, HollyDay said:

I learned something else today......

Dd has a great deal of support through her school and the community there.  She has room mates and RL and RA and advisors and councilors.  She visited a church today and people were so welcoming and encouraging to her.  She has new people to meet and dinner invitations and coffee invitations and study group invitations.

And I don't have any of that.  No one, no one is coming alongside me to offer encouragement.  Or advice.  Or companionship.  No one is saying BTDT so lets get coffee and chat. 

This. This was me when they left.

Then I went back to school. I got a new community and a new group professors and classmates. All the Graduate Assistants share an office. I'm the oldest, but I am still one of them. I have found a new community filled with people that share my interest in literature and learning. 

I still wish the bolded hadn't been true back when I couldn't make it through a day without tears, when I was proud and happy for my kids and didn't want to bother them, but desperately needed to talk to someone. Dh was great, but I could only say the same things to him so many times. It was hard and lonely, and yet I did come to appreciate #1 & 3 on ThisIstheDay's list.

[regentrude]

DS was home for a few hours this afternoon, because he had an errand in our town. Now he's gone again, and it feels doubly weird. Sometimes I am embracing the advantages of the empty nest, and sometimes it just sucks big time.

[Dicentra]

On 8/25/2018 at 7:57 PM, HollyDay said:

What I've learned:

The house is way too quiet.

I miss the connectedness.  I miss her coming home from work or school and talking with all her animated energy about her day.  Even if she is not talking to me but rather on the phone or with her sister, I can still hear and enjoy the sounds and laughter. 

I miss the sounds...the laughs, the music, the talking and playing

I miss my companion.  Dd and I used to do quite a bit together.  Even if it was "just" washing the dog, it was a time together. 

I am so proud of her.  I am so glad she wants to move on and out and be a strong independent woman.  I raised her that way.  I raised her to have a voice and be strong and explore.  And I love that she is all those things. 

I miss homeschool.  My education job is over and I really, really miss it.  It was my job, my calling, my focus for nearly 20 years.  And it is gone and I miss it.

 

 

All of this.  We just got back last night from dropping off dd at university.  I know she is strong, independent, and has a good head on her shoulders and that she will be fine.  But she is our only and she and I have spent so much time together homeschooling.  I miss her so much sometimes it takes my breath away.  But I'm also so very, very proud of her and am excited to see where her adult journey takes her.

I. Can. Do. This.

[HollyDay]

It has been a couple weeks now.  Other things I've learned......

When dd calls and says she is going to the health clinic for a sinus infection....I find myself wishing I could make her a cup of hot tea with honey

It is okay with her gone.  I still have moments of missing her for her, and moments of wishing she was there to help with her pets (her hamster really misses her).

I'm more trying to figure out what I am now and where i'm going.  We are going to a get together this weekend and the ice breaker is "tell something interesting about yourself that most people don't know."  I realized all the interesting things about me happened a long time ago.  My own adventures were mostly before homeschool, before children. Then my adventures were around dc or dh: move for job, ballet camp, soccer playoff, gymnastic tournaments, figure skating trials.  Not much has been centered on me.  I don't feel very interesting.....

[iamonlyone]

7 hours ago, HollyDay said:

I'm more trying to figure out what I am now and where i'm going.  We are going to a get together this weekend and the ice breaker is "tell something interesting about yourself that most people don't know."  I realized all the interesting things about me happened a long time ago.  My own adventures were mostly before homeschool, before children. Then my adventures were around dc or dh: move for job, ballet camp, soccer playoff, gymnastic tournaments, figure skating trials.  Not much has been centered on me.  I don't feel very interesting.....

Yes, it's freeing (or anxiety-producing, depending on the day!) to think through the next chapters of our lives that don't revolve around our children. In the three weeks that dd has been in college, I have done more exercising with friends, lunches with friends, and—certainly—applying for jobs/interviewing than I have done in the last three years!

I do miss having our kids at home, but I am looking for and finding some new joys in this stage.

[HollyDay]

2 minutes ago, iamonlyone said:

Yes, it's freeing (or anxiety-producing, depending on the day!) to think through the next chapters of our lives that don't revolve around our children. In the three weeks that dd has been in college, I have done more exercising with friends, lunches with friends, and—certainly—applying for jobs/interviewing than I have done in the last three years!

I do miss having our kids at home, but I am looking for and finding some new joys in this stage.

Yes.  I joined a gym (and promptly got tendonosis, tendonitis, bursitis, and some other itis).  I've taken a PowerPoint class. I'm discovering more about who I am now at this stage. 

[iamonlyone]

Oh no! I think we are living parallel lives. I tried pickleball with a friend a couple weeks ago and played a couple of hours. We had so much fun, but my feet have foot pad atrophy, and I am still icing several times a day. ? And, I took a PowerPoint class at the library!

[HollyDay]

2 hours ago, iamonlyone said:

Oh no! I think we are living parallel lives. I tried pickleball with a friend a couple weeks ago and played a couple of hours. We had so much fun, but my feet have foot pad atrophy, and I am still icing several times a day. ? And, I took a PowerPoint class at the library!

Well....I too played pickleball!!!  The first time I played it was fine.  In fact I had so much fun.  But the following week, I played a doubles game and the next day I could hardly walk??!!! 

[iamonlyone]

HollyDay, are you my long-lost twin? ?

[Heathermomster]

It has been 3 weeks since DS left,  My youngest plays violin, recently started orchestra, and sings in choir, so we are away three nights per week.  Yesterday, I found an excellent knitting video and learned to magic loop.  I’m knitting again while DD plays her instrument.  

[iamonlyone]

2 hours ago, Heathermomster said:

It has been 3 weeks since DS left,  My youngest plays violin, recently started orchestra, and sings in choir, so we are away three nights per week.  Yesterday, I found an excellent knitting video and learned to magic loop.  I’m knitting again while DD plays her instrument.  

I have been thinking I should start a hobby. Did you knit before and have just added magic loop, or is knitting new for you? I think weaving on a lap loom looks interesting, but I would like to try it in a class before buying a lot of stuff.

[Heathermomster]

4 hours ago, iamonlyone said:

I have been thinking I should start a hobby. Did you knit before and have just added magic loop, or is knitting new for you? I think weaving on a lap loom looks interesting, but I would like to try it in a class before buying a lot of stuff.

I learned to knit when I turned 40 yo but placed the needles aside over the last three years or so.  We were extra busy with high school and both kids participating in sports and music.  I picked the needles up again because I want to make hats.  DS is on a walking campus and the weather will turn cold eventually.  Truthfully, I own an insane amount of yarn.  Anyhoo..I've always avoided knitting in the round but finally sat down and learned.

I purchased a rigid heddle loom about 14 months ago and wove one scarf and one doll blanket.  

[iamonlyone]

5 hours ago, Heathermomster said:

I learned to knit when I turned 40 yo but placed the needles aside over the last three years or so.  We were extra busy with high school and both kids participating in sports and music.  I picked the needles up again because I want to make hats.  DS is on a walking campus and the weather will turn cold eventually.  Truthfully, I own an insane amount of yarn.  Anyhoo..I've always avoided knitting in the round but finally sat down and learned.

I purchased a rigid heddle loom about 14 months ago and wove one scarf and one doll blanket.  

Do you like the loom? Is it simple? Could I do place mats and table runners? Maybe I need to start a new thread! ?

[Heathermomster]

14 hours ago, iamonlyone said:

Do you like the loom? Is it simple? Could I do place mats and table runners? Maybe I need to start a new thread! ?

Yes, start a new thread. 

I like my rigid heddle loom; however, it takes up space.  Mine is very basic.  Maybe check out this link to get an idea of what weaving with a RHL is like.