But, really, the dog comes first
Not Knitting
10 on Tuesday: The Car Ride Edition
Oct 12th
The Scene: One small Honda Civic Hybrid, 4 adults, 1 fuzzy white dog, lots of assorted luggage in a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge NYC at about 4 hours into an 8 hour trip (but it turned into 11 hours on the road).
1. Check email, discover 10 on Tuesday Topic: 10 Ways to Have Fun on Long Car Rides.
2. Share email with car mates. Laugh Heartily. Discuss Carole’s extraordinary sensing powers of Topic Choice and What I am Actually Doing at that moment. (I must backfill – I actually wrote posts but was unable to get them uploaded at the time.)
3. Make up 10 on Tuesday list for Carole. (Swear to self it will be posted no matter How Long we’re stuck on this Damn Bridge.)
4. Start listing the obvious: 20 Questions, license plate games, Trivia … (Thank the gods (and Dude) for internet enabled devices.)
5. Karaoke: Open your windows, crank it up and invite the other drivers to sing along. (Dancing not encouraged.)
6. Ask Chat up the guy in the Audi TT (with the top down on a gorgeous fall day) what his license plate stands for.
(This so did not happen. The only one capable of chatting up any cute guy had her father in the car.)
7. Rub the dog belly
8. Read a book (Thank the gods (and Dude) again for internet enabled devices that can download new books on the fly road.)
9. A nap will kill hours and leave you feeling refreshed. You may not, however, be any further along the drive. (Not recommended for the driver.)
10. Discuss water. How thirsty you are. Running Water. Creeks and Streams. Giant crashing waves. Tides seeping into the marsh… Objective: make the other people think they have to go to the bathroom before you do. (Or the dog.)
11. Review wedding photos on the camera. Discuss and review the weekend.
p.s. The good part about being away: blog fodder. The bad part: I’ve missed you.
In Search of Blog Fodder
Nov 15th
All the color has gone out of the woods:
Nothing but blue sky, bright sun and long shadows. And 70 degrees F/ 21 C.
/sigh
Lovely day. All the neighbors were out raking leaves and cleaning up yards and whatnot.
We, who joke about (and feel slightly self-conscious about) having the worst looking house yard on the street (especially with construction happening), did not.
I took Aurora into the woods; she dug, I read: Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards by Sara Stein.
And now I'm totally justified in not raking leaves. (Ftr, I mow/mulch them and let them wither and rot on the grassy spots. I think archeologists, in a few hundred years, are going to look at our lawns and wonder what on earth we did that for.)
Anyway, we cooked dog food today.
He didn't even wait for it to come off the stove.
The Finished, the Unfinished, and the Started
Nov 12th
The Finished
Behold a finished object! (Two, actually. That's part of the island under the scarf – with all its multi-colored stripes and blocks and such.)
The yarn is Socks that Rock Mediumweight in the BellaCoola colorway. (380 yds/347m, 156g) Its from one of the 2009 club shipments.
(O.k. Right now, lets just put this out there: Bella's Mom, if you're reading: Yes, I know your birthday present isn't done yet. (It requires brain synapses that I haven't located yet.) Yes, I know this yarn was named "Bella". And Yes, I know it would have been a good color for you. I'm very sorry. (You know it went for an emergency.) I don't think I can get another skein but just trust me when I say that I'm always on the lookout for yarns named "Bella" or "Aurora".)
The pattern is Baktus – a delightful little knit that I can't wait to cast on, again. As soon as I find the yarn.
The UnFinished
This is the other half of the shelves from yesterday.
A) Its not really clean and organized (let alone staged or in focus!)
B) The dishwasher AND oven don't work. (We're still under par for a kitchen renovation but I'm starting to fear for the pumpkin pie.)
C) Just this morning I realized that the cabinet above the microwave had nothing in it. Nothing. Wow. And there is a cabinet above the fridge too. Also empty.
Wow. I think this kitchen may have enough storage. Maybe.
The Started:
I finally got my copy and I'm off to read.
Sticking my head in the sand
Nov 10th
I was trying to write a (rather long) post on the kitchen (a tour of all the cool little features that I hadn't thought about even known existed but someone (DUDE!) did and I'm all amused and tickled by the cool new stuff.) But that is going to take too long to get together (and it is probably boring) so I'm going to put my head under on a pillow and stick my nose in the sand a book. (A real genuine book. To read. What a concept.)
Stick a Fork in it
Nov 7th
And it oozes out from the middle – not quite set.
We're making a list (and checking it twice) of final items for the contractor to finish up.
We've started unpacking.
We've cooked (dog food).
(O.k., o.k., we've also cooked people food. But it sounds funnier to tell you that first thing we cooked was dog food. It wasn't – it was miso soup. But we cooked it in the giant dog food pot and had to borrow a ladle because we hadn't even begun to unpack when I decided I was tired of food that was not-my-cooking.)
(And I did a happy dance when the giant dog food pot actually fit in the sink without trapping the faucet within the rim.)
I've tried to get some shots of the space and this is my favorite. (I've got to work on light and angles and, uhm, cleaning up a bit before I get any decent pix.)
And while there was still daylight, we planted daffodils. (Let's not talk about how many …) But it looks like dirt so I didn't take a picture.
And stick a fork in us. We're done.
(Look at those two pair of hand knits socks all snuggled up together. A knitter lives here!)
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Nov 6th
I'm convinced that Mr Baum's scenery was inspired by autumn. I'm not sure what it meant but I can't get it out of my head that the woods are like a fairy tale all lit up in gold.
p.s. Yes, this was a get out of jail free card. Day 6 and I'm down to: call a friend, ask the audience, and 50/50 as my only outs. /sigh
In no particular order
Nov 1st
I've been contemplating exactly what I'd write for my "re-entry" into blogging: Kitchen? Aurora? Kittens? Autumn? Knitting? Garden? (Hmmm odd number of words starting with "k": kakakg. … Sounds like something caught in your throat. Let's move on.)
Things I've been thinking about, in no particular order:
1. What is the purpose of shelf liner anyway?
2. Where did the time go?
3. How many beds does Aurora need?
4. How late can I plant garlic (and where can I find garlic to plant)?
5. Has anyone changed the time on the alarm clock. (Let's see: Aurora? No. Ned? Well, maybe. If he could figure it out but it wouldn't necessarily agree with the rest of the planet eastern seaboard. Nickie: No. Dude: No (he waits for me to get up first) Me: Nope.)
7. What's the possibility I won't be an hour early for work tomorrow?
8. Where is the iron?
9. It is NaBloPoMo. When did that happen?
Found IT!
Jan 11th
No, not the scissors. (They are still, sadly, MIA. But being very small, I am optimistic that they will turn up. I did lose, find, lose again my sole darning needle. But I've found the mother lode (a full Chibi) so I'm no longer dependent on just one.)
So, what did I find?
For three months (that would be, since moving), I have been puzzling (with varying degrees of concern, perturbation, woe-is-me, and stubborness (no I'm not buying new stuff)) how I could possibly have lost or mislaid the multi-layer cake carrier, a 9×12 (inch) plastic container for transporting cookies to work, two wonderful stainless steel colanders, and my good cheese grater. (We had Dude's but mine is/was better. I, in fact, gave his away in November because I disliked it so much.)
I repeatedly said, "Dude if you ever go to a "real" (i.e. bricks and mortar) store, please pick up a colander (a.k.a. bowl with wholes), cheap. Because I'm sure mine are around here, somewhere. And I don't want to replace with (expensive) new ones."
Because, I try to never go to a "real" store. (Dude never took me seriously or never remembered. Or never went to a "real" store. Places that sell beer don't sell colanders, do they?)
I have ransacked other (still unpacked) boxes. Two or three or four times.
Especially the ones with yarn (mostly the ones with yarn!), because being large and light, this
would have been a good place to stash these things. (Ftr, yes, there are smaller boxes as yet unpacked. But these are too small for a tiered cake carrier. I did not check them.)
Anyway, over Christmas, I was looking for a chair pad for my sister so that her brace would not get stuck in the ladder backs of her chairs … nevermind: I went to a "real" store. I bought a red colander:
Now, this box has been sitting in this corner pretty much since we moved in. It holds all manner of incoming mail, packages, and recently hats and gloves. (I so totally staged this shot. It had a bag of trash stuff related to the lighting problem we're having. And lightbulbs. (Florescent.))
Btw, that black cowl is new – Noro Silk Mountain in color #7. Wide enough to pull on as a hood. A stockinette tube 21 inches wide. (I wanted the ends to curl.) Loosely based on this something I saw in Ravelry but can't find now.
Anyway, given the light situation; I was puttering around and cleaned up the corner and opened the box and found:
ahem. (Oh look! My (preferred) cutting board is in there too!)
It is not lost on me that this did not arrive at this place packed like that. I must have opened it at some point and tucked it into a corner till I was ready to deal with it.
This soo ooo speaks to the state of my life. /sigh
Anyway, this is a new kitty bed (to be felted). It is a trial run. (What a great way to use up scraps.) I am loosely basing this on Wendy's Kitty Pi:
And this is what I should be doing:
Remember My Obsession? Its been done (knitted) for some time (Weeks.) (Or, All of Decemeber). I wanted to take pix before seaming. And now I want to add length to the arms. (I like the cuffed look.) I think I'll use an EZ trick (which I will try to find for instructional documenting purposes (or I'll just wing it and write that up).
I have a plan.
Sep 24th
I'm just going to sit here and blog all day and just let the stress out all over the internet. (Sorry about the mess.)
O.k. that's Not The Real Plan. I thought it up as this became my longest post, ever.
The Real Plan involves the Dude (because he is so very integral to The Real Plan actually working).
We came up with plan yesterday morning. And you'll need a bit of back-story to understand.
See, I am so stressed by this whole move thing. So overwhelmingly stressed and overwhelmed and frazzled that we decided that next time we move …
Diversion 1: That would be in 15 years ( when we get to retire, assuming anyone ever gets to retire), or 6 months (if Obama doesn't win).
Diversion 1a: The shear folly of buying a place at this moment in time is not lost on Dude:
Two months from now, if Obama doesn't win, we have to leave the country. And I'm not kidding. I hear Alberta is recruiting.
Back to The Real Plan. See, moving stresses me out.
Diversion 2: I know this about me. So I plan distractions, something fun to do. Here is the yarn I left available, in case my socks got done:
That would be (clockwise from the purple silk):
the extra SpiritTrail Fiberworks silk for a second (longer) collar.
Spare sock yarn (Lisa Souza Sock! Merino)
More spare sock yarn (Cascade Fixation to be knit on larger needles – US 3/3.25 mm).
The proper sized needles for all this.
Qiviut for a cowl.
KnitPicks Alpaca to practice the cowl.
Sock yarn (Sundara, Lenten Rose colorway)
Tsuspense sock project (Tsarina)
I cleaned out the sock yarn cabinet last week, and the china cabinet. Leaving only this. Alone and untouched. /sigh
And look, here's my current socks:
They've been at this stage since … last week. I haven't knit a thing.
Diversion 3: Last night, we went out to dinner at local cafe. We had intended to bring dogs and eat outside; so knowing that my hands would not be free for knitting (and I was tired of carrying 'stuff'); I left my knitting at home. We walked the fuzzball to the cafe and tried to take a table outside and learned that they were having a special event.
Instead of walking the fuzzball home, and returning sans dog (which would so not happen right now: Diversion 4: She's doing great with this move but every morning I can see the stress/question in her mind. She wants to be with us. Not left in a place that has most of its stuff moved out: … left behind, abandoned and alone. Like last time (before I adopted her). So we're being very careful with her emotions and we've got friends lined up and on-call so that she never has to be alone for like, the next month. During which time, we'll practice in the new place so that she's o.k. with it.)
Anyway, Bella showed up in her car, with her person, and Aurora went into the 4-wheeled dog crate. We ate inside (on a lovely night, but never mind that.) We were eating and I started chewing on my nail (Diversion 5: No, that's not plural "nails". Only one, I've got a 90% success rate of not chewing on my nails and I'm happy with that.) Dude thinks I shouldn't chew my nails or recognizes it is stress so he took my hand to hold it.
(All togehter now: awwwwwww)
And I (being stressed and all) got all defensive. Well! What do you expect? I don't have my knitting because I thought I'd have a dog to pet and the dogs are in the car …
and he interrupted me: well, I know where I stand. (pause) Third.
me: huh?
Dude: Knitting, dogs, hold hands with boyfriend. I come in third.
Annnywaay. Moving, The Plan. So the pod is mostly packed. I keep saying mostly because stuff seems to materialize overnight out of the woodwork. (And (Diversion 6) Have you ever heard of the 100 Thing Challenge? The idea is to combat consumerism: can you live with 100 Personal Things? I keep thinking, I should try counting. Right now I think I've got 100 boxes (not quite, but close!) At least 100 skeins of yarn (Diversion 7: yarn which is sitting in a pod and I'm worrying about insect damage (because you know, I've got nothing else to think about) and it dawned on me, the new freezer arrives on Saturday and I'll just freeze all the yarn. (O.K. in turns because there's no way it can hold ALL my yarn). I wonder how many hours it will need?)
Moving … No, wait; one more diversion (#8, but who's counting?) I'm on the phone today with the electric company (no problem), the gas company (on-line and done!), the water company (#9: good lord whose idea was this to have separate public utilities for everything? Haven't they heard about "provisioning"? The one stop shopping for setting up computers, phones, offices for new employees?)
Anyway, the water company wants me to call back on the day of the move. Uh huh. Like have I have nothing else to do. Like I am organized enought to have prethought this and I've got their phone number in my cell phone? (Well, I have, but that's not my point.)
So I'm doing this phone the world thing (#10 Bonus! I get to call Verizon twice: once for the phone and once for the DSL. Nevermind that if they turn off my phone line, I won't have DSL. They would still charge me for it (despite it not working) because I hadn't called to cancel it. So, I got to go through that whole thing, not once, but twice and not 90 but 180 questions of No, I do NOT need new phone service at my new place and no, you do not need to forward calls (never used the phone) and no, you can't have my new address and you've got a cell phone to call me on (its VERIZON !)
And I'm looking out my back door while talking … there's a ruckus out there. We've been hearing it for the past few weeks (that would be, as soon as it was nice enough to leave the windows open). I'd hear something rustling in the trees or grass or leaves and Dude would say, its a squirrell. Today, I saw the squirrels.
The tree (my neighbor's and I totally played with the lighting to highlight the mimosa tree that about 10 squirrels are hiding in.)
This is what they are after:
and here they are:
Diversion #11: I find it comforting that I am even thinking of taking pictures and watching squirrels. Either I'm on my stressed out maximum or its the down hill side or I'm starting to cope. Whatever.
But The Plan: The next time we move: I am packing up whatever furry critters come with us, and a bag and going on vacation. Bye! Love you! See ya! (Because, this I do and I do it well: Take pets someplace and hang out and knit.)
Dude is hiring movers and joining me later. Love that guy.
I’m running as fast as I can
Aug 15th
I expect this will be a marathon event – for the next 7 or so weeks.
First up:
Mittens! I just could not handle another pair of socks. I needed a change.
This is Bee Bop 100% Suerwash Merino Yarn by Dalis Davidson of Dancing Leaf Farm.
I'm using a generic recipe for the mittens themselves, from Knitty. This was really quick and fast (I started 3 days ago) and they're done now. They have a very special feature – extrapolated from Knitting on Impulse. I'll explain when I get a proper photo.
These are the first mittens I've ever made without a thumb gusset (well, other than some EZ genius patterns). I'm curious to see how they work out. This is a rather lightweight yarn for serious winter mittens – but it is not that cold here.
I want to make more. This requires more yarn purchases. This does not jive well with item 2:
Second up: sold the house — in a breakneck turnaround during a depressed market. I am so relieved. Listed on Wednesday, shown on Thursday, offer on Friday. I was planning to write whine endlesslly on how hard it is to make the bed every day (does anyone, other than my mother, make the bed – every day?) and generally be neat and tidy while working long hours and living with a fuzzy white dog. But the contract kind of took the wind out of those sails.
(I've got a friend whose house has been on the market for a very long time. Please send her any positive vibes you can spare.)
Third:
Purple Socks! (I think in July I was calling them Tweed Socks. Whatever.) I am unimpressed with the stitch definition of this yarn. It is soft. And time will tell about durability.
These are done now. (The camera is elsewhere. Sorry!)
Fourth: Got a contract on a house. Whew. Now the real physical work can start. (Boxes, everywhere boxes.) Dude and I are debating what goes where and how fast the red carpet in the kitchen can be removed.
Fifth:
New Socks! This is OnLine Supersocke 100 Holiday color (1003).
I ripped this. Not because of the bad pic but I just didn't like how it was turning out. I was trying a slip stitch pattern (after I got off the 1×1 ribbing) but it wasn't "crazy" enough to break up the stripes nor orderly enough to appeal. I'll play with this some – I think I can put my hands on Lucy Neatby's book. (Boxes … uh oh …)
This is the yarn in closeup. Very stripey.
What number am I on? Six?
Is anyone watching the Olympics? Have you noticed this? (How can you not?)
I'm not take the time to write – I just find it very weird. And I totally understand why (young) athletes would wear whatever uniform is required to compete. I just hope the (young) women realize this is so wrong.
Seven: after that serious moment, on to yarn!
That's all I got in this months shipment – enough for the toes. (And that is about all I can handle, at the moment.) This is done, but it is Tsuspense Socks – so you'll have to wait (because that camera? still elsewhere.)
Usually, when sock club yarn arrives (from wherever), I don't dive right into them. I'm usually in the middle of something, so I'd stow it away in the sock stash cabinet. Usually, someone sending me a bit of yarn (when I'm expecting enough for a pair of socks) would … chafe. I'd toss it in the sock stash cabinet and hope to find it when the next "installment" arrived.
This totally charmed me. I love the red color. I'm curious as to where this is going. And it was a small enough to be manageable (sp?)
8. Swirl Shawl progress:
48 point something % done. I'll be tucking the ends in next week – the back is looking a bit hairy.
9. FWD
10. Dude wants to know when he gets to make the blog. I told him he has to do something blog-worthy.
