off to see terry pratchett

I will intersperse yarny goodness with a blather about my personal life in an effort to shed some light on why I may not have my own second sock done for Second Sock September. I’m almost done with the first of three border stitch patterns for my Swallowtail Shawl. This is such an exciting thing that I can’t bear to work on the socks. I’d post a picture, but do you really need another picture of lump lace?

Tonight I’m going to go introduce the Ankh Morpork knitter’s guild to Terry Pratchett, because he’s going to be in Beaverton at Powell’s hawking his new book, Making Money. I was just saying to Josh that I’d love another book about Moist van Lipwig. And then I turned around and there it was. Not literally.  I can’t work on the shawl during the book talk, but maybe I can quietly work on the socks. Incidentally, Beaverton is the home of the Farmhouse Knit Shop. I don’t think there’s time to go and there’s good no reason to go, having just invested in BMFA products on Saturday, but I want there to be.

Today was run around day. I went and picked up some amount of supplies for my husband’s birthday party, which is happening this Friday. I’m going to make Spanakopita, Baba Ganoush, Hummus, Tabouli, Samosa and some kind of chili/cheese dip. Do you think it’s wrong to use old chili for a party dip? I got some of the spinach at the farmer’s market along with some garlic. Yummy. I’m going to have to mix it up with some stuff from the grocery store though. I knew 1 1/2 lbs wouldn’t be enough. I’m gonna need another whole pound! (Probably more. There’s less after you’ve removed the stems, which I think I’ll do.)

I may have an apartment. I realized last night that I really don’t want to move out even for only a year. However, this morning I remembered that I really really need a place to stay some nights and I don’ t have to sleep at my second apartment if I don’t want to.

This weekend I’m going to go and get some furniture for my new place. Lamps mainly. And maybe a curtain. Nothing like a temporary apartment when it’s so spartan it doesn’t feel like home. I’ve got a $50.00 gift certificate to Pier One. I don’t want to use it. I’d rather go to IKEA. Does anyone want to buy it for $42.00? (That includes insured shipping.) Josh agreed that I can have the sales price for my yarn stash. I plan to invest all the proceeds into a cheap online source for Claudia, Louet and Cherry Tree Hill through google’s ads no less. It’s called The Sheep’s Tale. Has anyone bought from them? By invest, I mean buy yarn of course!

There are no subliminal (buy yarn, eat food, read books) messages in this post. None. Really.

she sells yarn by the seashore

I’m still catching up on my blogging. Just a quick word to my No Sheep for You swap pal in Virginia though. Thank you so much for the Tofutsies! I know it has a little wool in it, but I wanted it anyway, so it’s great to have it. It’s really pretty and I can’t wait to try it (although my queue is huge)! If you have a blog, will you drop me a note with the link, so I can put it here?

In my two weeks in Oregon, I’ve been to three yarn shops in three cities. None of them we’re in Salem. No, it’s not the beginning of a logic problem. The first was in Portland. During the Harry Potter wait, I realized I’d left my size 1 needle behind in the car, but I knew that Knit Purl was nearby, so I used the needles as an excuse to check out the shop. I really liked the variety of yarns they carried. There were several things there that I’d never seen all in one shop, or I’d only seen online, as well as some unique items.

good friends give good yarn

Good friends give yarn when saying goodbye. Not that anyone who didn’t give me yarn isn’t a good friend. I’m just thankful to Devin and Rebecca for their wonderful surprises. Last Thursday night, I went out with some of the Knittin’ Kittens at Lyle’s and Devin gave me some very beautiful handspun! On Friday, I went to my last real knitting night at Knitter’s Palette and Rebecca gifted me with some Noro for my very own future Lizard Ridge. Now that I’ve got 5 skeins and a bunch of ends, I’m going to have to start a little pile of squares…Thanks again guys!

There’s been some problem with post office and the Hurricane Swap. I was given the wrong zip code and never thought to check . And of course it’s the first time I didn’t send the package registered mail. I’ve decided that if the package doesn’t turn up at either of our houses by Thursday that I am going to put together a package (this time insured and registered mail)! It will be a good one, so I’m almost hoping it got lost. But I don’t really want all that work to go to waste. (Thursday is the day my mail gets stopped here in Minnesota. If it bounces after that then it won’t turn up until August if at all and that’s crazy.)

lazy tuesday

It’s been hot. And it’s still hot. Some news for you. I’m not moving until July 15th. My husband and I did this in an elaborate attempt to score an apartment within walking distance to Willamette and downtown Salem. It’s going to be a 9 minute walk. I’m hoping we’ll both shed a few pounds as a result.

Did I mention my interview went well? At least I think it did. I won’t find out until the 25th at any rate. In the mean time, I’m buried in applications. It really says something about the suitability of life in Oregon for us. I don’t ever remember applying for this many jobs during any other move.

I think somehow in the middle of all the traveling I’ve been doing I’ve gotten out of the blog habit and now that it’s hot, I’m feeling lazy. I’m not too lazy to knit in my air conditioned office. I’m just too lazy to take photos. Anyway, I’ve been working on my Hurricane Party sock, which is nearly three weeks late and am happy to say that I’m down near the heel. I’ll put up some photos on this entry tomorrow, but I’m determined to have an entry up now that I’m back home again.

My friends have adopted a little baby from China and I’m making him one of those Baby Baseball Tees from Knit 2 Together by Tracy Ullman and Mel Clark. I’m using Brown Sheep in baby blue and brown. I meant to use the brown as the main color and the blue as the sleeves, but I guess I got mixed up when I cast on. I’m just about to do the sleeve shaping. Again, photos tomorrow.

Someone asked me about how long I had the multi-directional scarf on and it was less than 5 minutes. It also wasn’t kind of breezy actually.

My reunion went as well as I could possibly expect. Fortunately, the drink tickets we got with our event tickets were worth some fairly heavy fruity drinks and I found the evening rather enjoyable as a result. As my husband pointed out, I was doing quite well. This is nothing my high school friends probably would understand as I think my social anxiety took a long time to fully creep up on me. Up until the time I met my husband, I was fighting it like the devil. In fact, that’s how I met him. I promised myself I would meet new people and make new friends for a couple of months in college. I ended up with Josh. Pretty good score, eh?

It was a pretty self-selecting crowd and I have to say it turned out about as well as I could have asked for except for my friend Nick not making it at all due to a personal crisis with his house. So maybe I’ll turn up for my 20. I think we got the people who don’t measure success in terms of money. Given that I went to a prestigious private high school that’s saying something. Granted, the school is still relatively down to earth. It’s all relative.

slog and other random things

I think I got sick of ribbing and garter stitch. That last sweater I made may have looked like a cable nightmare, but those cables are 16 rows apart. So it was a lot of ribbing.

I’ve been on my saffron cables blanket for the Mason-Dixon Slogalong. Yep, just in time for summer. I’m on ball 2 of 18.

I’d gotten stuck around row 25 or so for a while. I ripped back multiple times and I went down to 19 the other day and now have a mistake free (I believe) project. I’m up to row 26 of 225. There’s only 141 yards in a skein, so I’m wondering if I could knit a skein a day and still have time for my other projects. (That baby is probably getting too big for the outfit already. NEVER make newborn sized clothing.) And I’ve got some sewing to do on Lizard Ridge. And I want to make the second perfect fitting sock. I’m on the toe.

knitters in my backyard

I’m moving. I’ve been reluctant to say anything about it, because no one at my job knows this and I’m writing from work! My husband received a tenure track position at Willamette Unversity in Salem, Oregon and will start teaching there this fall. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be going yet, but we started packing this weekend. I would love to be there in time for Black Sheep, but I doubt I’ll be able to convince my husband of that unless there’s an apartment we have to have or if I get a job out there early. We’re going out there next week to have a look around and so I can do a little networking.

I’m definitely going to miss the warmth of the knitting community here. I got a warm welcome. People were so friendly and willing to travel with a complete stranger to see the Yarn Harlot. I met people at the knitter’s picnic and was invited to a S&B right away. I checked out what now is my LYS and where I work part time. It made what was likely to be a short term move much more fun and bearable!

today is a good day for widdershins

Topday is a good day for Widdershins socks. Sort of. First, my husband found my keyboard in the computer box. It was under the foam. I’m guessing my computer box got turned upside down during the move and so I didn’t see it when I unpacked my machine. Second, the weather is a little better (it’s 90F, feels like 91F as opposed to 92F, feels like 107F). And third, my house looks more like a category 4 than a category 5.

Here are the Widdershins. Those cables were more irritating than I thought they would be, but I enjoyed using the toe-up cast-on.

Pattern: Widdershins from Knitty
Yarn: Trekking XXL, probably Trekking 100 .
Yarn Source: digs
Needles:3.25mm (US 3) Clover and Brittany birch DPNs
Gauge: 7 st/inch over stockinette stitch

I promised that my next socks would be something risky and self-designed, but I’m beat and it’s hot, so either I’m going to knit some plain cotton socks for a little bit of a breather or I’ll work on my adaptation of the Lotus-Blossom Tank. I really did want to do some socks using Euny’s pretty cables from her amazing pink Twisted Stitch Sweater. I would also like to make her new socks as soon as she posts her new pattern. They are pretty close to what I had in mind.

Here is what my cat had to say about the air conditioned room.

Here is the state of my house.

countdown

Estes Park, Colorado

I should have started a countdown nine days ago. Tomorrow the movers come and take our stuff and hopefully show up with it sometime soon in Minnesota. My computer is going to go in the truck while my husband’s computer is coming in the car. He’s got a nice portable lap top and it has his life’s work on it so he gets priority that way… So this is going to be my last post for a bit. I’m not sure how long it will take to get internet access in the new apartment, but I’m sure I will get some knitting done in the sixteen or seveteen hour trip to Minnesota. (I added a couple of extra hours for eating and pit stops).

I finished the embossed leaves socks this afternoon while having the oil changed in my car. It’s always good to get a car with 169,000 miles on it tuned up before you drive it across the country. It’s not dead yet though, it’s a Honda Civic after all. For some reason the second sock took me longer than the first. I just kept missing yarn overs. They don’t match perfectly, but it’s close enough for me!

While out on Tuesday, I found some more Mountain Colors for my ostritch plume scarf/shawl and the perfect book for my trip, Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I haven’t picked out what to knit on the road, but I promise to show you what I did when I get computer access again.

The following lists contain personal opinions and I hope everyone takes them that way.

The Top 5 Things I will miss about Colorado:

1. All the new friends we made
2. 300 days of sunshine a year, beautiful scenery, incredible wildlife, and the lack of mosquitos.
3. Short driving trips to New Mexico and other places of scenic beauty.
4. Wonderful bookstores
5. Decent Mexican Food

The Top 5 Things I don’t regret leaving behind (Warning: Personal politics listed below):

1. The Christian Right, G.W. Bush Stickers on every other car, the fear of being political and other inflexible, close minded attitudes towards life, the universe, and everything.
2. The lack of water (which causes among other things dry, itching and flaking skin), rain, and foliage. Hail in July, high winds and other weather weirdness.
3. Insane drivers and other things that have caused accidents, near broken bones and other bodily injuries.
4. Large trucks parked in compact spaces. I’m talking about trucks with an extended cab and extended bed.
5. All the information I learned about helicopters, machine guns and everything technical I know about the Army (I hope.)

Top Five Things to be Concerned About in Minnesota:

1. Winter: “Forty below keeps out the riff-raff.”
2. Summer: The mosquito is often referred to as the state bird.
3. We know two people in the entire state.
4. It’s the Midwest.
5. I don’t have a job yet.

Wish us luck. Minnesota here we come.

packing

I’ve noticed that I’m having a very hard time closing up the many boxes I have dedicated to my knitting projects and yarn stash. I’ve got nine days until the moving company comes and puts everything into their van and drives off to Minnesota. When they come they plan to tell us how long they think it will be before they show up at the house with all out crap stuff. They have a maximum of three weeks to get it to the house. The reason the number is so high, they say, is because they only make promises that they can keep. The implication is that other moving companies, who promise to deliver within ten business days, are lying. The margin here is small since it is supposed to be unlikely that the movers will take the full fourteen business days (which at least include Independence Day in the US). So putting the yarn in a box to be moved means that I may not see it again until July 20th.

Another issue is figuring out what can I do in the last nine days before we move and I’m ambitious. Actually, I don’t make choices well if presented with too many. I’ve got nine days to make good on my promise to finish up two more projects and I could probably get the sleeves done on my sweater pretty easily if I would just go ahead and start. I’ve also got a lot of lovely tempting sock yarn lying around and so I don’t wish to close those boxes either.

Solution: I’ve used most of the clothing in my dresser as packing material so I put the sock yarn in the dresser. Then I can get at it any time I want before the moving company comes. I can also rearrange it to my heart’s content. Yeah accessibility!

That leaves two open boxes for knitting projects. They contain knitting needles and accessories and all the projects I promised to do.

I’ve noticed that I’m having a very hard time closing up the many boxes I have dedicated to my knitting projects and yarn stash. I’ve got nine days until the moving company comes and puts everything into their van and drives off. When they come they plan to tell us how long they think it will be before they show up at the house. They have a maximum of three weeks to get it to the house. The reason the number is so high, they say, is because they only make promises that they can keep. The implication is that other moving companies, who promise to deliver within ten business days, are lying. The margin here is small since it is supposed to be unlikely that the movers will take the full fourteen business days (which at least include Independence Day in the US). So putting the yarn in a box to be moved means that I may not see it again until July 20th.

The other issue is what can I do in the last nine days before we move. I’ve got nine days to make good on my promise to finish up two more projects and I could probably get the sleeves done on my sweater pretty easily if I would just go ahead and start. I’ve also got a lot of lovely tempting sock yarn lying around and so I don’t wish to close those boxes either.

Solution: I’ve used most of the clothing in my dresser as packing material so I put the sock yarn in the dresser. Then I can get at it any time I want before the moving company comes. I can also rearrange it to my heart’s content. Yeah accessibility!

Though – I’m not supposed to be knitting – I’m supposed to be packing!

What should I knit in the car? It’s a fourteen-fifteen hour drive. This is nearly the length of time for the Knitting Olympics, so if I knit constantly I could even start and finish a whole project. Granted, my fingers will probably cramp up. Color knitting will probably make me car sick. Lace knitting will probably make me car sick.

1. Sweater sleeves or hood (assuming I haven’t done them already)
2. A new sweater that I have all the yarn for but haven’t really started yet. It’s the Pearl Buck inspired sweater from this winter’s Interweave Knits.
3. A new sock pattern (provided I can memorize the lace pattern so I won’t have to read in the car).
4. Something I pick up at the Brown Sheep factory when we stop in Nebraska on the way. Keep in mind Brown Sheep is about four or five hours from here so I will need to do something on the way.

Let me know what you think.