Cattywampus

Sometimes things suck

So, remember how I said we made an offer on a condo and it was accepted?  Um.  Yeah.  So, not so much with the accepted.

Apparently, our realtor took the other realtor's word that the paper had been signed, and she pushed for a copy today, and was finally told that one of the sellers (it was a group who owned the building) had refused to sign (there was a bunch of nonsense about them pulling the building off the market to be rented as apts for a few years but then supposedly they agreed to sell to us b/c we saw it when it was listed for sale).  So, it's now been two weeks of our time that these people have wasted - and I start my new job on Feb 25th...and we have nowhere to live.

I feel like this is a recurring theme in my life.  Sometimes things suck.  I do realize that it's a recurring thing in most people's lives, but still...I would prefer for it not to be. 

I kicked into this 'ready' mode, which I can only describe as a state of numb 'get things done', I kick into this mode whenever something happens which is unpleasant and creates chaos.  My brain says 'yeah, yeah, that sucks, but I can't think about that right now, what do I need to do to make things move forward?'

So, we have changed our flights - now we will be gone for the whole weekend - we changed our hotel reservations - I called the dogsitter & updated her & luckily she can come both nights - I will be able to get out of work a few hours early tomorrow (I only have 2 days left after all, do they have a choice?) - dh will do a drive by on the way home, I'll jump in the car & away we go.  We'll get there at 9 pm tomorrow night, start looking at places 10 a.m. sat morning (12 places lined up so far) and will be home by 9:15 sunday night.

Easy breezy, no?  Superbowl?  What superbowl?  I guess we'll DVR it & watch it when we get home.  It's not like my husband is a Giants' fan or anything...and really, the Giants are in the superbowl at least every other year, right?  Yeah.  Sure.  Why not? 

And I'm gonna cast on for Jemima for the trip, hopefully I'll get a good long ways into the neverending stockinette of the body by the time we're home.  I'll finish 28thirty up next week, I decided the whole body sans sleeves was too cumbersome to try to carry no matter how badly I wanted to finish the sleeves.

Here is 28thirty so far, I think it might be a little short, it's hard to tell without the sleeves, but I'm going to leave it as is until I do those & then go back & lengthen it if need be.

Duke says he likes the buttons.

Okay, maybe I'm losing it just a little bit.

Jemima-along

So, Heather and I are going to do a Jemima KAL.  I am using Cotton Fleece, so for me it will be a spring transition sweater...and since we'll be moving to Philly, spring is about 6 weeks later than it is here, so I should be able to get plenty of use out of it.  I plan on starting it as soon as I finish 28thirty.

AND it's stockinette in the round, which I think will be a good thing to be knitting in the upcoming weeks of madness.

The reason I'm showing you this now is because I already got the buttons and I love them.  I think they will make the whole sweater work.  I got them from Buttonbliss.  This is the first time I've spent the money to buy handmade buttons, but it's the first time I've made something that I thought really needed that pop, and I love them, so I think it was worth it.

Well, now, that's odd!

So, I got the aforementioned Fleece Artist Celtic Cardigan kit - it's absolutely gorgeous in person!

I also got, much to my surprise, not the italian silk, but the suri blue in ivory laceweight which is what I had been warned away from b/c of the possibity of it being a bit rough for my neck (having supremely sensitive skin on my neck & upper chest).   Obviously my brain didn't send the message through to my fingers quite clearly enough.  It's lovely, but after about 15 minutes draped around my neck it does get a bit itchy, it's entirely possible that would go away after a good soak, but there's no way to know.

So now I have to decide if I listen to my subconscious & keep it - possibly still for a neck scarf, possibly for something else, or if I send it back for the silk.  My first reaction is to keep it, since it's what I originally wanted anyway it seems silly to send it back...I can always still get the silk if I decide I want that too...OH the justification!!!  :-)

And really, isn't it pretty?  oooh, I don't know!

An itty, bitty splurge

So, in my excitement over my new job (MY NEW JOB IN PHILLY) and our impending move, I decided, of course, that I should buy something I've really been wanting to buy.  A sort of 'yay go self!' present.

Because it's always wise to buy more things to move.

So, from Colorsong Yarn, which sells Fleece Artist & Hand Maiden yarns, and OOOHHH aren't they so nice, I ordered the Celtic Cardigan kit in blackberry, which isn't shown b/c they only have one color of each kit, but it's a purpley-plumy sort of color, I'll take pics of it when it comes.

and since I was ordering anyway...I had been thinking about making an ivory neck scarf, something shimmery & pretty just to add a little something to my wardrobe every now & then...I was looking at the Suri Blue, but worried that it would irritate my neck, even some merinos are itchy on my neck, so I called Colorsong and talked to Nancy, who very helpfully talked me through the softness of different yarns and gave me suggestions of what to look at, I ended up choosing the Italian Silk. 

AND since, I was paying shipping anyway...I got one of the ringsticks by Perl Grey.

So maybe, just maybe, I went a little overboard.  But...it's too late now.  ;-)  So I'll just have to suffer the consequences.  Honestly though, when it comes, I bet my tiny little bit of buyer's remorse will just fly right out the window.  I can't wait to see it all!!

And trying again...

As I understand it, I'm nominating these blogs & those people are supposed to go off & nominate ten blogs of their own & so on.

Forgive the brevity here...as is always the case with a lost post, I was much funnier & much more verbose in the original, I can never get the same vibe back for the repost.  Sigh.

The ten blogs that make me happy:

Hannah does some natural dyeing and shares the whole creative process on her blog, it's really fun to see what she does.

Nicole has similar taste in knitwear as I do, so I like to see what she makes, and she has adorable kids too.

Trek is funny.  I enjoy how she writes about her families' every day adventures, she brings a dry sense of humor into most everything.

Emily, who talks more about life in general on her blog, I enjoy reading about her knitting and real life adventures.

Peskyapostrophe - she keeps me up to date on the crazy political world and has a sharp sense of humor that I enjoy.

Stitchywitch is one of the most prolific knitters out there!  I like seeing what she' s up too b/c I have similar taste in garments, I find a lot of good patterns by reading her.

Toni does things that I'm just not brave enough to do, like a whole month of non-purchasing just to see if she & her spouse could do it - she has an exploratory spirit that I admire.

Franklin, of course, because let's face it, he's hysterical, and doesn't everybody just want to have tea & knit with him?

more commercially, I like to read Ysolda, I love her designs and she illustrates her creative process on her blog, it's great fun to see things come to life.  Along the same lines, Anne is great fun to read, she is a contant source of new & beautiful things!

Hopefully you just found a few new blogs to add to your own bloglines!  ;-)

Paying it backwards and forwards

y'know.  sometimes blogging sucks.  like when you spend an hour doing a post about blogs that make you happy because somebody nice nominated you...and then the post is just gone.  gone.

so, thank you Jocelyn, I appreciate it very much and will do it.  but oooh, I'm too annoyed to do it again right now!!!

Stupid stupid stupid disappearing posts.

And now...the news at 11

First, I have to apologize for stringing you along like this...if I had thought it was going to take so long to announce, I wouldn't have posted about it that early!

So, here's the timeline:

We've been in North Carolina for 3 years, we moved here for dh's job.  We built a house here, got married here, made some good friends...those are the good things...we also had a break in and have experienced some personal tragedies since we've been here.  That was all pre-blog, so I won't go into it.

After the bad stuff happened, no matter how much we wanted to just pick up and go 'home', the idea of changing jobs and moving was completely overwhelming.  So we decided we'd give North Carolina another go - this time not dealing with house building & wedding planning & flying all over the country for Bad Things.  The thing was...we really did want to go home, we just hadn't identified it yet.

At the end of last summer, we decided that we should try to go home in earnest & we started applying for jobs...sort of a whoever gets the first one thing.  We were looking up and down the east coast, from DC to Mid-Jersey, both our familys are in the NJ/DE/MD/NY area, so anywhere in there would put us closer to them was good.  But...we really wanted to go back to Philly. 

You know in the Princess Bride where Inigo says "When the job goes wrong, you go back to the beginning...and this is the beginning" (or something like that).  We were happy in Philly, that's the last time were really able to be happy and enjoy life, so we are definitely drawn back there.  There's also the added bonus of moving back to somewhere you know, you just need to get familiar with the new restaurants and so on...it's not new, not the stress of moving to a new place you don't know at all - we've really had enough of that kind of stress for a good, long time.

Sooooo, after a few phone interviews that went horribly, horribly wrong - seriously, does anybody really think those things are a great idea?  I had one that went well and they asked me to come in for an interview over our Christmas trip.

I heard back from them in a positive way right after the New Year, so we scheduled a house/condo hunting trip to Philly.  So, Jan 13-15 we were the crazy people in Phildelphia who saw 23 (twenty-three) condos/rowhomes in Center City in 3 days.  And we both came home sick.

Can I just say that it was insane?  I was dreaming about closets and rooms and trying to remember which bathrooms were in which places and thank goodness we took pictures of the ones we liked b/c we NEVER would have kept them straight otherwise.

So.  Fast forward to now.  Now, I HAVE A JOB.  Working at a college in Center City Philly, and I'm excited.  I'm really excited.  My current job has been good for many reasons, I've learned alot, and I think I've accomplished alot, but it was through a lot of political strife and infighting and lots, and lots, and lots of stress.  The people I work with have been great, but the overall environment lacks for various reasons that I think are very important on a college campus.  I am, of course, hopeful that the new place will have some of those attributes my current place lacks - but aren't all new jobs perfect until you start?  ;-)

Right now, my start date is set for Feb 25.  There is an awful lot that has to happen by then.

Secondly, we made an offer and have a verbal acceptance on a condo in Old City, and are waiting for the contract this morning, so THAT can be official.  Then we can start planning the moving dates & trying to get everything up there before I start my new job & so on.

Oh, & thirdly, my last day at my current job is Feb 5, and I'm off monday, so only 6 more workdays at my job, it seems unreal!!!

So, to sum up the news, we are going back to FAMILY, back to FRIENDS, not to mention back to shopping, back to ethnic food, back to book clubs and wine dinners and knit nights and YARN STORES and theater and nfl football and new hope and princeton and amish country and being 2 hours from NYC and DID I MENTION FAMILY AND FRIENDS (and food)?

and of course, back to small living space, pollution, traffic, angry people, walking the dogs in the rain, and no parking - but in a pro/con scale the good stuff wins.

NC is lovely, it is beautiful here, the people are amazingly nice and kind hearted, our house is spacious and our yard is very large...but that's it.  Nothing in life can replace being able to visit a sick grandmother, to see my Goddaughter grow up in real life instead of in pictures, to be able to go on a moment's notice if we need to, to spend more time with those we love - that is priceless and we have missed it horribly.

Phew.  And now I'll throw in a picture for those of you who read through that whole thing!

Our shining moment of true happiness in North Carolina, the wedding is the last time either of us remembers being truly happy- period, that was May of '06, and the Bad Things started happening immediately after our honeymoon...it's been a trek, but the result was that NC sort of holds this negative energy for us, so that's another reason for the move.

 

okay, one more...this is absolutely my favorite picture:

Not Quite News

Sooo, it's not quite time for news.  And holy cow is there a lot of news!!  But I can't share it, not just yet, all the pieces of paper have to get signed by the proper people and in the proper hands and THEN I will share.  I will share it ALL.  I'm too superstitious to share it before it's all signed, sealed & delivered...maybe less superstitious than just petrified - how horrible would it be to share news and then find out that some technicality prevented the news from being...welll...news.  Hopefully it will all be settled over the weekend or monday, but until then...

Thank you all for your kind get well wishes...they worked!  I seem to have this cold significantly on the retreat. 

A week or so ago, I started a clapotis out of some Brooks Farm Primero I got on sale.  Man, that stuff is just lucious to work with.

I dropped some stitches to see what it would look like.  It's a bit more open than I was originally thinking, but I'm okay with that.  It's so shiny too, it doesn't show up in the pictures, but it practically glows. 

And I started Elijah the other day, he's just soooo cute.  The directions are really, really clear, so it's not anywhere near as complicated as I thought it was going to be.  It is a bit fiddly at the very beginning, but it was smooth sailing from there.

This is for a friend who is preggers, I don't think she read the blog...if she does, oh well, she's getting a sneak peak.   

Smackdown

So, remember how I said 'As colds go, this one isn't too bad?'

Apparently, it heard me and decided to give me the good old what for. 

I take it back.  It's miserable.  My ears are ringing, I haven't slept two nights in a row, I get dizzy every time I stand up, I have intermittant coughing fits, I have gone through an entire box of tissues, my nose is red and peeling, and I have a migraine that makes the rooms without heavy blinds feel like torture chambers.

Dear Cold:

I am sorry.  I deeply apologize for insulting your ability to beat me down.  I accept that you have mighty powers over my life and give myself over fully to your whims.

Now PLEASE GO AWAY!  And if you won't go away, at least let me take a little nap today...sleep...any sort of sleep would be very appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours Truly,

Cattywampus

3 cheers for finishing

Well, the good news is that this cold is just really annoying, sore throat, tiredness, sniffles & so on, the other good news is that because of that, I have had plenty of time to sit and knit and because I am off today, I will have more time to do that with only slight guilt for not tackling any of the projects on my list.

I learned on Sunday that if one simply sits and knits without getting up to do much of anything, it is possible to knit a Bird in Hand Mitten in about 8 hours.  That's something, eh?  If you had asked me I would have told you it took MUCH longer b/c I did the other one in bits & pieces.

(they are not actually two different sizes...I'm not sure why it looks that way, bad camera angle or some such thing)

So here they are, they really are pretty.  I have a few complaints.  The thumb was so tight I had to stuff paper towels in it to stretch it while drying, and the bottom of the hand/cuff is still really loose on me...I don't believe I have particularly narrow wrists (or fat thumbs), so I'm assuming it's simply the pattern. 

As EZ says, wonders can be done with some elastic thread...not that I have any elastic thread, but I bet I can find some somewhere and fix that.

From this particular experience I have learned that while I really like two color knitting, I really DO NOT like knitting at such a small gauge with worsted weight yarn, it cramps up my hands (obviously not badly enough to convince me to stop at any point yesterday, but I was in a zone, what can I say?).  I also really DO NOT like following a chart.  I would be willing to do it again for something smallish, such as a hat or mittens if I really liked the finished result, but I would REALLY have to love it, I much prefer to do two color knitting in a memorizable pattern.

On another note entirely, I joined the Sundara Seasons Club (winter) for this six month interval and I've been getting some beautiful stuff.  I'm not sure if I've posted about any of them here, but the one that came Saturday is particularly lovely.

It is 100% merino sock in Burnt Cranberry.  I am thinking it will make a lovely scarf with a subtle pattern.  Such lovely colors of red! 

I joined Sundara's club with hesitation, I was replacing the STR club, which has a really inclusive feeling, patterns & tips & a joint blog and all that - I enjoyed being a part of the STR club immensely, but I didn't really love any of the patterns and I didn't care for quite a few of the colors.  I guess unlike some people, I wasn't really into expanding my horizons that way. 

As you may or may not know, Sundara's yarns are all subtley variegated solids, the club includes one month of silk lace, one month of fingering silky merino, one month of worsted weight silky merino (3 skeins), and 3 months of merino sock yarn.  So far, I have found the colors beautiful and utterly more usable.  The kind of yarn I will happily put in my stash for some future, special project.  It is pricey, and I don't know that I will do it again, but I"m glad I decided to try it out.

Now then.  I'm in a finishing mood, I'm gonna go see if there's anything I can finish today!