Sock and a bit

Can't believe this yarn was hand painted by me. It's knitting up so nicely, with only a little bit of pooling, and even that blends so well with all the other colors that I hesitate to call it that. These are for Dan, knitted out of the yarn I had leftover after I sent out my Dye O Rama swap. The yarn is Wool2Dye4 Supersock, and I ended up using 2.25 mm size 2 DPNs (not the larger 2.5 mm size, which was far too large) and 6 stitches around to start. These have become my tote along project, though my very favorite time to work on them is curled up on the couch with Dan after the boys have gone to bed. He's already tried on one and loves them so far. Once I'm done with these, I'll start in on the yarn I got from my talented pal Kate. That pair will be for me.

Playing in the yard

Can you tell the boys love having a back yard and actual, bona fide plants and trees to play with? They love climbing the tree out in front, and can't wait until it's time to water the lawn so they can play with the hose or the sprinkler.

I've been playing in the yard, too. It's been balmy and sunny and just plain gorgeous here for the past few weeks. I keep wanting to update but getting caught up in weeding and planning my garden and watching the butterflies and hummingbirds. Finally got around to sitting back and enjoying the quieter pace of life here. Bit of a change of pace for me, but I really like it :-)

Random Cuteness

Meet Ryan's new kitten. Her name is Lisa ("that's a really pretty name for a girl, Mommy!"), and she's the sweetest lap kitty you ever met. We're learning to look for her deep inside cardboard boxes, which seem to be her favorite places to sleep. The two older cats aren't quite sure what to do with her, but seem to be putting up with this evil intruder with remarkable grace. Mostly.

Things I love right now

• Recycling. I'm having the best time finding any and everything I can put in our recycling bins. It's like my own personal scavenger hunt every day, looking for bits of paper and plastic and metal that can be reused again. Our old towhouse didn't have any kind of recycling, so we collected everything and drove everything to the redemption center once the bags got full enough. Problem was, they didn't accept anything beyond bottles and cans. Not even newspaper (it killed me to throw newspaper in the trash, but what else could I do when no one would take it?). Now I'm having a grand time, finding new things I can recycle everywhere I look.
  
• My own back yard. It's wide and inviting and so full of growing things, flowers especially. I love that the boys can run out and come back not five minutes later with armloads of roses, bachelor's buttons, and other flowers and you can't even tell they picked anything. Still don't know what most of the plants out back are yet (anyone want to take a guess if I post pictures?), but figuring it all out is pretty fun, too.
  
• Working out where to put everything. Sure, it's a bit of a chore to unpack and get all the stuff in place, but there's something really satisfying about finding the right place for things and getting it all just the way that feels right.
  
• Watching the boys explore their new home. Arden especially is thrilled to finally have his own room all to himself. They both are having a grand time running around the back yard, searching for "treasure" and generally getting covered in dirt in every way imaginable. Warms my heart to see them stack rocks and dig in the dirt and ride their bikes in the cul de sac. They already have a new friend who lives just 3 doors down, and it looks like there are several little boys of about the right age within 2-3 blocks.
  
• Oregon strawberries! Absolutely incredible - so sweet and full of flavor, it's hard to even describe. Delicious.
• My granite countertops. I can put a hot pan right down on the counter without giving it a second thought, keep pastry cool if I need to, and the counter never looks dirty. Ahhh....lovely stuff.
  
• Knitting with my handpainted yarn. I was going to jump into the glorious yarn my dye pal sent, but Dan has been drooling over the other half of the skein I dyed since it was fully dry. He kept making subtle comments like, "you are keeping some of that yarn, right?" and "you know, if you made some socks for me out of that yarn I'd love you forever." Yep, he's the king of subtlety. But the yarn is knitting up really nicely, and I love watching the colors turn and bend as the sock gets longer and longer.
• Ginger and "Yuzu" Wafers. Got the recipe for these ethereal cookies from A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider. They're essentially tuilles with a hit of intense ginger and citrus. Just enough to nibble with some tea or alongside a bowl of ice cream. Yum.
  
• Living here. I'm so incredibly glad we went through everything we did to make this happen. This is the right place for so many reasons, and it feels like home already.
  

Lots of dyeing

Now that I finally found my camera cord, I can share a few more goodies. Look what I got in the mail! Six weeks ago I signed up for Dye-O-Rama, a swap where everyone exchanges hand dyed yarn. I signed up for this in the middle of selling my house and packing because I am certifiably insane, but that should be abundantly clear by now. Anyway, the lovely Kate of k8knits sent this amazing package that you see to the left. Not one but two skeins of the most gorgeous colorways and a skein of the softest handspun I have ever come across. I kept holding it up to my cheek and petting it. Seriously.

The moment I saw the handspun, I knew exactly what to do with it. A friend of mine is going through chemo and had lamented the lousy choice in hats, and this happened to be exactly her colors. I started knitting once I rummaged through boxes and found my Denise needles, but soon found that there just wasn't enough for a full hat. No problem - this was a great excuse to go to my first Portland yarn store! After a quick check with Google, I drove off to Abundant Yarn in search of something with similar tones, something hopefully just as soft. I found many yarns that matched well, but nothing came close to the feel of this handspun. Finally, I spied some Jo Sharp Silkroad, gave it a feel, and smiled. Silk and cashmere would be just perfect, and the color worked wonderfully. Made up a roomy hat (she likes larger hats) with a rolled brim and gave it to her yesterday. She told me it feels like a "head hug" :-).

Today was the last day to send off dyed yarn, so last night I found my dye and yarn, waited until the boys were asleep, then laid everything out. I mixed colors (a Frankenstein mix of Rit dyes in brown and black, Dudley Easter egg colors in blue, orange, green and yellow, and KoolAid mix in blue) until everything looked about what I wanted, then tested what they'd look like by dipping bits of paper towel in each cup and laying that down in front of the cup (the colors were so dark, it was hard to tell them apart otherwise as well). The Dudley colors were very, very bright and vibrant, and I wanted muted and deep, so I added brown and black until they looked more sedate. Then I started painting the soaked yarn, bit by bit. Then I wrapped the yarn in plastic wrap, coiled it up, and set it onto a steamer rack in a large canning pot. The yarn steamed merrily for half an hour, then cooled with the lid on until it was just barely warm. I rinsed the yarn carefully, then laid it out on a rack in our dryer and set it to air dry with a bit of warm air to help things along. Took over an hour, but it finally dried properly. I was really happy with the end result. The yarn - Wool2Dye4 Supersock - really opened up and did beautiful things once dyed. I'm completely hooked - yarn dying is soooo much fun!

Then I skeined it up by hand. Took a long, long time to wind the yarn around the top of a box. Must. Get. Swift. My skein wasn't quite as tidy or pretty as many I've seen, but it didn't come out too badly. I tiptoed out across the wet grass to take a picture, since the colors went so nicely with the little tree out off the patio in our new house. Any excuse to walk outside in my very own back yard :-) Took a close up as well, just because. I love this colorway. Hope my dye pal likes it, too!

We're home!

This pretty much sums it all up:

And we're off!

Oregon, here we come :-)

Boxes, boxes, boxes all around me

I have:

3 bankers boxes of yarn
1 bankers box of knitting needles and notions
1 bankers box of knitting patterns and books
3 bankers boxes of craft supplies
4 bankes boxes of cookbooks
1 bankers box of sewing supplies
10 Sterilite under-bed storage boxes of fabric



and one bankers box of shoes.

Insert your own joke here

I was just checking out maps, and finally looked at the names of the streets surrounding our new house.

We're going to live on 69th and Hemlock.

I swear, I'm going to giggle every time I drive up to our house!

Happy Birthday, wee lil blog

OK, I'm a few days late. Been just a little bit busy around here with all the packing.

I'm amazed every day that I type on a keyboard, plug in my camera, arrange things a little, and end up with something that people I have never met actually read voluntarily. Not a lot of people (at least I don't think so), but then that doesn't bother me in the least since I started this for entirely selfish reasons. This blog is my own happy place, somewhere that I can fill with good things and projects and recipes that I'm proud of, things that make me smile. One less place to bore my non crafty or foodie friends with endless discussions of baking temperatures, sewing machines, and yarn guage.

Thanks for hanging around with me in my happy place for the last year. I hope I've managed to spread some happy around from time to time, or at least coax a smile or two :-)

Finished Socks

Done! I sent these off yesterday but wanted to get a picture or two in. They came out really well, I think. Hoping my pal likes them.
Pattern: Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in Red
Needles: size 2 dpns that my Grandpa made
Modifications: I made these longer than the pattern specifies, since my pal likes a longer sock. The yarn guage was much smaller, so I added in patterning on the sides and throughout the cables so they would be wide enough. I drew out a chart for the entire pattern, which was much easier for me to follow than the mix of charts and printed instructions in the original pattern. I will definitely make these again for myself! Might even use the same red - it's a really vibrant, fun color.

Sock central

I got my Sockapaloooza socks! The pattern is Wyvern - a sybtle and really interesting stitch pattern - from Marnie McLean (I love her patterns!) in a delicious muted lavenger/purple KOIGU!!! I've never actually touched the stuff in person, so I just sit, fondling them lovingly. My pal, Jennifer (sadly, blogless), also sent me some chocolate "to give you strength for your move" and the cutest fluffy lamb ornament ever. I love these socks. The chocolate is all gone (see? needed strength, I did), and Arden wants to take the lamb to bed with him :-).

In related news, I finally finished the socks for my pal as well. They are almost done drying and will be sent out later today. I'm hanging my head low that it took so very long, but at least they came out really well. Hopefully my pal will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Update: found a camera cord!

House pictures

Want to see our new house? I knew you did! Here's the front, looking from in front of the driveway.


Second, the all important kitchen. Yes, you see granite on top of the counters and yes, the yellow is going away just about as soon as we get there. The electric stove will also leave almost instantly, to be replaced with a shiny new gas range.Then there's the dining area, which opens out onto the back yard. There is plenty of room for a really, really big table if needed for parties or holidays.Next up - the living room - wide, open, full of light, and much larger than it seems here. It also opens out onto the back yard. The lovely blonde on the left is our agent. Next comes the upstairs loft, which the current owners are using as a master bedroom. Lots of skylights. I think this will become a play area or bonus room for the boys to run around in. That border will be coming down as soon as I get my hands on it, the floral curtain as well. Finally, my favorite part - the back yard. It's HUGE! A little over a quarter acre, but the footprint of the house is pretty small, so it just goes on and on. The fenced area to the right is a dog run, and the yard wraps around the other side of the house far enough for a good sized garden. The first picture is what you see from the dining area and kitchen. I think we'll be spending a lot of time there. Can't wait until we move in on June 5th!

Stress, stress, stress, stress, stress, baked beans and stress

That pretty much sums things up around here. Escrow is so fun!

We got the house!!!

I've been waiting all morning by the phone, hoping to hear something, nervous as could be. I kept my cell phone on as long as I possibly could once I got on the plane, hoping for *the* call. Then 2:15 came around, time to take off, so I sadly shut the phone off. When the plane landed, I turned it on right away and quickly checked to see if there were any voice mails. None. Oh, well. So I called Dan to tell him I had landed. "Oh, good! By the way, we got the house." The call came through at 2:30, right after I'd gotten off the ground.

Escrow closes on June 2nd. We'll be in our new house by June 5th at the very latest :-D. I'm beyond happy right now.

The picture up above? That's the view from the front door :-)

Found a house and made a bid

Well, the offer won't be presented until tomorrow morning. So now I wait.

Looked at over 30 houses between yesterday and today, and what an experience it was. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the elaborate, muticolored crazy-quilt carpet covered wall in the first house we looked at. No, seriously. The agent, my friend Stacy, and I all burst into laughter at the same time when we saw it! Guessing someone, somewhere, thinks that just as carpet is perfect for the bathroom it is also just the thing as wall decor. Oh, my. Saw many, many shades and forms of linoleum, a house with no windows at all across the front very wide front (we're thinking grow lights inside, if you know what I mean), saw a "bathroom" that didn't have a sink or toilet, and a pink and white tiled kitchen.

Also saw this. Hoping I can call this my home very soon :-)

One down, one to go

I'm loving this sock. Bright, full of patterning, and oh so soft. I'm going to get a LOT of knitting time over the next three days, since I'll be flying to Portland and house hunting sans boys and Dan. Expecting to get at least halfway through sock number two, if not close to the end by the time I get home on Monday afternoon. Who knows - might actually make the Tuesday deadline after all! In the meantime, sock number one will accompany me while I look for just the right house.

Wish me luck. I'll be looking at over 30 houses this weekend, so hopefully one of them stands out as the right one for us and we are able to bid successfully. I'm trying to think good thoughts and project success here...in between being terrified that somehow we'll end up homeless on May 31st. No pressure, right?

Sold!

We got back two reponses to our counter-offers, and the sale went to the highest original bidder...who also happens to strike me as a really nice person. Makes me happy that the sale could go with someone we feel good about *and* still get a good price ($6,000 over asking price) in the bargain.

Portland, here we come!

Best foot forward

Finally, more of an update on my Sockapaloooza project....which is supposed to be finished and sent out next Tuesday. Um, I'm thinking I may be a little bit late on this one. All the cabling on the Aran Sandal Sock, plus such a small guage (smaller than the pattern, so I had to add in quite a bit of extra patterning to compensate) adds up to a knitting black hole. The good news is that since we're done with all the remodeling, all I really have to do in the next week is knit (oh, and find us a house. Small, unimportant detail, that.)

I am loving this pattern, and will be making up a pair for myself next. I love how the pattern goes all the way down the back of the heel so there's plenty to look at if you happen to wear clogs or Birkenstocks. The color is bright, but perfect for a wee flash of something different peeking out from the bottom of a pants leg.

My ankle is healing. Off the crutches now and I can drive, though it hurts to do very much driving or walking around. I'm trying to take it easy and wrapping my ankle to help protect it a bit while everything knits back together. Thanks to all for the good thoughts.

House news: we've gotten two three offers! Looks like we'll be out of here in 30 days. I leave for Portland this Friday night and will spend the weekend house hunting. Our Realtor there has sent us a bunch of houses to ponder in the meantime, and they all look wonderful. Now for narrowing things down and making an offer.

We should be in Oregon by the end of May. Can't tell you how happy this makes me!

At least I'll get a lot of knitting done

Just call me graceful. Yesterday I was all set to touch up the trim in the upstairs bathroom so the house would look just that much nicer. I had a gallon of paint in my hand, ready to roll. Unfortunatly, the lone step in the garage proved far too much for me, and I fell forward, twisting my ankle underneath me with an alarming crack as the can of white paint spilled all over the garage floor. As the boys were still at school, I let loose a loud expletive that won't be printed here (hint: it rhymes with luck, something I didn't have at the moment). Oh, and naturally there was someone coming to look at the house later on that day.

Looked around for somewhere to put the dripping can of paint, and thankfully found a drop cloth nearby. Then I grabbed the shoes (we're all barefoot in the house, trying to keep the carpet clean) that were now covered in paint and hobbled over to the kitchen sink to wash them off. Didn't even want to think about the spreading pool of paint right where buyers would open the door to the garage. Or the fact that I couldn't even touch my foot at this point without screaming. I called Dan and asked him to come home from work, since there was no way I could get to a doctor on my own at this point.

Got the shoes mostly clean, then grabbed a bag of frozen corn from the freezer only to have kernals fly all over the living room. Reminder to self: seal partially opened bags of frozen vegetables in the future. Rustling around, I found another bag, then hobbled over to the couch and put my ankle up.

After much fun trying calling my doctor (no appointments or walk-ins today), our insurance company (who instructed us to go to an Urgent Care that was covered by them), and several Urgent Care places (to see if they had X-ray), we found somewhere to take me. Looks like it isn't broken, but the sprain or whatever happened is really bad so they made me a splint and got me crutches. I'm under strict orders to put no weight at all on that foot until Sunday at the earliest, and that's only if the foot suddenly feels much, much better by then, and that would only to very gingerly put a wee little bit of weight on it. Got sent home with some Darvocet (lovely, lovely stuff that makes life blurry, but takes most of the pain away) and some Ibuprofen for the swelling.

The bright side is that I'll be getting LOTS of knitting done, since that's one of the few things I can do while stationary. The bad news is that buyers are going to have to wander through the house around me and my splint, at least unless I can manage to get outside and sit for a while when peopole come to look. Wonder if this will up the price due to pity?