Syndactyl Salutations

Thoughts on writing, knitting, and the world around me.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Photo Time!

Apparently packing ten boxes of books gave me just enough energy to upload the photos of my home-to-be.



This will be my bedroom. The window has been repaired. I love the detailing at the top of the windows. I am going to get a twin bed, because it's just me, and this room would be completely overwhelmed by anything larger.













This is the living room, I'm hoping my small couch and large bookcases will all fit in here. I've measured it several times and am pretty sure they will. There is now a wool rug on the floor.

The furniture should be arriving on Saturday or Sunday, depending on my sister's, father's, Ebbie's, and the meter reader's schedules. Just one more reason to not be fond of moving.

I love the french doors between the livingroom and dining/kitchen area. They'll probably always stay open, but they're still a cool detail.


My turret nook! I'm pretty sure this is what really sold me on the place. I'm planning on putting a round table in here and some cushions on the windowseat and using it as a dining/general work area. It gets lots of sun during the day and the view is okay. Did I mention it's a third floor apartment? I do need to decide what I want to do for curtains, though, because it's going to need something.












Kitchen, etc. It's a better kitchen than the apartment I had before I moved in with Ebbie. The door at the end leads to a mini patio on the roof of the second floor. All of my furniture will have to come through that door. There is a double sink and new countertop to the right of the door, that makes me happy.













The stairs end right at the door, but I can use the landing below to store coats and shoes. I've been paring down, but I still have stuff, so space-saving measures like this are just fine in my book.

So, there you have it, the ten cent tour of my aerie. I am looking forward to getting settled, even though the leadup is driving me a little nuts.

Enjoy the rest of your weeks. I don't know when I'll be able to post again. Maybe I'll find myself somewhere with wireless access sometime soon. In the meantime, take care.

Exhausted

I am just so tired. My sinus infection isn't responding very well to the antibiotics. The packing is going slowly because I'm tired because I'm not feeling well. I've been spending all of my lunch breaks on the phone with utility companies (I may finally have everything switched over).

We should be moving the big stuff Saturday and/or Sunday, but I haven't gotten all of the big stuff cleared off yet. I have moved three fiber containers, a rug, and six liquor boxes of books into my new place. Actually, two rugs, but only one came from my current place.

I should post the photos of the new place for Concateknit, but they're still in my camera and the thought of finding the cord and transferring and uploading just makes me weak. Yeah, pathetic, I know.

This will probably be the last post for a bit (you know, since I'm usually so frequent and regular), because DSL goes away here as of tomorrow, and I'm not sure when I'll get around to setting it up there.

Off now to put books in boxes for a while so that I don't feel like a complete slacker.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Yarn First

Yes. I moved yarn and a rug into my new place today. I'm only about a mile away from my yarn, and I'm not knitting much right now, so it's okay. I wonder what it says about me that the first thing to go into my new home is a chunk of my yarn stash? I'm not quite sure I want the answer to that.

I bought what turned out to be the worst broom ever, a trash can, trashbags, and a dustpan, and went over and swept all of the floors after my book club meeting this morning. I also wiped down countertops and wiped out the fridge, and re-measured spaces I've already measured at least once before.

It's growing on me, but that means that I actually need to start packing things now. My furniture will likely be moved next weekend. I should be getting a largish area rug for the living room sometime this week (housewarming gift from my parents), and would like to have it in and down before we put the bigger furniture in. I need to buy a twin mattress and box spring soon, the bedroom is just too tiny for a double, and I don't really need that much bed.

So, that's the moving progress so far. My sinus infection is still hanging on, but I feel like I should be ready to go back to work by tomorrow, so I'm glad of that.

Hope everyone has the week they want.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Moving On

Two weeks ago, Ebbie and I decided to call it a day in terms of our relationship. It has been completely amicable and mutual. However, because we moved in together into his house nearly five years ago, it meant that I needed to go apartment hunting.

I found one, I signed the lease Thursday evening, then came home and burst into tears. It's not that I thought I'd made a mistake, necessarily, it's just that the whole thing has me a bit overwhelmed. (Of course, the sinus infection that lead me to a two-and-a-half day work week didn't help either.)

I intentionally looked for a small apartment, it is just me, and I am trying to streamline my possessions. It's a third floor apartment with a turret windowseat and french doors between the living room and kitchen. I have a photo of the turret, but it's not very good.

I haven't moved yet. I am a bad mover. When I was married, I moved six times in three years. I haven't started packing, but I have started measuring things and sorting things. I may start packing tomorrow, depending on how the antibiotics are working on my sinuses.

I'm really stressed out by the whole thing, even though I know that once I get moved and settled, everything will be fine, and I'll enjoy having my own little space again.

As a result of the series of changes over the past couple of weeks, my knitting has suffered. I still haven't finished my sister's short socks, and my jaywalker is at a complete standstill. I hope to get back on track soon, especially since putting my stash into my new living quarters will definitely qualify me for "wool house" status.

Enjoy what's left of your weekends.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Strange Life

The past couple of weeks have been weird and intense and disorienting. I have finished one of my sister's shortie socks and am on the gussets of the second. They should have been done by now.

Once things settle down a bit, I'll do a proper post, maybe even with pictures.

Hope all of you are well.

Monday, March 06, 2006

One of Those Mondays

Ever have one of those, that starts off poorly and never quite manages to get back on track, then the crud you've been fighting starts to re-assert itself against your immune system?

Yeah, today was like that. The only knitting I did was two rows of Jaywalker at lunch.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

A Grand Day Out

Okay, maybe "grand" is a bit strong, I mean we didn't go to the moon for cheese, or anything. My mom and I went to a craft/antique/home show today. We had a good time, though we both agreed that craft shows just aren't what they used to be. My parents did the craft show circuit for quite a while when I was a kid (my mother made traditional white oak baskets for years), and she mentioned more than once today how happy she is to not be doing it any more.

I didn't buy anything, but mom got a needle-felted sheep for a friend of hers. I thought of getting one for the briefest of seconds, but my anti-acquisitive impulse is still running strong, and I was mildly concerned that any small wooly animal I would get might mistakenly end up as a cat toy. I'd never actually seen needle-felting being done, so that part of stopping by the stand was cool. What can't be done with wool?

My mom also discovered a potential new hobby. She already makes hooked rugs, so the prospect of doing something very similar that is much more portable really appeals to her. We went to both punchneedle booths more than once, but she decided to sleep on it for a day or two, then get her supplies closer to home. I think that the results of rug hooking and punchneedle are really cool, but I have no real interest in exploring either of them. I'll stick to knitting, thanks.

I hope you all had enjoyable Sundays as well.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Sock Progress

Finally, an update on the socks currently on my needles:

My first attempt at a jaywalker. Yes, I did make the ribbing 1x1 rather than 2x2. Yes, it was accidental. It's going slowly because it's pretty much strictly my carry-around project at this point. I'm enjoying working on it, and I like the way the Lorna's Laces is working up (also my first time with this yarn).


This is where I am with my middle sister's sock so far. She only wears really short socks, so that's what she'll get. I'm using Lion Brand Magic Stripes. I wasn't sure about this colorway when I started, but once the brown came into the mix it started to grow on me.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Bringing Stuff Home (or Why I Don't)

Okay, so it's not like I never buy anything, I just bought a digital camera a few weeks ago (I have three film cameras already). However, I am thinking a lot harder about what I bring home now than I used to, and there are times when I have a difficult time even being in a store because I get a little anxious about all of the potential clutter surrounding me.

I've been thinking about it slightly more since last night when I realized that I will need to buy yarn for chemo caps. Even though I know I'll be buying yarn for a specific project to be started pretty much immediately after buying it, I'm still not entirely comfortable with the thought of bringing more stuff into my environment.

I took four bags of books and a bag of cassette tapes to the library last weekend. I have two bags of miscellaneous stuff in my trunk to go to Goodwill, and I nearly unconsciously, nearly constantly scan my house for things I can get rid of.

I'm pretty sure this anti-acquisitiveness is a product of helping my parents move out of their home of twenty years back in September, combined with the two months I spent living out of a duffle bag at Kripalu, with a sprinkling of left-leaning anti-corporate, anti-consumer-culture philosophy of life.

I'd like to get down to the theoretical "things that are beautiful and useful" ideal in terms of personal possessions, but that could take a while, and in the meantime I will continue to wrestle with every non-consumable purchase I make, and figure out whether I need to keep everything I own.

Via Neena, here is a light-hearted look at our collective struggle with "It" in all its tempting forms.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

I Know What I'm Doing Next

I had been thinking that once I finished my sister's socks, I'd finish up a UFO or two, or maybe swatch for one of the sweaters I want to make for myself. It'll have to wait.

I was visiting with my mother this evening and we got on the subject of her good friend who went into surgery yesterday. She has cancer and will have to go through chemo soon. At first I thought of making her a pair of socks (which I will), but decided I want to make her at least one chemo cap first, because she is worried about going through it and how she will feel about losing her hair.

I have begun researching chemo cap patterns, but would appreciate any suggestions any of you would have about patterns and yarns most suitable for chemo caps. I wasn't planning on buying any yarn at all until Maryland Sheep and Wool, but I don't think I have anything right for a chemo cap in my stash, so I will be going out and purchasing yarn soon for specifically this purpose.

I didn't really knit when my grandmother was going through chemotherapy, or else I would have done this for her. Since it is too late to give my grandmother this type of comfort, the least I can do is offer it to another kind, opinionated, strong woman who shares her first name.

Photos were planned for today, but I got together with my mom for a while and was really tired when I got home. Now I'm going to finish watching The Dark Crystal and go to bed. I'm hoping for more than five or six hours of sleep tonight.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Happy March

Today was pretty, but tonight and tomorrow are not supposed to be. So is it only the first day of March that determines the whole lion/lamb thing?

I do have photos, though not of either pair of socks on the needles. And the photos are in a camera with dead batteries, and I'm not in the mood to dig under the veggies in the fridge for batteries, so no photos today.

My jaywalkers are growing very slowly, only one or two rows a day, but I am enjoying the pattern. Some day soon I'll take a photo of them.

My sister's socks are growing a bit faster than the jaywalkers. I'm past the gusset on the first one. I hope she likes them. She doesn't wear normal socks, so I did them with just three rows of ribbing and three rows of stockinette before beginning the heel. Luckily, she has nice shapely ankles on which short socks are flattering. I tried it on, not so flattering on my not-so-shapely ankle.

In other news, I'm on the verge of coming down with something. I'm hoping it doesn't develop into anything, but things are in the air, and it is that pre-spring-ick time of year. I'll keep you posted, aren't you thrilled?

Congratulations to all of the Olypmic knitters. I didn't join in, but I watched your progress and was thrilled by all of your accomplishments.