I don't miss my commute

And I don't miss working in an office.

But sometimes I miss how they both boxed in my day.

When you work in office you couldn't mess around in the morning. Any disaster had to be dealt with in the 15 minutes before you left for work. After that it was either over or you would deal with it when you got home.

Working from home it's easy to get sucked into things. You start dealing with one task that leads to another task and all of a sudden your whole day is gone.

As for the morning commute, I don't miss sitting on the Merritt Parkway for an hour twice a day every day. But I do miss the mental free time that activity provided at the beginning and end of the day.

Since I started working from home I haven't managed to find an activity that replicates that forced contemplation that sitting in the car during rush hour seems to provide.

Maybe I just think about different things differently now.

Our move to New York has brought new complications with Hubby's schedule being so different from anything it was in the past.

Now I must balance my need to work with my desire to see him when he's available.
It's an ever-changing adventure, this working from home stuff, one of these days I'll get the hang of it.

As an interesting aside, I got a new iPhone earlier in the week. I wrote most of this post using the dictation function. It's pretty cool. It's also much easier than trying to type on the little bitty keyboard.

Gnawed

We have a fruit fly invasion.

This morning I thought I'd wash the fruit in the fruit bowl to help combat it.
Although I think that tip is actually for when you first bring the fruit home.

As I was washing the peaches I thought, "wow. The fruit flies are so aggressive this peach actually looks gnawed on."

Then I realized it HAD been gnawed in.

By the damn mice!

Aaaahhh!

Being Disciplined

When I was younger, and thought I'd grow up to be a novelist, I heard that writing was a discipline that had to be practiced every day.

I heard that some professional writers would set aside time each day to write. Or at least sit at their desk and think about writing, who knows whether they actually wrote anything.

It was not a discipline I pursued. If I was in the mood to write I did and if I wasn't I didn't. Simple enough.

Then after college I didn't really feel like writing fiction any more. Then I eventually got a job where I was paid to write and there was no practicing about it because I was required to write something almost every day.

Maybe because I'm getting older and wiser, or because I am now getting paid to write, but I'm starting to see the wisdom of this being disciplined business. Of viewing writing as an activity that has to be practiced.

It's not actually the act of writing, although my neglect of the blog in recent years would argue otherwise, so much as the style of writing I want to practice.

I feel like these days I'm either writing long articles about technology or sound bites about yarn.

I want to write long things about yarn.

I want to write short things about...anything.

I need to play with styles, and lengths, and topics. Writing is a discipline. It takes mental muscles and they need to be used and stretched.

The well of words is a pump that needs to be primed. haha.

Sitting down and putting words on paper, or screen as the case may be, is a habit that has to be cultivated so it becomes a reflex.

In theory, our new home is peaceful and quite and otherwise conducive to a pursuit such as writing.

Goodness knows I spend enough time goofing off in aimless pursuits that I should have enough time to practices the discipline of writing.

It's a matter of making it a priority.

These means I have to start blogging more regularly and I have to stop neglecting my pen pals.

So, this is me, being disciplined.

But that's enough practice for tonight. I have to go clean the kitchen.

Just Unpack The Yarn

Doesn't that sound like excellent advice?
Of course, if yarn is getting unpacked it must mean that at some point it was packed.

And if yarn is being packed and unpacked that must mean we moved.

That's right. Although we moved from CT to NH just two years ago we have now moved from NH to NY.

Hubby decided that after 15 years as a teacher he had done enough to give back to society. He wanted to pursue his interest in wine.

It was supposed to be a long-term plan, but then he saw a job posting for which he sounded qualified near where is elderly parents live. We decided there was no harm in trying and it might be a good learning experience.

And he got the job.

Now he is the wine director at a boutique resort and is having a ball.

The month of May was hellish as he was finishing the school year and also making the four hour drive to the resort any time he could to get some floor work in before the busy season started.

Then June was kinda ugly because we moved and had to adjust to our new life and his new schedule. In addition to the move and unpacking, I had to go on a business trip, and I had an article (or three) due, and I still had to keep my yarn job stuff going. Some stress-induced tears might have been shed.

But July has been going well and we're starting to get a routine.

I Told You So
When Hubby received and accepted the job offer in March and we knew change was coming I was able to go from supportive, cheerleader wife mode to cranky, put-upon wife mode.

I started the transformation by loudly announcing that I would end up doing all the packing by myself at the end of May and that we would need two moving trucks because we've always needed two moving trucks.

Let, me tell you, being correct is not as fun as you would expect it to be.

Now, when I said I'd be doing all the packing myself, what I actually meant was that Hubby wouldn't be around to help me. And I was correct as he was in NY working. I wasn't, however alone.

First my friend Nancy came up early in May for 2 hours one day and packed my china cabinet for me to get the ball rolling.
Then, as moving day approached, my friend Judy came and spent an entire Sunday helping me pack.
Judy and he husband also came and helped on truck loading day.
Mom came up, of course, and helped finish the packing. She was in charge of cleaning up as we were loading the truck.

And, of course, we needed two trucks. Hubby thought we'd be OK with one truck since we managed to shed some old furniture this time. He thought that on a previous move we just didn't get a big enough truck to start with. I don't remember what his reasoning was to dismiss the other two truck moves we had.

Well, as we were realizing that a second truck would have to be acquired and trying to figure out how to manage four vehicles with only 3 driver, Rick and Judy announced that the didn't have any plans for the weekend and could drive our second truck.

We were flabbergasted and warned them that if they said that again we'd take them up on the offer. But they were ready, willing, and able.

Fortunately, the house we're renting in NY is a partially furnished four-bedroom so there was plenty of room to sleep all of us comfortably after the drive.

Unpacking, Endlessly
In case you're wondering, Hubby had dropped Samson and Baru off with his parents the last time he was in NY so they were out from underfoot for all the packing and loading.

When it came time to unload the trucks we had mom, Rick & Judy, Hubby's parents, and his brother & his wife and daughters.

It was pretty awesome to wake up the first morning in my new home and hear so many people focused on getting us settled in.

Most of our possessions seem to have survived the trip in one piece. One lampshade, which was already a little roughed up, got roughed up more. And a couple floor lamps got scratched, but if you twist them the right way it's hidden. I'm pretending they were "distressed" on purpose.

I guess the biggest disaster, which was easy to recover from, was that laundry detergent spewed everywhere in the smaller truck when the cap popped off the bottle. Lamp bases and my desk all took a hit. But it just had to be wiped and rinsed off.

That was probably the cleanest truck they've every had returned!

Vinegar and oil spilled in a box in the big truck, but nothing seemed to have gotten damaged. One of my boxes of yarn got hit, but magazines were in that part of the box and no yarn was damaged.

Despite the fact that we've been here over a month now (we drove over on June 1), the house is still in chaos.

For previous moves Hubby was a teacher and I was either on vacation or unemployed so we were able to just focus on unpacking for the first week or two after we moved in.

Not this time.

Hubby had to go straight to work (in fact he had to bug out the day we were unloading the trucks, which lead to some hysterics on my part when he expressed concern about the gas levels in the moving trucks when they got returned) as soon as we moved. I did, too, for that matter. Just because I work from home doesn't mean I've got tons of free time.


We're trying not to sweat it. As we need things we go questing through boxes, which leads to one or two getting emptied. We figure it will get there eventually.

In the mean time, we live in a lovely, rural area. Peace and quiet abound. It seems it should be just the right atmosphere for a writer. No distractions (aside from the pups and the boxes) and inspiring scenery.

I'm hoping I'll be motivated to start blogging regularly again.

Did I mention we moved in on June 1?

Backward and Forward

New Year's Day.

A day for resolutions and goal setting.

I do my best not to fall into that. I try to keep the mindset that every day is a day to improve and make changes.

Not that I always follow through on that.

But, as we've already established, I'm susceptible to peer pressure so a few vague resolutions always get made.

To be a better person.

To be more organized.

To practice better time management.

Unfortunately, these seem to be the same resolutions I make each year. But aren't they all?

Knitting resolutions are easier to make, partly because there is usually more hope that they will be fulfilled.

This year I shall resolve to knit more.

Oh, sure, we all say that and we all mean it, but it has new meaning this year. I swear that I have less knitting time since we moved to New Hampshire.

I'm really not sure how that is working out since I'm supposed to have more free time considering I don't have a commute any more. Apparently I'm managing to suck up that time in other activities which don't include knitting.

tsk tsk.

Slacker

 I am also resolving to blog more. Looking back at the blog archives for 2011 I'm appalled at the low number, which is about half of previous years. 

We can laugh at this goal considering how badly I crashed and burned during that November blogging challenge. Two whole posts. Ha!

Of course this goes right back to that time management goal.

It's not that I haven't had stuff to blog about. It's a matter of taking the time to sit down and do it.

I suppose all these goals speak to being more mindful of how I'm spending my time.

But those two goals also go hand in hand. If I'm going to blog more I'm going to have to knit more.

According to my Ravelry project--although I wasn't blogging I was at least putting information into Ravelry--I completed 24 projects in 2011. Actually I think it's 28 as I made four Christmas ornaments that I didn't enter into Ravelry.

In what turns out was a moment of over ambition, I had declared 2011 the Year of the Sweater.

That was a massive bust as I only ended up finishing two sweaters! The Green Schleppy Sweater and The Electric Bunny Sweater.

To my credit I did work on both the Yellow Lace Top and the Three Lace Cardigan.

Can't tell you what happened with this sweater resolution business last year aside from pointing your to my comments about having less knitting time last year.

Think Small

Having learned my lesson I'm declaring 2012 the Year of Small Projects.

I think focusing on projects that have short term completion dates will be more satisfying. Something to show for my efforts.

Also, I'm concerned that of my 24 projects last year only five of them were socks! One of those pairs was started a few years before.

I need more socks. Aside from all those socks I darned recently two more pairs exploded. My sock production has fallen behind and my wardrobe is feeling the pain.

Additionally, I have a ton of lovely sock yarn to begging to be knit. I know sock yarn doesn't count as stash, but it can still get lonely.

Not to mention finally having found yarn for my Autumn Road Socks, and those two fancy kits I bought a Rhinebeck two years ago.

Yes, socks will be a priority this year.

So, where does that leave us?

Knit more.

Blog more.

Focus on small projects.

Focus on socks.

Sounds doable.

What knitting or crocheting goals are you setting this year?

Through a Knitting Filter

You see a charm bracelet....

I see stitch markers!

From The Adventures of Traveling Ann

A friend had a jewelry party.

You know like a Tupperware Party, but for jewelry.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some Christmas shopping. I wasn't going to get anything for myself.

But there were all these incentives, buy this get that half price.

And she had the big version of this bracelet as a sample, with the cute red heart charm.

I saw those lobster claw clips and it was all over.

What a convention way to keep stitch markers on hand. (pun acknowledged!)

The jewelry was just delivered on Friday and as you can see it has already been pressed into service on my Electric Bunny Sweater.

As you may or may not know, but could tell from the random pictures I've posted, I'm working this sweater top-down.

I had considered working the sleeves two at a time to keep the decreases the same, but that wasn't possible.

For various reasons, instead of using the ball in a cake, I've been using it off my swift. Doesn't make it terribly portable or flexible. I was worried that if I tried to work both sleeves that way I'd end up with a hopeless tangle.

The end result was I worked the first sleeve, clipped removable markers to the decreases to make them visible, then worked the second sleeve to match by counting rows.

Yesterday (a Saturday) Hubby and I had a "Pillars of the Earth" TV marathon. We have to clear out our DVR and had to watch something.

I knit practically the entire second sleeve while we were watching.

There is something to be said for plain stockinette stitch on US10 needles!

I just have to finish the cuff then work a collar of some sort and the sweater will be done.

Well, aside from grafting the underarms and weaving in the ends. I should have a finished sweater before Christmas!

Roar!

I have a lot of stuff I need to scan for work.

Only I couldn't because the inside of the glass was dirty so all the images looked like crap.

Then I found these directions on the HP website for opening the bugger up to clean the glass.

Yeah!

Then I was thwarted because it calls for some special T10 screwdriver, which I didn't think I had. Not that it mattered because I couldn't get past the first step of removing the front plate of the control panel.

I was pretty ticked off about it last night.

Then today I ransacked the barn again and discovered a T10 bit in Hubby's big wrench and screwdriver case. There were also little bitty screwdrivers just the right size for jamming into front plate gaps.

Victory was mine!

Even more importantly, after cleaning the glass I was able to put it all back together and it seems operational.

I am 21st Century woman! Roar!

Cheating

The industrial revolution has arrived!

I asked Hubby if the people opposed to the Industrial Revolution were called "frame breakers." I don't know where I got that from, which is why I asked.

He said they were called "Luddites," but that they went after the mechanized weaving looms.

So I should be safe.

Yarn Everywhere

I bought the knitting machine on Sunday.

And, contrary to the weaving loom I acquired at the beginning of the month, the knitting machine did come out of left field.

But it is a logical step.

You see, since I have the best job ever, I recently received three big boxes of sample yarns.

Once again, it's a lot of single balls. Which is to say if I have multiple balls of one type it won't be 10 balls of blue, it will be ten different colors.

So the options are just knitting and crocheting random swatch squares or trying to come up with striped projects.

I told myself that this time I won't fall into the striped project trap like I did last year.

Two Hands vs Two Tons of Yarn

Since I only have two hands and there are only 24 hours in the day all I would ever knit would be swatches.

As nice as all this yarn is that prospect is unacceptable. I am both a process AND project knitter.

How can I be both? Well, I like the finished project, but I also enjoy the knitting process that gets me there. Although I enjoy having a mindless stockinette stitch project to work on when I'm tired or watching good TV, I like to know there is a goal in sight other than keeping my hands busy.

Hence the knitting machine.

If my cunning plan works I'll be able to zip out squares, crochet off a few rows, then get back to my projects.

Stumbling Along

The first square I did on Sunday was an ordeal. But it was a fun ordeal since the machine was new and shiny.

Also, I had figured the first square would be a train wreck since I'd never used a knitting machine before.

I didn't watch the instructional DVD because the booklet had very nice clear pictures allowing me to just plunge in.

Monday morning I got up and zipped out another square of the same smooth, worsted weight yarn (in a different color) in about an hour. I was feeling pretty good about my plan.

Then Monday night I tried a bulky boucle yarn.

And I tried.

And I tried.

And then I tried another bulky singles sort of yarn.

And it was just as frustrating.

And I found it necessary to pack the machine back in it's box because I was so uptight I was either going to crack a tooth from clenching my jaw or throw the machine out the window.

This was disappointing because the bulky yarns are the ones I was really looking forward to doing on the machine. Turns out I don't like knitting with big needles. US7 or US8 is about as big as I generally go.

Then on Tuesday I reassembled it and tried another smooth worsted yarn and everything was sunshine and light again.

Today it is also playing nicely. The square on the machine in the picture is Louisa Harding Grace Silk and Wool. It knit up very easily. I'm back to thinking my plan might work.

I think I'll give each yarn a go and if it doesn't work in the first couple rows I won't fight it. I'll just redirect to hand-knitting the swatch. It won't be a big deal since there are other yarns I've already eliminated from machine possibility for being either too thin, too thick, or too novel.

One way or another I'll show all this yarn who's boss!

Not a Yarn Receptacle

Remember how at the end of June I blogged almost every day and then I stopped again?

Well, the contrast reminded me that I really enjoy blogging and that I have to start making it more of a priority.

Starting next week.

In the mean time, a vaguely knitting related post.

I've been working from home for a year now. It's fitting into our lives nicely and looks like it will be continuing for a while, which is good.

Because of this we decided it was time to finally get me a new, better desk. We'd had the desk we brought up with us for 10 years. It was older than that as we'd inherited it from the previous tenant at our last boarding school.

As you can see, it is a student computer desk and very much inadequate for our needs. We knew we'd have to replace it, but with the move, and the school year, and getting accustomed to a new place, it wasn't a priority.

New and Improved
But now comfort will be mine!

I will no longer be a nomad in the apartment moving from the kitchen island, to the dining room table, to the couch seeking a comfortable place to work.

Of course we bought me a new chair along with the new desk. The old chair was also 10 years old and was frozen at the height Hubby needs so my feet dangled when I sat in it.

It was a three day ordeal for Hubby to assemble the desk and hutch. There was a bit of foul language involved and mutterings about "Why can't assembled furniture be purchased?"

Oh, but it was all worth it. I feel so official now. I have to finish moving in (he finished it just before our trip to California in mid-July), but I'm already enjoying having it.

Not a Yarn Receptacle
You can see that rule has already been broken. That's my souvenir yarn from California on the desk waiting to be documented and added to my hoard.

You can also see my crocheted shawl has taken up residence on the chair back.

Really, if you don't expect the objects in my life to get covered in yarn (and dog hair) then you don't know me very well.

Samson also likes the new desk as there is more room for him to stretch out. Although he's a little too comfortable in this picture—there is no room for the chair!

Back in 2008 Hubby gave me a nice, large, Coach purse for my birthday. At the time I told myself I wouldn't put knitting in it. That vow lasted until May 2008 when I found it necessary to put a sock-in-progress in it.

Then last summer when we were discussing buying me a laptop since I'd be working from home Hubby asked, "Are you going to fill it with knitting stuff?" And I said Of course I will, but it is my job so I kind of have to.

We did not discuss yarn in relation to the new desk but, boy howdy, don't those cupboards at the top of the hutch look perfect for yarn storage?

App Review: Yarn U

Ya'll know I have an iPhone, right?

And once you get an iPhone you get iPhone apps. I mean, that's the whole point, right? Why have a such a fancy phone just to make phone calls.

On the other hand I have not gone app crazy. I have a few select ones to make my life easier. Mainly ones that have turned my phone into a glorified, electronic notepad.

But if you had ever seen my appalling handwriting you'd understand the necessity of that.

You would think that I'd also load up my phone with knitting and yarn related apps (goodness knows Hubby has loaded his with wine apps), but you'd be wrong.

I have a few basic row counter apps, but I haven't pulled down any of the paid versions of those apps that are supposed to track your projects.

You know the ones (if you have a smart phone) where you can enter the yarn, needles, pattern info, and take a picture. Not only do I feel they are redundant to Ravelry and my blog, but I find typing all that info on the wee keyboard on the iPhone annoying. (I would want a version that I could enter the info on the laptop and download it to the iPhone, but still don't know that I'd actually use one like that.)

Yarn U
Which brings us to the Yarn U app. The Yarn U app is not a project tracker. It is a repository of yarn information and reviews.

At this time I will, in accordance with FCC regulations, point out I was given a free review copy by virtue of being the KFI social media manager. Happily, there are a lot of KFI yarns listed.

Most of the other heavy hitters are represented as well: Knit Picks, Blue Sky Alpaca, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, Quince and Co. Although there are many yarns from each, none have their complete lines listed (yet?).

The iTunes page (which is where I stole the screen shot from for the image on this post) says there are currently 170 yarns listed, and I imagine she's still adding more.

Yarn!
There are reviews of varying lengths and depths on each yarn listed. Some are compilations of reviews/comments found a Ravelry (and say so in the entry), while others seem like they might be based on the author's own experience with the yarn.

The reviews also include "ball band" information such as content, suggested gauge, and yardage.

There are links to online purchasing options and, in some cases, pattern books so you can see projects, or free online patterns. (The entry for Louisa Harding Kashmir Baby links to my Basic Ribbed Fingerless Mitts pattern. squeee!)

There are also occasional random links. For instance, I was looking at the entry for Debbie Bliss Amalfi. When I clicked the Amalfi link I was taken to the wikipedia page for the Italian Alamlfi Coast. Uh?

You can also "favorite" a yarn, email the entry to a friend, and leave a comment for other people to see. You can navigate to the comments from the specific entry, but all comments are also collected in one area.

Browsing is done from the alphabetical list on the front page, which can be sorted by brand name, weight, or fiber.

Pictures!
The other main section is what is commonly referred to as "yarn pr0n." A mass of pretty pictures of balls and hanks of yarn, swatches, and completed projects. Some of the images are official company pictures from the pattern books and some are from private knitters. They all have copyright info in the corner.

The pictures, although very pretty, are a little iffy on usability.

The official company images list the name of the pattern and book where it can be found.

The private user images rely on how completely they fill out their Flickr description. When you click on a pretty sweater or gloves you could find anything from all the info you need to just the yarn to nothing at all. (Which makes me feel bad about my own sparse Flickr entries.)

Of course, this is not really the app's fault. And after the first such encounter you know what to expect.

You can sort the pictures by brand and weight. You can swipe through them, or let the slide show play. There is also a cloud option with wee thumbnails you can navigate through.

One Complaint
I've been playing since yesterday and I only have one main beef, which might say more about me than the app.

Some of the yarn reviews have a "pro and con" section. This is a nice feature as it gives quick and pointed information.

But I noticed that a consistent con was that the yarn is "expensive." In some cases that was the only con listed.

It turns out I have luxury taste in yarn (which is not a surprise) because most of the yarns I like and have used are flagged as "expensive."

That seems an arbitrary adjective to apply to a yarn, especially since not all yarns have a cost measurement applied to them. Where did this "expensive" tag come from? Comments on Ravelry? The author's experience and research? Is the ratio of cost to yardage considered?

Seems to me that the word "expensive" is too open to interpretation to be useful. One person might think yarn that is $5 a ball is expensive, while someone else might go has high as $10 or $20 a ball before flinching. And would that same $5 yarn person spend gobs of money on shoes without a second thought?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I have my limits, but yarn is the luxury item I choose to spend my disposable income on. I'll gripe about spending $60 on a fill-up for the car, but won't blink at dropping $60 on enough yarn to make a project.

My point is we all have our own priorities and without knowing the authors I can't place much value on the word "expensive" and feel it might prevent some people from trying a new yarn because they mistakenly believe it's out of their price range.

Instead of "expensive" I think the app should have a dollar sign scale. You know, like on other review sites and in Zagats. I think dollar signs would be a little less subjective.

And, in case you're wondering, yes, I did submit these observations to the author.

Why?
Now that I've told you more than you could ever want to know about this app, you might still be wondering why one would want it.

Well, aside from the pretty pictures, it could come in handy when yarn shopping.

Think about it, you're in a new yarn store where you aren't familiar with the staff so they don't know you're tastes and you want support for their recommendations. They have yarn you've heard of but never used, or maybe that you've never encountered at all. You can whip out your iPhone and see the reviews in Yarn U. (I would however, suggest you not check while the staff member is standing in front of you, that would be rude.)

Or you're at your own LYS where they do know your tastes, but all the staff is busy helping other customers. A quick glance at the app can inform your discussion when someone is available to chat.

Now I read through the comments on this app in iTunes. Most of them were positive, but I noticed a theme in the critical ones that pops up on any new yarn related app. "I can just get that info on Ravelry."

There is some substance to that comment, but it depends on your pain points. Have you tried to surf Ravelry on an iPhone? I have. It's not so easy. Also, you have to dig for the reveiws/comments on Ravelry while in the app they are the key feature.

And, here's the kicker, if you don't have internet access you can't get to Ravelry off your iPhone. Or it might be a killer slow connection. The app stores all the info on your phone. You can't follow the links, but the main review and all the user comments are available. I know this for a fact because I put my phone in airplane mode and tested it.

So there you have it, a useful and pretty little app. It appears she is continuing to add yarns and make improvements based on user feedback, so it should just get better as it goes along.

Dear MLB

We are sitting here in NH staring at a blank TV screen rather than watching the Yankees and Mets inter league game because Fox has some kind of superpowers to control which games are available to us despite our MLB Extra Innings package from DirecTV.

As I'm sure you are aware, we're paying a pretty penny for the MLB Extra Innings package so we can watch the Yankees even though we had to move out of the NY area.

I don't know how the arrangement works, but I'm pretty sure MLB has to be benefiting from the subscription fees we're paying.

It seems to me that since we are basically paying you for the privilege of continuing to watch the Yankees we should be able to actually watch the Yankees.

I understand the goal is to force us to watch the local game on the Fox broadcast. And this makes sense when the Yankees are playing the Red Sox. In those cases we suffer through the Red Sox broadcast. But tonight the Yankees are playing the Mets.

There is nothing that is going to make us watch a random Red Sox game.

Maybe you and Fox are concerned about loosing our eyes because we're watching the out of market game. But you have to realize you've lost our eyes entirely because now we're going to watch something off our DVR since we can't see the baseball game we want to see.

What makes even less sense is that Fox was also broadcasting the Yankees/Mets game. They could at least have had our eyes on that.

The entire point of buying the MLB Extra Innings Package was so we could watch the Yankees even though we're no longer in the Yankees "market."

Please stop defeating the purpose of this subscription and allow us to watch the out-of-market games we want to watch rather than forcing us to watch no game at all.

Thank you.

PS--Also, the 500 character limit on the feedback form on your website is annoying.

Temptation Is Everywhere

This knit and crochet hiatus is really starting to wear on me. As I'm sure you can imagine.

Even the slightest hint that my elbow might be feeling better makes me want to grab one of my WIPs and go to town. But I know I must stay strong. Still, I don't know if I can last the week.

What am I going to do Friday at the library knitting group?

I was hoping I'd feel better by then but now I'm not so sure. I'll have to find something else to do with my hands so I don't yank projects away from other people and start working on them. I don't think that would go over very well.

Staying strong is especially hard when we sit down to watch TV. It's so automatic for me to pick something up and start stitching that I have to remind myself not to get up and get a project.

It's a really good thing I tucked everything away at the beginning of the week.

Or Did I?
That picture at the top of the post is of a stripe of Sirdar Crofter DK in a Green Striped version of my Schleppy Sweater pattern. It's a blend of 60% Acrylic, 25% Cotton, 15% Wool so it has a nice tweedy feel and the faux Fair Isle patterning is just adorable.

I bring it up because I was staring longingly at the in-progress sweater today. Turns out it wasn't tucked away so well. It's in a clear plastic project bag on the bookshelves in the living room—right next to where I've been sitting on the couch.

It would have been so easy to reach over...take it down...and start knitting the sleeves...so easy.

Spring Yarn
Another temptation is that with the changing of the season comes the changing of the yarn.

This is the time of year that yarn stores start changing out the bulky wools for cottons, silks, and other lighter blends. When I was working at Knitting Central and then Westport Yarns this was the time of year that any yarn diet would get blown. Over the months I'd build an immunity to the yarns we had in the store, but once the new stuff started rolling in I'd usually snap and have to buy something.

I suffered a virtual version of that today. I noticed a critical mass of yarn entries labeled "new" on the Knitting Fever Inc. website, so I tore through and made sure they are all entered into Ravelry.

As I looked through online colors and read the content I kept saying to myself, "Oh, I'd love to get my hands on that," or "Man, I hope they send me a sample of that."

Top temptations included Lanthe by Louisa Harding. A 50/50 merino cotton blend that works up at 5.5 sts to the inch and comes in 16 awesome colors. I do love me some DK cotton/wool yarn.

Sublime Baby Cash Merino Silk 4ply is a fingering weight yarn in 11 pastel colors. It is a blend of 75% Extrafine Merino, 20% Silk, 5% Cashmere. Doesn't that sound delicious?

Sweet Pea is a 100% organic cotton yarn from Queensland Collection. It is a bulky weight that comes in 10 colors and has an interesting ripply texture in the pictures. And, hello!, Sweet Pea is the birth month flower for April so I should totally have some of that yarn.

Oh, and don't get me started on the four new Noro yarns. I am a total Noro addict after using so much of it in my Adult Surprise Jacket, my Coquille Shawl, and my Kureyon Hat.

Really, I could go on and on as I daydream about one day going to the mail room and finding a massive box full of yarn waiting for me. Yes, getting it down the hill would be a good problem to have.

Only my daydreams came to an abrupt end as I remembered that I can't knit or crochet at the moment, so if they do send me samples to post about I hope it's not for another week or two!

Still, injury aside, I have the best job.

Hooray, Crochet!

Today begins National Crochet Month.

Yippee!

Since I cannot crochet at the moment with this bum elbow, let's just talk about it instead.

I first learned about National Crochet Month in 2008. I was inspired enough to design a Crocheted Guinness Dog Toy in its honor.

Samson destroyed it by pulling out all the stuffing a few days after I made it, but they still have the fabric. I suppose that makes it an empty Guinness can dog toy?

Anyway.

A Crocheter is Born
As I've mentioned in the past, I was so young when I learned to crochet that I don't remember that first lesson.

I do remember learning the double crochet stitch.

It was in the summer. We were visiting my aunt and her family in upstate New York. Grandma was sitting in a lawn chair crocheting. My younger cousin and I were sitting on the grass next to her "crocheting." We must have been making squares of fabric using just slip stitches because I remember Grandma saying that whatever we make would be nice and warm, but it would take us forever to make.

And she taught us the double crochet stitch.

Now this next bit is going to sound crazy, but you must keep in mind this was in the 1980s before the internet was widely available...for years after that summer the double crochet stitch was the only one I used.

You are probably asking yourself how I managed. Looking back I wonder that, too.

But then I was a kid. I owned one H hook. And I mainly made afghans and maybe a few scarves from the super inexpensive acrylic yarn you could get at craft and department stores.

I couldn't even tell you if any of those childhood projects still exist, but I suspect there weren't many of them. I don't think I was as prolific back then as I am now.

But I was happy in my double crochet world.

Everything Changes
I also remember the project that inspired me to learn more stitches and techniques.

My younger cousin had a magazine with a pattern for a stuffed cow in it. (Actually, it has horns and no udder, so I guess technically it's a bull.)

I coveted that cow something fierce. In fact, I still have him. Tucked away somewhere safe where Samson can't eat him.

In order to make that cow I had to learn how to work a single crochet stitch and how to work in the round.

Thank goodness for library books, because my Grandma was dead by then!

Strangely, I can't remember when I originally got my hands on the pattern, but I know I didn't finish him until I was in college. I had him with my on my Junior Year Abroad. I might have finished him while I was in England. At least he didn't have a name because it was then that he was dubbed Junior.

In any event Junior, and the books I had to track down to make him, opened up the possibilities for me. I learned lots of new stitches. I started designing my own stuffed animals.

Seek Inspiration
As you can see by the doily at the beginning of the post, my crochet skills have advanced from those days of just being able to chain, slip stitch, and double crochet.

However, even though I've been doing this almost all my life, I know there is still a lot about crochet left for me to learn.

These crafts help us grow, develop, expand our minds, and challenge ourselves.

My point is, don't expect to know it all and be an expert overnight. If you are just learning, expect to be frustrated, but keep your eye on the goal. Crocheting is a specialized skill and skills take time to be acquired. (Oh, this is where I should say something trite about hand crafts helping us slow down in our busy, digital world.) After all, you didn't learn to ride a bike, drive a car, or cook a decent meal on your first attempt, did you?

And if your craft is stagnating, look for a new inspiration. Maybe you need a new project that will offer a challenge and inspire you to take your skills to the next level. Or maybe some squishy new yarn in a fiber you haven't used before will wake you up.

Go forth and seek your stuffed cow!

My Elbow Hurts

It would appear that in my effort to have a healthier lifestyle by exercising regularly I strained or sprained something.

Oddly, Hubby is suffering from a similar pain. Although we are pretty sure they are exercise induced injuries we haven't ruled out the possibility of alien abduction.

Anyway, it would further appear that this injury is being aggravated by my knitting.

I think the original injury actually happened a week or so ago. Of course I've been dealing with it in the classic and illogical method of ignoring it and hoping it will go away.

But I can ignore it no longer. I have come to my senses and acknowledged that if I want it to heal I'll have to rest it. A little rest now will prevent longer knitting downtime later. Hopefully. Shame I didn't have that attitude when it first happened.

I know that posts whining about ill healthy and injuries aren't the most fun to read. I've even seen survey results where people say they move on and might not come back to blogs that have them regularly. Unless that's the point of the blog, I suppose.

Anyway, this is knitting/crocheting related.

Mainly to say that I won't be doing any for a least a week, if I can stand it for that long, to allow this issue to resolve itself.

Also to remind us all to stop, rest, and stretch. Even if we aren't the Bionic Woman (or Million Dollar Man) it's important to remember that our bodies are marvels of technology that require proper care.

I find this hiatus a little ironic while I'm in the middle of attempting a blogging revival. Hard to blog about knitting and/or crocheting if you aren't actually doing any.

It will be an interesting challenge to see if I can milk the projects I completed during the blog blackout for at least a week while I heal.

Of course, if you've spent any time reading my blog, or flipped through past entries, I'm sure you are familiar with my ability to provide such excruciating detail about the most insignificant event that it turns into an epic post. Therefore neither of us is at all worried about my ability to post during this dry spell.

I have warned Hubby about my fiber hiatus. He expressed sympathy that my oowie has progressed to such a degree that such extreme measures have to be taken.

I don't, however, think he has realized my yarn hiatus could result in mood swings, fidgeting, anxiety, and other symptoms that will generally make everyone unhappy. On the other hand, he might just think I have PMS.

In order to support my effort not to knit for the week I have pushed all my current projects to the edges of the room so they are out of sight and hard to reach.

I think I'll feel it most in the evenings when I'm watching TV. I don't know how I'll sit there, still, for hours on end...I might actually have to fold laundry...or go to bed early.

Sweeping Update

Oh, there has been plenty to blog about, I just haven't been blogging.

I really need to be sure to make time for it. I mean, I like blogging. It's another creative outlet. I just have to make time for it in a way that won't be stressful.

Really, if I'm blogging for myself to keep a record of my projects it's important for me to do it. On the other hand, if I'm doing it for myself it's also ok if I don't.

Anyway.

Judging by my Ravelry notebook I've finished seven projects about which I haven't blogged one word. So I'll have to weigh the benefits of going back and writing about them after the fact.

Actually, if I'm going to once again swear I'll start blogging more regularly I'll need those finished projects as fodder because goodness knows my current active projects are booooring.

Well, they are at boring points for blog content but are still fine for knitting.

But then considering I can foment paragraphs of anxiety over the most minute details, I guess I don't really have a lack of blog content if I put my mind to it.

Some Substance?
I hadn't actually planned for this post to be all stuff, nonsense, and angst.

When last you heard from me, more or less, I'd declared 2011 the Year of the Sweater. I'm still adhering to that declaration, more or less. As you can imagine, my seven finished projects are not sweaters. Ha! I wish.

No, in between my sweater WIPs I've tossed off a few smaller projects.

The sweaters endure.

In fact, at the beginnig of the year I got a little overwhelmed with all the works-in-progress I had. I was beginning to feel like I was spinning my knitting wheels since I had so many projects on the go and nothing finished to show for my efforts.

I have frequently extolled the virtues of project monogamy. I've clearly seen that working on one project at a time results in actual finished objects in a relatively quick time frame. However, I can't stick with it.

One project isn't enough. On the other hand seven or so projects is too much. Especially if more than one of them is a sweater. Talk about not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

To free myself from the anxiety of so many WIPs I went through my Ravelry notebook and shifted many into "hibernating" status. If you use Ravelry you know this shifts them from the top row of your project page to the bottom row. Out of sight, out of mind.

At the same time I wrapped (most) of those now hibernating WIPs up and put them away. I say most because the Bias Striped V-Neck is in limbo. It's hibernating on Ravelry but still on the bookshelf in the living room because of the over crowded conditions in the dining room credenza.

The result is that my "only" active projects are Hubby's Vertical Stripe Box Stitch Sweater, a Green Schleppy Sweater in KFI sample yarns, and the Lace 101 scarf in gift Hand Maiden Camelspun yarn that I work on at the Library Knitting group.

This has been working out well. Until I hit stupid walls on both active sweaters the other day. Happily I was able to just reach over and grab the Bias-V for some emergency knitting. It's a good thing I didn't pack it away after all.

Jumpstart
A girl can only dream that this post will get me started blogging again. I've given myself plenty of jumping off points for a post tomorrow.

I can blog about one of the active sweaters.

Or I can blog about one of the many projects I finished during the recent blog blackout.

I just have to stratagize about how I want to approach all these topics.

For now, I think the best course of action will be to take the pups out and go to bed.

Down the Clay Button Rabbit Hole

You may remember that when I finished my Adult Surprise Jacket I was a little stuck for buttons.

Don't worry if you don't remember it was several months ago.

Anyway. I worked the button holes recommended in the pattern, which are over three or four stitches. At a gauge of 3.5 stitches to the inch they are some big button holes, which means I needed big buttons.

Also, it's such a colorful sweater I knew they'd have to be either really boring buttons to not compete or really fancy buttons to hold their own.

At the time the women in the library knitting group suggested I get some Fimo clay and make my own buttons.

Of course at the time I laughed because I don't do those kinds of crafts. But the idea got into my head and I mulled it over on a regular basis.

Mulling led to watching many videos on YouTube which led to me believing that I could make buttons if I put my mind to it.

By the time I came to that conclusion it was after Michael's had a sale on clay. Not only did I miss the sale but their supplies were pretty devastated.

It wasn't really a problem in the end since I just wanted the primary colors along with black and white. I wasn't looking to make a big investment. After all, I just needed 5 buttons and didn't know if I would be successful or enjoy it.

As a result, instead of buying actual Fimo brand clay I bought the off-brand for $1.29 a block. It seemed to work fine, but since this is the first time I've ever used such a clay I can't really compare.

Plotting
Before plunging in I wisely took the time to consider how I wanted the buttons to look.

This led to perusing Flickr for "fimo buttons" to see what other people had done. There are a lot of pretty buttons out there!

Because of the size of my buttonholes I decided my buttons would have to be around 1" across. I also thought square buttons would be good to echo the angular stripes in the jacket.

I knew wanted some of those classic stripey buttons you see. They seemed attainable because a YouTube video from TheCraftsChannel made them look really easy.

I liked the flowers as well, but they looked harder and I didn't think I felt that ambitious.

Since a template was in order I drew several 1" x 1" squares on a piece of paper and doodled some ideas. Then I finally plunged in.

Stripes!
The first cane I made was the black/white and purple ones. Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when I cut a few slices off and it actually looked like it was supposed to!

All excited I showed it to Hubby. "Is that how it's supposed to look?" he asked. I confirmed it was. He said he was proud of me.

He's so supportive.

After making that first cane it was time for dinner and I wasn't able to return to the buttons for a week. It was very annoying.

But then last Saturday I woke up at 3 A.M. and couldn't fall back to sleep. In my sleep deprived state I thought it would be a good time to work on the buttons.

I made the green/yellow and blue cane. Then I made the red/purple swirl. The goal was to use as many of the colors from the jacket in the buttons as I could.

I found that it was easier than I expected, but also took longer.

I didn't invest in tools at all, just used what I had around the house, but I could see how the supplies available at the craft store would have been helpful.

For instance, the stuff I bought is labeled "non-toxic" but I didn't want it on food prep equipment. Therefore, although I was using my normal rolling pin, I was putting the clay between sheets of cling wrap.

Also, I was using a box cutter and a razor blade to do the cutting. The box cutter was fine for trimming, but the striped blocks were often longer than the razor blade forcing me to make two cuts. The people in the videos had long blades that allowed them to slice down on a block in one smooth motion.

Flowers!
Eventually, I started to get sleepy again, but I was on a roll and didn't want to have to clean up and then haul everything out again.

Perhaps because I was sleep deprived I decided to give flowers a whirl. Once again, they were easier than I anticipated.

I'm pleased with them because they are my first attempt, however I learned some things right away.

I should have made the red part of the petals thicker.

I also should have made the notch in the white part of the petal and the purple stripe that filled it deeper.

I am, however, very pleased with my black/yellow center swirl.

Oh, there's another thing, I kept making things scaled down because I didn't want to them to be huge or use up all my clay. Well, bigger is sort of better. I think you could get the details, like the purple stripe in my petals, better if you make them bigger. Then you just roll it down to the size you want. Of course that means more buttons but you don't have to bake them all at once.

A problem I had was consistency in thickness when I rolled the slabs out and when I cut slices. I think you can tell the thick/thin issue in a few of the buttons. Both problems probably stemmed from inexperience.

Buttons!
Once I finished making the four motifs I packed them together with blue clay, rolled them to smooth things out, then wrapped them.

And immediately realized I should have used a different color core for the green/yellow cane or packed it with a different color. Oh, well, too late by then.

Oh, and another reason bigger would have been better is for size consistence. First I tried to roll the other canes down to the size of the red/purple swirl. Then everything got reduced again once I was shaping the final square button.

Finally the moment of truth came. I sliced up my buttons...and was disappointed.

They were smaller than I wanted and you couldn't see the motifs well.

Since I'd already invested all that time and clay in them I had nothing to loose.

I laid them all between two pieces of cellophane and took the rolling pin to them.

Magically they expanded and the designs were more visible. Huzzah!

After working so hard on the individual motifs I decided I didn't want them obscured by holes and yarn. I rolled up some scraps, sliced it up, and made shanks for the square buttons and the two big flower buttons that were test slices. I made holes in the other test slices since they have blank spots that won't suffer from being obscured.

The square buttons look good on the jacket, if I do say so myself. They aren't all 1". I took the biggest ones for the jacket, but I'm still going to have to sew some of the button holes shut a little. I suppose that is better than having to make them bigger. And I'm totally going to put a smaller one on each pocket...once I knit pockets.

More to come?
I didn't use up all of the canes to make the square buttons. I also didn't use up all the clay in general. I've wrapped it all carefully in cellophane and a Ziplock bag to keep it from drying out.

I think I have enough buttons for now, but I'm prepared if I get the bug again.

You will not be surprised to hear that I'm trying to figure out ways to put buttons on everything now.

I'm going to make another hot water bottle cover (oh, I never told you about the first one) and I'm going to put buttons on it.

And I'm trying to figure out how to work buttons into the next Schleppy Sweater I knit.

Seriously, I created a (controllable) monster.

My Kind of People

And just what kind of people is that?

Why, fiber enthusiasts, of course!

For the first week or two up here it seemed I was tripping over them every time I turned around, which is pretty awesome.

They were pretty easy to find. Especially considering it was still summer so it's not like I was wearing my handknit sweaters or anything. Although I have been identified as a knitter by my socks.

As you know when you meet new people, at least here in the States, the usual question is "What do you do?" This is even more sensible in our situation. Obviously Hubby is teaching, which is why we're here, so how am I occupying myself in this rural area?

Of course my main answer is I'm a freelance writer. Then when I mention I'm running the social media presence for a yarn distributor that usually prompts a response about their own knitting or crocheting.

One woman on campus has even had her crochet patterns published in a few magazines.

Indeed, word has spread about me and some people sought me out in the cafeteria and other social events. Today over lunch the business manager told me she's starting a baby sweater and she might track me down if she needs help. :-)

We Run in Packs
During the first week of the month, when school was starting so Hubby was in meetings and we had to stop unpacking 24 hours a day, I ran off to the library to get my card.

It happened to be a Friday. I asked where the craft books are? And the librarian immediately informed me that the knitting group meets from 3-5 on Fridays.

How convenient.

Obviously I had to go back.
I put on my Coquille Shawl, which I'd just finished knitting, so they would know I was serious, and grabbed my ball of Debbie Bliss Glen so I could crochet swatch with it.

The yarn, an alpaca/wool/microfiber blend, is very nice. My swatch...not so much. I was trying to work a ripple/chevron stitch without a pattern and made a hash of it.

Anyway, the women were nice. There were three sisters and a rotation of two or three others who came and went during the time. They had fun peppering me with questions about where I was from, and why I was in town, etc.

And they all admired my shawl, as you would expect.

The next few weeks I was busy on Fridays so I couldn't go. But I put my foot down and went this past Friday and it was nice and relaxing. With the bonus of they remembered me. :-)

I keep hearing rumors about a craft group starting on campus, but they haven't set a date yet. Totally understandable if they are half as busy as Hubby has been.

I'm happy I've found them all. Of course I have my online yarn friends to talk to, but that isn't quite the same as the constant contact I had in CT working in local yarn store and all.

Although I suppose the new arrangement is better for the budget. hmmm.

Still getting to hang out with other fiber people in real life will prevent me from needing to crawl into the credenza with my hoard in order to feel surrounded by yarn.

Send Cheese

Because I've got plenty of whine to go around.

Wait a minute...do I hear violins? They must be either really far away or really small because the sound is kind of faint.

Today I woke up and asked myself, "What can I do today that will ensure I don't have to work tonight?"

And myself replied, "Be productive?"

Because I'm a bit of a smarty pants.

"The sarcasm isn't helping anyone," I reminded myself.

Then I proceeded to spend two hours messing with my blog template, only to revert back to my current one.

See I found out Blogger made it easier to use your own background image, which is something I've been wanting for ages. But when I jumped on it I discovered you can only use it with their new templates. Which means I have to jettison all the hard work I did learning HTML to customize my current template (not that it's the most sterling example of website design, by it's mine). And when I switched to a new template I had to reset all my colors, and some of the images in my sidebars were too big, so I had to reset the sidebar widths, which made the center/main column too narrow, but it's kind of narrow anyway. And maybe it's time to clean the blog up and ditch some of those badges anyway. But I wasn't ready to cut the cord and by then it was lunchtime.

So I reverted back to my old template and trotted up the hill to meet Hubby in the cafeteria.

Maybe a daily pledge is in order?
My extreme lack of blogging lately should be an indication to you that I still don't have a handle on my daily schedule.

Oh, I've got plenty to say, I'm just not making the time to say it. The lack of blogging is starting to wear on me.

See when I started the blog I worked in an office and often ate lunch sitting at my desk. This made it easy to blog during my lunch hour.

Now that I'm working from home my days are much more fluid. I get up in the morning and think, "Oh let me just check Facebook." Then I check Twitter and think since I'm here I might as well check all my e-mails, then I start doing work. Suddenly it's 9am and I'm still in my pajamas.

As I've already mentioned I'm not eating lunch in a cubicle anymore. I'm meeting Hubby, which gives me some human contact during the day, then coming home and taking the pups out. After all that I feel like I've taken such a long lunch that I should get back to work.

And still I find myself working at 8 o'clock at night. Yet in all that time on the computer I don't manage to blog.

Obviously I need to set a "blog time." At a certain time every day I'll stop everything and blog.

In the past I never felt compelled to do one of those blog every day for a month challenges because I thought I was a pretty consistent blogger. Well, times have changes and I might need the discipline. Structure?

Speaking of Structure
Although I'm loving not having a car commute I realize now that it bracketed the day and divided it into nice little compartments. Rush around in the morning, get in the car for an hour, be at work, drive home for an hour, be home in the evening to relax. Work was left at the office.

Now it is far to easy to decide to do domestic things or run errands during the day, but then of course that time has to be made up in the evening. Which ends up cutting into my knitting time.

The only comfort is that Hubby is also trying to balance a new schedule and work conditions. His old school provided him with a laptop. He did all his work on it and carried it everywhere. This school provided a desktop in his office and another in his classroom. He has to get accustomed to doing all his work up in his office instead of here at the house so he's a bit unsettled too.

That's your complaint?
Yes, they are all good problems to have.

Oh, woe is me, I work from home with my lovely puppies and I can't seem to arrange my own hours nicely. whaa whaa whaa.

See, the sarcasm doesn't help at all.

So that's my excuse for neglecting the blog lately. I shall be more diligent about making updates going forward.

I might even get the template sorted out.

In the mean time, I have to go be productive now.

Post In Which I Make You Hate Me

Even though it’s partially a lie.

This post comes to you from the comfort of my front porch with my doggies at my feet.

The front porch is one of the places that pass as my office now. The other places are any room in the apartment.

Now do you see why you hate me? Not yet? Well, it get’s worse.

Samson is loose as I trust him to stay next to me and that I’ll be able to catch him quickly if something interesting goes by. Baru is tethered because I don’t trust him as much. He probably won’t go anywhere since he’s currently cowering under the table, but you never know. I did consider tethering them to each other—i.e., wrap the cord around a post and clip each end to a dog, but that didn’t seem necessary.

The lie comes in because the laptop isn’t connecting to the WiFi network. I’m actually writing this in Word and I’ll copy/paste it into the blog once I’m back inside.

My iTouch found the WiFi network. I don’t know enough technology to understand why the laptop isn’t connecting.

Commute Free, Knitting Rich
Things are starting to settle down here although there are still boxes to unpack (most notably my YARN!) and curtains to be hung.

Hubby was in meetings the end of last week and the beginning of this week. Students will start filtering in the end of this week.

This all means that while we don’t have a routine yet we’re staring to get a feel for the schedule. We’ve been forced to wake up at a decent hour, get dressed, and leave the house like normal humans, or at least adults.

I’m still getting my feet under me. However one thing I’ve nailed down is that since I no longer have a car commute that time can be dedicated to knitting or crocheting. My commute to work used to take anywhere from 45 minutes up. Seems to me that means I get to play with yarn for an hour in the morning and afternoon. What a relaxing way to start to the day.

As I explained to Hubby when this brilliant idea occurred to me I can work on KFI stuff in the morning so I can blog about it during the day and my personal projects in the evening so I can blog about it at night. This will balance my knitting/crochet time and might actually allow me to finish some projects. It is going to be so awesome.

There you have it. I’m working from home with no commute and lots of new time to play with yarn. It’s ok if you hate me. Jealousy will do that to a person. Heck, if I were you I’d hate me too.

Still Life With Boxes

I had such big plans. I was going to blog every day. There was nothing to stop me.

Except the boxes. Tons and tons of boxes.

If I'd blogged earlier in the week, like I'd planned, my post title was going to be "Moving Mayhem." But that probably would have been too easy.

Goodness knows moving isn't easy.

72 Hours
If you count packing and unpacking, moving takes several months. However, Hubby figured out our actual physical move took about 72 hours.

My mom came up last Thursday night with my niece Bre and my nephew CJ. Friday morning at 11 mom and Hubby went to get the moving truck. We got the 26 foot truck, which is apparently the largest one you can drive with a private liscense.

Everyone we had lined up to help us suddenly flaked, which meant we were totally up a creek, but then our handy-man randomly called. He was able to find a helper for us. phew! Frantic loading of the truck commenced since the helper was only available until 3 pm so all the heavy furniture had to be done before then. The kids very much enjoyed using the handtrucks to ferry boxes out to the truck.

While the helper was at the house we had the dogs locked in the bathroom. They weren't very happy about that at all. After he left we let them out. Samson spent the rest of the day supervising our activities. Baru spent the rest of the day cowering in the bottom of Hubby's closet since we'd dismantled the Puppy Fort (aka our bed).

Loading continued until around 8 pm. We wisely left out the full size mattresses for us and mom to sleep on Friday night. Baru wasn't very happy about his Fort being gone. On the other hand the mattress was on the floor so I was able to just reach out and put my hand on him for snuggles.

Saturday morning we got up and finished loading the truck. That took longer than expected, just as the loading Friday did. Then we saw with horror that all our stuff wouldn't fit in the truck. Resigned to the fact that we'd have to come back for a second load we tossed the dogs in the SUV and began the four hour drive to our new home.

On this end Hubby's brother Doug came over from NY to help. Phew! We unloaded late into the night taking one little break to take everyone out to dinner to thank them for their labor. If you've ever moved you know that unloading goes faster because you don't have to carefully position things. You just yank them off the truck and put them in the assigned room.

Samson again supervised the process and Baru went and hid in the one closet in the bedroom. Oh, did I say the bedroom? I meant the one closet in the entire apartment.

Still, we didn't finish before everyone was falling down from exhaustion. Mom ended up choosing a random dorm room since no students have checked in. The neice and nephew slept on the couches. Doug slept on one of the full size mattresses in the dining room. Hubby and I slept on our own mattress on the floor. I swear to you that at bedtime Samson was scratching around next to the bed trying to figure out how to get into the Puppy Fort. I was like, "Samson, we haven't built it yet," and he flopped down and grunted at me in disgust.

Sunday morning we got up, finished unloading, swept the truck, and Hubby exchanged it for the second, smaller one. Then we took everyone out to breakfast. CJ got to ride on the back of Doug's motorcycle, which he said was very exciting. Then we headed out for the four hour drive back to the house.

phew!

Mom and the kids hung out for an hour helping us clean up a little. The kids had totally lost interest by then. I was getting annoyed, but then I realized I couldn't really blame them. After all, I'd totally lost interest and it was my stuff being moved!

Primarily we had to get our patio furniture. There was also a small table and chairs set, some other miscellanius furniture, all of Hubby's tools, and various other boxes and sundries. Seriously, there is nothing like moving to make you realize just how much stuff you own.

I know, I know. We should have sorted it and thrown stuff out before we moved. I swear to you we tried, but until we were loading the truck it all seemed very valuable and necessary to have. Actually, I really think that most of our stuff is stuff we use on a fairly regular basis, expect in a few cases like the bread machine and the second juice machine, so I don't feel too bad about having drug it all up here with us.

Anyway.

Hubby and I were at the house until 11 pm! We had to finish loading the truck, take a ton of garbage up to the curb, vaccum, sweep, and mop. It was exhausting. Samson had been supervising us, but got bored. Baru very happily hid in the bottom of Hubby's closet. I suggested we stay at the house and sleep on the floor, but we couldn't because the truck had to be returned by 11:15 on Monday.

It was insane, but we hit the road. Without the SUV, we put Samson in the moving truck cab with Hubby and Baru in the front seat of the sedan with me. The back seat of the sedan was filled with one of our big mirrors and a big painting. (The trunk of the sedan was also full, not that we would have put one of the dogs in it.) While we were corraling Baru, Samson decided he didn't like it in the truck by himself--and jumped out the driver side window! OMG! Do you realize how high that was?! Hubby didn't even remember the window was open. He said Samson did a faceplant. Samson seemed ok with his only injury being a skinned nose. Still, although he's rather fearless, he balked a little when we tried to put him back in the truck.

The drive up when without incident, thankfully. We called each other every half hour to make sure we stayed awake. Still, we realize it wasn't the safest course of action and I wouldn't recommend it. We ended up arriving home at 3 am.

Of course we woke up the next morning at 8 when the maintence men came by doing lawn work. Buzzzz, bruuummm. bleh, It was just as well as we had to unload and return the truck.

There you have it, 72 hours of hard labor.

It's Not Over
We've spent every day since working on unpacking. That's not true. We flopped on Monday and lounged around a bit. We needed it. It's not like we were very functional after all the hard work and late nights over the weekend. But most of every day this week has been devoted to unpacking and arranging.

We started with the kitchen. You have to have the kitchen sorted out if you are going to cook your own meals. Then I put my foot down and demanded we do the bedroom because I was tired of tripping over boxes and suit cases (Hubby wanted to do the dining room). Then we did the living room. Today we did the dining room, which included sorting out the entry foyer and organizing the stuff in the barn so we could finally get the mattress off the dining room floor.

Yeah, it's just crazy. Aside from the kitchen we haven't really unpacked much yet. Really, you need the furniture in position so you have places to unpack into. No point in putting your clothes in the dresser if you are then going to have to drag it across the room.

Yarn? Yarn?
All this hard work unpacking during the day and working on my freelance projects in the evenings means I haven't gotten a lick of knitting down. Last night was the first night in a week that I was able to touch my needles and I managed a whole four rows. Whoop-di-do. We've just been that busy, working that late into the night, and that tired that I haven't had a chance.

Actually, I should wrap this damn post up so I can knit some tonight!

I also haven't unpacked any yarn. The dining room credenza isn't ready. I told Hubby my idea of storing yarn in the pantry and he scoffed. He thinks we'll be storing enough supplies and such that there won't be room. He's suggested reassessing what we keep in the book shelf in the living room and maybe keeping some yarn there. This shows that he doesn't fully understand the extent of my hoard. He's got an inkling now because he's seen the two huge boxes marked "yarn" and at least one of the plastic storage tubs. Still, I think it will be another week or two before I can actually unpack and properly store my yarn.

Yeah, moving sucks.