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.

Storage Update: It Fit! (Mostly)

Don't you just want to dive in?

Well, don't. It's not deep enough. Much better for wading and wallowing.

ha!

Of course if you combined all the yarn together you might be able to doggy paddle.

Samples On The Side
This pile of yarn was the wild card in fitting stuff into the credenza. I had been keeping it in the box it all came it, which was pretty big, so I didn't have a feel for how much room it really needed.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all fit into one side cabinet.

As you can see it isn't very organized at the moment. I was able to bag a few by brand, but the rest I just piled in there neatly.

This situation shouldn't last long. We had to buy new curtains for the dining room and I've got my eye on the clear plastic zippered bags they come in.

And can I just ask why is it every time you move you have to buy new curtains? Why can't windows be a standard size? It's just not right. Not right at all.

Front And Center
I think my credenza must have TARDIS technology. Not only did that pile of yarn fit easily in the side cabinet, but the gobs of yarn in my last post fit nicely into the big center cabinet.

Unless it's just an indication of how poorly I was using the space before.

I had started the process by putting my sock yarn and such in the side cabinet as it was when we were in CT.

Then I started putting the sweater yarn in the center cabinet. The Rainbow Schleppy, the green cabled one I was swatching recently, Rowan Calmer for a shrug, the green yarn for the sweater Hubby rejected that my brother claimed, the Celtic Critter Cardigan, and on and on. I have enough yarn for at least six sweaters.

There was still space. I realized I could move the sock yarn oven. Then I was home free.

I must admit I'm a little surprised it all fit. It seemed like such a large quantity when it was all spread out. I'm not sure if having it all contained is good or bad. I mean, if it all fit in the credenza that must mean I don't own an excessive amount and can buy more, right? Although there is still enough that it was a pain to move, which means I probably do have enough.

Now, I did have to put some cone yarn into the China Cabinet cabinet. Also, some small active projects are in one of the drawers. And there is still a bunch of miscellaneous balls in a plastic tub floating around the dining room. I think I'm going to have to shift that out to the barn with the other tub of acrylic. But all the luxury yarn I'll be using soon is in the credenza.

Books
I think it helped that I'm not storing books in the credenza this time around.

I wasn't able to put any yarn in the pantry, but the shelf between the cabinets is fairly useless because it's shallow and closed in. It is, however, a good size for back issues of crochet and knitting magazines and books. hehehe.

I haven't tried to put my Rowan Magazines on it yet. I think they'll be too tall and will have to lay down. They are the other thing filling up the last plastic tub.

So many patterns, so little time.

39 Knitting Days Til Rhinebeck

Just to make you panic.

Because misery loves company and all.

Cast your mind back to earlier in the year, before my life descended into chaos because of my interstate move, when I had the big idea of designing and knitting a cardigan in time to wear to Rhinebeck.

The motivation was that I bought all that yarn last year that I hadn't used, which makes it kind of hard to justify buying more.

The problem is my process go severely derailed because of the move.

So much for setting goals.

The sweater is still in the swatchy state I left it in several months ago.

The "design" is still just scribbles on a piece of paper. Or perhaps several pieces, which is a whole nother issue.

Boy howdy, I hope I can understand those notes now.

I have this vague memory that I have to rework the shoulders and sleeve caps.

sigh.

Well, I should go try to sort it out. Blogging about the situation isn't getting me any closer to being done.

Storage Issues

Or the potential for it.
The problem is that all of that yarn on the left including most of the stuff on the table and the two boxes in the living room you can't see all has to fit in that dining room credenza on the right.

Now, granted, a great deal of this yarn came out of the dining room credenza in the first place. And at the time it wasn't the best well organized storage system because it was my "active" yarn so I was pawing through it on a regular basis. But it still seems like a pretty tall order.

(If you look at the credenza picture, over there on the left at the bottom of the front door...you can see Samson's butt. snicker)

I also kept a number of books in the credenza when we lived in Connecticut and storage wasn't an issue. I've transferred the books to the little shelf in the pantry along with my magazine library that I used to keep in the attic.

Pantry Out
Did I mention that Hubby scoffed when I told him my idea of storing yarn in the pantry? It wasn't that he didn't want yarn stored there. He just didn't think there would be room.

Turns out he's pretty much correct. We've filled it with linens and paper products and cleaning supplies and I don't remember what else.

I think there might be one cabinet on the bottom that is still available. I should stuff yarn into it before I wind up filling it as well.

Cost Free Solution
Yes, yes, I can hear you now. "Space Bags" are great for storing yarn. Squishes it right down and it puffs back up when you need it.

I'd really like to squeeze all my yarn into the apartment without having to spend money to do it.
Besides that would mean every time you want to get some yarn you also have to haul out the vacuum to reseal the bag as well. What a pain.

(Oh, and mom, don't bother running out and buying me any as a gift. I'd really like to work on a more traditional solution first.)

Other Room Potential
Hubby had suggested that I might be able to store yarn in the book shelf in the living room. The top is open shelves but the bottom is a closed cabinet. This is important for keeping the dogs out of my yarn.

However, despite purging many VHS tapes, we still filled that little cabinet up. I'll have to take another look, but I don't think it has much space available.

The China cabinet has a closed cabinet I didn't think we used much, but then I found myself putting serving items in it that I remembered taking out of it, and that filled up too.

There are some built in drawers in the dining room that pass through to the kitchen. We haven't utilized the bottom one very much yet. I might have to claim it.

I'm also eying the bottom of my half of the closet. I'm thinking I could put a plastic storage tub in there and put my shoes on top. That would have to be the yarn that I know I'm not going to use for a while since it would be a pain to access.

Break Time
The boxes I packed my yarn in were very large. The ended up rather heavy because not only did I put books in the bottom but when you get that much yarn in one place the weight adds up. They were so heavy that every time Hubby went to move one he was like, "What the hell is in here?!"

Because of this I wound up ferrying everything in by the armload. It took me between 15 minutes and half an hour.

Told you I had a lot of yarn and books.

But I was sick and tired of not having ready access to my yarn and notions so I did what I had to.

This, of course, means I'm kind of tired now. I think it's time to have a glass of iced tea while I stare in disbelief at the pile of yarn I have to stow away.

Wish me luck.

Hoard Enhancement!

Of the very best kind because it was all gifts. Yippee!

On the Friday before our move I went to Westport Yarns to say good-bye one last time before we skipped town.

They surprised me with a gift certificate to the store so I could treat myself before starting my yarn diet. How awesome is that?

Special Edition
Also in the gift bag was a special Traveling Ann edition project bag from my friend Laura. The fabric is a cartoon map, complete with predatory animals, which goes nicely with my habit of saying “I know enough to be dangerous.” And the red liner is, of course, one of my favorite colors.

You already know that I love these project bags. So to have one made specially for me is just the icing on the cake. I’ve already put it to good use transporting my new yarn.

Decisions, Decisions
Since I hadn’t been to the store since sometime in July there were lots of new yarns to tempt me.

I debated trying to get yarn to make a sweater. And I debated books. But in the end I decided to splurge and buy the most expensive, luxurious yarns I could that I wouldn’t normally buy for myself.

Cashmere
This led me to Lobster Pot Cashmere in the East Sandwich Beach color. Now I have a little scarf out of Lobster Pot already. My first year working at Knitting Central at our annual holiday dinner Cynthia gave everyone a cream skein and a set of US 8 Colonia Rosewood needles to make ourselves a one-skein scarf. I traded mine in for ice blue.

Since it’s absolutely delicious yarn I’ve always eyed the colors, but a second scarf seemed extravagant. Well, now I’ve got two skeins so I can make myself a longer version.

I know this raspberry pink color is a little unusual for me, but for some reason it grabbed my attention the day it came in.

Silk & Camel
I still had money left and tons of sock yarn seemed overkills even for me, so I made another pass of the store. The second yarn I decided to get was this Camelspin from Hand Maiden. This is new to Westport Yarns for the fall. It is 70% Silk and 30% Camel and all kinds of soft. I kept petting it as I roamed the store and decided it should come home with me. The one skein is 300 meters. I’m going to make Danni’s beginner lace scarf which calls for 400 meters. Mine will just be a little shorter.

Sock yarn, of course
Surprisingly, despite splashing out in style, I still had money left on my gift certificate. This time I went for the sock yarn selecting the OnLine Supersocke 100 in the Canadian-Color # 1290. It’s a standard 75% superwash, 25% nylon blend. It’s a self-patterning yarn. I went with this black/grey/tan/white color because I haven’t knit myself many pairs of dark socks. We must balance the wardrobe.

I topped my purchase off with a new set of US1 Brittany Birch DPNs and a pack of stitch markers.

Thank You!
As you can see my friends sent me off in high style. Of course we’ll all keep in touch online, but now I’ll be able to knit myself snuggly scarves and think of them as I stitch and when I wear them this winter. (hahaha. Did I really just imply I’d finish these in time to wear this winter? Boy howdy, I crack myself up.)

Speaking of thinking of them…I finally unpacked my stationary the other day; I really should send a card already.

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.