Monday, November 26, 2007

I'm here!

Mike gave me a great birthday present by leaving yesterday so I wouldn't have to drive on my birthday :) Instead, I knit at the in-laws, watched some TV did some simple book browsing and went to dinner just him and I. Then we met up with a few friends for dessert and met a couple more to hang out afterwards and talk. It was really nice. Just what I was looking forward to for my birthday. Nothing too outlandish. I like that it was more subtle.

This means we drove all day yesterday, with me following Mike most of the way. The trip wasn't bad, only a couple spots of slow traffic through the mountains, but I didn't really realize what a long drive it is. With stops for snacks, gas and food it took about 12 hours. But I'm glad I'm here.

One of the things I forgot about when I rejoiced in all the packing being done was that I would have to unpack. Not so fun there. That's what I'm working on today, and just trying to keep my chin up about the darn palmetto bugs. uugh. yuck. And I thought spiders were bad. *sigh* I supposed it's just one of the things you have to deal with here in SC. I'll definitely be letting Mike deal with the disposal of them.

The unpacking isn't going badly, just taking some time, and because most of the furniture was left in Chicago, it's difficult to find a place to put things. Mike's been living here so long, and with such basics, that finding a place other than the floor to stash things is a bit of a challenge. But I actually feel that each time I move, I get a bit more organized. Every time I move, I make a huge effort to find a place for each and every thing, which makes it much easier to put it away when the time comes. Also, having to learn how to clean quickly and efficiently for the house showings, I actually don't mind the cleaning so much anymore, as long as I get on a roll. It's the idea that if I stop it's hard to get started again.

On the knitting front, I started a new project because with the master packing, I had a hard time finding my UFOs to work on. So while at the in-laws, I grabbed a hank that was easily accessible and started this hat from Knitty. The yarn I used just seemed to call for it, and the yarn had been a gift from a friend, so I'm thinking about making her the recipient. We'll see how it turns out first.

I was doing well on it until I reached the pattern repeat, which was different only in length depending on which yarn you used. I read the instructions wrong and tried to continue with the first 12 lines of the pattern, from the crown, which turned into more of a doily type swatch than a hat. So I ripped back about 8 rows of over 100 stitches and looked at the pattern to see where I had gone wrong. Once that was accomplished, I knew all I needed to do know was make sure I was counting correctly. I am happy about how it's going along now though. No pictures - I still am not sure where my camera charger is, but I'll find it. I guess that's a bit of motivation to keep unpacking!

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