unpacking still

I do sometimes feel it will never end. Every time I unpack a box, I know there are two more filled with similar items, and I don't know where they are going to go. Some things are just going to have to stay packed I think.

I finally found my camera! Yeah! It was in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing when we unloaded the truck. I did manage to get a few shots of the truck before we unpacked it all. This time it was Mike that was the true master packer.

This doesn't look too packed, until you realize that this is a 22 foot truck, so it goes waaay back there. I meant to get other shots as we were unloading, but I was too busy hauling things. When I took this, we had already removed a dining room table, queen mattress & box spring, luggage and a few tubs! Behind this first layer there is a couch, 10' long bookcase, a few dressers, tables, file cabinets and all of the boxes. At this point we hadn't unloaded any of those yet. You can't see them, but they're packed all the way to the top in the back.
One of the casualties was the light brown desk there in the middle. It had too much weight put on the top, and it's front feet couldn't take it, so the snapped off. That's why it's leaning forward.
I was going to take pictures when we stopped in KY, but the blizzards kept me from getting any good shots of the truck. I did get some pretty shots of outside:

This was when we first woke up:

Then, not even a half house later:

A shot from the front yard too:

It made driving rather difficult, but it was nice to see snow we didn't have to shovel!

Last weekend (the one before Easter), Mike's school had a festival, and it was really neat to see all the different trades doing their thing - or showing off what they had completed:



Mike & his classmate pre-made a mold of a car, and then ran it like you would with crown molding for a ceiling. (That's actually his teacher doing the run in this picture).



Then he cut the mould like a loaf of bread to create the little cars:



See how they fit together!

I am so amazed that you can make plaster look like anything, including marble or granite:

The black smithe's were working on some hooks and rods - everyone was pretty fascinated with them:





The stonecarvers were showing how to make a curve:



And I got a shot of one of the master carpenters working on her piece as well:





I'm so impress by all the the different trades. Sometimes it makes me wish I could go to school too, but I know it would be a waste of money, I don't have the talent. I'll stick to the fiber arts for a while - easier to frog.

unpacking!

Ok, I was going to put more pictures in here, but I can't find my camera amid the mess (that I took pictures of!!) so you'll have to do with out-of-date shots or this post will never go up. I will put up a shot of the finished needle case I made before I left. I was thinking of putting up a tutorial on how I made it, but am not sure if anyone would be interested - let me know.

My life is mimicking my house at the moment - in a bit of disarray, but I think I know where everything is... it's just a matter of it falling into place or my finding a place for it to be.

Mike and I flew to Chicago, packed up and drove back to Charleston. When we got to Chicago, we brought the warm weather with us and all the snow melted, which made packing the truck much easier. We had everything in the truck by Friday around 3pm. My MIL kept calling to check on us, and I couldn't really figure out why. She was concerned about the weather, but Chicago had blue skies and mild weather and we were headed south, so we weren't concerned. Plus, we really couldn't leave until the house was empty and the truck packed. Small unimportant detail.

We realized her concerns when we reached the north side or Indy and the snow started. By half way through the city, we were following the tracks of the car/truck in front of us, as the large snowflakes had rendered the windshield wipers pretty useless. There were blizzard warnings for those headed east of Indy, and we saw 3 snowplows in the 6+ hr drive from Chicago to Louisville. By the time we reached the 'ville around midnight, we were pretty exhausted, and fell into bed without even unpacking our bags due to the heavily falling snow.
We awoke early the next morning to a white wonderland - of which I'll show pic's when I find my camera...and we watched the snow fall for a few hours until the snow plows came through the neighborhood. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, and I managed to almost finish a Calorimetry in the meantime. Here's a picture of the finished product:

I'm also working on another pair of fetchings out of some cherry tree possum paints and am almost done with the Quant headband I was working on before I left. Ok, I'm actually almost done with the icord that finishes it, but you get the point....

I was very happy to have Mike's parents to help us unload, they were a great help and we ended up only having a few causalities from the move. We had a small desk loose some front feet because of too much weight on top, and my old Victrola lost a leg. We did figure out that the leg had been repaired once before and just couldn't take it's own weight, but I'm not sure if it'll be worth it to fix it. It's a pretty common model, and the cost of repairs might be more than the price of the piece itself. Right now it's not a priority to fix, but something to keep in mind.

Now it's a matter of unpacking and deciding where everything needs to go. If I can find a good solid place for things, I will be more likely to put them back in their place. It's when I don't know exactly where something fits that it ends up on a counter or tabletop or sitting out instead of being put away - because I can't figure out where it goes, it goes nowhere. So my goal is to get it all put away - properly - by the end of March, and hopefully everything will pull together for April.

Because there are still a few things that need to be settled this month. The house didn't close like it was supposed to the Friday we left. The buyer's buyer was out of town and didn't have their side settled, so we moved up a week. The week has passed and now it's been pushed to the end of the month. We have faith that it will go through, it's just when.

I'm also hoping for my job to pull through by then as well. All signs point to yes, but it's like the house - I'll believe it when the papers are signed and the deal is done. So the goal is, by April 1st to have everything settled - the house, the job and our place - taken care of and 'in it's place'.
So keep your fingers crossed and we'll see where you find me next.

doing a little jig because....

WE SOLD THE HOUSE!!!!

YEAH! This is the first step to really feeling like I am moving here. We have the date planned for the closing, I'm booking my flight tonight, Mike's getting the truck... all that'll be left is - the packing and the driving back - OK those are the things I'm really not looking forward to. I HATE packing. The only small consolation I have is knowing most of the house was packed up when we left the first time. Although, as I say that, the mental list in my head of things that aren't packed keep getting longer and longer. I'll have to see when I get there what matches my imagination, and what matches reality. I'm going to go down for a full week, and Mike's going to join me mid-way to finish up, sign all the papers and drive back - lucky fellow has mid-terms, so he can't go for as long. Every now and again, I do a little dance and spontaneously yell " we sold our house!!" to Mike. Luckily he's used to my craziness. (I know those of you who know me can soo see me doing this - no laughing allowed!)

In other news, the job seems to be going well - or at least I think so. I feel like I'm getting better each week, but I'm not quite sure how to gage things. I guess a good gage is they haven't gotten rid of me yet. The company is moving office space, and I get my own office - so that's a step up in the world of business right? I only wish it had a window to the outside, but I'm not complaining.

Since today is Ash Wednesday I've been reflecting on what to give up for Lent, and I think I've got it. I'm going to keep it personal, but it's something I keep meaning to do and I think this is the thing to kick me into gear about it. I'm really satisfied with my choice.

Do you ever make a choice, and then just know it was the right one to make? I can get really wish-washy about making a decision, and spend a lot of time looking at both sides of a situation that isn't really that important. Don't even get me started with ones that are. I worry about making the wrong choice, and not being able to go back, or fix it. Then I have what someone on Ravelry called the FOMO disorder - that's Fear Of Missing Out disorder where I worry about making one decision will cause me to miss out on another opportunity. It's a wonder I ever get anything done! Or then I go to the other extreme where I say to myself, "it'll all work out, so just choose something!" and end up making a rash decision by just striking out and grabbing whatever. I definitely need to find some middle ground.

But this time isn't those. This time, there is no doubt or double guessing. I feel really...solid about my resolution/decision. This is what I'm going to do and I'm proud of it. It just feels right. I guess what I'm trying to say is that feeling doesn't come along very often, and it's really nice when it does.

On the knitting front, I'm working on getting some progress bars from ravelry on the side, but I need to do some more reading on how to first. Perhaps tonight I'll get that done - I've been meaning to do it since the beginning of Jan. but keep your eyes peeled!

Currently, I've got three things on the needles; one is a secret gift that I'm hoping to get done in the next week. The recipient doesn't read my blog - but other family members might... so I want to make sure I can finish it in time before I spill the beans.

It's a fairly easy project, I'm just having some gage issues - I've knit it 3 times, and I still think it's going to be too big. Better too big than too small right? I've heard the patter knits up a bit big, but I'm also thinking it might be my choice of yarn. I'm debating buying exactly what the pattern calls for, but I was really trying to work with what I had in my stash. Hmm. does this seem similar to anyone? Gift knitting, deadline, trying to work with what I have... Maybe I'm not learning from my mistakes.

The other project is Quant from knitty, which I'm working up in a beautiful skein of Noro. If this one goes well, I may try in again some Patons SWS. I'm not very far because the pattern is done in entrelac, which I've never done before and I need to concentrate on the pattern until I get a couple of rows under my belt, and then I think I'll be able to multi-task with it. I've already figured out how to knit backwards, which makes things go quicker, but the pattern isn't written that way, so I have to get familiar with it first, and then I think I'll be able to utilize the backwards knitting.

The last project I cast on because I wanted some non-thinking knitting that I could do while I watched the Superbowl, which went pretty well until I got off by one stitch on my 1x1 ribbing for a row or two. Not a big deal though, it's a cabled baby hat pattern from my pattern-a-day calendar that will probably turn out a bigger than the preemie/newborn size intended - but I'm ok with that. If for no one else - I need a hat! I'm enjoying the calendar - it's got some cute patterns in it, but I think the 3 I'm working on are quite enough. I've got a pretty long que in Ravelry as it is, and now I've got a stack of patterns - mostly hats and socks from the calendar too. I just need to learn to knit faster. I think that's the other reason I like instant gratification knitting, it allows me to start something else. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow to go with the projects.

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!

Done and done.

I made it to Louisville! I was able to pack up everything I really wanted to take with me, and then some! Mostly because of the help of a friend of mine. He's a 'Master Packer' he was able to fit all this random stuff into my car!

I know it doesn't look like much in the pictures, but there are two or three big items that aren't in the picture because they're already packed. To give you a real idea of how much Tetrus-packing he did, here's a picture of my trunk - there was no space left unused.

It was pretty impressive. Not only did he get everything I needed in the car, I could still see out of the back and side windows! It was great. I really appreciated it. There are plenty of things I'm pretty good at, but I wouldn't put packing up anywhere near the top. As you can tell from some of the photos it was pretty dark out when he started, and I know it would have taken me forever - he got it done so quickly, I was still able to go join the girls for Stitch N' Bitch later :) Este - you're The Man! It'll be easy to send him thanks too (he's my roommates boyfriend!)

Here are a few more pictures to show off his talent...

When I finally arrived at Sn'B that night, I found out that all the girls had all been secretly plotting and crafting! They made me a beautiful stained-glass scarf as a going away present. Each person knit their own square out of whatever they wanted. (MP knit four - overachiever!) and then Peggy beautifully crocheted it all together. It's just beautiful, and I can so feel the love :) Pictures to come when I finally find my camera charger - I know it's in the car somewhere!

I'm really going to miss all those guys, but I know they'll come and see me, and we'll keep in touch. That's what friends do.

I am Thankful for all my wonderful friends, near and far. Thanks guys.

wrapping up

I'm wrapping up and will be on the road by tomorrow morning. "on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again!" Now, that's not normal for me. I'm not actually a big fan of driving but I GET TO SEE MIKE!!! I know everyone here is tired of me - I've been dancing around the house singing "I get to see Mike in Xxxxx days, I get to see Miiike" or "X more days! Just X more days and then I get to see Mike!! YEAH" But I'm sooo excited!! It's been two months - and it'll be a holiday! That means down time with him I hope.

I've been using Skype to talk to Mike online. His laptop (a Mac) has a built-in camera so I got to see him too!! It's the coolest thing. It's absolutely free, and you can call anyone, anywhere. and if you both have web-cams you can see each other! My friends in New Zealand 'invited' me to join, and showed me all around their house - it was really fun. Then I made Mike join so we could talk. I only wish I did it sooner. I know he couldn't see me, but I could see him, and I think it really helps when you can see the person you're talking too. He's grown out his beard, and buzzed his hair, which is a look he hasn't had since I've known him. I'm pretty sure he's had a beard before, but it never lasted very long, not more than a week or so - and never without any hair.

He sent me a picture he made while bored at the coffee shop -





I love that the only part not distorted is his eyes. They're my favorite.

While packing up, I did manage to take pictures of almost all my yarn. Once I upload those I'll be able to add them to Ravelry. Maybe then, being able to see what others have done with their yarn, I'll get some ideas and be able to burn through some of my stash.

I'm getting a little worried it's not all going to fit. It's so hard to decide what is essential and what to leave behind... I have two piles now - "yes" and "if it'll fit". *heavy sigh* My only consolation is next time I'm back, it's all going, and at least most things will be already boxed!

You'll know tomorrow what didn't make the cut.

Goodbye

Friday was my last day at work, and they made me the cutest poster to say goodbye! It's made out of a bunch of different candy and says:


"Well Kat, you're about to make the Fast Break from Illinois to South Carolina. We will all miss you a LOT! You worked hard and always went the EXTRA mile. You even filled in for EE programs when needed. We knew we could always count on you in a CRUNCH. Besides that you're Mounds of fun to be around and your sense of humor often caused Snickers. Our wish is that you will have Zero problems with the move. We hope you and Mike will have Good & Plenty of time to enjoy life in your new surroundsings. We send you off with lots of Kisses because you are a real SweeTart and we all love you to Pieces.
P.S. If you eat all this candy, your Fannie May get larger!"

Isn't that sweet! (in more ways than one - ha ha) My favorite part is the last line - Fannie May is pretty big around here :)

Then Friday night I went to a wine tasting with a crew of people from work at this place. I really enjoyed myself. It was good fun, and I even picked up a christmas gift! Shh!

We had our server Sheri - she was great!

And the rest of the crew; a couple of Mary Pat's, couple of roomies and a couple more people that I will definitely miss.


Then last night I had a 'last bash' to say goodbye to a bunch of folks. It was nice to have everybody there - here are just a couple of pictures from the night -mostly taken by other people:

the final countdown...

I wish I had the music for this! the link will have to do. Man, what great hair!

2 weeks left for the final countdown! Just 2 weeks until I get to see MIKE!! YEAH!!! Although I will be sad to miss some things and people here :( But i get to see Mike!!! And I'm going to stay in SC with him - whoo-hoo! Now, if only I could get this silly house to sell. ...

In two weeks, I am packing up my car and leaving with everything I can fit, and might possibly need, to move to SC. I'm a little worried about having the time to pack it all, partly because I'm also trying to make sure I get to see and say goodbye to everybody, so I'm trying to spend more time with them before I go. But I am so excited about finally moving! And I know I will have to come back at some time to finish moving all the furniture and non-essential stuff I left behind, but I have some great roommates to take care of things in the meantime, and sometimes you just have to let things go and hope have faith that they will all work out. So that's what I'm doing. I'm putting it in someone elses hands (my realtor mainly) and going to where I need to be - with my husband.

I think this will also help with the job search as well. It's hard to look for a job, do follow up and really put your best foot forward when you are only there for one day or are still in Chicago. Now... the monumental job of deciding what to take and making sure it's going to fit in my car!!! Not looking forward to that much.

Moving.. all too slowly...

This moving, but not moving thing is really beginning to get to me, and Mike too. In some respects, I guess we should get used to it, as his school requires a (paid) summer internship in his craft, which may mean we're apart again for the summer. But before that happens, I'd like to be together for longer than a weekend.

At the moment, the next time we will get to see each other will be Thanksgiving. We're both going to head to KY and hang out with his parents, which I think will be nice - we'll have some family support, and I've been blessed with great in-laws, so it works out well for both of us. Then for Christmas, we're off to CA to spend the holidays with my brothers. I'm having a hard time booking tickets though, because I'm not sure where Mike and I will be. Will we both be flying out of SC? or will I leave from IL? Or perhaps we'll both drive to KY and fly out together. *sigh* I just don't know at this point, but I know I need to get some flights soon, before they get too outrageously expensive.

The house has a contract, but it's contingent on the sale of their home, which now I feel as if we have two houses to sell. I keep reminding myself, it'll all work out in the end. If it hasn't worked out yet, it's not the end. But do you ever worry the end is not going to come?

Mike and I are discussing the option of me just packing up the car with as much as I can and just driving out to SC, and worrying about a job when I get there. It's an option, although I'd rather have a job before I go.

As far as my knitting goes, I've finished the two front panels and the back of the Summer Tweed Cardigan, but I don't have any pictures yet. I left my camera at my brother's house, and for some reason the pictures I had on it won't upload to my computer. This might be because I downloaded them once already to his computer while I was there, but I'm hoping it's because the battery needs to be recharged. So right now, I'm recharging it, and then I'll be able to take more pictures.

Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully the next time you 'find katerina', you'll find she's in SC!

Off week?

Everybody seems to be just a bit off this week. I just stopped by to read one of my favorite blogs, the Panopticon and found that Franklin's not 'feeling the love', or at least not the way he really needs it. This makes me sad. I've actually met Franklin, and he's awesome! I met him at the first 1000 Knitters shoot, I was #25! (how special). Here's a picture of us.

He made me feel super comfortable right off the bat, and was uber-sweet. He just chatted away with you as you knitted. He said he wanted it to be just like I was sitting with my Sn'B group chatting and knitting along.. and it really was! That man has talent I tell ya! A knitter, cartoonist, writer and photographer to boot - man, I'm jealous. It makes me sad that there isn't someone special that has noticed and appreciates his talents. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Later, I downloaded the most recent episode of Cast-on (a fav. podcast of mine), heard that Brenda was missing her podcasting mojo! And the Yarn Harlot is all up in arms about not having enough personal time.. Sheesh. Seems like everybody's having a bit of a week here. I hope it all improves for them.

My week, well it's crazy in it's own way because M's on his way to Charleston - without me. :( His new school begins in a couple of weeks, and I am staying here to work, and continue bringing in some sort of income. That's the part that makes me sad about leaving. I really do love both of my jobs, and all the people I work with. I'll miss them more than the city itself. But it's nice to know that although I can't take my jobs with me, I can take the friendships I've made. As soon as the house sells, I'll be heading down to join him.

It's the first time since we've been married that we've been apart for any length of time. We did live 2 hours apart while we were dating, but this is different. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, and it'll be a good test. During the summers, his school sets up an internship for him somewhere in the country, that specializes in his trade, so I may be without him again for a few months. We'll have to see how it goes. Keep your fingerst crossed for us! :)

Rivel Ravelry

This is good, but so bad! To my surprise, I just got invited to join Ravelry - and it's soo cool! You get to put in all your fiber information - patterns, needles, yarn... what you're working on, what you want to be working on, what you've done.. the works. I'd equate it to an online knitting/crocheting notebook or diary, mixed with My Space/Friendster and Flickr. The bad part is, it is so fun to play with and update that I'm not doing all the things I'm supposed to for the move. I was diligently working on bills and packing and cleaning, and then was distracted by the email notice with my invitation. I think what makes it a bit worse is that I just started playing with this blog - another distraction from what I'm supposed to be doing. Now all I want to do is take pictures of all my completed projects and post them.
Why is it that you can find so many distraction to keep you from what you really should be doing. *sigh*
ah-yup - off to be good.

Begin at the beginning

...or in the middle, or perhaps at the end. It all depends on how you look at it. I'm beginning a new phase of my life with my hubby M. We're embarking on a journey across the country to Charleston SC. I'm excited. And a bit nervous... and excited... and still nervous, but it'll all work out in the end. Sometimes you have to go somewhere else to find where you need to be, and right now, M needs to be in Charleston - or at least by Aug. 1st. He's going back to school to learn ornamental plastering at The American College for Building Arts. It's an amazing school that teaches you different trades the traditional way. I'm going to follow once the house sells. Anybody wanna buy a house in Home-sweet-Homewood IL? 4 bdrm, 2.5 bath and a great kitchen!!

In the meantime I knit or crochet. It's my crafty habit that keeps my mind from wandering into that room in my brain full of problems that can't be solved. It's a matter of redirecting my thought process to let the brain figure out what it needs to.

Currently I'm crocheting, and working on my first hyperbolic crochet piece. It's pretty cool. The Institute For Figuring is putting together a hyperbolic coral reef out of crochet, and they had a workshop with Margaret Wertheim, and she taught us how to create the hyperbolic forms that look like parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Loopy Yarns had donated some yarn that we were using to learn, and then I added some of my own that I got from Sister Arts Studio. So, mine is part Lambs Pride ( turquoise ), part Cascade 220 (the brown/green heather) and the fringe is Madil bamboo.

Previously, the Madi bamboo yarn had been fighting with me on what it wanted to be. First I tried a tank top, but the colorway came out looking too much like cammo-gear. Then I was thinking sock, and was in the midst of learning how to make a short row toe-up sock, when I went to the workshop and found that what it really wanted to be was the edging to my hyperbolic coral reef! Sometimes, you just have to listen to the yarn.