in DC, VA, at the smithsonian and the zoo

Here are some more pictures from my weekend. First my brother and his little girl - I love the socks! Wish I could say I knit them, but I'm not that talented.... yet!



The Christening:



The Godparents:



All together:



From the Smithsonian, we have the family shot of my cousins - monkey included, as my uncle would say:



Then the went to the National Zoo - for the sole purpose of seeing the pandas. It was raining out so they were inside and we got to see all 3. In the pictures they look fake, but the way they were going at their food - they were real and really hungry!

I almost took a picture of all the teenagers taking pictures of the pandas with their cell phones. I'm not sure why, but it really made me laugh to see all the kids with their phones high up in the air and the parents crouched down low with their cameras. I was entertained.

The girls of course were looking fashionable and cool as they posed for me in front of the lion in a rare moment of no rain:


I really can't believe how big and grown up they've gotten. Last time I saw them was 3 yrs ago at my brothers wedding. We've decided we've got to get together more often. But I did show Katari how to crochet while I was there! Now we just have to get her some of her own supplies - I will be the enabler.

Here we have the girls with dad:


The girls with mom:


And the shot her mother never thought she'd see.....
Sabrina with the baby!



Beautiful. They're all just beautiful. It was a really nice weekend.

with a finished gown

I did it! I finished the gown in time for the christening, and it looked and fit beautifully! I added a few stitches in the back to make it a bit looser, and didn't put the collar on it, but I'm really proud of how it turned out.

The dress:

Here's one of my favorite pictures:



Gabriella wearing it:



After I added the ribbon:

It was a really nice weekend - and not only did I get to see my beautiful niece, I also got to hang out with my aunt, uncle and cousins that I don't see very often. Since I stayed till Monday, we took a whirlwind tour of the Smithsonian museums and ended at the zoo. Pictures of that to come.

I also .... drumroll..... got hired full-time at my job!! YEAH!!! It was a great feeling to have that settled. I like the people I work with, I believe in the product, I feel competent at my position and there is room for growth - I can't ask for much more. :) I'm definitely counting my blessings.
This weekend I'm planning on going to the Sheep and Wool Days at Middleton Place. It'll be my first fiber festival! The Plasterer can't go, he's got to work an open house at school and finish his projects and papers for the end of the semester, but I know there is a group going from Knit and from Ravelry. I think I'm going to try to pull together a net-meet meet-up for the online folks so we can all see what we look like - but with it being tomorrow, we'll see how quick I can get that done.

knitting!

Look at the great surprise I got in the mail yesterday:

It's from the SWTC traveling sock project! I signed up on Ravelry a few weeks ago - you join a team of people to collaborate on a sock.

Each member knits an inch or two and then passes the sock onto another knitter who takes up the next bit. The same yarn and needles are sent with the project so you can have some options of yarn to work with, but everyone is using the same tools. You can use any pattern you like, but you have to document it so the next person can see what you did.

I'm the last leg of the journey (which would be a great pun, except I've actually go the toe). They're currently being worked 2 socks on two circulars, which should be lots of fun, and a good challenge. Here's a better look at the socks themselves:



Now I just have to decide what toe I want to put on them and how colorful I want them to be. It was so neat to get this - like a little present in the mail, plus I get to see how all the different yarns knit up. I love how beautiful the sock are so far - each person chose their own pattern to knit into them.Here are all my fun choices:



My other project is coming along. After all the trouble I had with the pattern portion the first time I didn't want to get through the front and then have the same issue once I got to the back. So once I got to the stockinette portion of the front and the end of a ball, I used my next skein to start the back and work through the pattern now that it was fresh in my mind. It went really well. I didn't have hardly any of the problems the first time, and instead of a week, it took closer to 2 nights to get through the majority of it:



The only issue is that the 'front' or first section I knit, (on the bottom) is a bit looser than the 'back' - which is funny to me because I'm usually a pretty loose knitter, and most of the time as you work a pattern you get looser as you get more comfortable. I kinda did the opposite. As I figured out the pattern I was tighter and neater. I even did the second side on larger needles which I find slightly humorous.

I'm hoping it won't be a problem and it'll block out, but I may continue on with the 'back' as if it was the front just because it seems neater to me. That way the most presentable side will face forward. I don't think anyone but a knitter will notice - but depending on how long the new 'front' takes me to finish, I'll see what I need to do about the other side.

Mike is working on where to go for his internship for school. He has to find a master plasterer who is willing to take him on as an apprentice/intern for the summer. I know he's really nervous about it. I'm just beginning to realize that that means we'll be away for 3 months again. I know it logically, but it hasn't really sunk in emotionally. I want him to go where he's going to get the most out of his experience, but it'd also be nice if it was close enough to visit as well.
The house is back on the market and empty. I'm not as worried about it because I feel like it's beautiful enough to show well even without furniture. But as we look into all our options, I'm debating renting. I just don't know how much of a hassle that will be with us not being in the same city. Anyone have any experience with this?

Things are going well at work, and tax day is supposed to be big for me, but I'm almost afraid to say too much because I'll jinx myself - just know that one thing may be off our plates by then - and it's not our taxes, they're already done - yeah!

counting her blessings

I'm not complaining any more.

Today a short storm blew in really fast, and I heard a tremendously loud CRACK! after a shot of lightning. A few minutes later, Mike smelled smoke and stepped outside to find a home 4 houses down going up in flames. 8 firetrucks later and here's the damage - it went through the entire house from the back.



This could have been any of our homes. I'm definitely counting my blessings today.

looking for more rainbows

The rainbow has faded and left in it's wake an empty house still left to sell. The deal on our house fell through. As I told the guys at work the next day "What am I going to do - cry about it?" Which I did. But now we're moving on. It is what it is, and we still have some options and so we're moving forward - looking for more rainbows. Know anybody who wants to live on the south side of Chicago?

We have gotten quite a bit of our boxes unpacked. There are only a handful left. That makes me happy because when I have a specific place to put things, I am much more likely to put them away. It's when I don't know where things are supposed to go that they end up sitting out for weeks and weeks.

I'm furiously working on a semi-secret knitting project that I'm hoping to get done in the next 3 weeks - at the moment it's not looking good. I'm having some trouble with a 5-row lace repeat. I think I just need to work on it when no one is around to distract me. I ripped it out 3-4 times and finally pulled out some other yarn and did a test swatch (which I only had to re-do twice) and figured out how it's supposed to work. Now I'm ready to tackle it for real. I think the stress of the last two weeks may have had something to do with it as well. Little peak:



My other projects need to go into the mail, and I just haven't found time to get that done - which is a shame because it's warming up enough that they really aren't going to be needed much any more. It's beautiful here in SC, and I hear it's warming up in Chicago too. One thing at a time though.

keeping her fingers crossed

Yesterday was a hard day.
Everything was supposed to be settled and done as of yesterday.

On the way home from work yesterday, I saw the most beautiful rainbow. It went all the way across the sky and over the bridge. I’ve never seen one so complete and beautiful with the colors so defined. I could see the red and orange, the blue and purple and green - like different crayon colors drawn in the sky. Only the very tip was hidden in the clouds. I was really hoping it was a sign that everything was going to be okay.

I don't know if it is or not, but things are not settled. Perhaps the rainbow was God's April's fools joke. Or maybe it was just a way of reminding me to be patient and keep my hopes and spirits high. That's what I'm trying to do.

Keep us in your prayers and your fingers crossed, and I'm going to keep focused on that rainbow.

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.

packing up and moving out

I had written a big long diatribe of how much I was dreading the moving, and the sorting and the packing, and at this point, it's a bit late for that. I'm here and it's happening. It's happening! It's really happening! YEAH! We're really moving. I'm soo excited about it.

I've got to keep this short, because I really do need to get the packing done, as we have a limited amount of time. I got in Friday, and had a small panic attack when I realized I didn't have any keys to the house, and my previous house-mates were no where to be found. But found they were, and I was able to sleep in my old bed again which was heavenly!

Mike joined me on Saturday, and we ran around getting supplies. Since then it's been packing packing and more packing! We are having people over tomorrow to say a last farewell, then we pick up the truck on Wednesday and drive off on Friday morning.

We were supposed to sign on Thursday, but the buyers had some issues, so we signed today to get things all out of the way so we can still return in time to start work/school next Monday. I'm also hoping to make it one last time to my old S&B up in the city, but it'll all depending on timing.

It's not been as emotional as I thought it was going to be so far, but I think it's because I keep looking to the future. I'm even ready to give up my old bedroom furniture that I was hanging onto. It's just furniture right? We'll see how long I can keep this positive attitude though.

To prep for the trip down, I did make a great little DPN case for all my needles (that's double pointed needles for all you non-knitters) I"ll put some pictures up when I return. I'm really proud of it. It's nothing fancy, but I really like the way it came out.

So, I'll have pictures, and I'm sure some stories when I return, but hopefully all will go smoothly.

playing with Carlo and html

Over the weekend my brother came into town for a wedding, and stayed with us for the few days he was in town. On valentines day I helped out the daughter of the groom by babysitting while they were at the reception. The little girl was a cutie, although she was sick and kept waking herself up because she had a cold. I managed to get a bit of my newest project done:



It's the beginning of the Quant headband - a lot of people say it's a bit fiddly, but I think once I really get going on it, it'll go pretty quickly. It was nice to have the mostly quite time watching the baby to focus and work on it.

I did not get the ugg booties done in time. I tried to get them the right size but they were just too big. Here's one next to a pen to give it perspective:



Too big for a 6mo. old. I may end up frogging them - we'll see. But I did finish my cabled baby hat - it turned out pretty cute! I wasn't sure what size it would be, but I'm thinking it'll go into the mail for Gabriella in place of the booties. I'm thinking I can also enlarge it, and maybe make soem hats fro my other nieces and nephews since they're still getting some major snow.



I also managed to figure out how to put progress bars from the things I'm working on on Ravelry up on my blog. Next time I have some time to play with it, I'm hoping to figure out how to get the pictures to show as well. But that will have to wait until later. I get sucked in to fiddling with everything and it ends up taking waay longer than I plan. So it goes. :)

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.

...finishing The Bunny

After about a week of fiddling with my folders and pictures, and all of that, plus some help from my hubby, I was able to reinstall iPhoto, and everything seems to be back to normal. I think I understand a bit more what I did, and how not to do it again - or at least how to fix it if it does happen again!

I have also finished all but one of my knitting UFO's! I sent off the ruffles scarf to Donna today, - I did forget to take a finished picture of it - I'm getting worse at that, so a partial will have to do.

I also finished the sweater for my niece, and it is on it's way! Hopefully it will fit - at least for a little while. It looked so small as I packed it up. I rearranged the buttons, so the small green one is on the inside of the right collar. That way you can leave both sides down and see the cute button, and I don't think it'll ever be buttoned all the way up.

I've found another great pattern I want to knit for her - some cute Ugg-style boots, and I'm going to try to get them done before my brother comes into town for a wedding in Feb.

The new job seems to be going well. I like the people I'm working with, it's a pretty relaxed atmosphere, and although it's not what I thought I'd be doing, it has potential. So, for now, I'm learning as much as I can and I'll see where it takes me. Sometimes I think you just have to take what you're handed and make the best of it. Plus it's going to leave me some time to do other things that I've been thinking a lot about. I've been wanting to 'give back' and 'share my talents' and was trying to figure out the best way. I think I've found an organization that I'd like to connect with to hopefully volunteer to teach knitting or crocheting lessons, or something of the like. I don't have all the details yet, but first comes the idea, then it's just a matter of putting it into motion eh?

Last week, I got to talk to my friends in Chicago via skype. It's so cool. It's a live video chat over the computer. I used it before to talk to Mike when he was here and I was in Charleston, and to my friends in NZ. My Chicago pals didn't have a camera, but since I did, they put me up on a chair and all gathered around for a picture - it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I was able to show them what I was working on and we visited some great sites and talked - it was almost like being there!

And now, back to the saga of The Bunny...

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

When I finished writing about my dilemma, I started packing up all the pieces of fabric that I had pieced together so far, and all the other things I might need if I was going to attempt to do anything with this mess that I had. As I did, I tried to sort out what exactly I had, and what more I would need to do.

I had one 12" X 12" square that was big enough for a small baby quilt.

I had a handful of strips that fit about 1/2 of the pattern pieces for the bunny, if put together ...just so.

I had two templates, one bunny and one bear pre-cut and marked.

I came up with a third option. If I took the body parts of the bear, and re-scaled the bunny, I would only need 2 more 'strips' of fabric (about 2 x 8 squares long) to have enough to make the animal! I went to be completely exhausted, but feeling much better about the project.

In Louisville, my MIL was sick so she was only able to offer her wise advice (make the quilt instead) and the use of her sewing machine. I took only half of what she offered, and set up camp in her sewing room. I even used the floor to feel more at home.

I found that it really helps to have the right tools. Once I sat down at her machine - everything went so much quicker! With a push of a button, the machine backstitched on itself! I could zig-zag any edge that was coming unraveled, and the material just flowed through almost by itself. I almost cried with relief.

I used my dad's old shirt for the inside of the ears, even managing to catch the logo on the tip:

For the pads of the feet and hands, I used an old cloth napkin that was just the right color.

Here are all the pieces before they were stuffed. In these shots, it really looks more like a bear than a bunny. I ended up having to do some modifications by hand on the body to make it look right, and Mike helped me scale down the head.

I embroidered the nose, and added some whiskers and safety eyes. Here's the head all put together. I love the way the ears tilt out just a bit.

I finished all the machine sewing the day before I left for San Francisco, stuffed as much as I could and packed a needle and some thread.

When I got to San Fran, I had a couple of days before Carlo and his family showed up, and I sewed my little fingers to the bone sewing up the openings for stuffing. It wasn't the best hand-sewing job ever, but I got better every limb.

Once I had all the pieces sewn up, I realized that the bear body had a weird shape for the little bunny head. It looked a little, well, how to say this... hunchbacked - and hunched-fronted. So I ended up having to do some 're-constructive surgery' on the body and sew it up again. All was well, and it was finished and packed for Christmas morning:


That's me, Gabriella's dad (aka my brother Carlo) and The Bunny.

Now, only 2 more to go for Alex and Stefan ... hmm.. maybe I should just knit them something instead eh?

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~