So here’s just a smattering of what I’ve been up to recently.
And boy, is there ever more than that… woo. I didn’t document a lot of what I’ve been up to these past few months! But there will be more. Oh, yes, there will be more.
A little, at least!
We are all moved. Things aren’t totally perfect yet; we have a few boxes yet to unpack, and we haven’t painted any of the bathrooms yet. But overall, we’re in! A little sneak peak..
Woo!
My office is pretty awesome. I managed to fit all of my yarn, beading stuff, metalsmithing stuff, sewing and fabric and com puter and office-y and all of my other craft stuff into this one little room. And there’s still more room in there! Wicked. The only thing that isn’t in there is my spinning wheel and fiber – that’s all in the living room, right when you walk in the front door.
I’m so flipping exhausted from the move. Sleeping will be pretty nice this weekend, if I manage to get some!
And I have been knitting! My as-of-this-moment-sleeveless sweater has just been dubbed Grape Squishy.
And a back detail, with the little extra lace at the back neck:
It’s done in Malabrigo worsted (squishy) in the Velvet Grapes color (grape). Hence the name, yadda yadda. Dollar-twenty-five please, thankyoucomeagain.
Obviously the body is done. I was going to do the button bands next, but I decided to hold off and just go for the sleeves next. So far they’re four inches of ribbing – not exactly thrilling blog fodder, so I haven’t photographed them yet. They’ll have the same simple lace pattern up the center. I found fabulous buttons for it while I was in Seattle – I can’t wait to wear it! Not to mention it’s taking so little yarn – the body there took about 2-2/3 balls of yarn, and I bought seven total. So I should have enough left over for a matching hat and gloves! It’s so exciting to be knitting again.
I went to the Knit and Crochet Show for work today. It was a lot smaller than I’d expected – but then the only knitting show I’ve been to has been stitches! It was fun, though, to see so much fiber. More fiber than yarn I think. I wasn’t going to buy anything (what with OFFF in two weeks), but I did plunk down a little dough for some lovely Crown Mountain rovings. But that’s all for now. I especially don’t need any more yarn. Seriously. But I actually have to get my spin on if I’m going to let myself buy more spinning fiber!
I think I figured out my spinning issue, possibly – my wheel and its bits are really too lightweight for what I’m trying to do with it. I’m going to try weighting my bobbins and possibly the wheel itself; I’m also planning on getting some plying bobbins to see if that fixes some of my stupid. But we’ll see. If all goes well, i’m going to truck my wheel a whole five houses down to visit Alison and see if she can get me going.
Well, now I must be off to bed. V-man and I bought a bunch of gardening tools tonight, and tomorrow we will wage war on the overgrown yard from hell!
All of this, of course, barring an arrival – my not really sis in law is in labor, and she’s expected to pop tomorrow! We’ll see how Rachel feels about her inevitable entrance into the world. But our cell phones are on, and no definite plans were made, so whenever she’s here we’ll be there! Total craziness.
I’m off to the desert in a little bit, but just had to check – this is all I need, right?
i think I’m all set 
Oh, and LOOK! what the heck is this? an FO? no way…
Now I have to find a whole new project to work on in the desert….
*whew* I never notice how much time passes between posts. My goodness. It has been a full few weeks though, I might add.
First things first, though:
I finally finished the niece-to-be’s first sweater! Goodness sakes, it only took me about forever. I think it’s darn cute. I hope her parents think the same!
I’ve also made good progress on my taking-forever Autumn Harvest socks. In fact, I’m but a few short rounds from the end. I will photograph them as FO’s! Hopefully this month, too, lol!
My green kids – holy cow. I’m going to have to take some pics of them. They’re insane. The peppers, all but the chili plant, unfortunately will now only be ornamental. They got one last round of aphids that completely neutered them, and I don’t think they’ll have time to recover this season. Oh well, peppers need much more sunlight than my little deck can provide. The strawberries as well aren’t doing very well; they look ok, but their fruit is long in growing. I think it’s too hot for them.
But the tomatoes. Oh goodness the tomatoes… I think I must have accidentally used crack instead of regular fertilizer, because, no lie – they’re only a few inches shorter than me now. And for a plant, that’s pretty damn tall! I bought a new 54″ cage for my Roma because it had outgrown the 42″ one by about 8″. Vic and I carefully removed the old cage, staked it with a 60″ stake, and put the new cage on it on Thursday night. By yesterday morning, the plant was taller than the cage. What’s crazy is that the cherry is keeping up! It managed to grow in and out and around the bars of its 42″ cage, so much so that we can’t remove it. So, I stuck a 60″ stake in its pot as well, and whenever it decides to bear I’ll secure it to the stake.
I am a little worried that my tomatoes may not bear fruit, though. I’m wondering if they’re just not getting enough sun to flower. I’m going to get some tomato food this week. I do think there are some wee little buds coming out on the roma at least, but it’s hard to tell buds from leaves at that stage.
My poor darn peas! i finally got some hardware cloth and ran the little suckers up onto it. A few of them are at least 18″ tall, but I know that not having them staked was a serious detriment to their ability to grow properly. I hope they take well to it. My sweet pea, though, is flowering! Pretty little white blossoms.
I’m hoping my green kids will fare well while I’m gone over next weekend. I might have to bring them all indoors and leave the AC on or something. Ugh.
Speaking of being gone next weekend, we are finally coming up on our camping trip! We’ve got almost everything we need. We need a little more food and a few odds and ends and we’ll be set. Although neither of us like heat, I’m still looking forward to the desert. I think it’ll be different. As long as I can go rock hunting and see some stars, I’ll be a-ok! I’m going to pack some light knitting with me too, in case the weather is ever conducive to it. I can at least knit in the (very chilly) evenings and on the trip out and back. Maybe I’ll do what I did on my last camping trip and bring a bunch of unfinished projects!
It’s going to be nice to get away for a while, albeit a short while. Life has been hectic, to say the least. For one thing, I’m going to quit the Saturday Market. I worked the whole July 4th weekend, paid $114 to be there, and sold $18 in merchandise and had a $12 theft. So I essentially paid $108 to sit on my ass and hate the world for a whole weekend. Not good. That was just the last straw… I’m so far under from this season that there is no way I could recoup my losses in time to pay for another month. So I’m out. I’m looking into other options, and Vic and I are going to use our free weekends (what the heck is that?!) to revamp my website and get some marketing materials out. I’ve got to make at least enough to pay the few recurring bills that I do have for the business.
So, we went and rented a storage unit down in Sherwood to store both the market stuff and other things before we move. We took two carloads down today – all stuff that had been in my little storage area here, and some of the market stuff that came home with me. We’ll get the rest after we get back from camping – and that’s when I’ll submit my resignation papers too.
I went to the Gem Faire too this weekend, and brought the V-man with me – he got his first glimpse of how I am in action, buying my wares. We didn’t stay too long, and I didn’t spend too much. I can’t really afford to! Not to mention, I really only was looking for a few things – odds and ends to fill out the higher-end spectrum of stones. I got some saltwater pearls – the difference between those and the freshwater pearls is stunning. I can’t wait to design with those!
We also went to an open house – but it was just way too small. It’s a bummer… it seems like now that we’re getting so close to the early move date, all our leads are drying up. But we still have time. Honestly, as long as we get something by the first week of October, we’ll be ok. We just have to keep going for it
Well, it’s now two hours past my bedtime (not that I could’ve slept anyway, after getting about 13 hours last night), and I have a headache. Time to give up and get ready for another Monday!
ok, well, rarely – but still!
I am so zapped. Between work, the green kids, keeping up with my apartment, the gym and other various things, I barely have time for myself. Sadly my knitting has suffered quite a bit.
These socks have been going for over a month and are only just getting heeled:
Pathetic! There are so many things I want to do, and I just don’t have time.
I hope when I go camping next month that I have at least a little time to relax and knit. Goodness knows a break from cell phones, the internet, and computers in general is going to be very good for me.
Well, tomorrow V-man and I are looking at another house, and then I need to tend my peas, which are about a foot tall now. Yikes! I thought I’d get to it today, but after the bee fiasco and a million other things, time was not available. Nor sunlight.
And being in plant-mama mode, I offered to be a surrogate mom to beans for Diedre at work. Am I crazy or what? I plant them, sprout them, grow them strong then she takes them and puts ‘em in the ground. Works for me
Saturday Morning
Saturday Evening
Sunday Evening
And there are now 36. Holy effing crap.
Over the weekend I picked up some books at the library and did a little research, and found that peas are ok in close proximity to each other, so I think I might tepee them, 6-10 to a pot, and just try to grow 25 plants. I can’t see any other way to go right now!
I’m going to have to start re-potting these Tuesday (can’t tomorrow, I have an eye appt), and start looking around for some good inexpensive containers to grow them in. And then for the tepees… I’m fine with dowels and chicken wire. I have to do this on the cheap, you know?
*sigh*
In other news, I’ve finally gotten a bit of knitting time in!
it’s a wee bitty dress for the niece-to-be. I’ve got a bit to do on the sleeves and then the button band; I bought cute lime green shell buttons for it. It’s got a nice little heart lace pattern.
I’ve also worked a bit on my Autumn Harvest socks; I’ve started to turn the second heel. But I must say I am so stagnant in my knitting. I just can’t get to it most of the time. It’s a bummer, but I have so many hobbies going concurrently… it’s a wonder I ever get anything done at all.
Well, for now I sleep. I should have plenty of time to knit while waiting for my eye exam tomorrow…
It’s becoming apparent to me why I’m particularly suited to one aspect of my job: I can’t tell anybody what I’m working on for at least six months – some things up to two years. I happen to be rather adept at keeping secrets. So that at least is good. What isn’t, though, is that some of the stuff i’m working on right now is really really REALLY cool and I want to gab! Augh. It’s kind of a tough position to be in. I can’t comment on so many things… so many. I wish I could tell you all about the awesome thing that came for us in the mail today that made everyone ooh and ahh. But you have to wait till late August. And so do I!
Speaking of work, OOHH man did I ever get dumped on this month. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but seriously loaded down. We had our bi-weekly-ish staff meeting, in which we catch everyone up on what we’re doing, and that’s when I had to tell everyone in the department that I have 33 patterns to write this month. Yes, 33. That’s more than one a day. After that comment, and after everyone had picked their jaws up off the floor, I added, “so please don’t bother me for a while.” Lots of agreement there. I don’t think anyone else was really aware how much I was doing either. My boss has apologized several times for the overload – which, through more careful planning, shouldn’t happen again. But, this is just one of those things…. I’ll get through it, though my brain will be mush. I’ve managed to knit about an inch on my socks in the past two weeks; that’s the only knitting I’ve done for myself. I’m that wiped out. And here they are thus far:
And, speaking of work, I’m trying to write just about the hardest email ever. I got a note from the Creative Svcs manager at TriMet that one of the guys in the department is moving away, and they need someone to fill the position – and wanted to know if I’d be interested. And I have to decline. Augh, that’s so hard to do… i loved working there, and wanted so much to be a part of that team. Two staff positions have opened up while I was at other jobs. It’s a bummer. The job would have been close (close enough to still take the bus, even), the pay and benefits good. And working for the good of the public made me feel so good. Alas, you win some, you lose some. I truly hope that they find someone who can fill those shoes well. I miss everybody over there. 
I do love my job, though. It’s just hard to have to turn down TriMet.
*****
Even though my job is *seriously* zapping my creative juices, I have managed to do a couple of creative things in the past couple of weeks. I’ve had the sewing machine out for a while for costumes, but with JoAnn having a totally ridiculous sale, I had to get some fabrics for my own, regular use. I love skirts but they rarely fit me right; I now have enough fabric for an entire wardrobe of them. I’ve only done one so far:
Yes, it’s a horrible picture. But what do you expect at 3am? I’m going to have the V-man get a better shot of me in it at some point. And I’m going to do an entry about how I made it without a pattern. It’s super comfy and I wore it to work on Monday – it’s a really nice skirt. I have a feeling I’ll get a lot of use from it!
There are a million gazillion skirts in my queue now…. as if I have time to get to them!
Well, it’s time for me to hit the hay. Tomorrow’s another day, another pattern and a half to write….
(I think I know V-man’s answer to that question….hehe)
I’ve been recording the history of my stash for some time now. Well, at least the number of skeins and total worth, plus the name and such. I worked on it a bit tonight, too, and while looking through it I realized how many little potentials there were in there. It’s just eating away at me.
So much of what I have is not in real project quantities. A ball here, a ball there. Now, I have plenty of experience writing one-ball patterns, but for myself? I’d not wear much of it, and frankly the yarn I have doesn’t really lend itself to be a hat or a ruffly little whatnot. So I have a lot of sad, but hopeful, little onesies in my stash. So many. Much of it is unfortunately not machine washable, so even baby things are out.
I need to figure out a good purpose for all of this random stuff. And see, the trouble is I actually like all of it, so I don’t feel that I want to give it away. Possibly some day, but for now, it’s mine because I really wanted it.
And the weirdest part? I’ve got nothing new on the needles. There are a couple of projects that have been languishing for a few months, and the Lisa Shrug (which I have been working on when I get time), but other than that, nothing new. I just don’t have time to knit. It’s sad.
So, here I sit in a pile of yarn (virtually and literally), wanting to do something with all of it right now, yet strangely unable to do anything.
I think I’m spending all my motivation on work. *sigh*
Yay! I finished my easy peasy hat a little while ago:
and just to give you an idea of just how big my head is…
This giant thing is a perfect fit. Yay, another hat I can’t wear for 8 months! Wooooo! hehe.
Honestly I haven’t done much other knitting recently. It sucks. While I was sick I did absolutely none – it hurt my skin to touch anything, wool and needles included. Just about the only knitting I’ve done is swatches for work and *one sleeve’s* i-cord border for the Lisa Shrug. If I could only find the time… it’s a shame, really. Between cleaning and sewing, being sick and working too much, knitting has just fallen by the wayside. ANd it sucks. Really really sucks. Especially with so many baby things I want to knit…
And now that I have this in my stash, I just have to do a baby surprise! Argh!
*sigh* Oh well. It’s hard to imagine that there’d be a downside to having a knitting related job (and there really isn’t much), but I don’t get a chance to do much of my own knitting. Poo. Well, that’s what meetings are for, I guess.
This has been a weekend of finishing. I finished four knitting projects! The Saturday market gives me time to do that… that’s just about the only benefit of it right now. But I won’t get into that.
First is my autumn wheat sox:
Next is a little something I whipped up for the niece-in-progress:
The third, well I can’t show it because it’s a test knit. 
But the fourth – it’s not done yet, but it will be – is my easy-peasy hat:
I’m just getting through the short rows on the ribbing to make it longer in the back. I’m going to short row it in the other direction next to make some earflaps. Or really, more ear-covering things. Not quite flappy.
Now I have to figure out what next to do. i have a bunch of old sleeping projects on the needles – I really do want to finish all of those. But I also have so much pretty stuff in my stash, and a new baby to knit for. Oh, the torture! And speaking of stash, I have this:
I remarked when I bought it how it was such a great V-man color, and naturally when I brought it home he said “Wow, what a great color!” so, we know what this will be. hehe. But it’s getting towards the season where he’ll be wearing thinner socks, so there’s no pressure for now.
But.. that still leaves me stuck! I want to cast something on tonight… or maybe I really should just stick to what’s already in progress. I still have to do the i-cord border on the Lisa Shrug, and there’s a pair of gloves that needs to have the fingers re-done. Not to mention that giant obnoxious blanket…. the chenille monstrosity that I haven’t touched in months.
Speaking of months, how is that I’ve been at KP for two months already?! where did the time go, seriously? It’s going to be May, like, this week. Then I’ll be buying a flying car, because I’ll be 50 and we’ll have them by then. hehe.
Speaking of cars, mine doesn’t fly but she did get her first bath today! Also I should be passing 1000 miles tomorrow or the next day. Not bad for only two and a half weeks…. Sheesh.
Speaking of sheesh, I bought more nail polish today. And not the inexpensive drugstore variety either:
Two look identical in the bottles, but as anyone who likes to do a french manicure regularly can tell you, looks can be deceiving. They have the same base, but one is much pinker when dry. Anyway, I’ve been desperately hunting the perfect French base color for a while now. I like something that’s opaque, but as closely matches my natural color as possible. This is as close as I’ve found! It’s totally worth it to find the right color, even if it is $8.50 a bottle.
Well, I think the pollen and the craziness of the last couple of weeks has finally caught up with me… I have a sore throat. I dumped some turmeric on my dinner tonight, and I’m going to load up on vitamin C. Oh, I have oranges! I might just go have one of those right now in fact. But it’s a miserable feeling to be sure. I really can’t afford to miss any work or anything because of this. I’ll make sure I get plenty of some sleep tonight.
I’d talk about the yarn harlot’s visit, but I think it’s been so well summed up elsewhere that I don’t need to just yet! And as for my bad behavior, well, I guess you had to be there!