Sunday, January 29, 2012

Getting it all back together

After the power came on, late monday night, after 5 LONG days, I had to spend a couple of days last week getting it all together again. Tuesday was spent cleaning, shopping, and just basically getting my stuff together. There was a brief moment of panic tuesday night when the lights went out again durning a big windstorm. All I could think about was the $200 in groceries I'd just bought. Luckily, they came back on about 2 am and the groceries were fine.

I did do a bit of knitting before it all went to hell.....
this is sothia, with some gorgeous alpaca/silk from a little farm in oregon, zz alpacas. I could even tell you exactly which alpaca this came from and pretty much their whole life history. They're pretty cool critters.














I really, really, wanted to make water and stone for my next project with my box jellyfish skinny bugga, but, there seems to be some issues with the pattern. I don't know if it's just me, or the fact that it's european and loses something in the translation, but it just wasn't working out. The yarn was beautiful and had gorgeous stitch definition, but the instructions were weak. I'll have to find something else to do with the bugga. I'm thinking a vitamin D.

Next week, the mary scott huff colorwork KAL starts, and I'll hopefully get the rest of the yarn needed to finish the violets scarf. I've been holding off steeking the sweater because I want to do that and the violets at the same time. (gotta dig out the sewing machine). Maybe by the end of the week.

In house news, STILL waiting on the financing. They'll be a post about it over on squiggi builds a house.
Doggies are very happy to be warm and dry with no snow!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

radio silence

also known as buried up to my butt in snow and no power for 5 days!
Along about martin luther king day, (was that only a week ago?) it started to snow.
Now, keep in mind, if we get about 1/2 inch here, the schools close and everyone hunkers down with soup for the long haul. This is what it looked like on monday.













On wed. It REALLY started to snow, like, blizzard whiteout kind of snow. We got nearly 21 inches in ONE DAY! This is what it looked like wed am.













Then, just to make things fun, we had an ice storm, the first one in 20 years, that deposited about 1/2 inch of pure ice on top of 2 feet of snow. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, or, in our case the power grid. I got to spend the next 5 days with no power huddled with 2 boxers (they ain't got no hair ya know) and trying to keep some semblance of warm. I'd like to tell you that I knit 4 sweaters or something like that, but, really, it was too dark and too cold to do anything.
FINALLY, yesterday, my bestest friend brad pitt turned the power back on.
(I say that because, after 5 days, ANYONE who can turn your power back on looks EXACTLY like brad pitt. I don't care if he has a belly, plumbers crack or 3 heads)

Today, I'll spend the day cleaning (looks like a bomb went off in here), refilling the fridge - had to throw EVERYTHING away, and basically getting back to business.
A hot shower never felt so good!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

snow makes us psychodoggie

and pretty much shuts down the entire world here.
We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow, with more to come. I'm mentally watching my whole week go down like a house of cards. Pilates clients will cancel, especially the ones that come from a ways away, weight watchers meetings will close. (although I'm going to tough it out and go this morning), and, basically, the world here will shut down.

The doggies have a love/hate relationship with the snow. It makes them psychodoggie, but it's COLD, and we don't DO cold too well. (ain't got no hair, ya know)

The only good news is, more knitting time. I finished the sweater, except for the blocking, steeking, and button band. I'm going to wait until I can finish the violets scarf and steek both at the same time. (it's not so much the steeking as it is the getting out of the machine and sewing)
















I've set my sights on the next project. A lovely Sothia shawl with the 2 colors of alpaca. It really DOES knit like butter!












This week, I fell in love with the rams and yowes blankie. So much so, that I priced out the yarn. It'll cost about $130 for the whole thing. I'm SO trying to be on a yarn diet, but a girl needs a treat once in a while, right? I'm considering putting up a destash on ravelry for some of the yarns I'll probably not use too soon, and maybe some mags and straight needles too, trying to declutter a bit before the move. That would justify the blankie, which, would look awesome in the new house.
Maybe that would be a good snow day afternoon activity. This IS the year of the purge, after all.

In house news, we're in a holding pattern, waiting for word from the bank. The appraisal was due on friday (I hope that it was friday the 13th isn't some kind of sign), and now tomorrow is ANOTHER stinkin' holiday. Hopefully something will shake loose by the middle of the week, if the snow doesn't shut everything down!

Later, on squiggi builds a house, "the evolution of a plan".

Sunday, January 08, 2012

some new year's progress

This week, knitting-wise, I worked on my sweater. Thanks to a completely boring 2.5 hours at work on new year's day (no, folks didn't come running to weight watchers on new year's day - go figure) I got quite a bit done on my sweater. Don't tell my weight watchers boss, we're not supposed to be doing "personal" stuff while we're working. I've now knit and attached both sleeves and I'm working on the colorwork top. Yes, by the way, that is a steek!












I also recieved this wonderful alpaca this week. See that pic there? That's the actual alpaca it came from. It's much less yellow than it looks here, and my friend Pam says it knits like butter. Honestly, I just want to pet it for a while.












I also purchased the kit for the mary scott huff KAL that starts in feb. (like I don't have anything better to do), and made NO progress on the violets scarf. I'm still waiting for word on some extra yarn to finish. I might just have to break down and buy it. ARGH!!!

In house news, we're still waiting on the bank to finish the appraisal, so keep your fingers crossed. I also started a second blog....squiggi builds a house It will chronicle the process of designing, building, landscaping, furnishing and decorating our dream home. I've posted the story of how we got to this point over there. Hopefully there will be more soon, so please join me as we progress.

I sad news, my sister had to have her right hand ring finger amputated yesterday from the result of a very serious dog bite on thanksgiving day. Please send her healing mojo, keep her in your thoughts, whatever works for you. She's got a long road to recovery.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

I'm not really much for resolutions.......

I think they mostly end up by the wayside before march. But, there are a few things that 2012 is going to bring our way. The biggest will be our new house. (more about that later). I'm also looking forward to taking a japanese stitch class at Madrona in feb, and, of course, the garden show in seattle. I proclaim this year the year of knitting from stash (less to move later) and gardening. We'll see how that goes.....

In knitting news, the violets scarf is dead in the water, having run out of yarn. I've emailed the designer (she's such a sweetheart) and she said she'd send me some extras that were leftover from the class last year. I'm just waiting for those to appear in order to finish. Thanks to Ozzie's help, I didn't get nearly as far as I'd hoped......he's EARNED his new title of "eater of yarn".

I'm moving on and working on a sweater. The minute I saw this on knitty, I was in love. I'll be working on it today while I'm supposed to be working. (don't tell anyone) For some reason, weight watchers thinks that people will come STREAMING in the door this morning with their shiny new resolutions. (now, keep in mind, they didn't advertise we would be open, or tell anyone for that matter), so, it's going to be sweater knitting for me. Fine by me for time and a half!













Ok, for the house news. In a frightening moment this week, we signed a contract with our builder. Right now, we're swinging wildly between total excitement and complete terror. They're saying once we break ground, it'll be all over in 6 months. We will be in our new house by next christmas if the bank approves the financing.

We're meeting with the landscape design person on monday to see her preliminary plans, and this weekend, I fell in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with THE most gorgeous custom kitchen cabinets. We'll know by the end of the week if we can afford them.
Let the games begin!!
By the way, here's the site of the house.....we're lucky, it's in our own back yard! See where that big tree is, right in the middle? that'll be our garage.












The doggies are unaffected by all the excitement, except they did get new redbones for the new year. We LOVE our redbones!.