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!

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!

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".

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.

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!.

PHEW! glad that's over.......

For anyone who knows me, you know that I am more "bah humbug" than happy holidays.
Maybe it was all those years in a retail environment, listening to mickeys clock shop, maybe it's the fact that the holidays truly bring out the "best" in folks. (sarcasm intended) Don't know. I'm usually just glad when it's all over and we can move on to spring.

I did get some goodies, though, a large and very cool yarn bowl, filled with some alpaca silk from zz alpacas. The yarn is a dark grey/almost black and I think I'm going to go and get another skein of whitish to do a two color something, probably shawl. The cool thing is, if you go to their website, you can see the exact animal your yarn came from. www.zzalpacas.com Love it!

I also got this cute little guy from my husband. A couple of years ago, I discovered the metal art of henry dupere and fell in love. I had a large hanging bat shipped home from santa fe and he hangs by my back door. I've loved the owls ever since, so here ya go. He'll look cute on the new house.













I've been working away at the violets scarf too. See those two tiny balls of yarn at the top there? That's all I have left. Not enough to finish. POOH! I already pm'd someone on ravelry who's also made this and she gave me the scoop. All the kits were short and when they had the class last spring, they handed out "extras" so the folks in the class could finish. I bought mine at sock summit as a leftover. I'm a bit disappointed that blue moon KNEW they were all short, and didn't include the extra in the kit I purchased. I've emailed the designer (she's awesomely great), hopefully she'll have a couple of extra ones kicking around from the class. If not, I'll have to invest $40 more and buy 2 skeins of STR I really wasn't planning on purchasing.
POOH! Again.















I'm also working on the knitty sweater, the one with the donegal tweed, but there's not much to show there yet.

In house news, we spent last week gathering up financial records and filling out loan applications. The contractor was ON his part and got it done within 24 hours. (they're a little hungry around here) Things are progressing nicely, but at a standstill due to the holiday today and our loan guy being on vacation this week. Now it's just a waiting game for the money, which I don't think will be a problem, just stressful.
Better go buy that alpaca!

A much better week

Along about wednesday, the planets went back where they belong. No big fanfare, but I definitely felt them shift back into place with a quiet little "snick", and things calmed down considerably. Thank goodness. Enough was enough already.
So, I did what any good knitter would do. I bought yarn.












The pics can't even BEGIN to do these justice. When I opened the package, it caused me to suck in my breath, they're so beautiful. The 4 similar ones are bugga box jellyfish, purchased for the water and stone sweater, the more blue ones, which are really a gorgeous color of burple in real life, just sort of came along for the ride. They're skinny bugga. I was feeling a bit guilty for spending $ so close to christmas, but not now.

In other knitting news....I finished my irish hiking scarf for the neighbor. Blue's her favorite color, ya know










and started working on this fun little colorwork scarf/table runner that I bought at sock summit last summer. You can't quite see them yet, but it's tiny little violets.
It was love at first sight when the designer flashed it at a class this summer. I was lucky enough to find one of the few leftover kits at the blue moon booth.










In house news, last week the contractor told us we had already done the hard part by picking out everything. I totally disagree. The hard part is making the decision to go to the bank and borrow the money. Up till now, it's been a fun activity in "wouldn't THIS be cool?", now we have to make the commitment and figure out how to actually PAY for it. The other scary thing is that once we get the financing, the contractor is ready to start NOW. Like, RIGHT NOW!! (they're a bit hungry around here) We could be celebrating next christmas in our new house.
Exciting and frightening all at the same time.

I'm blaming the planets

I usually consider myself a pretty even keel kind of person, not a lot of drama or bad days. This week more than made up for it. No real drama, but one crappy incident after another.
It all started when I went to work on sunday. The place was supposed to be prepared for the day and it was not, by a far cry. We had to scramble and make things look nice before the members came in and we were still scrambling after we were done to make it better for the next day. I should have taken the clue there and stayed in bed the rest of the week. It was just one crappy thing after another, the Y front desk person disn't show up monday to let us in, 3 our of 4 clients cancelled monday, tuesday, way worse, still feeling bad about that one. Wed, woke up with a sore throat and LOOK! Here's the territory manager there to evaluate me. Sure, why not...
By thursday, the best buy gift card I bought STILL didn't work (note to self, never buy anything from best buy again), and my sore throat had turned into a raging cold.
It IS getting better, though.......
My friend johnette says it was the a convergence of the planets. I'm kind of prone to believing her. I should have taken her advice and gone back to bed on wed and stayed there.














Darned plants! They're supposed to be un-converged (is that a word?)
by the middle of this week, and I'm ready for it. So I did what any good knitter would do in times of trouble.

I bought yarn.......
The winter knitty came out, and it was love at first sight for the skyisle sweater. I immediately went to WEBS and bought the required yarn. Now if it would just ship!
I also joined the newest Mary Scott Huff KAL, a colorwork "thing". I only had to know it was Mary to be in.
And...I'm seriously considering the unique sheep little prince KAL that starts in march.

The only good things this week? The hummingbirds are back!
















The landscape designer is working on our house landscape plans...and, we got the price tag on the house. The fact that I'm even writing this says that I didn't have a heart attack. It was somewhere between $1.98 and $1,000,000, a little higher than expected, but not unexpected. We want this to be NICE, and that costs some money. It will be the house we retire in (we'll probably be paying for it at least that long).
Next step, talking to banks about getting some money. That's the scary one, because it really means "commitment".
Next week....
hopefully scoring some bugga and finishing christmas knitting.
(gotta build up that stash, don't cha know)

damask is done

really, it's been done for a while, but I finally pulled it out and blocked it yesterday. The pics don't do it justice, it's much more burgandy than pink, and it's beautiful.....











Now I'm working on my elizabeth shawl. It's pretty scrunched up, but here's about a half mile of this cable pattern. It should go pretty fast now, since it's all stockinette short rows......



and, by special request, here's the doggie brothers. They're going to a couple of other brothers that are 1 and 3.... I hope they like them








In house news....we'll be meeting with the contractor on friday to go over the price.
EEEK!!! Keep your fingers crossed it's somewhere south of what donald trump could afford. I should also be hearing from the landscape planner soon as well. I'm really excited to see what she'll come up with for our little acre.
We'll also be hanging out around the house on friday because they're delivering our new hot tub. We had a little (ahem) shopping spree on black friday and decided to trade in our old hot tub for the new racing model. No worries, we'll take it with us when we move......

Here, by the way, is my kind of christmas.

In a knitting slump.....

So, a couple of weeks ago, I had this beautiful skein of YOWZA whatta skein, to make into socks. It's 600 yards of yarny heaven and it was all wound into 2 even balls and stored in a plastic bag for some toe-up socks. I finished my damask and went to look for the yowza....missing. Not to be found anywhere.
CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE!!!!!!!
It threw me completely into a knitting funk. NOW WHAT???
(not to fear, I have plenty of yarn)
I think I know who the guilty yarn thieving culprit is.









He's not talking, though.
Couldn't be THIS guy.... he's too cute to get blamed.






After much frothing at the mouth, searching, and yes, a bit of cursing, I've decided to move on......
Can I interest anyone in a (yarn fattened) onery siamese?????

ok, the time change thing kicked my butt!!!!

It didn't seem too bad last sunday, but I spent the rest of the week all messed up and tired. I'm finally just now recuperating.

On a happy note, I won a couple of blog contests!
here's the spoils of my luck.......
knit local - a very interesting book, I kind of like it.













and a couple of pretty skeins of yarn from the twins jan and ellen.
They have a really great blog and I read it regularly, just to see what they're up to. I've also met both of them at 2 different sock summits and they're great gals.
(and they have good taste in yarn)








I also finished my damask - no pics of that yet. It needs ends woven in and blocking so right now it just looks like "spaghetti". Next week, my pretties......

Next up on the knitting front, I'm back to some christmas knitting, there's only 41 more knitting days left (42 if you knit right up to christmas eve), and I still have a pair of man-socks, some fingerless gloves, and I need to finish and block my sister's rock and weave socks. Think I'll make it??

On the house front.....after the eye-opening experience that kitchen cabinets were, I'm off today to pick out flooring. We've spent a lot of time on this and we're still not quite 100 percent sure about all of it.
We do know that this will be the accent for the master bath shower....
use your imagination.

move along now, nothing to see here.......

well, not much knitting to report THIS week. My creativity has all been sucked up with kitchen cabinets, flooring and tile, oh my! Who knew it would be SO hard to pick a kitchen. First of all, it's a HUGE investment, and secondly, it's a HUGE choice.
When you think that the place we went has 3 different manufacturers, who each have 20 different door styles, that can be made out of 10 different woods, which can then be stained with 10 different stains (yes, that adds up to 6,000 choices). Now, keep in mind that you have NO IDEA how much anything costs, because they don't do it that way - at least that would help narrow it down a bit - I think my brain is going to explode. Oh, and, by the way, it needs to match the flooring too!

You can see why I just can't think any more.
I am working on my damask, and I've decided I HATE nupps, so mine won't have any. THERE!!
Next week, back to some christmas knitting, but I also meet with the landscape designer on monday, the interior designer on wednesday and the flooring gal for the "official" flooring pricing on sunday. We're almost there, though, just a few more $$$$$ details, like a garage door, and then....... $$$$$$$$ sticker shock, I'm sure!
As you can see, the doggies are very excited at the prospect of getting a new house.










oh, and p.s. the monkey coat fit!

Happy Halloween!

I know, it's tomorrow, but I'm here today!

This week brought some happy fun......
I won a contest. The wonderful Kerrie, way over there in Germany sent me this gorgeous yarn that she dyed herself, and some wonderful german chocolates.
Wait! There's some missing! OOPS!
Not sure what I'll make with it, but I love the colors.











I also spent most of the week making a custom knit doggie sweater with monkey for cousin Newt. Newt is my sister's jack russel baby, and he's cute as heck. He totally deserves the monkey sweater that yogi is modeling here. (it's too small for yogi - my BIG baby) I think he's a little jealous, though, he's a boxer and they ain't got no hair, so he needs a sweater too!














Yesterday, I cast on for a Damask shawl with the madtosh light dahlia. The KAL wasn't working out too much for me, so I decided to use another of kitman's patterns and I've been eyeing damask for a long time. I'm getting the itch to do a nice cabled sweater, though, so, maybe that'll be next. (after the christmas knitting is all done)


On the house front, friday was lighting, plumbing and appliances day. Imagine walking into an appliance store and going, "I'll have that, that, that and that!".
It WAS rather fun. I spent a WHOLE bunch of money on paper, also fun.

Next week it'll be kitchen, floors,tile, and garage door speaking of spending a whole bunch of money. I'm also calling in the landscape designer we've picked out because we need to start thinking about WHERE on the acre of property this house will be built. After we see the kitchen gal on friday, I'll also be calling the interior designer. I wanted to make most of my choices and have her help with some of the more difficult things, like, how to light the studio, and pulling the whole color thing together. This is really a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween!

windows and doors and floor plans, OH MY!

This week we did some major work on the house. On friday, we went out and picked out windows (milguard montecito with a craftsman style grid at the top) and doors. The molding threw us for a bit of a loop, though. Do you know how many styles of molding there are out there????? Then, friday night, we went and met with the contractor and the designer to work out some details of the plan, like, radiant heat flooring (not an option in my book) and whether or not we will build with SIP panels (still an option- we're working on that). We feel like we have a pretty good handle on the floor plan. The next step is plumbing and electrical, which I hope to go do this week, and then kitchen - that's a big one. We're going to get a few quotes and options on the kitchen. We want it to be nice, but not over the top.


In knitting news, I took a class yesterday on double knitting. It was fun, but I was kind of hoping there would be a bit more talk of colorwork. The person teaching the class said she had trouble finding double knitting patterns. I told her I'd found a BUNCH on ravelry, and she said "oh, I guess there might be some on there". And, THAT, folks, is why I don't usually take classes at my LYS. :(

I have also been working on the DIC october scarf and it's almost done, but too squished up to see anything yet. I think I'm going to run a couple of rows short on yarn, this has happened before with DIC, so I'll go as far as I can and bind off. Probably have pics next week.
The little doggies are all sewn up too, thanks to a VERY long online training for weight watchers. I just need to make one more little shirt.

Last but not least, look what $5 will get ya......
Doggies were very curious...









I weeded out the acrylic and a few others I didn't want - they'll be donated to the master gardeners for their crafty projects......
I kept the wool......It'll make good dog sweaters.

not much knitting to report,

again....
but I do have this really cute boxer pumpkin. This is a stencil from the better homes and gardens website. They have several dog breeds and, yes, even cats. It's a fun place to go and play...









See the resemblance??









I am working on my knit doggies for a friend's grandsons. Pardon the fact that he's armless. They're made, I just have to make his shirt first, so I can get the placement of the arms. (he gets a cute little shirt and pants) - there's another one too.
I don't think I'm going to finish the KAL I'm doing. Love the yarn, love the color, just not loving the pattern. I think I'll frog it and start something else.
Next up, more christmas knitting........




P.S. the house is coming along swimmingly. Loving the plan so far, just a few more tweaks, a whole bunch of picking stuff out, and we'll be ready.....Check please!
(for the heart attack when we see the price tag)

decisions, decisions.......

I've got virtually nothin' for ya knitting-wise. Last week was super busy with working. I did start some doggies for my friend's grandbabies. I got 4 legs, 2 heads, and a tail done before I was side-tracked knitting a shawl for my boss who is leaving next week. I've also been working on the mystery KAL, and that's pretty time consuming. This week should be slower work-wise, and crappier weather-wise, so I should see more progress.

Most of my time has been spent on the new house, trying to anticipate all the things we'll have to pick out and using the internet to find ones I like before I get to meet with the interior designer. At $100 per hour, you don't want to waste a bit of time hemming and hawing.

Next week, I should be getting the new judy's magic cast on book, and my dream in color october yarn (couldn't resist it - it reminded me of indian corn). Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with the interior designer too.......
Since there's no knitting content to speak of, I'll leave you with a boy and his monkey man.......My little baby's all growed up

another one down

so, this week I finished another christmas gift. Gentian socks for my friend. These were a fun, free, cabled pattern and an easy knit. Love the madtosh sock I made them with.
On to the next gift.......














I also won a contest. The very generous robin of robin's nest sent me this beautiful green yarn, some patterns and some hershey's kisses (oops, the kisses are missing). I had entered this contest about 3 months ago, and it was a pleasant surprise to be the random winner. Thanks Robin!












Last but not least, cinnamon brown is modeling my new book, knit-swirl. I've been coveting it for a while, but, no discount on amazon. Knitpicks, however, was quite accomodating and put it on sale for 40% off, so, there ya go. I needed some new size 4 dpn's anyway to do my beekeeper, so, had to have it.











There are some more books on the way. I've pre-ordered judy's magic cast on, socktopus, and the principles of knitting. All due in oct-dec.

This week I also started the Koi-rama KAL. It's quite involved, but turning out very nicely. When I get caught up on that, I'll start my next christmas gift. I think it's going to be a couple of knitted doggies for johnette's grandsons.

On the house front, we should be getting the preliminary plans back this week, and we're headed to the tacoma home show next weekend to look for ideas!

goodies!

and free wollemeise!
the wollemeise is the prize for completing all 3 projects from the loopy ewe camp loopy. I'll definitely be doing it again next summer, wollemeise or not. It was a blast!











Of course to get my wollemeise, I felt the need to place an order. This yumminess is madtosh light in the dahlia colorway. I got it for the koi rama knit along that starts oct 1. I love kitman's patterns and I hope this will be no exception. The yarn is actually a bit more berry than pink. Trust me, it's gorgeous











I also got my anne kit this week. I love the pattern, although I might add a 3 stitch garter border at the top to keep it from rolling. The yarn, not so much. It's quite a bit lighter than the photos and has a dime-sized patch of white where the dye didn't take. Next time I'll just wait and get the pattern.











One more fun thing. The knitter's life list. So far it seems to be a pretty fun book. No patterns at all, just all about knitting, techniques, etc. A good bedtime read. Next to it is our version of the house plan. The other one is still out with the professional, hopefully we'll see something this week!

some (almost) fo's

I know, I'm late. I have a good reason, though. Yesterday was the final class for the colorwork sweater. It's almost done, just needs some work on the seams to finish.
The color is not as pink as this pic.
























I also finished the phoenix and the carpet KAL. Needs to be blocked. I loved the yarn and the color "african violets". I'll definitely do more with the unique sheep.












(snoopy boxers not included)

Some socks got done too. Rock and weave to be a christmas present. They just need a toe and some buttons. What's that next to the sock? It's a hexipuff. Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon for the beekeepers quilt. I figure I have enough "bits" to go quite a ways. I'll work on it a bit at a time, no rush.



this week, hopefully I'll get the knitting with jane kit, enroll for a kitman figueroa KAL in october, get a couple of books I ordered and start another christmas present pair of socks.

In house news, it's off at the designer's. Should have a first draft plan soon!