Orange Kitchen!

Posted on June 17, 2009
Filed Under organization, personal, yarn | 6 Comments

The house inspector met us at the condo today, along with our realtor and the appraiser. That’s five people descending upon the condo, taking measurements, checking pipes, and testing everything we could test. I let Bunny handle a lot of the inspector’s tour while I created a more accurate measurement of the rooms with the appraiser. I uploaded some of the pics to my Flickr account; check out the slideshow! I even included one of my favorite parts of the kitchen below. :)

On the knitting front, it looks like I’ll be doing the Fourth Grade Hat, since I have gotten an overwhelming vote for that pattern. Since I’m unsure that my yarn will last for an entire hat, I am spinning some black alpaca top that Dragonmaille got for me years ago. I only had 2oz of it, so I have been keeping it for a small project. 2oz of top is a lot more than it looks like! While it’s not the same fiber makeup as the Fiery yarn, it has lots of drape, and the glossy black will set off the bright hues in Fiery.

Is it really the 17th already?? I had planned to get my stuff out of the storage unit soon, but I don’t know if I can swing it. I hope to at least get the dryer and the pattern cabinet out, as those are the two things I need to get rid of most. Anyone looking for a dryer? Or want a pattern cabinet? (The latter is missing a piece of hardware for one drawer, but otherwise works.)

And that’s about it! Enjoy the pics of the condo and thanks for your input on my knitting! :D

Project Ideas: Need Help!

Posted on June 15, 2009
Filed Under Socks in 2009, organization, personal, yarn | 10 Comments

Help me make a decision. I have been itching to cast on a new project lately, but I haven’t been able to settle on one. I have picked up my socks again (remember that thing I promised earlier this year, about making 12 pairs of socks? I’m still on #4) but I’d like to do a fancy scarf or two for myself out of some handspun. I am thinking about using this yarn:

I have about 240 yards of gorgeous DK-weight, silk/wool blend here. There is a definite color shift throughout the yarn, so something that shows off the changes and isn’t too busy would be awesome. I have listed several ideas below; do a girl a favor and vote, would you?

The ideas:

1. The 4th Grade Hat by Abby Franquemont. This slouchy entrelac hat would show off the color shifts in gorgeous blocks. I could intersperse some black blocks every other round to stretch the amount of yarn and to highlight the colors.

2. Mesh Crochet Scarf. (link is not to the actual pattern, just to a similar example) Using a simple two-chain-stitch/dc mesh, I would end up with an airy, openwork fashion scarf. I could also get a lot of mileage out of the limited yarn.

3. That Little Scarf by Knitspot. I would reduce the number of repeats to make the scarf narrower, and probably go up a needle size to make a looser fabric. While I think the colors would be great, I’m a little worried this will be too busy and might be better suited to a different yarn.

So there we go! I would like to cast on very soon, so please vote. I am open to other pattern suggestions as well, so long as they work with the amount and type of the yarn. I’m not interested in mittens or armwarmers, since I fear they’d put too much wear & tear on this yarn, but a hat or scarf would work nicely. I’ll let you all know what I end up with!

Details & Deadlines

Posted on June 15, 2009
Filed Under organization, personal, general | 1 Comment

While we wait for our appointment on Wednesday with the inspector, I thought I’d go over the things I have accomplished since we started our house hunt that were NOT house-related. Suddenly, I don’t know what to do with myself after crossing all these things off my list!

Mailing out of packages

After a long dry spell of regular orders from my shop, I suddenly received several orders all at once. I have been a little distracted with the house hunt, so a couple of card orders came in and I didn’t see them for a day or two. However, I got them all off to their respective buyers! I also sent out my potholders to Adrian & Maritza for the Crochet Potholder Swap. Hurrah!

Meetings

Guild Meeting, staff meeting, spinning talk. I had to do all three of these within a week of each other. First was the Guild meeting on Saturday the 6th. I actually got some spindle spinning done, talked to lots of people, and handed over the program binder to our new VP/Program chair. I intended to run the meeting but I wasn’t feeling very good that day. I have to set up a board meeting over the summer sometime, but my last Guild meeting as VP was a very nice one. Then on Wednesday evening, I had my staff meeting at work. Again, it’s the last one until we get ready for the Fall semester. This one is more of a catch-up than anything, and now I know when people will be gone over the summer. Last, on Saturday the 13th, I got to be the speaker at a local retiree’s group. I brought Charlotte (my wheel) and a host of spindles, fiber tools, fibers and yarns and basically talked about spinning for an hour. It was lots of preparation but totally worth it. I like being a kind of expert on something people find interesting!

Family Gatherings

Aside from Father’s Day, which will be spent at my sister’s place, we had lots of family picnics over the past couple of months. On Memorial Day, we went to my dad’s for a nice dinner with my parents, grandma, and my visiting uncle. While we were looking at houses, we ended up there for an unscheduled dinner, and last night we were there for my other grandma’s birthday. I definitely love going to see my family (and getting a meal out of it, too!)

Yay for meeting deadlines!!

It’s Official!

Posted on June 9, 2009
Filed Under organization, personal, admin, general | 7 Comments

Ok, NOW I can say it for real:

We are getting a condo. Yes, it’s THE condo we were looking at this weekend. I have the contract IN MY HANDS and I handed over a check for $1000 this afternoon, so we have a deposit and a contract and OMG YAY.

It’s 2BR, 2.5BA with a half-finished basement and brand new bathrooms & kitchen. It’s all been painted in pretty colors (seriously, I’m only changing one room and that’s because I always wanted a green studio) and it even comes with a new washer & dryer. THAT’S RIGHT Y’ALL! NO MORE LAUNDROMAT!

There’s a brick patio out back, and we’re allowed to plant a garden and have a gas grill. Bunny gets his man-cave (in the basement room, which delighted him no end) and I get my studio. We will never have to draw straws to see who gets the bathroom first, and he will never need to move my yarn off the shower curtain rod so he can wash in the morning. There’s tons of storage, in the form of the other half of the basement, a huge closet on the first floor, a linen closet on the second floor, a closet in the studio room, and two closets in the master bedroom.

The kitchen has been completely redone with new appliances, counters, cabinets, and tons of organizational pieces. There’s a huge pantry cabinet. The fridge is a side-by-side model, which I’ve always wanted. The counters are butcher block.

I am happy.

Moving On

Posted on June 4, 2009
Filed Under Out and About, yarn, general | 7 Comments

So the house didn’t come through in the end. We’ve begun our search anew, irritated at having wasted a month waiting for the seller to change his mind. I’m terribly disappointed. I know, I know, a better house is out there, we’ll probably find a real winner, etc. etc. But still. Our realtors thought this was going to happen and as a result WE thought it was going to happen.

There hasn’t been as much spinning or knitting around here due to the focus of the house hunt. However, I have had time to crochet these sweet little potholders for the Crochet Potholder Swap:

I learned the two-color spiral technique with these, and I’m so happy finally to have learned it. And talk about a stashbuster project–I didn’t buy anything to make these. They came entirely from my stash.

Last Saturday, Bunny and I took another bus trip with Adult Ed–this time to Stockbridge, MA. The bus dropped us off at the Berkshire Scenic Railway, which brought us to Stockbridge. Then we ate at the Red Lion Inn, visited the new Norman Rockwell Museum, and took the train back to Lenox, where our bus picked us up and took us home. We had a great time, and so did the rest of the group!

The Saturday BEFORE last was Memorial Day weekend; we went to Cummington, MA for the Sheep & Wool festival. Debbie and I managed to be late AGAIN so we missed out on the competition. Ah, well. Next year we’ll rock it. :D I did manage to get 3rd place in the speed spinning contest–on my brand-new, never-been-used-by-me Hitchhiker that I had just gotten back that morning! I’m very happy with it. I won half a pound or so of pink, brown and white wool/mohair blend. I’ve been spinning it on the HH ever since. No pics of the wheel quite yet, but here’s a few of the festival:

Oh, and I have to share this! Debbie, Lilith and I were walking around with our spindles. At one point, we were talking and I realized we were each spinning fiber that coordinated with our outfits–totally not planned, but how funny! Proof:

Well, we’ve got about 22 houses we’d like to look at, so I apologize again if the blog goes dark once more. Keep the good vibes coming! This Saturday is Guild, then Sunday is the Great Facebook Picnic of 09, and then NEXT Saturday I am giving a talk about spinning in Hartford, and it’s Worldwide Knit in Public Day. Maybe I can find a house in the middle of all that…?

Just a Quick Update

Posted on May 30, 2009
Filed Under personal, general | 5 Comments

SO the house may not come through after all. There’s a big long story involved and I don’t feel like getting into it right now, but suffice to say that Bunny & I are looking at other places. There’s no definite answer at this point, yes or no, but I have a feeling that we might need to move on. Ugh. I love the house but the seller has issues of his own, apparently.

In happier news, I have some pics of MA S&W that I FINALLY took off my camera. We are going to Stockbridge tomorrow on a day trip, so I wanted to make sure the camera was empty. Then I realized I hadn’t ever made a post about the weekend. I promise to show you pretty things when I get back!

Keep the vibes coming–maybe it’ll help!

Well, THAT was fast!

Posted on May 20, 2009
Filed Under personal | 6 Comments

We just got the news that our primary bid has been accepted but the seller wants to negoatiate on the price of the new furnace. Aside from that, he’s ready to accept our offer! I kept thinking it was taking a long time but it was only about 48 hours. Time doesn’t always pass at the same rate when you’re anticipating something big.

The negotiations should be over by tomorrow or Friday at the latest–then we call the mortgage company, the inspector, and go over any last-minute details. Then we have the closing!

It turns out that there’s another tax credit I didn’t know about–this one on high-efficiency furnaces! Check out the EnergyStar website to see what kinds of benefits there might be. It looks like putting in a new one will give us up to $1500 back from the government as part of their stimulus bill. It’s likely that we wouldn’t get the whole thing back, but hey, a couple hundred bucks would be a decent help. That’s grocery money for a while, or a mortgage payment!

It’s so good to know that this part is almost done. The waiting and not knowing was the hard part.

Offer: Made

Posted on May 18, 2009
Filed Under personal | 3 Comments

Now we wait. Maybe we’ll hear back in the morning? Keep those vibes coming.

Send Me Your Good Vibes!!

Posted on May 17, 2009
Filed Under personal, general | 7 Comments

We looked at a house yesterday. It’s The One. I decided I didn’t even care about looking at anything else. I want This One. We looked at it this morning with Bunny’s dad and stepmom, who gave it their seal of approval. I’m going back again with my dad and Bunny’s mom tomorrow morning for one last look and to see if my dad has any other input. Barring some major objection/warning/worry on my dad’s part, we are going to make an offer tomorrow night.

Please, please send us more of your good vibes! We want this house. I can’t imagine a better house for us, truly. It’s a sweet little delight (but not too little) and it pretty much rings our bells in a million ways. Also, Bunny is kind of freaked out about the whole thing, in a good way, but still stressed. So he could use your calming vibes. Just…I didn’t expect this to happen so soon. It’s just…right. Perfect. I love it so much and each time I see it I am reminded of how awesome it is.

Wish us luck!!

We Are Buying A House (We Hope)

Posted on May 12, 2009
Filed Under Out and About, organization, personal, yarn, general | 11 Comments

At least, that’s the plan. Last week, we called a relative to find out what kind of loan we could get and found out we were able to get more than our budget allowed, which is good. So, we looked at a couple of places last week that didn’t make the cut, and now we are actually looking for real. Wish us luck and send good vibes our way. We have a good-sized list of places in our budget, which turns out to be less than what we’re eligible for through FHA. Hurrah! On Friday we’ll be checking out a place that could be totally awesome if it doesn’t need any major work. Of all the listings we’ve looked at, this seems to be the best value for our money AND it’s right around the corner from where we currently live, so our commutes & lives won’t change much. It also has some features that make me very hopeful; I’ll talk more about it after we’ve seen the place in real life. Driving by it today, it seems pretty on the outside. This bodes well for the inside!

New Hampshire showed us a good time. There are a few things I will do differently next year. For instance, my classes will have more time in between so I can actually eat something and see the fair. That fairground is MUCH bigger than it looks! I totally needed the second day just to walk around and see everything. I’ll show & tell the lovely acquisitions I made on my next post, as this one is already pretty long.

Next time I will also probably drive up and back on the same route instead of taking the scenic route home. While it truly was scenic, about an hour in we had a bit of a harrowing experience. I noticed that our fuel was getting low when my eye caught a light I hadn’t seen before: the Low Oil light. Oh goodness. We pulled off the road at a little turnoff and checked the oil–sure enough, there was just a tiny bit left. We walked to a business that was nearby only to find it closed, and there was nothing else around for miles. Our cell phones also had no reception, meaning there wasn’t ANYTHING out there. Our phones will pick up any signal from any provider, so there really had to be nothing around.

Finally we decided to take our chances to find a rest stop or gas station up ahead. We found a rest stop, only to discover that it was closed and we couldn’t use the phone. There was a guy in the parking lot, though, and we asked him a bit desperately if he had any oil or if he knew of a gas station. He kindly let us know there was one about four minutes away in the direction we were going, so we took our chances and hopped back in the car. The oil light didn’t come on again, which is kind of good, since that meant each time we stopped the oil went to rest in the engine. We wouldn’t make it home like that but it was okay for the moment. Two minutes of driving brought us a couple of miles when…all traffic halted. I kept the car in neutral for a moment, then turned it off to save both oil & gas. We couldn’t see what had happened but we guessed it must be an accident. Sure enough, after sitting for 20 minutes, we started moving again. We drove very slowly past a car that resembled the ones our Safe Grad committee used to haul up to the school to illustrate why one shouldn’t drink & drive. About 20 firefighters were sweeping down the road and there were police cars and firetrucks everywhere. It was awful.

We made it past the accident and drove the remaining 2 miles or so to the gas station, the only station around from what we understood. We bought their last two quarts of 10W-30, filled up the tank and the oil reservoir, and continued on home. I had to stop in Keene at a Panera to eat something and to calm myself down; the accident rattled me and the oil/gas situation hadn’t exactly helped. But then, once we’d eaten and rechecked our route, the rest of the way home was smooth sailing. There was almost no traffic, and our route was extremely straightforward.

I can only blame my utter exhaustion for the small number of pictures of the weekend. I do have a few, so here are the highlights:

Bunny’s wish from when he was 8 is fulfilled: he is the only kid in a huge video game arcade on his birthday.

Familiar troublemakers: Dan, Lisa, and Bunny

Bunny, in a pretty courtyard at the Center for the Arts in Concord

Paint on the side of a brick building in Concord

Blue ribbon for one of my yarns! Except I incorrectly labeled it as Autumn Alpaca, a wool/alpaca blend; should have been Fall Clover, which is BFL. In my apartment the night before we left, I mixed up the skeins as I had them in front of me. Ugh. Talk about a n00b mistake.

Next entry: pics of what I brought home with me! Also, hopefully I’ll have pics others took of me. Kate or Lilith got a cute one of me with my Hitchhiker, which I held for about 15 minutes before turning it over to Dave for a tune-up. It’s so small and sweet!

keep looking »