Dear Higher Power, Mother Nature, & well, Anyone Who Can Help,
If at all possible, could you maybe hold off the huge snow storm that's supposed to hit Northern Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin until, say, maybe Wednesday?
I have to move this weekend and this storm could really put a damper on my plans.
Please and Thank You.
Me
I finished her! She was off the needles last night and I just finished the knotted fringe.
She's stunning!
BUT, you'll have to wait to see a full picture of her until after we move.
Until then, here's a teaser pic of the fringe. It was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be!
Ok... and now for the not so great news. This might be my last post until after we've moved and got internet back up and running. If it is, wish me luck this weekend! I'll miss you all!
Welcome to Hell.
Seriously. That which was the peaceful calm of our lives is no more. We have torn our home apart. There are boxes everywhere. There is stuff everywhere. WE are everywhere.
I feel like we're in limbo. Literally caught between two places; suspended in time. Not fully here, but not really there, either.
Hubby went up to Minnesota last Sunday and worked Monday and Tuesday, then came home late Tuesday night so he could spend Thanksgiving with us and our families. He leaves again tomorrow to go on a 5 day business trip. So this time with us around Thanksgiving feels more like he's visiting rather than coming home.
Because, let's be honest, our home isn't much of a home right now. And who would want it to be? We have already detached ourselves from here. We're in the process of getting our things out of here. All that's left is getting us out of here.
And it's that one task that's driving me crazy. You see, we're making good progress, but unfortunately I can't see past what's still left to be done and then I feel overwhelmed. It makes me sad. It makes me feel scared. It makes me want to cry.
And, um, I'm not big on crying.
So instead of dwelling on the fact that there is still so much to do, that we are running out of boxes, that hubby will be gone next week leaving the remainder of the packing to me, that I still have to run a household in the piles of drivel around me, I've decided to try to focus on something much sweeter.
Like candy canes. And what they represent this year to me.
Hope. And a new home. I will always remember moving right before Christmas, and not only decorating our new house with our everyday things but also with our Christmas decorations.
And that, my lovely readers, is why I'm focusing on candy canes. They're my salvation.
Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
As for me, I'll be wishing I had the NFL Network so I could watch my Broncos tomorrow night. *sigh*
Countdown To Move Date: 10 Days!
Ohh there are so many. I could write a book.
But for now, I'll just keep it simple.
I packed for a while this morning. Really. I did. But it got old. Fast. I'm sick of boxes, packing tape, tissue, newspaper, bubble wrap (yes, folks, I'm even sick of bubble wrap), and well, anything that goes along with packing.
Not to mention the high I've got from the ginormous permanent marker.
So a little while I sat down to make a new hat for Snowy McFlurry. While I like the stocking cap I originally made, I thought a top hat would be more like the idyllic Snowman.
So I grabbed some Red Heart Symphony that I had left over from when I made my nephew's Triceratops and just created. What a nice break from packing!
Brandy said she wanted to see it, so that means pictures! And being the photographer I am (well, when I'm not feeling lazy about photos like I have been lately) I just had to set up something special.
The background is our Advent Calendar. We got it a few years ago from L.L. Bean. It's a little wooden cupboard about 18" w x 13" h. When you open the two front doors, there are 24 little pull drawers that all have a holiday picture painted on them. There's enough room in each drawer for about 4-5 small pieces of candy - like Hershey's Kisses.
So um, about 35 pictures later... Here he is!
*sigh*
Now that that's done, I suppose I'd better get my tooshie back to packing. Uggh. Just the thought of it makes me want to hurl.
We have a place to live!! WOOHOO! We just found out yesterday that our application was accepted!
Sooo.... do you want details? Yes?? RIGHT!
We leased a beautiful townhouse about 20 minutes away from where hubby's job is. It's in a quiet little neighborhood and nearby is a GREAT park with with tennis & basketball courts, hockey rink, softball field and a huge playground. How perfect for two little boys? (And one big boy for that matter - hubby loves to play outside!)
So here's the outside. (This photo taken from the broker's website, though I added the text and the shaded areas.) It's a LOT bigger than it looks in this pic.
(All photos are clickable.)
And here is the kitchen:
Sorry about the weird color cast in some of these. I wish I'd have brought my big flash with me.
And the living room area. My boys were having too much fun jumping in front of my lens when we were out looking at houses. (Please excuse the black out on my oldest son's face... privacy and all that.)
And now we move on to the upstairs. (There's MUCH more to the downstairs area, but I was so excited while looking through this I didn't get pictures of everything.)
Here's C's room: (the color cast in these next two pictures is true color. The others were all way off because it was dim in there and I didn't have the proper lights with me.)
And T's room: (we let him pick which one he wanted.)
And here's the upstairs main full bath. This will be shared between the boys.
And now moving on to the best parts! Hubby's and my room!!
And the walk in closets!!
So anyway, the specs. It's a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom (2 full and one half bath) townhouse. It's only 3 years old and has all brand new appliances, including full size Washer and Dryer upstairs between the bedrooms. There's an attached 2 car garage (which will be SO NICE!)
Actually, the whole place will be nice. It's so much bigger than what we've got here.
Silly as it may seem, since we're moving so close to Christmas, hubby and I are already planning on where we're going to put our Christmas decorations - where the best spot for the tree will be, etc.
And oh! Central AIR! We've had a wall unit for the last 5 and a half years we've been here and we just never got cool enough, especially at night. I can't wait to have that luxury.
So anyway, those are the pics of our new house! Sorry about the weird color casts. The walls are really a creamy white and the carpet upstairs is all a soft beige (or pretty much how they look in the pics of the boys' rooms.) The downstairs carpet is a bit darker brown color and the walls are the same creamy white in there. When I asked the broker if we could paint, he asked what color I was thinking of. I said, "Well, maybe a pretty khaki?" He jubilantly replied, "I would LOVE it if you painted it khaki!!" yay!
I'll get much better shots when we're moved up there and get settled in. Until then, these are what I've got!
I joined the Snowman CAL on Crochetville this morning and finished my little guy just minutes ago.
Isn't he cute? He stands about 2 1/2 inches tall.
I designed him from start to finish and I am so happy with how he turned out. Especially since I haven't really done much crocheting at all lately... *sheepish grin*
So for the details:
Pattern: Snowy McFlurry, my own design
Yarn: Bernat Baby fingering weight in a shimmering "White", an unknown red with silver metallic thread worsted weight, white worsted weight, and orange embroidery floss, small amount of each
Hooks: Steel size 1 for head/body, steel size 2 for carrot nose, H for hat and scarf
Started: November 18, 2006
Finished: November 18, 2006
Dimensions: 2 1/2" tall
I'll post the pattern tomorrow along with some good news!
** UPDATE! **
Snowy McFlurry Pattern
What you'll need:
Yarn: Bernat Baby fingering weight in a shimmering "White", a red with silver metallic thread worsted weight, white worsted weight, and orange embroidery floss, small amount of each
Hooks: Steel size 1 for head/body, steel size 2 for carrot nose, H for hat and scarf
Eyes: 4mm ball beads
Stuffing: small amount of polyfil
You'll be working in continuous rounds: do not join. Use a stitch marker for the 1st stitch of each round.
Carrot Nose:
with embroidery floss & steel size 2 hook:
Rnd 1: Ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd ch from hk.
Rnd 2: sc in next, 2 sc in next around (6)
Rnd 3-4: sc in each around, ss to join, leave 12" tail to sew to head and set aside.
Head/Body:
Crochet from bottom up with fingering weight yarn and steel size 1 hook:
Rnd 1: Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook.
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each around. (12)
Rnd 3: repeat rnd 2 (24)
Rnd 4: sc in each of next 3, 2 sc in next around (30)
Rnd 5: sc in each of next 4, 2 sc in next around (36)
Rnd 6: sc in each of next 5, 2 sc in next around (42)
Rnd 7: sc in each of next 6, 2 sc in next around (48)
Rnd 8-15: sc in each around
Rnd 16: sc in each of next 6, sc in next 2 tog to decrease (42)
Rnd 17: sc in each of next 5, sc in next 2 tog (36)
Rnd 18: sc in each of next 4, sc in next 2 tog (30)
Rnd 19: sc in each of next 3, sc in next 2 tog (24)
Rnd 20: sc in each of next 2, sc in next 2 tog (18)
Rnd 21: sc in each around (18)
** stuff body with polyfil **
Rnd 22: sc in each of next 2, 2 sc in next (24)
Rnd 23: sc in each of next 3, 2 sc in next (30)
Rnd 24: sc in each of next 4, 2 sc in next (36)
Rnd 25-29: sc in each around
Rnd 30: sc in each of next 4, sc in next 2 tog to decrease (30)
Rnd 31: sc in each of next 3, sc in next 2 tog (24)
Rnd 32: sc in each of next 2, sc in next 2 tog (18)
** sew eyes & nose to head and embroider mouth **
** stuff head with polyfil **
Rnd 33: sc in next, sc in next 2 tog (12)
Rnd 34: sc in next 2 tog around (6)
If necessary, stuff head more with polyfil, then close.
Hat:
With red worsted weight yarn & H hook:
Rnd 1: ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook.
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each around (12)
Rnd 3: sc in next, 2 sc in next (18)
Rnd 4: sc in each of next 2, 2 sc in next (24)
Rnd 5-8: sc in each around
Rnd 9: turn and join white WW. sc in backloop only around.
Rnd 10: sc in both loops around.
Finish off and turn cuff of hat up.
Scarf:
with red worsted weight yarn & H hook:
Ch 40.
Put two ends together and wrap around neck.
Thread ends through loop and pull tight.
To finish:
Add blusher to cheeks and a pom pom to hat.
**Please note! This pattern is untested so if you find an error, please let me know! **
And don't forget to come back and tell me if you make one - I'd LOVE to see your Snowy McFlurry!!
So we're making yet another trip up to good old Minne-SNOW-ta tomorrow. This time we're going to be looking at houses to rent.
We've got five meetings set up between noon and 6. I'm really excited about these. I think one of them is a single family residence home and the others are really nice upscale townhouses. But not apartment-type townhouses. They're more like duplex townhouses.
And BIG. Which will be nice, because even though our current apartment is just under1200 square feet, we've totally grown out of it.
Let me first just say that looking for a new place to live up in Minnesota has been OH such a joy.
Did you catch the "well-hidden" sarcasm, people?? You should have, because the sentence was laced with it. Heavy heavy sarcasm.
We woke our asses up early Saturday morning at 3 am. Why? Well, we were supposed to drive up Friday night and then wake up at a decent hour on Saturday and go to our appointments.
But Mother Nature had other plans. You see, she must have thought it would be funny to throw a huge snow, sleet, and ice storm blanket over southeastern Wisconsin Friday afternoon. Which rendered all of our area completely inoperable in a motor vehicle. So after driving for 45 minutes and only getting to a distance that's really only 15 minutes away (not to mention slipping and sliding badly, even in a four wheel drive vehicle), we turned around and went home.
And like I said, woke up before man should see the light (or dark) of day and proceeded on our way.
So we get there, and saw about 10 different places in the span of 6 hours. A few were townhouses, most were apartments. Out of those 10, we only liked 3.
I'll start with the 7 that were total jokes. Oh no, I'm not kidding. Hubby and I were biting our cheeks while looking at these to try not to laugh.
I can't tell you how many leasing agents tried to convince us that:
- small rooms were really "large"
- a very small enclosed box with a couple of poles was actually a "walk-in closet"
- a staircase that was only 16" wide really WAS wide enough to get bedroom furniture up
- a wall air conditioner will actually cool the entire apartment without the use of additional fans (No it will NOT. In our current apartment we have a wall AC unit and we ALWAYS have to use tons of additional fans to even get some semblance of a cooler room.)
- four cupboards and about two square feet of counter space was a "big" kitchen
And the worst one of ALL!
We were walking through this apartment that seemed ok: It had 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, nice large living room and spacious kitchen. Everything was going pretty well. Until.
The woman that was showing us around opened her mouth and said the most ridiculous thing ever:
"Children under the age of 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult AT ALL TIMES on the premises."
Hubby and I almost choked.
WHAT?!?! Our oldest just turned 8. He's been going outside on his own around our neighborhood with his friends since he was 5. We send him outside with a walkie-talkie two-way radio and he checks in with us every half hour or so. He's not allowed to go in any of his friends' houses without asking me first.
Granted, we live out in the country. REALLY out in the country. So we felt safe in letting him outside by himself for short periods of time here. But still. He's 8 now. And VERY responsible. He follows our rules and the other parents all say he sets a good example for their kids.
And this woman was telling us that he couldn't go outside on the complex grounds without having either my hubby or me with him? He'd HATE that!
We almost walked out right then and there. But hubby and I aren't typically rude people, so we stayed. But we agreed that place is one we will DEFINITELY not be giving a second glance to.
Anyway, about the 3 we liked. They're really nice. But. I don't know... there's just something that I guess I'm looking for that they haven't got. And I'm not sure what it is. But I'd hate to contract a lease, move, and then find something better.
So we're now looking at renting a house instead. I've got an appointment Wednesday night at 5:30 to see one that looks FANTASTIC. I'll make a few more appointments that day - might as well make that long ass drive worth it.
Miles and Miles of Entrelac.
Mmmmm....
Lady E is coming along nicely. I haven't worked on her in a few days because I've had so many other things going on.
Which brings me to another thing...
Remember this post?
Brace yourselves. I can finally talk about this!
Drum Roll.... dddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
We're moving!
That's right! Hubby was offered a fantastic job offer up in Minnesota that is just far too good to turn down.
I'm so excited about this. I mean, I love Wisconsin. It's beautiful and my sons' school is just amazing. BUT, it's time for a change. Hubby and I are ready to move. We are really looking forward to Minnesota life.
Well, I could do without the snow. I mean, we have snow here, but they have S-N-O-W up there.
Don'cha know? *wink*
So life for me right now is all about knitting and packing, packing and knitting.
I'll keep you posted with more updates. Wish me luck!
That is, if I don't get lost in all the boxes.
Or if I don't spend all my time popping the bubble wrap.
Happy Birthday, T!
Here's a big birthday wish to my wonderful son who's turning 8 today.
Love you lots!
Isn't this hat sweet? It's for my 2 and a half year old niece. My sister-in-law asked me to make her a hat as she's had trouble finding one that would fit. We went Monday to look for yarn and my SIL picked out a bright pink Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby D.K., a very soft yarn that just about matched her jacket.
I used this Braided Hat Pattern to make it, which is, by the way, a great pattern.
I know what you're all thinking.. why does it look kind of ... odd just above the ribbing? That's because the ribbing was added on after I had thought I was finished with the hat. The pattern starts at the ribbing and goes up from there. I thought I'd done enough pattern repeats before I started decreasing for the crown, but when I finished off and tried it on my younger son (whose head is about the same size as my niece's) it didn't cover his ears. Panic!
But then I thought, why can't I just pick up stitches at the cast-on at the ribbing and go down from there? Which is what I did.
Unfortunately, this left my original rounds of ribbing looking like 5 rounds of mistakes. Poo. Oh well. I think those beautiful braided cables make up for it.
And let's take a look at those!
Aren't they gorgeous? This was my first time really doing cables. I've done a few practice swatches, but nothing serious. But I figured I'd add another notch to my imaginary knitting experience belt with these. I loved doing them! Tedious, yes. Mathematical counting, yes. Ahh.... good times.
SIL brought her two kids over last night to Trick Or Treat with my boys and I showed her the hat then, which was still on the needles with about five rounds of ribbing to go. She said she loved it! I was relieved. When she asked me if I'd make a hat, she didn't tell me what she wanted it to look like, she just said for me to "go with my creative genius", to quote her. I don't know about that, but I sure was nervous about whether she'd like this pattern or not.
When we were looking at yarns, she saw a boucle she liked and said she'd like to have a little texture, but it was far more than she wanted to spend. Since she chose a smooth yarn, I decided to give her that texture with the cables.
And on a funny note... I tried it on my younger son this morning to make sure it would be long enough to cover the ears and it's perfect! Yay!
But then he asked if it was for him. I said, "No, honey. Do you want Momma to make you a hat?" He nodded and said, "Mmmhmmm." I asked him what he wanted it to look like and he replied, "Like [M]'s hat."
When I asked him what color, he said, "Bright! Yellow!"
Oh, good lord.
