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I’m over here!
Archive for the 'e t c' Category
After a brief blog hiatus, I return with very little knitting done. My drive out west was such a big opportunity, yet despite everyone telling me how gorgeous the drive was, no one could have prepared me for just how beautiful it would be. I was glued to the car windows, obssesing over landscapes and every hint of mountains in the distance. Mountains! I love them. My heart stops a little every time Mt. Hood or St. Helens comes into view. As a girl from the flattest regions of the midwest, they have become my new obsession. A lifelong love, I think.
Portland has been good to me. I am staying with friends and am completely enchanted by their kids. Two years old and eleven months. They are lovely and crazy, funny and the sweetest things imaginable (obviously I don’t deal with the diapered, nap-taking monsters that surely live inside them!). They are my biggest distractions day to day. I’d rather play monster and run around than finish a sock or two. It’s just more fun.
I am halfway through a four-part interview process with a company out here. I am really intimidated by their methods and the interviews are really long. I usually interview well, and apparently still do, seeing as they asked me back for the third time. I can’t believe there is a third time involved at all, let alone a fourth, but there are a lot of people to talk to. I didn’t feel at my best in the second round, but it worked out okay. It’s grueling. I bet the FBI doesn’t have interviews this thorough. Wish me luck this Wednesday.
What I’m working on now:
a) Finishing the last half of the final pomatomus sock. It’s been painfully neglected, but I can’t focus enough on the pattern right now. A little darling constantly asking, “Whatcha doin’? Hey Megan? Whatcha doin’ ???” It’s lovely she wants to be so involved with everything, so I don’t mind. It’s more important to talk to her than count my stitches anyhow.
b) Two Clapotis patterns going. One mini scarf, one huge wrap. It’s on size 5 needles and I added eight extra increases. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. Ever. I’m going Clapotis crazy and need a small break.
c) Sweet Pea socks from summer Knitty. I got new sock yarn here at Close Knit, some greenish Jitterbug that intrigued me. I mostly started the sock just to see what the yarn looked like knitted up. I love it.
d) February Baby Sweater from EZ for friends that are anticipating their first baby in September. It’s been an easy knit so far.
Although I haven’t been knitting as much lately, I feel the quality of my knitting has improved. The time I devote is exclusive. I can count in peace, pay attention, sit on the front porch at dusk and just go for it. It’s relaxing and I appreciate it more. It’s a lovely change.
Happy solstice! I hope many happy first days of summer were had.
After an enjoyable and eventful cross-country drive, complete with unplanned car repairs and crappy hotels, I am here. Finally! We’ve been planning this move for two years and all of a sudden I’ve come to this screeching halt. I’m not planning anymore, I’m here, and it’s incredibly surreal. Now Sean just needs to finish up work and get out here too. I miss him like crazy and it’s barely been a week. It’s difficult not to experience this with him, you know? Five more weeks to go.I’ll get back to posting knitting stuff next week. I’m on sock #2 for Pomatomus and rowing along with the Gold Hill Clapotis. I’ve been waiting for new yarn stores…next week I’m going to make the rounds and find a perfect fiber for Ikko, my next project.
Have a good weekend!
Today I leave for a new life.
I look forward,
and everything I see is amazing.
As a knitter, there was very little motivation in my projects until last year. There were scarves and other shining examples of knit-purl rows, and this went on for years. I was a boring, beginning knitter for six years. Then something happened. I wanted more. I wanted to make a shawl, and then another, and then all of a sudden, a hat worked it’s way across my needles. I loved circular knitting. I read books like a crazy woman and taught myself new stitches. I copied patterns out of library books that were way over my head. I didn’t care. I’d figure it out. Knitting websites and blogs began to monopolize all the time I spent on the computer (which was fine), and I loved that I found all these people who understood it was perfectly fine to shush your husband while counting stitches. They were like me and it was fantastic. So because of this late-blooming evolution in personal knitting, I am knitting Clapotis. I would have done it sooner, but I wasn’t here yet. It’s enjoyable and easy and I’m happy to have jumped on the bandwagon. And while many, many knitters before me have slipped and twisted these stitches, I may be the first who has spoken of Clapotis without a shudder-worthy pun.
I am getting a surprising amount of knitting done, in between setting up interviews with jobs that I am completely underqualified for (someone offered me a marketing position at a mortgage company…???) and deciding which shoes I can live without for 4 months (um, none). I finished my first pomatomus sock and am nearly 1/3 of the way through a full-sized Clapotis. Another three increases and I’ll be in the dropped stitch straight rows. My memory card corrupted on me today as I started to take photos, so it will be a few days before I get new ones up. I really don’t know how that sort of thing happens, but it did. Thank god it wasn’t my camera.
Six days left in Illinois. So nervous and excited.
My lovely and completely kick-ass husband made me a cake for my birthday. It is two layers of chocolate cake, with a layer of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in between. Mmm. He’s not usually a cake baker, or really a baker of any kind. That would be me. Oh, and he found a Playmobil “me” at a teacher supply store, with a corresponding modern-ish bed and lamp. Fantastic! He also gave me amazing, thoughtful gifts, as did my friends and family. And we saw Spiderman 3. I’ll save my opinions on that for later. Thank you to everyone for making my birthday wonderful! Tomorrow is Birthday: Part II. We’re going to Shedd Aquarium and then Sean’s taking me to Lula Cafe for dinner. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. He’s really good at birthdays.
!!!
Update: We have now eaten the cake. It is really, really delicious. And the inside of it is pretty. The layers are even and the cross-section is perfect. Seriously. I originally thought it would be one of those “I love it because you made it” kind of situations, but cake + doughnuts = something more people should eat. That will keep America thin!
I’ve been making tons of stuff the past couple of days. Delicious sweet potato “casserole” muffins, raspberry cream cheese buns, cornbread with homemade honey butter (I’ve been on a breakfast food kick lately), as well as one of two socks and a knitting needle organizer. My camera ran out of power yesterday and I need to get new batteries and take some pictures. For some reason, the dock that charges it stopped working and now I have to use regular batteries. Lame. I’ll put up some new posts tomorrow with photos.
Socks are proving to be super easy. I’m not in love with the sock, so once I finish it, I may scrap it and start a more wearable pair. My gauge was a little off and they weren’t as stretchy as the pattern indicated. Oh well! These were mostly a practice pair. I’m hoping to get some new yarn for my birthday so I can try out a couple of new patterns. I love birthdays. My husband, Sean, is the most amazing gift-giver. He always manages to find something I never knew existed, yet if I had known, I would have wanted badly. How do people do that? I’m constantly amazed and always excited for my birthday. Maybe he’ll get me some yarn I never knew existed.
Until tomorrow, I’m off to get my kitchener stitch on…
