Sigh

Tomorrow is Halloween, people. Oy. I have no costume for my kid, no candy to dole out, the punkins are uncarved, and we have an appointment tonight. I should totally not be wasting time going to work when I have this much to do.
We're making lists about what we want to do with our house. There are still projects to be done in almost every room, and we're looking at the best ways to use our space, make our place as cozy and homey as possible, and enjoy the heck out of it, since we've decided to stay. (The appointment tonight is with a pool contractor, which will go a LOOOOOOONG way toward making this house livable in the summertime.) VUBOQ's recent pottery is inspiring me with the color (I haven't stopped thinking about the rose, blue and brown combo of the coffee mug since he posted it), and we're talking about flooring and colors in the bedrooms and office now. We have a little bit of a schedule for at least the guest room - it needs to be livable by Christmas since we have a series of family and friends coming to stay from Christmas week through the end of spring. Gimme some color ideas, y'all! It's currently a dark sagey green, but as it has one north-facing window and is a rather narrow room, it's pretty dark. Ultimately it will be transformed into a shared office for DH and me (when we turn what is currently his office into a better guest room) so it can't be anything DH will veto. Furniture so far is medium to dark wood. I'm thinking a medium golden peachy color. (VUBOQ's color combo is being saved for MY bedroom! DH is going to have to deal with the rose walls, he gets no say. Okay, he gets a little say, but I'll probably get my way anyway.)
Knitting proceeds apace. Same ol' same ol'. Bor. ing. All the cool kids are knitting with beads and I WANNA! I could do the votives but it's not the same. Wahhhhh. I shall continue to knit away on my WIPs, because do you see? That little counter on the sidebar? 56 days to Christmas, and counting.

Over and out.

Well, it's finished. The reason I hesitated to mention the idea that we were planning to move to California in the first place, several months ago. Friday we walked away from the deal and told the broker and the real estate agent we were no longer interested in the property. That's not entirely true - we were still interested in the property, but we weren't interested in jumping through any more (ever more shady) hoops, increasing fees and doubled closing costs, a monthly mortgage payment that was suddenly $500 more than they'd estimated, and my lack of job. Today was the last day of the extension for closing, and we told them that due to all of the above, we were no longer able to purchase the house.
The realtor and the broker were...unhappy. I am thanking my lucky stars that they had DH's cell phone number and not mine.
I was so thrilled to have the weight off my shoulders that I was bouncing off the walls all afternoon. I still think DH is sad about it, and to be honest, I am a little too, but it seems that when something is so painfully difficult, maybe it was never meant to be.
So, we're going to take the rest of the down payment and closing costs, finish paying off some debts, have a little fun, and finish what we'd started here at home. I think the thing I learned best from this whole exercise is what I was no longer willing to pay for. We downsized our life and our expenses quite a bit to finance this operation, and I'm not willing to let myself get back to where we were. I like living within my means. It's a new thing for me.

Part of the "have a little fun" was to go to the first Tucson wool festival. (Actually, there's been one at Withers' farm for several years, and that was today also, but this is the first time there's been a festival sponsored by the guild.)
I left my camera and my wallet (!) in the car whilst walking around, but after lunch (at the Cow Palace nearby, natch) I remedied the wallet situation and visited my new BFF, Ken. Check out my new pretties.





Orifice hook, lap bowl and supported spindle. I thought the supported style might allow me to spin finer stuff. (Like the baby camel that Lynn In Tucson is currently trying to convince me to blend with silk.) You know, once I learn how to use it.
And of course, the obligatory fiber-on-feet shot.

Doing a little part

A few bloggers I enjoy have gotten on the intarwebs to tell us all to vote NO on Prop 8. Alas, I cannot do this. (ETA: I CAN make a donation. See here for a really good reason why.) As much as I would like to travel to CA to cast my ballot to strike down constitutionalized discrimination, I am not a resident yet. So, if you are a resident, do please see through all the hype and lies that the opponents are spewing and strike down that bit of bile. The world can only get better if there's more love in it.
I CAN, however, toddle over to my local Arizona voting place and say NO ON 102! Prop 8 in CA is getting all sorts of airtime everywhere, but here in lil ol' AZ, 102 is quietly sliming along like a slug, and I'm disgusted. Here's my biggest qualm with the whole idea - why the hell does anyone CARE who else gets married? Do I give a rat's ass about two guys calling each other husband and being recognized as such by the state? (Well, yes, I do, which is why I'm voting NO, but you know what I mean.) It doesn't affect me ONE BIT who else gets married around here. Those people who will wring their hands and say it devalues marriage should look around and see what marriage looks like in the news in this country. Check out these people. They're all legal, and doing a great part for the institution of marriage. How about this guy? How about the couple (can't find the link now) who came up with the plot to sell their 6 yr old into sex slavery for a mobile home and a car? Are they upholding the values of marriage? Are they thinking of the children? If we're worried about the state of marriage, why isn't adultery and divorce illegal? (Tell me that one, Anita Bryant.) Are we straight married people worried that someone will take away our Members Only jackets? C'mon, people, we're better than this. Sorry to have to argue this, but "because all humans deserve basic rights" is apparently not enough of a reason.
/political rant

And now for fibery news.
Um, I got nuthin'. No wait! I got sock batts! Custom blended by Lynn in Tucson, who borrowed a drum carder and all the wool bearing animals within a hundred miles felt a shiver of fear. (I think if she weren't having so much fun making this stuff for herself she'd have a lovely etsy shop. I for one would shop there.)



(No, there aren't sparkles blended into the fiber, those came from the tissue paper it was wrapped in.)

I'm still knitting along on my projects, and they look roughly the same as before, only longer. Exciting stuff, I know. I was thrilled to find not two but FOUR more balls of the alpaca I'm using for Faina. I was a little concerned that it was going to be too short, since I'm just shy of half way as it's written and it's about two feet long. I'll be adding a repeat to that puppy now that I can. I have 12/30 repeats done on Aunt Helen's scarf, and a few more rows on Linden. Chugging away, I am.

Mama's canine helper.

Sunday...

It's Sunday and I have no desire to do anything today. DH went to a Harley rodeo yesterday and I stayed home and cleaned the house and knitted on the sea silk. Today I'm done with the cleaning, and the DH is doing more adobe, and I really just feel like laying around like a slug.
First, though, I have to show you what the mailman brought me.



Cookie sent me her gorgeous Shetland Triangle. There may also have been chocolate, but there is no photographic evidence of that. I remember her saying something about a modelled shot, but since "no desire to do anything" includes showering, and also I have a cold sore the size of Montana, there will be no modelling. Maybe later when I've finished Linden and can model them both.
For now, I MAY consider going through some of my fabric stash that lives in the Bug's bedroom, and maybe pack up and purge his closet. (Poor kid has never actually USED his own closet for anything.) I might also think about baking some Halloween cookies. I might also just turn on the AC (yes, really) and veg until Bug is finished with Bee Movie (ugh) and I force him to actually go outside and play.

ETA: Would anyone out there with experience reviewing résumés like to take a peek at mine and give me pointers?

Hoots.

That's what you are. All hoots.
I'm going to have to "get" Cookie for that, but I'll have to let the ideas percolate a little. I wish Stacey was going to be around - she seems like she'd be good at revenge. Maybe I should get Joan involved. She loves Cookie, so she might not be inclined, but I get the feeling she hides her evil side well. Plus, Cookie trusts her so I bet she knows ALL the good secrets. Hahahahahahaha....
I especially liked all the comments that said, "You don't know me but Cookie said to come here and I always do what Cookie says."
Hee.
Anyway, I had a great birthday, in no small part due to the cute comments y'all left. We had dinner with my family (including blackberry cobbler, YUM) my husband managed to find me a new coffee maker AND not break the bank (after 8 years I had no idea the man could shop bargains) AND I got a new battery for my camera. All those pictures from last post came from my cell phone. They are exceedingly nice, especially for a cell phone camera, but I do miss my regular camera. Now if I could just find the charger...
Alas, that's all she wrote. I haven't done much knitting the last few nights, haven't taken any new pictures since I haven't charged my new battery, mostly I've just been coasting along. Tonight I have no plans so maybe I'll get a few rows on some project that I love.

Sunday recap

This was a nice weekend, I'll say. The weather was fantastic thanks to a fast moving storm that brought rain and wind to the area, then cleared out and left blue skies. (I don't mind blue skies when the temperature is nice.) Yesterday we had a high of 82, and today we never made it out of the 60s. HEAVEN.
Yesterday we drove down to Willcox to let Bug run in the punkin patch with his buddy S. They must have run miles, back and forth, S's mom and DH chasing them while S's dad and I stood in the field and watched them and laughed. (Hey, Mama don't run, and C told me he didn't want to just leave me standing in the field. Heh, smart man.)



Finally the only way we could get them back to the tractor for the hayride back to the barn was to carry them.



Two of the three loves of my life. (The third is currently not available for closeups without heavy-duty equipment.)



The boys were in heaven with all the tractors.



Today I did my housecleaning and sat on my butt looking out the window and knitting on various projects. It was all I could do to put the sea silk aside for the beaverslide or the alpaca, but I managed it. The alpaca doesn't photograph well, mostly because I'm too lazy to pin it out to make it look right.



Linden is just a big rectangle (well, truth be told it's a trapezoid) but here it is.



It's the sea silk that I'm loving most right now.



Of course, being lace it looks like boiled ass without blocking, but I'm loving it. I switched from scarf #1 to scarf #2, as I liked the waviness better. That picture does nothing for the color of the yarn, though. Here's one that shows a little better the glow of that fine stuff.

It was the brownies.

I went with the brownies. I make them from scratch and I altered the recipe a little, because I think as it's written they come out too greasy.



I hadn't bothered to make them the other day - by the time I finished the photos for the last post, I wasn't hormonal or hating anymore. Wednesday, though, I got some pretty awful news regarding my job, and how said job will not allow me to telecommute from California even though they'd originally said I could. We hates them, my precious, and we bakes brownies to compensate. So, in the midst of our fine economy, I'll be unemployed after my maternity leave ends. (At least my boss, who had no say in the final decision, offered a good reference and called HR to make sure I didn't need to do anything special to still keep my maternity leave intact. Yay.)

Anyway, I also have wool and sea silk to comfort me. I spent some time on Linden and I petted my two skeins of sea silk. I do believe I'll be casting on one of the scarves soon, because... well, it's sea silk, I'm pissy, and I wanna. So there. My Knitpicks order arrived yesterday and I now have the needles to do one of the scarves. (The other scarf needs the Faina needles, so I'll need to haul on her soon.)


(That's Moss and Agate, and Blogless Lynn, I have stored them in a secure offsite location with guards and cameras...)

(I also got my chart keeper from Knitpicks, and I can say without reservation that I love it wholeheartedly and it might just be one of my favorite ever accessories. Seriously.)

I may have been tugging on the Beaverslide a little hard last night.

Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.

Or brownies, as the case may be.

Today, I gotsa whole lotta nuthin'. My hormones are kicking in, full force, and it forces me to alternate between weepiness and hating everyone and everything. Mostly I feel the hate. I also feel the urge to bake. I don't know if the two are related.

Also, I have truly gone over to the dark side. I bought crocs. I kindof love them so long as I don't actually LOOK at them.


(BTW, the color in this photo is not good - my skin is not terribly sallow, I am wearing bright lime green socks. Yes, I really am. With blue shoes, and brown pants. And a pink shirt. If Bug has taught me one thing, it's that "matched" is relative.)

They make good preggo clogs - I can wear socks and have a more enclosed shoe, they're loose enough that they won't cut off circulation if my ankles swell, and they didn't cost me a gajillion dollars. Keep your Louboutins; I have blue rubber mary janes. Bug wanted to buy some too, but since he has many pairs already, I told him no. When we got home, he immediately kicked off his (croc) flip-flops and put on his blue (croc) clogs, and said proudly, "Look, I have blue shoes too!" The kid is a (croc) fiend.

Knitting-wise, I am making progress on both Linden and Faina. I would like very much to start knitting on the Sea Silk which came over the weekend but Faina is taking up my size 4 tips, and my size 3 circ hasn't arrived from Knitpicks yet. (I know it has been mentioned before, but how on earth is it that I can order from Knitpicks, and two days later I order from The Loopy Ewe, and Loopy's package gets to me before I even get a shipping notice from Knitpicks? Is Loopy that good, or is Knitpicks that ridiculous, or both? I swear Kelly has a spot in the warehouse where people put things to "marinate" or something before they officially get mailed.) Anyway, I'm going to have to ration the sea silk a little or I'll never want to finish the horribly scratchy alpaca Faina (cuz seriously? everything is scratchy next to sea silk). We won't even talk about the Beaverslide - it's yummy, but y'all, it's no sea silk.

Also, I am sad. I ordered Nancy Bush's new Estonian Lace book several months ago, thinking it would be a lovely present to myself near my birthday. Today I got news that it's going to be a month late at least. Alas. (Not that I have TIME to knit any Estonian lace these days, but STILL.)

And in a Whose Kid Is This moment, here is some kid:



Sitting happily on my couch, watching my TV, surrounded by my son's books and colors and paper. He's not my kid though - he wouldn't eat the caramel apple unless I took the caramel off. The weirdo.

Saturday at last...

First, if you're inclined in this heinous economy, consider sending a few dollars to fund the project of a teacher in a low-income area. And just maybe Alice will remake the Love is a Battlefield video.
I made it through the week, surprisingly. I finished my heinous deadline (the one that, had I missed, I likely would have been sacked for), made good progress on the next one and even learned a trick to work from home that allows me to finish things without having to jump through hoops, so my next deadline should be okay too.
I saw the midwife yesterday and was happy to see that even though the Noob is measuring big, I haven't gained any more weight (I gained too quickly in the second trimester and they suggested I "slow it down" - don't worry LynnM, I'm eating PLENTY) and my blood pressure is great. I'm pretty thrilled about that stuff.
I even went to City Court AGAIN to get ANOTHER copy of my speeding ticket so I could take care of driving class. (DH threw it away while cleaning out my car. I'd be mad if he weren't already doing me a favor, and if I had taken care of it when I got it, or better yet when I got the ticket originally, it wouldn't have been an issue.)
Nora told me to take it easy and stop nesting for the weekend. I wish I could. I washed walls today. I washed THE SOAP DISPENSER, people. I clearly have a problem.
Knitting-wise, I made some progress on Linden whilst sitting in City Court. Aran-weight yarn makes for quick knitting. :-D It also makes for sore wrists, so I've been alternating Linden with Faina. Size 4 needles after size 9 needles feel awfully strange, but it's nice alternating the different textures of the super soft alpaca and the chunky, tweedy wool, too.
Some graphic proof that I purl looser than I knit, even when I'm making a conscious effort to tighten up... I manually tightened the last six stitches in a row of purls on Linden and got this:



Two extra inches of yarn from six purls.

And a sure sign of fall:

Okay okay

So everyone noticed my tagline-o-swears. Sheesh. Subtlety is lost on you people. o.0
(Actually, that was a line from the beginning of Love Actually.)
Anyway, it's changed, and I've had the Vatican Rag stuck in my head for two days now.
Yesterday I promptly returned Lynn in Tucson's size 7s (and she only laughed at me like six times in the ten minutes I was there - I consider it a success) and came home and swatched with what I think are 9s. I think they're 9s because my dear son has managed to lose my needle gauge, and I'm not entirely sure I'm reading my calipers correctly. Either way, whatever they are, I get within half a stitch across 4" on the washed swatch, so I'm calling it good. Since it's supposed to be a loose coat anyway, I think the extra half stitch every 4" won't be noticed too much.
In other news, I threw my restraint out the window and ordered yarn for two lace scarves for my aunts for Christmas. SIGH. They're lovely but simple, and they each use a single skein of Sea Silk, so I think they're not too ambitious. I'll be doing the gold scarf (in this - Moss) and the green scarf (in this - Agate) from this post. I hope they're not too ambitious to allow me to finish them, my other WIPs plus Linden, pack a whole house, have a baby, and move to a new state in the next, um, 12 weeks...