Finished: Storm Cloud Shawlette

Hey, would you look at that - knitting! It feels good to be knitting again, and especially good to finish a project. This is just a simple little pattern (which I actually made smaller than written) but it was just want I needed to get my knit mojo flowing again.

I also used up a ball of stash yarn which I must confess felt just as good as finishing a project.






Pattern: Storm Cloud Shawlette (Ruffle-less Version) by Hanna Breetz On Ravelry here.
Yarn: Elsepeth Lavold Silky Wool, 1 skein
Needles: size 6US Clover Bamboo circs
Started/Finished: May 5, 2009/May 9, 2009


I probably should have used bigger needles for a larger, lacier shawl but I'm happy enough with how it turned out. I knit most of this during the first few nights in our new house when I was distracted by all of the "stuff" - things in boxes, things that needed to be done, things I hadn't gotten used to yet. You can see my distraction in the photo below.




The bottom edge of the shawl is supposed to be straight and mine is more scalloped. I think this was caused by my not really keeping track of the number of plain rows between the increase rows. Whatever. It works, and looks, fine. I think I'll just call it a design element.

This is definitely something I'd knit again. I think it would make a great gift. (When knit correctly, of course.)

The Boss.

Springsteen and the E Street Band, Chicago, 5/12/2009



Our seats, while in the nosebleed section, were actually closer than it appears in this (crappy) cell phone photo. It looks like we were sitting in the rafters or dangling from a helicopter or something.

Awesome show. I wish I could go again!

Springtime (Finally, or maybe Sort of?)

I’m here, still unpacking and trying to find a place for everything. I am itching to work on my craft room but have been responsible and tried to finish the kitchen and bedroom closets/dressers first. Also, I’ve been trying to make the exterior a little more presentable.

There is a lot of garden space here, which has unfortunately been ignored for at least the last two years. Needless to say the beds are a weedy, overgrown, garbage-y mess. I started fixing up the space next to the garage first since it is the most visible from the street.

I didn’t think to take a before photo, but imagine this space full of dead plants, old mulch, and half-covered hosta shoots.



I still need to buy new mulch, but it looks much nicer. You can see how much the hostas have grown in just a week now that they are not buried under a blanket of rotting mulch:




(The large varigated hosta is a new one I purchased to fill in the gaps between the existing shoots.)

I also have an assortment of veggies to go into the back garden next to the patio. It has still been too cold here to put them in yet.




Mostly my usual suspects of various tomatoes and peppers but this year they will be planted in the ground instead of in containers on a balcony. I am very excited by this even though I now have to worry about pest/wildlife control.

There are also a few plants I’m going to try out just for fun since I have no idea how well they will grow in my garden. On the right side of the photo there is an okra plant, an eggplant plant, and a small (“sweet baby”) watermelon vine. What can I say, I was feeling ambitious. Steve would really like some strawberry plants but I am leery that there will be no good way to keep rabbits away from them.

Oooh, there is also a flowering Cherry Blossom tree right next to the front door. The scent is amazing and I want to try a get few nice photos before the blossom disappear. It is storming right now – hopefully there will still be flowers left in the morning!

Moving, Pt. 2

I just remembered that I snapped this photo of Lennie, my spinning wheel being packed to move.

I realize that the folding Lendrum is built to be folded and moved around, but the only time I've done it is when I brought him home from The Fold. Still safely enclosed in the original box with padding, I might add.





So. Bottom of back seat folded up to cover the space over the foot wells, blanket wrapped around, seat-belted in. If I owned a child seat he probably would have been strapped into that. It was only a five minute drive but I was relived to see that he didn't move at all and came out of the journey perfectly intact.

Me? Neurotic? Nahhh... It was justified, since I think this is the most expensive thing we own besides the cars.

Minor Location Adjustment

Notice: No knitting or spinning content below.

We moved last weekend. There are still a few random things (and a fridge full of food) at the old apartment, but all of the necessities and furniture are at the new place.

This is probably the easiest move I’ve ever done. That fact can be attributed to the new place being less than two miles from the old place, and the fact that we have possession of the old apartment until the 15th of May and didn’t have to do a final cleaning while trying to load the truck.

Steve and I picked up the truck at 9am Saturday and had everything loaded (from a second floor apartment), transported, unloaded, and the truck returned by 1pm. Packing the truck was like a life-size game of Tetris. And we won, since besides a floor lamp tipping over nothing else moved an inch. (Some of my forgotten muscles are still sore today though.)



Steve is glad to be done with carrying boxes, but I think the hard part is left – putting things away. I can’t find anything I need, even the box marked “Important – Stuff We Need”.

I can’t wait to have the living room set up and be able to knit and watch TV again!