Knitting Angel

32 boxes of books

I'm taking a break, waiting for the Relo-cubes to be delivered. The guy was supposed to be here this morning but he's running late. Pretty much everything is packed. The last few things I have are random stuff that has been left out somehow and the electronics (my TV, stereo, printer, internet router, etc.) My life is in a pile of boxes. And the cable guy is coming tomorrow to take away my internet

In all the packing I have discovered lots of things about myself. First of all being that I have a whole lotta books. 32 boxes worth to be exact.

Oh yeah- the picture does not convey even the magnitude of stuff that I have packed. All the closets, the kitchen, the desk, filing cabinets, bathroom, etc. Its all packed.

But anyway back to what the stuff reveals about me: first of all, I am a packrat, (but we already know that already.) I am also sentimental. I never throw away cards- birthday cards, thank you cards, christmas cards, or postcards. (I love postcards- I have them all up on my fridge.) I have way too much in the way of clothes (even after i gave away nine bags of the stuff it still feels overwhelming.)

I have lots of random knick-nacks, and I find it impossible to be organized. The first few days of packing I was muttering to myself that I would be better organized next time, and I realized that it would never happen. So I since I can't pledge to be neater I am going to pledge that I am going to throw out more stuff (to help keep the mess at a minimum.) 

I also generate a surprising amount of waste for one person- something I have also pledged to cut down on. I tend to stockpile dry goods, and had so much unopened food when I cleaned out my cabinets. I donated it all to the local food bank, and I think they were amused by the variety of stuff in the donation (everything from peanut butter and tuna to fancy oils and vinegar) but they happily accepted it all.

I thought about keeping all that food and sending it in the cube with the rest of my stuff, but I decided to donate it because it was emblematic of all the excessive buying and waste going on in this apartment. From now on, I want to be more careful about the amount of food I buy. Its a waste of money and food,  and I want to buy local and fresh. I'll be moving to mainly a farming town (basically its farms and a college) so I can switch over to that mode of buying. Its just about living better and less wastefully.

Oh and paper- I have recycled so much paper its unbelievable. So much junk mail and bills that had to be shredded. Horrible amounts of paper. So I am going paperless on all the bills I can- I'm signing up for e-bills through my online banking. Really, we don't need that much paper in our lives- I mean such a waste. 

So these are my new home resolutions: less waste, eat better/buy less food, and throw more stuff away to contain the mess. If I do these things then  I think the next move will be easier.

Throughout all this Milo and Chloe have been stressed.

Chloe mostly hangs out in a corner of the living room and sits around looking distressed. Occasionally she whines and makes faces at me. I keep telling her its gonna be okay, but no doubt she is bugged by all my moving and rustling about, as well as general ill-humor.  (Packing makes me grumpy.) Its a 10 hour car ride for them (and me) and I am worried about how thy will deal. Milo especially hates the car, he yowls pathetically whenever he is in it. I am worried about him, because he'll be in a carrier and won't have the freedom that Chloe will have (she can just lay down in the back seat.) Plus I know that even if I set up a litter box in the back, he won't use it because he'll be just terrorized by the whole ordeal.

Anyway, aside from moving, there has been little else going on in my life. My parents, however, are about to welcome two new members of the family-- they are adopting a set of kittens---sisters from my uncle whose cat had a mess of kittens. The kitty's names will be Mona and Lisa (yes, Mona Lisa- it was my dad's idea, and I have no idea where he came up with these names) they are mostly all black, and will be a bit of a handful for my senior citizen parents. But I am happy for them, I think it will give them something to do, and they have sorely missed their cats after the deaths of Harmony and RC. I think they need the companionship. Plus these kittens have grown up in a house of 2 adults, 3 kids, three dogs (all rat terriers) a bunny and their kitty brothers and sisters. So they are used to just about everything... My mom was so excited when she gave me the news on the phone. They will be coming in two weeks (the weaning is not yet complete.)

Finally, I have pictures of Kiri blocked:

It is really huge- and it came out spectacular- I am so pleased it it- plus it is the softest shawl I have ever felt thanks to the Malabrigo. Amazing.

Well the cubes arrived. They are smaller then I had envisioned but we should be able to fit everything into two of them. It will however, take some clever packing. They cost way less then movers, and I think for inter-state travel, might be the best bargin out there if you don't want to drive a truck.

Well that is all for now folks. My internet will be turned off tomorrow and I will be busy for a few days. I head to Ohio on Tuesday, and I hope to have internet back up by at least a week after that, but that is of course, up to the cable guy.

So that's all for now. I'll be back with pictures and lots of stories from my great Southern-to Midwestern moving adventure. Here's to hoping it goes well.

Mass Chaos/Kiri finished

Half the apartment is packed, and things seem to be progressing rapidly. The cubes will be dropped off on Thursday and we will be loading them and they will leave for Ohio on Monday ( a week from today). I will follow in the car the next day.

I have conquered the closets, and the yarn stash--tomorrow I have to deal with the books. I thought that a week would be plenty of time to pack up an apartment but all of sudden I have a haircut scheduled, a meeting with my advisor, I'm playing a church concert, friends are throwing me a party, random friends are taking me out, and oh yeah, I have to pack. Right. 

The animals are freaked out by the fact that everything is going into boxes and that their little apartment is suddenly crowded. I'm freaked out because it has finally hit that I will be leaving my home of the last five years, and moving to a small town of 7,000 people where I know no one, in a part of the country I am entirely unfamiliar with. I want to freeze up and cry, but I must pack, so I pack. 

Meanwhile, I somehow finished up the Kiri shawl

Here is it off the needles:

It came out looking really big and got a whole lot bigger once I blocked it. Its going to be a good-sized shawl and I am totally happy with it. I am also now finally hooked on shawl knitting. Really. I think I might be in love with the whole process. The Kiri pattern was easy to memorize and "read." And I think I am a much better knitter now then when I first attempted lace (a very sad little flower basket shawl.) I think that crocheting lace with thread has actually helped my lace knitting and I have learned how to better understand my knitting.

All of a sudden all those lovely patterns in "Victorian Lace Today" don't seem so daunting.

Here it is blocking, (wrong side up, because I'm a doofus and tired, but its blocking and you can see the pattern anyhow) surrounded by boxes in my bedroom on an old sheet that I found and have not yet packed. It is lovely, and I am pleased and proud of it. And I am in LOVE with Malabrigo lace yarn. Super easy and soft and a wonder to knit with- really serious love. 

Now that Kiri is done I have no excuses for procrastination. I have the books to deal with then the kitchen (which, thankfully, is a galley kitchen so I never accumulated much kitchen stuff anyway.) And then all the random odds and ends. 

And life goes on and I will head off to Ohio for a new adventure.

Yikes.

Kiri on Speed

My knitting friends who know me would agree with this statement: I'm not much of a lace knitter.

I tend to only knit lace when its in a sweater pattern in some form. I have only knit one lace shawl in my entire knitting career and it was riddled with errors and even after blocking looks like tangled dental floss. Its not so much that I am afraid of lace, or dislike it or anything, its really that I don't have the patience for it. Its a lot of knitting that takes a certain amount of concentration, and frankly, if I have to concentrate on my knitting, I would rather do colorwork. Anyway, the point is, I don't knit lace.

Until I cracked last Thursday. I was in a lys where I stumbled upon some Malabrigo lace. I touched it and savored the color. Next thing I knew, I was walking out with two skeins of it, wound and ready to go. That evening I cast on to the Kiri shawl, and started knitting.

At first I struggled. My brain does not like all the little details of lace knitting, but once the pattern became obvious and started to grow I started moving forward. Don't get me wrong--I had to rip back several times because of mistakes and miscounted stitches, but I eventually found my groove.

I have now knit 6 of the 12 repeats, and its getting easier (although longer)

Right now it looks crumpled and dental-flossy, but I can see how the pattern is coming out and I like the variegation of the purple Malabrigo. Plus its soft and the shawl is becoming addictive. Especially because although I have cleaned out a lot of my apartment, i cannot yet face the demon known as packing. I move in two weeks, but this is such a small space that I don't want to live among boxes for that long. I will start packing in earnest this weekend. Meanwhile I have been knitting lace, like a maniac. 

I don't know what is wrong with me.

Meanwhile another LYS is going out of business-- when I got there pretty much everything was picked over, so I got only a little bit of yarn (some Encore for baby sweaters, because there seems to be no end to all the babies around here) but I also got a fun little tote that was 50% off.

I had a similar little plastic bag when I was a kid, except that it was green. I like that it is big and sturdy and can hold things like a book, some yarn and a lunch. I will be taking a project with me to Ohio in it- jammed into my very full car (I have just realized that with the amount of stuff going into the car, I will be lucky if it all fits)-- mainly because the back seats will be filled with a dog and cat and all their dog and cat paraphernalia. Chloe will chill in the backseat, but Milo hates cars. I fear that we might have to drug him for the 10 hour drive to Ohio.

So last thing to go through and sort out for give-away/donation: shoes. I have so many shoes that I don't wear anymore and a whole lot that have barely ever been worn. Time for those to go.

Meanwhile Milo woke up crazy this morning and poor Chloe is a bit sick to her stomach (she woke me up a few times last night- I don't know why she is sick, but she looks a bit green in the gills.) She just wants to lay around and Milo wants to play, so he's racing around the house like a crazy cat.

 

Crazy cat indeed.

Thoughts on Green: Look Around You.

I am by no means an environmentalist.  I did not grow up in a "green" household so to speak. But I did grow up with parents who respect the earth and the land, and did their best to make the environment a little bit better. It was never about "being green" it was simply about living well and having respect for the land. Its funny that I should speak of "the land" so much, having grown up in America's second largest city, but my father and mother were always people who loved the wilder lands outside of the city. When I was a kid most summers were spent in the back of a truck as we travelled around the remote parts of the west. My older brother has even wilder memories (as my parents were younger with hippie inclinations back then) of bumping along in the old Land Cruiser with the cat and dog in the back as they visited the wilds of Montana and Wyoming. I remember going to Monument Valley and looking down from a bluff at the sheep and scattering of Navajo hogans as a thunderstorm rolled in. So I guess when I speak of the "land" I am talking about all those trips across the desert where I would watch mustangs race across the dry, brown earth. For these reasons, and perhaps because of genetic inclinations (my dad's people hail from a tribe in the Northern Mexican desert) I have always loved the arid, wide lands of the west. The kind of land where you cannot escape the vastness of the world and your own smallness.

That's the point: your own smallness

My dad observes every animal in his front and back yard. He knows their routines, and often he names them. For years we had two feral cats named Red and Tigger that would come by and garbage-can dive. Now there is a crow that loves to take a bath in my dad's sprinkler, who my dad calls Sammy. A hummingbird named Bumper, and Bumper's wife. There is a flock of wild parrots that come by and hang out in the neighbor's tree, cawing and shrieking, and sometimes even talking (they are mostly escaped pets that thrive in LA's mild climate). My dad knows all these animals, and listens to them, paying attention to their comings and goings. He sits on the porch in the morning and watches Sammy take his sprinkler bath. He knows when Bumper will visit the feeder he put up for him. When Bumper took a mate, he excitedly called me, and when he found their nest he would quietly check every day, making sure the eggs were safe. 

One might say that these are simply the predilections of an old man, retired, with nothing to do. But my dad has always been that way. Ever since I could remember, he has quietly observed the world around him. For these reasons, he is an astute reader of both people and animals, and as a quiet person, he has often been left alone with his thoughts. As my mom sometimes jokes "Your father could sit and watch the cactus grow." 

But although we kid Dad, I have always thought I could learn a lot from his way of being. There is, after all, nothing wrong with watching the cactus grow. Or the neighborhood crow take a bath. There is something wonderful about being in the moment, in tune with the world (even if that world is an urban neighborhood with only crows for wildlife.)

The other day I was walking to my car on campus chatting with my dad, when he said to me "My, there is a bird singing quite a song. I can hear it over the cell phone." I paused and looked up to see a songbird twittering on a branch not far from me as I walked. He was loud, but frankly I hadn't noticed him until my dad said something. I said "Dad, you can hear that?" and he said "How could you not?"

How could I not? There I was rushing around and it was my dad that noticed the songbird's song over a cellphone, 3000 miles away, and I, standing three feet from the bird never even noticed? 

So the lesson of this tale, is take time to notice the world around you. The birds and bugs, the crow taking a bath in a puddle in the asphalt... the songbird in the tree. Its a big world, and we are just small little creatures in it.

Having closet space is...

...both a good and bad thing.

When I first moved into this apartment I marveled at the amount of closet space I had. I had a hall closet, a large bedroom closet, a huge utility closet and an outdoor storage closet the size of my old dorm room at the Big H. (Not quite- but it is really really huge.) I moved in a rush, and I never sorted anything before I moved. Thus my closets have become a dumping ground. So my first hassle was the clothing closet. Things are better now with that, and I moved on today to the outdoor closet.

I wish I had gotten a before picture. So think about this: Think about the amount of notebooks, papers, xeroxes, and just plain crap that a person who has been working on a higher education for the last eleven years (oh my gosh eleven years.. anyway) accumulates. Think about it. And think about a person who never throws anything out.

I took out ELEVEN large boxes of papers. ELEVEN. I also found old clothes, slippers, a fish tank, and other random ass stuff in there. An old stereo. An old printer. A dustbuster. Stuff that no longer works, that is all nasty and old and gross.

I threw it all away. Clothes and other stuff that Goodwill could use, I bagged.

This is the closet after:

Imagine it so packed that you could not step in Imagine boxes and bags and crap spilling out. Imagine it being so bad that it is humiliating that I had that much paper, that much waste.

I kept three binders of syllabi, exam notes and annotated bibliographies. Only stuff that I could really use. All my other notes (I found an old calculus textbook. I last failed calculus my freshman year...) were chucked. Its all gone and I don't miss it one bit.

I will be keeping my bike (which needs a major tune-up. It hasn't been ridden in years), the folding craft table, folding chairs, the drying rack and my grocery cart. I am giving away the molded plastic chairs, and the extra logs for the fireplace.

Next up is the crap in the utility closet. That won't be as bad I think-- mainly its more stuff I will give away (do I need that many shoes and handbags?)  I want everything that I am getting rid of chucked by the end of this week. I will start packing next week 

As to why I am keeping the bike and the shopping cart? Well I am planning to radically change my way of living upon moving to Ohio. My goal is to only drive my car once a week. To fill up only once a month. I live within a 5 minute walk to my office at school. The store is only a mile away. The farmer's market and teeny tiny downtown (its like 3 blocks long) are a 10 minute walk. So I will be resurrecting the shopping cart and that is how I will buy my food from here on out-- I will walk with the cart. If I want to go further out of the town I will bike. I will be keeping the car for occasional trips to Cleveland, the airport, and runs to places like Target, Petsmart, etc (the town is so small it has no chain stores in it.) But once I get settled the car is gonna get parked and pretty much stay parked. 

I am doing this for a few reasons. First of all, it will slow down my pace of life and be better for me. (Health-wise) Secondly the price of gas is way too high, and I don't want to pay it if I have to. Third: because I can. I will be living someplace where everything is within a quick walk- so why drive? Why contribute to the gas/enviromental problem? Its a small town- in fact such a small town that Amish and Mennonites who live in the southern part of the county come up in horse and buggy to sell their pies.

So besides cleaning: The other night in a fit of exhaustion and stupor, I resurrected the dollar and half cardigan. I have finished the back, and I finished up the left side.

And I am working on the right side. Keeping track of the cable and the crazy lace pattern in a bit fiddly, but I suddenly want to finish this thing so I can block it and prepare it for seaming before I leave and seam it up once I get to Ohio. Seems like a crazy idea eh?--but its gonna need many hours of finishing and I have just spoken with the company I am using to move-- It is very likely that I will not get my stuff for a week or so. Yes a week, because I am moving the same week as the 4th of July. Meaning I will be in an apartment with an air mattress and not much else for a week- so I'll have lots of time to seam up a cardigan, that's for sure.....

I am please with it- it looks nice and once I got into the swing of the knitting it moved along, but I am too tired to knit tonight. instead I think I will shred. I found two boxes of bills that need to be disposed of in that closet and they have to be shredded first. Sigh.

Its hot

It was 97 F here today. It seems like the South is making sure that I get a blast of stunning, muggy heat before I depart for the cool lake breezes of Lake Erie.  Its so hot that once the day dawns, little moves outside.

And it was on this hot day that I chose to clean out my closet.

Let me just say something. An ex-boyfriend of mine once called me a "hoarder." I prefer the term "pack-rat." The fact is, I just never clear anything out. And for the last 10 years as I have moved all over the country I have accumulated clothes and never gotten rid of stuff.

So today I woke up, ate oatmeal and headed toward the closet. I started tossing out everything that I found to be too young, too small, or too slutty for my taste anymore. I had lots of tiny party dresses from college, halter tops and tank tops. And I had to face the reality that I will never be a size 4 again. So I tossed stuff out, piling onto the bed. Old heavy woolen sweaters that were too small, old coats that don't button over my chest anymore. All that stuff that no longer fits.

And I had a revelation. In the last five years I have gone up two sizes (my size in college was fairly stable). Back in the good ol' days, my mom and dad paid all the bills and I used all my spending money for nice clothes and shoes. Thus back in college, all my clothes (all those size 4 skirts and sweaters that no longer fit) were fairly nice, well-constructed, classic preppy clothes that I wore and wore, and only stopped wearing when they stopped fitting. Thus I got rid of all that stuff because it no longer fits. But the more recent stuff, that I have bought recently, were cheap clothes, and lots of them. LOTS of them. But after only wearing them for like a season they were look old and faded and nasty, and I tossed them because they looked shabby. So my realization was that I used to have fewer clothes, but much nicer stuff, and now I have lots of cheap stuff, that doesn't look nice after 3 washes.

So my resolution- to radically clean out my closet, and to only buy good, well-constructed clothes now. It will result in a lot less clothes but hopefully they will last longer, although I wonder if clothes are even more cheaply constructed now then they were 10 years ago?

So after 10 years of accumulation, I took out nine, yes NINE trashbags of clothes

And mind you- I didn't get rid of everything. I have a whole set of pretty summer dresses, silk, linen and fancy cotton that I did not send off. Those I will take to co-signment store and sell. I took these nine bags of clothes to Goodwill. 

I have to say, it was emotionally exhausting to let go off all that stuff. It was a bit sad- as I put clothes in the pile I remembered what dance or party I had worn the dress to-- when I had worn that coat, and why I had loved that shirt. But it was time for everything to go. There was (still is) just too much of it. At least now its at Goodwill, and being mostly good clothes in good shapes, it will raise them buckets of money for a good cause.

Next, I have to clean out my outside closet. I have this storage closet that has boxes of stuff in it. I don't even know what's in those boxes, and really the only things I want to take from that closet are my bike and folding chairs for the outside. So somehow I have to get the nerve up to go in there and just throw stuff out. Throw it out. All of it.

So much junk. How do we accumulate all of that stuff?

Meanwhile I get a year older on Saturday. No big plans or anything, It will probably be spent with friends, trying to fight off the melancholy that is beginning to consume me. I was excited for a new start in Ohio and the chance to meet new people and make new connections. Now I'm just scared.

My birthday gift to myself? A small thing I saw in this great funky store downtown. A fabulous hat.

The colors are awesome in person. Its light and cool and matches everything I own (what with all those crazy stripes). I love it. Its my summer hat.

Meanwhile on the knitting: its 97 F outside am I have started working on the Minimalist cardigan. In a wool/alpaca blend. Hah. Generally my knitting has been unsettled, I think because my life is. I just knit whenever and try to stay chill. My other birthday gift to myself was to take a beading class--I am gonna learn how to do the peyote stitch with seed beads.  (Because really I need more hobbies!!!)

Something done

The last month has been one of stagnation on the knitting/crocheting front. I have started multiple projects and had finished none until this week.

First of all-- In honor of the fact that I am moving to Ohio's farm country and will be working at a famously hippie /green college, I crocheted a market bag for when I go to the farmer's market and so forth. I got the pattern off of a sugar and cream label.

The bag is rather large and would easily hold a lot of fruits and veggies. I will also make a few more (probably in the string bag style) for use. I am pleased with the bag and while the color combo is really different for me (being sort of muted and organic) I think it befits a market bag.

My other project for the week (really it only took me an evenings work) was a baby soaker. A friend of mine recently had a baby girl and she asked me if I could make a set of wool soakers for her. So I found a pattern off of Ravelry, some pretty yarn, and turned out one really cute baby soaker.

Aren't they totally cute? I am going to take them by her house later this week and see if she wants more. Since they took no time at all to make, I offered to make a few more for her before I leave for Ohio. I had almost forgotten how fast stuff knits up in the round.

Goal for this week: Turn in all library books that are really not needed anymore. Clean out closets and take inventory as to what still fits/what does not fit. 

I also am thinking of starting a crocheted sweater. The lady Eleanor has been shelved until cooler weather. It has turned hot and muggy here finally (we had a nice spring) and working with anything wool that is larger then a soaker makes me hot. So into the closet Lady Eleanor goes. Meanwhile the Dollar and the half is stagnating, as are all my other UFOs, so I am thinking of going through them all and evaluating wether or not I really am going to finish any of them anytime soon.

In the meantime I have done quite possibly the worse thing for multiple UFOs- I am starting a crocheted sweater. I have the yarn for 2 and a deciding which one to start on. Given that I seem unable to finish anything, I think the short-sleeved sweater would be the best bet.

I got my latest Crochet Today! magazine yesterday. There was nothing in there that I really want to make, but I did notice that they had an ad for bamboo crochet thread. Bamboo thread!!! How awesome is that? I think it would make  great thread crochet shawl. I am gonna be on the lookout for it in the craft stores....

Stuff

Do you ever wake up in the morning, look around your place and say to yourself: How did I get so much stuff?

For me its clothes and paper. Grad school has been unkind. I have gone up 2 sizes since entering, and I have lots of clothes around that don't fit. And they are clothes that I love, clothes that I miss. But with all the extra junk in the trunk, there is no getting into them.

And paper- Grad students accumulate lots of paper. So much paper. Paper piles everywhere. Paper, paper paper. And I have a bad habit of not organizing all that paper. I just dump it in boxes and stash it somewhere. Somewhere.

Well, here's the deal. I think I have a place (finally). I am waiting for the lease to come in the mail from Ohio, but I dispatched a faculty member over to the place (college-owned housing) and he said it was a big and nice one-bedroom. With all the utilities included. Yup. So I agreed to it over the phone and I am waiting on the lease to come in the mail. Meanwhile, the reality has dawned on my that in 4 weeks I will be making a multi-state move, by myself, with no help to a place I don't know, and don't know anyone. Yeah.

So next week-- after I finish up some lingering work for school here, its time for the big clean-out.

I will be going through all my clothes and giving everything to Goodwill that I have not worn recently. The exception being my vintage 1940s and 1950s coat collection. It never got cold enough here to wear them, and I would never give them away as they were gifted to me from a neighbor that I regarded like a grandmother when I was a child. Those stay, but everything, everything that is too small, or too collegiate, or too schlumpy goes. Everything. I am anticipating that I will be significantly reducing the size of my closet. 

Secondly I am making a clothes pledge. For a long time I bought whatever was cheap and looked decent, mainly because I had no money for clothes.  Most of my clothes lacked style, or personality. They were functional. So the pledge is this: from here on out, all clothes I buy will be distinctive and quality. Meaning i will probably buy less, because stuff will cost more, but it will also be stuff likely to last me longer. Style is back. The old Angel who used to care about how she looked is back. We are leaving the schlump in North Carolina. Gone. (the schlump happened because grad school turned out to be a trial in poverty. I never had much money--but now I am making a little bit more, and I need to stop being mistaken for one of my own students!)

As part of the "leaving the schlump" behind, I bought new glasses today. They were expensive. It hurt a bit. But they are super-funky-cool-professor specs (metal, a brilliant violet color and a modern squarish shape.) Part of the whole leaving the schlump behind.  Plus I needed them. I got my eyes checked and my astigmatism has gotten significantly worse.... will get the new glasses in about a week. 

The paper- going through it. Shredding and tossing most. Keeping what is only essential, like syllabi and notes from some courses that I am likely to teach one day. Then I am buying a filing cabinet and filing it all away.

Between these two significant reductions, things will be a whole lot lighter upon arrival in Ohio.

I am also setting a resolution for my new Ohio digs: Will make my apartment nice. I moved into my current place with no furniture, under duress, and needing to escape a previous living situation. Thus, I never really made the place nice. I improved the living room over the years but the rest is a mess, and that will change when  get to Ohio. I will hit garage sales and get new (to me) furniture like side tables and a coffee table. I will put up curtains and decorate. I will not let the books and yarn take over. It will be a place that I can invite people too. It will be better.

Finally the stash: the stash has grown significantly in the last few days.

First, I had an accident at the Webs sale (now blessedly over, thank goodness for my wallet)

I bought yarn for three crochet projects and one knitting project. I had planned for all of this actually (financially at least) so it was no unexpected. I do tend to buy about a year's worth of sweater yarn at the Webs sale, but it does seem like I got a lot this time around. But anyhow, the stash.

No more adding to the stash until I crank out three major projects (meaning sweaters, or a big stole or shawl)

Its gotten too big and I have a backlog of stuff that I want to make. I know that I go on periodic yarn diets (I was on one earlier this year actually) and I tend to fall off the yarn diet wagon easily, but the fact is, the stash has taken up an entire linen closet.

I don't know if my new place has a spare closet where I can hide the stash from my new colleagues. Chances are I will have to find a new way to organize it, and it will be more "public." So the stash needs to be knitted. Because frankly I have been in a knitting funk lately and have not been knitting much. I think part of it, is the stash is beginning to feel overwhelming (seriously). Time to un-overwhelm. 

Finally today- something fun (among all this planning and scheming.)

I got my swap package from the kit and kaboodle swap today.

Love the cute little crocheted bag that my partner sent me and the stich markers and little case for them--so awesome, and love the vogue book and the yarn- gonna have to decide what scarf to make out of the book- My partner picked the yarn with a particular scarf in mind but I am tempted by several of the patterns, so we shall see which one I chose...

As for m knitting. Well right now I am crocheting a cotton bag- for use at the farmer's market. I am also working on a set of woolen soakers for a friend's baby (she requested them). Since the baby was born last night, I better get cracking on those...

Milo wants it to be known that he takes good care of his dog....

Milo has been a bit perturbed lately at Chloe's unwillingness to play with him. At first he antagonized her, beating her over the head with his mighty big foot when she would not chase him, and when she was really out of it on pain meds, he seemed genuinely concerned. These days he stays close to her, keeping her company and offering solace.

Chloe spends most of her day these days either in her crate or on one of her two dog beds. I like to keep the patio door open for her when I am home so she can watch the neighborhood go by and so that she can sniff the fresh air. I fear she is bored out of her mind and tired of eating green beans (part of her diet plan) but she seemed a bit more pleased when I brought home a sack of fresh green beans the other day and that she got those lightly cooked instead of the soggy frozen ones she has been eating lately. I think she liked the crunch.

So knitting- I started the Lady Eleanor. This will be long haul knitting- i usually do it in front of the TV when I am watching my BBC series (right now I am rotating between Ballykissangel and Monarch of the Glen. I love my Netflix.) I finally went outside and propped it on the railing- I wanted to get a good picture of the subtleties of the color changes.

Entrelac is really easy once you get going. And Plymouth Boku is a really nice yarn to work with. I am also working on a summer crochet project but I haven't gotten far on that, thus no pictures yet. Right now things have been a bit slow on the crafting side as I continue sorting out the move (I still don't have a place yet and I am moving in six weeks. AHHHH!) so things right now are very mellow. Sorta like Milo looking after his dog.

I didn't know dogs had ACLs

I didn't know that, at least until Chloe tore the ACL in her back left leg.

I noticed starting about four weeks ago that she would occasionally limp around a bit, but it would come and go.... She also quit wanting to walk much, and would lag behind me. The big indicator was when I took her to the local gardens (which she loves) and she totally refused to walk. Sat down. I had to cajole and have drag her 44 lb self back to the car.

So last Monday I set up a vet appointment. $200 and several hours later I was told that she had torn the ACL in her knee and would need surgery. $1400-1800 worth of surgery. Oh and she has to lose 7 lbs.

Chloe was ordered onto complete crate rest. Only one 10 minute walk to poop. Otherwise she stays inside all day, and only goes out for a quick pee. When I am gone she has to be crated, and when I am home she cannot get up on the bed, or jump on the chair, or jump or run at all. Oh and did I mention, she has to lose 7 pounds?

The surgery will have to wait until after I move to Ohio in July. Once there I have to track down a vet and surgeon, and schedule it. It can't happen sooner because it requires 8 weeks of absolute rest and if I had the surgery here, she would be jostled around too much during the move (what with the 10 hour car ride and all the excitement.) Also I need a few months to come up with the money. According to my vet, there is no problem with waiting, as long as I keep her quiet and restricted in movement.

Meanwhile Chloe is miserable, and Milo has taken advantage of the situation to challenger her for rulership of the dog bed.

As you can see, it has been a successful challenge. He has taken over by a show of force (not too hard with poor hobbling Chloe these days.)

Meanwhile I am trying to hold up and not think about the cost and trouble of the move, compounded with being someplace where I know no one and having to find a vet to operate on my dog when I have a vet here who is awesome and who I trust. That and my car is acting funny, and I am holding my breath that it is nothing major. A new air filter, or wipers I can handle, but it has been having trouble starting..... and that my friends is one more expense I cannot handle.

So lets keep our fingers crossed on the car. It needs to hold up and work fine and pass inspection. And I need Chloe to stay quiet and eat her pain pills without resistance, and for everything to go smoothly right about now...

Oh knitting- yes well I got my order from the Webs sale (this was the second half of my order)

I also got two new knitting magazines. The purple is for the Must-Have cardigan (I originally did not buy enough yarn for the size I needed- I started one a while back. So I am starting over.) The rich blue is Ultra Alpaca, which is for the Tilted Duster from last Fall's IK (its on the cover). And that it is on the yarn purchases. I have a significant stash, and it is now time for the stash to do its work (that is, act as a yarn supply during times of economic difficulty.) No more yarn because of things like fussy cars and dogs that need surgery. And today, to add to it all, I put $30 worth of gas in my average-size Japanese-made sedan that gets decent mileage. It got me half a tank.