packing, packing, packing!

We are packing and packing. Although I see progress, I am still at the point of seeing how much is left to DO, as opposed to how much is done.

I did finish the Velveteen Rabbit sweater, which is quite happily back with its owner. He picked it up yesterday. I think it turned out better than I'd anticipated, I'm not sure for him, as I really am not sure what he thought it would become. He hopes it is now good for another 37 years. :)

I suspect you really do NOT want to see the wall of packed boxes, correct? Nor the spaces where stuff used to be. Didn't think so. Take my word for it. They are both there. More will be gone by Monday night, as the city does a clean-up where you can put furniture etc. out of the curb for others to choose. What is not picked up by new owners is picked up by the city. Gone, out of our lives. Somewhat sad on some things, but freeing.

I hadn't realized how much NOISE the little freezer made until it found a new home with someone else today. We freecycled it, the people picked up the freezer, a dresser and a trunk.

Last night a bad storm blew through. The weather radio was going out fairly regularly. I have to confess, after the storm moved east of us, I unplugged it. I couldn't stand it any more. I'd almost be asleep and BLAAT! I don't know how yours works, but ours will warble/blat/whatever VERY loudly for over a minute. Actually, the other evening I was going to let it go, figuring that it was a test. After 2+ minutes I decided I should check it. Yup, it was a real storm, not the twice a week test. sorry about that!

Last Monday I got an e-mail from a friend in Denmark, checking to see if we were all right, as she had heard about the bad tornado in Iowa. We weren't affected, but my aunt was. She is in Parkersburg, but the tornado missed her. A tree down, but as far as I've heard, nothing else. Of course, she had to leave for a while as she didn't have services -- water, sewer, gas or electricity. Small world, that I hear about a tornado an hour down the highway from us from Norway.

Moving

Yes, we are moving. No, we don't know where. We do know that Howard's job ends June 30, so that does give us a timeframe.

Scary times!

A motley post

Last week my computer presented me with the dreaded "blue screen of death". Four days later I have it back, still not sure what went wrong, but it seems to be working. We did buy an external backup for it, while I was backing it up monthly, it had been 3 weeks since the last one. The computer people were originally muttering about "wiping the drive", which worried me.

I really do not like packing. It seems that everything we own multiplies, so there is so much more than I think there is. It also takes more room to put it all in boxes, than put tidily away. I only have a small stash of acrylic yarn, it is being used to fill in those odd shaped places that happen when you put books in boxes. There isn't much left to pack of those skeins, only 3 left. Too bad I don't want to use the wool skeins! I might not have enough yarn to complete ALL of the book boxes, but it would do a lot of them!

And I do odd things. I was in the middle of re-reading a series. What did I do? I packed the rest of those books! Pfftp! I really don't want to open finished boxes, that rather defeats the purpose.

I know that one move I got tired of labeling boxes as "books". So I used variations on that theme: "more books", "I'll bet you can guess what is in this box!", "yes, we have a lot of books" and "yes, we've read all of these". You get the idea. I suspect the first 20 or so boxes were regular, but by the time we were at 63 boxes... That was the last time I actually COUNTED the number of boxes of books. It becomes a bit daunting.

I saw a new doctor last week, who changed my asthma medication. The pulmonologist said the next day that 80% of patients do just as well on it as what I was taking before. I'm part of the 20%. I've been wheezing since the change. I've changed back to the other medication, but my lungs have yet to forgive me. The dust from all of the books? Who knows. Whatever, it has certainly negatively affected my knitting! As in, I can't! grump

We are at that stage of life where we are paring down. It is hard to do. We have a lot of books up on PaperBackSwap.com (no, they aren't all paperbacks), there have been items of furniture that have found new homes. But I still feel the urge to pass more stuff on -- slowly. I guess I'll know when it is enough.

Oh Bother

I realized last week that I'd changed gauge on the Mermaid as I knit it. Although I'd almost finished the body, I wound up frogging it entirely. I can't believe that I didn't notice, but it happened. It was way too small for the intended victim, so there wasn't a real choice, there isn't a point in giving someone a sweater that doesn't fit. I decided to knit the sleeves first this time, I finished the second one this morning.

Right now I'm starting on a job of sweater repair. It is a sweater that I believe has come something of a Velveteen Rabbit for the owner. He's had it for 37 years and has worn it every winter. It has held up well, but it needs some help.

New Justin pics

Isn't this a great picture that Kim took? I laughed when I saw it, every time I see it I smile. He looks so happy. I love these pictures. This is a new toy, as he steps on the piano keys below, he plays music. There are many other things that he can do, but the making music seems to be key. (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.)

There once was a

When we moved from Fresno to Portland, many years ago, Mrs. Williford gave us a dresser and a book for Serena (who was around 18 months old at the time.) We used the dresser for years, it just went to a family with 4 children, to continue the tradition of giving.

But the book. Ah, the book. We read that book over and over and over to both children. It got to the point that we knew it by heart. I don't know what happened to our copy. I want to read it to Justin when we can.

Yesterday a new copy came. Howard was able to identify it by the back cover alone. He didn't know that it was coming, but he knew exactly what it was when this picture emerged from the envelope.

The book? "The Boy With A Drum" by David L. Harrison and pictures by Eloise Wilkin I look forward to reading it to Justin many times.

And then again...

As I was admiring this sock, I thought, "This looks pretty small." After more rows, where I was still worried about it, I finally gave up and tried it on. I believe this means I will frog it again. sigh

Playing

Remember me, Ms. "I Hate to Knit With Colors"? Look what is on my needles at the moment!

Finished!

I asked my good friend Gen to model Mom's sweater, as they are near to a size. I think it turned out pretty well!


I have started a pair of gorgeous socks for me. Well, they will be gorgeous if I manage to get them knit up! These are stranded knitting, which means using a chart to keep track of the knitting. I can do this with cables, I don't know why I have troubles with this. Anyway, I just frogged (rip-it, rip-it) 35 rows on one sock and 25 on the other. whimper



Then I started another pair of socks for me. Just simple socks in a gorgeous color that has been marinating in my stash for too long. I had about 4 inches of each sock done when I took a good look at them. They were HUGE! So they frogged out as well. It wasn't my best knitting week, because while I finished Mom's sweater and the humming socks, the rest of my knitting turned out to be negative knitting!