Day 4 and bored

It's day 4 of being a SAHW for me. I'M BORED!!! I know that when we move into our house (hopefully the first week of December!) I won't be so bored cause I'll have a big house to take care of, my sweetie will be home 2 more hours a day since he won't have a long commute, hopefully he'll come home for lunch too, and I'll have a place to walk the dogs. Right now we're in a small apartment with 2 bags full of clothes. There's only so much cleaning and laundry I can do in a week.

So, to entertain myself today I'm blogging. With all this free time on my hands I should have lots of FOs, right? No. Sorry, I'm just not a fast knitter. Instead I'm going to do a series of finished object reviews for everyone. Today is going to be my accessories review. Being as it is pretty cold here in Ohio right now I've had to wear mittens and hats quite a lot when I'm walking the dogs. I only brought a handful of knitted items with me for the move (the rest are in storage). So here's a review of what I've been using regularly:

My Calorimetry:
I wear this just about every time I go outside now. It's great for keeping my hair out of my face and keeping my ears nice and warm. It's a little big since Val refuses to do gauge swatches! It's not so big it falls off or anything, it's just wide and sticks up a bit on the top of my head. I was worried it would get stretched out very easily and I'd have to block it after every couple of wearings, but not one bit! I've worn it a good 40 to 50 times so far and it hasn't needed to be blocked yet. I love this thing and will probably make myself another one to match some other accessories since I have nothing that matches right now.

My Fetching Mittens:
I've been wearing these quite a bit lately. They won't be getting nearly as good a review as the calorimetry! I do love the way they look and the way they feel, they're just not great for what I need. I need fingerless mitts for walking the dogs so I can use my fingers to switch the leashes around and handle the poopy bags. The problem with these is that the top rolls a lot and starts to look crappy after a single use. I haven't had time to block them since I do need mittens every day and these are the only fingerless ones I have with me. The yarn has held up great. I used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that was called for in the pattern. Even with 2 60 pound dogs constantly pulling on the leashes and the leashes rubbing against the fabric, it still looks like new. There is not felting or pilling.

OK, time to put on those accessories and walk the dogs in the snow!

Up next, if I don't finish my secret pal socks by the next time I want to blog, a review of the 4 pairs of socks I've finished and how they've held up so far.

My New Obsession

I don't know why, but for some reason I have a new obsession (don't worry it's still knitting, just a new knitting for me). COLORWORK! But only 2 color, anything more and I'd be far to confused. I have not knit any colorwork stuff yet, but every single little thing that I see that is colorwork is just calling to me right now. I do have that Tongue River farms sock kit with me. I'll cast on as soon as I finish the secret pal socks and super secret project #3.

SAHW

Yesterday was my first day as a Stay At Home Wife. I've been done with school for 2 months or so now, but I've had my sweetie home with me so it's been like a very long vacation. Yesterday he had to go to work! And then this morning he had to go to work AGAIN!! The good news is that he likes his job a lot better than that silly tug boat job. He said everyone seems really nice so far but he's got a lot to learn. My sweetie is a smartie though and I'm sure he'll have no problem learning everything he needs to know.

Luckily I wasn't as sick as I've been the last few days and I was able to be somewhat productive during my first day as a SAHW. I got lots of laundry and cleaning done in the apartment which has been completely neglected while I was sick. The pups got a couple long walks, bills got paid, mortgage and insurance companies got called, and I'm caught up on my bloglines. Amazing stuff! Come 3pm I crashed though, I guess I'm not quite back to healthy yet. I took a little nap and then knitted. Until this happened:
Don't look at the sock, look at the working yarn. I'm not the most experienced sock knitter, but I have made 4 pairs so far and that was the first knot I've come to in sock yarn. I know this is not the end of the world and knots are necessary every once in a while. Luckily this yarn has very short color repeats and I didn't have to match up colors or anything. It did ruin my knitting mojo for the night though (I'm sure the cold had something to do with it as well).

Now I have to give a public shout out to my little man. He's been the best snuggler while I was sick:
I promise I'll read the instruction manual for my camera soon and picture quality will hopefully improve soon.

On the agenda for day 2 as a SAHW:
Get my sweetie some new socks
Walk the pups
Figure out some podcast editting software
Knit like the wind!!!

Taking a sick day

What's worse than being sick and missing Alpacafest (which I have no idea what it is, but it sure sounds like something I'd like.) Being so sick that I lay in bed all day and can't even knit!!! I was able to get some work done on super secret project #3* yesterday before I got so sick that I can't even think straight. But the rest of the day yesterday and all day today have been sick days from knitting. It's so sad!

*There will be pictures on ravelry soon, it's a present for a non-raveler.

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!!

I got a package from my mom today that had a lot of bills I have to pay (my mail is being forwarded to her right now until we get a permanent address) and a package from my secret pal! It was just fantastic!

Here's the whole thing:
First off there was a lambchop doll that is as soft as can be and a tape measure. The tape measure will go directly into one of my knitting bags (you can never have enough tape measures!!) and Lambchop will keep me company in my knitting room when we move, until then she's going into the closet since Trapper showed way too much interest in her (that's his nose sitting on the table)!
There was a beautiful card with a drawing of a sheep writing a letter to Ms. Ewe at 12 Meadow in Bah, PA. How cute is that!
Some fingering weight yarn from knit picks in mint:
That will probably become a pair of socks unless I find something to make from it in my first ever EZ book, Knitter's Almanac!!!!:
I've been wanting this for a while. Especially since Kelley Petkun of the knit picks podcast is doing a year long knit-a-long (called Elizabeth's Year on Yahoo) and is chronicling it in her podcast. I probably won't join the knit-a-long cause I have too much stuff online to keep up with already, another group would be overkill for me right now.

For those of you who may be occasional knitters and may not know about the EZ (Elizabeth Zimmermann) obsession most people have, let me explain a little (a very little, check out here for a more detailed EZ story). EZ was a revolutionary knitter, she encouraged people to think for themselves a bit and not follow exact patterns through newsletters. She later founded a company to supply the public with needles and quality yarns. Speaking of those quality yarns:
The last part of the package from my secret pal was a cake of unspun Icelandic wool from Schoolhouse Press, the company EZ founded. The color doesn't show up so great in this picture (I'm still learning about the new camera), but I'm calling it misty blue. I can not wait to work with it. I'll definitely be able to find something to make with it from EZ's Knitter's Almanac.

I honestly can not say it enough, but THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I've really been spoiled!!

(Trapper says: Can I please play with lambchop? I promise I won't hurt her! I just want to nibble her a little. Please!)

Socks and Pups

I've been having lots of fun with my new camera, although I can't download the pictures to Snapfish, which is pretty annoying.

Here's the first of my secret pal socks:
And here's some cute pictures of the pups in the apartment. Trapper in his favorite spot (since there's usually someone sitting next to him to rub his big ole ears):

Cooper in his favorite spot (there's a big window for him to look out and watch for other pups!):
That's it for now. I'm sure there will be a house update either today or this weekend.

Fawkes in Action

I got a new camera!!! A Nikon Coolpix s200 in red. I was able to rescue my pictures from my old camera and here is my Fawkes sock in action:
They wore really well with just a very little bit of pilling on the heel and ball of the foot.

Today we have the inspection of the septic systems at the house. Keep your fingers crossed!

Pictureless! (and a note to my pals!)

My camera broke! I'm so pissed!! I took a picture of my Fawkes socks in action today since I wore them for the very first time. It turned out to be a great day for hand-knit socks. It snowed the whole way from the apartment to the house today (45 minutes) and we spent quite a bit of the day outside while the inspector did the inspection of our possible future house. The socks held up great. I still have them on 14 hours after I put them on and they're not slouching or anything. Anyway, back to picturelessness. I brought the camera with me to take some pictures of the house, mainly so I would remember how their furniture was arranged since the house looks fantastic with all their stuff in it, and I couldn't get it to turn on at all. I'm so mad. I tried new batteries and everything.

The inspection went less than ok. There are quite a few plumbing problems, a major problem with the chimney, a rusted through vent that has something to do with the water heater, and the biggest hornets nest I've ever heard of. It was 2 feet cubed. I didn't see it since it was in the attic, but the inspector took a picture to show me. It was enormous. And there was bat droppings in the attic. We have the septic tank inspection Friday and we'll have the water and radon results by then so we'll see if this house is worth proceeding with.

Now a note for my pals, secret and Hogwarts. . . I have received both of your packages, sort of. Both have made it to my parent's house (my temporary address until we get moved into a house). One, I believe my October secret pal package, is on it's way to me as we speak, however the Hogwarts one got to my parents house when my mom was at the post office sending me the first batch of mail. My mom is not so great about sending me things, but since bills make up the majority of my mail pile, hopefully it will get here soon!

Hopefully I'll have pictures soon since I have 1/2 a FO to show everyone. I finished the first sock for my secret pal. It's pretty nice, very plain, but it showed off the yarn the best I could think of. I think it's as cute as can be.

OK, off to hand wind a skein of yarn to start a new, hopefully quick project. (I really should have wound all my skeins before I packed up my ball winder and swift!)

Oh, What A Day!

Life has been ridiculously hectic lately. Me and my sweetie have been staying in a hotel with the pups for the past week (cramped quarters to say the least!). Yesterday we moved into a temporary apartment. It's 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, we're all much happier! Although, it's on the 3rd floor and it's quite a pain in the patukis when the dogs have to go out 5 million times a day. And very few people seem to clean up after their dogs here so it's like walking through a mine field out there.

Now, onto my fantastic day. First off, we met with the realtor to sign the paperwork on our house. Yes I said our house! We're under contract now! We're aware things could still go horribly wrong and we could lose it. We've got inspections scheduled for this week so we should know about anything major by Friday-ish. I'm not going to post any pictures until we actually move in cause I think that's a bit of a jinx.
We met our realtor at a shopping center in Columbus, OH (that's where our apartment is). It was quite a nice shopping center so we walked around a bit and went to places like Crate and Barrel and Restoration Hardware to pick out things to furnish our new house (not that we're going to be able to afford anything from those stores, but it was nice to dream!) We're walking out of Restoration Hardware and heading to Trader Joe's when I had a celebrity siting! He may not be a celebrity to many people, but he's one to me. It was Peter from Clean Sweep on TLC. I was so flustered, my sweetie was pushing me to go say hi, but he walked into the store we just walked out of so I felt very weird, although I totally regret it now. I know, he's just a guy from a design show, but as anyone who knows me well enough to know about how organized and anal I am will understand why I was star-struck!
Now, onto the 3rd and final fantastic part of my day. I was out walking the dogs with my sweetie and it started snowing! I think that's the earliest snow I've ever seen (at least that I can remember). But this fantastic part comes with a big down side. . . it's cold enough to snow!!! It's been pretty mild while we were here, I've needed a fleece whenever I go outside, but that's it. It's rapidly changed to hat and mitten weather. Unfortunately we moved here from Virginia where just a few weeks ago it was 80 degrees. We definitely did not pack well for this weather, neither one of us even packed a jacket. Some clothes shopping is in order.

On the knitting front, I didn't get much done while in the hotel. I just don't like knitting while sitting on a bed. But the last 24 hours I've starting making progress again on my secret pal socks. I'm just starting the decreases for the toe of the first sock now. I'll post pictures soon. I found the camera but haven't found the USB cord yet. And that's all I've worked on. I'll pick up another project soon, but for now I really wanted to get these socks done for my secret pal before the end of the month.

Moved to Ohio

Well, my sweetie and our pups have successfully made it to Ohio. It's absolutely gorgeous here and I think that we are coming at just the perfect time to fall in love with it (the leaves are still changing!) We're in the process of house hunting, we haven't found anything we fell in love with, although we did find one we absolutely love the inside of, but it's on a major road with quite a bit of truck traffic. It may be worth it though given how perfect it is inside.

I've had no time for knitting but I will update soon with more news from Ohio.