It's Not the Heat

First, I want to thank everyone for your sympathies regarding our house issues. Jennifer even offered to have her husband go give them a piece of his mind, if only they lived a little closer. I've been told that these kinds of delays and issues are not uncommon on new build, but when it's your house it really is exasperating.

The other day in what seemed to me to be sweltering heat I got on a very crowded bus. At the front of the bus is a woman looking much too comfortable in a fur-trimmed coat. I had to wonder, were drugs to blame or do native Californians have a greater tolerance for this weather? Most of the year I would have to say that the weather here is about as perfect as you could ever hope for, but there are days in the summer when the heat just wilts you when you walk out the door. At least that's what it does to this Wisconsin girl. Knitting a wooly sweater is far from my mind on these days. Unfortunately, this means I've been puttering away at smaller, less interesting projects (see below).

I have been working on another Seija blanket (left), Knit and Tonic's beret Le Slouch (middle, and the baby kimona from Mason-Dixon Knitting (right).


Other than knitting small projects, much has been happening in my household lately, so I will try to catch you up in the next few posts. Just as a warning though, my parents are visiting next week so I may be posting less as I try to keep up with my classes and still spend time with them. I will try to post next weekend at the latest and maybe even have some progress on my knitting to show for it (I wouldn't hold my breath, though).

Also, next Thursday my husband and I will celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. It won't be quite as romantic with my parents here, but we'll all go out to dinner together and enjoy it nonetheless. I can't complain too much, since last year they spent their 35th wedding anniversary with us. It was not the most pleasant of circumstances either, since they had just helped us move from Rhode Island to California and we were not even close to unpacked. They really are wonderful parents.

Getting Things Done

"Sometimes you have to be a bitch to get things done." - Madonna

Lately, I've had to be a pretty tough cookie to make sure everything is done the way it should be. I know you probably think I'm referring to my students or maybe even knitting, but actually it has to do with buying a new townhouse and car. This past week we spent a lot of time dealing with these big life changes, so knitting has taken a back seat for the moment. I hope to start a new project this week and do some actual knitting.

This is our first house and it is a new build, so dealing with the contractors has been a, shall we say, educational experience. Here is how it looked as of this past Saturday:


Here is a schedule of how things have gone the past year:

August 2006 - Sign the contract and are told that all the homes will be completed by March and move-ins will be staggered from March to May.

November 2006 - The grounds are prepared but STILL no sign of actual construction. Beginning to worry that we are observing the wrong site.

December 2006 - Finally starting to see structures go up. Starting to doubt that they will be finished by March.

March 2007 - Definitely nothing close to done yet. Hoping that we will still move in over the summer.

May 2007 - Finally told by the construction that we will probably not move in until mid to late summer. Starting to think it will actually be fall.

July 2007 - Starting to hear that things may be delayed until August. Hoping that we will move in by Thanksgiving.

August 2007 - Some houses are finally looking close to completion. Assured that we will close sometime in October. Hoping we will at least spend Christmas in our new house.

Along the way there have also been the usual mess-ups. For example, this past weekend we viewed the house and they had just started to put in the cabinets, only they were the wrong color. Fortunately, one of the other homes did have the right cabinets, so we were able to see what they look like. They even had the same granite we picked (which makes me wonder, are these really our cabinets and counter put in this unit by mistake?). Here is a rough idea of what our new kitchen will look like:

Anyway, we've had to really keep on top of things to keep informed and make sure all the problems are corrected. In upcoming posts I will talk about the joys of storming out of a car dealership after a loud argument, and, just maybe, some knitting.

A Project Stalemate

Lately I've had the opposite of startitus. I haven't wanted to start anything. I think part of the problem is that several of the projects that I think I should start are fairly intimidating. For example, to really start the body of the Schachenmayr sweater (at the bottom of the page) I would have to swatch the lace pattern, which would require reading the chart and, you know, paying attention to what I'm doing. I just don't want to do something that requires that much thought. I think I may have to find a more mindless project for the time being. To be fair, part of why I didn't do anything complext is that this past week I was on vacation here:

Yes, it's San Francisco and that's a photo of the Bay Bridge. The hubby and I spent so much time enjoying the city that I was too tired to knit in the hotel room. I know, rough, huh? I did start one new project, a baby kimona from Mason-Dixon Knitting in a nice gender neutral yellow cotton-ease.



I am also thinking of swatching for Knit and Tonic's flair. It looks good for the SoCal climate and has no complicated lace or anything.

Reports of my death....

are greatly exaggerated. - Mark Twain

So, yah, I'm not actually dead, just distracted. This past week and half it was difficult to get any blogging (reading or posting) done, for several reasons. First, I had a wonderful, crafty visitor. My good friend K was visiting from New York, and we spent lots of time together discussing projects, visiting craft shops, and seeing the sights of Southern California. There's nothing like hanging out with someone as entranced with crafty stuff as you! Despite my vow of a yarn diet until we move into our new house, a couple skeins did manage to follow me home. I needed yarn to make the 8-ball tea cozy from SnB Nation for a good friend. Is he a fan of tea you ask? Well, no, not to my knowledge. He is, however, a pool shark, and upon learning that I had gone gaga for knitting asked in his best Philly accent, "so, you like make tea cozies and stuff then?" A perfect opportunity for a tea cozy with irony, if you ask me. I have no doubt that he will display it with pride. Here is the yarn I picked, some nice black and white Cascade 220:

And the other reason I have been MIA? Classes are starting in a week! Today I finally finished putting the final touches on my syllabi and have been tweaking my first week lectures. I also read over my course evaluations for fall of last year to get some pointers, since I am teaching the same schedule. They were mostly positive and the critiques were either things I had planned to address or are just differences of opinion (yes, I do go through a lot of information, but this is a high level class people so get over it). All my courses are completely full, so this semester will likely be a handful! Hopefully, once I get into the swing of things I will have more time to blog (it's a great way to avoid grading ;)

And finally, I have been nominated by jenfrom RI at Newton's Knitting as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! I feel a bit shy of "rockin" lately, but I'll do my best to live up to the title.

The Lazy Days of Summer

I feel like a slacker, as I've been blogging less than usual. As I peruse the other blogs I regularly visit, though, I've noticed there may be a general trend in this direction. Also, there are a lot more non-knitting posts than usual. I think there are a lot of reasons for this recent decrease in blogging/knitting activity.

1. Weather - it is so darn hot in most places that yarn is just not as appealing as usual (and I never thought I'd say that). Even cotton yarn seems heavy in 100 degree heat.

2. Vacations - we are all trying to go to the beach, see friends, barbecue, and travel before the summer is over.

3. Harry Potter 7 - who can think about knitting when the very last book has just come out? I confess, for several days I was reading it whenever I could spare 5 minutes. This seriously cut into my knitting and blogging time (also, my cooking, working, and socializing time, but it was worth it).

Just to prove that I am doing a little crafting, here is another FO. I know you are all super tired of seeing these, but it makes a great baby gift and sizing is not an issue. This one has already been gifted to its new owner, who seemed to like it very much (well, her mom and dad did, anyway).

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in white and pink, Patons Canadiana in Baby
Pattern: Seija blanket in The Happy Hooker
Changes: I added a shell edge and left out the braided trim.
Yardage: 2/3 of the skeins of pink and white, and nearly the whole skein of the Canadiana.
Hook: size H