snow and and an FO

Ok, so shortly after I posted this morning that it was snowing, the snow decided to stop, so DH and I went out. Well, while we were out running errands, the snow started again. The forcast for tomorrow is more snow. DH starts his new job tomorrow, so I'm hoping it doesn't stick, or at least he can make it to work safely. Seattle drivers react to snow the way So Cal drivers react to rain....no one is quite sure what to do, so they drive the way they normally do. *sigh*

Here's what the backyard looked like when we got home. I know it's not a huge amount of snow, maybe 2 inches, and it's likely to be all the snow we see for a while. It doesn't usually snow in Seattle, maybe a couple times a year, and rarely before the end of December (usually in time to just miss Christmas), it's not usually supposed to snow in November.


I did manage to get a little cold weather knitting done, and now I have a hat to wear to keep my head warm, I'm really not used to the cold anymore, living in So. Cal. has made me soft.

A quick 2X2 rib, knitted in the round on #10.5 Options Needles, out of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande.

ummm, it's snowing

One of my favorite places

One of my favorite places is Deception Pass. On the north end of Whidbey Island WA, this is one of 2 ways onto the island, the other is the ferry on the south end of the island. My MIL lives on Whidbey Island, and that's where we went for turkey. On the way, we simply had to stop and drink in the natural beauty.


This picture is taken from the south end of the bridge, it was 37 degrees outside and windy on the bridge, we didn't venture far out on the bridge on foot. The view is northwest, towards the Pacific Ocean. Beyond the smaller islands, you can see Canada in the distance.


Same place, but a different angle. The view is of the north end of the bridge, or the main land. This pic is straight down from were were standing admiring the view and freezing our hands off.

The underside of the bridge from the south end of the bridge.


Oh and in case you didn't realize it falling from anywhere along the trail near the bridge can be deadly.

Escrow closed

On day 65 of a 45 day escrow, our So. Cal. house has officially closed, and with it our last physical tie to CA. There are many friends I wish I could have brought up to Seattle with me, but alas, Seattle is not for everyone.

Another not so local LYS

I was getting antsy today, so DH sent me off to a yarn store. He told me to go to the one up in Mount Vernon, which is a good hours drive away, but I didn't quite make it. This one is about 20 minutes away. Great Yarns in Everett WA.


And they lived up to their name. Another cute little shop in a house, with rooms full of yarn.

Far be it for me to leave a great little yarn store without yarn. The damage?
The purple and black? Prism's Kid Mohair in the Midnight. The bright stuff that is kind of hiding behind all that purple and black mohair goodness is a hand dyed machine washable merino sock yarn. I know it's not my usual color choice, but the recipient of those socks will adore the colors, the name of the yarn...Fly Super Sport. Hand dyed by a local artist Pat Fly.

Fiber Enhancement

DH and I went out looking at paint ball parks again today. I got so bored, I made DH take me to a little store called Lamb's Ear in Tacoma, WA along the route to Mt. Ranier. Just to look, honest, I had no intention of buying anything. Well I found just 2 things to help me out.


The drop spindle is handcrafted by Jonathan Bosworth of Journey Wheel out of Acton MA, and it spins beautifully, and spins and spins and spins. Now I get strange looks when I knit at the paint ball fields, but those looks are nothing compared to when I'm spinning at the paintball field. Not much got done, but that's because it's been a while since I've used a drop spindle, none of the ones I have make happy enough to get much drop spindling done, but this one, it's a beaut. I for see lots of happy hours with this spindle, after I get my Holiday knitting done, which should be some time in January LOL. Oh the fiber is merino.

On the knitting front, Clapotis is coming along and is much more behaved this time around. I'm through the first ball again. The socks have been finished and I'm on to the 3rd pair in that group. As if I didn't have enough knitting going on, I cast on a sweater for my Dad, he was complaining that I had all this wool and he still didn't have a sweater, so guess what he's getting for Christmas. DH's sweater will probably be done in January, but he totally understands. Oh and I cast on some more lace, Fiber Trends Peace Shawl, I'm aiming to get it done in time to wear it to Christmas dinner, but well see. Also on the needles are some much needed mittens, living in So. Cal. for the last 6 years has made me soft and the temps in 40's and 50's are much too cold, so my hands need a bit of help keeping warm when they aren't knitting or spinning.

Knit Devil reported back to me that my blog entries aren't being picked up by Bloglines. I updated to the Beta and it looks like something went screwing somewhere in the update, but I've checked and reset the feed, so hopefully that will take care of that.

*Edited to add: Because of the beta version, my site isn't feeing in RSS format, but it is updating the Atom Feed.

FTP blogs are not publishing their site feeds in RSS format. Until this is fixed, either use the atom.xml feed instead (most feed readers that accept RSS accept Atom as well) or use: http://www.blogger.com/feeds/blogid/posts/default?alt=rss to get your blog’s feed in RSS format

exciting news

We're expecting to finally close on the house down in Azusa this Friday, I'm not holding my breath at this point, even next week is possible, closing has been pushed back a few times, but now all the papers are in place it's just a matter of funding.

DH got a job, it didn't take him long at all he starts at MS after Thanksgiving, since everyone is on vacation next week.

I'm officially a WA resident. I have my WDL and WA license plates.

Plea to the Knitting Goddess

To the Knitting Goddess

And yet another UFO has gone to the frog pond, and another one is threatening to jump in after it. In the last week all my Holiday knitting has decided to rebel. The latest in this streak of rebellion is Clapotis. Granted I was tempting the fates with that one in my arrogance by actually thinking I had memorized so simple a pattern and knit most of it while in the midst of an interstate move. Did you have to wait until I was 3/4's of the way done before showing me the error of my ways?

I really am not sure what I did to tempt you and the fates. It seems I must have done something big, since I can't seem to finish anything these days and am spending quite a bit of time sacrificing my almost completed UFO's to you at the frog pond. Was it the 2 week sweater? The 10 Pacific Northwest Shawl? The rash of recent FO's? Please hear my plea and let me know how much more I must sacrifice before I can complete an FO. I am pushing deadlines here, must I brave the last minute rush of Christmas shoppers this year? If that be the case I would prefer to know now if I will be allowed to finish any of my holiday knitting before I be forced to brave the Holiday Mall Crawl.

I will promise to do my best to understand that I am fallible when it comes to knitting projects. I do ask that you give me a pardon at least until I get my Holiday gift knitting done, as I am facing deadlines here. Or have I bitten more off than I can chew, given the time frame and the circumstances. I really had planned to start my Holiday gift knitting much sooner than I did this year, however my life happened. Next year I will try not to wait so long to get knitting started.

O Knitting Goddess hear my plea
Let my needles sing to thee
So that I may have knitted gifts to share
With those for whom I deeply care.

Blessed Be.

Frog Pond!

I so hate the frog pond these days. The socks I turned the heels on had to go back to the frog pond, they were way to large for the tiny little foot, they fit my mom's little feet, but even her feet weren't as small as the feet they were meant for. No worries, it's back up to the heel again, just set me back a little. I also started a pair of X-stockings, or Yule Stockings as I prefer to refer to them as. One stocking is still going strong, the mate, in the opposite colors is heading for the frog pond. Earlier today, I discovered I had turned one cable wrong, near the beginning but decided that since it was to the Wall (or not public side, it would be fine). So on ward I went with it, only to discover that there was a cable that I completely forgot to turn. I tried to fix both cable turns, and well the whole stocking is now in the frog pond, patiently waiting for me to finish it's mate which is turning out wonderfully, before it gets ripped and re-knitted.

Weekend.

Saturday we went on a road trip to visit the MIL. And knock me over with a feather, she was actually nice to me. Those of you who have heard tales of my MIL will understand the shock factor involved here. She treated me like I was a person, and not only listened to me like I had something to say, but we had some nice conversations. Not the stilted conversations of 2 people where one person isn't interested and is actually dismissive, but actual conversation where both parties are interested and have something to say. Either she's really happy that DH and I are back in the PNW or she's actually listened to DH. So much better than being treated like a non-person. I never asked her to be friends with me, all I ask is that she acknowledge that I not only exist but am married to her son, who knows maybe that's just a bit much to ask of a person. I am truely amazed by how much this woman has changed in her attitude towards me.

Sunday morning, we went to sign some more paper work. Basically we have until the end of the November for one of us to get a job, or to decided to go with a Stated Income loan. Either way, it looks like we'll be welcoming the new year in our new home.

After signing the paper work DH and I went on a scouting out the local paint ball scene. I confess to actually enjoying watching paintball - DH's hobby. I like the strategy involved, and quite frankly it's fun to watch. We were both disappointed by the 2 indoor paint ball parks we saw, the one didn't look safe, and was unky (is that a word?) Anyway, just watching from outside the nets (the fields are surrounded by nets for the protection of those watching) the astroturf was a sticky gooey mess, needless to say we didn't stay long at all. But accross the street, we found this:

I took one look at the Autorized sign and noted the name on the sign and the door, turned to DH and asked, "so if we park there they will tow our car where? to where it's parked?" LOL.

Lots of knitting did get done this weekend, nothing got finished, but I've turned the heel on another pair of socks, once this pair is complete it will make 3 x-mas presents done, I won't post a pic of this pair of socks until the 3rd of the pairs is done since it's a family present and the colors all go together in a family kind of way. I did also make quite a bit of progress on Clapotis, which won't be posted here until after X-mas since the recipient reads my blog.

Seattle is very wet and a bit on the cold side of what I've become used to....but....I love it. We're in the 3rd of 3 storms that are blowing through. We are expecting 2 days of no rain, or minimal rain Wed and Thurs, but then the rain will come back just in time for the weekend, and I've never been happier about the weather :).

promised pics

I so love the fall in the Pacific Northwest and the drive up here did not disappoint. The colors were much more spectacular in person, but I was driving, and this is my favorite shot of all the pics my camera took of the fall in the PNW.


Nothing quite like 2 ferry's approaching each other in the night with the Space Needle and the rest of the Seattle skyline in the background. There is an anchored tug in the shot too, that's the one in front, the ferries are slightly to the left of that and behind. This shot was taken from a park in West Seattle.

The truck, was packed, here's DH's friend, who drove the truck and Dad starting the unloading process. It's a 26 ' truck to give you and idea of the work that was done to get it loaded and unloaded.
Truck half onloaded, and storage is partially full, but there was still quite a bit of work to be done when this pic was taken. No more pics after this, since we were trying to beat the Seattle Rain....we won, everything was safely dry in storage before the rain came.


Here's a sneak peek at our new place. We do have pics of the inside, but I'm saving those for another time, since we're waiting for new everything to be done inside, they're doing a complete remodel. We are hoping to be in by the end of the year, but we were told Janurary for sure, possibly sooner.



Edited to add: Stash is handy, very handy, it's at the other end of the house, sharing a room with the cats, they are gaurding my stash very nicely.