All the Pretty Words

Yikes, it has been a long time since I’ve written. Life suddenly became very hectic, and blogging will probably be sporadic for the foreseeable future, but I will at least give an update of what’s been going on now.

I got a job at a yarn shop and really like it there. I started off part-time in mid-September and was still scrambling for a second part-time job when one of the full-time workers suddenly left. Because of that I started working eight hours a day Tuesdays through Saturdays, and I’m also volunteering at the Probation Services Office for half-days on Mondays, so those two things alone would keep me pretty busy. But wait, there’s more! I also have a third job that I do from home in which I write short nonfiction articles on various topics for a website, which eats up more time but is great because it makes staying within budget *much* easier.

I’m also taking the Psychology GRE this Saturday and the General GRE on the 26th of November, so I’ve been studying hard for those. I just took my last practice test for the Psychology GRE today and did very well on it, so I’m pretty confident! I’m less confident about the quantitative section of the General GRE, but my prep book has this great four-week study plan that I’ve been using and I think it will help me a lot.

We’ve been staying with friends and are still looking for an apartment. Finding an apartment that will accept cats, is within the city limits of Seattle, and is $725 or less is harder than you might expect, so it is taking us a while. Hopefully something will turn up soon…

On the knitting front, one of my nieces is getting married this Friday, and while we can’t make it to the wedding, I’ve been knitting a pillow for them. The cover is finished and waiting to be blocked, stuffed, wrapped and mailed. Her older sister is getting married on December 14th, so I’m knitting a pillow for them as well, but I just started on it last night. No photos of either yet, I’m afraid, but I will try to remember to take some when they are finished. I also have knit the body for a baby sweater for an impending familial baby, but haven’t knit the sleeves yet. I’m not too worried about that one since he/she isn’t due until sometime next year. No photos of that one either–such a bad blogger! :)

I have a few other UFOs floating around, but my only other major project (my true major project, actually) is currently a secret. I’m not getting published or anything like that, but it’s important and pretty and I’m quite excited about it. You’ll find out what it is in December!

Woo, the past few days have been pretty busy. We had visitors over the weekend, which was fun. Yesterday, Bryan and I ran a lot of errands, and this morning, we took my car into the shop to be repaired. It has been overheating fairly often, and with the drive to Seattle coming soon, we need it to be in good shape for it to be trusted to make it over the Rockies. It turns out that it needs a new water pump, there’s a coolant/antifreeze leak, there was some fluff and various stuff stuck into a spot where it should not be, and the air dam needs to be replaced, all of which have been contributing to the overheating. The total cost will be $500, which is high, but is still just a quarter of what I had been steeling myself for. We biked back from the car repair place, which took us about an hour. We go on long rides like that maybe once a week, but for some reason my legs were like jelly when we got home! We also spoke to a U.S. immigration lawyer this afternoon, and she said that Bryan will be able to come into the states earlier than we had been thinking. He’s still going to stay in Victoria for a while since he already agreed to rent a room from a friend of a friend, but will join me in Seattle once we’ve found a place to live. As to making it so that he can stay in the states for the next year or so, we might have to rearrange some plans, but nothing is settled yet. We’ll know more after we actually meet the lawyer, who is in Seattle. Speaking of Seattle, I’ve applied for a few jobs, and have heard back from one of the prospective employers. I got an email from them letting me know that I’ll hear from them within a couple of weeks, so wish me luck! It’s a research position, which is great because my master’s program was very research-focused, but the research would be in relationship studies–not really my area. I’ll see what happens and keep applying for jobs, though!

And now for the knitting! I’ve also been busy on that front, as you can see:

My Sockapalooza socks arrived yesterday! Many thanks go out to Odie, who picked a pretty shade of red for me! I also really like the cable pattern. Thanks, Odie!

I also got my Dish Rag Tag team’s box today. This is the dish rag that the previous team member knit for me. I like the pinks!

She also gave me these cute beaded stitch markers. I’ve never had nice stitch markers before, and can’t wait to use these! I’ll use them on this project first:

An Ogee Tunic! The brown is actually a bit deeper than it looks in this photo, but you get the idea. I lurve this pattern: it’s pretty simple to knit, but has lots of visual interest.

I have tons of patterns in the queue, and I just wish I had more time in which to knit. If only I could figure out a way to squeeze more hours out of the day…

Well, I finished the Waving Lace Socks for my Sockapalooza sock pal. I think they turned out well, but I’m much more enamored with this:

My first handspun! I bought the roving and a simple drop spindle at Lettuce Knits while we were in Toronto, and had been reluctant to spin it up because I was sure I would mess it all up. Yesterday I decided to just get over it and do it, and here it is! It’s a bit overspun, but I think it will be okay once it has dried and the twist has set more completely. I’m a little disappointed by how little yardage I got out of it, though…only 45 yards or so. I think I might combine it with this wool/mohair blend I got at the street market last week to make a little pouch for socks-in-progress or a small purse, or maybe some gloves. I’ll figure something out, I’m sure.

I’m at a bit of an impasse for my next project. I have some lace yarn, but I’m doing the Mystery Stole soon and don’t think I want to work on two lace projects at the same time. I’m also a little burned out on socks, so my stashed sock yarn will have to wait some more. I’d like to knit a sweater or a cardigan or some kind of top, I think…but I don’t have enough yarn of any single type for that, and it would not be a good idea for me to spend the money on a sweater’s worth of yarn right now. I guess I’ll go back to the Log Cabin blanket until inspiration hits, then.

Yes, I am still alive! As proof, I give you a FO:

The Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I had been pretty bored with the project until I saw someone talking about putting the ribbon through the yarn overs. I tried it (cursing at the newly-unearthed sewing machine as I sewed the ends on), and voila! Boring turns into cute!

I’ve also finished another project that I really loved, but I can’t show it here because the recipient reads my blog. I will try very hard to remember to blog it when I give it to that person, but the gifting date is well out of my easy remembering range. I’ll try!

A few days ago, I started some Waving Lace Socks (scroll down) for my Sockapalooza 4 sock pal. I’m using Jawoll for the first time, and the included bobbin of reinforcing thread is semi-exotic. Should I knit it along with the yarn? Should I sew it in later? Should I toss it aside? Who knows what wonders the reinforcing thread might bring… ;)

I also signed up for Dish Rag Tag (Team Canada, woo!) and Mystery Stole 3 today. I’ll definitely get into the Dish Rag Tag, but we’ll see what happens with the Mystery Stole. There are tons of lace patterns calling my name and I have so little yarn with which to knit them…

Today is our first anniversary, and I came home after a full day of running errands to find these:

They’re pretty, smell quite nice, and came with a very sweet note. To celebrate some more, we went out for some pretty tasty (but huge!!) sushi and watched The Lives of Others, which was a great film. This first year has been a great one, and I hope we have many more together. It is rare to find someone who loves you and understands you so completely, and I am so happy to have found such a person.

During the errand-running, I went on a bit of a yarn crawl through Edmonton and discovered River City Yarns, which I think will become my new LYS. They have a great selection of yarn, most of which I have used and liked or have heard about and want to try, the lady there was very friendly, and I found out that they have a weekly knitting night on Thursdays. I’m planning to bike over tomorrow evening to try it out! I’ve never been part of any sort of knitting social circle, so I’m both excited and nervous about it. I think it will probably be fun, though. Anyway, here is my haul for the day:

I almost came home with a Della Q bag, but decided I should think about it for a while first. I might buy it tomorrow, though…