Another ribbing project

I am making yet another scarf.  The BF was watching me make his beautiful black alpaca scarf, and asked who it was for.  I said him, and he said he thought he asked for red.  Sigh…….  Why would you ask for a black hat and a red scarf?  So……………….  I have 3 skeins of Knit Picks Swish in red, and am making his scarf from that, but working on it in stealth mode.  It is a cool 3x2 ribbing that I will wire block to have the ribs stand apart.  Then he can throw it in the washing machine and panic when it dries back to it’s original shape.  I will enjoy that.  lol  I am also making a ribbed hat for the older nephew and The Boy’s girlfriend.  The smaller hat started out on dpns, but I am going to convert it to magic loop, because I think it goes much faster for me.

                We are supposed to be closing on The Boy’s house today, but the lawyer hasn’t come up with the exact closing costs yet, the seller hasn’t proved that he completed all repairs we agreed on, and the underwriter is fucking insane.  It is not good enough that they have signed gift letters from me for what I am giving toward the down payment.  Nor is it good enough that they have front and back copies of the checks deposited into his account.  They want statements showing that I actually had the money in the account.  Fine- I gave them all that.  Now they want a statement showing the money actually came out of that account?  WTF?  Seriously!  The checks show where it was drawn from- they have statements with more than enough money in the account.  And the money is not coming from a regular bank account.  It is life insurance proceeds in an account with Prudential- who apparently has never heard of the internet, let alone a fax machine.  Grrrrrrr!  It takes them a week to do anything, and will only send stuff through postal mail.  It took speaking to 3 people for them to agree to send out a mini-statement showing the last 2 checks I wrote for this crap actually came from that account.  Now we wait.

A Case of the Blahs

Since Friday, I have been hit with a case of the blahs.  I can’t seem to shake it, no matter what I do.  I went to the shore house on Friday night to do some cleaning out and fixing up.  On Saturday, I was able to shake off this feeling for a few hours by installing a tub surround and a new vinyl floor in the bathroom- all.by. myself!  (pix to follow) But by 10:00 Saturday night it was back.  I think it’s a combination of the anniversary of The Husband’s passing, The Daughter Figure being away at school for her 20^th birthday, The Boy closing on his house (supposedly) next week, and not seeing The BF since last Wednesday. 

I really need to get my act together, as this is a busy week- book club tonight (don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t read the book- I don’t even know the name of it)  lol, The BF is coming tomorrow for dinner and shoe shopping (for him), and I am going to try to drag him to meet my knitting group at Starbucks, under the guise of just getting a coffee.  Bbbwwwaaaahhhhhh!!!!  On second thought, I think I’ll ask him if he is ready to meet them.  They can be more overwhelming (in a good way) than my actual family.  J On Wednesday, I have my spinning guild meeting, and I need to have 2 bobbins of something spun up so we can practice plying.  Which is a good thing, because I suck at plying.  Lolol  I may have to split something  already on bobbins to do this with.  I need to go to the grocery store, return things at Kohl’s and Old Navy, and drop off my dry cleaning.  Oh, and fold the laundry.  And clean my death-trap of a bedroom.  And find my kitchen table, which is buried under tons of papers, knitting patterns and yarn. 

I think I’ll just go home and knit.

A Closing?

The Boy has a closing date(s).  Anywhere from November 23^rd to December 1^st.  WTF?  I’ve closed on 2 other houses and have never been this far in without a firm closing date!  The Title search was started on the 2^nd.  A Bulk Sale notice was sent to the State.  It takes 10 days for them to respond, which in NJ terms, probably means 3 weeks.  Sigh……  Did you know that if you purchase a house from a seller that was renting out the property, a Bulk Sale notice goes to the State?  If not, the PURCHASER can be held liable for taxes not paid on the rent collected.  How fucked up is that?  How is a purchaser supposed to know that a seller was renting the property?  Only in NJ! 

            I have to start boxing up stuff for The Boy to take to his new house.  He is getting ½ the glasses and mugs in the cabinet.  He can have ½ the towels, and I think I have dishes in the basement.  He has a nice set of couches and a big screen tv to take. He also has not one, but TWO drum sets.  I have a 2^nd couch he can have for the basement REC room if he wants, an old 19” tv, an end table for the living room, and he has a coffee table at my sister’s apartment.  I will give him a starter amount of utensils and a utensil holder for the drawer.  I have 10 gajillion pots and pans he can choose from, and carving knives galore.  He can take his bedroom dressers, which were my brothers.  That makes them about 40 years old.  If I were him, they’d go in one of the guest rooms.  He can also take my old kitchen table.  I just don’t have any chairs for it anymore.  lol   And The BF is donating his old table they can use on the sun porch.  The Boy has my Grandmother’s Craftmatic Adjustable full size bed.  Now tell me, what 26 year old has a Craftmatic Adjustable?  lmao   The frame is great, but the mattress is crap, so that would also do well in a spare bedroom.  I will be getting a new King size bed to accommodate The BF and the menagerie, so The Boy can have my Queen if he wants, or he can buy himself a completely new bedroom set- mattress and all.

Accomplishments

        What a great day.  I cleaned The BF's apartment and took his stuff to the laundromat.  I don't think I've been in a laundromat in 20 years.  Some things never change.  lol  I put most of his stuff in a giant washer, then put the towels and other stuff in a smaller one.  Then I waited.  And knit. And listened to everyone speaking Spanish.  And knit some more.  Top 40 playing on the radio.  Yuk.  lol  When the larger machine stopped, I opened the door and water came pouring out.  It never drained for the spin cycle.  Sigh....  The attendant was very nice, and went to get a mop while I tried to get the sopping wet clothes into the next machine.  He then got it going for me.  The. Whole. Fucking. Wash. Cycle.  AGAIN.  I cannot believe he couldn't just set it to spin.  Grrrr.  So, I knit some more.  And dried and folded the smaller load.  And wondered why I didn't drive the whole damned pile of clothes the hour and 15 minutes to my house and wash everything in my nice machine.  Couldn't have taken much longer.  :-)  When I got home, I continued the cleaning thing.  I tackled the back room, which is my computer room.  It was getting hard to find the computer, and this room is going to become the 'cat' room/man cave when The BF moves in.  There wasn't even a spot big enough on the couch in here for a cat to lay on, so I jumped in and shoveled all the shit out.  A laundry basket full of yarn, 2 bags of garbage and 3 bags of paper to recycle later, and it looks like a room again.  :-)  I wish I had a before picture. The white ceramic stove is where I keep all my spinning fiber.  And that's my Minimalist hanging over the chair.  The room is done in an Oriental motif, so ignore the Southwest pattern on the couch.  The slipcover is in the wash.

        I finished one of the three October squares that were supposed to be mailed by October 20th.  I suck.  I admit it, ok?  The second one is on the needles and half-way finished.  I am dreading the 3rd one, because she asked for it to be in fingering weight.  Seriously?  Who the fuck makes a blanket out of 12x12 fingering weight squares?  And how long will this take me to make?

Less than 2 Weeks

On November 18^th, it will be one year since I lost my husband.  It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, yet it seems a lifetime away.  The Daughter Figure and The Boy, which were so aptly named by him, take a different route to the healing than I have.  The Boy still has moments of frustration and anger.  They always got along pretty well, and did all kinds of stuff together.  He can laugh about stuff his father did and said, but does not discuss his feelings or acknowledge that he misses him.  Typical Boy. 

The Daughter Figure, on the other hand, had a different relationship with him.  For most of her life, they argued and fought.  Neither saw that they were of the same mold.  Except she has breasts.  Toward the end of her senior year in High School, they became closer.  He was so proud of her accomplishments, and her acceptance to University of Michigan.  She was away at school when he got sick, and the last time she spoke to him, he had to talk her down from a panic attack.  We didn’t know that less than 24 hours later he would be on a ventilator in an induced coma.  She beat herself up for a long time going over that last conversation because she felt that he needed her and she had been selfish.  My words could not change how she felt.  Only time has eased her pain a little.

As for me, I miss him, but not in the same way they do. We had a different kind of relationship.  After 27 years of marriage, I loved him, but was not ‘in love’ with him.  We had been through too much.  I had been hurt and disappointed too many times.  It was nothing torrid or despicable, it was just our different views of family and life and time (not) spent together.  I viewed our relationship from a different perspective than he did for a very long time.  We were old friends, and sometimes best friends, but not lovers.  That time had long passed.

  I knew from the minute the hospital called that night at 1:30am.  I knew he would not be coming home.  My grieving started 3 weeks before he died.  Maybe that made it easier when it finally did happen.  Maybe I’m too German.  Or too Russian.  Or too damaged.  I don’t know.  I stayed with him in the ICU as much as they would allow.  I didn’t want him to be alone. I owed him that much.  I talked to him about what was going on at home and at work.  I wiped away his sweat.  I combed his hair.  I stroked him arm.  But he wasn’t there.  Only his shell was there, and the sound of all the machines and the ventilator. 

Just 3 Words

Knitted Christmas lights.

Ok, I can't just put that on here.  lol  But mark my words, I WILL be making these.  I swear.  Just as soon as I finish the 3 squares I didn't make for last month's swap, and make a hat for my sister's older kid.  And start working on the sweater(s) I want to make.  Well, I really need to finish the green one, which was to be my first knitted sweater.  It kind of got thrown in the UFO basket when I started the Minimalist.  Which I DID finish, along with 2 hats.  Sigh.........  Stupid obsessive knitting in the round.  lolol

Here is the hat I just finished for my younger nephew.  Isn't it cute?

UMass, Webs, and Rocky Horror. Happy Halloween!!!!

Let me say one thing before I begin- the people of Connecticut cannot drive for shit!  For Shit, I say!  OMG, how does it take 40 minutes to go 3 miles?  Why do they have to STOP and gawk at a DOT truck on the side of the road?  Why are tractor trailers allowed in the fast lane?  On hills?  FML.  A 3+ hour trip took 4.5 hours.  Thank you, Connecticut.  I’ll tell you, when she went to University of Michigan, we were driving on Route 80.  On the other side of the divider, a truck had overturned and spilled it’s cargo all over the hiway.  The cars on our side kept going 80 mph.  That’s right!  It was none of their fucking business, so they kept right on going!  Yeah, Midwest drivers!  They need to teach the Tools from Connecticut to mind their own fucking business.  (steps off soapbox)

I came to Massachusetts Friday afternoon to visit The Daughter Figure for the weekend.  She attends UMass.  I always love to see her, but I also always love to take the trip to Webs. It’s only 10 minutes from her school.  lol   She accuses me of sending her to UMass so I can go yarn shopping.  I plead the 5^th.  I brought the puppy.  She loves to ride in the car, and since she is growing so fast, I wanted the kid to see her.  The dog threw up in the car.  Twice.  Then tried to eat it while I was going 85 and looking for a safe place to pull over.  Yuk.  Double yuk.  The dog has also never been on a leash.  We have a fenced yard, so I never thought much about it.  Apparently, she cannot pee on leash.  Or poop.  Or sleep in her crate in a hotel room.  Or not eat my Berkies after she wakes me up at 6:30am on a Saturday morning because now she has to pee, no matter what.  AND poop in the handicap spot right in front of the entrance.  AND I have no way to pick up the poop, because I am in my pajamas and coat, with greasy hair and no contacts.  Sorry, and thank you to whoever did pick up said poop.  Sigh……….

Well, I took a shower, knitted, and called The Daughter Figure at 10:45.  She said it was too early.  Call back at 12.  More sighing.  Knitted some more.  I am making a hat on dpn’s for my little nephew.  He won’t care if it looks like crap.  Was gonna go to Webs, but then decided- screw her.  She HATES going there, so I will make her come with me!  BBBWWWAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!  When she finally got her ass out of bed, we took the dog for a good run at a nearby elementary school.  She even went down the kiddie slide.  (the dog, not the kid) lol  We rode over to Northampton to walk the dog through town and grab some lunch.  Well, the dog was scared shitless of all the people.  She put on the brakes constantly, and kept trying to run any way but the way we were heading.  We had to carry her.  She is NOT tiny anymore.  We sat outside for lunch at a really good pizza place, and she cowered under the table until the food came.  She thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches, and finally started warming up to people that were oohhhhing and aaahhhing over her.  We made it back down to the car without having to carry her, so I guess it turned out ok.

At Webs, The Daughter Figure went into the loom room and played with a $3000.00 loom until she ran out of yarn, or whatever they use on them.  Then I found her at the spinning wheels, cursing.  Then she told me the yarn I picked out was ugly, so I made her come in the back and find a different color.  THEN I told her it wasn’t for her.  BBBWWWAAAAHHHH again!  I wish I had my camera with me, because she wound up slumped in a chair next to someone else’s miserable teenage daughter.  The expressions on their faces were identical, and priceless!  Their demeanor said “shoot me now!”  A mother can’t have much more fun than seeing  that, can she?  lolol

After Webs, we came to the hotel because The Daughter Figure needed a bath.  She lives for baths, and there is not a tub to be found (that you would get into without a hazard suit) on campus.  We then snuck the dog into her dorm, and she was showered with kisses and affection from the kids on the floor.  They really should allow dogs in dorms.  I think it would really help with issues like homesickness and stress, especially for Freshmen.  We rounded out the night by going back to Northampton and eating Tibetan food.  All I can say is, YUMMMM!!!  I can haz more, pleez?  Her friend had Yak stew.  I had chicken and potatoes in a curry sauce, and The Daughter Figure had beef with onions and peppers.  We stopped at Starbucks for dessert, and she left her purse there.  Of course, we didn’t know this until we got all the way back to UMass.  Now she is at Rocky Horror with 4-5 other kids from her floor.  She was dressed like a slut, and her chubby gay friend was wearing a too tight black dress, 5 inch pewter Marc Jacobs heels in a size 11, and rainbow dyed hair.  He said his feet were killing him already.  Ah, the price we pay to look beautiful!

Spinning Away

          Last night was our spinning guild meeting at The Manse.  It is always so much fun to get together with everyone, and last night was no exception.  There were 9 wheels altogether.  A Ladybug, a Louet S-10, my Majacraft Rose, my old castle-style upright that I am selling to my girlfriend, 2 CPW’s, a Hitchhiker and 2 Ashford Traditionals.  You know, there wasn’t one wheel I tried that I would kick out of bed.  (other than my old Castle- we never got along too well).  lol 

          It was amazing how different the 2 Traditionals spun, even though they were the exact same model.  I like both equally, but they were different.  The CPW’s I expected to be different, as they are the same type, but with different tensioning, and their age is markedly different, also.  They spun very nicely, but since I draw with my left hand, they were a bit awkward getting used to. I had to sit a bit sideways, but it wasn’t a big problem.  My favorite wheel of the night was the Ladybug.  It was easy to treadle and took up the yarn beautifully.  The Louet is the only wheel I have ever tried that actually had the feel of “build twist, feed.  Build twist, feed.”  It was very nice, but the single treadle would be the death of me. 

          It was also interesting to see which wheels people had trouble with, or didn’t like.  Or, more likely, which wheels didn’t like them .  I don’t think many people like my Rose, but it is probably because of the way I have the take-up set.  I think our favorite local designer fell for her, though.  She spins on a CPW but uses left hand draw like I do.  I showed her how the head of the Rose tilts, and she swooned.  Lolol  It does make it perfect for long draw, and if you want to be lazy and slouch on the couch while spinning.

          We set a timer for 10 minutes and moved around the room from wheel to wheel.  It was decided we would all spin the same fiber, so I brought 2 pounds of Texel that came with my first wheel.  It was a good fiber to spin because it is lofty. We spun through most of it, and I really wanted to collect it from everyone’s bobbins and make something with it, but I don’t think anyone was in the frame of mind to unravel their bobbins last night.  Lol

            I also tried a batt of mixed fibers that The Designer showed me how to spin from the fold.  I LOVED it!  I usually spin so damned thin, and I was able to control the fiber to spin thicker from the fold.  Wonder if that would work with roving?