I'm trying to use up as many of my consumable items before going to Japan so that I'm not packing so much and I don't need to store as many items when I get there. I'm mostly trying to use up my lotions and body washes/soaps. It's a concentrated effort. I've been using soap as shaving cream, shaving my legs and subsequently lotioning them more often than I usually would, showering with Lee to lather him up in my girly sops (teehee) and giving Lee foot rubs, of course using the lotion. I was working through them from least to most liked, but only the ones where the body wash and lotion matched. Now, I'm down to non-matching, and I have less than a month left before leaving. My conundrum is this: Do I use the ones I like the least first, and hope I can use up a whole bottle, or do I go with the Victoria's Secret Strawberries and Champagne which is half gone (I really like it) and can probably use it up? I know, this shouldn't be as much of a problem. I have a Kiwi Lotus lotion that is 1/5 gone and a Grapefruit Ginger that is slightly less used that I keep in the car. I have a not opened Grapefruit Ginger that I was going to use next, since I don't really like that scent, but I don't know if I can use it up before I go and I'd rather use up more than have a bunch of half-used bottles. Though if I go with the Grapefruit Ginger, I can have matching lotions in both the car and at home...
Does anyone else find stupidly simple, irrelevant to everything else in the world, and really miniscule decisions like this so difficult?
Five hours of car time this weekend, I think I can safely promise an FO picture or two for my next post.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
More News
Chugging away on my BYOB - nothing new to note yet, hopefully will have a finished product by the end of the weekend. And maybe some FO pictures for the growing list of finished but not photographed items in my sidebar.
McCain has finally chosen a VP, and it seems like a very smart move on his part. She seems competent, poised, pretty, and a very staunch republican in all the worst ways. Anti-gay, pro-life, pro-drilling in Alaska, and who knows what else. Good move, sir. We shall see how this one plays out - and this time I get an outsiders view on the whole shebang.
I was ever so pleased this morning. One of the Art of Disney retired cross stitches, The Happiest Celebration on Earth, was put on eBay. I do own all of the charts for all of the cross stitches, but I want to own all of the kits and this particular one requires beads. I put it on my watch list, as it was just listed today, and am prepared to wait until the final two hours to start my bidding, hoping that it remains down around $15 so not too many people actually notice it. I've found that if the bidding doesn't get too hot, the ones that start low tend to stay low. Of course, a couple hours later, I check back, and it's already over $60. I was planning to pay between $60 and $100 for this, and will have to watch it. It's worth a lot to me, but right now, I really shouldn't be spending so much on something so unnecessary. We did just take out a large loan from Lee's parents to consolidate some of our smaller and higher interest loans as well as set up our apartment in Japan, so we have the money for this, but I just don't know how high I can reasonably go. I really, really, really want this, and this one isn't listed very often. I'll be keeping my eye on it and crossing my fingers that the other bidders don't think it's quite worth it!
McCain has finally chosen a VP, and it seems like a very smart move on his part. She seems competent, poised, pretty, and a very staunch republican in all the worst ways. Anti-gay, pro-life, pro-drilling in Alaska, and who knows what else. Good move, sir. We shall see how this one plays out - and this time I get an outsiders view on the whole shebang.
I was ever so pleased this morning. One of the Art of Disney retired cross stitches, The Happiest Celebration on Earth, was put on eBay. I do own all of the charts for all of the cross stitches, but I want to own all of the kits and this particular one requires beads. I put it on my watch list, as it was just listed today, and am prepared to wait until the final two hours to start my bidding, hoping that it remains down around $15 so not too many people actually notice it. I've found that if the bidding doesn't get too hot, the ones that start low tend to stay low. Of course, a couple hours later, I check back, and it's already over $60. I was planning to pay between $60 and $100 for this, and will have to watch it. It's worth a lot to me, but right now, I really shouldn't be spending so much on something so unnecessary. We did just take out a large loan from Lee's parents to consolidate some of our smaller and higher interest loans as well as set up our apartment in Japan, so we have the money for this, but I just don't know how high I can reasonably go. I really, really, really want this, and this one isn't listed very often. I'll be keeping my eye on it and crossing my fingers that the other bidders don't think it's quite worth it!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The News
The excellent news: My Certificate of Eligibility is officially in the mail from Japan, which means I am 100% going to Japan in just under a month. Awesome!
The good news: The yarn I mentioned for a test knit in the last post didn't get here until Monday. However, I was able to whip out a pair of 7.5" leg, 9" foot socks to get in the mail on Wednesday. Fastest socks ever. Though I do need to ice my wrists now! It's a pretty cool pattern coming out by Phoenix Bess, a biased lace sock that Lee found very entrancing, especially given the yarn that I was using. It pooled nicely with the pattern.
The "eh" news: No pictures for this post. I haven't really worked on anything but test knits recently and though I've taken pictures of them, y'all don't get to see those until the pattern is released. I will say that I am quite pleased with the Sea Silk Wrap and can't wait to show that one off! This one also had pretty amazing pooling, and I love the colors, though I think it's going to be a present for my aunt. I love it but don't think I'd use it, whereas she probably will use it.
The bad news: I haven't yet even started my SotS3 Hint #2, and Hint #3 comes out tomorrow! We will have a lot of car time this weekend with a visiting friend, but I've also got a couple other things that should be done first. We'll see how that goes...
The awful news: Everything we own (practically) is still stuck in Japanese customs. At this point I just want to tell them to hold onto the boxes until we arrive, then we'll go there and make the extensive lists of everything AGAIN so that we can have a household in Japan.
Thank you and good night.
The good news: The yarn I mentioned for a test knit in the last post didn't get here until Monday. However, I was able to whip out a pair of 7.5" leg, 9" foot socks to get in the mail on Wednesday. Fastest socks ever. Though I do need to ice my wrists now! It's a pretty cool pattern coming out by Phoenix Bess, a biased lace sock that Lee found very entrancing, especially given the yarn that I was using. It pooled nicely with the pattern.
The "eh" news: No pictures for this post. I haven't really worked on anything but test knits recently and though I've taken pictures of them, y'all don't get to see those until the pattern is released. I will say that I am quite pleased with the Sea Silk Wrap and can't wait to show that one off! This one also had pretty amazing pooling, and I love the colors, though I think it's going to be a present for my aunt. I love it but don't think I'd use it, whereas she probably will use it.
The bad news: I haven't yet even started my SotS3 Hint #2, and Hint #3 comes out tomorrow! We will have a lot of car time this weekend with a visiting friend, but I've also got a couple other things that should be done first. We'll see how that goes...
The awful news: Everything we own (practically) is still stuck in Japanese customs. At this point I just want to tell them to hold onto the boxes until we arrive, then we'll go there and make the extensive lists of everything AGAIN so that we can have a household in Japan.
Thank you and good night.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Shipping Woes
Got back from a couple of days at the lake this morning. There's a voicemail on Lee's phone saying that our boxes (most everything we own) in Japan are being held in Customs due to the fact that only one of the customs sheets got there with the boxes. Now, we had to unpack the boxes to fill out these sheets since the forms require you to be very explicit with what is in each box. We would have done this in the first place, but the idiot FedEx employee who helped us when we said "We're shipping things to Japan" didn't actually help us but gave us the wrong number of boxes and charged us for the other two anyway while not listening to what we said, so didn't give us the forms in the first place. This same guy was very helpful during the shipping of the boxes, so we figured that he was just having a bad day the first time or something. We're using the Great Rates line through FedEx so we get 74% off of the normal shipping costs by shipping it on a certain day of the week when everything else is slow. It's new, so we were having problems shipping it out and it took over 2 hours at the store to get it done. We also haven't actually gotten charged for the shipping yet, but at least the boxes got to Japan.
We called FedEx and they gave us the number of the local shipping center to call. No one has our paperwork. Well, one form made it through. Their advice is to forge the other 14, even though the form is legally binding and all and we could technically go to jail if we lie on it. I guess we were supposed to get a copy of all of these, but the employee didn't give us any. We filled out completely 15 of these sheets, which took many, many hours, and apparently, only the one got shipped. They faxed us a copy of the one that got shipped so we can better forge the rest, and we've found that some information on it was changed after we turned it in, and we're thinking the employee changed the numbers and threw the rest away. Lee's trying to call Japan to let them know what the problem is so that instead of forging these rather important pages, they know that FedEx screwed us over and forged some information after we signed the declaration. We're hoping they don't send us back all the packages, because that would be very painful.
Also I was supposed to get yarn for a test knit today and it didn't come in. Right about now, I hate all forms of shipping. I did finish Peasantry and am close to finishing a couple other things, so that I can start others, but did not take photographs on the lake of both Peasantry and the Lace Rib Raglan like I planned. Maybe I'll take them up to Maine tomorrow and take pictures then. Hopefully we get this shipping stuff sorted out before we go and also I hope that my yarn comes in and the mail gets here before we leave. Six hours of car ride would at least get the first sock mostly done, and I'd hate to lose that especially since this particular knit is on a rather tight deadline.
Also also, I have been so very upset that I totally forgot that today's Friday and the next Secret of the Stole hint is out. At least I'll have that to keep me busy if I don't get the sock yarn. Like I actually need something else to keep me busy - my list of WIPs isn't enough?
We called FedEx and they gave us the number of the local shipping center to call. No one has our paperwork. Well, one form made it through. Their advice is to forge the other 14, even though the form is legally binding and all and we could technically go to jail if we lie on it. I guess we were supposed to get a copy of all of these, but the employee didn't give us any. We filled out completely 15 of these sheets, which took many, many hours, and apparently, only the one got shipped. They faxed us a copy of the one that got shipped so we can better forge the rest, and we've found that some information on it was changed after we turned it in, and we're thinking the employee changed the numbers and threw the rest away. Lee's trying to call Japan to let them know what the problem is so that instead of forging these rather important pages, they know that FedEx screwed us over and forged some information after we signed the declaration. We're hoping they don't send us back all the packages, because that would be very painful.
Also I was supposed to get yarn for a test knit today and it didn't come in. Right about now, I hate all forms of shipping. I did finish Peasantry and am close to finishing a couple other things, so that I can start others, but did not take photographs on the lake of both Peasantry and the Lace Rib Raglan like I planned. Maybe I'll take them up to Maine tomorrow and take pictures then. Hopefully we get this shipping stuff sorted out before we go and also I hope that my yarn comes in and the mail gets here before we leave. Six hours of car ride would at least get the first sock mostly done, and I'd hate to lose that especially since this particular knit is on a rather tight deadline.
Also also, I have been so very upset that I totally forgot that today's Friday and the next Secret of the Stole hint is out. At least I'll have that to keep me busy if I don't get the sock yarn. Like I actually need something else to keep me busy - my list of WIPs isn't enough?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Motivation
I had a lovely day last Friday with the cat, sitting by the stove, knitting away, burning old financial records. All I needed was a mug of hot cocoa and a change of season to say, January instead of August. Oh well. Got a bunch of knitting done!
Last night we went to a Buddy Guy/George Thorogood and the Destroyers concert in Boston. We live a bit over an hour away, so of course, I brought some knitting. I brought my BYOB for a change of pace from the laceweight, and got to the end of the lace panel. Came ti
me to do the top of the bag in seed stitch, and I realized that I didn't pack the smaller needle tips needed for that portion of the bag. Luckily, I never pack light knitting-wise and had my Sea Silk Wrap in my purse, which I happily knit on during the first two bands (Peter Gammons' band and Buddy Guy) and during the intermission-y time before George Thorogood came on. I was dancing and there was not enough light to continue the wrap during his set. I got another couple of inches done on it, so that's going well. I also had a small cross stitch ornament in my purse too, the $1.99 kind that's sold in big box craft stores. I love those little suckers! The lace part of the BYOB seemed to go quickly, and I'm hoping my renewed interest in it carries me through long enough to finish it up soon. I'm in a finishing stuff mood, but I do not have enough time to really sit down and power through anything. Though we are going to the drive-ins tonight...Maybe I'll bring my Peasantry and not any other warm clothing so I have to finish it when it gets chilly out. That may motivate me enough!
Last night we went to a Buddy Guy/George Thorogood and the Destroyers concert in Boston. We live a bit over an hour away, so of course, I brought some knitting. I brought my BYOB for a change of pace from the laceweight, and got to the end of the lace panel. Came ti
me to do the top of the bag in seed stitch, and I realized that I didn't pack the smaller needle tips needed for that portion of the bag. Luckily, I never pack light knitting-wise and had my Sea Silk Wrap in my purse, which I happily knit on during the first two bands (Peter Gammons' band and Buddy Guy) and during the intermission-y time before George Thorogood came on. I was dancing and there was not enough light to continue the wrap during his set. I got another couple of inches done on it, so that's going well. I also had a small cross stitch ornament in my purse too, the $1.99 kind that's sold in big box craft stores. I love those little suckers! The lace part of the BYOB seemed to go quickly, and I'm hoping my renewed interest in it carries me through long enough to finish it up soon. I'm in a finishing stuff mood, but I do not have enough time to really sit down and power through anything. Though we are going to the drive-ins tonight...Maybe I'll bring my Peasantry and not any other warm clothing so I have to finish it when it gets chilly out. That may motivate me enough!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Secret of the Stole III, Hint #1
Yay, I'm done with Hint #1!!! That means I'm actually keeping up with one of these things for once! Yes, I know it's only the first of nine, and if I actually keep up with this it mean
s I will run out of yarn 3/4 of the way through the last clue, but still, I'm done and can't work on this one until Friday. Yay! I also found my blocking pins, which I thought I, in a boneheaded move, sent to Japan. Apparently I did not, which is good, since I'll have one or two things to (hopefully) block before I go. I'll probably re-block my SotS3 swatch since I just kind of laid it out the first time.
I had ever so many problems with this hint. Only 64 lines, and I had to completely rip back (from row 3, but still...) once, and I had a huge tangle of ickyness that I had to dr
op down ten stitches for and work them back up the six rows that were erroneous. I also had a bunch of tinking, generally just a few stitches, but tinking nonetheless over various portions. I am quite pleased with my choice of beads and yarn though, and can't wait to see what the next hint is! I'm hoping to clear off something else from the needles, or at least get the @#%Q$%$# Snowflake Sock to the point where I can carry it around. I'm also waiting on a package for a test knit, a pair of socks.
Now on to BYOB...or my Sea Silk Wrap...or my mom's sleeve...none of which have really moved since the last pictures. Except of course the Sea Silk Wrap, since there are no pictures of that! 11 of the 16 projects in my sidebar are in the country. I'm not working on either of the cross stitches since they don't need to be done and take up minimal space. I'm not working on Blaze since I still need another skein. I can't work on the Secret of the Stole III anymore since I've finished everything I have. I can't work on Rogue until I free up a cord for the sleeves. That takes it down to six possible projects to work on. I think I shall work on BYOB for a change of pace, worsted weight yarn instead of the sport/fingering/lace I've been working with for the past couple of weeks. I also need to find the Snowflake Socks chart. Apparently I didn't transfer all the files from my laptop correctly. Good thing I didn't wipe it yet!
s I will run out of yarn 3/4 of the way through the last clue, but still, I'm done and can't work on this one until Friday. Yay! I also found my blocking pins, which I thought I, in a boneheaded move, sent to Japan. Apparently I did not, which is good, since I'll have one or two things to (hopefully) block before I go. I'll probably re-block my SotS3 swatch since I just kind of laid it out the first time.I had ever so many problems with this hint. Only 64 lines, and I had to completely rip back (from row 3, but still...) once, and I had a huge tangle of ickyness that I had to dr
op down ten stitches for and work them back up the six rows that were erroneous. I also had a bunch of tinking, generally just a few stitches, but tinking nonetheless over various portions. I am quite pleased with my choice of beads and yarn though, and can't wait to see what the next hint is! I'm hoping to clear off something else from the needles, or at least get the @#%Q$%$# Snowflake Sock to the point where I can carry it around. I'm also waiting on a package for a test knit, a pair of socks.Now on to BYOB...or my Sea Silk Wrap...or my mom's sleeve...none of which have really moved since the last pictures. Except of course the Sea Silk Wrap, since there are no pictures of that! 11 of the 16 projects in my sidebar are in the country. I'm not working on either of the cross stitches since they don't need to be done and take up minimal space. I'm not working on Blaze since I still need another skein. I can't work on the Secret of the Stole III anymore since I've finished everything I have. I can't work on Rogue until I free up a cord for the sleeves. That takes it down to six possible projects to work on. I think I shall work on BYOB for a change of pace, worsted weight yarn instead of the sport/fingering/lace I've been working with for the past couple of weeks. I also need to find the Snowflake Socks chart. Apparently I didn't transfer all the files from my laptop correctly. Good thing I didn't wipe it yet!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Random Post
Apparently I go from one obsession in my knitting to another. Remember the post about not quite understanding the concept of having multiple projects on the needles? Yeah, I now have five projects that require my size 4s. Five. My mom's sweater, both the knit alongs I've just joined, a test knit, and the thank-you scarf that I've sketched out but still need to fully chart out and swatch. Yes, I'm actually going to swatch this one to make sure it's what I want. The test knit is the first one on the needles, and it's nearly halfway done. I have two skeins of yarn, so that's how long the wrap will be. I think it might look better with a third, but I have two, so it's getting two.
The ski sweater is still on that first sleeve. So much for making it before she arrives...last Sunday...But she likes the sleeve a lot so far. I just got annoyed with the pattern directions and gauge and trying to decide if I should knit another inch or just let it go and see what happens, so put it down and picked up a book. All this knitting's not going to get done before I leave the States if I keep on reading huge books that won't stay open while I knit. I've switched to cartoon books - they're all paperback and short and they stay open for me. Since I'm still using DPNs for the sleeve, I don't need my Boye set yet, and this project is not yet vying for cables and tips.
Tomorrow, however, SotS4 starts, and I want to keep up with it this time. I have the swatch, so I know what I'm using and I'm all ready to go, I just need the first clue. I also, since I probably won't quite finish the test knit before tomorrow, have stolen one of the cables out of Blaze, and made it fit just barely onto the largest cable I have. It's very tight, but it fits. I figure, I'll finish the test knit, blaze through the thank-you scarf since I'm really into the project, and then return that cable to Blaze just in time (I hope) to recieve the last skein of yarn I need to finish that and then finish Blaze, opening up two cables for the ski sweater. If I finish my BYOB, that gives me a cable for the MS3, which starts September 5th. (Who else is skeptical? Memememe! I almost bought more cables, but can't spend money on something I really shouldn't get right now) Which leaves Rogue's sleeves still wanting for cables...but hey, I need some airplane kniting, right? With over 16 hours of airline knitting, plus waiting to transfer flights, go through customs, etc. there will be a bunch of knitting, reading, sudoku-ing and cross stitching going on, especially because I probably won't be able to sleep.
Also, I just realized that the word "tink", meaning to un-knit a few stitches, is actually the word "knit" backwards and it makes a lot of sense but I feel like an idiot for not realizing it in the oh, three plus years I've been using it.
Also also, that sunburn I posted about before is peeling. Ew.
The ski sweater is still on that first sleeve. So much for making it before she arrives...last Sunday...But she likes the sleeve a lot so far. I just got annoyed with the pattern directions and gauge and trying to decide if I should knit another inch or just let it go and see what happens, so put it down and picked up a book. All this knitting's not going to get done before I leave the States if I keep on reading huge books that won't stay open while I knit. I've switched to cartoon books - they're all paperback and short and they stay open for me. Since I'm still using DPNs for the sleeve, I don't need my Boye set yet, and this project is not yet vying for cables and tips.
Tomorrow, however, SotS4 starts, and I want to keep up with it this time. I have the swatch, so I know what I'm using and I'm all ready to go, I just need the first clue. I also, since I probably won't quite finish the test knit before tomorrow, have stolen one of the cables out of Blaze, and made it fit just barely onto the largest cable I have. It's very tight, but it fits. I figure, I'll finish the test knit, blaze through the thank-you scarf since I'm really into the project, and then return that cable to Blaze just in time (I hope) to recieve the last skein of yarn I need to finish that and then finish Blaze, opening up two cables for the ski sweater. If I finish my BYOB, that gives me a cable for the MS3, which starts September 5th. (Who else is skeptical? Memememe! I almost bought more cables, but can't spend money on something I really shouldn't get right now) Which leaves Rogue's sleeves still wanting for cables...but hey, I need some airplane kniting, right? With over 16 hours of airline knitting, plus waiting to transfer flights, go through customs, etc. there will be a bunch of knitting, reading, sudoku-ing and cross stitching going on, especially because I probably won't be able to sleep.
Also, I just realized that the word "tink", meaning to un-knit a few stitches, is actually the word "knit" backwards and it makes a lot of sense but I feel like an idiot for not realizing it in the oh, three plus years I've been using it.
Also also, that sunburn I posted about before is peeling. Ew.
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