Dainty Kitty

Harry Gets a Job in England & Some Sappy Stuff

 

Much to my surprise, Harry arrived in Salisbury yesterday morning and has taken a position in Duck Safety.  He attempts to remind incoming ducks to slow down so they don't land like this:

It's kind of neat to see something over there that I made with my own two hands - no matter how simple and tiny - that was in my two hands less than a week ago.  Not that it makes the distance any easier - it just makes the whole crazy mess a little more real. 

Because I'm silly, I started my first packing list last night while I was waiting for his call.  It's never too early to start making lists, right?  I think not, especially when the act of making any list makes you happy. 

I started as realistically as possible with a list of things to take on the plane:

• knitting - sock?? Christmas knitting? Crochet?

• iPod

• travel journal & pen

• change of clothes

• book

• toothbrush/toothpaste

• face cloths

• make up

• courage & patience

• camera & batteries

I think the next to last on the list there might be the most important.  Especially the patience part. 

We talk about lots of stuff but the conversation always turns to Our Adventure.  We've got the first week kind of planned out but it's the first couple of hours that we talk about the most.  The first few nervous, awkward moments, a cup of tea somewhere, hand holding, the hour and a half drive home - just sharing the same space.  And I can't stop thinking that while I'm taking forever to get my bags and through Customs and all that, he'll be on the other side of some wall, waiting. 

Sigh. :-) 

I Like This Quote

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

~ Arundhati Roy

I found this on a blog this morning.  I'm not at all familiar with the author beyond what I just skimmed on Wikipedia but it did enough to me that I had to go back and read it again...and then post it here. 

Another world really is possible. 

Funny Is...

...when your boyfriend(?) calls to tell you he's going to be late getting home from work.

And he lives in another country.

Actually, it's kind of sweet.  I mean, a guy should call when he's going to be late for a date, right?  Well, we had a date set for tonight.  

And he was worried because in my morning email I said I'd found the cure for procrastination: hatred.  I'm just so over my living situation and he's (Asshole, not Matt) being a jerk.  It really has helped with the fact that I hadn't packed all weekend, though, because I've worked like crazy today and am about ready to fall down.  Between the heat and the packing and the digging through dumpsters for boxes earlier today and the really lousy night of sleep I got due to cat fights...I'm pretty exhausted.  And more than a little emotional.  

Five more sleeps until at least most of Asshole's stuff - including, hopefully, him - is gone and eleven more sleeps until I'm gone, too.  

I Should Be Packing

At the very least I should be drying my hair.  This has been the laziest day of not getting out of my kimono until one in the afternoon and only getting out of it then because Matt called.  Poor guy, I made him give me ten minutes while I dressed and made myself presentable...to talk on the phone.  My phone doesn't get reception inside, though, so in my defense I couldn't really sit out on the back porch in my robe.  Well, not comfortably at least.

I have packed a few boxes this weekend and really plan on spending a lot of time with cardboard and newspaper tomorrow because Asshole will be gone most of the day and Matt's away so I won't be obsessively checking my email.  I'll just obsessively be carrying my phone after five waiting for his call.

Things have changed drastically with Matt over that past few days.  Gone are the times when I bash myself over the head after hanging up because I have feelings for him that I'm afraid to bring up in case he doesn't feel the same way because the idea of a relationship between us is asinine.  After a sweet gesture on his part, though, I declared that he was the "best guy I never dated" and his reply made me feel a little bit bolder so (after consulting with Ginny, of course) I stuck myself out a little bit more and told him I was smitten with him...and found out he was head over heels about me.  Ack, the mushy emails after that and the first nervous phone call were just like junior high - but in a good way.

It's totally stupid and impractical but it's really, really great.  We're loads more comfortable with each other now because it's not hanging over our heads.  Although, he's already brought up how sad it is that we can't just get together for coffee or a glass of wine...and yes, that's heartbreaking and yes it brought tears to my eyes.  But so do all of the nice things he says to me.  I know this is all really, really crazy on my part but I do feel that everything happens for a reason.  I think everyone we meet plays some part in making us who we are.  How else could I make anything out of my current living situation?If nothing else, Matt will, hopefully, always be a wonderful friend who helped me bear a kind of really crappy time in my life.

I've started calling our phone calls "dates."  We were on for over two hours last night and he felt bad that he was taking up my evening but I pointed out that if I lived there we'd be spending this time together - it was a Saturday night after all - so why not spend it together as best we can.  It's kind of cute.  And kind of sad.  

And, on a lighter note, at least I know I'm going to see him in a few weeks - from then on, who knows, right?

Okay, enough of that - I could go on for hours and hours, trust me....

I ripped out the Morning Surf Scarf and stared the Woodlands pattern earlier this week and I'm so glad I did.  This is much quicker and a little more fun...except that I dropped a yarn over today and spent an hour and a half fixing it this morning.  I've learned my lesson and am going to put in a lifeline.  

I think I'll be able to finish it for the trip without a problem.  It'll be a nice memento - not only because I'll be wearing it over there and he sent the yarn and all but also because every stitch is made thinking about how great this trip is going to be.  

Off to pack...yuck.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for

- getting to spend time with my brother this past weekend.  We hadn't seen him since Christmas which is far too long.

- knitting with friends at coffee shops because girl time is really, really important

- the kindness of my friends and family

- along the same lines: uber sweet men with terribly sexy English accents

- Dexter Season Two for making a night of holing up in my bedroom for hours a really pleasant experience.  

- and, most importantly, SEVENTEEN MORE SLEEPS!!!

Harry the Safety Cone

I just dropped this little guy in the mail to Matt because he's working on a documentary about road safety. 

Oh, and because I'm a complete and utter dork.

Uber cute pattern can be found here. 

A White Hot Meerkat Mess

I don't know what these guys look like but they certainly don't look like meerkats or even the pattern for that matter.  The one on the right is my second attempt (the first was completely frogged) and I spent three hours on the the third attempt on the left last night (while watching Dexter Season 2 which is awesome, by the way).

I think my bamboo yarn is too thick and I'm going to need to cut back a few rows (these are already two rows short of what she calls for).   And then there's the mohair. 

The bottom one was my first choice and the top is closer to what I want but not fuzzy enough.  I think my next attempt will be using both. 

My inability to reach the level of cuteness set by the original on the pattern is really causing me undue stress.  It's ridiculous. 

More Good News for People Who Love Good News

 

I'm moving up my trip to meet Matt, thanks to my overly generous brother who has offered to front me the money to travel.   For two weeks, hopefully at the end of October/beginning of November, this will be my view.  At least for a few days - until our Adventure takes us to other parts of the country and then, hopefully, underwater and out of the country. 

The next month is going to be so stressful that the thought of getting to meet him several months earlier really hasn't sunk in yet. Once I've booked my ticket it'll seem real.  Right now it only seems sort of real - just enough to make me nervous - but not really.  The past month - it's only been a month - has just been so surreal. 

Just have to get through the stress first...that's going to be the hard part.

Time to Start Collecting Boxes

This is what's sitting in the corner of my office area.  Boxes.  Ready to be taken home and filled up. 

Because I'm moving on September 12th. 

I tried to work with my current apartment complex.  I offered to sign another 12 month lease if they'd move me over to a smaller apartment before November without the $250 transfer fee but it seems they'd rather have an empty apartment than a person who is guaranteed to pay her rent on time every month.   It took them three months to fill my old apartment because they had to turn down five applicants who had had prior evictions. 

So today I went over to a complex five minutes from my office and signed a lease for a quiet two bedroom apartment with a cute patio, a large laundry room and attic storage space.  The carpets are nice (the ones in my current apartment are stained and riddled with cigarette burns), the appliances look new (the crisper drawer in my current fridge is broken and there are no bars to hold anything in place on the freezer door) and there's lots of closet space. It's a little bit more than I wanted to pay but it's going to be worth it - if only for the fact that I know I only have three more weeks of living with The Asshole.

Thank goodness.

Yarn Roundup

It's been awhile since I've actaully finished anything that's made with yarn but I took a few minutes this morning to photograph the things I've started recently. 

 

A friend of mine, Catherine, brought a really great finshed wrap to our knitting group a few weeks ago and I loved it so much that I started one of my own.  It's just a really pretty but simple seed stitch edging with miles and miles of double seed stitch - perfect for knitting on during knit night or when I've only got a few minutes to spare.  I originally cast on in a pretty lime green Lion Brand Cotton but quickly realized lime green really isn't very fall-like so I put it aside for the spring.  I had some leftover taupe from Dad's guitar and started another with that - not realizing until a couple of weeks ago that that was the exact color Catherine used.  Imitation really is flattery in some cases, right?

I decided to go with the Morning Surf Scarf for the Matt Yarn.  I just cast on half again the stitches to make it shawl width - a total of 116.   It's a pretty simple pattern because all but two of the rows of each repeat at knit or purl but those two are just enough to make it so that it's nearly impossible to knit during knit night.  I spent quite a bit of time going back over one row last Sunday. 

I like it but it's really hard to tell what it's going to look like since it's all so bunched up and (wonderfully) fuzzy.  I know blocing will eventually make it spectacular but my friend Delly just threw a wrench in by suggesting another pattern - the Woodlands Shawl.  It's stunning but I'm not sure it's in my league.  But I'm going to put my two pattern repeats of the Morning Surf aside for a few days and see what I think.  Every time I click over to the Woodlands to look at it, I like it a little bit more.  Although I love the little name I came up for the Morning Surf over on Ravelry: The English Seaside in February Shawl.  :-)

This is what I'll be working on while the shawl takes a little break.  A cute mushroom diorama by Pepperberry that's available for a steal over on etsy.  I'm making it for my granny's birthday this weekend because grannies still like to get handmade gifts even if they're from their 34 year old granddaughter, right?  

I'm also working on the Antlers Scarf (Ravlink) for Matt in a beautiful blue.  No photo, though, because last night I frogged the six repeats I had finished so far.  It just looked too loose so I'm starting over with sevens now rather than eights.  I hope it doesn't make it too skinny.