WOOT!!!

Guess who got a job offer today from Maine Medical Center? I shall be their newest OT as soon as I can get my paperwork in order. I am so excited that I can barely contain myself. In the meantime, it is time to announce a move! Dispatches from Halifax is now officially Dispatches from Maine! Please click here to access the new blog.

Cha-Cha-Cha- Changes

Things have been pretty stressful around here kids... not gonna lie to you. Mike has been hired at a job in Portland, Maine, and so far I have not! That means that he is packing up all of our stuff and moving down there around the first of January, and I am stuck in Halifax.... homeless. Technically we have our current apartment until the end of January, so I am not totally homeless, there just won't be any furniture in it... that will all be with Mike in Maine.

The whole thing is very stressful and pretty crappy to be honest. If I can't find a job by the end of January I will look around Halifax for a month to month furnished apartment.

Originally Mike was going to move down to Maine and find a month to month, and I was going to stay here, but we found the most perfect apartment ever in South Portland, that we do not want to give up. This new apartment is seriously fantastic. It actually has three bedrooms! One of the bedrooms is off of the main bedroom, it is going to be the yarn/spinning room, which is going to be fantastic. I am already looking into better yarn storage options.

So... yeah. Thing are a little stressful right now, but I think it will all work out. In the meantime if anyone has a room they would like to rent out, let me know!

What national blogging month?

Ok so I fell off the blogging wagon again. I have had a lot on my mind lately that has left me not at all in the mood to blog. I can't really talk about it on the internet, but once it is all sorted I will give you all an update. In the meantime by blogging will likely continue to be sporadic.

I hope to either have things sorted out soon, or be back in the mood to blog soon. But until then you all will have to bear with me for a bit.

Thanks.

Oh the waiting is the hardest part

I have been having a hard time sitting down to blog recently, I have had some rather exciting news that I am waiting to hear the outcome on. It's not the kind of thing I can blog about, but I will let you know as soon as I can! Or if you don't hear anything... assume the outcome was not positive. Was that vague enough for everyone? haha.

I finished the Chevalier Mittens. This is my first real FO from handspun that I have been really happy with. The first project I knit was really overspun and ended up feeling really hard. The second project was a little bag so it doesn't count. I am super happy with these mittens, they are very pretty. I do feel that they might pill easily though because they are not super spun, but we shall see. I have a special place in mind for these mittens, but again, I am not saying where :)



I took Chase to get weighed yesterday, she is now officially 2 kilograms, which means that she can get fixed. I have to admit, I am feeling a little bit of anxiety about this, last time I took a cat in for surgery they didn't come home with me. I am sure that she will be fine, but it's hard not to worry a little. Chase on the other hand, as usual, has zero anxiety.

Blech

It was a truly gross day today. It was cloudy and rainy all morning and then started snowing in the afternoon. I was getting pretty nervous at work, because I knew that I would have to drive home in the slush. Luckily I was only in Lower Sackville today, so the drive wasn't too bad. If I had been on the South Shore or Pictou, I probably would have had to sleep there.

I went to knitting (KOL) last night for the first time in a while. Tuesdays are not a great day for me, and I am not always able to make it. I was really glad that I went though, it was awesome to see everyone, especially Alison and her brand new bundle of joy.

We got to talking about my blog... and there was some mention of all the cat pictures. I must say, I have always been an animal lover (not just cats, I also love dogs, birds, horses etc.) but somewhere along the line, living in an apartment and being confined to only one animal type, I have become a crazy cat lady. The whole thing just sort of snuck up on me. I think I am ok with this though... I have some to terms with it... and as long as the cats keep being soft and snuggle (and occasionally psychotic) I think I can deal with that.

Story of two kitties

Hmm what's this? It appears to be some kind of basket....


Maybe I should poke at it to investigate?


AHHH! It poked me back!


Aw, it's just a kitten :)

One little slice of my life

I finished the River Rapids socks!

I am really happy with how they turned out, although I must say, they really are more fraternal than identical twins. Not my fault though! These were knit from the same skein of hand-dyed yarn, however, one sock ended up having 90% of the green. Weird eh? I still like them! That's one Christmas present I can cross of my list :)



I have also made some progress on my Chevalier Mittens. I really love this mitten pattern. I don't knit a lot of mittens from other people's patterns because I can make up my own pretty easily. When I was in high school I knit almost exclusively hats and mittens, so I can make up patterns in my head for both in my sleep. I gotta confess though, there is no way that I could have made this pattern up in my head! This is some serious charting and cables!



What is that luscious yarn you ask? Well that is my own handspun, and I am soooooo happy with it. It's a blend of Alpaca/Merino with bits of soy and bombyx silk mixed in. I was not wild about it when I finished plying it, thinking that it was probably overplied, but it is knitting up just perfectly. These are some of the softest, nicest mittens I have ever made.

overspun handspun

So remember the batts I was so excited about? Turns out that I should have been a little more careful while spinning. I really overspun my singles, and now the resulting yarn feels a little on the hard side. It looks a little scraggly in this picture, however, I have since washed it and it looks much better. Not sure what I am going to do with it... I have quite a bit more on the batts, but I may do them in a lighter weight. I know how to fix what I did wrong... I need to slow down my speed. Not sure why... but I wonder if spinning semi worsted requires less twist than spinning regular worsted? I am going to have to do some experimenting.

I am curious to see how it will knit up though. I wonder if it will soften when knitted and washed. I am thinking I am may make some experimental mittens... or perhaps some slippers where the high amount of twist will be an asset, making the slippers last longer.