Sunny Day and Other Photos

Around noon today was sunny and in the mid 40's (F). I accompanied Oscar to the Work First office then to Krogers for groceries (paid for with our Ebay sales this week, Yay!!).

It was the first time I've been out of the house for more than a week.

I feel MUCH better now LOL!

Here are a few photos (taken with my phone),

Progress on our new afghan, close to finished with the blocks

Basil loves hands

Buddha Loves Naps

Daffies

Happy Remembering

Happy Memories of Ferdinand the Bull

More Ebay: Yarn, Books and Needle Set Stuff

We have more things up for auction on Ebay, here: ETROLL'S EBAY
I have added some photos of a sampling of what we have up this week (ending Sunday):

More Sortings

I am spending much of my active time this week sorting through the remaining bins of yarn I have, eking out some for sale, and noting what is where using an excel spreadsheet.
I plan to go over all of the yarn once more before we move, to place the yarns in more logical conjunction, one with another.
(heh.. can you tell I've been reading historical romances from my choice of words?)
I would like to have all the fingering weight yarns in one place, all the non-critter yarns in one place (plus silks, silk worms are critters but silk has some of the same rigid tendencies as cotton, hemp, linen and various processed plant fibers like rayon) Then among the critter yarns there are the worsted yarns, plenty for more than one bin, and the larger yarns like Aran and bulky weights, probably not enough to fill a bin of their own. Then there is the collection of completed work, perhaps to sell on ebay and the works in progress that I need to have out near my chair. And the yarn reserved for patterns I have completed but not yet knit. And the blue, grey, green yarns I have set aside for the afghan I want to make for our new home, which has been ripped out yet again. (At least remaking the afghan is keeping me busy enough to stop fretting about things I cannot control.)
I also have collected a large bag of scraps NOT in the afghan's colors to play with. I am enamoured with the Yarn Harlot's new mitten pattern, Cloisoneé. The mittens would help several charities I am interested in.
In all this time spent with yarn this week, I have not knit or crocheted for a single minute! I can't remember the last time I went for so long without making something.
I have been through the three bins and two big bags that were in the studio and am now working on the yarn in the livingroom. I think I am about done for the day, my abdomen is swollen and complaining and I need to be in good shape for tomorrow's planned outing to meet a friend of Oscar's who has become my friend as well via email. I am looking forward to meeting her, and her young daughter.... neither of them know how to knit ... yet.
(image is a wallpaper provided by Knit Picks, full size version is found HERE)

All Crossables Crossed!

Oscar has had two companies that are top of the list as far as job choices. #1 is a company that has grown each of the past 11 years and is going to be expanding to a larger building, as well as opening a new center somewhere else in Michigan. It also has been listed in the top 100 companies for positive work environment by the Detroit Free Press. #2 is the one I've mentioned before, in Lansing (the one whose employees he met while in class). Today, right this minute in fact he is interviewing with company number 1.
Any good thoughts sent his way will be welcomed. It has been a very long nine months. (his hair and beard are much shorter than in that old photo, but it is the same suit (but different tie)

Added later: He left an hour early, because the snow is coming down so fiercely, and made it with 2 minutes to spare! It was the first in a three-tier interview process, and he feels it went well :-}

Coolest Bird Evah!

With thanks to Alison of Spindyeknit :-}

Please Vote

I received a very important letter in my inbox this morning. Lene says it better than I could. I am including her letter in it's entirety. The third link leads directly to the specific vote site:

Hi there,

I am writing a mass e-mail for purpose. I know they're annoying and impersonal, but please hear me out…

Last year, I wrote a post for my blog about disability discrimination called Sensitive to the D-Word. This post has been nominated for the Canadian Blog Awards in the Best Blog Post category.

My post

http://theseatedview.blogspot.com/2011/04/sensitive-to-d-word.html

Canadian Blog Awards

http://cdnba.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/the-polls-and-clarification/

Best Blog Post

http://polldaddy.com/poll/5787385/

The entry that led the category in the first round of voting is from the popular tech blog Sync. They are entered with a post called "The Top 7 Facebook Profile Pictures That Epically Suck" illustrated with a couple of pictures of semi-naked women (http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2011/10/top-7-facebook-profile-pictures-that-epically-fail.html). This entry appears to be pretty much a shoe-in to win the second round of voting and therefore the Best Blog post.

From a feminist - and well, dignified - point of view, one could take issue with this, but I don't need to win. I've won before and I'm not competitive enough that I have to win just because I'm nominated. However…

Disability issues don't get a lot of attention and disability discrimination hardly ever gets any press. In fact, many people don't even believe it exists. The advocate and activist in me would dearly love to see this issue be pushed more to the forefront and winning this category would do that. This is especially important since Canadian Blog Awards used to have a Disability Blog category, which was discontinued, as was the Chronic Illness Blog category.

People with disabilities and chronic illness are invisible. I am asking for your help in making them visible.

Would you consider voting? Would you consider asking others to vote? Polls are open until January 20 and you don't have to be in Canada to vote.

Thanks.

Lene

--
Lene's at www.theseatedview.com

Love in Stitches

Sometime last year I started a pair of socks for Oscar. I found a pattern I liked the looks of from knitspot. Anne Hansen is a designer I admire, and one of my favorite ways to learn my craft is to knit patterns written by admirable designers :-}.
So I bought the Cinder Block Sock pattern and cast on with some lovely alpaca-blend Imagination yarn from Knit Picks in the color called 'Looking Glass'.
I knit them from the top down as the pattern specified and was about half finished with the second of the pair when I had Oscar try on the first one. I wanted to be certain it fit well in the foot before I got much further on sock number 2. It fit perfectly. In the foot. But although the circumference was fine, it didn't reach very far up his legs at all. Oscar had brawny Scots-Norwegian calves as big around as kindergartner's head. The extra width seems to eat up the length and because he gets cramps in cold weather, he really wants knee socks. 
Now remember, these were constructed from the top down so I couldn't just unravel the ribbing and add more leg. (Knitting unravels from the most recent stitches back to the earlier stitches, but not the other direction.)
I finished the rest of the foot on sock number 2, then took a pair of very sharp scissors and carefully cut off the ribbing along the first row below it on each sock. 
Then I picked up all those loops with my double pointed needles, and making a slight adjustment to rejigger the stitches so they appeared to be right above the rows below them I proceeded to knit upwards. I worked an additional 4 repeats of the pattern stitch and when Oscar tried them on (the still-live leg stitches held on a long cable) it became clear I needed another 4 repetitions to make it up high enough to suit us.
Each round is 84 stitches. Each repetition is 8 rounds, so I will have added 64 new rounds (or an additional  5,376 stitches) to each sock, plus reworking the ribbing by the time I finish them.  I am approaching the ribbing on Sock 1, and the stitch pattern is engaging enough I am actually looking forward to those extra 4 rounds (plus ribbing) on Sock 2.
Now that, my friends, is love.


P.S. Thank you all for the kind words and warm prayers for my friend. She of course is having a difficult time but when I told her my friends and blog-readers were thinking of her, she felt very comforted.

Loving Thoughts and Prayers Welcomed

My friend for whom I am making a hat called yesterday. Her long-time partner died suddenly in their home. Any prayers and support sent the way of her and their children are welcomed.

Battle Plans

Happy New Year! 12 years ago today I was waking up after my very first date with my now-husband, Oscar. What a long, lovely and strange trip it has been.
2011 brought many changes, the sharpest of which was Oscar losing his job on April 15th. Now, seven months later he has completed five IT certifications, culminating in the CCNA cert he completed Thursday. The average student takes six months to complete even ONE of the five certifications he received in seven months total. To say I am proud is a vast understatement.
Over the summer he has developed relationships with more than 30 recruiters, all of whom told him they would have jobs he was suited for as soon as he obtained that CCNA cert.
Now this first month of 2012 he will send out his revised resume to those recruiters, as well as listing it on job sites like Monster, etc.  The two local(ish) Michigan firms he most wants to work for also have job openings. He has already sent his resume to them.
His 2012 resolutions are 1. get a job he loves, 2. find us a new accessible home near that job 3. get us moved.
Of course I will have input into #s 2 and 3.
In addition I am helping coordinate a vast house declutter, we want to move as few things as possible.
This weekend Oscar sent out 2011 by discarding around 12 bags worth of outdated (15 year old at least) computer equipment, power bricks etc.
I spent yesterday sorting through all our cd media, discarding outmoded computer cds, gathering the music, and helping pack up 4 boxes for moving.
A few weeks ago we went through our clothes and donated about 30%, discarding another 10-20% (too worn to donate) to use for packing fragile items when the time comes.
Today and tomorrow will also be dedicated to decluttering.
Oscar's sister is coming down to help.
Our goal is to empty Oscar's study (the den previously filled with outmoded computer equipment) so we can use it to store the pre-packed boxes ready to be moved.
We realize that, best-case-scenario Oscar could be employed in as little as two weeks, so now is our best chance to really dig in and sort things out.
I am not able to help much, as I am confined mostly to my recliner (it will be grand to find that accessible home where I can use my powered wheelchair!) but I am pretty good at making battle plans . :-}