I see the light...

I'm almost done with one sleeve. I did not work on both at the same time because I'm unsure about the size (the original instructions are still missing). If it turns out to be too big or too small I will only have to rip once.








I started working on the baby cardigan. The back is very boring, I'm glad I'm working on the raglan sleeve at the same time.

May I start a new project now?

Thanks for the get well wishes. My elbow is coming along. I don't use it much and the tenderness is slowly going away (or so I believe). I don't know about my spinning wheel because I haven't tried it, but I'm confident it will still work. The front of the raglan is finished, and all I need now are sleeves:






I made a little swatch for a baby cardigan. It looks a little weird because in addition to gauge I was testing for color. Also, I don't want to pick up stitches for the buttonbands, I will instead do some garter edging as I knit the sides.







I will attempt to follow this pattern. I found it thanks to Stacie, who has a lot of free pattern links on her page.

This makes me sick

This bit of news makes me sick and angry. I'd read that story on some blog or another and I was hoping it would come out not to be true. Now I wish for that Louisiana police chief to end up working in a McDonalds right next to Michael Brown.


I've started the decreases on the front of the raglan:






Soon I'll be working on the sleeves. I'm already thinking about the next project (like I need another one). I did not buy yarn for it (I'm still on a yarn diet, remember?), this is yarn from my stash. The skeins got a little messy with the move, so I had to wind them again. I have a great yarn winder, which unfortunately must be attached to a table, and we don't have one. I tried the kitchen counter, but that didn't help. In the end, I ended up using a kitchen drawer, which I propped open with a plastic bottle.





We need some furniture badly but we're waiting for my arm to heal (hauling all these boxes sprained my elbow). Luckily, I can still knit, as long as I don't overdo it.

A week already?

Unbelievable. You'd think that with me being unemployed I'd have more time to knit and blog about it. Instead, I've been unpacking, searching for furniture and applying to jobs. I'm happy to report that we do have a desk and a chair now:



And that the movers *ONLY* managed to break a few dishes (replacements are on their way) and a picture frame (which was too ugly anyway and I was planning to replace). The're also a crack on a glass lamp that's part of a set. It's cracked, but not broken. Let's count our blessings here.





The belt tension seems not to open up the crack on my spinning wheel. The rovings are still packed somewhere so I cannot really tell if spinning will make a difference, but I suspect it won't. I still haven't found the instructions for the rest of my raglan. I wrote them down on a green notebook which I believe should be in any one of the boxes now functioning as either desk or chair. If it is, it won't get unpacked until we get a bookcase (hopefully by then we'll have a better desk).



In the meantime, I've decided to pick up the raglan and copy the back as best as I can, since that green notebook could be in limbo for a long while.

My babies are here

And so is the rest of my stuff. Most of it is still boxed but I unpacked my babies as soon as they got here. Here's the spinning wheel that had been "professionally packed":





They said they would pack it themselves because it was a fragile item. Well, where in this box does it say that there's a fragile spinning wheel inside? The box is too big and my baby was allowed to wobble inside with nothing to secure it in place but packing peanuts. I found a small crack on the mother-of-all. I have to test and see if the tension opens it up and if it's still functional, but I haven't had the time to put it together, because I was rescuing my other babies:




The violet lost all its flowers, or course. The begonya looks really bad, I'm not sure it's going to make it. I hope she does, she's been with me since 1998. Whatever happens I will be the only one to blame, since I packed them myself and was too cheap to pay for overnight delivery, so they spent a whole week without sunshine nor water.


I'm very grateful for all the nice wishes. I'll get back to reading other knitting blogs now that I have internet at home (although a chair and a desk would be nice, too). I do intend to keep working on my raglan, but instead of buying yarn, I'll make a donation to the Red Cross. It's not the right time to be selfish.

It's nice here

It's sunny and warm but not humid. At least not Carolina humid. And the people I've met are very nice too. I expected people from the suburbs of a big city to be grouchy, but that's not the case here. Or maybe I'm prejudiced because I come from a big city full of grouchy people.



We got a very sunny apartment which is still completely bare and without furniture. Furnishing it could give me something to do while I get a job, but I agreed to let my husband choose the furniture, since he's the one with good taste (after all, he married me). Our car got here today, which was earlier than we expected, but the rest of our stuff is still on its way. Ever tried cooking an entire meal using a non-stick griddle?



On the knitting front, I'm waiting for my WIPs to be here. I did remember to bring the pink raglan with me, but I lost the instructions somewhere, and now I need to rewrite them. I'm in the public library just now so I won't be posting pictures until I get DSL at home.

Two lists

I'm leaving tomorrow. I took the time to make two lists.



Things I will miss:

The very nice people I've met here.

Bertoldino. He's now in a large tank with lots of other fish. I hope he likes it.

My plants. Most of them went to good homes. Will they be all right?

My favorite cheap sushi place.

My favorite cheap Chinese buffet.

Being able to walk to work.

My job, where I get to meet a lot of people, do some fun labwork and also knit.

The weather, especially the mild winters. The summers are hot, but I like them so.

The three different theatres in town that show independent movies.

The library (and the inter-library loans).

The local theater company.



Things I will not miss:

Tobacco smoke and tobacco stench.

Not being able to buy wine on a Sunday morning.

The humidity (rust, mold, wet towels that are hung to dry but are still humid the next morning).

The southern drawl (except for the "y'all", which is lovely).

The excessive amount of pickup trucks and SUV's (and their drivers).

The fact that there's not a decent Mexican restaurant in this area.

The excessive Jesustalk that I encounter in all sorts of circumstances, and that I perceive as mere lip service.



I'm still depressed but that's just because I'm overwhelmed by all the stuff that still needs to be done. I'm sharing a few pictures of Guatemala just to cheer me up:

Leaving soon

They picked up the car today. Tomorrow the movers are coming to take the rest. I'm still packing. No matter how early you start packing, there's always something left. I had a goodbye dinner and I got some nice gifts, among them some pretty Noro:





I didn't ask what type of Noro it was. Any guesses? Being a cheap knitter, I'm not a Noro expert. It's very soft and wooly. And I love those warm colors, perfect for an autumn scarf. I cannot gawk at it and caress it anymore, it's been packed already. Suddenly, I'm very depressed.

Too many woven goodies

I finally made pictures of all the handwoven items I got in Guatemala. I'll start with this beautiful huipil (the neckline is machine embroidered, but the rest is woven and brocaded by hand):




This is a more authentic huipil, all the embroidery is handmade:





The next one is not a traditional huipil, it's the sort of thing only tourists buy. It's not woven in a traditional loom, but all the embroidary is handmade. That green bird is a Quetzal.




I also bought two pillowcases and a set of handwoven placemats:



And a little brocaded purse that I quickly filled up with stuff:




Except for the blue huipil, I did not spend much money. In fact, it hurts me that some of these things are too cheap. All that labor for just a few dollars doesn't seem fair.

Moldy corn

Looking at my pictures from Mexico, most are pictures of friends and family. The only interesting picture I have is this one:




It might look yucky, but where I come from, moldy corn is a delicacy. We call it "huitlacoche", and nobody can cook it better than my friend Beatriz. She added garlic, onion, poblano peppers and created a piece of heaven. Too bad I did not take pictures of the final result, I was too busy eating it. Yummy!



I have not gotten yet to my pictures of Guatemala, nor have I taken the time to make pictures of my souvenirs. Those will be coming soon. As for knitting, I have not picked up my needles at all. Among unpacking, doing laundry, selling furniture and preparing our move, I've had no time.