Knitters-Knitters

Ticky Tacky

For the first several days of living here we had no satellite service, which means no TV.  Instead, in the evenings I watched season 2 disc 1 of Weeds, which was entertaining, but I imagine even moreso if you've actually seen season 1.  My favorite part is the theme song.  It leaves me with nagging questions about ticky-tacky, and if I've been using the word wrong all these years.  I'd assumed ticky-tacky was an adjective ascribed to certain facts that were minor data points--things with which those of us getting the Big Picture should be unconcerned--but apparently, ticky-tacky is also a building material.  And you can use it to make houses.  Perhaps it's something like Spackle, or stucco, or even particle board.

I like my old definition better, and as one who oftens concerns herself with the small stuff, it gives me a perfect jumping off point to share some details about where I live now, and, as the young people say, where I'm at.

It is a 15 minute drive from this house to Olive's day camp.  It's odd that here in the suburbs, where you hardly need them, traffic lights with green arrows abound.  Note to self: stop turning left on red lights.

Olive is still wait-listed at Keshet, and is unlikely to secure a placement there for the fall: at least, not the fall of '08.  We have not heard yet where her public school placement will be, but likely, it's going to be Hickory Point: a very small, leave-it-to-Beaverish school for grades 1-3.  It participates in the NSSED program, and is approximately 40 yards from our house.  We wouldn't want it any closer, really, lest we be trampled at the end of every day by a throng of children stampeding past our house, like in You're In Love, Charlie Brown.

There is a harmonious flow to an attached garage which exceeds, benefit-wise, the aesthetic charm of a house where the garage is not visible from the street.  Especially when one is carrying groceries.  And, undoubtably, this will prove even more true in January.

If an architectural visionary designs and constructs a house with built-in display areas, it is possible that his tenants may choose to show off a very different collection than what he had in mind.

If you run out of yarn for a project and have to order more--even if you pay for expedited shipping--you run the real risk of starting a new project in the meantime.  A project which you have no wish to set aside once the new yarn for the old project makes its appearance.

If in making sure you have enough yarn for your new project, you un-knit a previously abandoned item and use that bit of ravely yarn across the chest, you will see a glaring swath of warbly demarcation.  Intellectually you know that this will not show after the sweater has been washed and blocked, but still, it nags at you.

The fact that the pattern you're using specifies a rolled neck and hemline will not change the fact that leaving off the ribbing (or hem facings) strikes you as a depth of laziness to which you will not allow yourself to sink.  Frozen pizza for dinner, wet towels draped over the radiator and a Hefty bag that doubles as a clothes hamper is one thing, but a sweater with no edge treatment?  You'd never be that sort of mother. 

The Flip Side

We are officially here, on the other side of the Edens, and I'm writing you from amidst a mountain of cardboard.  I am at that stage of unpacking where it really looks like I've done quite a lot, but then, I start to encounter more and more boxes marked Miscellaneous, which invariably contain items culled from three different rooms.  Rooms which are now--in the new residence--on three separate floors.  It's all I can do to press onward instead of parking myself in front of a DVD of Columbo, with my knitting in my lap and a nervous spaniel at my feet.

Did I mention that we have moved every three years since we got married, 15 years ago?  At least this time we had the best packing and moving team ever.  They were fast, on time, and called me by my first name instead of Ma'am-ing me.  I dislike being called Ma'am.

And they were cute, too.

A Three Edens Day

Yesterday was a very busy day.  As I mentioned last week, Monday was the day Olive's little group was to wear green.  Friday, she's supposed to bring a litterless lunch.  I'm not altogether sure what this means--transferring the Pringles to a Tupperware instead of the snack pack they came in?

As usual, Olive was eager to head out.

She had places to go...

...and people to see.

After arriving home, I had some time to contemplate my garter stitch blanket project, which is taking way, way longer than I expected.  It'll probably be a gift--I have no real need for an enormous wool blanket, but after I saw this version, I felt compelled to stop everything I was doing and cast on.

My version is in Noro Kureyon, and is about 2/3 done.  Ultimately, those two ends in the middle will touch at the corners, but I kept them apart for the photo so you could see the clever S.

I did the wrapping thing so I wouldn't have rows of diagonal holes at the corners. 

I haven't made my mind up about the edge treatment.  Elizabeth Zimmermann recommends i-cord, but the very thought of doing that much cording makes me want to nap.  In fact, doing anything around the perimeter of this blanket makes me want to nap.  At this point, I'm seriously considering knitting up a separate border and (gasp) sewing it on at the end.  I like the idea of carrying around a small and portable strip of knitting for a few days as opposed to creating an edge treatment with this monster in my lap.

After LB arrived home from work, we piled back into the van and went to Northbrook for the final walk-through on the house we're renting.  We are moving on Thursday!  For those counting, that made three round trips on the Edens for me yesterday.  I didn't do the driving on the last trip, but still.

When we arrived, the children of the homeowners were waiting in front, along with several neighborhood children.  Apparently word had gotten out that a family with a bunch of kids were moving in.  Through the windows in the breakfast nook, you can see Sabina and Anatole chatting with a new pal.

Plenty of yard at this house.

Cog et al, you'll be happy to know that this move is in keeping with my residential destiny.  At first I thought this little shop was where one could change baht to sheqalim, but apparently, Currency Exchange is just Suburbian for "Check Cashing Place."

To see lots more pictures of the house in its current, pristine, pre-Sullivan state, click here: