Front of House July 31, 2005

Front of House
Originally uploaded by Jered and Esther.

Jered and I might be moving into a townhouse that my parents bought as an investment. We are torn because the townhouse is so much nicer than the 1 bedroom apartment we live in now, but my parents also are asking quite a bit more than we are paying for our rent here now. This townhome is so much nicer and has much more space. I would love to move in today, but my parents have yet to decide whether or not they want to do business with family. We shall see. It would be a huge upgrade for us and it would come at the perfect time since I actually have time to move stuff right now seeing as I have no classes or work until the 10th.
I finished Ginger and just need to block and weave in the ends. I also have a little lace yarn in the mail from Knitpicks for Madli’s Shawl which I’ve been wanting to make for a while now.
More on the housing situation later. Wish us luck!

Housing situation update:
We decided to go for it. After thinking about it for a few hours this morning and weighing the pros and cons we decided that this was an opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up. The place is gorgeous. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a fireplace, a garage, and drumroll please, a garbage disposal! The previous owners were friends of my parents and they painted the house in neat colors. We went over one of the darker teal colors with a light grey because the teal wasn’t really our style and didn’t match with the things we have, but otherwise the place is in tip top shape. I’ll try and take a few pictures tomorrow if I can find the time. This is going to be so exciting! We are officially out of this apartment on August 29th, but we will actually be out of here by the 15th, we’re just paying rent for it until the end of the month. This is so exciting. A real house! With a yard and a garage and carport and… I was feeling very overwhelmed earlier, but now that we have started the process of moving I’m feeling much better. So my 10 day mini break is not going to be much of a break anymore but this is worth the work! This has been a whirlwind day!

More Baltimore July 28, 2005

On the Water
Originally uploaded by estherknits.

This picture really isn’t that great, but Jered and I did go to the Inner Harbor and had a great time last weekend.
I came up with a Knit Picks wishlist today that I hope to send to Jered before Christmas I love Knit Picks, especially since I’ve started wanting to knit more lace, their lace yarn is so reasonable and they’ve got the most gorgeous colors.
I’m in class right now and blogging…haha. It feels rather naughty. This is my last class of the summer, thank God, it feels like it has dragged on forever!
I’ve been working on Leo and Ginger, almost done with both, hopefully some more pictures this weekend.
Yesterday the heat index here was 120! Can you believe it? Talk about hot has habaneros…it was insane. I think I started to cook from the outside. Literally, I felt like a pot roast in a hot oven.
Thank goodness I don’t work outside

Jered on Beer July 25, 2005

Jered on Beer
Originally uploaded by estherknits.

Just to give you an idea of what our Baltimore weekend was like. Good times were had by all. I got absolutely no knitting done, but we had a blast. The weather worked out perfectly and I got to try a real crab cake.
Wowsa.
Check out my flickr account to see more pictures of our trip!

And now for the Meme from Knitting Nurse:

Five of my idiosyncracies:
1) Sometimes I make conversations into musicals just to be funny. Example: If work was crap I’ll tell Jered about my day to the tune of an imagined musical. Sometimes dancing ensues.
2) I have a super heightened sense of smell. This can be a very good thing and a very bad thing. I will get cranky if a room doesn’t smell good, or at least neutral.
3) I don’t know the words to any one entire song. I know many parts, but I always seem to forget at least a verse.
4) I like to scratch my head. That sounds weird, but it comforts me. When I’m nervous I will scratch and scratch and scratch. It feels good to my nails and fingers and head. Weird, I know.
and finally…
5) I love to do stupid interpretive dance. I’m not talking serious stuff, but goofy – people probably think I’m on crack when I do it – stuff. Jered hates it, but always laughs.

And now I shall tag:
Miriam
Lolly
Jered
and I’ll think of two more soon!

The sleeve that went on forever July 22, 2005

Leo Sleeve
Originally uploaded by estherknits.

When this sweater is done it will be a miracle. The gauge is so small and knitting a man sized sweater on size 3’s with cotton has not exactly been a quick knit! I absolutely love the way this sweater feels. Unlike some of the larger gauge patterns I have knit up like Salt Peanuts, this feels like something one would buy at a store, and it looks frickin fabulous!
Jered and I are heading to Baltimore for the weekend to visit my friend Liz. I think it’s going to be about a 3 hour drive, so I’m taking Leo along and hope to finish the first sleeve. I’m also taking along the camera, so hopefully sunday night or monday morning I should have a nice big picture post.
I’ve never been to Baltimore, but I’m very excited to visit Liz. I hear there are some decent yarn shops there so maybe i’ll get a chance to check them out.
We got an outrageous electic bill last night so we have been trying to conserve more energy. It is crazy, we live in a relatively small one bedroom apartment and never keep the air below 77 and it was still outrageous. I can’t wait for summer to be over, this humidity and heat is just dragging me down.
Luckily, we’re halfway through the really hot stuff, at least I sure hope so. If I keep telling myself that it will be true, right?!

Sleevage! July 17, 2005

Sleeve
Originally uploaded by estherknits.

Finally some knitting pictures
I am using flickr now so we’ll see if this works out okay, I think I can only post one picture at a time, but even still it’s worth a try. This is the first sleeve of the Leo sweater which has knit up very quickly. I have the back and front done and hope to finish this sleeve by the end of the week. If Harry Potter doesn’t get in the way! Flickr is neat, but this one picture at a time thing is a little lame if you ask me.

Allright, I have a few more pictures, so I’m just going to do these the old fashioned way! Here is a shot of the one thing standing between me and the end of the first sleeve:

well, and maybe this guy…

She doesn’t much seem to care!

And last weekend we had the funniest thing happen to us. Jered went in to get new tires and ended up having to get new brakes and rotors (this isn’t the funny part!) and so they sent him home with a gargantuan Ford truck. The thing was absolutely massive. We only drove it twice all weekend because we knew 1) we couldn’t afford the gas, and 2) We were afraid we might kill someone or run over someone else’s car. This truck was insane. I can see why you would need one if, say, you were trying to transport stuff for a construction business or on a farm, but otherwise, why kill the environment?! The thing was just too big. We thought it was funny because never in our right minds would we ever consider anything with such awful gas mileage, and there we were in a big red truck. The surreal life indeed!

I hope I haven’t offended any truck drivers out there, I’m just sayin’…it’s big. I had to jump to get in!
This week we’re back to our fuel efficient VW and Ford Focus. I think the next car we will buy will be a hybrid. With gas prices as outrageous as they are (although compared to most countries we really can’t complain) it just makes sense to go for the most efficient machine. Okay, stepping off soap box.
Au revoir.

It’s been a while… July 16, 2005

Really now, over 10 days!
I’m enjoying the weekend. Jered and I got up this morning and went running down by the York river. It’s a good thing we went early because it is hot as habaneros outside. It just started storming, so maybe we’ll get a little break, or we’ll end up even hotter and steamier than before.
We went and saw Wedding Crashers last night and both thought it was absolutely hilarious. I don’t usually like Vince Vaughn, but my opinion has changed with this movie. I wouldn’t suggest taking kids to it though, its a little spicy for a middle schooler.
I just made a batch of granola bars, I’m a little worried about them because they look rather turdish, but I’m sure they will taste fine. I’m planning a picture post tomorrow (we’ll see how that turns out!) because I’m supposed to be in the local paper wearing some of my knitted things. I’m really excited about the article because I have absolutely no idea what the pictures look like or what the article is even about. It will be a fun surprise.
Leo’s first sleeve is almost done, and Ginger now has about 1/8 of her back done. Hopefully I will have a FO by the time school starts in August. I am slow this summer. Very slow.

Cable, Leo and Le Tour July 5, 2005

We gave in and got a cable subscription. It is just yummy. After 10 months of just public television it almost seems naughty to have so many channels. It reminds me of undergrad, probably because that was the first time I had cable and could watch whatever I wanted whenever and for however long. Now tv seems like much more of a luxury, but it is nice to have a little selection when I do want to watch something! And for everyone who says there is nothing on tv, whatever! Right now it feels like there is too much to watch, too many choices, which I like We’re pretty much hooked to the Tour de France right now, and have a little Fantasy League going on. I was very bummed that Zabriskie took a tumble just before the end of the team time trial

All weekend I worked on Leo, and finally finished the front and started the first sleeve. I worked diligently during class this morning and have done about 8 inches on the sleeve. It will be so nice when it is finally done. I don’t know if I will ever knit a sweater on size 3’s again…Jered should know I really love him! (Good thing we’re married, what a sweater curse that would be, all those stitches, all that time!)

I finished the front of Ginger last week, here she is and a closeup of the edging that I am still unhappy with (again, any suggestions?!?!)

Oh! And last week the iPod dock that Jered got me came in the mail, doesn’t it look just swell? It beats having to plug it in and be afraid of dropping it on the floor all the time!

A bit more knitting…

And the stars of this show, Mr. Freud (replace the L in Floyd with an R, hardy har har)

and Jinx, aloof as ever (albeit much more affectionate lately!)

First Family (not the Bush’s) July 1, 2005

I saw my first family this week. It was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but I was assigned a new family and actually had a session with them. It went much smoother than I thought, and I’m not nearly as anxious any more!
I finished the front of Ginger, but I’m a little disappointed with the edges. They are supposed to be neat and strong since they will be the finished edges, but they look more like loose selvedges and I don’t really know what to do about it. I’ve never finished with crochet (i know, i know, I am slow to try new things) so maybe that might help” Does anyone have any suggestions? I will post some pics tomorrow of the edges and the finished front as well as Branching Out so far.
Tomorrow I am supposed to be in our local newspaper modeling my Salt Peanuts sweater and a few other things I’ve knit for myself. I don’t know which, if any, pictures will be in the paper, but I did have a little photo shoot. If I am in the paper, I guess that makes me a local celebrity, ha! I wonder if I get a special parking spot…

We went and saw War of the Worlds this evening which was okay. I was less thrilled than I thought I would be, but I think the whole Tom Cruise publicity lately kind of killed the movie before I sat foot in the theatre. He truly is manic. Poor guy, he probably really does need to be medicated, but I guess vitamins and exercise will have to do.

I changed the “look” of my blog for summer, I wanted something that looked less cookie cutter and more plain. I like the simplicity of this template. I’m hoping to work on getting something a little more original, but for now this will have to do.
I just had a huge margarita and I think I should probably stop writing because I’m bound to start sounding like I had one too many sips of the stupid juice. G’night!