Prepping

Holiday preparations are well under way! Today is the start of Christmas week festivities with our annual "Christmas Eve" celebration. We moved it this year from Christmas Eve to the weekend before Christmas to accommodate more people. Personally I'm a little relieved. I've been working like crazy this week to get some internship hours in before I leave for the holidays. That means that nothing besides Christmas shopping has been accomplished. Case in point: I still need to finish packing for my trip to Romania which happens in 4 days.

The only thing that's been packed are supplies for the kids. Too bad I also need clothes to wear. However, having the Christmas Eve celebration today means more time before Christmas to get packing and wrapping done.

In my defense I have finished some laundry and made brownies for this afternoon. I still have some work stuff to finish before I can actually leave the country but I've been working on it slowly and steadily...for the most part.

Through this doorway lies the workspace of doom. Enter if you dare...

Last night I did a little paperwork and then started one of the few Christmas presents I decided to make this year. I almost didn't make any gifts at all but then my grandmother requested some dishcloths and I thought that might be kind of nice. And then I thought my other grandmother might like some slippers so I'll be making those later this weekend.

Still life: Cat with Dishcloth in Early Morning Sun

The big question is: can I finish this dishcloth before 12:30 p.m. when we leave for the party? Does it matter that it is now 11:15 and I'm not dressed or have any gifts wrapped? What if I throw in the fact that I need to fold laundry? How about adding in the fact that I'm blogging instead of knitting?

The Rat Saga

I feel like a lot of what I've blogged about lately is pretty heavy stuff. So here's a little crazypants adventure to let you know my life isn't always serious.

So, my parents (who I live with) have two cats, Red, a cat they've been fostering for several years who lives in the basement, and Moo Moo, the cat who chooses to live outdoors. I say "chooses" because with Moo Moo it's choice not force. She's had the chance to live indoors many times but she would rather roam the neighborhood with her brother Oreo who lives one street over.

Red

Moo Moo

Then when I moved in I brought my cat, Penelope, who lives upstairs on the second floor with me.

Gizmo (Source)

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Orange Cotton Candy (Source)

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Penelope

Now, Red is a very sweet cat. And Penelope is attention starved and isn't too fond of anyone but me but she isn't demonic. Moo Moo on the other hand....Well, Moo Moo is 75% maniacal serial killer and 25% stinky, scabby, scruffy cat.

"I resent all those statements, even if they do represent me accurately."

I love Moo Moo but she plots a little too much for comfort. This is the cat that if I died today she would have no problem eating my face off tomorrow. She murders small rodents and birds for fun. She is known for her "love bites" and "love claws."

Example of a "love claw." It says, "I'll love you until you feed me and then I'm going to smother you in your sleep."

Moo Moo's two greatest attributes are her fangs and her razor sharp nails. Her newest favorite pastime is trying to sneak in the house to go upstairs and get all up in Penelope's business. But we all still love this crazy cat and wish she would settle down and co-exist with us peacefully.

Well, as I mentioned, Moo Moo likes to kill rodents and birds for fun. I say for fun because she comes up to the house looking for canned cat food at least 5 times a day. A month or so ago when I first moved in with my parents she went on a killing spree and killed a bird and a mouse and maimed 3 other birds (that my mom had to take to a wildlife rescue). About a week ago Moo Moo killed another mouse and dropped it at the garage door. My mom made *me* do down and poke it with a broom to make sure it was dead (it was). However, last night's saga took the cake.

My dad was leaving to go to my grandmother's house and he pokes his head in the garage door and says, "Look at the size of this rat Moo Moo brought up." I thought he was joking so I followed him out and there was one of the biggest rats I've ever seen. It's tail alone was at least 6 inches long. As a side note: We live near a really big field. This rat wasn't just hanging out in our neighborhood. As I'm looking at it THE THING MOVES. I scram, ran inside, and slammed the door shut. Moo Moo, who was lounging nearby with an eye on the rat barely flicked her tail. I then yelled at her through the door, "It's not dead yet! Kill it!" My mom decided Moo Moo needed a new motivational statement: Finish the Kill. So, we waited for her to finish the job and before we sat down for supper I check on Moo Moo again. At first I didn't see her but that was just because she was around the corner of the storage unit in the garage with the half dead rat cornered behind a can of bird feed. So, my dad came home, we ate dinner, and took the dogs for a walk. When we came back my mom wanted to see if the rat was still in the garage. By this point Moo Moo had grown bored and wandered off and the *still half dead* rat was behind the storage unit in the garage. My mom yelled, the rat ran further behind the unit, and we all raced inside. Well, my mom wanted the rat out of the garage but my dad wanted to just wait until the morning to deal with it so *I* had to go out into the garage with a broom. When I poked the rat he ran towards the open garage door. And then stopped. Behind the can of bird seed. I poked him again and he just sat there. I poke him several more times but it was clear he was well on his way to the eternal embrace of death. I left him there to die without me poking his rear end and went to bed. The next morning as I was leaving for church I asked my dad if he'd gotten the rat out. "Moo Moo got it," he said, "And left it under the back end of your car." I went to look and sure enough, THE CAT HAD PUT THE MAULED RAT UNDER THE BACK END OF MY CR-V. All I had done last night was push him out into the open so she would drag him out and feast on him (because it kind of looked like he might have been missing his head). Thanks, Moo Moo. Thanks a lot.

I'm kind of worried that it might have been a warning.

And she also killed a bird and left that in the garage this morning.

I wish I could make this stuff up.

A New Kind of Normal

After a month of seeming chaos I feel like life is settling into some kind of normal. I've developed new before and after work routines and I feel as though things are becoming a bit more ordered. Last weekend is actually the first weekend that I didn't work (I'm not *supposed* to work on Fridays but did twice last month), moving, cleaning an apartment that I moved out of, or generally rushing around. I thought it would be a good time to blog and relax and knit and enjoy myself.

Work/internship:
I'm absolutely loving my internship! Every afternoon I leave there singing and happy. And not because I'm leaving, because I love what I do! I really feel like a part of the team there, like people think of me as their equal and not as "the intern." They laugh with me and they help me and they recognize my good work. I realized how lucky I am when I was laughing so hard I was crying yesterday. I don't think I've *ever* done that at another job. And on top of the wonderful people I work with, I'm learning so much. Every time I hear another story of a hurting child and a broken family I feel more sure that I'm heading in the direction that God wants me to. I've truly been blessed with this internship.

Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project:
Speaking of heading in the direction God wants you to be...Even though I often let EEROP get put on the back burner it is still some thing that I'm passionate about. I feel like so much of what I do is actually fueling the fire for EEROP. So, even though it's on the back burner the heat's not on low. One weekday after work I decided to open and sort through the most recent set of packages I received. I always get inspired to see what others have donated! Then, about a week ago I went to a prayer meeting of adoptive moms to offer support and was overwhelmed at the appreciation for being involved in orphan care! And one of the ladies put me in touch with Alex Krutov, author of Infinitely More. And another lady contacted me with information she had researched about a rural Russian orphanage that needed donations through the EEROP Facebook page. It's so awesome to see the growth that is taking place! Then, I had a chat with a friend of mine who is super involved in technology and is a fundraising/social media/idea generating whiz and asked him to join our board of directors. He was very excited and jumped right on board. We also agreed upon another friend of mine who we will be asking to join us as well and are in the talks about 1-2 other people to add to the board. Once the board is set (my goal is to have that done by the end of August) then I can begin the application process for our 501(c)3 status. My hope is that by December of 2012 EEROP will be an *official* non-profit.

Home:
Everyone seems to be settling in after the move. We finally managed to get the couch through the playroom door so I have a little "living room" area set up.

See, it's really in here now.

Penelope is enjoying standing at the top of the stairs, meowing, and making my parent's dog go crazy. She has met the indoor/outdoor kitty, Moo Moo, but they are still drawing out boundary lines. However, Penelope seems to have fairly well claimed the upstairs as her domain. I'm still adjusting to having most of my possessions in boxes. Sometimes I will think of something I want/need but have no idea where it might be. I have had minimal success in the "box checking" approach so usually I just end up giving up, buying what it is I need, or asking my parents if I can borrow theirs.

Knitting:
I finished my international socks! I started these in the terminal of the Atlanta airport waiting to go to Romania, worked on them throughout my trip, and finished them up once I got back home.

 I like the socks well enough but wish the pattern on the top of the foot ended higher up, say, mid-foot. They appear to do that in the pattern picture but I must have a little foot or something. And I didn't read the foot/toe directions all the way through before starting so I had to decrease for the toes pretty sharply or the socks would have been too long. They look a little funky off but fit fine. I like the color but now I'm ready to do something a bit brighter. Say something in this color:

I believe this color is considered "retina searing."

(Originally planned for these to be a pair of mittens for a friend but in a long, and strange, turn of events she will not be needing them.)

So, yes, life is continuing on. We're all adjusting and some days go more smoothly than others but we're getting there!

Penelope showing just how adjusted she is.

Helen

As promised here is a recap of my recent trip to Helen.

Started the day with my mom and sister-in-law headed to Cleveland, GA which is only about 10 minutes outside of Helen. That's where Babyland General Hospital is.

The place is massive.

Babyland General Hospital is where Cabbage Patch Kids are "born." If you are not familiar with Cabbage Patch Kids you are obviously not a product of the '80s.

We had a fun time wandering around and looking at all the sites and acting like kids again.

Me and my SIL is front of magical baby growing cabbages.

I would have taken one home if not for the fact that I'm 28 and I already have enough people looking at me funny. I don't need a doll to compound that problem.

After we left Cleveland we went to Helen. Helen is quite unique in that it looks like an alpine village. It's also the home of the South's largest and longest running Oktoberfest. I don't know if that means it's been around the longest or if it runs the longest number of weeks. I don't think it really matters. During the summer you can tube through Helen on the Chattahoochee river. Right now it's too cold but it's still a lovely little town.

So, that's Helen! It was a nice little one day get away to start the fall off right. Now really is my favorite time to go to the mountains. The leaves are changing color and the air is cool and crisp. This weekend I'll be in Asheville, NC for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. Come see me in the barn! I'll have to decide what knitting project(s) I want to take with me. I finished up two BIG ones this last week.

The Patchwork Blanket

The Square, Not a Circle Blanket

The Patchwork Blanket was made from squares donated to the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project for the Project 154 blanket collection. I have enough to do two more blankets I think. And I finally finished the Square, Not a Circle Blanket! It looks a little lopsided in the picture because of the way I tacked it down. The bind off was too tight. If I make another one of these in the future I will definitely change the way I bind off (I used the crochet bind off that the Yarn Harlot describes here, it's quite, um sturdy). And as you can see, Penelope loves them both. Especially the Square, Not a Circle one. She's been sleeping on it all day. It's going to be tough telling her she can't keep it. I think she will understand though since it's going to to a good cause.

Hot Friday Night

It's Friday night which can only mean one thing at Chez Single Knitter: big party!

Ok, that was a lie. I'm sorry I lied to you. What it really mean is weaving in ends on a patchwork blanket.

Kickin' it in front of the t.v.

Sometimes kitty helps.

Sometimes she just sleeps.

It also means ice cream.

Kitty likes ice cream too.

And kitty pets.

And some crappy non-cable t.v. Why is there never a good movie on t.v. on Friday night? Why do they always assume people are out living it up? Not that I'm not living it up. Because I am. I even made dinner after resisting the urge to call for pizza. And I went for a walk. So, yeah. Big time Friday night. Be jealous.

Purple Blanket

Awhile ago (April 2008) I started a purple mitered square blanket using some acrylic yarn (Caron One Pound and Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Classic).

I made a bunch of squares when I was teaching a history of film music class at the middle school. We watched a lot of movie segments so I would knit on squares while the movie played. After school ended (or maybe even before) I got a bit tired of constantly making the same type of thing over and over. I was making them in fraternal twin sets with the striping reversed on each one but it was still getting old. So... I let the blanket marinate in a plastic bin. For over 3 years (wow, didn't realize it had been that long). With the collection for childrens blankets going on through the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project I decided to resurrect the purple blanket and see how much work needed to still be done on it. I started by finding all the squares (plus one square that had been started and was still on the needles) and gathering them all in one place.

Then I separated them into sets of twins.

I had 16 squares. My plan is to make 4x4 blocks using two sets of twin squares. Fraternal twins would face each other across the large square (all this will become clearer in the pictures below). First though, I needed to measure them to get a rough idea of how big the squares were and how many more I needed.

Each side measured roughly 6.5".

Then I began making the 4x4 squares. First, I placed fraternal twin pairs across from one another.

Then I placed another set of twins.

I continued until I had all the squares matched up.

Then, to make my life easier, I pinned the 4x4 blocks together with safety pins. The cat helped.

I ended up with 4 large 4x4 squares and one partially started square.

Then it was time to hit the drawing board. I need the blanket to be at least 50"x50" to make it a decent size. My plan is to make large 13" garter stitch mitered squares to go around the 4x4 squares. I needed to figure out how many of the 13' squares were needed. Note that in the pictures below the sizes are actually not correct. I was originally figuring that the squares would curl up to about 6" due to the stockinette. Now I plan on using the larger blocks to pull them out to their full 6.5".

From left to right we have the largest size to the smallest size blanket.

The largest size would produce a 65"x65" blanket. I would need 21 plain 13" squares to make this one.

 The middle size would make a 65"x52" blanket and take just 16 plain squares.

The smallest one would take 12 plain squares and measure 52"x52". While even the smallest one would produce a decent sized blanket I may try for the middle size. I like blankets that are a little longer than they are wide. I will probably frog the one square that is on the needles and not worry with it (if I finished that square I would have to finish at least 3 more to make a 4x4 square and then figure out how to work it into the overall design). So, now to knit 16-13" mitered squares in garter stitch and seam the whole thing together by the end of October. And did I mention that I didn't weave in any ends on the small squares yet...