Monday, February 28, 2011

Not much going on. I waited until 4 pm for a 1 pm appointment with my engineer. He never showed, in spite of telling me at 2 that he'd be there by 3. I hope I can get by without an engineer.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

I spent most of today knitting while watching movies on TV. Tom left for another run down to LA. I'm anticipating being lonesome in his absence.

Friday, February 25, 2011

I finished Tom's leg warmer in time for him to wear it on his evening walk with the dogs. He says it helped a lot. It was well below freezing tonight, so this was a good test.

It was a gorgeous day, today, cold, but very clear. We went to the Column, which is on the highest hill in town, to admire the view. There was a bald eagle doing the same, and incidentally giving us the best view of a bald eagle we've had yet.

Enjoying the view gave me a pretext to get out of the house. Yes, I tricked myself into getting out of the house, so I wouldn't have an excuse not to run errands downtown. I got the business license I need for the restaurant, made an appointment for a walk-through inspection of the building to see how much needs to be done, and opened a checking account for the business.

Things are coming along.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

I did cast on a leg warmer for Tom, in Aran-weight 100% wool, beige. It's about half done. He only wants one, as he just wants to keep the artificial knee warm.

It snowed on and off all day today. It's quite a novelty for this second-generation Angeleno.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I did, finally, get a hold of the contractor and the engineer. The contractor has an architect he wants to set me up with, so we can get this thing going. Tom had called the lawyer about a tax ID #; we heard back today. While most of my day was spent either knitting or cooking, I feel like I accomplished something.

I tend toward project monogamy, unless I dislike the primary project I'm working on. If it's too hard, or too easy/boring, or if I don't like the color, or the texture, I'm glad for the distraction. In the case of the current project, I love everything about it: the stitch, the colors, the yarn. Still, I offered Tom hand knit leg warmers for his arthritic knees. If I wait until the Peekaboo Peony sweater is finished, it'll be spring before I get around to the leg warmers.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I did a lot today: washed dishes twice, walked the dogs three times, did three loads of laundry, washed 8 pairs of socks by hand, cooked two meals, a snack, and dessert, some of which were experiments for the restaurant, and did grocery shopping, as well as knitting. I didn't do the most important things toward opening the restaurant, though, which were getting a business license, and hiring an architect and a contractor.

I guess that gives me something to do tomorrow. That's tomorrow, in the snow. Snow is predicted for the next three days. I hope it's minimal, unless I can stay in my nice, cozy house.

Monday, February 21, 2011

A week later, I'm back from the adventure in Los Angeles. The only time it stopped raining, on my way down, was when it snowed. It was raining/snowing too heavily to allow me to see Mt. Shasta, even. I can't remember the last time I've seen Mt. Shasta; the last several times I've driven by it, it has been hidden by rain/snow/fog.

The agricultural areas south of there, however, were spectacular. No wonder I haven't seen blossoms when I've driven by; the bloom on the 5 is in February. For hundreds of miles, there were sheets and clouds of white and pink.

I arrived in LA Wednesday morning. After visiting with my housesitter for a few minutes, I went to the back yard for some basic clean-up. In so doing, I twanged my back. That's not the best way to celebrate an outing. Note to self: take half a day to rest up after an 1,100 mile drive.

Thursday and Friday I alternated packing the car and visiting friends. Saturday early I took off again, this time taking the 101, as the weather had deteriorated further. There was snow on the coast range as far south as Ventura. From my perspective, however, the weather was fine. My parameters for defining "good weather" have become very broad. In this case, I was sufficiently pleased that the storm in progress had not washed the seal pups at Piedras Blancas to watery graves, and that the snow that fell on the Coast Range while I was traversing it melted as soon as it hit the road.

The dogs are glad to have me home. Nikki gave me People Dance, and Sarah wasn't satisfied until she had licked every bit of my face that I would allow.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Today, on the other hand, I spent most of the day knitting. I also found time to make some toffee, this time with less butter and less chocolate than the last batch. Tom and I both liked the results.

The weather was dramatic today. Thunder shook the house; wind tore down the deer fences I repaired just a couple of days ago. When the rain come down, it did so in sheets. I'll be sure to check road conditions before I leave in the morning. Tom and the dogs will be holding down the fort in Oregon, while I pick up a few more things from the LA house. I hope the housesitter got my message that I'm coming down; I'd hate to walk in on anything embarrassing.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Yesterday, we drove the 300-mile round trip to Newport and back, so we could see the aquarium there. We're members, but that doesn't excuse our making that drive in a storm. It made for a very long day. Finding out the dogs had been sick in our absence made the day even longer; we were scrubbing carpet and doing laundry until 1 am.

We mostly took today off. I tried to make rye tortillas. While the results were tasty, they weren't flexible enough to make burritos with. That was my goal: to make a wrapper for a Reuben burrito.

Watched the Baftas: Jonathan Ross did a great job hosting. I miss his chat show. I hope his new show, due this fall, will be visible to us in the States.

Not much knitting got done today.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Life is a lot more normal with a car.

For the first time in a month, I was able to get the groceries without asking Tom for a ride, and taking him along. Since he wasn't there, he wasn't able to inhibit me ( he wouldn't try to stop me, but I wouldn't do it) from picking up a few bare root fruit trees. It was good planting weather, overcast but not raining, so I got them in the ground, as well as making repairs to the deer fence. The front yard is almost where I want it.

After three days of knitting, I have about two inches of the new sweater done. The yarn is Blue Moon's "Twisted," in the Peekaboo Peony colorway. My batch is paler than others I've seen of this same colorway; I hope it doesn't look too baby-blanket. I'm doing just a plain pullover in seed stitch. I'll change it up a little if I show signs of going mad from boredom.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Exhausting day. Passed driver's test. Bought car.

Must sleep.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

I might have been able to read the whole drivers' manual today, and get my test done before the DMV office closed, but it was such a beautiful, sunny day (and sunny days are so rare on the Oregon Coast in winter) that I had to go with Tom to take the dogs for a walk along the riverfront. I'm glad I did; it was so clear today that, from the mouth of the Columbia, we could see Mt. St. Helens. It wasn't a matter of, "Is that Mt. St. Helens?" but clear as crystal, "Look! Behind the bridge! It's Mt. St. Helens!" That's about 90 miles. That might not be amazing in some places, but here, we can only see the river from our house half the time, and that's only a mile. Our atmosphere is not known for its clarity.

I'm about 30 pages from the end of the manual. I'm bending in my resolve to not knit until I have my license. Since I'm unlikely to survive the evening without some kind of knitting at hand, I'll cast on after I've finished the manual. I'll take the test in the morning, and then my conscience will be clear.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

So, I got instruction in the exercises I need to do to strengthen my knees yesterday. Today, I did the prescribed exercises. Boy, do my quads hurt.

I finished the Taiyo scarf this morning, and promised Tom I wouldn't cast on another project until I took the test for an Oregon driver's license. I had to do this in order to pack to move here, too. When I have a project going, I can't stop knitting for anything. When I'm between projects, I can't wait to start a new one.

I did sew on the buttons for my Pink Granite cardigan. In doing so, I learned that I can't count, even to single-digit numbers. I thought I had seven buttonholes, so I bought seven buttons. After sewing them on, I found that there was still another buttonhole, with no corresponding button. The cardigan had eight buttonholes, and I had made them. Luckily, Tom had finished his errands for the day, and was happy to drive me to Seaside to pick up another button. I bought two, just in case.

With luck, I'll have an Oregon driver's license and a new car by the end of the week. If not, I may have to break my promise to Tom, and cast on a new project anyway. It has only been eight hours since I finished the scarf, and I'm already getting anxious.

Monday, February 07, 2011

It has been a busy, busy, busy day. I sorted through the boxes of stuff my house guest brought from my old house a few days ago. That yielded five loads of laundry, as the clothes had been in storage for at least 12 years, and smelled it. Once everything is clean, most of it will go to Goodwill, as it was either out of fashion or didn't fit when I left it behind, well, 12 years ago. I will be hanging on to a few costumes that came to hand, and a flock of wrapping paper that's still in good shape.

After the sorting and only halfway through the laundry, I had my first physical therapy appointment. The therapist gave me half a dozen exercises to stabilize my kneecap, and instructions to get a ball for the exercises (he gave me elastic bands, as well) at a local department store.

Tom took me to the department store, where I found it housed an excellent grocery store, as well. I was getting bored with the one-and-only supermarket in town, so I was delighted to find out that I do have an alternative, after all. It's more expensive than the free-standing store, but also has greater variety and higher quality.

There's still a chance I'll finish the Taiyo scarf tonight, if I spend the rest of the evening knitting.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

It hasn't been an exciting weekend. The weather has been cold and drizzly, as you'd expect during an Oregon winter. I've made a lot of progress on the Noro scarf I'm knitting (mistake rib), as BBC America is running a marathon of "Top Gear," my fave TV show of all time. I did manage to pull myself away from the set long enough to go to the beach today, and out for lunch, but the rest of the day has been spent knitting in front of the TV.

Friday, February 04, 2011

I've had a house guest for the last couple of days, so I've been busy cooking and cleaning and showing him around. He brought a truckload of things from my old house, so I'm going to have my plate full with organizing and putting things away, for the rest of this week and much of the next.

Steph gave me a nice mention in her blog, the great www.yarnharlot.ca. I'm going to have to make this thing readable, in case anyone follows the link. I'm still managing to resist ordering some hand-dyed mawatas to make mittens out of. It's a big temptation, but I have six bins of yarn already here, and at least another ten waiting to be brought up from LA. I opened a couple of bins, and pawed through the contents, to convince myself that I have plenty of knitting material on hand. I even already own a pair of silk gloves, which I had forgotten in the spell of Steph's new gloves. They're not as elegant as hers, being made from recycled sari silk, but they're still silk gloves, in the full legal sense of the word.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

I missed a couple of days, apparently. The days run together, when you aren't working.

I still haven't sewn on the buttons to the Pink Granite cardigan, but that hasn't kept me from wearing it in public.

Now, I'm doing a scarf in Noro's Kaiyo, in a pink/grey/black/brown combo. I wanted to do brioche stitch, but couldn't manage it.

I botched the paperwork on my incorporation, thereby adding another week or so of waiting until I can do anything useful.

On the upside, I saw the orthopedic surgeon, and he doesn't think I'll need knee surgery. He gave me a shot of cortisone and an order for physical therapy. I feel a lot better already.

Tom and I took the dogs to a nice dog park today. It was the first time in weeks that Nikki has been able to run around unfettered, as our yard isn't fenced. She had a great time.