Knittin' and Lovin' It

Movin' On Up

We finally got to move to a bigger TLF.  WooHoo!  After seeing this place all I could think of was the theme song to The Jeffersons. 

Ah, I'm happy now.  The living room:



It's like twice the size of the other place.  Smack me silly and call me happy.

The kitchen is roomier. 



We still have the breakfast bar for a table it's just a little roomier around the back.  The coffee pot sucks so it's going to be replaced this weekend.  I need a new coffee pot anyway so might as well take care of it now.  We even have a radio/CD player in the kitchen.

This is the second bedroom. 



This is probably the room Kaity and I will share.

The laundry room:



This one is actually a little bigger so I can keep the soap and fabric softener in there on the floor.

The sinks:

The shower & toilet:

We actually get double sinks and the sinks are separate from the toilet and shower.

Bree is taking a nap so I didn't take a pic of the other bedroom but it's a lot more roomier and it has a big dresser for our clothes.

This weekend we are invited to a BBQ with the other guys Shawn works with and we are going to go clothes shopping and I'm going to snag some yarn for that Comfort Cable Throw. 

Our mail is being forwarded so I won't have to worry about missing out.  The post office here on base is great.  If all goes well I'll be getting my box here in the next day or two from TLE (I ordered a hank of Seacoast) and the Tofutsie I won off of eBay (I snagged 2 balls for $15) before we left Idaho.  Now I just need to get use to the layout of Great Falls and all will be well.

Still No Knitting

I haven't touched my knitting since the day we left to come up here.  Of course I haven't managed to find space or quiet time to knit either.  I'm hoping that will change tomorrow since Shawn will be at work and Kaity will be at school.

There is no way that I'm going to finish the Twisted Flower socks for the Loopy Ewe Q3 challenge, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to wind and pack the other hank of yarn needed for sock number 2.  It's buried in storage.  I think right now it would be a major challenge for me to finish a plain pair of socks.  If I can scare up another pair of needles for socks I'll start an easier pair out of the Trekking I brought with me. 

I was going to join the Monkey Sock Swap 3 but am glad that I didn't because I just don't have the time.  As it is I'm probably not going to have the time to do Secret of the Stole KAL either.  It starts around the time that we will be getting the new house set up.

Lion Brand has a Cable Comfort Throw (you'll need to log on to Lion Brand to see pic) that I like.  It's knit using Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, which is what I'll probably use unless I can find a better sub.  It's going on the back of the couch so it needs to be durable and easy to wash because Zeus gets up there to lay down.  Our Wal-Mart has the Thick & Quick so it's the easiest thing for me to get my hands on.

Speaking of Wal-Marts, the one here in Great Falls is Gynormous.   We decided to head out for a drive through town and splurge on some Starbucks....Yum!  That was enough to help brighten my day.  I'm still in a wee bit of culture shock.  I've lived and shopped in a "military town" for over 8 years.  When we'd go to Wal-Mart it was a guarantee that we would see at least 3-4 people that we knew and all but a small handful of cars in the parking lot would have base stickers on them.  Mtn Home's the kind of town that would probably fade away to almost nothing if the base were to close down. 

Obviously the town of Great Falls would not be hurt if the military base decided to close down.  This weekend I managed to get my first taste of "I hate you military types" attitude.  I can honestly say that in the 11 or so years I've been associated with the military I've never ran into military haters.  I guess I've been lucky.  Then again, I was living in ID when the attacks on 9/11 happened.  Let me tell ya, I was not the one who started the war in Iraq so don't blame me for the damn thing.  The jerks comments made me kinda sad and made me really miss Mtn Home.  Ack, who would have thought I'd miss that place.  So right now I'm a tad homesick for Idaho....lol! 

I'm sure that I will run into others who will hate me or my family because we are affiliated with the military and I'm going to try very hard to not let it affect me.  It's just tough when you're trying to find your niche and you run into jerks. 

31 days to go till we get our new house and hopefully some normalcy.....I want my doggies back!  It looks like I may have a nice section for my stash in the Den.....Yup that's right we'll have a Den, Living Room, and a Rec Room.  I can't tell you all how much I love the layout of the new house.  I'll take pics when we get the keys.

Hopefully my next update will include some knitting photos and progress.  I really appriciate you all hanging around even though the blog has been pretty much void of any knitting. 

Our Temp Home

I do have some pics after all.

First up is my Idaho souvenir.



It's a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle.  We picked it up at the Spencer Opal Mines in Spencer, ID.  We decided to stop there at the little cafe for lunch.  If I remember correctly Spencer wasn't very far from the Idaho/Montana border.

Now we come some pics of what we're staying in now.

First:  The Living room/Kaity and Shawn's room

Then: The breakfast bar which is what we have in leu of a table.



Next: Kitchen.  It's small but workable



Finally: The bedroom/Bree and I's room.



We also have a bathroom and a laundry room with a pretty nice washer/dryer set.  As you can see the place is cluttered and cramped.  We are hoping to get a slightly bigger place to finish out our stay.

Montana, Here We Are!

**Warning: Long Post, No Knitting Content, No Pictures!

Yesterday is a day I'd probably rather forget.  We found out the kennel closed at 6pm so we had to basically drive as far as possible and stop as little as we could.  We still didn't make it.  Missed the kennel by about 40 minutes.  We did find someone who was willing to take them for the night.  They are being moved back over to the other kennel where they will have 24hr access to the outside, weather permitting and they are a lot closer to the base for easier visiting. 

So needless to say I have no pictures of my travels which really bummed me out.  I did get a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle when we stopped in Spencer, ID for lunch.  I'll take pics later for the next post.  It's cute.

Good News:
The house they have for us is a newer home and according to others who are in them, they are really nice and we are going to love it.  It's just a two story, no basement and it has a garage....yippy! 

Bad News:
The house isn't going to be available till like 10 Oct.  So we are staying in a 1 bedroom TLF until the house is available.

Kinda Good News:  They are going to try to move us to a 2 bedroom TLF after this weekend.

More Bad News:  Our dogs have to stay in the kennel until we get our house.  They can't come anywhere near TLF.  If they come inside they'll charge us $150 and kick us out, so they'll be staying in the kennel.  I miss the little pains already.

Even More Bad News:  All the stuff we brought with us has to go in storage.  Yup, my yarn too.  There is absolutely no room for storage in this place.  Talk about a super bummer.  My yarn is going to be in storage for the next month....sigh!  I may try to squeeze an order on payday from Knit Picks for some yarn for the baby blanket, sock yarn, and a few more 32" circ needles for sock knitting.

Kinda Good News: Since we rented our trailer from Uhaul we get 30 days free storage from them.  At least I don't have to worry about that.

Some More Bad News:  Most of our winter stuff is in storage with all our household goods so I'm going to have to go clothes shopping for all of us.  I quite sure that we are going to need warmer clothes before the end of the month.  This makes me want to smack my head against the wall.  I already planned on clothes for Kaity and Bree but not for Shawn and me.  We only need a few things to make it till our house is ready and our stuff is delivered but it's still an aggravation.

I keep wondering what else can go wrong.  Don't worry, I'm swaying with the punches and going with the flow.  I was really upset and on the verge of crying myself silly yesterday evening but today is much better.  Now Shawn and I are kinda laughing and trying to joke about it.  All that matters is that we have a place to stay, the dogs are in a good kennel where we can visit often and we have a house to look forward too.  Home is where your family is, not the house itself. 

On a bright note, I can sooooo see why Montana is called Big Sky Country.  I've never seen a sky go on forever.  The mountains and the blue sky are gorgeous.  The drive from Helena to Great Falls wasn't too bad.  I'm sure it will be much better when we make the trip without a trailer loaded with over 900 pounds worth of stuff.  We'll definitely head down to Helena to explore.

Dudes, I'm seriously in trouble, Great Falls has a Starbucks.....I squealed when we drove past it which made Shawn chuckle....he knows how much I love my coffee.  There was a double squeal when I seen the Barnes and Noble.  The base is fairly small, so I'm happy about that and it won't be long before I'm feeling totally at home here.

On the Road Again

We're up here enjoying Idaho Falls for the night.  Our trip was pretty uneventful and we didn't stop to see anything.  Not that there is a whole lot to stop and see along the way.  Tomorrow there will be more stops for leg stretches and such.

The only thing of interest that we saw on the way here was a plain white billboard with: buyhashbrowns.com written in bold black letters.  It's a real website.  I don't know why but it made me laugh my butt off.  Guess you would have had to have been there.  If the weather wouldn't have been crappy and there was somewhere to pull over I soooo would have gotten a pic.

I did start a new dishcloth. 

This one is of my own design, well kinda.  I found some stitch patterns I like and threw together some patterns.  I'll be offering this up as a freebie on my pattern page as soon as I get it typed up and converted to a pdf.  Plus I need to come up with a name for the pattern but nothing catchy has hit me yet.  I'm using Peaches n' Creme in the color Winterberry.  I'm using US 7 straight needles.

This morning was super hectic trying to get everything cleared out of TLF before 11am.  We ended up getting another 30 minutes from the front office.  It was close.  Shawn checked us out at like 11:20am.

There was lots of water works.  We stopped to say good by to Kaity's teacher (from last year) Ms. N and my sis.  I'm really going to miss my sis but she'll come visit us.

Well I'm outta here for now.  I need to catch a shower and try to relax a bit before bed. 

 

Moving Pictures

Here's the pics I promised.  Today was even more busy then yesterday.  All the boxes are gone and on their way to Montana. 

The packers were really nice and a join to talk to but after we left there was a lot of stuff they didn't pack that was left for the driver to take care of which is not suppose to happen.  They also didn't stack the boxes to leave a walk way, they left them everywhere so Shawn had to stack them all up instead. 

Living Room Shot #1:



Living Room Shot #2:

Kaity's Room:

My Room #1:

My Room #2:

The movers were fabulous!  I'm hoping they will be able to deliver our stuff when we get our place in Montana.  Even though today was a tiring day it also fun.

TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) isn't too bad.  For all of you who may not know, TLF is housing that is set aside for military families who are moving.  I'm not sure how TLF is set up everywhere but here they are houses.  We have a pretty nice set up here....wireless highspeed internet, cable, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen that is outfitted well enough that I can cook dinner for the next few days and a washer and dryer.  The last one makes me very happy.  I hate having to haul laundry to the laundromat.  The only thing that would make it better would be to have A/C.  Thankfully tonight a storm kicked up and we got a good amount of rain which got the swamp cooler wet and helped cool down the house better.

Oh and since this a knitting blog, here's my knitting content....I knit exactly 5 rows on the Melon Stripe blanket.     :~)

A Little Knitting, A Lotta Moving

Boy was today super crazy busy.  The packing company came in today to pack up our stuff.  We ended up with 3 fabulous packers, Ms. B and the Misters E & C.  Wonderful wonderful people.  The were great with Kaity and were more then happy to enlist her help in getting everything packed up.

I did manage to knit about 10 rows on the Melon Stripe blanket after the packers left.  We all sat down in the living room to take a break so of course I had to pull out the knitting.  The Melon Stripe blanket requires no pattern because it's being worked similar to the Grandma's Favorite dishcloth pattern.

I have pics of all the rooms but left the camera in Bree's room.  I'm not brave enough to sneak into her room while she's sleeping so I will post pics tomorrow of my all my "Box Mountains".

The moving truck will be here tomorrow to finish packing and to load up everything.  We'll be checking in to Billeting tomorrow afternoon.  I'm not looking forward to that because we are moving in to a two story house that is only cooled by a swap cooler....yuck!  So the next 5 days will be kinda yuck but at least I'll have highspeed internet.  :~)

Well I'm outta here.  I need sleep....lots of sleep!

The Stash

**Warning: This is a picture laden post.  Dial-up users beware!**

My helper:


She has a thing for boxes....goofy cat.

First:



Mostly acrylic.  Some are leftovers from various projects.

Second:



Wool!  My Lorna's Lace worsted, Manos, and Cascade.  I'm really hoping to buy some Malabrigo from Wool Girl after we are all settled in our new home.

Third:



Misc. mix of yarns, cotton and lace weight.  There's also a cone of Zephyr wool/silk lace that's missing from the picture.  I found it after the pic was taken.

Fourth:



Fun Fur....*shudder*.  I'm not a big fan of the stuff.  It's leftovers from the hats I made for Mini.  I'm keeping it because Kaity likes the stuff.

Fifth:



Various skeins of Knit Picks yarns.  I wanted to try each yarn line so when I'd order needles I get a few different skeins to try.

Sixth:



Some Hempathy and Bella Colour I found sitting in a box on top of my storage drawers.

Seventh:



Dishcloth cotton.  Most of it is leftovers from some of the dishcloths I've made. 

Eight:

Lots-O-Sock Yarn.  This all the yarn that comes in a ball, ie Trekking, Opal, Regia....you get the idea.  There are some skeins of Knit Picks that are hiding under the pile.  By this time I was getting tired of taking pictures so I wasn't going to split this one up plus it's going to be part of a contest I'll be having for my blogiversary but that isn't until December so you all will have to wait.  :~)

Ninth:

Big Pile-O-Sock Yarn.  12 pair of socks for me and 6 pair for the girls.  This is one of three photos of the biggest share of my stash.  I had to split it up in to three separate photos.  I keep all the hanks together in on drawer.

Tenth:



Medium Pile-O-Sock Yarn.  17 pair of socks for me and 1 pair of socks for the girls.

Eleventh:

Small Pile-O-Sock Yarn.  8 pairs of socks for me, well actually 7 since the blue/yellow hank of Cider Moon is Kaity's, and 1 lace shawl.  The Schaefer Anne is being reserved for a lace shawl. after I've gotten settled in.

All this took 1 large box, 1 medium box and 2 small boxes and a grand total of 45 minutes to pack.  I'm tired.   :~)

Campfire Socks Progress

I finished the first Silver Pine Campfire Sock last night.



It fits snug but one of the things I learned from my first pair of socks made using Glacier is to make them a tad snug because they will loosen up just a bit when you wash them.

I started the second sock shortly after finishing the first.



It would have been right away but I had to get the kiddos into bed first.  I have about 30 rounds to go before starting the heel. 

Finally I have the second Cables and Lace dishcloth. 



It works up pretty good in variegated too.  For some reason I really like this pattern.  I need to go digging through my book and find some stitch patterns to turn into cloths.

We received good news on Thursday.  We have a house waiting for us on base.  So we'll have a place to live when we get there.  The dogs will only be in a kennel for no more then 3-4 days.  We have 19 days to go till our pack date.  I can't wait to get out of here. 

We Have Orders!

It's official.....we're moving to Great Falls, Montana.  As soon as we get the actual hard copy orders we'll be able to request our early reporting.  Right now it has us leaving in October....don't think so not if I can help it!  We are going to ask for the beginning of August.  It feels great to finally know where we are going.  :~)

Now on to my goodies received in the mail.  I bought a few small things this payday.  I still have a row counter bracelet that I bought from an etsy seller out in the mail.  I'm addicted to etsy like some people are addicted to ebay.....sept I don't have to fight to get what I want.  I just load it in the chart and go check out.  I'll post a pic and link to the seller when it comes in.  :~)

First up, small needle stitch markers from ZeroMarkers.  They also threw in some extra stitch markers (the 2 markers on the right hand side).



Next up, handmade soap from Brown Bag Soap.  Brown Bag Soap is ran by Chicken Knits.  Go check out her shop.  I got the Honey and Beeswax, it smells yummy.  :~)  Lookie, I finally found a good use for those tiny plates that came with the espresso cups.....lol!



And finally, Icaras.  OK, I'll admit that this is not my next big project but I saw that Sheri had the patterns in and just had to get it.  It's in the queue for after Ethereal Fichu.



My next project is going to be the Ethereal Fichu Shoulder Wrap by Heartstrings.  Remember that skein of Schaefer Anne I bought awhile back....the pretty blue green.....there's a pic in my Flickr album.   Well the Anne has decided she wants to be the Ethereal Fichu.  I've already talked to the designer of the shawl (Jackie E-S of Heartstrings) and she said that due to the way the shawl is designed it will be easy to adjust if I start running out of yarn...which could or could not be an issue due to the fact that Anne only has 560 yds and is fingering weight and the pattern calls for 600 yds of lace weight.  Jackie was wonderful to deal with.  She answered my email quickly and was super helpful.

I'm not sure when I'll start the Ethereal Fichu but it won't be until after I make Kaity her sundress and finish up my Loopy Ewe Q2 Challenge knitting.