I’m terrible at  saying goodbyes, so this extended three week transition period is really really hard for me. I don’t feel like myself…. and I half want to press pause and live in this moment forever (so I can hold on to all the things and people I am dreading leaving), and half want to press fast forward (or better yet, skip!) and be done with all of the mayhem. I’m trying to look at this move and all this change as an opportunity for a new, fresh chapter of my life, but it’s hard when there are a lot of things from right now that I like quite a bit.

I hoping that my dear friends who are offering up their home won’t end up with a depressed, lethargic, emotionally exhausted new housemate, but I’m not making any promises.

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So… I’ve been working still on this Pinwheel blanket with the edging. Since I was at 600 stitches when I ran out of the Noro Transitions, and each leaf of the border uses 10 stitches, I have a total of 60 leaves to knit. So far I’m at 28…. 32 to go. It’s slow! But I think it will be worth it. I’m using yarn that has been on my shelf for over a year - angora, merino, blend. Triple stranded with 2 strands of purple and 1 strand of black. The blanket is going to be about 6 feet in diameter which I think will be perfect for snuggling on the couch.

I think I want some coffee.

And really….I bought the car 6 years ago for $7,000 more than I just sold it for, so the cost per year of owning the car is much lower than it could have been.

And now…. I need to sell all the rest of the stuff I have hanging around here.

It *barely* goes into a ponytail.

Perhaps when I wash and style it myself I will like it better, but I hate how they put so much product into my hair at the salon and how sticky it feels. Blech.

If I decide I like it at all, I’ll try to post a picture, but for now… I’m avoiding cameras.

This move is so overwhelming.

And…why in the heck will no one buy my car!?

Anyway, this thing with moving the cats to Ohio is becoming quite expensive. I have to get health certificates for them, and the cheapest vet I can find will do them for $50 each. Unfortunately, they probably aren’t totally up to date on their vaccinations either, which means I have to pay for that as well. Plus, the carriers were $60 each. AND now I’m getting conflicting information from United Airlines about if I can even carry them both on (Patti and I will each have one as our carry on bag).

I suppose it’s easier than driving with them all across the country, but it’s still crazy how it keeps adding up.

P.S. No one has bought my car yet… or even shown interest. So sad.

I think this will work by starting to ship things to their home within the next 2 weeks, having Patti fly out here late in June and then help me get the cats to Ohio as carry-on luggage (this part makes me nervous, but I guess you just do it).

Some thing to figure out…

1. Still need to sell my car.
2. Carriers for the cats and how to confirm that they can fly with us (I think there is a limit to how many animals can be in the cabin each flight).
3. Book flights for myself and Patti.
4. Get storage unit out here to keep all of my household goods, etc. [I’ll give myself a reasonable time limit to determine where I’m going permanently - like maybe 4 months or something, and then move the rest of my belongings to wherever that is when I figure it out].
5. Move everything. Everything. (I haven’t moved in 4 years. I’m scared.]
6. Have an amazing summer surrounded by amazing people and stop feeling like I have such a short deadline on figuring out how to proceed with my life!

So… that’s the plan. And I’m excited about it, even though I know it will take quite a bit of work and energy to get it all finished in the next… oh… 23 days.

Now I’m working on a plan for an edging, and I picked out the “Scalloped Leaves” pattern from Knitting on the Edge and some other yarn that’s been in my stash since Stitches 2007. Anyway, I was working on a swatch to see the ratio of rows to stitches to see if I a) have enough yarn and b) have enough patience to do this edging, but I got stuck on just the 2nd row of the pattern because of errata.

In any case, I’ve worked out the correct pattern (as well as a few changes I made to make the pattern cleaner in the way I like), and hopefully I’m not breaking any copyright laws by posting it here. Go get the book! It’s really great and totally inspiring for all sorts of patterns. Changes are in BOLD.

Repeat rows 1 to 18 until desired length. Bind off.

I don’t have pictures now, but I’ll include some as soon as I get enough knit that it makes sense to take pictures….now I just hope that I have enough yarn to make 65 leaves to edge the blanket.

(I wish I knew how to photoshop that dude out of the way).

Well, and really fun, too, although I still feel as though I haven’t had the full Yosemite experience. The waterfalls were beautiful this time… I think… except for 60% of the time we were hiding from the rain under the tarp. Mirror Lake was already basically gone, and Glacier Point, while still beautiful, was in the clouds.

Good thing I love camping just for the aspect of being in the outdoors, eating good food, and spending time with people I love.

Anyway, yesterday there was a flipflop propping open a side door to the building. Well… that pretty pink flipflop is now in the dumpster.