FO Update

I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl last night.  It still needs to be blocked, which sadly will have to wait until we get into our new house. 

I took pics but since I'm in what can only be referred to as "Dial-up Hell" I'm not uploading the pics.  As soon as the highspeed is fixed, I'll upload the pics of the shawl for you all to see.  The highspeed is suppose to be fixed some time between now and whenever.  When it comes to the military some things are fixed faster then others and the internet in lodging isn't going to be fixed as fast as say a F-15E fighter jet.  :~)

So if it seems like I'm a little quiet it's because it takes forever for my gmail to load so I'm not checking my email mucg or surfing blogs.  Definitely not blogs because they take forever to load. 

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. 

 

Knitting Updates

Ah, finally some knitting updates.  I've been knitting every night since we moved over here to TLF. 

First up, the Melon Stripe Blanket:




This ones coming along well.  It's my "I don't wanna think, my brain hurts too much" project.  I'm going to keep knitting farther then the pattern calls for.  I want to make this blanket big enough for the girls to cover up with.  I have plenty of yarn for this.  I my use the first skein until it's gone and then start decreasing with the second skein. 

Next, the Forest Canopy Shawl:




I'm loving this shawl with every pattern repeat.  I've completed 11 repeats of the pattern.  I'll probably put several more on before I put the edging on.  I want this to be kinda on the big side.  I have more then enough yarn to keep knitting away.  I can't wait to block this one.

Finally, Twisted Flower Socks:




This sock is coming along very nicely.  The only thing I've done differently is to make a slip stitch heel instead of the patterned one.  I'll probably make this pattern again so the next one will have a patterned heel.  I'll need to rework the chart into written instructions.  The chart just makes my head hurt because there are five symbols that can stand for two different things depending on if you are working the on the RS or WS. 

If I finish the Twisted Flower sock before we get set up at the new place, it will have to sit alone.  I didn't get the other hank wound into a ball before we packed everything up....I forgot about it.  It looks like I just might get a sock for me out of one ball of yarn.  I bought three hanks of the Louet Gems just in case.  I wasn't sure if I would need it or not.  It looks like I won't but looks can be deceiving   Unfortunately my scale is also packed so I can't weight the yarn still in the ball to see what I have. 

So now you all know I've been knitting.  I need to go feed the kiddos.  I'm not sure when I'll update the blog again but I'll be checking my email at least once a day.