Gratuitous crafty post

In and effort to keep up the appearance that I occasionally turn something out, here is a pair of socks I made.

(Shhh, don't tell... I actually finished them in July.) I just forgot to take a picture of them until last week, before they finally flew out to their intended feet.

They are made of handdyed, handspun, superwash merino, using Adrian's Afterthought-heel recipe.

Mmm, pie!

After I mentioned taking some comfort (over our recent home-buying let-down) in an NPR report on delinquint mortage payments and the idoitic borrowing practices that have lead to such a state, H sent me a link to this: Schadenfreude Pie.

Yes indeed, Schadenfreude pie is just what I need a little slice of these days.

As my mother would readily tell you, I'm a rotten person. But, aren't we all, at least a little?

I don't want to talk about it.

Rather than erase half of my last post, I'm just going to say this - plans have changed and we are not going to be buying a house, condo, etc. at this point in time.

Yeah, I'm sad about it. But life goes on.

Progress

A completed project - finally!
I've been working on this pinwheel baby blanket for months now, on and off. I finally finished it the other night. Washed and blocked, it's very soft and a reasonable approximation of what I was going for (i.e., a round baby blanket). Since the little person I started it for is now virtually in college, it will go to a newer little person, who shall remain nameless for surprise reasons.

This leaves me with approximately 25 baby gifts left to make. *sigh*

It's been quite the week, with plenty of emotional ups and downs. These mostly stem from the fact that we are slowly beginning to wade into home buying. On one hand, this is just plain old exciting. We're going to buy a home! But on the other hand, this proposition is fraught with lots of worries and pitfalls. For one thing, we are looking for a home in Seattle, WA. For anyone reading this in the rest of the country, thinking "but home prices are coming down!" - no, in Seattle they are not. Which is why I keep using the term "home" and not "house." The likelihood of finding a house in our price range that is actually habitable is slim. So, while owning *anything* will be good, my dreams of a cute little cottage are being killed by the reality of the situation. At least I have H's promise that I CAN get a dog, even if we are in a condo, to keep me going.

And then, of course, I also feel stupid that we are only just now approaching home-ownership. At 29 & 30 years old, I feel like we are totally behind the curve on this. Getting my degree was what kept us in limbo for so long, and now that I have it, that should be of some comfort, right? Unfortunately, teaching one class while I deperately scramble to find "real" academic employment is not exactly the fulfilling situation that one might imagine. (And then, let's not even get started on what kind of big fat loser "drops out" of science to teach...)

Alas, I'm such a whiny pile.

The good news is that, at the rate that I update this blog, chances are pretty good that I might actually have a house and a dog and 2.5 kids by my next post! On second thought, let's scratch the kids...

Making stuff

I keep thinking "I should post some stuff." Which is rapidly followed by the thought "Just let me finish one more thing, then I'll take some pictures." Ok, so at the rate that I work, I'm never going to post anything if I keep that up. So here's what I've been up to lately. Besides school.

After the OFFF, Sarah and I swapped hand-dyed fiber. This is what she gave me:

And here it is, all spun up and plied:

I call it "Sarahndipity" - the colors are so perfectly Sarah's colorway. I just love it. I'll post a picture once it's knitted up.

I have also spun up a bunch of thick and thin for my etsy shop. And in other craftiness, I constructed a lightbox in which to take pictures of my yarn. I fear the colors actually come out truer when photographed against a blanket or sheet on the couch. Meh.