Year Two: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #3

Happy Sunday!

This week has been nuts (more on that towards the end)...but I still managed to do some crazy things in the knitting world :)

So......let's get on with it :)

Finished Objects (FOs)

1. San Francisco Fog Fingerless Mitts: started January 2, 2013; finished January 10, 2013
2. Sooooper Seeeeekrit Swap Project #1: started January 16, 2013; finished January 16, 2013

Works-in-Progress (WIPs)

1. Icarus Shawl: started March 15, 2010
2. Mama's Vanilla Socks (round 2): started June 29, 2012
3. Eat Your Monkey Socks: started November 29, 2012
4. Little Man's Vest: started January 16, 2013
5. Sooooper Seeeeekrit Swap Project #2: started January 16, 2013

Yes. You're seeing that correctly. I started three projects this week. Three. It was brought to my attention that the Doctor Who Swap I'm participating in has to have the packages sent out by January 30, 2013. For some silly reason, I thought it was February 15, 2013. Soooooo, I needed to get going. Once they've been received, I'll disclose what I made, though I'm certain you could maybe make an educated guess. 

I did spend a teensy bit of time on my socks and my shawl but not enough. I was too busy with new things......oops.

I also started a vest for Little Man (Vested Baby Boy). I'm hoping that by using larger needles and heavier weight yarn, I can make it a bit larger so it'll fit him in a year as opposed to maybe fitting him right now. The sizing only goes up to 24 months and Little Man was wearing that six months ago. 

I pulled some Universal Yarns Cotton Supreme out of my stash. My original plans for that yarn were for a baby blanket that just never came to fruition. I'm planning to make a white and green striped vest, mostly green and using the white for the bottom ribbed band, the arm holes, and around the neck. We'll see how it goes. Right now, I'm still in the very beginning. 

The worst thing that happens if it doesn't fit is that I ship it off to Washington, D.C. for Sassy Girl (and she'll probably fit it sooner rather than later - she's barely 6 months old and is wearing 9-12 month clothing already). 

Let's just say that Startitis hit me very badly this week...


Anyway, now the plans stand thus:

Children's Items 

1. "Little 16" Newborn Socks (need to purchase)
2. Garter Stripe Baby Socks
3. Baby Surprise Jacket
4. Toddler Socks
5. Alvin Sweater
6. A New Sock Monkey
7. Stig (need to purchase)
8. Greyson (need to purchase)

Items for Me (Selfish Knitting FTW!)

1. Rose's Wrist Warmers
2. Viking Bag
3. Campfire Socks
4. Red Dwarf Socks
5. Freeport Vest
6. Zombie ViXen Fingerless Mitts
7. Ardys

Household Items

1. Halloween Creepy Cloths (1) (need to purchase)
2. Halloween Creepy Cloths (2) (need to purchase)
3. Assorted Harry Potter Cloths
4. Assorted Doctor Who Cloths
5. Grrlfriend Market Bag
6. Petal Dishcloth

Designs (which may or may not be sooper seekrit - obviously the sooper seekrit ones aren't listed)
1. Little Man's Baby Blanket
2. Susan's Hat (4 versions)
3. Assorted dishcloths (set of 12?)
4. Traveling Vines Scarf
5. Traveling Vines Socks (baby for sure, maybe adult-sized as well)
6. Pinwheel Market Bag
7. Anything else that comes along (I have a notebook somewhere with potential designs somewhere)




And now for the craziness that was this past week...

We've been in the San Francisco Bay Area now for about 6 months, living in an apartment, and have half our stuff in storage. It sucks. I really miss having a yard and not having to call the cops every other week and our vehicles not being hit in the parking lot, among other things. Also, we have both my properties in Wisconsin up for sale (both inherited, in case you don't know) and one will close on February 18, 2013. We've decided that it's time to really start looking for a house. We had kind of looked here and there, not really finding anything that we liked that we were in any position to buy. 

Right after we got back from our cruise, Husband showed me a couple houses our realtor had sent us. There was one that stood out and a couple that we were curious about. Husband met with the realtor and checked out a couple houses and called me and said we should do a proper viewing. So, last Sunday we went house hunting. We checked out six or seven places, including the ones Husband had seen previously. The one that stood out in our e-mail was the one that stood out when we were house hunting. 

That afternoon, Husband started paperwork to get a pre-approved loan (which is pretty much mandatory if you're going to put an offer in on a house out here), I pulled out a bunch of paperwork (the last two years' of taxes, bank information, car loan information, etc.), and we started dreaming about having our own place with a yard and an orange tree. By Wednesday, we had a pre-approved loan (with the contingency that my car loan get paid off - which I did on Thursday afternoon). Thursday afternoon we met with our realtor and signed a buttload of paperwork to put an offer in on the house we fell in love with.

Our realtor presented the offer on Friday morning and, per the offer contract, the selling party has three days to either reject, accept, or counteroffer on our offer. They could make their decision that day or wait a couple days and think it over. So, by Monday we would have an answer.


We had a discussion about the reality of the situation: we most likely would not get this house so don't get too attached.

So, our realtor presented our offer, in person, on Friday morning. He called Brian Friday afternoon. There were four offers on the property: two were below asking price, ours was right at asking price, and one was about $1500 above asking price.

I was out with Little Man when Brian called me to relay information. We were back in the children's book area when he told me that we got the house! Yes, you read that correctly! WE GOT THE HOUSE! 

The only thing that was changed was changing the closing date from 45 days to 30 days. So, as of the end of February, we will be able to move. We're going to have to break out lease but that's fine. 

WE GOT THE HOUSE!

I hope you've all had a wonderful week and that this week continues to be lovely!