Maturity In View! With Knitting Content

My baby is buying furniture! And today we’re going apartment hunting!

We’ve been talking about this for a while. (A long white, really.) But now he’s gotten several paychecks and we all feel comfortable with him being able to live on the money, if he pinches his pennies. This is not his best skill, but we think we think he can learn.

So yesterday, one of his days off, we were gonna look at apartments. We looked at various things online and we fixing to set out, when he announced that there was some furniture he was going to buy and we needed to get it. A friend of his from his former job is moving to California and friend and fiancé were selling their furniture. Could we get it this weekend? No, they’re taking off tomorrow. Oh. What was he buying? A dresser and a couch.

A couch? Where was he planning to put it? Not in this house, that’s for sure! So he talked to his uncle, my brother, and my brother agreed to let the furniture be stored in their garage for the time being. OK. So, how was he planning on transporting this couch? Uh, he hadn’t thought of that.

Eventually we packed the dresser (and a TV and VCR that suddenly got added) into my PT Cruiser and took them over to my brother’s house. Then DS, my brother, and my nephew got in my brother’s Jeep to get the couch. I ran a quick errand and went back to my brother’s house to wait. My sister-in-law got home and we talked. And talked. And talked some more. And began to wonder what was taking so long. Turns out that when they got to the other apartment, they could get the couch in the Jeep, but then there was only enough room for two passengers. So they called another friend to come transport my nephew and they waited for B. to show up so that nephew wouldn’t be stranded with strangers. Eventually the Jeep and all the various movers ended up back at the house and the couch was unloaded into the garage. By this time we were too late to go look at apartments. (Like 2.5 hours too late!)

My sister-in-law works for a property management company, and she was helpful to DS. There was one apartment complex he was particularly interested in because they have loft apartments. He was enamored of that. However, sil advises him that it’s in a high crime area, so we’re going to look elsewhere. He’s going to not work overtime today and we’ll set out. There’s a complex not too far away (and we’re in a fairly low crime area!) with some nice looking one-bedroom floorplans that are within his limit on rent, so we’ll likely start there. There were others we saw online that would be nice, including some where he already has friends living. Although that’s not necessarily a recommendation. One friend said he thought his place was a bit expensive; another group of friends say they have trouble with the complex’s management. (They had problems with the management of everywhere they’ve lived, though.)

It’s interesting to note that although my kid is a full-grown adult and showing signs of maturity, he still finds me useful. I offered to go look at apartments with him, and he just assumed I’d go. (I didn’t assume I was welcome!) And yesterday he (mostly) listened to me while we were looking at stuff online. Once again he’s discovered that, while his mom’s knowledge of anime and starship classes is woefully lacking, there are some things I’m still worth listening to about.<g> I know that eventually this will turn around and he’ll become the caretaker – I’ve been on that end of this. But it’s nice to know I still have value.

Also, one of his friends that I actually can stand is looking for a cat. He’s been looking at cats already owned by other friends, but has found that those cats don’t want to leave the people they currently own. (Imagine my shock.) So DS plans to take Saturday (his other day off) and take B. (different B.) to my shelter. B. has now expressed an interest in kittens, which we will certainly be able to help him with. But I’ve invited myself along on the trip and I’m gonna talk to him about three of the older cats who might be better suited to what he wants. My friend Sasha, who was a very sweet kitty, is a big girl, almost full grown, who needs to be in a home without kids and without other animals. She’s a beautiful little calico and is very bright. Then there’s Carmen, who looks a lot like Sasha, except not quite so big. She is *such* a lap kitty! She insisted on sitting in my lap and just purring. (It’s a challenge to take pictures of a cat sitting in your lap!) Or maybe Boots, who is maybe about the same age as the grandbabies and looks a lot like Tempe. He’s pretty skittish, but I think the application of a little patience and a lot of loving and security will make him a happy boy. Of course, there are probably 20 or 30 kittens up there that would work just fine, if that’s really the way B. wants to go. Wouldn’t it be cool if I got one of our older kitties adopted? I really do think an older cat might be the best way for him to go!

Obligatory Knitting Content:

I finished a pair of socks made from a yarn I haven’t seen reviewed on the socknitters email list yet – Fortissima Colori Disco Socka Color. It’s an interesting yarn. 71% superwash wool, 26% polymid, and 3% metalized polyester. There is a silver thread running through it. The yarn I worked with was mostly beige. Yeah, beige. Me. Really, quite my skin color. Normally I wouldn’t buy that color on a bet, but it was the best of this yarn that the yarn store had. And it is redeemed by a nice denim stripe. I’m a big fan of denim during our season known best as Not Summer. There’s also a smaller stripe of a slightly darker beige with a hint of pink. Now, normally I don’t care for the striping yarn. I like pooling in my colors. However, that’s quite a minority opinion, so the rest of you will be happy to hear there was no pooling of the denim.

The yarn is a bit stiff. I’d have thought that only 3% metalized polyester wouldn’t stiffen so much, but *something* did. There were times when the stiffness, combined with the light tan color, reminded me a lot of twine. The sort one uses to tie up newspapers and magazines for recycling. But it’s not really that bad. And I suspect it’ll soften with washing. I’m glad I bought another skein of the yarn, in a blue and green colorway. On these socks I used what I call traveling rib, which I think worked well with the striping. And I used size 1 circulars. If I could, I might try the next pair with 1.5’s, but I don’t have those (yet). And I continued my attempt to master the short-row heel. Not wonderful yet, but it will do. Especially since these socks are for me and I’m not concerned that they look like commercial socks! I had a decent amount of this yarn left over, enough so that I might could have done a more traditional heel flap heel and had enough yarn. Since this yarn comes in the one-skein-for-two-socks size, that’s a good thing!

Next on the needles is more Fortissima Socka, this time not the Disco yarn. These are for the very necessary green socks I need for my Not Summer wardrobe. Interestingly, this yarn is a bit thinner than the Disco, so the size 1 circulars are perfect. I swatched it at about 9 sts per inch.

I’ve tentatively chosen a Knitpicks pattern, Autumn Leaves Lace Sock. The problem is that the pattern is written for 56/7 stitches and it’s charted lace. 56/7 won’t by any stretch of the imagination fit my rather larger than normal leg, and it’s more difficult to alter a charted pattern. There are 5 (FIVE?) charts, and you work it Chart A, Chart B, and Chart C on the front of the sock and Charts D and E on the back. I considered just doubling it, but that was way too big. I need to add about 25 stitches per row, so my current plan is to add 5 stitches between each chart. The charts are set up to have one or more purls between the charts, so I’m hoping that adding 5 more purls there won’t look too bad. Also, I can easily make the leg smaller as my leg gets smaller by decreasing in there. Let’s hope it works! Normally I work both socks at the same time. (Not exactly the same time, but I cast on and do the cuff on one, then cast on and do the cuff on the next.) This time I want to get through the pattern a bit before I start a second sock. Somehow a second sock is harder to frog.

The color of this yarn is interesting. Inside the house, it’s got a bit of an olive cast to it. (And I’m not a big fan of olive green, especially on me. Too much yellow.) Next to some other GREEN yarn (yes, it screams green), it *really* looks a bit olive. However, I had it with me in the car yesterday during the moving-the-furniture saga, and outside it looked grass green. ?? Oh, well. Either color will work for me.

I considered continuing my experimentation with short row heels on these socks, but since I have more than enough yarn in this color (I bought three skeins), I think I’ll give myself a short break and do a heel flap. I’ve discovered I really like the look of the Eye of Partridge heel in a solid color, so I’ll likely do that. Unless I change my mind, of course.<g>

The last time I used a solid color sock yarn, I did a very complicated lace-sort-of-Aran pattern I put together from the 365 knitting stitches calendar. (Hmmm. I’m thinking that might have been Fortissima Socka, too.) Both the yarn in that pair and this yarn are truly, actually, solid colors. Don’t get me wrong, now. I love the self-patterning yarns! I love that you can look like you’re doing something incredibly complicated, and it’s all done by the yarn! But it’s nice to be able to do the occasional solid color with a lace pattern type of thing. I’m glad my favorite online yarn pusher/dealer is carrying a lot of solid colors now. I like variety. Of course, I need to work through my stash a bit, too.<g>