Purple Rows

I'm sitting on the same couch from which I wrote my previous post, only in a much better frame of mind. After three really long weeks I have an apartment! I'm moving in next week, so in the meantime I'm living with my aunt and uncle. I have been blessed to have a lot of people help me as I deal with everything that was going on, and now am happy to report that next month things should be more settled.

In the meantime, I have, of course, been knitting. Last week I misplaced the pair of circulars that I needed to knit the next section of my Great Gatsby Dress, so I stopped by AC Moore and picked up supplies to knit the Grace Lace Beret. This beret is a fast knit, but intricate enough to yield a stunning result. I used NaturallyCaron.com Spa in "Green Sheen", which as you can see is quite a nice color. This is the first time I've used a bamboo yarn, and I've been very pleased with the result. It's a very soft texture that is different from other yarns I've worked with. Smoother, I think would be the word for it.



I've also been continuing to work on my Great Gatsby Dress. The picture below is of the completed back skirt, but I've finished the ribbing on the back bodice and am starting to increase up to the arms. I had a lot more completed but unfortunately I somehow misread the pattern to read "three inches" not "three rows." To those who don't knit this might not seem so bad, but in a tight knit, this can be very long. Add the fact that the section is done in stockinette, which bores me to no end, and I was not a happy camper when I found out my afternoon of knitting was for naught. However, my summer job ends this week and then I hope to put more of my attention on finishing this garment.



Earlier this week (I guess now it was last week) I picked up a copy of KnitScene for Fall 09 in celebration of finally finding an end to this madness. I love the style with which the designers approach garment knitting. Every page made me think "I want to wear that." Ultimately I bought it for the Balmoral Vest pattern, but I see myself making time to knit most of these pieces if I have the funds for all of that yarn. It has definately succeeded in reminding me how much fashion is influenced by knitted items right now, which makes this so much fun.

My last bit of news is very exciting. My friends Frank and Andrew host the Echo Alert Podcast about the show Dollhouse (I believe I've mentioned it before). In their last episode they interviewed Miracle Laurie, who plays my favorite character Millie/November/whoeversheisnow. On a whim I had the guys ask her if she'd wear something I knit, and she said yes! Now I'm searching for patterns for a light scarf that I can make in a really soft yarn (I'm pretty partial to bamboo right now). She said her favorite color is purple, so I'm waiting for something to inspire me. Right now I'm just very excited that one of my favorite actresses on current television is willing to wear one of my handknits.

Flood Victim 101

On Monday, July 6th, my life was fairly average. I had the day off work and spent time cleaning, doing laundry, and working on some podcasting. My boyfriend came over and went to the store with me to buy groceries, after which we made dinner. We watched Jeopardy and started a movie -- Ghost. I was finally introducing him to Patrick Swayze. All in all, an average summer day.

That all changed at approximately 8:15 pm. Shortly after beginning the movie I started hearing a really weird noise. We weren't far enough into the movie to get past the creepy part and into the funny part, so I made my boyfriend get up to see what it was. Thank God for the life size cutout of Luke Skywalker that my friends had given me back in high school. Luke was scratching the wall because he was standing in water.

Forty-five minutes later we were about a foot and a half deep in water climbing out the window in the dark. The water rose so fast. Within ten minutes the water had passed my ankles. We weren't sure what was going on, so we started with ground level items and then moved up from there. The water was coming in from both doors and was significantly higher outside than inside. It's amazing how calm we managed to stay and how I was able to just let some things go because I couldn't save everything. In the end we were in the dark sloshing through the apartment and climbing out of the window into the knee deep water and rain.




When I went back the next day the water was out of the apartment and was going down in the apartment, though my car was still standing in it. I got a few things and then went back to the house to try to sleep. My mom made it down that afternoon and we headed over to the apartment where they told me I had until 8pm to move everything out of the apartment (we were told this at 4). Thankfully we were able to get some help and a walk-in special on a climate controlled storage unit. Somehow we got everything moved. I'm still amazed that we pulled it off.



Officially I am not homeless-- the proper term is "displaced student." The Red Cross has given me a little money to help buy food and my university that I will be attending in the fall has pro-rated a dorm room for me until the end of summer school (about 2 weeks). The damage is extensive enough that I have to find a new place to live before August. But so far I've been blessed to have everything fall into place. My car has been cleared by a mechanic, and I have a meeting with our Dean of Students to work on a long-term solution. My aunt and uncle live nearby and were kind enough to let my mom and I stay with them while these solutions came together, so I haven't had to stay in a shelter at all throughout all of this, which is unbelievably amazing. Overall God has blessed me with people who have the means and have been able to help.

If there's one thing I now know, always buy flood insurance.

Oh, and make sure to always have your knitting supplies in a bag. I can't work on the Great Gatsby Dress even if I have time because my stitch markers are in the hastily packed boxes in the storage unit. Guess I'm stuck working on washcloths.