Knitting - I promise - and Gettysburg

Seeing as how this blog was started to discuss reading and knitting, I thought that I would get back to those topics. We have done a lot with the apartment, which is why I haven't posted for a while, but I will update the blog with those pictures later.

We traveled to Gettysburg, PA last Sunday with my Aunt Jean, Uncle Bill and cousins Christopher and Jonathan to see the battlefield. Adam and I went about four years ago and really enjoyed it. They have since opened up a museum. The museum was definitely worth the time - they did a really great job of setting everything up and giving a lot of information, not only on Gettysburg, but on the entire war. For the "diehards" (or as diehard as you get in our crowd), Bill, Christopher and Adam, they signed up for a guided tour of Gettysburg that lasted for a little over 2 hours. The tour guide actually drives them around the battlefield (which is huge) and goes into detail on the battle. They really enjoyed it. For those of us that would not describe ourselves as diehards (Jean, Jonathan and I) we bought a tour CD, it also rode in the car with us, but I drove and it talked; it was a nice set up :)

On the way to Gettysburg, I was able to work on the baby blanket. I got a lot done and after my knitting group on Thursday night, I am done with the bulk of it. The pattern calls for an exact replica of this, but in a chocolate brown color. After they are both complete you sew them up together. It is a really cute blanket, but as I was knitting this and feeling how heavy just one side of the blanket is, I decided to modify. Instead, I will use the chocolate brown color to make a border to the blanket. That will hopefully leave me enough yarn to play around with other to make other cute knits :)

I was also able to finish Mary's socks. These were meant as a birthday present, but seeing as how Mary's birthday was in June - I'm a little late. Even though they are late getting finished, I'm really pleased with the outcome. The pattern was easy to follow and was really a quick knit; if I hadn't gotten distracted with - you know- that whole moving thing, I would have had them done MUCH sooner.

The pattern was River Rapids Socks by Sock Bug. I used a little over half a skein of Ty-Dy Socks by Knit One Crochet too color painted desert on size 2 double points. I luckily have some yarn left over for some baby socks. :)

In addition to knitting recently, I have also been doing quite a bit of reading...so stay tuned.

The Move Is Over!!

It's official, we are in our new apartment!! Now all we have to do is finish unpacking. We have gotten the kitchen completely done. We are working on clearing the boxes out one by one :)

So - let me give you a quick tour of the place. Please excuse the mess, we just recently moved in.

First the entry hallway:Off of which are the two bedrooms- this one will serve as the office/library/ku room once the boxes are removed:

The master bedroom. Which has a....

Walk in closet!! I love this.Next you walk through one of my favorite features of the apartment...
to the living room, with our new sofa...

and dining room area.

Last, but not least, you have the kitchen.
Oh, and I can't leave out... the washer and dryer. I can honestly say I never thought that I would get this excited about doing laundry. The idea of not having to luge things to a dingy, scary basement any more and paying for every load with quarters that you had to hunt for before being able to do laundry is amazing! Very liberating :) We did our first load today.

I promise I will get back to blogging about reading and knitting after this - the move has taken up a lot recently. However, on a related knitting note - because we have move closet room, I will get dedicated shelf space for yarn!

And we have a winner(s)...

Adam and I were able to finish boxing up all of our books last night. The grand total was (drum roll please...)

21 boxes of books.

That means that we have a tie. Both Brian and Krystal guessed 22 boxes! If you both leave which Jane Austen book you would like in the comments, I will send those to you after the move :) (The books to choose from are: Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Emma)

Now to be fair to those that guessed higher than that - we sold or donated five bags full of books.

As far as other packing, we have finished packing the front hallway...and our bedroom. But don't worry, my bed still looks like this :)

Crap...It's August!

We are closing in on the move date. A week and one day today! I am definitely excited to move, but more than anything, I am just ready for this craziness to be over. Adam and I signed the lease about 2 months ago, so I feel like this has been the longest move ever!

But, since we are so close to moving, I am trying to get a feel for things around our new place. I was curious to see if there were any book groups or knitting groups in the area. Don't worry - there are! I have found a book group and a knitting group both fairly close to our new apartment. I am going to check them out once we move in and see how they go. I'll keep you updated.

We bought more boxes this weekend, but have yet to finish boxing up the books - we should be done with that tonight so I will be able to post the winner hopefully tonight or tomorrow.