A forgotten tidbit

On Sunday morning before heading out to South Park we stopped over at The ‘Rents house and then onto TGF’s brother’s house where I finally got to meet our niece, T’Mane! She is just as adorable in person as her photos had indicated.

A very important thing was learned from The Brother, who is a cop, Samuels Street is the home turf of not one, but two gangs- The Ds and The 13s. Fantastic news, no? I mean that we decided to walk away not that there are gangs. Anything sound familiar about The 13s? Yeah, that was the number “Boomhauer” had tattooed on his neck. He really was a fine enough fellow, though I did have to bite my tongue when he said he refused to eat Chinese food because he didn’t like eating cats and dogs. Yep, this Dorothy is not in Kansas anymore.

Blinded by the light

....of a job offer. Okay maybe more like a potential job offer. Not for me but for TGF.
In Ohio. Yes, yes, the state I said I would not move to, ever. Okay one of the states I have said that about but this declaration was made repeatedly and emphatically.

TGF has a son, like I have a daughter, not by blood, not through official channels but still a young person in our lives who we have taken a parental role with over a long period. Well he works somewhere (a large chain) that has a store opening (that I guess is sort of in his region), has pull (he is a very charming boy), and spoke to TGF about it yesterday.

In theory the store is set to open in late July but has been pushed back a few times. The timing could not be much worse for me as that is right at the height of work for Dance New England for me, right after the end of a school semester - in other words a mess.

This is very much like deja vu for me. Six years ago, almost to the month my ex applied for a job in California when we were living in Massachusetts. Memorial Day weekend 2001 she and I came out here for her interview and to check things out a bit. C left Massachusetts with 98% of our belongings in mid July while I stayed behind to finish getting the house ready to sell, went to Dance New England, and then I drove west after it was over. I've never seen the movie, but this is feeling a bit like Groundhog Day to me.

Nothing is written in stone, it's only been 24 hours since she was sort of offered the job, there are a ton of questions our boy and the business would need to answer but what a ride already.

The town where the store is scares the hell out of me. It's 95% caucasian. I have never live anywhere like that. There are about 12,000 people, so it's smaller than anywhere I've been and I could not find a synagogue in the town. As of a recent census there is 0.10% lesbian population. Read that again folks, one tenth of one percent! I woke up this morning saying it "why couldn't it be somewhere like Yellow Springs if I have to move to frigging Ohio." Well, actually we could move there as it's a reasonable drive to the job.

TGF's friend, and mine really, Jeriann is totally excited about this potential move as she lives nearby in Centerville. Jeriann was recently here trying to relocate with her company but just yesterday morning got the offer which made it a no go deal for her. We both talked to her about options. Then TGF got the job phone call while I was out. It took her over two hours after I got home to tell, and that after trying to figure out with Jer how to tell me about all this.

Just how did she tell me you might wonder. I came home, we had some dinner and were watching television. Then she says I need to run out and get a Mountain Dew. I did think it odd as it was after 8pm that she would get a "pop" but I blew it off. We are back to sitting on the couch, laptops engaged, television crackling. I see an email come through from her at about 8:40pm. The subject line is "Fwd: home" with a real estate listing link saying she sent it to Jer. How odd I think, Jer has a condo. "Why would you send that to Jer?" There is a very awful pause and a funny look passes over her face. "I got a job offer today.....in Ohio." Blown away I think begins to describe my reaction. Realizing this morning that Yellow Springs is a reasonable option as made this a bit easier for me.

There are some benefits to this, number one being she would have a job that could definitely pay our bills and we could start paying down the debt we have accumulated in the last two years. She is promising me that we would not stay there more than two years (think it would be longer but hopefully not more than four). We would still work on moving to the south, somewhere that will hopefully be our "forever" home. TGF is regularly homesick being here and has not fallen in love with California. We would be able to really get to know our niece, T'Mane which is really appealing. It would be lovely to be near Jer, but I would miss my friends here so much it's hard to breath if I think about it. I would be closer to the east coast so in theory between it costing less to fly and having money I might actually be able to see family and friends more.

Stay tuned. Follow the bouncing ball. Buckle up for the roller coaster. Start an office pool. Remind me to breathe.

Try, try, try again

Here is what T'Mane's swing top looked like about two weeks ago when I cast on.

It looks about the same but not because I haven't been working on it. At first my swatch indicated that my gauge was about 20% less than it should be so I did all sorts of complicated math to make adjustment since based on my arguably brilliant calculations even the largest size on the pattern wouldn't give me the size I needed for my beloved niece.

So I cast on about 300 stitches and proceeded to knit for quite some time - the garter border, some stockinette, and even did two of the decrease rows. It was looking magnificent but I worried about the sizing. Finally after I did 3-4 inches of knitting I decided to measure things because it really looked huge. The circumference at the bottom is supposed to be about 48" but mine was 60"! So frogging ensued, that ball winder is a godsend.

Once again I started by casting on 272 stitches for the largest size (6 years) thinking it would be good for the 2 year old size. I proceeded happily along for about 1.5 inches of things until I realized I had twisted it when I joined the piece (it's on circular needles). Riiip. Try again but again based on measurements decided that I could do the 4 year old size and cast on 256 stitches. This time I only knit about 8 or 9 rows before I realized I twisted it again. Before I ripped again, I measured. I had swatched on a pair of straight needles, clearly a mistake. So tonight after ripped I cast on 240 stitches, knit one row without joining in order to try to avoid twisting. I think I finally succeeded. I cannot believe how much work this is taking. This project should have been almost done by now. If it had failed again I would have put it down for a bit and started something else.

Yes, yes I know I need to finish the secret project. I have done about 400 yards and need to do about 200 more, then blocking will follow. But I really want to knock this out as well. Plus I am dreaming of all sorts of other project. Part of the dreaming involves actually making something for me. I have promised a few folks that I would work on my inability to knit something for me.

Knitting things for others gives me a way to be nice to them, I consider it a loving act, the ability to do something that makes them happy (at least I hope so). This explanation of why I knit was the one I had with TGF recently which was sparked by a thread on my knitting list about why we knit. It also is a way to make something unique and personalized, that isn't about buying the latest and greatest or from a conglomerate. Of course when I got to the part about it being a loving act I realized what I was saying and changed the topic, mumbling something about how I suppose I should work on that one day.

While at Jennie's the other day she told me the socks she has been working on forever don't fit her and she offered to pass them to me when finished. I was floored and stumped. They are beautiful, not colours I would have picked but really gorgeous. I was hard pressed to know how to answer. Not because they aren't lovely but because I couldn't imagine being gifted with something that someone had spent so much time and effort on. Problems with feeling worthy? Moi? Whatever do you mean? Yeah, I have some work to do.