Survivor knitting...

The night of the fire, after the flames were out and the giant fans had blown through the remains of our home, the firemen let me run in and grab our meds from the kitchen.  To their obvious consternation,  I added a quick trip to the living room to grab the three knitting bags/baskets that were sitting by the open patio sliders.   The bags did a great job of protecting their contents from the smoke and soot.   Only the top projects were smokey and stinky.    So far, I have been able to comfortably work on most of the deeper projects.    This Linen Tunic is one of those survivor projects.

The Linen Tunic caught my eye and landed on my needles more than four years ago.    This is what I was working on when I left for vacation and ended up moving to Florida.   By the time it came out of storage, I had moved on to other things.   Then, recently, while searching my napping projects for something else, it once again caught my eye.   Now four years, a major move and a house fire later, it is finally done.   It has been soaked, spun, and hung to dry.   All that remains is a quick iron and it is good to go.    Assuming I stay on task, I will be wearing this baby on Tuesday when I meet the girls for lunch and a knit.

Pool Knitting

Pool Knitting
12June13

We are settling into our apartment very well.    The boys are surviving a shared room and Jack has, thankfully, adjusted to apartment living with no problems.   Having to walk him rather than just set him loose in the yard is different for all of us but so far, so good.   

I have always like condo/townhouse living, so living in an apartment for a few months suits me just fine.   One of the things I could really get used to is our daily swim in a pool that someone else takes care of.   Hubby swims laps, where I am more likely to get wet and get out.   That means that I have time to kill before we head back home.  As all knitters do, I put this time to good use.

My Amy Butler bag made it back from the cleaners, clean and smelling like nothing (awesome!).  However, I was warned that the process can be tough on some fabrics and that was the case here.   The straps are fraying where they did not used to.   Still, it is plenty fine for a pool knitting bag and that is it's new purpose in life.   It easily holds a light shawl, a couple of dollars (just in case), a Kindle, phone, keys, and....knitting.    

The yarn is a fire survivor (it was in my trunk).   It is I Love Cotton left over from when I still shopped at Hobby Lobby (before they refused give their employees legally mandated health coverage).    It really is a nice yarn and I will miss it when I am all out.   In any case, this yarn is destined to be a Wingspan Shawl.   Which means that what you see above will someday, hopefully, look like this.

This is the third time I made one of these.   Obviously, I really like the pattern.

Home is where we are

Wednesday, Hubby, T2, and I moved into the apartment our insurance company found for us.   Thursday T2 and I picked up Jack (the dog).  Friday T1 came home.    It is wonderful having us all under the same roof again.

The apartment is very nice (think high end hotel grade).  It is furnished, has a pool, and is very close to home and friends.   It isn't our house, but it is already becoming home.   We have all been having trouble sleeping, hopefully that will get better here.

There were a lot of faux plants when we got there.  All of which are now in the top kitchen cabinets (the ones I can't reach).   We were able to rescue a few of our house plants and now those are scattered around the apartment.

I've been knitting a couple of things.   Hubby's other sock for one and my "sticky" knitting.  I finished the black Simple Joys Shawl and a dishcloth but have yet to get  back to the Linen Tunic.   I've also started and discarded two mandala place mats.   That idea my not actually happen.   I love the yarns (Paton's Grace and Cotton Classic)  and the pattern is pretty straight forward.   Although pretty, both seem too thin for placemats.   I am considering Sugar & Cream but may let the idea simmer for a bit.   I can't keep buying yarn and not using it.   One, we can't afford it and two, it does not hold with my plan to be more purposeful about my yarn purchases.

Spinning my wheel...

As you can see, my spinning wheel survived the fire.   One of the contractors was kind enough to give me a mild cleaner and towels so that I could clean it myself, which I did this afternoon.    I need to order some oil and then I will be able to give it a whorl.

In the mean time, we are this close to being in a lovely apartment.   We toured the facility on Friday and really liked what we saw.   The unit is being cleaned today and we will be able to see that tonight or tomorrow.   Then, according to my housing angel at the insurance company, all we need to do is sign the contracts and we are good to go.   Our hosts have been wonderful but we are really anxious to be in our own space and to bring Jack home (he is driving his hosts crazy).

The adjuster tasked with valuing my yarn came on Saturday.   He is writing off the whole stash.   Just watching him inventory my stash was so sad that I had to leave the house (breathing wise I am not supposed to be there anyway).   The good news is that he and the cleaners think that my napping projects might be salvageable.   Almost all of them are in sealed ziplock bags.   There are at least two Koigu projects in there.    Since that is the commercial yarn that it hurts the most to lose, I would be grateful to have a couple of things to work on while I think about how I want to handle my yarn buying from here on out.

Knitting time has been slim.    Hubby's completed sock came through it's cleaning good enough (just a bit fuzzy) so I feel comfortable working on the second one.   My black Simple Joys Shawl is only slightly smelly.   I was already two thirds of the way into the seed stitch edge so I decided to go ahead and cast off.   At that point I can soak and wash it.  That has worked pretty well so far.   The Ridgely was in a ziplock at the bottom of a tote that was right by an open window.   The bag was sooty but the Ridgely looks and smells undamaged.   I have put that into a new bag and will start working on it again as soon as my brain feels less fried.

Stinky knitting...

Today is the first time we have hade to stop and breath.   We are stayinf with friends while our insurance company finds us an apartment.    Our hostess is at work, the boys are at school are at school and Hubby had to run into the office for s bit.    I have been knitting and dozing between laundry loads.  I was reading but the I realized that the book I am reading is called "Inferno".    I've put it aside for now.

We were able to recover a couple of knitting projects.   I call these my stinky knitting and only work on them outside.  We meet with the insurance guy whose job it is to put a price on my knitting and stash tomorrow.   No doubt I will have more to say on that subject next week. 

Hanging by a thread...

The last two days have been spent dealing with our insurance company (they have been awsome) and interviewing contractors.  This morning we made a decision, this afternoon, we signed contracts, and earlier this evening the process began when our computers were taken away for evaluation (they will either be thoroughly cleaned or deemed non-salvagable and replaced).

We spent a couple of nights in a hotel.  Tonight we moved into a friend's guest room.   Tomorrow I get to go see an apartment.   We have been told that it will take two to three months but to be prepared for five just in case.   I think we will all feel steadier once we are settled in to a new routine and have Jack back with us.

My yarn and fiber has been deemed non-salvagable.  It will be taken, inventoried, and priced.   We will be given the full amount for replacements.   Everyone seems to think I should be thrilled at the process of replacing my stash but I actually have pretty mixed feelings about it.   Some of that yarn is comercial and easily replaced but a fair amount of it is hand spun and/or dyed.   I can get some more but not just the same.   There was yarn in there that were gifts or  bought on vacations or brought to me by my son a souvenier from his travels with his father.   Those balls/hanks/skiens can never be replaced.

On the other hand, this is my chance to fine tune my stash.   There was a time when I bought yarn just because it was pretty or on sale with no real plan for it.  Sometimes that worked out, others not so much.   Then there is the fact that tastes change over time.   What I had to have 5 years ago, may not appeal to me now.     I really only started buying only with a plan after that year I spent knitting out of my stash.   I really am more disearning now.

The only bag I had out with me the day of the fire was my beach knitting bag and Hubby's other sock. I had just started a Mac & Me Summer Skirt, so that is what I have been knitting while we talk, and talk, and talk to the boys, each other, our friends and family, and of course, insurance and clean-up people.

This netbook gets taken away for evaluation tomorrow, but I expect to have my laptop back by Friday (assuming it is deemed salvagable).   Until, I am fully up and running again, I will be blogging from my Fire.  Please forgive any wonkiness.

Burnin' Down the House

Last night, while waiting with T1 to pick T2 up at a friend’s, my cell rang.   It was T2.  He told me that Hubby was trying to reach me because the house was on fire.   At first I waited for the punch line to this not very funny joke.   There was no punch line.   This was no joke.   I called Hubby and he confirmed that our house was burning.

We don’t know exactly why yet, but according the fire marshal, the fire started in our garage, in the dryer (yes, we clean out the lint after every load and the exhaust duct was just changed a week ago).   The flames shot up and around the inside of the garage, burning everything in it’s path.   It went up through the ceiling, into the attic and down our walls.   We were told that it was a mere two minutes from blowing the roof off of our house. 

The garage is a total loss.   The rest of the house was choked with black greasy smoke that has coated every last thing in our home.    There are burn marks on the ceiling where the flames reached out of the vents.    The smell is acrid and pervasive.   We have been told that it will be six to eight weeks before we can get into our house.

I am not a good enough person to say that this is okay because …    What I will say, is that I am grateful that Hubby was in the pool and the boys were out with me, when it happened.   T2 spent the day with a friend and Hubby and I spent the afternoon at the beach.   It could have happened while T1 was alone in the house.   It could have happened while Hubby was in the shower after his swim.   But it didn’t.  It happened while we were all outside.  And, Hubby was able to get Jack (our dog) safely out of the house, too.

I am overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task before us, but I am aware and grateful for the blessing that kept my family safe.   I am grateful for the neighbors who opened their home to us last night.  I am grateful for the firemen who arrived just in time to save our home.   I am grateful for the Red Cross workers who were there to offer help and the friend who took Jack on a moments notice.   I am grateful for the outpouring of love and support from our family and friends.

This sucks big time.  Still, I am grateful.