Do I still knit?

     That's a serious question.  I have not touched my knitting in weeks.  Now, of course, in the past, months went by between bouts of knitting, and most folks would not consider a hiatus of weeks to be anything to even think about.  But we know better, don't we?  It was very disconcerting to not miss knitting, and even to being to wonder about all the time I had sat (relatively) still, concentrating on my needles and yarn.

     Now, after my second week in my new job, I am slowly settling in, feeling as if I actually live in this house and that the act of moving is coming to an end.  We are starting to meet the neighbors.  There's one, below right, who appears to have an affinity for my deck.  Maggie doesn't object either.

  And I am very comfortable in a town where you can buy funny wine at Target and in the supermarket.  On the left is the funny wine -- funny because it is Bandit Pino Grigio from a company named Three Thieves.  It is pretty good Pino Grigio, and I bought it at Target.  Lightbulbs, a toilet plunger, and some Pinot Grigio.

      There are still boxes and boxes of things, especially in the room that will be my studio.  There are still piles of things waiting for their new home.  But today I went with a new friend to the Crownridge Canyon Natural Area, just an exit or two past where I work, to walk in the gorgeous weather and learn a bit about local flora and fauna. I can now sit comfortably to read, without -- well, almost without -- jumping up to take care of just one more thing.  So knitting has crept back into my head and the desire to knit has crept back into my hands.  It has also come up because, here in south Texas where the temperature has been in the 80s since I got here, I have been absolutely freezing to death.  Restaurants and university buildings, especially, are just downright cold.  So I have been fantasizing about shawls and stoles, and cardigans. 

     Taking a break from my routines, though, has also allowed some creative thought to creep in.  The corrugated cardboard "yarn" I bought years ago from Habu is slowly knitting itself into a piece of wall art in my head, and, when I find it in all the boxes marked "yarn," my hands will finally begin working with it.  A tremendous desire to spin has been building.  But first, I have to tackle the walk in closet in the studio, making sure I have the right storage so that I can unpack all the boxes piled up in that room and see and have access to all the fiber, yarn, wheels, spindles, shuttles, looms, and the sewing machine.  I can't wait, so I am off to measure the closet.

     Before that, though, a note about the blog.  Starting anew here made me think of doing some minor but long overdue redesign of the blog.  The name has also undergone a minor change.  All my whining about ending up in a 50s ranch led to the name change, actually.  Some of the street names in some of the developments around here terrified me.  What if I found the perfect house on High Stepping Drive?  Or Gomer Pyle Boulevard?  Or worse -- on War Paint Lane?  One of the areas named each street a different phrase that started with the word "Spring" -- Spring Brook, Spring Meadow, Spring Shower, Spring Blossom.  Not offensive, but I would never remember which street was mine.  The house I ended up buying is on Inspiration Drive.  At first I flinched, kind of embarrassed.  Gradually though I came around to accepting my inner 1950s identity and decided to own living on Inspiration Drive.  I have decided I have to live up to living on Inspiration Drive.  Thus the tweak in the subtitle of the blog.

Comments

[janna]

My house in San Antonio was in the neighborhood where every street begins with "Country" -- it's very near the neighborhood where they all begin with "Spring." And I have friends who live on Clearview, which isn't far from Inspiration. (You're making me homesick...)

[Ev]

Glad to hear you're settling in. You've been in my thoughts.. we've missed you over at Chatters. :)

[Robbyn]

Yay! There you are :)

I'm so glad to hear that you're settling in - both to the house and the new job. Those cannot be easy things and yet here you are - stablizing yourself and raring to move forward.

Your deck visitor looks interesting - probably trying to track down the new feline presences in the neighborhood. I can't tell from the photo - does he/she have a welcome basket in tow?

Heh - wine at Target! Imagine that :) Here in MA (and it sounds like in PA as well) you get wine in liquor stores. Period. As well as anything else with any alcohol content that isn't Nyquil or vanilla flavoring.

I like the blog remodeling too - absolutely appropriate :)

[Roberta]

Clearview is just one street over! And the people I am meeting here, outside work, are friends of friends in State College. The world is way smaller than it feels sometimes. And Robbyn, the liquor laws in PA are bizarre. Forget about anything alcoholic in supermarkets -- you can't even buy beer and wine in the same stores. Wine and hard liquor are sold at "state stores," while you have to buy beer at beer distributors -- by the case! Or in "bottle shops" or at bars themselves, at much higher prices by the six-pack. And Ev, when Chatters is back, I will be too.

[KimB]

Glad you are settling in, unpacking and again thinking about knitting. Good to hear the neighbors are nice -- human and feline -- and that work is going well. Change can be difficult and many changes at one time are downright scary! You are doing terrific. Keep up the good work and positive attitude!!

[Barb]

We are not as antiquated in PA as it seems. You can buy beer at some Sheetz convenience stores and wine at Wegmans supermarkets. The times are changing in PA,but very,very slowly.

[Amie]

Not unfrequently I drive through a neighborhood near me and think how nice the houses are there. They're old and broken down houses, but nice styles, you know? Anyway, because of the age, there are several that are only slightly out of my price range (as opposed to most that are in my "selling my soul would only cover the downpayment" range). Most of them are on "Asylum Road".

[Sharon]

Inspiration Drive...I love it! You kind of have to live up to your address. :) San Antonio....enjoy the rannunculus. I fell totally in love with them on my one visit to SA a long time ago. Can't grow them in Michigan, so you enjoy them for me now.