No packing of our present residence has occurred. Don't ask me what the Emperor has been doing because it's a sore spot with me at the moment.
Another project that I have done is to begin shortening the Venetian blinds. Nearly every window has them, and every single set of blinds is too long for its window. Shortening them is easy, but can be time-consuming. I did the kitchen blind yesterday to remind myself of how to do it, and I removed about twenty extra slats from it. The blinds in the craft room are the inexpensive type and I'm just going to replace them, but the ones in the living room are better quality and I'm surprised that they were not trimmed to their proper length when they were installed. Again, it's a simple project and something I can wait to do until we're all moved in.
I keep having to ask myself this question: is this project something that can happen when we're living here, or must it be done before we can move in? Another question that's kind of stopped me in my tracks when thinking about moving is, where exactly is this [piece of furniture or other possession] going to go? Maybe I'm just overwhelmed, and keep doing fix-it projects because they're something I can get my head around. But I'm an old hand at moving! This should be as nothing to me!
Just now I remembered something that happened when I was moving from one apartment to another almost twenty years ago. My friend Coach (that's what we called her) and I were taking my small sleeper sofa out the front door and we turned it on its side the wrong way. The couch sprang open and would not close again -- something inside had bent. Undaunted, we hauled it over to the new place, all ahoo. Coach went home and came back with her construction worker boyfriend's framing hammer and we beat the infrastructure back into shape so it would be a couch again. Problem solved! I used that couch for another four years before I gave it away to someone moving into a new home with nothing.
In knitting knews, the Amazing A-- designed a cowl pattern and asked me if I'd do a test knit for her. She sent me the yarn and instructions, and I've got it going, albeit slowly. It's nice yarn -- Mirasol Nuna -- and an easy pattern, but I had a spate of operator error and have cast on five times for what should be a simple knit. I think, that is, I hope it's in forward motion now. A few more rows and we'll know.
Nuna is some beautiful yarn. It's a sportweight wool/silk/viscose blend, shiny and soft, and nicely shows stitch definition. Because of the silk, I was a little hesitant. When I get into extended cleaning as I've been doing with the new house, my hands generally end up trashed and it's hard, even painful, to touch fibers like silk because they catch on rough hands. Not this time, though. I have found the Holy Grail of Hand Cream.
When we went to the Over There Big City a few weeks ago, we stopped at a shop that carries British stuff and they had just gotten these hand creams in. Attracted by the Arts and Crafts packaging, I tried a little bit while we were there, and I loved the smell (spicy, with some patchouli in it) so I splurged on a set with three small tubes. I figured I'd try it and if it was average, I'd give the other two tubes away to friends and use up what I had with no harm done. Well, I'm here to tell you that this truly is the Holy Grail of Hand Cream. Since I started using it fairly regularly (a small amount once a day, in the evening after I've washed the dishes) my hands have been softer than they've been since I was a teenager. One of those tubes now lives in my office, and one by my knitting spot. I'll keep the third one for a future gift, but the next time I come near that British shop, I'll invest in a big tube of the stuff. I mean, even my knuckles are soft and smooth! I wonder if it would help my elbows...
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