Getting Closer

After today, I'll have six days left in my career as a teacher. This year seemed endless for so many reasons, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

I'm working to finish three of these -- for three of my students who love to fish. I'll have to model one for you before I give them away. They look pretty funny when worn as a hat.

The closing on our old house went very smoothly on Tuesday. The title company was next door to the furniture store where we ordered a sectional. We ordered it in February and they predicted it would arrive by the end of June -- and that may work out. They checked for us, and our sectional is in a shipping container in the United States. They told us that we are lucky because people ordering now will have to wait seven months or more for their furniture.

Now we can really settle into our new house. 

 

This week we are enjoying our peony bush. Peony's are among my favorite flowers. I'm glad one came with the house because these bushes are pricey!

GAAK

 Back when I started blogging -- and I have no idea when that was because my old domain has disappeared -- there were two very active knitting bloggers from Australia. One of them blogged under the name of Rose Red, and she came up with GAAK -- Growth As A Knitter -- to describe those moments when you master something new.

In between unpacking boxes, I achieved GAAK. See if you can tell which fish was done before I'd mastered a new skill:

Look at the close-up:

The tail at the top is seamed incorrectly. So I watched a few videos before seaming the second one and I finally mastered the mattress stitch.  For some reason, this skill has eluded me -- until now!

I have a third fish on the needles because I realized I have a third student who is an avid angler. When I unpack my felt, I'll finish them all off with eyes. 

Keith is finishing a few things at the old house today because the realtor is taking photos tomorrow. The realtor expects it to sell easily, so I look forward to owning only one home sooner rather than later!

Gone Fishing

 Well, not really. I've never fished in my life, and I have no desire to do so. But a few of my students love to fish. So, at the end of the year I'll have three of these to gift to them:

It's the Fish Hat (Dead or Alive) from Knitty, published way back in 2008.

Now that all the big stuff has been moved into our new house, I've been able to do some knitting that requires attention. I figured that I better start now if I'm going to have three knit by mid-June.

The moving isn't quite done. Everyday we bring a carload of stuff over to the new house. I do the putting away while Keith goes back to the old house to clean. We hope to get it on the market in the next week or two.

I'm glad we grabbed this house. The market gets more insane by the day. According to Zillow, our old house has gained $10,000 in value in the last week. Yes, that's one week!

I got my second shot Thursday, and school starts on Monday. It hasn't been a very restful spring break -- but I can't imagine trying to move along with working!