Yes, I have house fever. I can't wait to move in to our new house. We've been driving by every few days just to remind ourselves that we will not, in fact, be trapped in our hotel room forever. There is a light at the end of the tunnel... and at the end of next month, but hopefully sooner. I think we're at max 37 days and counting down.

This year has brought a lot to look forward to - a new state, new friends, a new home, new yarn shops to visit and for me personally, dozens of DIY projects to really pour some personality into our new home. I'm already planning on covering my dining room wall with a collection of unique and artsy clocks. I have had a weird tick for clocks since a middle school art class introduced me to Salvador Dali. I figure since the Noro Kureyon table cloth I am knitting will be all kinds of bright and cheerful, I might as well extend that to my wall. I have a few clocks picked out that I love on Etsy and many more that I have favorited as inspiration to make my own clocks. I'm hoping that I'll be able to find and redo some clocks from local thrift stores.

I spoke to our realtor today and happily found out that the sellers will be leaving some furniture behind after I dropped a hint that we would be interested in anything they didn't feel like taking and the king size waterbed in the fourth bedroom. So..yay! That means that I will hopefully have plenty of furniture to paint and fix up.

I don't have a plan for my knitting room yet. It would be awesome if the existing couch in there would stay, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet. I can't decide if I want to paint it purple like I did in my apartment in Germany or leave it a purist white. I'm very picky about wall colors. I can't stand any degree of yellow or orange on walls. Not a fan of pastels in general, really. I think I can get away with a deeper hue because the room is in the corner of the house and has two windows with lots of light.

The kitchen is kind of a stale mate for me right now. The backsplash is old-lady-esque, although not completely shudder-worthy. I am thrilled that the cabinets are in beautiful shape, well-made and completely white. I am very tired of wooden cabinets in the kitchen. I'm considering either standard grass green tiles or some shade of green glass tiles. I've contemplated pulling design inspiration from the appliances - vintage, because that is more definately what the appliances are indeed. Not vintage ugly, just really vintage.

The only thing that has been putting a damper on our relocation was the news that my husband will more than likely be getting deployed this year, either this summer or in the fall. As if that weren't bad enough, now I don't have a "safe" time to book my flight to Germany to visit my Dad. July or August is probably my best bet. I was hoping to fly a little closer to the off season - namely, in September, but that looks like a bad time now. I know we'll work something out and if the worst comes to worse, then I will simply have my in-laws either come to me to watch my son or bring him to them. Regardless of what happens this year, I will keep my promise to my Dad to visit him. By the time I see him, it will have been nearly three years, the longest I have ever gone without seeing my Dad. I miss him like crazy and I'm excited to see how his life has changed, too - he remarried and moved to another city shortly after we left the country.

The only yarny update I have for today is that I am steadily plugging away at the tablecloth and nearly finished with the baby blanket. Earlier this week I picked up the beads and ribbon I needed to start a light sweater. My knitting fever has calmed a bit now that my husband was surprised with a four-day weekend and I'm not left alone all day with our toddler. I've decided to wait on a Knit Picks order and instead use my Paypal money on Etsy purchases. This weekend we're going to be scoping out some furniture stores nearby and price out livingroom chairs. We decided that our bulky reclining couches will work better in the family room downstairs than in the formal livingroom.

Here's hoping that the hail falling outside doesn't get any bigger...! Kansas weather is an odd ball at best. 80 degrees one day and freezing the next.
I am absolutely distraught over the fact that nearly my entire stash of yarn is sitting in storage, waiting to find a new home in our new home. Distraught. Freaking out. Pheaning. Head hitting table. 40 more days to go until we move in? FML.

Yesterday we bought a second vehicle to enable my son and me to get around while my husband is at work and we're cooped up in our studio apartment hotel. Knitting has definitely played a prominent role in maintaining my sanity.... but... then the new Interweave Knits came out and all hell broke loose. That, and now that the weather is showing signs of letting up on winter and letting spring come in, I need to cast on four new projects. Right now. This instant. And I don't have the yarn for three of them. I've been making good progress on my soon-to-be-born nephew's baby blanket and a colorful Noro tablecloth for our house, but without something selfish on the needles I'm feeling a little empty. I am dead set on finishing the first two projects before I start another, but my determination is waning.

The other day we were shopping for some new kid's movies at Walmart and we passed a package of drumsticks. I thought they were knitting needles. My husband told me I am obsessed with knitting. We'll have been married 4 years at the end of this month and he's just now getting that? Is that how slow men really work?!

Yes, I am knitting fever's bitch right now. I am having a very difficult time deciding whether to spend some of the Christmas money my father sent us on interesting home items from Etsy next month or buying yarn NOW and having it sent to a friend's house. I know we're going to need some things to make our new house a home, but my hands are itching to stroke and knot some new string. Namely, string that will turn into two new tshirts and a short-sleeved open cardigan for myself.

I'm going to sleep on it and make a decision when am I thinking more clearly in the morning. The only thing that held me back from ordering a few thousand yards of yarn today was the fact that Knit Picks didn't have the colors I was looking for until the end of next month. I think it's a sign.
So 75 posts into my blog it came to a grinding halt. I can't really tell you why... maybe I lost interest in blogging or mommyhood just kept me too busy. Either way, I'm back (sort of) for the time being. My paper journal got a little more attention while my online blog suffered, but nothing too significant. In the time since being away from here my husband left my son and I to go to Texas to become a K-9 handler for the Army, something he's wanted to do since joining the military over 8 years ago. He routinely comes home with bite marks, muddied boots and ripped uniforms. The dog is fresh out of school just as he is!

Much has happened recently. While my husband was away at school I did little knitting. I knitted a hat for my step-dad's gargantuon head and casted off too loosely, so I'll be redoing that one. I knitted my mother a beautiful purple silk and bamboo scarf. My mom is one size bigger than I am, so I gifted her the red and purple sweater I knitted right after giving birth to Lucas. It looks fantastic on her and I no longer have to worry about all those knitting hours going to waste as the sweater sits in a drawer, unworn.

My family and I recently moved to our next duty station in Kansas. In the process of moving and driving I finished Lucas's Detroit Tigers sweater, knitted my pregnant friend a blanket for a baby who will hopefully make it full term, started a table cloth for the dining room in our soon to be new house and I'm furiously knitting a baby blanket for my sister in law, whom is due May 5th.

After moving, I wasted no time in finding a new knitting group. We had our first meeting last Sunday and it was longer than the one in Virginia. But, just as the one in Virginia, knit night meant bad weather. I got caught in a terrible snow storm and called my hubby in near tears to talk me through the worst of the white out that had me driving 25 mph in a 70 mph highway area. For some reason, Knit Night always means a Nor'Easter, a snow storm, a torrential downpour or something of that nature. But, come hell or high water, I will knit.

I'm excited to be in a new place, despite the fact that it is missing the bigger city shopping opportunities. To cheer myself up I put in a big order for Victoria's Secret with the Christmas gift card I had and am having it delivered to a friend on base. Nothing cheers me up like yarn and a new bra that makes my ta-tas look awesome :)

Well, that's it for now. I am busy enteraining my toddler in our tiny studio apartment hotel room all day while my hubby is away at work and knitting, row after row on my SIL's baby blanket.

Life is still good, it's just more complicated than usual!