Arrived

We made it.
Finally.

11 hours on the first plane, made it through customs & immigration no problem. The cats were approved for immediate release (no quarantine necessary!). Got on the second plane. Two hours later, we landed, and then a few hours after that we made it to Sasebo.
Now I need a nap, then check on the kitties at the kennel (pets aren't allowed at the Navy Lodge), then sleep some more before the exam tomorrow morning.
Yay.

Adventures in Yarn

While the house is packed up & I'm counting down to our flight (!), I figured I would finally add some photos of the blankets I've made this year.
There are several.
Of course, a few of them have been given away already, so not all will be featured here. And there is one that is a work-in-progress, and it is the second blanket for which I created the pattern. When it is finished I'll post directions.

Ok, this one was actually completed last fall, but it was the first afghan that I made! The pattern is "Cozy 'Man-Ghan'" from Caron International & is available for free here. Husband loves it, obviously-see him smiling?

This one, I made for my mother-in-law. The pattern is for the Dublin Country Throw by NaturallyCaron.com and is available for free here. It took most of the summer to make, mainly because I was working on it while in school & between other stuff.

This one I made on a whim. I wanted to make another filet crochet throw, and I had the idea initially for it to read "I am loved" on one line & repeat itself. Then I started charting, and I realized that 1) it would be a really wide afghan & 2) it would use a lot more yarn than I actually had. So, I searched and found this chart, then transposed it to negative. Also, the charts for the font are here.

Finally, here is the massive granny square blanket. No, really, these granny squares are each 12" across. The story behind this is, I was plowing through the clearance bins at Michael's and found a few balls of Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds that were about $1.99 each. So I bought them. And had no clue what to do with them.
I found myself idly making granny squares, and just kept making more of them until I had 17 big squares and just a few odds & ends of yarn left. Then I joined the squares into strips of four, then joined the strips. Maybe I'll get some more yarn and make this bigger. Maybe.

Finally, this one I started about a week ago. I just decided to wing it with the pattern, and so far it's turning out nicely. When it is done I will attempt to write out the pattern for it.

The Joy of Moving

Since Thursday night, I have been packing.
Packing clothes into suitcases, packing dishes into boxes, packing my little fantasy figurines into Styrofoam...wrapping crystal goblets and wine glasses in t-shirts and putting them neatly in stemware cases.
The moving company came and packed everything else up into neat bundles, put everything in more boxes, and finally put all the smaller boxes into a giant wooden box, which is now on its way to Japan.
I'm still left with clothes that need to go into suitcases, and a pair of high-strung cats that need to go in a crate to the veterinarian's office tomorrow to get their health certificates.

All told, I am very glad we had professional movers to perform most of the work. I may, in the future, shell out for professionals again--the amount of stress saved seems to be well worth the money spent.
It's the final countdown this week, we are days away from traversing the Pacific and setting up home in a completely foreign country.
It will be an adventure, that's for sure.