Been so busy!

I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas and a great New Year. And I hope that your new year continues to be great.

As the post title says, I have been sooooo busy. My grad school career has gotten to the point where all I really need to do is write my dissertation, and I don't really need to show up on campus every day. So Dave and I have upgraded from a medium distance relationship (1.5 hour drive each way) and we moved in together. In just three months we'll be married, and we wanted to get all the crazy moving stuff out of the way before the crazy wedding stuff happened.

So, how about a tour? You walk in the front door and the living room is on your left. There you see the couch that gives our apartment its name, Orange Couch Land.


On your right is the dining room and the closet that I guess is supposed to be a kitchen. I mean, there's a fridge and a range and a sink in there, but not much else. Some freshly baked cookies are cooling on the table. That's Dave's doing. The man can really bake!


As we go down the hall we pass the 1.5 baths. I didn't take any pictures of the bathrooms, but it's kind of a funny layout. The first bathroom is a tiny sink and toilet, with a door to the second bathroom which has a tiny sink, a toilet, a tiny cabinet over the toilet, and a shower. Having them connected has been pretty convenient, though. It means you can put the extra toilet paper in just one bathroom and you don't have to go running across the apartment to get it for the other bathroom. It also means that if the shower has steamed up one mirror you can use the other bathroom to do your hair and makeup.

Anyway, here's the bedroom.


And, my favorite, the "study." Dave is hard at work, but most of the books in here are mine.


Here's the other side of the study. More of my books (all the knitting ones are on the bottom shelf) and a futon for overnight guests.


Back in the living room, this shot contains some of our favorite things in the new apartment. There's Banjo, my wooden drawing figure; a really sweet lamp that I've had for ages but could never find the right size lightbulbs for; and Dave's new rapier. Some friends and I got him that for Christmas. It's very nice, but I don't think Banjo likes it much.


I have an FO to show you but I think I'll wait until I've presented it to the recipient. Here are my works in progress.


A Coriolis Sock from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I love the way this thing looks, but I'm gonna have to frog it I think. It's too small for my feet, and I don't know anybody with smaller feet that I'd want to give such cool socks to.


And here's a swatch for my new Fair Isle. These are six natural Shetland sheep colors. I've always wanted to knit FI using only natural colors because I think they're just gorgeous. To think that there are sheep running around in so many beautiful colors! These will become a very subtle, earthy version of the Ivy League Vest from IK Winter 2007. Yum.