Goodbyes

During May, I had a couple leaving Dos and "goodbyes." It was very hard to say goodbye to everyone, partly because I just don't do goodbye. They are too sad! Anyway, Aileen decided that we should have a bit of a party at a Knit Night on her birthday so we had a bit of a party, knitting style. :) It was a lot of fun and pictures can be found on Yvvone's blog as well.


And I got some pressies. :) Aileen and Laura got me some lovely Newbridge Silver earrings and pendant. I have looked at this set many times and never taken the plunge so I'm quite happy with them. They are surprisingly hard to take pictures of. :( I also got a beautiful skein of handpainted yarn from Elana and Lisa. They also gave me some hand made stitch markers, all purple of course. Aileen also gave me some pretty sock yarn. Yeah, small things that are easy to pack and more yarn! :) Not that I "need" more yarn.

The Friday before I left, I also had a work do. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner and then the Porterhouse (of course) for drinks. It was great fun. They also gave me a very generous pressie of some Waterford Crystal martini glasses (purple of course) that I have loved since I first saw them three years ago and a Galway Crystal bowl. They are getting shipped so I haven't actually gotten them yet...

**There will be pictures but they are on John's camera and he is still in Ireland!

Dyeing workshop

During the May Bank Holiday weekend, I took a yarn dyeing workshop. Three of us took the "class" and Elana and Lisa taught it. I was disappointed with myself for forgetting my camera. I'm really not a "good" blogger. :) Anyway, we had lots of fun and got to play around with color and basically paint the yarn. After painting it, it gets cooked in the microwave, cools, you rinse it and then let it dry. It is now wound and just waiting for the right projects.

In order to get used the process, we first did a little practice skeins. I'm glad that we did because I decided that I liked the colors the others were using better and of course switched to purple. :) The maroon was first.

We then got to dye our own skein of sock yarn! I of course caved into my love of purple (I had planned on dyeing it for John and therefore not purple) and am thrilled with the results. I have decided that it is too pretty for socks and am going to make something lacy out of it. It will be my first "proper" lace from my first hand dyed yarn. :)



Yvonne's hand dyed can be found on her blog. After we finished dyeing our yarn, there was some left over so Lisa and Elana decided to have a bit of a play. They used some left over dye and some Kool-Aid and made a purplicious skein. Apparently they were both thinking of the same purpose of the yarn. I found out this purpose on a little going away do that the girls gave me. :)




And yes, as usual, the kitties wanted to be in on the photo shoot!

moving

Yesterday, I left Dublin. I woke up early to get ready to go to the airport. John went with me to help me take care of things. We got there about 4 hours before my flight but weren't able to check in until 3 1/2 hours before. So, John went on to work and I waited until I could check in. I waited in the line, got myself checked in and was told that I had to go wait in another line to pay the cats' fares. The guy at the counter was really nice and helpful though and he seemed to feel bad at how much the airline charged for the cats.

After paying for the cats' fares, I then went back to the counter, got my ticket and then the guy accompanied me to get the cat carriers scanned. That got done and then I waited for the next guy to come and collect the cats. Then I went through security and just patiently waited. Overall, I am glad that I got there early because I didn't have to rush to get anything and had a decent amount of time waiting but not so painfully long.

Eventually, we board the plane and I was only 2 rows out of first class!!! The seats were a bit more spacious and we got served first. It was nice but made me really want first class. :) It also meant that I got to get off the plane sooner (which is why I think the guy in Dublin put me there so it would be easier for me to collect the monsters). So, I ask in the arrival airport where to collect the cats. I was told one side of the baggage area. An hour after arrival and still no cats, I asked another person. Nope, there are two special baggage areas and I had to go to the other one. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue. However, I had two large bags with me on a cart and needed a second cart for the casts. Also, this is a major airport so the baggage reclaim is at least twice the size of Dublin's. So, there I was, pushing one full cart and pulling an empty one trying to navigate a full baggage area where no one paid attention to someone coming their way. I was very happy that I didn't actually hit anyone (but Tiffin's crate did fall off the cart after I had collected her).

The kitties were "waiting" for me in this far away special baggage area. Then, I had to go back across the baggage area again to get them cleared from the government. I rang that bell and waited. No answer. Rang again. Still no answer. Waited some more. Rang a third time. Still no answer. Then I decided to go to customs and ask them. They thought the public health people went home since it was a holiday and told me which area of check out to go to to leave the airport. While trying to get to that area, I got flagged by a different customs person and got to have all my baggage inspected! So, they then asked about the cats and managed to get the health and safety person to look at my paperwork.

So, about an hour and a half after landing, I was finally able to call J to ask her to come get me! Luckily she was on her way and I only had to wait about 5-10 minutes for her! And she had a milkshake for me! We packed up her car to the brim (pictures will follow) and headed to the new humble abode.

J had set up her memory foam mattress into a bed for me and had gotten some basic cat supplies. She then went to the grocery store and the pizza place to get us takeout! After eating, she went home and I tried to sleep...

New Name

So, I am moving in a few days. Chick with stix has mentioned to me a couple times that now I need to change the name of my blog. I have tentatively changed it to (Mis)adventures of Heidirific. However, I'm not sure if I'm mad on the title.

So, do you think I should change the name of the blog? If so, any suggestions on a new name?

So much to do, so little time

I used to move about every year to 18 months. I used it as an opportunity to get a better apartment and go through a lot of my stuff. We've been here three years. Three wonderful years but we've collected SO much stuff. I keep finding stuff. I think I have gone through something, but stuff migrates back. We have donated about 6 bags of stuff (mostly clothes) to charity shops.

Anyway, we have made out "to do" lists and checked them twice. However, we keep thinking of things to do before and after we leave. I know it will all get done. I just have to stop and breathe. And knit. With people. At least today I got a lot done and got to check about 5 things off my "to do" list.

I'm so lucky

Moving country makes me more reflective than normal. As I am "closing down" my caseload and saying goodbye to people, I keep realizing that I am really lucky. I am lucky that I have met people here in Ireland that I am going to miss a lot (one of them has plans to visit already!). I have met a great group of women who get together weekly to talk about anything going on in life or just chat. It is amazing girl bonding time and exactly what I was missing in my life. There's just nothing like girlfriends.

I am also lucky that I am going home to some amazing people. We have a friend who was willing to look at apartments for us, not once but three times and help us chose a place to live. That also makes us twice as lucky: we have friends we trust enough to help decide where we should live! Then I have another friend who is willing to take a cut in rent to give us what appears to be an amazing place to live.

It is when people really come through for me that I wonder how I got to be so lucky. Whatever the reason, however it happened, I am so grateful and happy it did!

Progress

So, it is slightly less than 5 months before the wedding and 2 weeks before our move.  Although the "to do" list is still quite long, we got a few things done recently.  First, today I got my wedding band!  And I love it.  It is exactly what I thought I wanted even before we got engaged and it looks wonderful with my engagement ring.  I really want to wear it now but I have to wait.  John's ring should be done before we move as well.  :)  Hurray, one less thing to worry about.  We have also chosen our invitations and will be able to get them printed after we have an address.  And I found my veil.  All small but necessary things.  :)

We have also made progress on the moving front.  I have sold a bunch of our stuff.  We still have more to sell but it is coming together, or rather emptying out.  :)  We shipped some books home this weekend and went through more stuff and donated yet more stuff.  We just have to keep going through things and getting rid of stuff.  I really don't know how we accumulated so much stuff, and some of it moved with us last time.  Tomorrow I call the airline and book the cats onto my flight.  So much preparation and so little time to knit...

Where oh where does the time go?

Last month, my parents came to visit for two weeks. On the first weekend that they were here, we took the Bus Eireann day long tour of Newgrange/ Boyne Valley and Tara Hill. The tour guide wasn't one of the best that we had but it was still a good day. We had a few stops along the day. All in all, it was a good day but I suspect that there may be better tours, at least better tour drivers than the one we had...

I could write all about how amazing Newgrange is (and it really is) but I am going to let the pictures "talk" for me today. :)

Newgrange:












The Hill of Tara was also interesting to see. It doesn't look like that much at first but when you explore it, you can see some of the history. It was also fascinating to see the lambs running around this historical site!

Preparation

As Coastal Aussie noticed, we are leaving Dublin, in 3 weeks! Well, that's how long I have anyway. So, in 3 short (or long) weeks, our European adventure will be coming to an end. People keep asking me how I feel about leaving. To be honest, I really haven't thought about it. I am happy that I am going to get to see my family and friends at home more often. But I am sad that I am leaving friends that I have made here. We are also going to miss the travel. There are a lot of things that I will miss about living in Dublin and have grown a lot and learned a lot in the three years we've been here.

There are also a lot of preparations to be made. We have to clear out our apartment. Man, we have acquired a lot of stuff in 3 years! So, now we get to go through everything and decide if we want to try to keep it, sell it, or donate it. Do we really need this paperwork or that? It is like a three year memory trip. It is also a really strange feeling to be selling off things that you have accumulated over three years. It is different to me to sell/get rid of things that you don't want anymore. These are things that are perfectly fine and I would be happy to continue using if we were living here but it costs more to ship than to replace and I have a the originals sitting in my sister's basement, just waiting for me to return home and collect.

LYS

Since I have started knitting, I have had a LYS, or Local Yarn Shop. Ever since I signed up for my first knitting class, I knew that they were nice, friendly ladies. See, I chatted with them for at least half an hour when all I meant to do was give them money for the class! Throughout the last bit over a year, I have gotten to know them a bit better and become a "good" customer. :)

See, I buy the majority of my wool/yarn from them (and often feel guilty if I don't) and have taken a lot of classes from them, as well as going to knitting night on Thursdays. They have encouraged me to do some of my own designing and wowed over every finished object, and some works in progress that I have brought in. Last night, I wasn't able to go to Knit Night and I got a text from Lisa asking how much yarn I needed for the shawls that I am making for my bridesmaids. I emailed her back this morning and then spoke to her. The yarn they had coming in (and I planned to snatch all of) is on backorder until Sept!!! That just won't do. So, unknown to me, they called a bunch of other Irish shops to see if any of them carried the yarn and had some in stock. They found one company that did and had that information for me by the time I called them back this afternoon! They didn't want me to have a crisis! That just amazes me.

After I got home from work this evening, I called around to some shops back at home since I'll be moving back there later this month. The first shop I called didn't have the yarn but could order it. When I explained that it was back ordered here in Ireland, one of the women took my details and said that she would put my request out on another site and to have a distributor contact me directly! The second shop I called asked me about the yarn and then said she didn't have it. She wasn't helpful (wasn't helpful in person the one time I have been there either). The third shop (sadly websiteless) I called had the yarn I needed and even the amount I needed! After I explained that I was calling from another country, I asked if the woman would mail the yarn to a local address for me. She will!

With the yarn crisis averted, I rang my LYS back and told them how much I had, that I did need their remaining stock and that I was successful in finding yarn at home. The process just amazed me at how much customer service a LYS can give. In many ways your LYS is like a hairdresser. Once you find a good one, you are intensely loyal and feel like you are "cheating" if you go somewhere else, even if they don't have the item you want. You develop a relationship with them. They are not just a shop owner or a shop, they become a part of your life...