I’ve been neglecting my posting for a while now.  There’s been a variety of reasons:  moving, Jim finally making it to Oregon, knitting.  But, I hope to make posting a bit more routine for at least the next while.

If I can get some decent lighting for photos today, I hope to start by catching up on some older finished project posts.

In the mean time, I’ll leave you with a photo of my current non-knitting project.  Do you recognize it?

Just in case you can’t assemble it in your mind, here’s a little hint.

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes here at TwistedLoops.  One of those things can finally be revealed.

For those who don’t know, Jim and I have been planning to leave the Chicago area and move to Oregon.  In early February, I hadn’t even begun the official big job search, but I did occasional checking of Oregon job postings.  I saw a posting that was a great fit on paper.  Not only that, but it was right where we wanted to be geographically.  It seemed like such a great possibility that I decided to take a chance.  I updated my resume and applied for the job.  Since I wasn’t really job searching, I didn’t think much else about the job after that.

Fast forward a few weeks into mid-February, right around the time that my blogging dropped off.  I got a phone call about the job; they wanted a phone interview.  I did the phone interview.  I never am really sure how interviews go; I always leave them with some concern about my response.  A few days later they called and asked me to come to Oregon for an in-person interview. The next week was a whirlwind of shopping for a new suit and shoes.  I flew out to Oregon (the trip where the Ringwood socks started) and had an interview just before St. Patrick’s Day.  Last week, they called and made me an offer. 

On Monday, I gave notice at the company that I’ve worked at for almost a decade.  I start the new job in Oregon on April 21st.  Two weeks of wrap-up at my old job and then nine days to get to Oregon (2200+ miles) with all my stuff.  I need to find a place to live, and important things like figuring out what yarn to pack to take with me and what to leave in Illinois for now (Kelly insists that I need at least 56 skeins of sock yarn to survive until the end of May).  With such a crazy schedule ahead of me, I doubt that there will be much knitting or blogging.  But, once I get settled in Oregon, I’ll be living alone for a while, which will leave plenty of time for knitting and blogging.  Plus, there are new knitting groups to meet, tons of yarns stores to explore (including an in-town LYS!), and the new to me fiber festivals, like Black Sheep Gathering. 

It is the end of an era…and the beginning of a new one.

Today is my birthday, so I decided to hop on the wikipedia birthday meme

Events

1. 1692 - Salem Witch Trials: Five women are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts 
2. 1848 - Women’s rights: The two day Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York
3. 1996 - Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia

I picked the Atlanta olympics because I attended. However, I had the unfortunate timing of arriving in Atlanta about 4-5 hours after the bomb went off. A friend and I planned a roadtrip at about 4pm on a Friday.  We sat down at work and decided to head to Atlanta and the Olympics for a “once in a lifetime” experience. We drove through the night and crossed the border into Georgia around 4 or 5 am. My radio wasn’t working, so we listened to CDs the entire drive. We picked up the early edition of the Atlanta paper, and headed into the nearest Waffle House for breakfast and to plan our day - there was nothing in the early edition newspaper about the bombing.  We put together the plan and headed down to the heart of the Olympic event area.

We were near the bombing site, and saw a lot of national guard troops, but still had no idea what had happened.  I’d thought security was kind of heavy, but didn’t really think much about it.  I was still just a naive college kid.  It wasn’t until I approached a bank of phone booths to call my mom and let her know I was in Atlanta that I noticed the corner newsbox headline. 

We still managed to have a good time in Atlanta, and even managed to get tickets to an event.  It’s definitely a trip I’ll always remember.

Births

1. Edgar Degas 1917
2. Lizzie Borden 1927

I’ve always found it amusing that I share a birthday with Lizzie Borden. I’m not sure what this says about me.

Holiday

1. Lucaria

No idea what this is.  Wikipedia listed it as a roman feast.  There weren’t many holidays to choose from.

Want to play along?  The rules:

1. Go to Wikipedia
2. Search for your birthday Month and Day
3. Pick 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday