Thursday, August 28, 2008

Updates - Red Scarf Project and House Hunt

redscarf 09 wip2First, the pretty. Last night, I passed the 2/3 mark by joining the third skein of 1824 Wool (Mission Falls). This has turned into a delightful, squishy scarf that, unlike the cashmere blends, will hopefully not pill. Squishy = good, pilly = ick. I need to take another picture in better light!

Pattern: Mistake Rib. I love these 1-row patterns. If you cast on the right number, there is no guesswork as to which row you're on. For Mistake Rib, you cast on a multiple of 4 stitches, minus 1 (I cast on 27 stitches for this scarf), and work a 2x2 ribbing, always starting with 2 knit stitches, ending with 1 purl.

Another cool 1-row pattern is the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf (obviously, handspun yarn is optional). This looks fabulous with yarn that is heathered or has multiple colors.

My So-called Scarf is a two-row pattern that results in a cool stitch.

Just a reminder: You can start mailing scarves any time, starting Saturday or thereabouts (they shouldn't arrive before the 2nd). Scarves that arrive after Oct. 31st will be sent to other worthy charities. I plan on mailing as soon as I finish washing the scarf and getting some gift cards together.

House Hunt Update
We decided to give the house another go, but this time with representation. The agent who handled the sale of my dad's house agreed to represent us, even though he doesn't usually work in that area. It would be a quick commission for him, and we do trust him. However, the listing agents flat-out refused to work with him. I guess once you go in w/o an agent, you're not allowed to add one partway in?

We got tons of advice, from him, my brother-the-CPA and his coworker-the-lawyer, and told the listing agent that they have one chance to get this right. We gave them a list of requirements for things that had to be on the offer papers AND lowered the offer. (Not a lot, just enough to make a point.) Suddenly, they're behaving professionally. We told them that if they screw this up, we're walking.

They don't know this yet, but we will not be using them as a buyer's agent for any other viewings. The other realtor is going to get us someone from his company in the area.

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