NY to Knittissippi

New Heroes

2008-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

So, I've been a Keith Olbermann junkie throughout the campaign, and still think he's great. He's extremely biased, but I'm cool with that, because he's honest about it, and he backs up every single thing he says with quotes and documentation.

Recently, I've also become a huge fan of Rachel Maddow.
I still like Olbermann, but I now like Rachel's new show even better. it's more fun to watch and some conservatives occasionally come on as guests (even if some of them are mean...bad move David Frum!). Her ongoing disagreements with her friend and fake uncle, Pat Buchanan are endlessly entertaining.

Also, I gotta say, Nate Silver
and his awesomely geeky blog kept me sane during the last month of the campaign. Turns out I was completely right to trust his calming and very positive predictions. Almost all of his election forecasts were correct. You rock, NATE! The geeks will inherit the earth. Now that the election is over, he and some of my other favorite bloggers, are reporting on the transition and I am fascinated by every word.

Let's try this again

2008-11-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

This is a short post just to prove to myself that I am capable of blogging again...the election, work, Ravelry, and life in general has sucked me away from my blogging. I will try to post regular short bits and show off my new knitted bits. Speaking of which, here's what I've been up to lately:

Socks for my mom-in-law, Serita for a holiday gift:
She doesn't know about these socks yet, but since she also doesn't know about the blog, I think I can safely post them. These are the common 'Monkey' socks but I shifted the pattern 8 stitches so it would be centered on top and I like it much better. The yarn is STR lightweight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and the colorway is Lunasea.

Socks for me with a cool honeycomb like pattern:
The pattern is called 'Replicating Anemone Rib', but I think it looks so much like a honeycomb pattern, that at some point I want to do more of these socks in a honey color. Mark also loves this pattern, so he will get a pair of socks with this pattern at some point. This is a RSC club exclusive colorway called Tidepooling which I am so in love with.

Socks for my mom for Hannukah:
I used the flame wave pattern, found in 'Favorite Socks', but I altered the pattern to be used for finer yarn. (70 stitches on 2.5mm needles instead 56 stitches on larger needles). So far these are coming out even better than expected. The flame wave pattern looks really good with the variegated yarn:
The yarn is STR lightwight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and the colorway is Alley Opp.

And finally, I am working on a wrap cardigan that I love:
I am half done with the second sleeve. After that I still have ends to sew in, I-cords ties to make, and given that I have some yarn left over I think I may redo the bottom and add an inch or so. I love this yarn (Berroco Jasper - Verdes Lavras colorway) and the pattern is the neckdown wrap cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple is a good introduction to making and fitting a sweater.

That's more than enough for now.

Absolutely Addicted to Ravelry

2008-08-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

If you are a knitter, or a crocheter (is that what people who crochet call themselves?) or a spinner or a weaver, or anyone who likes to play with yarn in any way, Ravelry is hugely addictive. I have to admit that that is my most recent excuse for being a slacker blogger...(I have so many excuses).

Seriously though, if you take Facebook and Wikipedia and Yarn and mix them together, you get Ravelry. If you bother to read my blog and you like to play with yarn, go there now and sign up...the current waiting time for invite once you sign up is only 3 days...I spend way too much time there these days checking out new patterns ideas and looking at other peoples projects.

not gumdrops, not rocks...

2008-08-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

Peacock feathers! That's what this pattern looks like. Here's a closeup of the pattern:
During our drive here (to Holden Beach, NC) on Saturday I drove a little to help out but mostly just knitted and knitted and knitted. I got past the heel and on to the foot before we pulled in.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this heel! I've never done a garter stitch heel before and am now a huge fan.

Yesterday, I cruised along...finished the foot and started the toe before I decided to put it down and give myself a little break. This pattern has a garter toe which is constructed like the short rows heel and then grafted to the sole stitches under the foot...love it.
My plan for today is finish and graft this sock, cast on the second one, make a pie, go for a run and a swim, and actually do some really work from my actual job...hmmm...that's not too ambitious, is it? I wonder which thing might not get done. Mark and I are also scheduled to cook for everyone tonight (we take turns) so as vacation days go, this is a busy one.

dorky knitting con't

2008-08-09T06:51:00.001-07:00

Mark and I are driving to Holden Beach for the annual 'Eisenbies' beach week. I don't really like the beach, but I'm bring plenty of knitting and reading. I just wanted to post a quick 'Ravelympics Dork' update. Here's what I got done on day 1:
The pattern is challenging but fun. I also made my life harder by doing it in the largest size with the smallest needles (80 sts on 2mm needles), but so far I really like how they're turning out. Twelve hours in the car today (UGH!), which means lots and lots of knitting time....good thing I'm bringing plenty of extra projects to the beach with me...wouldn't want to run out of things to knit cuz then I might start twitching and drooling in the corner from withdrawal which might freak Mark's family out a bit.

More updates to come when I can find wifi near the beach (always a challenge!)

seriously dorky knitting

2008-08-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

I will try try try to post regularly...this has been a rough summer so I slacked off. Anyways, tomorrow starts the Olympics which is cool all by itself. It's made even more fun because it brings all the knitting dorks like me out of their little hidey holes to "compete". Ravelry, the online home for all cyber-knitting dorks, has organized the 'Ravelympics' complete with knitting "events" and teams that you can sign up for. You can sign up for as many events as you want. Each event corresponds to a project (or group of projects) that you intend to start during the open ceremony (tomorrow) and finish before the closing ceremony on August 24th.

No big surprise...I'm in the 'SockPut' and hope to start and finish a pair of socks with a new pattern that I've never tried before. You're allowed to swatch ahead of time (and I did) because that's considered training (See what I mean by dorky?). I'm on the 'Blue Moon' team since I am using their yarn and their pattern.

I'm using July's pattern from the sock club I belong to, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. This club is great (a little pricey, but worth it) but this month they sent me pastel yarn...YUCKY! Instead, I'm knitting the socks with some cool earthy-muted-variegated yarn called 'Metamorphic':
The sock club dyer seemed excited about experimenting with pastels and I respect her creative urges BUT...not only would I never knit with pastels, I think they are a scourge that should be eradicated from the earth...a little harsh, I know, but I'm allowed to express my true feelings in my own darn blog!

The pattern is called 'Gumdrops', but because I'm using a different yarn, I think the the little knitted circles will look more like tumbling rocks than gumdrops. These will be my tumbling rox sox! (Yep, dorkin' out again)
(You can see the pattern done with the pastel yarn here. This pattern makes the yucky yarn look a little better, but I still wouldn't ever knit with it.)

I'll keep posting on my Olympic Knitting progress for anyone who is dorky enough to care.

unburned out

2008-07-03T14:05:00.001-07:00

So I got kinda burned out on blogging cuz I was writing too much and and too long so my knew goal is to post more and less...i.e. more posts, that are shorter and less rambling.

I'm working on 3 pairs of socks at the moment. I'll take pix and post them soon. Other than that, I still have no life here so there is not much to write. Mark and I will probably go see two new movies this weekend. When you have no life and live a small town with a cineplex, you see every summer blockbuster that comes around. This weekend, we probably go see both Wanted and Wall-e. More soon.

clams wear sweaters, barnacles are well endowed, and lots of other random learnings

2008-05-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Mark and I are up in Carlisle, MA, visiting my brother in law, Chris, my sister-in-law, Sandy, my niece, Natalie and my nephews, Zach and Jon. I flew up to Rhode Island for work last Monday (5/19) and then Mark flew up on Thursday to spend the long weekend with me and his brother and family. We fly home tomorrow after a long fun weekend. Here are some random musings from my trip:

1. Clams wear sweaters. Soft-shelled clams, also known as long neck clams or pisser (pronounced pissah) clams are steamed and then the clam meat must be pulled from the shell. With other clams I have eaten, this is all you have to do before dipping the clams in butter and popping them in your mouth. With these though, you then use your fingernails to carefully peel the dark rubbery nubby casing off of the long neck, much the way you would peel off a turtleneck sweater. This may not seem exciting to you, but after a very full day in which I gave TWO successful presentations (Woohoo!!), and a couple of beers, I was quite giddy over the concept of clam sweaters and peeling them off to eat yummy steamers. The wikipedia link doesn't show or mention the clam sweater, but a local New Englander described it as that and showed me what to do, so I trust her.

2. Barnacles have sex and are well endowed. If you don't believe me, you can watch this hilarious video on YouTube. I have met the guy in the baseball cap who is up for tenure at Northeastern U. this year and I am working with one of his colleagues on some park service research. We had a field visit to discuss sampling rocky intertidal areas and discussed various plants and animals including snails and barnacles which is when the subject of barnacle sex came up. Here's a pic of the type of habitat we spent the morning looking at:
After 3 days of intense all day indoor meetings in Rhode Island, this was a great place to work for the day. I can totally see why Rocky Intertidal researchers like what they do, even if it is hard work. Here's kind of a cool pic of snails predating on barnacles for the ecology nerds:
3. While I was out at this field visit, I got to peek at part of a set for Leonardo Dicaprio's upcoming movie, Ashecliffe which will be filming some scenes there. They built the bottom part of lighthouse,
and will probably use CGI for the rest. No Leo when I was there, which was probably a good thing because the movie people would have made it difficult for us to do our field work, but it coulda been cool to sneak a peek at him too :)

4. Despite all of my travels, I have shown a lot of restraint in the yarn shopping department. Ok, I haven't shown any restraint with respect to online shopping, but I haven't gone into any yarn stores in NYC, or Duluth, or Rhode Island or any of the other places I've been to recently. Yesterday, however, my very cool sister-in-law and I spent the morning out with Natalie. Among other errands, we casually stopped by 'Wild & Wooly' yarn shop in Lexington...where I couldn't resist this HUGE beautiful skein:
We're talking 800 freakin' meters of yarn awesomeness!

5. So far, Mark's sock is cruising along and I love the Misti Alpaca sock yarn:
6. Katherine commented that she wants me to make her socks, but she doesn't want to pick out the yarn herself...sorry Katherine, I'm drawing a line in the sand (or in the fiber?). Mark and I are coming up for Maggie-Fest (which I've been meaning to email you about), and we'll probably come up a few days early (which I really have to email Liz about to ask if we can stay with her). When we do, you and me and Liz and Jess (and whoever else wants to) are going to Mosaic Yarn Shop where you will inhale yarn fumes and look at pretty colors and pick out exactly what you want. You might ask why I'm insisting on this. Well, it's because I really think that at some point you will break down and start playing with yarn like the rest of us, and if inhaling the yarn fumes helps move that process along, then it is worth all of the harassment. As an aside, even Mark has gone into yarn shops with me to pick out the yarn for his socks...if he can do it, so can you :)

7. Last, but certainly not least, I am usually not good about taking pics of family, but my niece Natalie is a complete ham so I have some great pics of her. Here is a great hammy Nat pic:

No breakfasts here!

2008-05-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

I love breakfast, I really do! Also, being a New Yorker, diner food is in my blood...real eggs (any way you want them), home fries, etc...these are necessities. In my mind, and you may disagree, a real diner will serve breakfast food all day in addition to anything else it serves for lunch or dinner. Blacksburg didn't have a lot of real diners, but it did have really great brunches at Gillie's and Boudreaux's. All is good if I can get a poached egg...that's not too much to ask, is it?

Well, as it turns out, when you live in northeastern Mississippi, a poached egg is way too much to ask for. As it turns out, there is no place to get a decent breakfast with poached eggs in Starkville. There was a very fancy restaurant that had a fancy Saturday brunch, but they're closed now. The next town over has a decent farmer's market from May to October, and you would think it would make sense to have a restaurant nearby to capture the market crowd, but you'd be wrong. We did find a breakfast place about 4 miles down the road from the farmer's market...it was ok, and the omelet was decent, but this was not a poached egg kind of place...heck, this wasn't even a place where people order water with lemon. Mark and I requested water with lemon and this is what we got for the lemon:
Sigh! On the bright side, I have now mastered poaching eggs myself so there is that.

On a completely unrelated note, here is a serious bit of weirdness:
In case you can't see what I am talking about through my dirty windshield, here is a close-up:
This sign has been up on the side of the road for a few weeks now pointing across the road towards a semi industrial lot with a series of corrugated metal sheds. What I really can't figure out is if there was a luau there when the sign first when up and they forgot to take the sign down, or if it was originally pointed the opposite way towards a house, or if 'luau' just means something really different here. I dunno. I pass this sign about 4-5 times a week and I always look around trying to figure out where the heck the luau is. If I ever solve this mystery, I will let you know.

And finally, I have finished my first 'Toe-up Spiraling Coriolis' socks and I am a now a big fan of both toe-up knitting and this particular pattern.
Speaking of which, I have had two requests for socks since my last blog post. After thinking about it, I am willing to make socks for anybody I know who will buy the yarn, IF you don't mind waiting until I get other stuff in my knitting cue done.

As for yarn, one of my favorite sources that has a bazillion color options is Blue Moon Fiber Arts. If your feet are Women's size 11 (Men's size 9) or smaller, I will only need 1 skein. If they're bigger than that, I will need 2 skeins (Sorry Rob). Order the 'Socks That Rock Mediumweight' yarn. Do not order the lightweight yarn which also is nice but finer so it takes longer to knit with.

If all of this hasn't caused you to lose interest yet, let me know in a blog comment, and I'll email you my mailing address and a diagram showing the foot measurements I need. (Rob and Katherine, if you really want socks, I'll email you both after Memorial Day when I return from my trip).

If you want socks from me and would rather pick out sock yarn at a local yarn shop (which is always good to do), be sure to get something appropriate for needles that are 2.75mm to 3.00mm in size (US Size 2) and ask the shop dealer about getting enough yarn for your foot size.

Alright, I'm off to Rhode Island and Massachusetts for few days of work and some play time with Mark.

Gardening, knitting and presentation writing (Ugh!)

2008-05-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Mark, my awesome husband, built us these beautiful raised beds on the side of our house which we have now filled with plants...tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, chives and parsley....mmm, mmm, good.

We're probably going to build one more bed and fill that one too once we get back from our trip to New England for work and play next week.

In addition to all of the potential veggies, I have started planting flowers in the beds we have around our two front trees. Of all the flowers I've put in so far, the ones called 'Buggleweed' are my favorite because 1) their name sounds Harry Potter-ish, 2) they are a perrenial ground cover plant that will eventually choke out weeds in the bed (I really appreciate these characteristics in a plant), and 3) their flowers are small and purplish and really cool looking. I think I'm going back to get some more of this. (Update: I have since bought 3 more buggleweeds and a bunch of other perrenials for our various beds)

Mark also worked on this bed near the house today which then I filled with Daylillies. Yay, pretty colors and a long growing season.
(Ignore the area surrounding the daylily bed...that still needs work.)

Other than that, I'm chugging away on this second sock. I should be done be tomorrow.
When those are done, I'll be working on a pair for Mark that I started the toe of already to make sure I have knitting to do during my upcoming trip.
I've also started a pair of slipper socks for my mom.
After that and my May sock club delivery, I might knit something that isn't worn on feet so that I don't burn out on socks...but there are just sooo many different fun patterns to try...

Lastly, I am giving two presentations at a network review meeting for the park service. I have drafts of both done, but the problem with powerpoint is that you can just keep fiddling and fiddling and fiddling with the slides and never be done. I leave next Monday for a week in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Mark is flying up to meet me on Thursday so we can spend the weekend with his older brother's family.

Duluth ( a little delayed)

2008-05-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly cool, both figuratively and literally. I've been missing the cold weather while living down here in Mississippi. I really missed the snow and have been feeling that parts of the country/world that don't get any snow at all (beyond the occasional dusting) are deprived.

Duluth was a nippy 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and cooler at night which really felt great and the city itself is beautiful. It's right on Lake Superior and takes full advantage of that with a great 'Lake Walk' path that goes a few miles in either direction from the great hotel (Fitger's Inn) we were being put up in.

Lake Walk looking in one direction from outside our hotel. We walked down this path to get to our dinner restaurant the first night.
Lake Walk looking in the other direction

The workshop I was invited to really did spoil us a bit with fantastic restaurants every night, a much nicer hotel than I usually get to stay in, and all of us were given lake view rooms. These pics we're taken from my hotel room cuz I scored the corner east facing room and had to be up early every morning for the workshop.

The first day I got this weird 2-sun effect because of the glass reflection
The second morning, I was able to get this
cool, huh?

I was too tired to knit during the whole trip, except on the planes, but I have to say spending 3 days in a workshop discussing methods for detecting ecological thresholds with a group of ecologists and quantitative people like myself was a really good time. Yep, I know just saying that makes me a nerd, but after months of telecommuting, sharing ideas in person is such a nice change. Some of the discussions have really inspired some new ideas for my research....now if I can just keep my motivation up. ;-}

The EPA lab where we were meeting was also right on the lake and I got some neat pics from there as well:
Overall, I loved Duluth. If you have a chance to visit, definitely go. I think the residents don't want too many people to move there and overpopulate the area, but they're very friendly to visitors.

PS While I was away, Mark's 12 year old Saturn broke and he had to jerry rig a repair until he could get a part he needed. He was driving around with it looking like this inside:
If you look closely below the displaced stick shift, you can see the zip-tie he used to keep the shifter functional until the part arrived. It's fixed now, but we are definitely in the market for a new car.

Leavin' on a jet plane...yet again

2008-04-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for a workshop in Duluth, MN tomorrow morning. I have to drive to Memphis (2.5 hours) to catch my first flight...AND I have lots of reading still to do so I can't knit the whole travel day like I usually do...sigh. Hopefully the workshop on Ecological Thresholds will be interesting and, more importantly, I'll be able to contribute and not seem like an idiot. I guess we'll see :)

If there is anything interesting all to take a picture of, I'll let you know.

New Obsession feeding an old one

2008-04-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've been addicted to sock knitting for awhile...pretty much since I started my first one about a year ago....yep, I know it is neither cost effective nor efficient to knit socks but here are some of the classic reasons why sock knitting is so absolutely wonderful:

1. Everyone, no matter where they live, can use socks. My current climate makes sweaters, mittens, warm hats, and scarves completely unnecessary, except for maybe 1-2 weeks of the year...how sad. Socks, however, are useful here in all but the warmest 2-3 months.

2. Sock knitting is the most portable type of project. Many other knitter/bloggers have mentioned this and it is sooo true. A sweater or a blanket just can't be hauled around all the time, especially if, like me, you fly a lot for work and every square inch of your luggage must be used wisely. I can bring one sock project on a work trip and be assured that I will not run out of knitting fun despite delayed planes, long flights, long layovers, nights alone in weird hotels, etc.

3. An infinite number of incredibly cool patterns that make knitting a new pair never dull. If you have any doubts, a 5 minute search on the internet will verify this. I would design more of my own sock patterns, but there are already so many out there that I want to try

4. Socks make a great gift IF you know the size to make them. This is easy if you live with or near the recipient, but if you want to to make socks for someone far away it can be trickier. I spent the past weekend measuring everyone's feet so that at some point, long after they have forgotten my weird request, they will get a pair of socks and be surprised.

5. Sock yarn...there are so many absolutely beautiful hand painted sock yarns out there...really amazing colors and fibers...this is the reason for my new addiction...see below

6. Compared to knitting a sweater, knitting a pair of socks is pretty affordable which means I can buy more sock yarn...its a wonderfully vicious circle.

I could go on and on and on, but I'm not saying anything that many others haven't already said. Instead, here are a couple of pairs I've finished lately:
Not my color, but the stripes, which came from how the yarn was painted, are cool. Here is a closeup:

These socks are DEFINITELY my color...yay GREEN!
Both the color pattern and the stitch pattern made me happy too, and these suckers are cozy warm. Here's the closeup:

and here is the the pair I'm working on now...my very first full-size toe-up sock. So far, I like it because you can tailor the fitting much more carefully. Try to avoid being blinded by my bright white skin. I tried to cut most of it out of the pic.
I finished one other pair too, but my pix got deleted and this pair has already been sent to its new owner, Sandy, my sister in law up in Massachusetts. I only have this one pic she sent me:
One of the dilemmas of sock knitting are the leftover scraps of yarn which in some cases can be quite substantial. The scraps are never enough to knit a whole other pair, but some times, they can be as much as this:
Sigh...what to do...what to do...Thank goodness for another crazy knitter who has provided a kickass solution...the sock yarn scrap blanket AKA the 'Shelly' Blanket. I discovered this blanket and the tutorial for it last week because it was mentioned by YarnHarlot. Shelly, AKA the Heathen Housewife, has a great blog of her own and graciously described every detail of blanket construction there. If you just want to see the blanket in all of it's amazing glory, here it is (scroll down for pics of the astonishing finished blanket). Shelly's blanket took about 2 years to make because she requested others sock scrap donations and was literally inundated. I am hoping to do mine, at least mostly, with scraps from my own projects and possibly from people I know. I'd like to feel somewhat connected to all of the scraps somehow, which may be very unrealistic. I'm cool with it taking 10 years, but at some point I may ask for yarn donations, but not at the moment. Here's what I have done so far:
It's really more of a blanket larvae, but it has so much potential and makes me so excited to think about all of the scraps and how cool they will look in the blanket. Yay yarn scraps!!!

So worth writing about!

2008-04-20T17:08:00.001-07:00

So I decided to take an extended blogging break because I had a lot of crappy stuff to deal with this spring that just wasn't blog material...illness...stress...health stufff...blah...blah...blah...ok, now you're all caught up.

For the past week or two, I've been thinking that I really wanted to start writing again which I thought was a good sign after the rough time I've had this Spring, but I wasn't sure what I felt like writing about.

Then I came home to Syracuse for Passover, and on the way home from the airport, my mom took small detour to show me this:
WOW! This gas station is less than 2 miles from our house and has been an abandoned eyesore for decades.

This incredibly cool MFA student at Syracuse Univeristy, Jennifer Marsh, decided to create this installation as part of her graduate work. Here is Jennifer who I happened to catch when she was doing some work on her piece:
She covered every square inch of the building, the pumps out front, and the sign. I only wish I had known before now because I would have made a square, but she plans to do more pieces like this as a statement against oil consumption...Go Jennifer! Here is the URL if you want to know more about her project.

I took more pix like this
and this
and this.
I was really impressed with the pump,
and the sign out front,
particularly this panel,
and last but not least, my favorite panel (the lower one with the guy guzzling oil straight from the pump).
It feels good to be blogging again. Tomorrow I'll tell ya what kinda crazy knitting I've been up to. Yay fiber! Yay knitting!

Back online...

2008-03-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

Yep, I've been on a semi-intentional blog hiatus since before I went to Blacksburg. I've been feeling low on energy lately and something had to give so this was it. I guess I felt if I had to choose between time and energy to knit and spin or time an energy to blog, knitting and spinning was always gonna win out. Now that I'm back I'm going to try to keep up with both.

Not much happened while I was blogless except:

- a great trip to Blacksburg which made me even more bummed to be here

- some great bird appearances in our backyard including this strange day where it was a raging party out there and we saw not 1, not 2, but 3 woodpeckers including one with a bring day-glo red head which strangely enough is named the red-bellied woopecker...I think bird people drink alot. The claim is that there belly also has a slight red wash...whatever

Red-Bellied Woodpeckers may be misnamed, but they are definitely the punk rock star of the bird world. Here's what the little dude looked like:
No, I didn't take this picture. I found it here along with more info than my bird book could provide. The one I saw was viewed through binocs and his head color was much brighter, but this pic gives you a good idea of how cool he his.

Other than that I finished some more socks...yay socks and started a stripey mystery thing that I will post pix of in the next few days...

More soon.

Silent Poetry Day

2008-02-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hey, I just found out today is 'Blogger's Silent Poetry Day'. Basically all you have to do to participate is post a poem you like or you have written on your blog today. In honor of BSPD, I will post one of my mom's favorite poems from Edna St. Vincent Millay and the reason she named me Penelope. It's about Queen Penelope from the Illiad and how hard it was for her for all those years while Ulysses was missing and thought dead during and after the Trojan War.

An Ancient Gesture

I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day
And undoing it all through the night;
Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
And along towards morning, when you think it will never be
light,
And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where,
for years.
Suddenly you burst into tears;
There is simply nothing else to do.

And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,
In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;
Ulysses did this too.
But only as a gesture,—a gesture which implied
To the assembled throng that he was much too moved to speak.
He learned it from Penelope...
Penelope, who really cried.

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

wierd, happy, and sad

2008-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

I was going to write about my very first delivery from the Rockin' Sock Club and the insanity that has ensued since, but somethings happened yesterday, so I'll explain the extent of my sock induced OCD nuttiness tomorrow. In the meantime, here's my weird, happy, and sad story.

I'm still working for the National Park Service until the end of June, so I work at home. Yesterday, mid afternoon I heard something smack hard against the back window and I see it drop like a stone to the the deck. I rush to the window and see a bird that looks alive but in shock. Its little beak was open like it was gasping for breath and it's eyes were open but not blinking. Its little breast was moving slightly.

I went outside and nudged it with my hand wrapped in a towel. It was definitely alive and still standing, but it was almost like it was paralyzed. I was sad and worried, so I called Mark who didn't know what to do. As I watched it a bit more it started to blink its eyes and close its beak a little, so I hoped it was starting to recover. I brought it a little bowl of water, and got right up close to it. It still wasn't moving, but was seeming more and more alert. Its little head was starting to move around. I nudged it with towel a couple of more times to make sure it wasn't stuck, and that its feet and wings weren't broken. It seemed fine, but still not ready to move on its own. It must have still been dazed to let me get that close and snap these pics.
This is with the little bowl of water I gave him/her, but she/her wasn't interested. (Yes, Molly this is one of your beautiful desert bowls. I didn't leave it out there long)

Pretty cute little bugger, huh?

A couple minutes later it started to hop away and then it flew off. I was so relieved and amazed that it hadn't been hurt. It was really cool to be so close to this bird and really look him (her?) in the eye. Its eyes were black and pretty and it didn't seem afraid of me, or maybe it just didn't have the strength to fly away yet and it was hoping I wasn't a predator. This little incident turned out happy and it was cool to get so close to one of our little visitors, but now Mark and I plan to get some cobweb stickers you can put on windows so that birds can see that they are not open doorways.

After that episode, I got back to work and, no lie, about an hour later I heard a louder harder smack against our front window. Now this window has a curtain in front of it so it can't possibly look like an open door, but sure enough a bigger bird had smashed himself right into it. Sadly, this one was dead on impact. I touched it with the towel and it just flopped over with its eyes unblinking and unmoving. When Mark got home, we put this one in the wooded area behind our house, but it was a bummer.

Very weird to have this happen twice in one day. Birds sometimes lightly smack our windows or flutter against them, but to have 2 really hard smacks in one day was odd. I'm glad one of them survived, but am baffled and little bummed by the second incident. It wasn't even really windy out yesterday so who knows.

As promised I'll prattle on about my knitting nuttiness tomorrow while I'm riding the couch and watching the superbowl. In the meantime, here's a pic of what the daily party on deck looks like.

First visitor of the day

2008-01-26T07:52:00.001-08:00

So, you can tell I've had a pretty dull week when I talk about our new bird friends, but I gotta tell you, they are really fun to watch. Our new house has tons of huge windows, one of the many reasons we fell in love with it. One of the biggest double windows is in our living room looking out onto our back deck.

Mark got 2 bird feeders and essentially set up a birdy food court out there for Dru, our cat, to watch, but we stare out the windows for hours too...did I mention life here was kinda slow? I've always known birds were kind of piggy, but it's not until you see how much food they eat in a day and how much they drop below that you realize that they make pigs look good in comparison. Granted we get a ton a visitors, but Mark has had to refill the feeders almost everyday. This morning we got up and we're sitting on the couch trying to wake up and think about all we need to get done today. We look outside and notice that despite the icicles on the feeders from yesterday's storm, they were once again mostly empty and there was a mess of food on the deck...literally piles.

Mark jokingly grumbled: "Geez they're messy. No more food until they clean up after themselves. We can't have the only feeder around here. Let 'em go make a mess elsewhere." He can grumble all he wants but when we got our first visitor this morning, Mr. Cardinal,

all three of us (Dru, Mark and I) were mesmerized for a while. After he left, a slew of smaller birds showed up for breakfast and sure enough they started to clean off the deck. They may be piggy when they eat (after all it can't be easy eating without hands), but they do eventually clean up what they drop.

We'll inevitably keep the food court open and the birds will kindly let us watch them and be entertained. Maybe we'll even learn a thing or 2...

As for knitting news...I finally finished Mark's socks which took forever because the yarn, albeit nice is really fine. It's all good, because he likes them and will wear them which is all that I ask.

Now back to the Chevron socks for Sandy. I love this pattern so much, I am definitely going to make a pair for myself, but I should have these finished this week. 1 down, 1 to go.

PS After writing this, I got my first delivery from the Rockin' Sock Club (Blue Moon Fiber Arts) and after doing some work on the house, my day turned into a sock knitting frenzy. Serious yarn therapy! More about this soon.

Got what we came for!

2008-01-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Mark and I had planned to spend the whole weekend in Biloxi, MS. We got tickets to see Kathy Griffin months ago and since we were driving 4 hours, we figured we might as well stay the weekend and check out Biloxi.
Kathy G. appeared at the Beau Rivage, the fanciest shmanciest casino. You can tell you are at a fancy shmancy casino, because of the pretty fountain. You can tell you are in Mississsippi because there is a Waffle House across the street with it's ever present yellow sign.

We were a little worried about leaving after 1:00pm on Friday since the show started at 7:00 and we would need to find a place to park, pick up our tix and get dinner before the show. That just goes to show how little we know about casinos...Parking - FREE and plentiful...Box Office - easy to find...Dinner - tons of restaurants and buffets right there in the casino. Casinos really don't want you to leave once you get there so they make it easy for you to stay. The food wasn't free, but once we paid for the buffet (which was the biggest I had ever seen) the drinks were. Coulda been dangerous if I hadn't had someplace to be.
This is the buffet. You know you're in Mississippi when the fancy shmancy casino has a chandelier made of a big mess of copper pots.

A close-up of the pot chandelier which just kept making me giggle.

The show was freakin' hilarious. You have to know some celebrity trash news to really appreciate her humor, but not too much. It also helped that we're addicted to her show, 'My Life on the D-List'. I know I have plenty of friends who are anti-TV, but watch one episode of that show and you will love it. She's great.

After the show, we went to stay at our cheaper hotel, cuz we ain't foolish enough to pay to stay at the fancy shmancy casino hotel. It was cold and very rainy the next morning so walking around and checking out the coast was out. Rather than look for things to do and blow another night on the hotel, we decided to head back on Saturday, but still stop in Jackson as planned....Buh-Bye Biloxi...maybe next time. We'll probably be back there at some point for another show.

In Jackson we went to the Rainbow Whole Foods Co-op and the adjacent High Noon cafe which was really really really great. The cafe is only open for lunch but the food was absolutely delicious. We got a membership at the co-op and bought a ton of food staples since there is nothing like that here in Starkville. The whole little plaza included a great health food store, a yummy vegetarian cafe, a store that sells crafts and art from local artists, a community cyber center, and a little used book table. I will definitely be back down there once a month to shop for real food.

Mark also humored me and took me to the new local yarn shop in Jackson which had some of my favorite yarns. I had to buy at least one thing there, so I got more pretty sock yarn, big surprise.
Overall, we may have cut our trip a day short, but we totally got what we came for and it worked out well that we left on Saturday, because the cafe is closed on Sunday. We got back here around 6ish and treated ourselves to a dinner out since we had saved $ by leaving Biloxi a day early. I would love to say that we both spent all of our extra day doing tons of work around the house unpacking. Mark got a ton done. I got some done, but kept getting distracted by Sandy's chevron socks in progress.

Chevrons and Politics

2008-01-16T11:33:00.001-08:00

I'm addicted to both of these things. First the chevrons. I just finished and blocked my chevron scarf and I am so happy with how it turned out that I can't wait to wear it somewhere. Perhaps this weekend when we go see Kathy Griffin in Biloxi (AKA Mark's and my favorite bitchy potty-mouth comedian). I started trying to figure out gauge and a pattern appropriate for this great yarn I bought to make my sister in law socks. I tried 3 different needle sizes, 2 different patterns, and nothing made me happy so I designed a chevron pattern sock, that so far, I love (big surprise). It's an easy pattern, looks cool, and goes well with the bright variegated colors. Weee...more chevrons for me.
For those who are interested, the basic chevron stitch pattern is very similar to the feather and fan stitch pattern, but use 'Knit Front & Back' increases instead of 'Yarn Over' increases. I'll include the whole pattern, or a link to it in the next couple days.
(Notice that I'm getting better at the close-up photo thing. There's still a fair amount of luck involved, but I'm beginning to figure it out.)

Now for politics. Mark thinks I am predisposed to my political junkie ways, kinda like the child of an alcoholic is more likely to also be an alcoholic. I admit I was raised by a mom who had a TV in every room (including a small one in her bathroom) so she didn't have to miss any of the news (this was before DVRs let you pause live TV). My mom also ran for political office which was no fun for our family (don't get me started) but it did leave me with more insight than I ever wanted about the political process. I also grew up with politics discussed every night at dinner. I didn't pay attention back then, but now I think there must have been some absorption going on, cuz I am way into this Presidential race. I watch all the debates (while knitting) read the columns, and even listen to the pundits (who are soooo full of crap). It's like watching a slow moving sports event that will go on for months with match after match after match. I guess it also helps that I'm excited about the candidates too.
I'll try to not to blather on about politics, but YAY, go dems!!! Mark also has a vested interest in the presidential race too. After the 2004 debacle, I wanted to leave the country, but because I was working on my Ph.D. and just starting to get really serious with Mark, I sucked it up and vented a LOT as things slowly got worse and worse and worse. Well, now my PhD is done, and I'm married and if the dems lose in 2008, I am headed to Toronto, no lie. Mark realizes that I'm serious, so he's rooting for the dems, and researching Canadian jobs in Forest hydrology.

All of this fits in well to my extreme lack of life here. I work, I exercise, I knit, I read a bit, I hang out with Mark and my cat, and I watch debates and read the political news. I probably should make some social effort, but this is good for now. There are much worse things than having a crush on Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann.
Yes, I know taking pictures of my TV shows just how much I lack a life, but he's cute and smart and I'm good with my lack of life for the moment...except when it bums me out.

Tornado excitement

2008-01-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

So yesterday (Thursday) I was excited to go back to the yoga class here which I love. Mark and I went and rejoined the gym in the morning and then I went home to work. I went back to the gym, which is on campus, for yoga at 12:30, but the minute I walked in the door, I realized that wasn't gonna happen. When I was leaving my house, I was thinking how warm (60 deg. F) and dark it was, but since I ain't from around here, I had no idea what that might mean.

When I walked in the gym building they were requiring everyone in the complex to go to the locker rooms for safety because there was a Tornado Warning (i.e there was one in the area headed towards campus). I could have either gone right home or gone to the locker room. I decided to go the locker room because a) I don't know nuthin' about Tornados and didn't want to be stupid and b) I was hoping the warning would end and we could have our yoga class. The biggest bummer was that I FORGOT MY KNITTING. I always have knitting with me and here I was stuck with a bunch strangers (nice strangers though) and no knitting.

The good news is that my very cool yoga teacher was spunky enough to to try teaching yoga class in the women's locker room. We couldn't have a complete class cuz there are certain things you can't do on a tile floor with such limited space (and of course the guys in class were SOL) but I got a good stretch, a decent workout and a great laugh and then chatted with some folks until the tornado passed. I left before the rains let up though and got SOAKED on the way to my car. All in all, not a bad first tornado.

And since I didn't get to knit during the day, I made up for it by finishing my chevron scarf last night...yay, yay, yay! I blocked it today
and I'll be wearing it by next week. It's perfect for this non-cold climate.

Settling in...I guess

2008-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write, but holy crap, have I been exhausted from all of this travel. Puerto Rico was great, mostly just hanging on the beach, drinking Mojitos, knitting reading and eating lots of great food. I should qualify what I meant by beach. This was the view from our window.
My mom doesn't really like sand, so they lie on what I refer to as a seaside grassy patio under a grove of palm trees. The view is amazing and the hotel has an outdoor bar nearby for yummy snacks and cocktails. Yep, it was lovely. Here's my mom chillin' on the beach.
Yes, she's reading a court brief here, because she loves her work and finds this stuff fascinating.
My parents were psyched to have us there because we were up for stuff like walking to the Old City which is really nice and were up for any restaurant they felt like going to. This is my dad at the El Moro fort. he and Mark walked there while mom and I went jewelry shopping. I've been to the fort before.
All the restaurants were great, but the trick to not over eating was to just order multiple yummy appetizers.

Mark and I also rented a car one day and went to El Yunque Rainforest which was less than hour away. We hiked up to the top and even had some brief moments of an amazing view.
Yes. that is the ocean you can see in the distance. Here is Mark at the top.
We then hiked down the touristy path to the waterfall. Which was fun and a little crowded and a great little additional workout. All in all we hiked about 6.5 miles and my calves were screaming the next day from all the elevation change. Fortunately, I was able to spend most of the next day recovering on the beach with more mojitos before we flew out in the evening.

The flight/drive home was long, but now I'm feeling normal and back to working full time and unpacking. Once the house is more unpacked, I'll post more pix.

Quick stop at home before we leave again

2008-01-02T10:00:00.001-08:00

New Years in Blacksburg at the Bat Ranch was just a whole big bunch of casual yummy fun, as usual. I think this is the 4th consecutive year I've been to the Thai potluck New Years gorge fest and even with Molly still recovering from surgery, it was a blast. Even though she was under the weather, Molly still managed to roast two chickens (Thai style), make a huge side dish, make drinks, do a few shots of tequila with me (mmmm), host a party (with Mike's help) and keep an eye on 3 kids (also w/ Mike's help) of course. After that, she outlasted me by at least an hour or so and still got up to make breakfast for all. Geez, talk about superwoman!

As for me, the trip was great and worth the long drive. We ended up doing a short hike with Jess and Brian at the Cascades

because we all wanted to get back in time to shower and cook for our respective parties. Jess and Brian were going elsewhere. I found a great recipe for a yummy Thai noodle slad that also included fresh spinach...mmmm. I also brought some chocolate to melt and strawberries and almond cookies to dip in it. Dipping stuff in chocolate is so freakin' easy and always well appreciated. Here is Maggie at the New Year's party wearing sandys' very cool black and white snake. When Maggie is a famous vixen, I'll be able to say I knew her when...
Here is Linden, Molly's youngest, and at the moment biggest challege, in the morning. He likes cameras.
As I said, the trip to Blacksburg was well worth the long drive, BUT, it left us with less than 24 hours at home before we left again for Puerto Rico...so unpacking, doing laundry, and packing again was all we had time for. It also stressed me out to leave my cat alone so much, but such is life. Definitely a good start to the year.

If you could bottle stuff like this, you'd be rich...

2007-12-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

Mark and I are back in Blacksburg right now and I have had one of those days that it would be great to be able to bottle up and save. If I could, I would, and then when I'm Starkville and I'm cranky and bummed cuz most of my good friends are here and I'm there, I could just open up the bottle, pour out a few drops of this gleeful fun day, and feel a little better...who knows, maybe I won't have days like that, but I wouldn't bet on it.

So what happened...we got here (Jess's place) about 10:30 last night, caught up with Jess a bit and went to bed. Mark was a driving maniac yesterday and drove the whole way up here so I went into a knitting frenzy on his soon to be felt slippers which are the reverse of mine (which I love love love).

This morning I couldn't sleep so I got up and knitted more of the slippers. They are extremely gratifying, cuz they go so quick. Jess got up and we all goofed around and talked for a couple of hours before getting our act together and going to Gillies' for a freakin' awesome brunch.

Jess in the AM

Then we dropped Mark back off at Jess's and went to meet Darcy, Katherine, and Liz to hang out and knit at the Easy Chair. Katherine brought legos cuz she hasn't leanr to knit yet, (even though I think she would love it) and didn't want to be the only one without something to do...
At some point Liz or I or Darcy will just tie her down in a chair and teach her how to knit and I'll bet that she yells at us for not teaching her sooner, but that's ok.

Overall, it wad a really great afternoon of hanging out and knitting and giggling, after which Jess and I went across the street to Mosaic, the LYS which was having a 25% off sale...WOW! (See what I mean about a great day???). I showed huge restraint, but did buy some NORO sock yarn which I have been really eager to try. YAY!

Afterwards, Jess and I got food for dinner and a movie to watch w/ Mark. Mark made one of my favorite dinners for us, yogurt chicken w/ quinoa for us. He pretty much rocks!

After that I helped Jess skein up some her huge new stash with my brand new niddy noddy (that Mark gave me for Hannukah but at Christmas)

and then we watched a movie during which I finished knitting Mark's slippers (still gotta weave in all the damn ends)

My felted slippers and Mark's huge unfelted ones.

and now I really gotta go to bed...it's after 1:00am,, today is tomorrow already.

More to come.

Almost destroyed the house last night

2007-12-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

So, even though I have a ton of other stuff to do like reading and writing for work and present making (which is now mostly done), I got a little panicked late last night when I couldn't find my swift in all the packed boxes. I found my ball winder, but without the swift it's not so useful. Here I am sitting with a bunch of new beautiful yarn, that I really shouldn't touch given everything else I need to do, but I really want to wind it up so I started looking in some of the boxes, and then some other boxes and then... It took all of my newly gained maturity (hah!) and restraint not to rip through every unpacked box leaving the house in a shambles until I found my swift, but I resisted and went to bed.

This morning, I sweetly (double hah!) asked Mark to help me find the swift today even though I promised promised promised not to wind any new yarn or start any new projects until I have finished the holiday stuff, his slippers, our bathmats and various other tasks that really should come first...sigh!

As it turns out, Mark has super powers, or maybe he wasn't deliriously tired when our apartment was being packed up, so he knew which box it was in. We carefully unpacked (how mature of us) and immediately found both my swift and sock blockers. Yay Mark! Unfortunately, I now have to show more mature restraint by not balling up the beautiful new yarn and casting on new projects, as I promised. Fortunately, my restraint is aided by the fact that we are leaving for Raleigh, NC in the morning for the holiday.

As part of my break from knitting, I repaired the beaded necklace I made my sister-in-law Sandy last year and made her matching earring as part of her present for this year.
I'm also going to make her a pair of sock with this if she wants,
or the yarn of her choosing, if these colors don't appeal to her. I thinking of making her a pair of Monkey socks or the slipped stitch pattern I really like...hmmm.

I also made a matching pair of earing for my sister-in-law Jenny to match her necklace from last year. The colors of her necklace are my favorite of the three I made last year. Sorry that this pic is a little blurry, but these were hard to photograph without proper equipment.
It feels good to bead again and it certainly is much quicker than knitting, but knitting is more portable and cozy feeling.

Lastly, I have to felt these.
Unfortunately, my new awesome energy efficient front loading washer can be opened during the cycle, but not all the time, so it's too risky to try to use it for felting...sigh. Hopefully Serita, my mom-in-law, won't mind when I felt them in her washer (in a pillowcase, of course). I'm excited to see how they turn out.

More to come from the Holidays in NC, New Years in Blacksburg, and then 5 days in Puerto Rico. If all the travel doesn't kill me, the trip to PR should definitely relax me some.

Slacker blogger!

2007-12-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to add to this blog at least once a week, but I've been slacking cuz of all moving craziness. I'm am officially no longer moving to Mississippi. Now I am here, 6 days and counting. The moving truck arrived Monday and now we're surrounded by boxes that we are slowly digging out of. Fortunately we finished painting the last room over the weekend.

The house, like any new house, still requires tons of work which is hard to motiviate to do when I'm still bummed about leaving Blacksburg. I just ordered some thick cotton yarn (Peaches & Cream Double Worsted)to make some custom bathmats and welcome mats. That'll be fun. The pattern is called 'Absorba' and it's in Mason Dixon Knitting. I'll post pix as they progress.

There are a lot of things I love about this house, but one of the best things is the amazing spa tub.
I used it once, and I'm going to use it again tonight cuz I just went for a run. I kinda feel like I have to run or exercise, to deserve a soak. Otherwise I feel too decadent.

Other than that, I'm knitting a pair of felt slippers in Hokie colors because the floors here are a bit cold and I miss Blacksburg.
I also have a ton of work to get done before the holidays, which means I have to work like a crazy woman until we leave on Saturday...yikes! I can't believe the holidays are here already.

Yummy Cookies!

2007-12-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

I found a great Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe online and made it for some friends who were hiking the AT last year. After trying the cookies I decided I could make them even yummier by adding cranberries and pecans. These cookies are soooo good! Note that the dough keeps really well in the fridge for about a week.

I decided to post this recipe because I am making some to thank Darcy for teaching me how to spin and sending some to my friend Kerry because these are healing cookies, which she needs right now. They don't contain any pharmaceuticals, but they definitely make me feel better and with all of the oats and cranberries, they are almost healthy.

The Following is for a double recipe (makes about 60 cookies depending on how big you make them and how much of the dough you nibble):

Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cups white flour
1 teaspoon SALT
1 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
16 ounces (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, packed (can substitute sucanat)
1 and 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
4 large eggs
6 cups OATS
3 cups chocolate chips
(1 and 1/2 packages of Ghiradelli Bittersweet 60% cocoa or any high quality dark chocolate chips )
2 scant cups of dried cranberries (depending on preference)
2 scant cups of chopped pecans

Directions
1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees, and line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Combine/Stir dry ingredients and butter-sugar mixture together with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula in a large mixing bowl.

5. Stir in oats and chocolate chips and pecans and cranberries. Mix will get harder and harder to stir as each of these is added but it will work.

6. Place dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets in chunky balls about golf ball size, leaving at least 2 inches between.

7. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Slide cookies (on parchment) onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

A tip from the original internet recipe: Place a piece of bread (any type) in with the cookies to prevent them from becoming stale. If they hang around long enough, that is!

Spinning and Hokie Pride

2007-12-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

First, I love spinning, but yes, I still suck and have a long way to go to become proficient.
Darcy, who taught me, said that for a first attempt, I'm doing great, but then I look at her yarns and I am absolutely in awe. I know she's been spinning for 10 years, but still, her yarns and the things she's made with them are really freakin' inspiring. Check back with me in 10 years and I'll let you know how I'm doing then.

Now, for a bit of proof that I can be a bit of a Hokie football nutter. I never used to like football, but somehow the Hokies have gotten into my blood. Their wins can cheer me up for a week and their losses, especially the close ones, can leave me devastated. My mother, a non-football person, is convinced that this is evidence that part of my brain has gone bad. I'm ok with that.

A few months ago, when the Hokies lost to BC with 11 seconds left in the game, I and the rest of the fans in B'burg were in shock. Like any slightly crazy fan, I felt a little responsible for not doing all I could by holding my stuffed Hokie bird in my lap or cheering hard enough from my living room (They can hear me through the TV, can't they?)

So when the Hokies got their rematch with BC and the chance for the ACC title, I was prepared. Despite having to pack and clean for the move, I watched the game with my Hokie bird
and began to knit Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat with some great orange and maroon yarn I've been saving.
I changed the pattern a bit to make it bigger. I added 8 stitches/row (2/repeat) by adding an extra purl stitch between each of the cable elements. It's a little short so next time I would also add a 1/2 cable repeat at the top, about 7 more rows, but I love it. Next time I want to try the yarn suggested in the pattern, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Leticia because it looks beautiful.

Anyways, it was a freakin' amazing game and we won, we won, WE WON!. Now I can't really take the credit because the team really played great while I sat here on the couch, BUT, maybe, just maybe, my effort added some good juju.

Because of that win, the Hokies are playing the Orange Bowl on January 3rd and I'll be in Puerto Rico with Mark and my parents. Damn skippy, I'm bringing my new Hokie hat and my bird who I think I will name Horton the Hokie, cuz if I don't and we lose, I'll feel responsible. I may even bring some more Hokie-colored yarn with me for good measure.

As an aside, yes, I haven't been talking about my move because I am in complete denial. The moving trucks arrive next Tuesday (in 6 days) so I'll talk more about it when it happens. I am excited about the new house.

Assateague

2007-11-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went to Assateague Island National Seashore for a work meeting, which sounds a lot cooler than it is. I get to go to a lot of cool places for work meetings, but I also have to stay in crappy depressing hotels, and spend hours and hours and hours discussing sampling plans, budgets for those plans and why two options that are seemingly identical will result in completely different statistical analysis results. Usually, the slightly more difficult option results in the desired results, hence the hours of discussion and explanation. It is interesting work, but usually it's not quite as fun as it sounds.

This meeting was cooler than some of the others, and the discussion was really productive. We also got to actually go out and visit some of the study sites which meant I got to see these

and this
some incredibly idyllic scenes like this
and this
Seeing the famous wild ponies was just as neat as I had expected. They're just so cute and charming. You can't touch or feed them, but they are great to watch. It really was fun and fortunately one of the other researchers lent me a pair of knee-high waders so I could tromp around in the salt marsh. Otherwise, it would have been a lot less fun.

On drive back, I also used our cool new GPS device to find The Yarn Lounge in Richmond, VA. It was so cool to be able navigate to a place I wanted to go to in strange city I had never been to before. GPS devices like mine aren't perfect, but they are awesome for stuff like this. I really only went there to get a Perl Grey brooch for my Celtic Cardigan,
but there was such beautiful yarn there that I ended up buying this
and this
and I was lucky to get out of there just with that damage to credit card. That place was dangerous, and the whole part of the city where it was located looked like a great place to hang out. Lots of cool little shops and yummy ethnic restaurants. It reminded me of some the neighborhoods I used to explore in Portland, OR. Who woulda thunk I'd find that in Richmond.

I made it home at 9PM and was so tired that I had to spend the whole next day knitting on the couch to recover. What a shame :)

Spinning News: Darcy and I have set a date next Sunday for her to start teaching me how to spin...YAY...YAY...YAY!

learn to spin?...me?...WOW!

2007-11-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

I went to a party tonight at my friend Katherine's. Katherine is awesome and hilarious and does not censor herself, which I love. She also tends to give me crap about knitting in her presence because she's convinced that I'm not actually paying attention unless I'm looking at her. If you knit, you know that you can actually pay better attention to people if you are doing some straightforward knitting because you are less fidgety. Complex knitting is more distracting, but if I'm doing stockinette or garter stitch I can totally focus on what's going on around me.

So, at Katherine's, I met this incredibly cool woman named Darcy Whitlock who has been knitting and spinning for years and offered to show me how to spin...weeeee....I am so darn excited and hope hope hope we have time to meet and have lessons before I move. Darcy also has lots of other fascinating interests like 18th century reenactments, etc that make me wish I had met her earlier, but at least I met her now.

As with house painting, and most other things, I am fully prepared to suck at spinning when I get started, but hopefully, it will be learnable and as addictively cool as knitting. It seems to have so much potential...I'll keep updating my progress.

Eye Infection, Procrastination, and Craziness

2007-11-12T13:19:00.001-08:00

My last day in Starkville (wed.) was made much more stressful and a lot more painful by an awful eye infection. It totally sucked and made it really difficult (i.e. dropping to the floor in screeching pain) to put contacts in. Yeah, I know I probably shouldn't have put contacts in at all, but I am stubborn and hate wearing my glasses when I exercise or do highway driving.

It also didn't help that Mark was absolutely baffled by how to help me so he kinda walked around the apartment looking at me funny. I know there's nothing he could do, but nothing makes you feel like more of a freak than someone else's freaked-out reaction

My eye hurt so much and was so hard to deal with that I thought I might not be able to make the drive on Wednesday, even though I knew I had to...so I sucked it up and made it here (to Blacksburg) in 9 hours with three gas stops.

I was so excited to be home that I immediately started winding my new Fleece Artist Scotian Silk for my Celtic Cardigan at 10:30 at night...weeeeee...I forgot how much fun it is to knit with thicker yarns. I don't have 7mm needles so I'm using my US 10.5/6.5mm, but I think it will block out to approximately the same size. I'm almost done with the back.

I haven't made any sweaters before and this is a great first cardigan because the sewing up at the end is minimal. I'm loving it! Yes, I should be getting ready for the move, but if you are going to procrastinate, what a fun way to do it.

I also have decided that I'm a bit on the crazy side of the spectrum. I went to a great potluck on Saturday night with a bunch of people that were new to me, interesting, and definitely fun to talk to. Somehow the subject of football came up, and they all voiced their disdain for spectator sports. Me, in crazy mode, explained how great football is because it goes so well with knitting. There is so much stopping and starting that you can get plenty done and still keep up with the action. I think they were amused, but certainly not convinced. I think one women was intrigued by my handknitted socks though...I am always looking for a new potential addict...kinda like a drug pusher, but a little healthier.

Recovering

2007-11-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we painted our freakin' huge living room and hallway and I had a bit of a meltdown. Despite my checking the color in the room where it would be painted, it still turned out darker than expected. I'm okay with it although I haven't been over there yet today to see how dark it is now...yikes. It also looks down right odd in the hallway where the florescent light hits it...Yeah, I know to check these things beforehand, but I swear I looked at it in all lighting and settings. The hallway bugs me so much I may end up bugging Mark to change the fixture in there. Maybe, I'll get used to it...

Here is a Pic
Between the color and the fact that for some reason this paint was much drippier than the paint we used two freakin' days ago...I had a bad night. Mark can also work for much longer stretches without food by which time I get irrational, and cranky and start feeling like a 4 year old having a tantrum.

So this morning, I'm doing some work for my real job, a little knitting, and just staying away from the house until I feel better. I'm also going to yoga which will help (aaaahhh yoga!). You know you've had a hard a couple of days when you get home at night and you are too tired to even pick up your knitting, no matter how much you wanted to...ugh.

Tomorrow, I head back to Blacksburg to start packing up the rest of our stuff...bigger ugh! More knitting therapy will be needed in larger doses to get through this.

Yarn Therapy

2007-11-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

So, my suspicions are confirmed and house painting is tedious and has bit of a learning curve, but it is totally worth it. We have one room done (the lovely peachy colored laundry room - the color is actually called 'Fragrant Coriander' - great name for a beautiful color)
and we have learned tons in the process (besides the fact that I really do suck and am a complete klutz). I am getting better - actually we both (my husband, Mark and I) are. Granted, it would be really sad if we actually got worse since neither of us had ever painted before.

In the mean time, I received 2 different yarn deliveries:

1) On Thursday, I received the first delivery from the Griffin Yarn Sock Club which I will not post a picture of yet, just in case someone from the sock club happens to see this (not likely) and hasn't received their delivery yet.

2) On Friday I received some bargain discontinued lace weight yarn from Knitpicks...how could I resist ordering enough yarn to make a shawl for 10 freakin' dollars. Granted, $10 and 10 bazillion hours of my life, but soooo worth it! I have a pattern, but I think I'm going to make one up instead using one of the lace patterns from Barbara Walker's 'A Treasury of Knitting Patterns' (her first of 4 volumes).

I don't have the correct needles here (they are still at my apt. in VA) or the time to get either of these yarns casted on for their respective projects (must paint house), but just receiving the yarn totally cheered me up. Yay, yarn! I was so excited, that I've decided that in addition to my standard forms of therapy (running, yoga, knitting, and chocolate), magical yarn deliveries have some very therapeutic effects....soooo I joined another Sock Club. Fortunately, my husband is cool with this.

This second club (the Rockin' Sock Club organized by Blue Moon Fiber Arts) is one I've been lusting (yes, lusting) to join because I've been reading about their gorgeous yarns and patterns for the past few months. The ever hilarious 'yarn harlot' mentions them often. The Griffin Sock Club is closed but I think this one is still open, if you happen to read this, can afford to join, and need yarn therapy as much as I do right now. I'll say it again...YAY YARN!

COLORS!

2007-10-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

I love colors! One of the reasons I have become such a knitting junkie is because there are so many beautiful hand dyed colors. Like many others, the phenomena of the yarn magically changing color as it passes through my hands (i.e. self-striping or variegated) is more than enough to keep me entertained for hours.

I'll admit, that I also love how yarn feels and how knitted material feels. Seeing and feeling how each new yarn behaves with each new pattern is definitely part of the fun...but the colors are a big part of it.

For the past week, I've been getting to play with colors without the yarn. We've just bought our very first house (We closed yesterday!) and now we get to paint it lots of pretty colors; sage green for the living room; a cranberry color in the kitchen; a bright light peachy color for the laundry room; a creamy coffee color for the dining room; a deep smoky blue in one bedroom; a smoky plum in another; and a dusty brick color in the third...Ok, I'll stop now, but I could go on and on and on. Tomorrow, after weeks of deciding, we're taking the plunge and buying the paint. Weeeee!

Having never painted before, I'm doing lots a reading, but I'm still prepared to SUCK and have to do stuff over. Fortunately, my husband and then later his dad, will hopefully help me suck less and get more done. Yay color! Yay non-white walls! I'll post pix when we're done.

PS I almost forgot...Happy Halloween! No trick-or-treaters visited our temporary apartment which is a bummer, cuz I bought a good amount of yummy chocolate candy that is now calling my name from across the room. I also got a bundle of baby pumpkins cuz they were too cute to pass up.

That's my toe (in my favorite hand-knit slipper sox) added for scale. I'm talking tiny pumpkins!

long trip = lots o' knitting

2007-10-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

I travel quite a bit for work, which usually consists of a flight or two to some small airport in the Northeast, renting a car, meeting with people from the National Park Service and then going home. This kind of travel is one of the reasons I love to knit. With flights and connections, there is tons and tons of time and since I'm not flying the plane, my only jobs are to manage my carry-on luggage (I hate checking bags) and to knit. Whenever I am sitting on a plane, I always wonder why more people don't knit. Sometimes, on these flights I have to prepare for whatever meeting I am heading to, but that never takes too long.

If my husband and I are traveling together, however, I'm just as content to go by car because he likes to do all of the driving and I like to do all of the knitting. In fact, if he isn't driving he gets bored and restless (the way I used to get before I discovered knitting). I offered to teach him to knit, but since that's not gonna happen anytime soon we are both quite content with our respective road trip roles.

Yesterday we drove to Starkville, MS (approx. 10 hours from Blacksburg) and I almost finished my second monkey sock. We also just got satellite radio in our car which is great because the stations available as you drive here are...uh...limited (with the exception of the fantastic college radio station in Chattanooga) So we listened to NPR and BBC news and I knitted to my little hearts content. As much as I am completely overwhelmed by the prospect of moving to Starkville, I am consoled by the prospect of many many long drives in my future with lots of hours of happy knitting.

We close on our house today...more about that to come.

Back online and driving to MS

2007-10-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

I took my blog offline for awhile, but now that our move is imminent, I feel like it's time to start it back up.

We're driving down to Mississippi tomorrow to close on our brand new house which is one of the cooler aspects of being uprooted and dropped down into the deep south like a cold weather plant suddenly being transplanted into to a tropical climate. I know exactly how that poor plant feels.

Starkville is fine and everybody there is incredibly friendly. Unfortunately, I'm from the north and that much friendliness is completely strange to me. I have my running and knitting and chocolate to keep me sane, in no particular order. More to come on the adventures of an uprooted Yankee in the deep deep south (too much deeper and you'll end up off the Gulf Coast)

OTN at the moment: Three (yes 3!!!) pairs of socks:

(Yes I did finish that pair mentioned in my original post and I love wearing them which is why I am a full on sock junkie at the moment. I'll post a pic of me wearing them soon)

1 pair for my friend, Kerry, who doesn't know she's getting them. Hopefully she won't discover this blog until after Thanksgiving when I give them to her. These are the Monkey socks from Knitty.com that many people are making because the pattern is so darn pretty. I'm making them with Koigu KPPPM which is so much fun to knit with and also so darn pretty.

Progress to date: 1.75 socks completed - Almost done!

1 pair for my husband, Mark, made with Schaeffer-Anne that I got at my soon-to-be LYS in Columbus, MS. Mark picked out the yarn so he has no excuse for not liking them. The yarn is beautiful, BUT I opted to knit them in plain stockinette with no stitch pattern. I gotta admit that they are a little monotonous to knit, but the first one fits him perfectly.

Progress to date: 1.01 socks completed - 2nd sock casted on and a few rounds done. Just getting that 2nd sock casted on is half the battle.

1 pair just for me knitted with Knitpicks Essential Sock yarn (Tuscany Multi) which I'm really excited about because a) I taught myself to knit using 2 circulars and b) developed a pattern myself which I really like. I adopted it from the Thuja socks on Knitty.com to be used with finer gauge yarn (2.5mm needles) and a 2x2 rib/6x2 rib. The seed stitch rib kinda looks like a knitted zipper which I'm really happy with.

Progress to date: 0.65 socks completed. I'm past the heel on the first sock, but this pair will take longer since I really want to get the two pairs above done and I have lot else on my plate at the moment like this pesky move!

Alright, that's more than enough for a good restart to my blog/place to vent/therapy...

Starting a blog about ...

2007-07-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired to start a blog of my very own. At least in part because I'm resigned to the fact that I have to move to Mississippi. I've been living in Blacksburg, VA since 2001 and absolutely love it here. My mom, a true New Yorker, is baffled at how anyone could live in a rural town in the south. If you live here, however, you know that Blacksburg really isn't that far south, geographically or in attitude. Yes, Blacksburg is rural-ish, but it's also a college town so there are decent restaurants and 2, yes 2 health food stores and plenty of diversity.

Blacksburg is also surrounded by mountains and caves so if you like to go hiking or caving (which I love), there is plenty to do. I'm not much of a bar/club person (actually, not at all). My idea of a great weekend is camping in a cow field with a bunch of my caver friends, drinking margaritas, and hanging out by a ridiculously large bonfire. Definitely not an urban activity, but if you've done it, you know how fun this can be.

Unfortunately, my time in Blacksburg (paradise) is about to end for the time being. Mark, my husband, and I both have received good job offers in Starkville, Mississippi. Yes, good job offers using our degrees are something to be proud of, but we really don't want to leave here. Even worse, we definitely don't want to move farther south. We're going to Mississippi this weekend to check out Starkville and the neighboring town, Columbus. Hopefully we will like it more than we think. There are no mountains or caves or hundreds of cavers to hang out with in the Starkville area so it's already at huge disadvantage. I'm hoping for the best ( and expecting the worst).

One of the things that keeps me sane through all of this is knitting. Blogging about my knitting and my ongoing adventures moving to and living in Mississippi MAY help keep me from losing my mind. I guess we'll see.

Now that I've started this, I can show off my latest, in progress, creation which is my first pair of socks made with real sock yarn. I've made socks before, but they were more like slippers made with with much thicker yarns. These are are genuine patterned socks knitted with fingering weight handpainted yarn and size 1 needles. I know veteran knitters won't be impressed by this, but my novice knitter friends are and I'm excited because they look so pretty:
Cool, huh? I've only just started the second one. The first progressed pretty slowly, but I think the second one will go much quicker, cuz I've learned so much from knitting the first. If you're interested, the pattern is called 'Handpaint Highlights Socks' and is from a book called One Skein Wonders, edited by Judith Durant, which is one of my favorite books. I'm definitely developing a sock fetish and just ordered a few more sock knitting needles and more yarn so that I have more options for more socks. By the way, I linked to Amazon so that you can check out the book for yourself, but I definitely prefer supporting local bookstores and yarn stores if possible.