Another Cable and Lace Pullover...

Quick post tonight. I cast on Cecily Glowik MacDonald's Cable and Lace Pullover on Saturday , which is an overdue holiday gift for my friend J. I didn't do even one stitch yesterday (I finished my taxes!), but this is what I did Saturday evening and part of Sunday. Not really a lot, but enough to show. This is my second one - I made one for myself in the fall, but ended up giving it to my sister H because it looked so much better on her. Here she is on the left, looking lovely. (Sorry H...I needed a model.) I'm going to make the neckline on the current one a little different. I don't think I'm going to do the split yoke as called for in the pattern. J has small shoulders, so I don't want it falling off her. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Of course.

Ciao for now.

I made it home from Chicago...

God morgon, hur star det till? Har du saknat mig? (That's Swedish w/o the necessary dots...How are all ya'all? Miss me?) I'm home safely after dealing with the usual (you pick the adjective) TSA staff and (you pick the adjective) taxi drivers. Although, the worst was the screaming two year old on the plane, so maybe I'll start with that. Wait...I'll start by sharing today's soundtrack: Music from the 20's, 30's and 40's. Something snappy and French is playing right now. I dig Pandora. Check it out. http://www.pandora.com/
So I was in Chicago from Wednesday afternoon until Friday at a conference. The actual conference was 8-5 Thursday and 8-3 on Friday, and by the end of the second day I was pretty fried. Here are some of the suggested titles that I may or may not be adding to my library. Click on the image to get a good look. To be honest, I think I'm going to add Knitwear Design Workshop by Shirley Paden to my library first. Anyway, I ran into a Quality person from one of our hospitals the first day at lunch, then again at lunch the second day and we shared a cab to the airport. It was very cool to meet someone in my organization who I normally would not have the opportunity to meet. She works out of North Shore Medical Center in Salem, and I'm out in Needham which is about an hour away from her location.

I got to the airport w/ about an hour and a half before we had to board, so I had time to grab something to eat (I won't bother relating that story - I bought some food and ACTUALLY TOOK IT BACK), find a seat and chill for a bit. Not sure if I've mentioned that I don't like loud noises. I have a history of hearing loss on my right side, and although I've had surgery to restore most of it, I have a terrible time when there is a lot of background noise. Being in a busy airport is a perfect example of a situation that fries my circuits. I had ear plugs with me, but the ones I had only blocked out about 30 decibels, and that wasn't even cutting it inside the airport. So we board the plane, and during the half hour between sitting down and taking off, it was already clear that there was a two year old three rows behind me who was going to make the trip a painful one. The kid was going bonkers, and the parents were not trying to engage, distract or calm her. Two and a half hours, man. After two days of dashboards, run charts, control charts and sigma levels, I thought the screaming would cause my head to explode - I can't even imagine what it was like for the people who DIDN'T have earplugs. I'm reminded of the final M*A*S*H episode where Hawkeye cracks up. He was on a crowded bus with a woman who had a rooster that was wouldn't stop cock-a-doodle-dooing. She ends up killing the rooster to shut it up. But the twist was that wasn't a rooster. She smothered her baby to stop its crying, which is what causes Hawkeye to crack. Now, please don't assume that just because I can't stand screaming children on planes that I want to smother them. I don't. It's the parents that I want to get my hands on. When it was time to get off the plane, I looked back to make sure I caught the father's eye, and you can bet we shared a moment.

Both of the nights I was in Chicago, the weather was beautiful and I had the opportunity to walk all around. I was staying at the http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-2993-sofitel-chicago-water-tower/index.shtml which is just a couple blocks from Michigan Ave and not far from Lake Michigan (which bears a striking resemblance to the Atlantic Ocean when you're standing at the edge of it).

The hotel is named after the water tower which is pictured here during daylight and night time.

It looks like a castle - it's just beautiful, and is across from what I think is the water authority building that matches in architecture.

The first night I was there, I walked up and down Michigan Avenue, and stumbled upon Lawry's Restaurant. That is the same outfit that makes the seasoning salt. I had no idea they were actually a restaurant, but they are a big prime rib place. I thought what the hell, I like prime rib, so in I went. (I should also mention that it was Saint Patrick's Day and most of the people wandering around were into it: wearing green, faces painted green, big plastic green necklaces, obnoxious green hats - the whole bit.) So I go into Lawry's and it's one of those "old" established restaurants, with big leather chairs and servers wearing the same (ugly) uniforms that have been worn since 1938. Here comes the funny part: During my normal life and routine, I don't buy meat, I don't cook meat, and I eat very little meat. Everytime I go on a business trip, it seems that I try to eat an entire cow, and then I wonder why I'm sick. I pulled this same shit in Atlanta last fall, and my friend TK (are you still part of my readership, T?) can attest to it, as he was a witness. So at Lawry's they do all the food at tableside. First I had the special spinning salad. Then, they told me I had to wait for my meal b/c the Shannon Rovers, who are the local bagpipe and drum corp were coming INTO THE RESTAURANT to entertain us for about six or seven songs. Did I already mention about the loud noise? Yikes. But at least it gave me some time to digest my salad before they brought the meal over. They don't bring a plate - they bring a rolling oven, and the chef cuts whatever you'd like. I took the smallest cut they had, but I think they need a smaller micro cut. Popovers come with, and they sold me on the baked potato and asparagus. (I passed on the lobster tail, shrimp cocktail and dessert which they tried to sell me, but still ate WAY too much.) I told myself this would NOT happen the next night. I was going to eat a light meal and splurge on dessert. How do you think that went? You'll have to wait to find out.

The second night when I walked over to Lake Michigan, I had to pass the Museum of Contemporary art, which sadly, was closed. I snapped a shot of these three guys and headed into the gift shop.

I like to buy myself a little trinket as a remembrance when I go on trips, and this time around I decided on the ring shown here. It is made of an acrylic zipper with a microsuede backing and elastic band. Very cool and comforable to wear, plus it is an exact color match to my reindeer leather and pewter bracelet that I got at the Swedish festival last winter. Sure...not everyone would wear this wacky thing, but it suits me perfectly. For dinner I went into a restaurant called Grand Lux Cafe and could tell immediately that they were affiliated with Cheesecake Factory (CF owns them - separate mgmt). They have a bunch of desserts cooked to order, and I noticed they had beignets, so I spoke to my server about one of the small salads, ordered that for my meal, and asked to have them whip me up the beignets for dessert. The salad was good, but in keeping with the CF philosophy, even the small was big. Then he brings over the beignets, which are pictured here. I looked at them and thought, are you shitting me? (They are sitting on a 16" or 18" oval plate.) This is enough dessert for 10 people. Each of these treats was nearly the size of my fist, and there were eight of them. When the server came back I said, "You should have warned me and suggested that I skip the salad." He said, "Yeah, it's a dessert built for two (two what?), but it's our specialty so I'm glad you tried them." Wow. I think it's best if I just stay out of restaurants for a while.

This is turning into the blog post from hell. I started this yesterday morning, and have left the house twice - once to get my hair done and once to go to the end of the Red Line Yarn Crawl open knitting session at The Stitch House in Dorchester last night. I walked into the SH at 5:40 and won the 6PM drawing!!

I never win anything, but pictured here are the contents of my goodie-bag. Maybe my luck is changing. Can you imagine? I'm one of those if-it-wasn't-for-bad-luck-I'd-have-no-luck-at-all people, so hopefully this is an omen.

Okay, so you're finally all paroled. Thanks for sticking around to read this entire thing. Almost feels like you were on a restaurant tour of Chicago, eh? Now I need to finish my taxes. Bye.

The mother of all storms has ended...

But not before I had some minor rain damage. I have a leak in my chimney, so there was water dripping down into the basement, and also water in my attic that stained the ceiling here in the office. The contractors were already contacted a couple months ago about the chimney, but they're not stupid - they won't go up on the roof in the dead of winter. No one expected a fifty year rain storm, so I'll just have to deal with it. I was talking to a guy at work whose shingles were blowing off his roof at the height of the storm. He was actually up on a ladder trying to attach a tarp to his roof in gale force winds and pelting rain. Sheesh. So many people's houses were flooded; I'm really lucky to have gotten by with so few water issues. So now there's not a cloud in the sky - it looks amazing out. No pictures today, but probably when I post over the weekend. I'm going to Chicago today, and I have to head into town to pick up my former roommate G, who is watching the cats for me.
I had a 3rd row ticket to see Henry Rollins tonight, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rollins so I'm sending G in my place. His spoken word tour is one of the high points of my year, and I'm really disappointed to miss the show. I've seen him a bunch of times and met him twice. He is a very cool guy - and was awesome about writing back to me (about a dozen times) when my foot was broken for most of 2008. That year, I sat in the front row of the Orpheum with my cast up on the stage while he was speaking. Oh well. There's always next year.
Like an idiot, I didn't opt to stay in Chicago an extra day. I had nothing better to do this weekend, and since I was already going to be there, I should've found something cool to do on Saturday instead of coming home directly after the conference. But not all is lost - I have an appt to have my hair colored on Saturday, and that is always fun. I've been seeing Janice at Backstreet Salon in Medford, MA exclusively for over a decade. Saturday she's going to kill me because I gave myself a haircut with my clippers. I was overdue for cut/color, and the length was making me crazy. If you have short hair, you know where I'm coming from. Anyway, it's all gone now. One of these days I'm going to march in there with a bald head and just ask to have my eyebrows done.
I'm terrible about packing, but I'm running out of time so I have to finish. The only knitting I'm taking on my trip is Tink's Twirly Skirt, and I'm taking Porter's & Olmsted Teisberg's book Redefining Health Care. My team at work is hearing Michael Porter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Porter speak on the 31st. If you're all good, I may write on that topic further.
Alright. I guess I'm done here. I'll check in in a couple days. Bye.

Wow. Have some rain...

I forgot to turn the clocks ahead, so it seemed pretty strange when I woke up at 8:30. To help me sleep on weekend mornings, I've been kicking the cats out of my room around 4:30 when they start to stir. Unfortunately Munchie's screaming isn't kept out of the room by the closed door. If it wasn't so disruptive it would be funny. Does anyone know a siamese whisperer? I need an intermediary to tell her to knock it off.

Last weekend was beautiful - so I'm glad I went over to walk around Deer Island. Here are a couple pictures that I promised:

First, the clean harbor memorial. I totally dig this memorial. The inscription reads: The law secures to the people the right to a clean harbor. Indeed. There's our clean harbor in the background.

So here are the new wind turbines I mention last week. I wonder how much of the plant's power is generated on site.




And here is my town. Everthing looked so nice last week, and this week I think the whole place is going to float right into the ocean. No need to worry about my sump pump...it's getting a workout, but unless I lose power for the day, the basement will remain nice and dry.

I have so much to do. I'm going to Chicago on Wednesday for a conference until Friday. It's presented by IHI (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) and the topic is Building a Quality Measurement System That Works. I generally don't talk too much about work because for work I have to use the half of my brain that's not fun OR funny. Anyway, I need to pack. I have to hit Target for travel size stuff, do laundry, and get some food in the house for my friend G (who is staying here w/ the cats for the three days). I'm meeting D and B to drive up to Yarns in the Farms at 12:30 (yes, in a monsoon) so I should head over to the grocery store now. It's just so gross out.

So I finished my bulky sweater. Or, I thought it was done (all my ends were woven in and everything) when I put it on for D to take a picture, and we realized that one sleeve was shorter than the other. Shit. I knew immediately that I had left out a seven round decrease repeat. Such a stupid error. I just counted wrong. Now I have to frog the ribbed cuff, add the stupid seven rows, and reknit the cuff. What a pain; I was so careful about counting my decrease repeats, but oviously not careful enough. Here is the picture - it's the right sleeve that is screwed up.
Yesterday I visited a new yarn store. I'm mentoring my friend J as she knits her first felted bag. She lives out in Maynard, so we had a lovely breakfast in Marlboro, and then hit Knit Purl in Sudbury. http://knitpurlsudbury.com/ Very nice store. I got in and out of there without buying anything - although J was kind enough to buy me a skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted in a beautiful seafoam green. Thanks J!
I have to go to the grocery store, so I'm signing off. Nightmare. Wish me luck.

I finished my hat!

My hat is finished, so here are a couple shots of it w/ Munch thrown in for good measure. Isn't she the cutest? I just gave her some eye medicine, so she ran away. Poor lamb. Her life is so tough.

I picked up all the stitches for the sleeve on my mostly done sweater, so if I work on it for a while today I should get a good portion of it done. I really need to work on my taxes though. I started yesterday, but ran into a snag. Maybe I'll skip to the other sections so that I feel like I'm making progress and come back to the snag part next weekend. I need to give it some thought, and read IRS Publication 527 (2009) again. Maybe I'll do that for fun later.

The Wii was happy to see me this morning, and I'm down another .9 lbs since three days ago. Nothing like a stomach virus to melt the pounds away. My tummy is still a little funny when I try to eat something.

The weather is really nice, and there's not a cloud in the sky. I might head over to Deer Island and take a walk. I was over there yesterday, and they built two wind turbines since the fall. Pretty cool. Maybe I'll take my camera and post pics. Standing at the top of a hill and looking south at the harbor islands, four turbines can be seen - the furthest being Hingham. I'm not sure what the middle one is. So right around here there's one in Chelsea, one in Medford, the two on Deer Island I mentioned, the mystery harbor island turbine, Hingham and the one on the SE Expressway in Dorchester. That's a lot just in the last five years or so.

So. Taxes...Not a cloud in the sky...Taxes...Not a cloud in the sky... I think I'm going out. My neat piles of tax related documentation will be here when I return. Bye!

A hat to match my sweater and how to make a stomach virus sound funny...

So after two days completely down for the count with the norovirus, I'm actually upright. Not sure how long this entry will be - probably not very - but I have an update on my sweater, and a picture of the hat I made to go with. First I'm going to talk about being sick. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/norovirus-qa.htm I can actually talk today - I mean put a string of thoughts together and verbalize them. When I spoke to my doctor's office on Wednesday, this was not the case; I was literally delirious. I knew I was sick, but it was the look of horror on my cleaning lady's face that made me actually hit the speed dial. The woman who cleans my house and her husband are probably the nicest people in the world. A (the woman) doesn't speak much English, so I do all the communicating with L (the husband). She kept asking me if I needed to go to the doctor. Then she said if I needed to go to the doctor to call L. I'd been extremely ill w/ some kind of stomach bug for about 11 1/2 hours at that point, so after she left I called my doctor's office to see if anything was going around. Yes, the norovirus. Your symptoms match exactly. It's everywhere. People have been calling all day. Did you see where five Fitchburg State kids went to the hospital this week? This is what they had. Fuzzy...Fuzzy...yes I saw the ambulances with the Fitchburg State kids on the news. If you can't keep fluids down, you have to go to the hospital. ...stomach cramps...nauseous...can't drink diluted gatorade... If you can't keep fluids down, you have to go to the hospital. ...gatorade...I'll try to drink more gatorade... (And then she starts in with the trick questions) Are you producing urine? ... umm I guess so but not much. What color is it? ...what? I don't know. This conversation is getting waaaay too complicated for me to follow. (And then she goes back to the old standby) If you can't keep fluids down, you have to go to the hospital. (I have absolutely no idea how I left it with my doctor's office, or how I got off the phone, but I might call them today to let them know I didn't die.) I considered calling my friend D to take me in for a bag of fluids, but if I had, she'd be on death's door right about now, so it's probably better I didn't. Yesterday was nearly as bad. A's husband L called first thing to see if I needed to go to the doctor which was really nice, but I declined. I slept on and off all day, and my primary symptom (which I opted to leave out of this entry completely) had run its course by last night after sticking around for about 38 hours. So I guess I'm on the road to recovery. I can't go near anyone because I'm still contagious until 48 hours after the end of my symptoms. I have a terrible stomach ache, and feel sick if I try to eat anything. My headache finally went away, but I'm exhausted, and will need to lay down pretty soon. For a kick yesterday, I hopped on the Wii to check my weight, which was down 2.6 lbs since I checked it two days prior. The Wii suggested maybe I was losing weight too fast. Yeah, I'll say.

So D took this photo of me the other night before the left sleeve was finished. Looks kind of funny with the sleeve on the needles. I like top-down sweaters b/c I can try them on in progress. I might un-bind off the bottom and add two more rows for a smidge of additional length.


This is the hat I made to go with. It only has one of the tassels so far, but I wanted to post a pic. How funny is that...a hat with one tassel and a sweater with one sleeve. I'm feeling too crappy to knit anything today, but maybe I'll knit the sleeve tomorrow since I'll still be in quarantine.
Okay. I'm done. I'm interested in comments re: the hat. Do you think it would be better w/ pom poms? With the tassels, it looks kind of like the sleeping caps men wore in Jane Austen's time. Bye for now.