hollypots

Aaaah...Saturday

2011-08-20T07:34:00.023-04:00

It's 7:30 on Saturday morning, and I'm sitting up at Honda North in either Danvers or Topsfield waiting to have my oil changed and my tires rotated. There is a little snack bar here so I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, which is so good that I wish I had some tomato soup. I used to come up to this neck of the woods all the time, so when I got my car in November, Danvers was very convenient. Now I don't come up here anymore, so it's kind of a pain in the ass. Doesn't matter. Before my current car, I bought my last two Hondas at Herb Chambers, and I'd probably drive to NJ for service before going back there. I like Honda North much better.

Before heading up here this morning, Thor and I went for our ususal walk around the neighborhood. We encountered something that Thor had never seen before, and we can add another item to the list of things that he's afraid of: shopping carts. Some of the other funny things he's afraid of are umbrellas, balloons, tv tables, and those big exercise balls. For a dog that's as big as he is, you'd think he'd be embarrassed to be such a baby. There are three beautiful pointer puppies in my neighborhood that have been out with their owners on walks the last week or two. One is brown, one is black and one is all over gray and white speckled. Their mother is all black as well. Whenever we see them, Thor cries because he wants to go meet them, but I thought it would be wise to wait until they were at least a little bigger before The Moose went over and overwhelmed them. How happy were we this Wednesday when we were able to go say hello?? They are SOOO cute. They are 10 weeks old and their owners are trying to socialize them by having them meet as many dogs and people as possible. Thor is very well socialized w/ other dogs. He goes on walks with his friends every day, and goes to doggie day care one day per week. He did so well with the puppies! He was very gentle and didn't get excited at all. Now if only I could keep him gentle and calm IN the house, I think we'd be on to something.

Next Monday, the 29th, I was scheduled to have the molds done for my Invisalign braces. I would've had my first set of straighteners as soon as I returned from Italy, and in six or seven months, my teeth would've been back in their original locations where they belong. That was the plan. Sadly, I cracked one of my teeth, and I'm about to enter the nightmare zone. I thought I had either chipped a tooth or a filling. I could feel it with my tongue, and it was sensitive to sweet and cold. As time went on (a day or so; not months or years) it became hard to chew on that side, and I have to breathe through my mouth because of the sensitivity to the cold air passing over the tooth. I made an emergency trip to the dentist on Thursday, and was told that I had sheared off part of the tooth and it can't be fixed with a filling. The pain was so bad that they had to turn off the air conditioning so that they could get the x-ray. It turns out that the tooth is cracked and I need another crown. Tuesday morning I'm going in for the prep work on the tooth and the temporary crown. Fun. (Now normally I'd just be annoyed about the situation, pissed about the money and uncomforable and inconvenienced by the sensitivity and pain of the tooth. What's REALLY getting to me is that I can't have my molds done. This pushes back my Invisalign project by at least two months.) At the emergency visit, they put bonder over the defect in the tooth, but it fell off last night when I was brushing my teeth. I guess it's mind over matter until Tuesday at 9AM.

I can see that they just finished my tires, so I think I'm nearly done here. I'll pick this up when I get back home.

So I'm thinking about changing the name/theme of my blog. It's not really about knitting anymore, because I haven't knit anything in months. Until the last couple weeks I hadn't written anything because I was spending so much time with the dog. I'd rather not have it just be about the dog though, either. I don't know. Just a thought. I do have one additional thing to mention about Moose Puppy. Yesterday I stopped by Petco to get the cats a bag of food. I generally grab Thor a chew toy when I'm in there because he goes through them so fast. When I go home, I offered him the new toy, and I plastic milk carton. Which do you think he chose?

Wow. I have Animal Planet playing while I write this, and I just saw the coolest product: an exercise wheel for cats. It seemed like it might be an interesting thing for Munchie and Tubby, so I just checked it out online. Holy Smokes! $800 for a giant hamster wheel. On second thought, no thank you...Tubby will just have to remain tubby.

Hours have gone by since the entry above. Since it didn't rain today, I decided that it was the perfect day for my least favorite thing: working on the house. My front porch faces east. Because Winthrop is a tiny strip of land surrounded by water, it is often damp/humid here. Because the front porch is covered, it doesn't get blasted by the sun like the sides facing south and west, so the paint has grown mildew in some areas. Improving the curb appeal of the porch (excluding the ceiling) is a three step process: bleach and scrub the mildew, paint a coat of Kilz, and then at least one coat of the exterior paint that is on the rest of the house. I did the bleaching, scrubbing, and hosing down today. I'm beat and I smell like Clorox. Hopefully it will be warm and dry for the next few days so that the wood dries out enough to paint. When I paint, I'll be sure to post pictures.

That's it for now...thanks for reading.

Finally...Wireless

2011-08-13T16:57:00.019-04:00

Last year at this time, I was doing blog postings two or three times per week. I had established a routine, and had assembled a small group of loyal readers (led by my mother - Hi Mom), who seemed to find me amusing and interesting enough to read on a regular basis. Then Thor came in February, and I haven't really had much time to write anything since. I got into the habit of spending my evenings with Moose Puppy, and our activities didn't included me sitting upstairs at the computer. I've been meaning to get a wireless router, but it never seems to be at the top of my list when I'm doing errands. Since it happens to be tax-free weekend here in MA, G and I tacked a few extra destinations on our usual Saturday errand route - one of which was Best Buy to get the router. I hooked it up without any difficulty at all, and now all of my problems are solved. (Well, that's a total lie. All of my problems are not solved, but I digress...) I can write on my netbook while keeping the pooch company downstairs.

Right now I'm sitting on his sofa watching The King's Speech while Thor (taking up 3/4 of the sofa) is alternating between chomping on his bone and snoozing. Did you ever notice that Colin Firth always has actors from Pride & Predudice in his films? Just a side note. Okay. Now, for something totally different, The Royal Tenenbaums is the current film selection. I should be able to type faster since I don't have to concentrate on the film as much and plus, Wes Anderson rocks the house.

Last weekend I went up to Wingaersheek Beach to spend some time w/ my dear friend E and her family. E is one of my two best friends from college. I used to visit her at her family's summer home during college, but I hadn't been there in years. It was so beautiful; exactly as I remember. I'm not really much of a beach person, (and I never take my ghostly white, nordic skin out in the sunlight) so the fact that it was raining last week was perfect beach weather for me. When I got there, I found out that we were going clamming. What fun!! (My mother is from Philadelphia, and in the summers when I was little, we used to go to the Jersey shore with our cousins for vacation. The older six of us were all born within 34 months, so we were all basically the same age. Somebody told us how to find quahogs, and so we used to dig for them. When we'd find them, we'd smash them on the hard sand, dig out the clam and throw it up to the seagulls. I remember sometimes the seagulls would miss and the clams would land on people sunbathing on the beach. Now, I'm sure it's hard to imagine me ripping a raw clam out of its shell and throwing up to a seagull, but I did. Great fun for kids.)

When we went out last week it was pouring, so no one else was on the beach. We got off to kind of a slow start because they have to be 5" to be keepers, but things picked up when the tide started to come back in. We ended up with tons. It took E's brother R close to two hours to clean them all. Then E made stuffed clams w/ onion, garlic, salt pork, tabasco, the ground clams and bread crumbs. I generally don't eat fish or shellfish, but I did have half of a stuffed clam.

During the time that I wasn't writing or posting pictures, there was a black crowned night heron baby that was growing up in my biggest tree. Check him out:

This first photo was taken in June. I have these birds every year, and this is the youngest one I've ever seen.

This was taken in July, and he or she had grown into a very handsome teenager.

This was taken just a couple days ago. He's sleeping, but you can see that he's getting big. I think he's full grown at this point, but you can tell by the feathers that he's a juvenile. If he were an adult, he'd be primarily white with some gray and a black head. For more on these birds, check out this link.

During my post last Saturday, I was complaining about the mystery mammal who has been eating all my zucchini flowers. When I was at E's I asked her mother if she knew how I could get varmints to leave the zucchini flowers alone. Her answer was absolutely brilliant. Forget the zucchinis; pick the flowers, dip them in egg, roll them in flour and fry them. Check out a picture of last night's dinner: Fried zucchini flowers at 2:00.

That's pretty much it for today. I'll think of something interesting to write about and post again sometime this week.

I know it's been a while...

2011-07-31T11:32:00.008-04:00

I know I haven't posted an entry in an age. I mean to, but Thor cries when I'm upstairs and Munchie cries when I'm downstairs. No one around here seems willing to leave me alone. I left Thor with the new toy he won as an award at the doggie cookout yesterday, but if he starts to sound too destructive, I'll have to take a break. Hmm. Sounds like he retired to his crate. In an effort to NOT talk about Thor all the time, I'm going to start w/ some other topics and see how far I get. Two months from now I'll be in Italy. I just printed off the #112A bus schedule which goes from Siena to Montepulciano. That's the one that stops in Pienza, which is where we are staying for a week. I think I've posted the link before, but now that it's so close, I'll post it again here . I'm going on a knitting retreat to Tuscany, with the women I've been to the Adirondacks with the last two years. I'm headed over with my friend D, and we're going to hit Amsterdam and Florence on the way there. I guess most of the group is headed to Tuscany via Rome, but I'll take Florence over Rome any day. This will be my 4th trip to Florence, so I know exactly where to go and how to get there without wasting a whole lot of time. D's probably going to want to kill me when we're done, but I'm trying to decide how much can be crammed in a day. Yes to the leather school at Santa Croce, yes to David, maybe a 463 step climb to the top of the Duomo, hopefully the Leonardo da Vinci museum, no to the Uffizi based on time restrictions, but definitely yes to the San Lorenzo Market. I'm almost giddy thinking about it. Luckily I'm getting Invisalign straighteners slapped on my teeth for the next 9 months, or I'd likely spend an obscene amount of cash that day. Yeah, that's it; practicality is better. We have an 18 hour layover in Amsterdam on the way to Florence. We chose that flight so that even w/ getting in an out of customs/security and the train to and from the airport, we'll have enough time to see a bit of the city. D is a photographer and she wanted to do the walking tour of the Red Light District, so that will be the first thing we do. If there's time, I want to do a water tour or at least take a water taxi around for a bit. Neither of us have been to Amsterdam, so the goal will be to take in as much as possible and still get back to the airport in time to catch the flight to Florence.
Yesterday D and I went up to Yarns in the Farms to pay off the balance of the trip. (Shit. Thor is crunching on something... Gotta go.) I'm back. So we went up to YitF, and I haven't been up there lately. To be honest, I haven't knit anything since my dog arrived, and being in the store made me want to knit something. Jill had the CUTEST skirt on - I loved it. She said we might do them as projects while on the trip, so that's cool. Hopefully I can use some yarn I already have. Some of you might remember that I moved all the yarn into it's own bedroom, but I couldn't stand looking at all of it, so I moved it all back up into the attic. Too much. Even I realize it's too much.
I have a gift certificate to YitF which I didn't even spend...I'm trying to get in a zero spending frame of mind now that I'm going to have my teeth moved around. I get my payment plan on Aug 15th, and I can't wait for that day, I'll tell you. I decided to not get my teeth done at the megapractice where I normally go; I went with the Orthodontist here in town even though the price quote was higher. I think my dentist may've been pissed, but the practice is bumming me out lately, and I'm thinking we may not be such a good fit. We might even be headed for a break-up. Sigh.
Wow. Not a single photo yet. I'll fix that right now. When I planted the seeds for my garden this spring, a lot of them didn't take. The day after I planted them, it looked like the local wildlife had dug them up, but I hoped for the best. When I ended up with one pea plant, one bean plant and one zucchini plant, I realized I'd indeed been robbed. Not to worry - I scampered over to Home Depot and filled in with plants. I have zucchini, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, (I thought I'd try...) a watermelon plant, green onions, two kinds of lettuce, (I thought I'd go WAY out there and try...) an artichoke plant, and my ususal six tomato plants, which always do very well here. Damn artichoke brought the slugs back, but they are leaving everything else alone, so they can have it. The bigger problem is my zucchinis, yellow squash and cucumbers. Look at this lovely zucchini flower here to the left. I've had tons of flowers, but no zucchini babies. Upon closer inspection yesterday, I noticed that all the flowers are being eaten.

Click on this picture and notice how the stem (dead center) has been chomped by the local varmints. I don't know why I even do this to myself every year. At least the tomatoes are going like gang busters. I had tomatoes into November last year.

As I briefly mentioned, yesterday G, Thor and I went to a doggie cookout at Leash Love, which is my walking, boarding and doggie daycare provider. It was a riot. Probably 20 or so dogs in all, most of which were greyhounds. This is my favorite photo of the day. The little boy's name was Val, and he was a real cutie. He had pepperoni in his hand, and the dogs were all over him like a new suit. Thor is the moose in the right foreground. Yes, he's sitting, but don't let that fool you. He's not as well behaved as he looks. During the cookout there were contests for the dogs, but they were easy enough that he even placed in one: tail wagging. He's a big, happy boy; I'll give him that.

In this photo, they had set up nine bowls in a line. They were to be filled with water for bobbing for hot dogs. Thor went down the entire row and checked every bowl for food. You'd think he had never eaten before, I swear.

They didn't give an award for eating ice cream (actually frozen yogurt), but if they did, he would've won it. He polished off his, and then moved on to everyone else's. A fun day was had by all, and he snored the entire way home. I was going to write about a couple other things, but I've been at this for a while, so I'm going to sign off. I know people who were regular readers have inquired as to when I fell off the planet, so I wanted to get an entry in. Right before I post this, I'll post an entry I wrote in May (after Munchie bit me) but never posted. It is a mildly amusing description of...well, I'll let you read it if you're so inclined. Thanks for stopping by.

The Story of Munchie and my Finger...

2011-05-25T12:38:00.014-04:00

I wrote this entry in May but never posted the draft. When I re-read it, I thought it was kind of amusing, so I'll post now before today's entry. It ends abruptly where I left off...

It is Wednesday, and I've been home sick all week. The dog was just picked up to go to day care for the afternoon, so I can actually sit at my computer and get some stuff done. I haven't written an entry in so long, that it would be nearly impossible to recount everything I've done since I last wrote. Plus, the last week has been so action packed, that I think I'll start there.

This is a photo of Munchie, sitting on my shoulder last year. She is a beautiful Lavender Oriental Shorthair, which is like a Siamese with green eyes, no points and the color of a Weimaraner. She is fancy; her entire name is Sinergia's Princess Violet of Tlu. She is a little thing (Munchkin), and she eats pretty much anything, so she earned the nickname Munchie. She led a pretty charmed life until February, when I brought a new member into the family. That would be Thor (which is pronounced "Tor".) Thor is a big baby, and he either gets along with or is afraid of everything. Except the cats. Sadly, Thor and the cats cannot even be on the same floor together. The cats now live upstairs, which is separated from the first floor by a baby gate half way up the steps. Munchie doesn't like being banished to the upstairs and she screams her brains out (Siamese), and pees on everything (well, not everything...just my bedding and my clothing) to show her displeasure. Anyway, I was having enough issues with Munchie even BEFORE last week's incident; I didn't really need another pain in the ass, but that's exactly what I got.

I have an awesome Swedart bracelet which I wear all the time. I got it at the Swedish Yuletide Festival a couple years ago. They are made by the Sami people (in Lapland) out of reindeer leather, spun pewter and shed reindeer antlers. Because I wear it nearly everyday, the bracelet doesn't often make it into my jewelry box. It is kept in my bedside table drawer. Now, Munchie also likes this particular bracelet; she thinks it's quite a tasty chew-toy. She knows the bracelet is in the drawer, and she can open the drawer and grab the bracelet herself. Bad kitty. So. Normally I get up about 6AM to get ready for work and walk the dog. Last Monday I awoke about 4:30, got up to use the bathroom and came back to bed. As I mentioned, Thor stays downstairs and the cats sleep with me. Because I had about an hour and a half before I had to be up, I had every intention of falling back to sleep. I only made it to the mostly asleep stage. Munchie was trying to get into the bedside table drawer and she was making enough of a fuss that I was aware of it. I rolled over and with my right hand and pushed the drawer closed. On her paw. I initially thought that I'd closed my finger in the drawer as well, but in hindsight, it doesn't seem very likely. She lets out a scream and bites me - HARD. (Hard enough that I thought I'd slammed my finger in the drawer.) In the time it took to sit up and look at my finger (a couple seconds), there was already blood on my sheets, my rug and my floor. Uh oh. Jesus. So I'm making my way to the bathroom, and I'm trying to make sense of what just happened. I put my hand over the sink, and I'm looking at two punctures - one of which is pumping blood. I run it under water a couple times, but each time it just keeps bleeding. Time to call in reinforcements. So I go knock on G's door, wake her up, and ask her to come out and help me. By the time she gets to the bathroom, I was resting my head on my forearm, and my hand was in the sink. She thought I had a bloody nose, but when I looked at her, it was obvious that my face was not bleeding. G: "What did you do??" Me: "Munchie bit me." We cleaned it really well with hydrogen peroxide and she squished my finger w/ a washcloth until it stopped bleeding. I then hopped in the shower and washed it some more with dial soap. It was in the shower that I realized I had two more punctures on the underside of my finger. Applied Neosporin and bandaids, taped it to the next finger over, packed it in ice and went to work. I work for a healthcare organization, so there are a lot of people around with clinical backgrounds. It was decided that I should call my doctor as soon as his office opened, and I was sitting in front of him exactly 12 hours after the bite occurred. The wounds were really clean and looked good. He put me on seven days of prophylactic antibiotics, and said he didn't think I'd have any problems. (I should probably mention that I'm allergic to penicillin. Cats carry some really gross bacteria in their mouths, so they had to put me on two drugs to cover the spectrum of shit that passed from Munchie's mouth to my finger. If I could've taken penicillin, my story probably would've ended right there.) So out of the office I went - to fill my prescriptions and relate the story of Munchie - the cat who'll eat anything - to everyone I encountered. It was still pretty amusing at this point - or at least I thought so. So fast forward to Wednesday. I get up, look at my finger, and ooh - that doesn't look so good. I hadn't been able to bend my finger since the bite occurred, but now it was noticably swollen and red and hot. So I take my finger to work for a second opinion, and the concensus is that I should call the doctor. They make me come back to the office, where I see a second doc b/c mine is not there that day. New doc tells me that yes, my finger is infected, but I pretty much already knew that. He tells me that the only thing worse than a cat bite is a human bite. He does some painful probing which I don't really need to get into, and says that I don't need to see a surgeon that day (WHAT??) but I need to come back the next day. That takes us to last Thursday, when I saw my usual doctor again. Sure enough, my finger is still not so good. We didn't need to open her up, but we did switch to what I've been calling "napalm antibiotics" (Bactrim and Clindamycin for those of you keeping score). The list of side effects of these abx is long, and by the time I got back to the doctor Monday (for my fourth visit) I was so sick from the meds that I couldn't even go in to work AND I'd lost seven pounds. The absess had pretty much cleared up, but I can't come off the abx - I have to take the full course. As far as my other symptoms: I agreed to the stool sample, passed on the internal and departed with another prescription and what little dignity I had left. Today is Wednesday, and I'm still sick. I suppose it's to be expected because I'm still on the Clindamycin. They now have me on a diet of bananas, rice, applesauce, broth and gatorade. I could have toast, but as a rule I don't eat bread. (If you ever come to stay at my house, bring your own bread or you'll be eating knackebrod. Seriously. Ask my mother...she brings her own bread.) Anyway, if I don't get better, I'll have to go back to the office to be retested for a nasty GI bug called C-Diff, which is a side effect of the Clindamycin. I'm hoping to pass on that. I'm ten days out, and my four puncture wounds are in various stages of healing, but they're all still quite visible. I keep waiting, but Munchie hasn't apologized yet.

Thor update...it's been a crazy few weeks.

2011-03-20T08:37:00.011-04:00

I've meant to post a bunch of times since Thor got here, but it's been really hard to get away from him so that I could sit down at the computer and write. The cats are living upstairs, and every time he comes up here, he gets into it with Tubby. She just swiped him across the nose so he has settled down under my desk at my feet...for now. I'll try to get in as much as possible, but may have to jump off quickly if another offensive starts.
Thor is great. Everyone who meets him abolutely loves him, and he's a really good boy. The problem (and there always is one) is that he doesn't get along with the cats. As I've mentioned NUMEROUS times, Tubby is a bully. She's just awful. The first time I brought Thor home, she wouldn't let him in the house. She literally blocked the front door and wouldn't let him come in. When he was finally in the house and we were making our initial tour of the first floor, she attacked from the rear by jumping on his back. Welcome home Thor.
The first day was a little rough, actually. I've never had a dog before, I don't have kids, and I don't take care of anyone besides myself (well, a little bit when my father was dying, but not what I'm about to relate). If I'm being honest, I have limited experience with certain bodily functions and accidents related to said functions. Okay. So Thor came from Arkansas, which was a two day drive. The men who drove him up said that he hadn't been drinking much during the trip, he hadn't peed and he hadn't taken care of other business. This other business issue wasn't really surprising because of the stress related to the trip. I took water when I went to pick him up and got him to drink. I walked him when we got home and he peed, so I'm thinking "I've got this." No prob. We then come into the house where he is NOT welcomed by the cats and then attacked from behind. I make the mistake of removing his leash so he can get a feel for the smell of Chateau Hol, and he wanders into the dining room and shits everywhere. Bad. Really bad. Now I am the first one to admit that I was totally unprepared for it, but now that I know him better, I have to say in my own defense that what happened in the dining room was not just healthy defecation in an inappropriate location. So here we go...are you ready? (*Edit note: Gina DID offer to clean up the mess, but I knew I would have to deal with this eventually and would not accept her offer of assistance. Thanks G.*) Hol goes into the dining room and immediately begins to gag. Mind racing, I don't even know how to begin, but I'm going to have to come up with something. Gag. Gag. My room mate G had Thor in the living room saying, "If you can't clean up after this dog, we're going to have to give him back." I was pacing around (while gagging) trying to come up with a plan. Okay. Doggie poopie pick-up bags...I'll start there. I get the bags, go back into the dining room and throw up everywhere. No joke. Thor's accident was eclipsed by my own. Now I'm mostly crying. I wail, "G....I threwww uppppp!!!!" She says, "I'm out of here. It's all you." and takes Thor outside. (*Edit note: Oddly, G didn't offer to clean up after I puked all over the place...*) Yes, you heard it here first. This is what really went on the day I got my first dog. Believe me, Thor seems no worse for wear, but the experience has left me scarred.

So here are a couple decent pictures of him. Doesn't he look sweet? I had him to the vet yesterday and he's tipping the scales at a solid 77 lbs. I think he's a big baby, but it turns out that my cleaning lady is afraid of dogs and won't come in the house if he's here. That's a problem. I decided that on the days the cleaning lady comes, I'd send him to doggie day care. Good plan...unless it's raining. He was all set up to go on a field trip last Wednesday so that it wouldn't interfere with her coming to do the house. She's scheduled to come at noon. The day care calls at 9:30 to tell me his field trip is cancelled because it's raining. What? Now, I'm sitting in a cubicle in Needham, nowhere near a window, and I say, "It's raining? Was it supposed to rain today?" And then panic sets in. Oh god. My cleaning lady is supposed to come today. That is a whole 'nother thing. She doesn't speak English, so all communication is relayed through her husband. The whole concept of doggie field trip being cancelled due to rain is totally lost on him, so I'm pretty sure they think I'm insane. I think the main issue is that I'm just not used to the additional layer of logistics yet. I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end of the pool and I don't know how to swim. As far as the house goes, no need to fret. I took him on a field trip yesterday so the house could be cleaned in our absence; it looks decent right now. Thor is as messy as about five people I think.
There are so many more things I wanted to write about, but I have to leave for a baby shower in an hour and I need to find something to wear. I was hoping to write about my terrifying trip to Babies-R-Us, but I'll save that for later...except for one thought. If you ever want to have an anxiety attack, go in Babies-R-Us. Jesus. It's like the friggin' Costco of baby shit. It's a whole world I've never been a part of, and the store practically makes me twitch.
I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but I haven't knit much of anything since Thor got here...
Bye for now!

Blatherings before the dog gets here...

2011-02-26T09:24:00.006-05:00

This post is probably going to be all over the map. I'm really excited because Thor is coming today, and a blog post will keep me in my seat until we leave to go get him. Since my last post, I took the cats to the vet for their annual physicals. That's a comedy show right there. Munchie did pretty well - I need to take her to see an opthamologist, but I knew that going in. Things took a turn for the worse when Tubby's was on the table. I've probably mentioned that she is miserable. She likes me (she's sitting here on the desk with me as I write this), but she hates everyone else and she doesn't like anyone to touch her. Sadly, going to the vet involves touching. She does not allow me to clip her claws, so once a year we show up to the vet with razor sharp talons growing out of her paws and I ask them to take care of it. So there we are at the beginning of the exam with the vet on the front end and me blocking her back end so she couldn't escape. She's taking swings at the vet left and right, and before you can say band-aid, she caught him in four spots on one arm/hand and one spot on the other arm. They looked like fairly bad scratches, but what happened next was unbelievable. Turns out my vet is recovering from a heart attack and is taking an anti-coag. He starts bleeding, and before long it looks like he'd put his hand though a window. He's trying to deal with the cat while reaching for a 4" x 4" and a tourniquet...kidding...yes on the gauze, no on the tourniquet. Finally they dragged her miserable ass out back. From the exam room, my roommate and I heard one of the techs say, "Take your meds this morning Dr. X?" Nothing to do but cringe...
On Wednesday I picked up a really pretty scarf at a thrift shop in Needham. I've worked in Needham for 2 1/2 years, and although I know where all the surrounding yarn shops are, I didn't realize it was such a mecca for thrift shops until a colleague invited me to go with her during lunch. Anyone who has ever seen me in person knows I have a thing about colors and matching. It's just one of my glitches; I can't explain it. The scarf is woven and has turquoise and light aqua running through it. (What a surprise.) Anyway, in my neverending quest to corner the market on Uggs and flip flops, I scampered home and bought something to match the scarf (as if I didn't have something to match the scarf already).

So exciting...can you stand it?

So here they are! The scarf and a pair of boots to go with.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm knitting the Knotty but Nice hat by Natalie Larson, which has a kick ass cable in it. I'm going to give it to my friend K, who is going to look quite dashing I'm sure. I'm putting up a picture of the hat in progress, and a picture of the chart. I was having a little trouble following the chart, so I had the brilliant idea to color the different cables (there are six variations) with colored pencils so I can tell at a glance what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Works like a charm. Not sure why I didn't think of this sooner.

I was hoping to finish this hat last night - or at least get through the cable and start decreasing for the crown. I shouldn't jinx myself. Like an idiot, I put on a movie that totally distracted me (Clash of the Titans, which sucked), I made an error, and spent TWO HOURS tinking back to the F-up and correcting it. I saw a cartoon once that said you can't read a chart and watch a film with subtitles at the same time. Probably should've considered that and put on Sense and Sensibility or some such.

So here are a couple pictures of Thor's stuff. His crate is half way between the dining room and the living room. It seems like a pretty big crate, but he's tipping the scale at a solid 75 lbs at this point, so it should be a good fit. Here are his new leash and matching collar which will look awesome against his brown coat. (It's that matchy-matchy thing again - but I have a new color palette to work with.) We've got a bunch of errands to run before we get on the road, so I'm going to sign off. I expect my upcoming entries will relate to socializing pets that want no part of it. I'll be sure to take pictures of THAT. Bye for now...

The Word of the Day is...WOOF

2011-02-20T09:05:00.012-05:00

I'm back. Second post in a week. Trying to get back on track with the entries, but it's hard. I had plans today that got cancelled, so with the exception of going out for milk this morning and getting gas later, I don't have anyplace to be or anything to do. Yay! This is probably going to be a long one, because I have SO much to talk about. I'm going to start with the newest addition to the fam. As you all know, I've been mother to a collection of fancy cats for about the last 20 years. I love Siamese and Orientals. If you've never met one, they are like a dog in the body of a cat. Orientals are hysterically funny, but they are loud, they are clingy and they are manipulative. Here's Munchie helping me frog a sweater, and hanging out at the window. I can't find a decent picture of Tubby right now, but she's a black Domestic Shorthair, she's really fat and she has a miserable disposition. If you've met her, most likely you've been bitten by her, right? She only likes me. So anyway, I've wanted a dog for a long time, but didn't think I could swing it due to my long hours. Now that my room mate G moved back in, I started thinking seriously about it because she and I work opposite hours. On Thursday I finally got word that everything is a go. Next Saturday I will be the proud owner of Thor, who is pictured here on the left. He is a rescue dog, and he is coming up from AR. (It should surprise no one that I first clicked on him because of his name. G was just reading my old blogs and reminded me that a few months back I named the water heater at the condo Thor, so the water heater's new name is Ulrik. Yes, it's true; I'm drawn to all names Viking, but that's a story for another day.) According to the woman who has had him for the last seven months, he's a big (70 lbs), sweet, baby. I have so much to do between now and next Saturday. Crate, bed, leash, harness, collar, bowls, toys. I already picked up 40 lbs of food, which is enough to get started and I made his first vet appt for March 19th. Speaking of the vet, I'm taking the cats there tomorrow for their annuals. Munchie has had a problem (a herpes virus, actually) with one of her eyes since she was born, and at her appt last year it was recommended that she see a kitty opthamologist. I've never quite gotten around to THAT $900 appointment, so my vet is probably going to give me shit about it. Munchie doesn't like anyone fussing with her eye, she doesn't like medicine in her food, medicine in her eye (we tried that for years, literally) or wet washcloths on her face. With the exception of the fact that it looks bad, it doesn't seem to bother her. Anyway, Thor is a mix, but I can't tell from his puppy pics online or the new pics shown here what he's a mix of. Any thoughts? I'm thinking Lab and Pit Bull Terrier. H - what do you and K think? I expect it's going to be a rocky few months here at Hol's. Probably Munchie will adjust better than Tubby, who will probably take up permanent residence under my bed...
So G is recovering nicely from her surgeries. She still has minimal use of her hands, but she's been off the pain killers since mid-day Friday, so she's completely clear headed. My friend D is having rotator cuff surgery (UGH) in May, so I'm taking the day off to do the surgical escort thing again, then she'll be camped out on my couch for a couple days. G thinks I should start a service - Hol's Home Healthcare. It's actually pretty funny because I'm the least nurturing person on the planet. D was awesome to me when my foot was broken most of 2008. I was totally non weight bearing on crutches for 7 (yes, seven) months, and D kept me company and drove me everywhere I needed to go. My mother also deserves a shout out as she was with me for my bone graft surgery and recovery, which in my limited recollection, was a horror show. (Just tried to find a lights-are-on-but-no-one's-home pic of Holly on dilaudid, but the disc is missing in action. Probably for the best.) If D needs to camp out on my couch post-op, she can stay as long as she'd like.
The other day I was looking for a fun, quick project to knit, and decided on this hat. I'm only an inch and a half in but here's a pic. It's in Cascade 220 in a dark teal. I've got 17 100 gr skeins of this because I started to knit a coat with it. The coat took so long - I probably worked on it on and off for a year and a half - that I got bored and frogged it. Now I have a ton of this teal in my stash. I'm probably going to do Bella's mittens in it as well. Hopefully the teal isn't so dark that you can't see the cables. I think it'll be okay.
Wow. I hope this isn't as exhausting to read as it is to write... This is the last thing and I'll finish up. I own a print and small original by an artist named Tom Barnes. He paints primarily long-necked ladies dressed in bright colors. I decided that I wanted to spend part of my tax refund (that I don't actually have yet, ha!) on another small painting, so I called him and he painted something for me. He sent some images and I picked the coloring of one and the composition of another, blah blah blah. So here is a picture of the painting (not yet signed). I should have her sometime this week. He named her Holly and I didn't even have to ask. She will be hung next to or above Celeste, who is pictured below.
Okay, that's going to do it for today. Hope everyone enjoys the long President's day weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

And you thought I'd never post again...Silly.

2011-02-15T16:01:00.008-05:00

Wow. I haven't posted since December 18th. That's bad. I have way too much going on in my life, and I'm not sure how to resolve it. I know one thing, I spend WAY to much time commuting, and I could do without it. Even in the new car, it's just grim. Didn't work today though. My room mate G had her wrists done (carpal tunnel release), so I took the day off to help her deal with that. She just took a pain killer, and it's lights out for about the next four hours I'm guessing. She had her surgery at MGH, where we are both employed. She's at the hospital proper, but I'm at the corporate level offsite. This was the first time I was actually there WITH a patient; it was nice to not be having surgery today, as I've had so many. Here is a photo of her left wrist - the right looks exactly the same. It is amazing that the work is done now w/ such as small incision. No stitches, no band-aid, just glue to hold the incision together. There might be internal stitches though. I should've asked. I obviously totally dig this stuff. Since I had time while she was in surgery, I wandered up to see if the Ether Dome was open. I've tried to see it before, but there was a conference going on, so I couldn't get in. If you are not familiar with the role that MGH played in the history of anesthesia, the Ether Dome was the site of the first demonstration of Ether used to knock someone out for surgery. The room is very cool, and it is a National Historic Landmark.

This painting called Ether Day hangs up there. It is kind of a crappy pic, but you can google it if you want to see a better image.
There is also a little museum up there, but I won't continue to bore you with the history of MGH.

The only problem with hanging around a hospital all day long, is that the temp in there is about 80 degrees. No joke. I couldn't take it. I ended up walking around outside for about 45 minutes, where the temp was a much more tolerable 20.

So today I was wearing this cowl that started off as a scarf called Celine by John Brinegar. (It's Brown Sheep Burly Spun on size 13 needles. Once I got it done, I couldn't help myself - I had to put in a single twist and sew it up. For Hol, it's all about the cowl.) Anyway, If I'd had 10 of these things with me today I could've sold them all. It was incredible. Nearly everyone in the whole surgical department said something about it - like 20 women. Obviously I need to be in the super huge cowl business. That and nut brittle.

Just finished this for my mother. It is Blue Heron Rayon Chenille in colorway Flax. Clearly not my color, as I look like a corpse. But it'll be better on her.

Those of you who've been with me for a while might remember that my condo was flooded last March when the drunk that was living in the unit above mine unknowingly split his toilet tank when he fell on it. Well, it only took 11 months, but the multiple insurance companies that have been fighting over this have finally agreed that I am to be paid! Can you imagine? Repairs can actually begin! I was over there with the contractor this morning. I don't know the timeframe, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Now a whole 'nother headache begins.

Okay, I'm blathering on and on, so this is the last thing I'll talk about, and then I'm going to go make some chili. I've been trying to raise orchids for about four years now. What I primarily do is buy them when they're in bloom, then when they go out of bloom, I watch them remain dormant ad nauseum. I received an orchid as a holiday gift last year that was in bloom from the third week of December until the middle of June. Nearly six months!! It's been hanging out since last summer, but it just started a shoot that is going to bloom. Pretty cool, right?

I was so excited that I just ran out and bought another orchid, which is here in pink. Now I think I have the pink, the one that has the shoot (white) a dormant yellow, and two that have been dormant so long that I don't even remember color they are.

Okay, I think that'll just about do it. There are a few other things that I could write about, but I think I'll save them for next time. Here's wishing my cousin P a speedy recovery, as she has been under the weather of late. That's it. Thanks for stopping by.

New Project Alert

2010-12-18T07:02:00.003-05:00

I've been taking a break from knitting for about a month to save my sanity. I have so much other stuff going on that I just can't deal with my projects. On top of everything else, this week I had to cram two 60 minute physical therapy appointments into a schedule with zero free bandwidth. This will be an ongoing addition so that I can deal with my hips. Sadly, the only time I have available for PT is 6:30 in the morning, so I have to leave the house at 5:45 to make it there on time. (Yes, really.) I'm enduring my second raging case of bilateral trochanteric bursitis in three years. I have arthitis in my hips, and the recurring bursitis is secondary. Pain in the ass...but not exactly.

Anyway, I received a gift certificate to a yarn store near my office on Thursday, and poking around the store made me want to start a new project. I currently have only one active thing on the needles - Janis Joplin Jacket by Jill Stover. I'm getting really concerned b/c my Stay-Put Wrap by Mags Kandis (WIP) is missing, and I think my cleaning lady threw it out...or else she hid it really well. Total bummer. Anyway, I didn't spend the gift certificate. I decided to pick out a pattern first and see if I could use yarn in my stash. The winning pattern is Tenley by Mona Schmidt, and I had enough of the Briggs & Little Atlantic already. Wow. Shopping in my own yarn store - what a concept. I can use the gift certificate on the needles I need, as the pattern calls for a 40" size 9 , and I don't have one laying around. I did my gauge swatch last night, so I'm serious...I'm doing it. I'll keep you posted.

On Thursday I contacted a breeder in Texas who is looking for a permanent home for a retired stud. His name is GC Felitan Windtalker of Eireannach and I want this cat. Windtalker. He's a Blue Oriental male, and would be a nice playmate for my Lavender Oriental female, Sinergia's Princess Violet of Tlu (aka Munchie). He is stunning; I just love his face. I haven't heard anything back yet, so I hope he's still available. I'll keep you posted on that as well. I'm pretty sure there's a disappointment in my future on this one. I've been trying to find a breeder who has blues, and it's not as easy as you'd think.

Gotta scram. I have about 20 things to do this weekend, including making at least two batches of pecan/almond brittle. I only make it around the holidays, and it's spectacular if I do say so myself. Just one more example of me missing my calling. I should be in the peanut brittle business. Thanks for stopping by!

Off the needles...

2010-12-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

Ultra short post tonight, but I wanted to post my finished object!

I finally finished the Cable and Lace Sweater I made for my friend J. I gave it to her on Sunday, and it fit her perfectly! Doesn't she look great?? I love this sweater, but I've made it twice so I don't think I'll be knitting it again. Now I need to do some quick holiday gifts and finish up my Janis Joplin Jacket!

Since last March (in addition to knitting), I've been working with Donald Trump's newest company, the Trump Network. There was a great article in today's Boston globe, which you can read here. I really haven't talked too much about it, but it's starting to get really exciting. If you're interested in finding out about it, please click here to visit my website. If you have any questions or want additional information, please feel free to get in touch. It's a great opportunity to make a part time income in addition to what you're doing now.

Munchie and I are off to bed, but we'll check in again soon! Bye for now.

I'm back...

2010-11-28T10:39:00.010-05:00

After a month's vacation from blogging, I'm back. I've been insanely busy, and things were starting to get out of control. That is not to say that things are completely IN control now, but at least I'm not trying to put out fifty fires simultaneously.

The last time I did an entry, I showed the steps I took to make a circular needle holder. The first thing I want to do is put up a couple photos of how awesome it looks and how perfectly it works! It's hiding behind my bedroom door, so I don't even see it unless I go looking for a needle.

How cool is that? Yeah. Very.

As you may or may not remember, I bought my sister's VW Beetle about 8 weeks ago when she bought a new Mini Clubman. Unbeknownst to either of us, eight weeks was the remaining life span of this particular bug.

Here it is on the day before it is to be turned in to Honda North in Danvers. I can only hope it lasts another day. G and I always go to the grocery store on Sunday mornings, and we laughed the whole way to Market Basket in Chelsea with this buggy piece of crap stuck in second gear. It shifts better when it warms up, but it is on it's last leg...or should I say wing?

So here is the official debut of my new car, which will be picked up tomorrow after work...
Some people are just Honda people, and I guess I'm one of those. This last eight weeks was just a blip in an otherwise brand-loyal life.

I'm finishing up a sweater for my friend J, who is coming over to try it on at 2PM. Technically is was a holiday gift from LAST year, but I just couldn't bring myself to make it. The problem is that I already made this exact same sweater in this exact same yarn. It is the Cable and Lace Pullover by Cecily Glowik MacDonald in Dream in Color Groovy - Burmuda Teal. I made one for myself last year but it looked much better on my sister H so I gave it to her. It turned out really well, so I decided to knit one up for my friend J. OMG. It's been like pulling teeth. What I learned is that even if a project is totally fun the first time I do it, it is unbearable to knit it again. Here are a few pics.

All the seams are done - just need to finish off the neckline.

How cute is Munchie?

A couple last things, and then I'll finish up. A super huge - but slightly belated - congratulations go out to my friend K and his partner D on their recent engagement!! K had the most beautiful rings made, as you can see in the picture. I'm so proud to live in a state where anyone who chooses to can get married. All the best, you guys!

Warning: A lot of swear words to follow:

And now for something totally different... Last Saturday evening I was hanging out with my roommate G and my friend D when my BlackBerry buzzed to alert me to an incoming text. Not many people text me. Actually, there are four and one of them was in the room with me. So I pick up my phone and read the following text (verbatim): WHO R YOU AND WHO TOLD YOU TO TEXT ME IM NOT A BITCH OR GOLDDIGGER HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNO WHO U ARE? Well I have to say, I was a little surprised by this. I'm not used to people just randomly sending me texts in which they yell at me. I didn't recognize the number of the person who sent it, and after showing it to my friends, sent back the following text: I think you have the wrong number asshole. But you definitely gave us a good laugh. Thanks. Well! Can you guess what happened next? This anonymous person sent me another text, which was much funnier than the first one: FUCK YOU IMMATURE MOTHER FUCKER GET A LIFE LOW LIFES! I hate it when people don't use proper punctuation, don't you? I considered writing back to inquire how far an 8th grade education will get a person in this day and age, but thought better of it. I went to Verizon.com and blocked the number instead.

And lastly, here is my Christmas cactus, which is blooming right on schedule. I can't believe that the holidays are here already.

I'll try to make an effort to check in again soon. Have fun shopping!!

The Boston Militia and Circular Needle Holders...

2010-10-31T11:28:00.010-04:00

I've lived in the Boston area since the Spring of '94. Until yesterday I didn't realize that Boston had its own women's professional football team, the Boston Militia. Not only that, they are the 2010 Independent Women's Football League Champions! (Why didn't I know this? Is it because it's more important for me to know that Charlie Sheen is the world's biggest loser? Apparently so.) *Edit - The media thinks so, not me.* Anyway, one of my business partners is a wide receiver on the team, and they just picked up their championship rings on Friday night. I generally don't mention people by name in my blog, but in this case I would like to send my hugest congratulations out to Ginger Snow. You ladies Rock! I'm going to a game next year...who's with me??

How cool is this ring?

And now I move to the more mundane aspects of my life. Both the car and the H2O heater over at the loft have been repaired. I had to run over to adjust the water temperature, so I took my camera with me to continue the documentation of every aspect of my existence.

Here is my new water heater, which I have named Thor. (The old one was named Osvaldo b/c I was obsessed w/ traveling to Italy when I moved in there in '04. My fourth trip to Italy is planned for next fall, so Italy has been covered. My current obsession is moving to a new geographic and ancestral theme...Sverige.) Jag vilja min vatten varmeapparat till verk. Ja, Svenska. The only word I didn't know this that sentence was the word for heater (I want my water heater to work). Not too shabby.

Lastly, I'm going to talk about the circular needle holder I made this morning. I saw something like this somewhere recently, but I can't remember where, and I couldn't find it when I searched for it online. If anyone has seen it, please let me know and I will give proper credit in my next post.

The materials needed are one D-ring, about a yard of grosgrain ribbon, needle, thread, hot glue gun, binder clips, a measurement tool of some sort, and buttons for decoration if desired.

First I measured where I wanted the clips to go - I put mine 3 1/2 inches apart - and then hot glued the binder clips to the ribbon.

My clips are glued so that I can open them for use on large needles. If you look closely, you'll see that the clips are different shades of blue with decorations on them. I got them at Staples, and if I wasn't such a freak about everything being blue, I would've bought the less expensive black ones.

Completed and hanging on the wall. I just threw a couple needles on there for display purposes. I'll measure all my circulars and put them in the appropriate binder clips, then post a pic next time.

That's it for today. Still working on getting the house organized since my room mate G moved back in last weekend. I'm making some real progress...I'll keep you posted. Happy Halloween!

Janis update...

2010-10-24T18:23:00.005-04:00

This will be a short post. I know I haven't checked in lately, but I've been crazed. I've had a bunch of trouble with my new car, the heat in the house hasn't been working, my room mate G moved back in yesterday after a year away, and now the water heater in the condo is shot. Sadly, I can't be in three places at once, because I think that would solve all my problems. Then again, maybe not.
There's not really too much I can say about the car. Everytime I mention it to anyone they start laughing, and frankly, I don't really think it's funny anymore. I'll need to tow it to the VW dealership in Braintree tomorrow morning to be there at 7AM. I made the appointment yesterday when my car had issues but would at least start and was driveable. This morning, I got the click, click, click of a car that has no intention of starting. I only have basic AAA, so it's going to cost me $45 to haul it down to Braintree and then I have to rent a car. Awesome. Of course this pales in comparison to the giant pain in the ass it's going to be for the plumbers who will have to replace the water heater in the condo tomorrow. The water heater is in a storage area above the bathroom and they'll have to climb 10 feet up a ladder to get there. I don't know how they'll get the old one down or the new one back up. The only other thing I have to say about the stupid water heater is that it was installed in Feb '04 and had a six year warranty. Do the math, and then ask me about the black cloud that is perpetually over my head.
On a brighter note, check this out:

New thermostat installed by moi! It has been freezing in this house, but I've had too much other crap to deal with to get it fixed. I actually thought the hvac was broken, but D suggested that I just get my butt over to Home Depot and try fixing it myself before calling in the cavalry. My furnace is gas, so it kicked on even before I turned the electricity back on. I yelled up to G, "Hey G - you smell that?" She said, "Yeah, what is it?" "It's HEAT!"

This post isn't quite as short as I thought it would be.
Ready for the Janis update? This was what it looked like when I got back from the Adirondacks. The strip in the middle is the waistband.

G just took this pic of me. I'm about to start the neck shaping and then move on to the front. It's a cardigan, so obviously there are two front pieces. I might do the sleeves next to get them out of the way.

I'll keep you posted, but now I need to scoot. My sister H suggested I take a little time off from knitting to address some other issues in my life. I think I might actually take her advice...

Bye for now.

Knitting Weekend...Too Many Pictures!

2010-10-14T16:59:00.022-04:00

We were in Keene Valley, NY (Adirondacks) for the long weekend. It is so beautiful there, and the weather was amazing the entire time. We were there last year over Columbus Day weekend also, but next year we're going here: http://www.tenutasantopietro.com/

So this is the stuff I took for four days and three nights. Trust me - I basically wore the same clothes. It's all yarn.

In case we didn't bring enough yarn, there was plenty there for us to buy. It's very important to have options, and believe it or not, people forgot things and needed to swing by the "shop" on the piano.

This is a yarn bomb left over from last year's mischief. Over the kitchen sink looking out to the porch. There was another item hanging from the fireplace mantle. The other 10 or so had been removed (including the wrap job I did on one of the floor lamps). We did not bomb the house this year. I'm sure the family is relieved.

The first class was on beaded buttons for necklaces. Unfortunately for me, this was based on a crochet skillset which I don't possess. Plus I'm left handed and the class was being taught in right. I almost bagged it early on, but I stuck it out and did okay.

Here is my bead/button mostly done. I need to try to make another one before I forget how to do it. Obviously, once you learn to do it you don't use blue beads on white thread, but you need contrast to see what you're doing initially.

Here is J sharing the history of knitting in the Adirondacks. It seems that the bulk of the knitting was done by men at one time, and so it came as no surprise that they needed giant needles to do it.

Here is me getting ready to give the giant needles a whirl. Only one of them has a sharp point, so I only did one row.
I recently finished reading No Idle Hands - The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. MacDonald. Although it's an interesting story, I really don't think there was a huge men's knitting industry in the Adirondacks at any time in the last few hundred years.
(If anyone knows a straight guy who knits, send him over. I'd like to talk to him.)

Cairn.

Birds nests, obviously.

It's hard to keep the days straight because we totally lost track of time. There is no TV, cell phone service or internet, so I just shut off my BlackBerry. That in itself is the strangest thing. There was no set schedule so if people wanted to take a class, they did. If people wanted to go hiking, they did. If people wanted to go to the farmer's market, they did. Here are my farmer's market pics.

Apparently this is what beets are SUPPOSED to look like. As I've mentioned, mine were a complete failure this year. (Side note: My cherry tomatoes are going crazy. It is the middle of October! What's up with that? How long do they go? First frost? Anyone?)

Nice Fall pic. Mums and pumpkins.

I think they over-do it on the kitch a bit, but we WERE in the Adirondacks. I bought a couple home made jellys (raspberry and hot pepper), some maple syrup and the basket I posted yesterday.

On the way home from the market, we came across three deer. They didn't run away, so we got out of the car and took pictures. Two of them just stared at me while I took about 8 shots. Amazing.

The last class I took was on Dorset Buttons shown on left. They are really cool and I always wanted to learn how to make them. To see some unbelievable specimens, check this out.

Here's me working on mine. I didn't get a pic once it was finished, but it turned out well for my first attempt.

So I think that's it for pictures. Blogger is bugging me. It's a total pain to post a lot of photos, and today I've put up 17. I took about 350 over the course of the weekend, so it's hard to pick the ones to show. The last full day we were there, we did photos for what may or may not become The Naked Knitting Calendar and Notecards. If it comes to fruition, I'll be sure to post a link. (Don't hold your collective breath on that one.) After looking at shots of my 47 year old bod stretched out on a stone wall wearing nothing but a strategically placed lace shawl, I had to come to terms with the fact that the 27 year old woman I THINK I am caught the last train out quite some time ago and I don't think she's coming back.

Alright, enough of this. I have pics on all the progress I made while I was away, so I'll try to get it up over the weekend. My old room mate, G, who moved out last November is moving back in on November 1st. I had given the yarn her old bedroom, so now I have to move the yarn elsewhere. I have a couple free hours before Project Runway, so I'm going to shovel out the other spare room. Wish me luck. Bye.

What a Great Weekend!

2010-10-12T21:38:00.013-04:00

My first day back after the knitting retreat was a long one. Such a rude awakening after an awesome long weekend. It is 9:45 and I really don't have time for much narrative, but I wanted to at least put up a few pics. Here's where we spent most of our knitting time...

I said keep 'yer mitts off my yarn!

Knitting my Janis Joplin coat. I made a ton of progress and will get a pic of the nearly finished back panel up tomorrow if possible.

This is where they park the farmer's market in Keene Valley. God it's ugly. Almost as bad as the farmer's market in Tahoe.

I bought a basket. I'll probably put yarn in it. Decided to go with blue and green for something totally different. Yes, I made my hat. H & H - Nope, I'm never giving up my barn coat. You'll have to set it on fire to get it away from me.

I had such a great time and I have so many things to write, but I don't have time tonight. Time completely stopped while we were up there. I wish we could've stayed an entire week. Next year the group is going to Italy which is going to be insane, but more on that later. Bye for now.

Yarn Bombing, part II and Knitting Retreat!

2010-10-08T06:23:00.003-04:00

This is going to be uber-quick. I finished the vase cover but it was too tall, so I frogged back about four rows and will bind it off again. Ta-Da... The nearly finished article. M, my director at work made a pretty cool suggestion yesterday (although at the end of the day near the end of the week we're all getting a bit punchy). She suggested a seasonal wardrobe for my little vase. Examples would include sports "outfits" for Sox and Pats game days (no offense to the C's and B's - I don't really follow hockey or b'ball), and a little something for the change of seasons... If I decide to do this, I'll be sure to share photos.

I'm leaving in a couple hours to head up to the Adirondacks for a knitting retreat. I should be packing, but if you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I hate packing. Packing for a knitting trip is even worse than normal packing. What do I take? Obviously, I take the projects I'm working on, but what if I want to do something else when I get up there? Do I take ALL my needles in case I need them? If so, I'll have to rent a bigger car. There is no computer up there, so I won't have access to the internet for patterns. Should I bring patterns and yarns for things in my queue in case I decide to knit them? If so, I'll have to rent a U-haul.

In closing, I'd like to just take a second and wish myself a happy divorce anniversary - seventeen years and counting. Marriage: the best reason NOT to plan a wedding.

Have a great LONG weekend - I'll take lots of pics up in the mountains. Bye!

Yarn Bombing, part 1 1/2

2010-10-05T03:26:00.006-04:00

So my first idea wasn't so good. Keeping in mind that I'm bombing a cylindrical form, I ended up with an object that was more obscene than decorative. I'm not saying that obscene can't be decorative, but that's a conversation for another time. Back to the drawing board. I liked the idea of a knitted cover for the little vase, so I decided to knit the design INTO the cover and see how that goes. Here's my work in progress. I'm knitting directly from the old cover to the new cover... how handy. It might just be practice because silver and black would look better aesthetically, but the pink was the right yarn weight.

Turns out I have bronchitis, which really doesn't surprise me that much. I'm cleared to go to work in the morning (as long as I don't cough on anyone) but it's 3:30A and I've been up since 2:00A. Probably not going to be in such great shape when 6:30A rolls around. I'm not sure if this is a federal reg or state, but I got carded buying Mucinex. Seriously. (For those unfamiliar with the term, it means I had to provide proof of age before buying the product.) I can't imagine why anyone would purchase Mucinex for anything other than the reason intended. And, can you imagine if they did? Gross.

Munchie is driving me crazy. We're going back to bed. Bye.

Yarn Bombing, part I

2010-10-03T09:58:00.010-04:00

Through google alerts I've been following the work of yarn bombers lately. http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/yarn-bombing-knit-graffiti They are doing some pretty cool work and so I've attached a link to an article with some pictures. As I've mentioned, I recently bought H's bug and I've been trying to decide what to do with the flower vase. I'm thinking that bombing my own car is the way to go, plus the general consensus on the flower is to bag it. Here is the VW issued daisy:

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/jubilee/jubilee.html

Since I have more of the silver Louisa Harding Mulberry (100% silk - only the best for my new bug) than I need to finish my Jubilee Scarf, this is what I chose.

I measured the little vase, and based on suggested gauge, I cast on using sz 6 dpns. Once I finished the ribbing, it was clear that size six was way too big, so I switched to sz 3 for the remainder of the sheath.

Clearly not a big project, I knit it while watching a couple films. I've been sick, so I'm catching up on movies. Last night was a Kathy Bates film fest on HBO: Revolutionary Road and The Blind Side. Ready for my review? Revolutionary Road...Wow. (Just so you know, I have edited my own comments here so as not to alienate the vast heterosexual male readership. Now I'm cracking myself up.)

So back to my car... I was worried that it wasn't going to fit, but I've got to hand it to myself, it's perfect.

Keep in mind that this is only Part I, so it's not finished. The other components are a work in progress, so I should get them done today and take photos tomorrow in the daylight.

I'd also like to point out one of my favorite features of my new car. It came pre-decorated with liberal propaganda, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of doing it myself.

So I'm going to wrap up. I'm trying to decide whether or not to drag my ass into the walk-in clinic. The doc on call in my office said that as long as I can breathe between coughing episodes, I can wait until tomorrow and see my PCP if I'm still sick. Translation: I can still breathe, so I don't have pneumonia. I'm already trying to figure out what I need to do to be well enough to go to work tomorrow, which is how I got so sick in the first place. The whole point is that I need to rest or I WILL end up with pneumonia and then I WON'T be going away on Friday. Conundrum... Bye.

I Disappeared for Five Days I Guess...

2010-10-01T18:35:00.005-04:00

I'm sick again, but this time I'm really sick. People come to work when they're sick, and then the next thing you know, the entire office is sick. It is SO annoying. I knew I was in trouble on Tuesday, and by Thursday, I was the one that needed to be home. I didn't go in today, and that rarely happens. I think the last time I stayed out was with the Norovirus back in March or there abouts. (I thought that was a funny entry, if I do say so myself. Go back for a re-read http://hollypots.blogspot.com/2010/03/hat-to-match-my-sweater-and-how-to-make.html if you're so inclined) I guess there is some respiratory virus going around, and I can't stop coughing, so I think I caught it. The only good thing is that I had the time to go get my new car registered and I switched my plates. I don't know about other states, but the Massachusetts RMV is a delight that has to be experienced to be believed. Although, to be fair, today was only fifty five minutes: 15 in line to get my number, 30 waiting and 10 with the customer service rep. Plus, I met someone to talk to for the 45 minutes (a shock for me, I know) to pass the time. He is a 35 year old eight-year serviceman; a bomb technician who just got back from two years in Kuwait and Iraq, with some interesting insights on the war. One thing he said that stuck with me is this: if we continue to fight in Afghanistan in the manner we are fighting now, we will be there for another 15 years. Yikes.

Enough on that. I haven't knit anything in an age; it's been probably more than a week. I'm going on a knitting retreat next week for four days, so it'll be all knitting - all the time. Kidding. We'll do other stuff. I DO have to find the projects I want to take though. The fall issue of knitty came out this week - did you see it? http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/index.php A couple things I really like are Eleanor, Bound by the Beauty and Pretty Maids. Although I love lace I've never made a shawl, but I might give Pretty Maids a whirl. There was something in this issue that frightened me - I hate to say it. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/PATTchow.php What is up with this? It's a teeth and tongue puppet, and it's kinda scary. I think I'd be okay to not see anymore of the knitted anatomical items. Yeah, I've seen all of them - from the boobs, to the dick and balls to the uterus and fallopian tubes. Why?? Am I missing something?
Alright, enough of that. I'm starting to cough again, and once I start I'll go on for 20 minutes, so I'm signing off. Hack, hack.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2010-09-26T20:28:00.005-04:00

I've been insanely busy again. I had planned to go to a two day seminar on internet marketing and search engine & video optimization Friday night and all day Saturday. But then I thought my weekend wouldn't be busy enough, so I skipped out of the seminar early, raced home, caught a flight to DC and drove back to Boston today. What would cause me to do that you ask? Well, my sister H bought a new car. http://miniusa.com/#/MINIUSA.COM-m She bought the Mini Clubman, which is technically the Mini Maxi. (Next year they are coming out with an SUV. No joke. Henceforth I will refer to that model as the Mini Oxymoron.) Anyway, my Civic and her old car are the same year, but her old car has 70,000 less miles than mine. It seems I live in my car, and she never drives hers. When she asked if I wanted to buy her old one, it only made sense to do so. It stunk to miss three hours of the seminar (especially since I'm starting a business and these are incredibly important topics) and it REALLY stunk to be in the car from 9:30A until 8:10P today, but I have a new car! It's a Bug. Same color as my old Element; I really like a silver car. Here is a picture of happy Holly before leaving DC this morning. There was no one here to snap a pic of cranky Holly when she arrived home...probably for the best.
Soooo. No knitting today, but tomorrow I'm going to talk about where "hollypots" came from and how I'm going to get back there...
Now: Laundry, Boardwalk Empire, Sleep. Bye.

Super Quick Boy Meets Girl Hats

2010-09-20T19:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, on a whim, I cast on Spud & Chloe's Boy Meets Girl Hats - the girl version. http://www.spudandchloe.com/patterns/boy-meets-girl-hats/ I thought it would go quickly, but I swear you could do the whole hat in two hours max. I've got about an hour and a half invested, and I'm on the crown shaping. I'm on size 11 needles using Cleckheaton Gusto 10, which (drumroll please...) was in my stash! If I make another one, I'll use size 12s and yarn that is softer. This is a mohair blend, and it's kind of itchy. (I might also add one squiggle repeat which would in turn make the ear flaps bigger. Or, I might just bag the pattern and design a new hat myself.) I picked up a set of bamboo circulars yesterday to make this, and the dull points are bumming me out. I generally sharpen the points, so I'll do it as soon as the hat moves from the circular to the dpns. I was looking for some immediate gratification yesterday, as I have three big things going with no gratification in sight. I needed to bang something out on big needles using chunky yarn. If I'm being picky, my right leaning make ones are looking kind of lame, aren't they? They're one stitch in from the edge of the flap, but kind of distorting the edge row. I'm just noticing it now. Hmm. I won't frog it - I'll just keep it for myself, which I hadn't planned to do.

Wow. Did everyone see Boardwalk Empire last night on HBO? http://www.hbo.com/#/boardwalk-empire Fab-O. I thought it was just great, but I'm a fan of Steve Buscemi from way back. Immediately after it ended, I was going to watch it again, but I fell asleep during the opening credits. What a thrilling life I lead...

So I'm listening to an awesome book on Social Media Marketing called Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk. I've been spending a lot of time lately learning about Social Media and branding, and this book is a wealth of information. Plus it's narrated by the author and he's cool and enthusiastic.

Not too much else. I'll post pictures of the hat when I finish it. I know my size 11 double pointed needles are around here somewhere...

Project Status and We'll See Where That Leads...

2010-09-18T15:45:00.011-04:00

Long week. I've considered sitting down to post once or twice since Tuesday, but the issue foremost in my life would be my debilitating hot flashes, and who wants to read about that? Anyway, at this point it's a stretch to make them funny. This morning my friend S told me I reminded her of a fundraising thermometer (as the red crept up my neck and face), and said..."I think you've reached your goal." Next Thurs: Doctor. This is completely unacceptable. It's hard enough to accept the coming of age with dignity and grace without adding insult to injury.
I want to send a special get well wish to Takoda pictured here at left. I spent a lot of quality time with him last week, and now he's very sick. Here's hoping he just got into something toxic that can be flushed out of his system quickly, and he's on the road to recovery soon. He's such a good dog.

The last time I posted, I was on my way to rip out my Jubilee Scarf shown here. I haven't worked on it since mid-May, didn't really remember too much about it, and when I went to frog it I couldn't even find it. Well, the strangest thing happened when I DID find it; turns out I really like it. I have 19 1/4" done (way more than I thought), there's a row counter on the needle so I know exactly where I am in the pattern, AND the yarn is really yummy. I've decided to reintroduce.

htt p://www.berroco.com/exclusives/jubilee/jubilee.html Norah Gaughan is the designer and I'm using Louisa Harding Mulberry. It's nice. It looks pretty crappy in the picture, but that's because it's been sitting in a baggie since the third week of May.

So I only have an inch or two to go on the sleeves for the cable & lace pullover I'm working on. I knew the back was done and I thought I still had to finish the front.

Check this out...I actually finished the back and the front before I put it away in the spring. That makes it easy. Once I get the sleeves done I can get everything on a circular and finish it up. The only thing remaining is the ribbed yoke and the seaming. That will leave me with four WIPs: Janis, the Stay Put Wrap, Jubilee and Cinquefoil which has been snoozing since May and will continue to do so.

So that's it for today. B and I are going on an adventure tomorrow, so we'll see if that turns into anything worth mentioning. Bye for now.

Tuesday Night is Knitting Night...

2010-09-14T18:10:00.008-04:00

...but not tonight. I didn't mention that I caught a cold when I was on my trip, and now my friend D is sick. She thought I was returning on Sunday, so she came in to feed the cats on Saturday morning first thing. I was crashed on the sofa and I think we scared each other - me not expecting anyone to walk into my house and yell, "I'm Here!" and her not expecting me to growl back, "Awesome" or whatever else I said. She stayed to chat for a bit and then she and B went for an adventure of some sort. She didn't necessarily catch a cold from me by the way - one of her clients has a cold and they might be the culprit. Anyway, instead of going to knit-night I'll stay home for unpack-my-stuff-and-do-laundry-night. But first, I'll do this. Actually, I'm hungry. Maybe I'll do that. Here's what I'm having:

Those red things are beets, which are a complete failure. The largest one is the size of a cherry tomato. I just couldn't grow them - there must be a trick to it, but I don't really care. I don't even like beets that much. I'll eat those three puny things, but clearly the greens will be a larger component of my meal. Then next year, the beets will not be invited back.

Okay. The first thing I want to do today is give a shout out and a big thanks to K, who sent me a lovely bag today in the mail. K is actually my sister H's very good friend, which is how I know her. (H in DC, not H in Tahoe, and not to be confused with my brother H or...me.) This bag is great (and blue), and coincidentally I was with my sister H this summer when she bought the identical one. Thanks K!

So tonight I was looking around at all my current projects. I have six going, but the teal cable & lace sweater for my friend J will be done in the next couple weeks definitely. These are 3/4 of the remain WIPs.

The first is that big doily thing that is actually starting to bug me. I had to go to the trouble of buying the double pointed needles and then the HiyaHiyas pictured here. This is my first HiyaHiya circular needle. Maybe it's my imagination, but it doesn't seem as slick as my addi turbos. I might give them a quick buff with some waxed paper. Yes. I have waxed paper downstairs. Anyway, the doily thing is really easy, so I'm not watching it while I knit, or keeping track of my rows. Any wonder it's screwed up? I've ripped it out twice already and I'm currently tinking back seven rows. I'll give it one more chance and then it's going the way of the frog. And speaking frogging, we have the Jubilee Scarf here on the left. Technically, I would call it more of a UFO than a WIP. I loved that pattern and the yarn when I started it, but now I have no interest. B gave me two 50g balls of Louisa Harding Mulberry so that I could finish it, but maybe I'll give them back. This scarf could be three cables - maybe even two, so maybe I'll re-do. Say good bye... Hey HG - I'll think of you while I'm unraveling it onto the winder!

Here's Janis which is taking a snooze, but I'm going to finish this one. I'm going on a four day knitting retreat in October with Jill Stover, who designed it. Actually, I bet I'll finish it then. :)

Remember the pink acrylic from the other day? I decided what to do with it. I work with a woman whose daughter is a teacher and she's always looking for crafty stuff for her kids. I thought I'd give it to her, but it gets better. I can't just give her one piddly skein of yarn, so I ventured up to the attic to visit the bin of misfits who are not allowed to live in the yarn room.

What I ought to do is give her the whole bin, but it would take a crane to get it out of the house.

This is what I'll give her tomorrow. It doesn't look like much, but it's a start.

And that's all I've got. Off to do the laundry. Bye for now.

Home Again, Home Again...

2010-09-12T22:09:00.019-04:00

The night before my mother and I left for Tahoe, I caught something being very bad in my backyard. Hmm. Let me go back further. I've employed a lawncare service for the last couple years. They cut my grass, throw fertilizer down when necessary and pick up my fifty bags of leaves every fall. This late in the year, they only come about every two weeks or so - it's been a really hot summer so there hasn't been too much growing since about July. That said, the back yard has been looking ESPECIALLY dead lately, and it appears that something has been digging a gazillion holes in the grass as well. Is it the early bird getting the worm, or something more sinister at work here? B, my lawn guy, hasn't made any comments on the yard, and his crew has continued to mow it as if it is actually growing. (I didn't really feel like dealing with it, but it's one thing for the lawn guys to mow the lawn when it doesn't need to be done, and quite another when they fertilize my dead lawn - apparently not noticing or caring that it's dead. It was starting to make me cranky.) So back to the night before my trip. We were out running an errand and got home after dark. We pulled into my driveway, and the headlights hit Pepe LePew digging holes in my backyard. Grubs. I knew it. And a skunk of all things is ripping up my yard looking for them. So Mr. LePew doesn't even look up when I shine the headlights on him. I went in the house and turned on the flood light in back, and still, he doesn't flinch. I go out on the deck - and now I'm less than 10 feet from him, and it's like I'm not even there. (Nice dead lawn, right?) So I go in the house, and call B, my lawn guy who doesn't pick up. Message. Me: "Hello B, it's hollypots on (my address)...Yeah, I'm not sure you've noticed...the last three times you guys have been here...that my lawn is dead?? Well, I've just figured out what killed it...grubs, and I have a skunk out there right now tearing up my yard looking for them. Think you could put some grub killer down? I'll be out of town all week, but feel free to stop by anytime." Seriously?? I guess I should hang a shingle and call myself a lawn guy. This is my backyard after they raked up the dead grass and put down grub killer. It will need to be reseeded, but I'll deal with that next spring. Nightmare. Luckily no one ever comes over or I'd be embarrassed.

So Lake Tahoe. It's beautiful there and we had a wonderful trip. Here are a few pictures. The first on was taken in the middle of the lake - the water is very blue because it's so deep.

Here you can see where the water is shallow close to the shore. The water is much greener - but still so clear.

On the boat ride. Most of the trip H & P were up on deck and I was down below. I was struggling with all the people, so I took my anti-social self below deck to chill in isolation.

This is me & H at a stop coming down from Tahoe National Forest.

The next photo is the valley behind us. It is amazing. Created by a glacier.

I read and knit a lot during my trip. I've almost got my sleeves done for the Cable & Lace Pullover I'm working on. Finishing this is my number one priority. I won't have a ton of time this week, but I think I can get them done by Friday.

And now my vacation is over and I'm back in the office tomorrow. It's probably going to be pretty harsh, so I should get to bed. Bye for now.

Greetings from Lake Tahoe!

2010-09-09T12:25:00.011-04:00

I'm staying in Tahoe Vista actually, which is on the north shore. Here's the view from my mother's room. Not too shabby. We're taking a paddle boat cruise to Emerald Bay today, but we spent the first two days we were here touring around in the car. After arriving on Monday, we drove all around the lake on Tuesday with scenic stops along the way. Yesterday we drove up to Graeagle and drove back down through Tahoe National Forest making stops at some small lakes along the way for photo ops. While up in Graeagle, we made a stop at Woolly Notions, owned by Victoria Williams. http://woollynotion.com/ I had been in her shop in May 2009, and she remembered exactly who I was which was pretty cool (live in Boston...ran out of Malabrigo on the plane- although it was actually Manos, but still). Stop in if you're ever in the neighborhood; she's super nice and carries a very nice selection of yarn. We were really high up, and it was freezing up there.

I'd like to take a second to introduce my new boyfriend, Takoda. Because I'm low man on the totem pole, I've spent the last two days in the backseat with him. At one point yesterday, he was sitting so close to me that I could feel his breath on my neck. H said, "He likes you, Hol!" Yeah, that might be true, but does he have to sit right ON me? Although we've seen some incredible scenery, it will be good to be out of the car today.

I was able to finish the Xenocryst hat by Linda Shelhamer in baby alpaca, which I was making for H on the plane ride out here. It turned out great - I really love this pattern. It is a multiple of seven stitches and a four row repeat so it's easy to memorize, and small enough that you can carry it anywhere. The rib/cable is just beautiful when it is stretched. I've made two for gifts, but I'm making one for myself as soon as I have a free week when I'm not working on five other things.

And speaking of five other things, yesterday while in the car, I cast on the sleeves for Cecily Glowik MacDonald's Cable and Lace

Pullover in Dream in Color Groovy - Burmuda Teal. This one has been snoozing since about March. The back is done and the front is about 2/3 done, so I can get the sleeves done while I'm out here and get this thing wrapped up in the next couple weeks. It was a holiday gift from LAST year, so I have to get it done before it gets cold. My friend J recently asked for a status and I felt like a total jerk.

Okay - We're running out the door to catch a boat. We're headed home tomorrow, so I doubt I'll check in again before Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!

My Black Crowned Night Herons...

2010-09-05T07:45:00.005-04:00

Yeah, I know I said I was leaving, but I'm not gone yet. This will be super quick. I've been trying to get some half way decent shots of my birds since I moved in three years ago. When deciding on a camera last week, I picked one with 10x optical zoom for this reason.

This morning I counted four of my big buddies, two of which were not obstructed by branches, so here they are:

This guy is a teenager. They are brown and speckled.

This guy is an adult - although it might be a female b/c I counted two teenagers this AM.

How cool are they, seriously?

Remember a while back when I was complaining about my chirping smoke detectors? I've changed three batteries, and one of them is still chirping away. It is driving me mental. Are there people who service smoke detectors who aren't called husbands? Jesus. Would somebody please give me some direction?

First Day of Vacation...Yippee!

2010-09-04T06:39:00.007-04:00

Sheesh. So much to say that I hardly know where to start. I had my hair done last night after work. It is so short...I love it. What I do to my hair is cruel and unusual punishment; it's a double process (first bleached then dyed), and not a very pleasant experience. To get my hair to be white-blonde, I leave the salon with a hint of blue in my hair that fades after a few days. I like the blue - I'd wear it all the time, but sometimes people look at me as if to say, "are you aware that your hair is bluish?", and I return the look, as if to say, "yeah, I know my hair is blue...do you have a problem with that?" In Swedish I can say my hair is blonde, my hair is blue, my hair is white, and my hair is gray. I just can't say my blue-blonde hair is covering my gray. That will take further study. Ja.
Just as I predicted, the hurricane was a bust. Classic news coverage though. The best was a Channel 5 story last night at 11. News team was on the Cape, which is where the weather was worse, granted. So the only story for days has been Hurricane Earl BARRELING up the coast ready to bear down on the helpless inhabitants of Cape Cod. So they're in Wellfleet at Bob's Ice Cream waiting for the town to be decimated, and the correspondent points to the people in line and says (I'm paraphrasing - I should've written it down), "People have been in line, buying ice cream for hours." Well, you can bet that if they felt safe enough to buy ice cream in Wellfleet, I felt safe enough to go to bed.
And now I should be getting ready for my trip, but I prefer to be distracted. I always struggle with what to take, what to check, and what to carry-on. For in-flight knitting, I like to keep the needles small and circular for the most part so that I don't get hassled. I've never had any trouble, but a friend of mine had her needles taken away and broken right in front of her. It wasn't in the US, but still. That's just unnecessary.
For reading, I was going to take The Social History of Knitting in America and It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For but they're both hard cover. (I should've finished the knitting history while I was in Seattle last month but I didn't and then misplaced it when I got home. Wednesday just happened to be every-other-Wednesday, so A found the book and put it where I couldn't possibly miss it. She's great that way, but I'm getting off the track.) I think I'll look around for some lighter reading material - in weight, not content.
So, what will I knit on the plane you ask? I think I'll go with another Xenocryst (Aug post, "In Record Time") for my sister H, who I'm going to visit. I've knit her a couple hats, and she wants another one. When she was here in July, I told her to let me know what color she wanted and I'd get the wool and make it for her. On her way down from Maine, she stopped at JoAnn Fabrics to look at yarn colors. She called me from there with 100 grams of light pink acrylic in her hands. Me: "Just tell me what color you want and I'll get the yarn." She said she was already in the store and had the yarn. Me: "Do NOT buy that acrylic yarn; it makes my flesh crawl. Just pick out a color." Needless to say, she gave me the acrylic yarn when I saw her that evening. (She put it on the table next to my chair where it sat for many weeks. My friend B was afraid to mention it. Finally she said, "What is that doing in your house?") Yes, I'm a snob. Life is too short to buy cheap yarn. The yarn I'm going to use is Cascade Pure Alpaca (100% Baby) pictured all wound to the left of the scary acrylic. Mmmm, Alpaca.
I've tried to post a couple different video clips of Munchie talking, but I keep getting errors when I try to play them. I'll get her posted when I get home from Tahoe. Look for me next Sunday. Bye!

Today was a looooong one...

2010-09-02T23:00:00.008-04:00

Oh yeah. I love the days that I leave the house at 7:15AM and don't get home until 10:30PM. I always hope the last day or two before vacation will be quiet, but they never are. It's 11PM and I'm wound up. I should be working (I told somebody I'd do something tonight but it's not very likely) but I thought I'd do a project status instead. In a minute.
Seems the Governor just issued a state of emergency in expectation of Hurricane Earl coming through tomorrow, and I guess the Cape is going to get slammed. I'm on the North Shore - and I'm about half a mile from the ocean. I'm not sure if I should be concerned. I've got the super deluxe sump pump with the battery operated back up pump in case I lose power. I have a couple bottles of water in the fridge left over from the two-day boil order earlier in the summer. I guess I'm all set, so I'll have my hair done at 5PM as planned. I'm already overdue, so I'm going for a cut/color come hell or high water - no pun intended. It has taken all the discipline I have NOT to take the clippers to my head this week; they've been calling to me for days.

My new camera arrived in the mail yesterday, so I have real pictures today...

My new orchid...

Munchie wanted to be in the picture with the knitting, like usual... Once I figure out how to use my camera, I'll post a video of her talking.

And here is the pinwheel blanket thing. It's not half done as I promised. I twisted the cast on so I'm going to rip it out and start again. I knew I screwed up the cast on as early as the second row, but I thought I might develop a tolerance for the error. No such luck.

I decided to go to a workshop on Saturday morning (not knitting), so I'll deal with this when I get home. It'll distract me from packing...

Wow. As entries go, this one was really boring. Sorry...I'm fried.

Guess What I've Got?

2010-08-31T18:52:00.004-04:00

Yup. Size 13 double pointed needles. I can't help myself. I know I SAID I wouldn't start anything new until my other projects were done, but I have the attention span of a mosquito and this is going to go SO fast. It'll be half done tomorrow. You'll see. (Needles...meet yarn. Just hang on; you'll be intimately acquainted shortly.)

This is the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck. The yarn is a super bulky/roving by Bashful Bags & Fibers. I met her today, btw. Marched right into Black Sheep http://www.blacksheepknitting.com/bsk/ and said, "Are you Bashful Bags & Fibers? I bought some of your yarn over the weekend and then googled you." But now I'm in big trouble. This yarn is sick, their selection is vast, and she is bringing in a new shipment on Thursday. My mother and I are headed to Tahoe on Monday to visit my sister. (Hi Mom - thanks for reading.) She'll be coming down on Sunday to stay over, and will get to see the stash in all its glory now that I've moved it to its own room. Probably best to not bring anymore yarn in the house between now and then.

Speaking of yarn, Angela at http://www.knitluck.com/ just told me that if I have time while I'm in Tahoe, I should head over to Jimmy Bean's wool in Reno. Well, lucky for me, I'm flying in to Reno. Looks like I'll be dragging P&H to Jimmy Bean's.

So D is on her way over to watch the game and knit. Lets see if I can get half of this thing done tonight... Bye for now!

Wrap Update and a Yarn I've Never Tried Before...

2010-08-30T21:08:00.007-04:00

It's Monday evening. I had a pretty relaxing weekend, but still managed to squeeze in a visit to my three favorite yarn stores. This time of year everyone is selling off the summer stuff and bringing in the fall stuff so there are sales all around. I was VERY well behaved and only brought home a couple things. I'll get back to that in a minute.

I didn't mention that I got a new orchid last week. This is only one of the stems with blooms on it, but I'm still taking pictures with my phone and it's the best I could do. I parked the three snoozing orchids out in the dining room with the other boring plants. If they ever decide to bloom again, they can come back in the kitchen where the action is.

I saw a sample of the Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck over the weekend. Anyone who knows me knows that under most circumstances, a brick would have to fall on my head for me to care about a baby blanket, BUT the sample was really nice, and I thought this thing would look cool draped over the chair I always sit in (until the cats get their paws on it). The sample was in a wool that I was not familiar with. The company is Bashful Bags and Fibers

http://freshpurls.blogspot.com/2009/07/portrait-in-yarn-hand-dyer.html and she dyes in Needham, which is where I work. What a coincidence. Anyway, the yarn is really light and fluffy - it's like roving with a very fine thread wound around it. According to my scale, they are about 75 grams and are approx 109 yards. I only bought two. I wanted to start the project last night, but (and you won't believe this) I didn't have the right needles. Can you believe THAT? I didn't have size 13 double pointed. Until I get some, I won't be starting this project.
That leads me to my Stay Put Wrap, pictured here on the left. I didn't reach my goal of 10" over the weekend, but I'm getting there.
I didn't knit even one stitch today and now I'm going to bed. Thanks for stopping by...

Stay-Put Wrap, Holiday Orders and Pedroia's Broken Foot

2010-08-28T06:20:00.008-04:00

God Morgon! (Yeah - that means good morning.) Pandora is providing the soundtrack to this morning's entry... station based on Astaire's Putting on the Ritz...currently Cole Porter's Anything Goes. I think I might have to change to a station based on the Headbanger's Ball. I haven't had any caffeine yet and this is going to put me back to sleep.

I'm sticking to my guns - not starting anything new until I get my current projects off the needles. Last week I had six projects going and I've since completed one (Xenocryst), which leaves me with five. My Stay-Put Wrap by Mags Kandis has been sitting quietly on the back burner for a couple weeks while I started a couple new things, but I've put it back in the rotation, and worked on it a bit last night.

Last night I created what will be the beginning of a sleeve. I really like this. The neverending seed stitch gets a little old, but I LOVE this cable and the finished wrap is totally me. This is the only thing I'm going to work on today and tomorrow and my goal is to get 10-12" inches done.

So the holidays are approaching, and that is always a tough time for me. Between knitting gifts, knitting items for other people to give as gifts and (some years - not anymore) knitting things for crafts shows I get way overextended. Last year I was like a crazed lunatic trying to get everything done, so I promised myself it would not happen again. Last week, someone saw a felted bag that I often carry and inquired about me making one for her. I immediately blurted out that she couldn't have it in time for Christmas (2010), but I could get it to her for next Christmas (2011). It's August. Knee jerk reaction much? Sheesh - talk about gun shy. Later that day, I was like, "Ummm, Hols? It's August, you're not working on anything that can't wait, and the bag will take three weeks MAX." So I went back, tried to make it look like I hadn't lost my mind for a minute, and explained that I could take the order.

And finally, I'd like to comment on Dustin Pedroia's broken foot. If there is one thing I know about, it is broken bones in the foot. (I've inserted a photo here for your convenience.) I've had bone surgery on both of my feet. I had an osteotomy (= to cut bone) with shortening of my first metatarsal left (bone #8 on the map) and I've had a bone graft to repair a spiral fracture of my fifth metatarsal right (bone #12 on the map). **NEWS FLASH** They take a long time to heal, and you can't put weight on them. When I broke my foot in 2008, I was totally non weight bearing for FIVE MONTHS before they decided that it wasn't going to heal and we did the bone graft. His navicular bone is broken (bone #3 on the map), which is up closer to the ankle, but I've read that these are also notorious for not healing. What is wrong with the Red Sox medical staff? They didn't make him rest long enough, it didn't heal, he played on it, and now he needs surgery. Is someone going to make him use his crutches NOW?

I need to scram. I have tons of Saturday stuff planned. Have a good day. :)

I'm Lucky to Have my Head...

2010-08-26T06:24:00.003-04:00

This will be a quick one, and I'm not going to talk about knitting at all. I'm at the Pru(dential Center) all day today for meetings, so I need to pick out a suit and track down some appropriate shoes - neither flip flops nor Uggs are appropriate - and get a move on.

I'm going to tell a story today...

Once upon a time, there was a performance analyst who made her living analyzing healthcare quality data. She sat in a cubicle all day, looking at her computer and processing enough data to make the average person keel over cross-eyed. Over time, she accumulated enough books and conference binders to require an additional bookshelf in her cubicle; so she requested and was granted one. The handyman who visits her worksite every month or so installed it, and she proudly put her binders, books and kleenex on her new shelf. She was very happy with the improvements to her cubicle, and for the six or eight weeks that the extra shelf hung in her cube, she was the envy of all her colleagues.
On a day that seemed like so many others before it, she arrived at work, turned on her computer, went to the kitchen where she made a cup of coffee, exchanged morning pleasantries with colleagues, and then sat down to work. While responding to an email from her Senior Director's Executive Assistant - with absolutely no warning - her beloved shelf came crashing down. Never one to mince words when the word "fuck" is the most appropriate choice, she screamed "jesus fucking christ" while books, papers, binders, coffee, kleenex, and a shelf that has to weigh about 20 lbs barely missed landing on her. Actually, she WAS hit by flying coffee.
Witnesses said that it sounded like the roof was falling in. Co-workers ran from one aisle over in each direction to assist with the clean up. The analyst was so shaken up that she had to sit down. Someone removed the shelf and took it back to the building's facility coordinator, someone grabbed paper towel and started cleaning up the coffee, while someone else dried off the textbooks and binders. Once everything (except her elevated heart rate) was back to normal, she had a decision to make: Did she want the shelf reinstalled? She made her way over to the cubicle of the facility coordinator, and there was the shelf. Now, sitting alone on its side, it didn't seem like it knew the analyst at all, and showed absolutely no remorse for trying to kill her 45 minutes earlier. It was a hard choice to make, but the analyst knew what she had to do. She had to make a clean break, so she told the facility coordinator that she was going to go it alone without the extra shelf.
Even though the analyst now has a bunch of crap on her desk that she'll need to find a home for, it seems that she'll live happily ever after - since she's still in possession of her head. The end.

Complaints, Recommendations and Janis...

2010-08-24T21:37:00.007-04:00

Actually, I'm going to do the recommendation first. Zappos rocks the house. Have you ever bought anything from them? They are customer service fanatics - seriously. I ordered my new Uggs on Saturday afternoon. They immediately sent me an order confirmation, which is to be expected. A couple hours later, I get another email which says, "Yay, Holly! We love you! You don't have to do anything - we're going to overnight your Uggs and it's not going to cost you anything extra! Yippee!" (Yes, I'm paraphrasing.) At about 3AM, while I was asleep, they sent me another email which said, "Great news! We've already shipped your new Uggs!" How do like that? They work around the clock. So Monday when I got home from work, there they were, waiting for me on the front porch. I opened them up and they were exactly what I was expecting; packed by a guy named Ralph. Thanks Ralph. I need to spray them and then they'll need to sit for 24 hours before I venture outside with them. It's been raining for 48 hours straight, so they won't make their premier until the weather improves to cool but clear. (And speaking of never-ending rain, my sump pump is working like a champ.)
Now sadly, I have to move into the complaint portion of the post. A good friend of mine caught the new issue of Vogue Knitting a few days before me, and wrote a great entry about it. http://purlsandotherlilgems.blogspot.com/2010/08/sorry-vogue-but-thats-wedgie.html
I was starting to think my subscription ran out, but I received my issue today in the mail. Oh my god. I haven't been this disappointed since the LAST issue of Vogue Knitting arrived in the mail. I'm not sure who their target market is at this point, but I AM sure it's not me. First we have the "London Calling" collection, which can best be described as heinous, and sadly, stole the name of a great album by a great band. Next: Force of Nature collection, which is a robust collection of ugly sweaters in ugly colors. Finally, Home on the Prairie collection which is six sweaters based on (wait - let me guess) Native American blanket designs from the 1860's? Is that it? Are you serious? Shh - Do you hear that? It's the sound of Twist Collective kicking the crap out of Vogue Knitting. http://twistcollective.com/2010/fall/magazinepage_01.php 'Nough said.

So I'm back to working on my Janis Joplin Jacket. I've got 13" of the back done, but these photos were taken at about 10 1/2".
Thanks to D for taking these pics and the pics of my Xenocryst hat, which I posted yesterday. It might still be a little warm for working on Janis b/c the wool is pretty heavy and hot. It knits up fast though, so that's good. I love this coat (check out the newly completed brown one on Ravelry) but I'm not loving the yarn so much. Not sure Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky will be doing a repeat performance at Chateau Hols.
At least one of my smoke detectors is chirping and it's driving me crazy. There are four of them up here on the second floor and I can't tell which one it is. I can't even tell if it's upstairs or down in the first floor foyer. I'm not so great with knowing where sound is coming from. Actually, I think maybe a couple of them are wired together and are both chirping. It's like water torture. On that happy note, I'm off to figure this out. Thanks for stopping by...

In Record Time...

2010-08-23T06:45:00.004-04:00

Even with my splint on...

Done, and

Done.

Veggies, Xenocryst, Free Boston Parking and Uggs...

2010-08-21T17:46:00.005-04:00

I had been really overwhelmed there for a while. I've been spending some quiet time at home this week trying to reel it in, and I'm feeling a) more organized, and b) better. When I spend a lot of time running around it gums up the works at home; laundry doesn't get done, bills get paid twice, I don't get enough sleep and I start to lose things (no, not my mind). I was planning to get these for the fall:
http://www.zappos.com/product/7630814/color/37761 I had a $100 gift card to Zappos, and they were there the last time I checked online - which was about three weeks ago. I know not everyone would wear that color - Ugg Ultramarine - but it is one of my favorites and I have tons of stuff that would match them perfectly. So I went online to get them today, and they only have size 6. Shit. I'm not size 6. Back to the drawing board. I ran through the similar styles but there's no Ultramarine. So, this is as close as I can get:
http://www.zappos.com/product/7555745/color/195487 Instead of the Classic Short, I had to go with the Bailey Button, but it appears to be the same height (I won't wear them rolled down). And, even though the Ugg Deep Cobalt isn't exactly the shade I wanted, it seems pretty close I guess. Zappos - free shipping. Gotta like that.

How about those eggs? Over half a billion (that's billion with a B) have been recalled thus far. What a disaster. I wonder what my neighbors would think if I got a couple hens. Hmm. I like being able to grow my own veggies, so maybe raising my own protein is the next logical step. My garden has been a big success this year - after duking it out with the slugs last year, anything would be an improvement - and I'm thinking I may go bigger next year. Here are the primary components of last nights dinner: swiss chard and cherry tomatoes. Fresh, pretty, and free of salmonella - wouldn't it be great if all our food was safe?

It is starting to get cool at night, so fall is not far off. It's kind of chilly now, and it looks like it's either raining or might rain. I need to run to the bank. I use only small banks, so it's not quite as convenient as having a superbank on every corner. One of my banks is Harvard Employees Credit Union, and it is a complete pain if I have to do any banking. On my way down from Rowley this morning, I was trying to think of the easiest way to get to Harvard Square, and then I remembered that the ATM at the Mass General main campus would be way more convenient. I didn't want to park in the garage, so I had to think about where I could park for free...thinking...thinking...got it. Whole Foods on Charles Street. All I would have to do is buy something at WF, get my parking ticket stamped, and it wouldn't cost me anything. That's what I did.

I parked the car and headed down the block to MGH. If you look at the left half of the photo, you can see the Building for the Third Century, which is under construction. http://www2.massgeneral.org/b3c/
Boston is the only city with two US News Honor Roll Hospitals: Mass General and Brigham and Womens. I don't mention work too much, but I'm very proud to work for Partners Healthcare - both of these hospitals are ours. Anyway, I made my way to the ATM, pulled out the cash I have to move to the other bank, and made my way back to Whole Foods. This is where my money saving plan falls apart. http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=10404 My favorite cheese is Piave, and the only place I know that sells it is WF. So I go in for a piece of cheese, and get sidetracked by the produce, the fancy chocolate and finally, the beignets. (For a review of my last experience with beignets, check out my eating tour of Chicago
http://hollypots.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-made-it-home-from-chicago.html) I would've been far better off to just park at the hospital, but I've got some lovely fruit and cheese to snack on. Mmm...$9 cherries.
I don't know what happened to my font. My font-control button disappeared, so I can't fix it. Y'all are just going to have to put up with Arial instead of Trebuchet for another paragraph, and we'll be back to normal next time. (Trebuchet is my second-favorite word, which is why I picked that font, by the way. It means catapult.)

So my hat is mostly done. I'm about to start the crown shaping. I had it on my head earlier, but I couldn't get a decent picture of it. Maybe D will take a shot of me tomorrow. We're going to IKEA in the morning. She needs a part for her closet, and I need some knackebrod and lingonberry jam. http://www.squidoo.com/knackebrod And speaking of Swedish, God Kvall. (Have a good one.)

Xenocryst update

2010-08-20T07:06:00.005-04:00

I've done a couple inches on my hat, but my hand/wrist is bothering me again, so I think I need to rest it for a little longer. This is a really cool cable; I'm glad I switched to a lighter color so that it can be seen.

I'm running out the door to go to the doctor this morning. I need to find some light clothes to wear, b/c even though he's not my PCP, I'll have to get on the scale. Isn't it funny how we do that? Bye for now!

Cast on Xenocryst (again)...six things going...

2010-08-18T22:34:00.003-04:00

It's every other Wednesday again, but I won't bore you with an explanation of "every other Wednesday" every other Wednesday. Instead of complaining about all the stuff I have to do around here and never getting around to any of it, I did something when I got home from work today. I guess I was inspired by the clean house. The first thing I did was hang (on the wall) a decorative piece comprised of four smallers pieces. This required a tape measure, a level, a pencil and what was left of my brain after working on 17 trend graphs for 2300 data points since last Friday. It was a struggle but I managed; the piece actually looks cool if I do say so myself.

I didn't want to lose momentum, so I frogged the scarf and hat from my last post. Psyched!

My hand and wrist have rested for four days; I thought I could do something light tonight so I decided to cast on the re-do of my Xenocryst hat. I decided to go with Cascade 220 in light blue for the new hat, and I wound it last night. The pattern calls for size 6 needles, but I've already determined I'm using something bigger. I had to look all over for the right ones; I was looking for 9s, but I found 8s and those should be fine.

So this starts with the decorative AND stretchy Estonian double cast on. I turned on the You Tube tutorial, but I didn't really need it.

Here's the hat four rows in. I can't really see the cable yet, but I should be able to have something to show in a day or two.

Right before I started writing this post, I added the hat to my project list on Ravelry. I did a quick count and realized that I have six projects on the needles right now: this hat, the Janis Jacket, my seed stitch/cable wrap, a cable & lace sweater for a friend of mine (who asked how it's coming so I need to move that to the front of the line), the Jubilee scarf, and the Cinquefoil hat. Yikes. I'm going to California in a couple weeks, so I'll get some of this stuff finished on the trip. I'm not casting on anything else until at least three of these projects are done. Seriously. I'm not casting on anything else until at least three of these projects are done...

To Frog or Not to Frog...That is the Question.

2010-08-16T20:17:00.006-04:00

How long do you wait before ripping something out? A week? Six months? Two years? Ten years?

While trying to finish up the 2010 Stash Organization Project, I'm taking a hard look at some of my old UFOs. Here's a good one: I love this scarf - it's a reversible cable, so it looks the same on both sides. The yarn is Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, which is a merino, microfiber, cashmere blend. I saw the scarf as a display up at Seed Stitch in Salem and got the pattern with yarn purchase. I started it right away and promptly lost the pattern...TWO YEARS AGO. Think I can frog it? I'm thinking probably.

Now here's another blast from the past. I made Flora by Margaux Pena for my sister in brown and multi Manos Silk Blend. Pretty right? (Oh - that's Lake Tahoe in the background. I'm going there for a visit in three weeks. Hey H - What's up?) I liked it so much that I bought at least six hanks of the Manos thinking I was going to bang out Flora's for everyone I knew and give them as holiday gifts.

Check out the purple and lavender one I was working on...LAST YEAR. I took it with me to Seattle (not my trip to Seattle two weeks ago, my trip to Seattle last July) and haven't touched it - except to photograph it - since I returned home. Think I'll miss it if I rip it out ? Neither do I.

So as I mentioned yesterday, I went to the SOWA open market in the South End with my former room mate, G. http://www.southendopenmarket.com/

The weather was awesome and there were tons of vendors - from produce to baked goods, to clothing I believe was manufactured at a correctional facility, to artists and all kinds of other stuff. Check out my new ring.

The band is a cool shape, and really comfortable. It is gorgeous - the picture doesn't do it justice (oh - and BTW, I'm completely over using my Blackberry as my primary camera).

http://www.lilianabead.com/ I've attached the link to the artist's site, but I'm warning you - I was just in there and I'm gonna be in big trouble if I go in there again. Check out this ring:

http://www.lilianabead.com/rings.html Those are little bubbles of sterling suspended in the glass. Beautiful.

One last thing and I'll wrap up. One of my orchids that has been asleep for two or three years has sprouted a new leaf. If this thing actually blooms, I will write about it every single day ...forever.

Janis, Gardening, Prokofiev and Repetitive Stress Injuries...

2010-08-15T07:44:00.007-04:00

Sunday: I had a crazy day yesterday, and I have a full day on the docket today as well. It's 8AM and I've already been out watering and playing in the garden. I have to get out of here by 9:15, so I'm going to make this quick. I'm headed in to town to go to the SOWA open market w/ my old room mate, G. http://www.southendopenmarket.com/ The weather is really nice, so it's a good day to be poking around outside. I always run into problems when I see artisans selling their wares, so maybe I'll just take my Charlie Card (the card a Bostonian uses to get on and off the subway - not valid for any other purchases). Yeah, right.
Munchie is being incredibly annoying right now. She's jumped up on the desk about 10 times and won't leave me alone. After I get my new camera, I'll put up a movie of her talking. There is a quick video of Munch posted on Oct 18, '09 if you'd like to hear what she's like.

I was up pretty early, so I went out to water the garden and to see if there was anything that needed to be pulled or picked. From left, we have a couple radishes, some carrots, a couple beets I pulled too early and today's cherry tomatoes. Not bad. This will be the basis of my dinner tonight.

Have you ever really liked a piece of music but had no idea what it was or where you heard it? Then, it's on the radio and you HOPE that they say what it is so you can buy it off iTunes? That happened to me on Thursday. The piece Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite no 2, Op 64b: The Knight's Dance (aka Montagues and Capulets). I keep listening to it over and over. Awesome.

So I've been working on my Janis Joplin Jacket pretty much every spare minute, and so of course my carpal tunnel is acting up. I put on my brace last night and will wear it all day today and tomorrow if necessary. That should rest my hand and wrist enough to get back to it soon. In the meantime, here is what it looks like. I'm about 11" in.

I need to hop in the shower and be on my way. In the last 24 hours, I've had a hits to my blog from Turkey and Australia. I'm thrilled! Thanks for stopping by...

What do I have to do to see meteors around here?

2010-08-13T00:06:00.004-04:00

News flash: Meteor showers tonight. If you're the kind of person that appreciates that kind of thing, go outside after midnight - but the best viewing is 3ish - and look up at the sky. Tonight, after Boston Medical ended at 11PM, I watched the news. Listening to the weatherman talk about the meteors made me think that maybe I should go out and try to find some. The last time I went out looking for meteors was either 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 years ago when I lived in Malden. That shower occurred in the dead of winter, but I'd never seen one before, so I thought I'd make the effort. I set my alarm for either 3 or 4 in the morning, put on my coat and boots then went outside to stand in my driveway and hope for the best. I saw them flashing across the sky as soon as I got out there, and since I'd never seen a meteor shower before, I thought it was pretty cool. So how long do you stand there looking up at the sky if it's the middle of the night in the dead of winter and you're freezing your ass off? 100 meteors, that's how long. I decided that I would count them until I saw 100, and then go inside and return to the comfort of my bed. I think it took about half an hour give or take.
That brings me back to tonight. I'd had enough caffeine late in the day to not be asleep when the news ended at 11:30. I live less than a mile from the ocean, so I thought it would be nice and dark over there - which would lend itself to meteor viewing. So off I went. Drove over to the beach and realized that there are street lights like every 50 feet. When I looked at the sky, I could see the light bouncing off the low cloud cover. Hmm. Maybe Deer Island? I headed across town (my entire town is one square mile - not a booming metropolis) and although it was darker over there, there were still no stars to be seen. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to see any meteors tonight. Plus, I was starving. I'm not usually out driving around town at midnight. I'm usually not up at midnight period. Turns out that I'm hungry at midnight when I eat dinner at 5:15. Thankfully I don't have any crap in the house. I gave up all hope of viewing the meteors flashing across the sky, and came home to a healthy bowl of chocolate caramel granola cereal. Even with the nectarine it came in under 200 calories, with 15 grams of protein. I hate to eat so late, but what can you do?
One last thing and I'm off to bed. This morning I was eating my breakfast out on the deck while checking out my birds. There were only two of them - an adult and a teenager - and they were sitting within about 4 feet of each other, so I bet one was the mom. Anyway, there was some rustling way out at the very edge of one of the branches. I thought it was another Heron settling in, but as I looked closer it was a couple squirrels. A smaller squirrel was chasing a larger squirrel toward the center part of the tree. The larger squirrel was running like such a spaz that he ran right off the tree. He literally fell at LEAST 30 feet and hit the ground with a THUD. I was stunned...and so was he. So I said to him, "How'd that feel?" He didn't move at all except to twitch his tail for about 45 seconds. Then he shook it off and bounded across my yard to a different tree, where he disappeared. How do you like that? Squirrels bounce when dropped from a height of 30 feet. Don't try that at home.
My Janis jacket is at 7 inches right now. I'll try to put up a picture once I knit a couple more inches.
I have to get up in five and a half hours and it's a long one tomorrow. G'night.

Quick post tonight...

2010-08-11T21:02:00.008-04:00

I think I'm losing it. Totally. I had dinner with friends this evening, and didn't get home until nearly 9PM. I brought the mail in and began the mail opening ritual by selecting the letter from my insurance company. Open it up and there is a check for $62. Odd. The stub said the reason for the check was dwelling fire premium overpayment. Really? Okay, if you say so. Thanks for the check. I then move on to the bill from nationalgrid. Nationalgrid = gas company. Seems I overpaid them as well, because I've got a credit balance of $134.51. Wow. It's days like these that I wish there was more mail to open. But seriously - am I in such a fog that I'm just sending payments out willy-nilly? I've been thinking that I need a part time assistant or organizer or something; I am spread way too thin. This is just whacky - even for me. I've always been meticulous about my finances, so this is troubling. But I don't want to spend too much time thinking about it, so I'll move on to my Janis update. When you look at the terrible color, keep in mind that I'm still taking pictures with my phone and imagine that it's a good shot. I'm on the back and have about 4" done. It is 9:30 now, and my goal is to get to 5" so the I can do another decrease row before I go to bed.
My last update relates to the scraped knees I acquired while on vacation. Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I fell on them, and they're still not healed. Knees like a six-year-old. That's me.
Later.

New Project Alert!

2010-08-10T19:33:00.004-04:00

Well I've certainly been talking about it long enough, and I've had the yarn for a while. Can anyone guess? I've been waiting for the weather to cool down, and although August doesn't really qualify as cool, I DID see a tree today with red leaves among the green. That's good enough for me. Time for a sweater, right? No, not even. Time for a coat! Yes, I cast on the Janis Joplin Jacket by Jill Stover. The body of the coat is Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Chunky, and the collar might be Garden Party Homespun (anyone know for sure?) in Winter Solstice colorway. I think it might be a little early for me to comment on the BD Donegal Tweed. I've seen a couple of these coats completed and I love them. I think the yarn is great in the finished garments, but I'm not loving it as I knit with it. On the other hand, bulky yarn on size 10 needles does lend itself to immediate gratification. As you can see, I've chosen to go with lavender/purple for a change. If I cast on one more blue or turquoise project, I think even I won't be able to stand me anymore. Check out the darker ball that is going to be the collar - how awesome is THAT?? I've done at least another inch since I took this pic last night. Thankfully I had it with me this morning. I had to go for bloodwork, and I showed up half an hour before the lab opened. And, in my haste to get over to Brookline for 7:30, I left my Blackberry on my bedside table. What a pain - in this day and age to be unable to communicate for an entire day... can you imagine? Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that they were able to take three tubes without incident and unnecessary bloodshed.

It is just about dusk, and I just saw a few of my Herons fly off for the evening. Yesterday morning I was sitting here at my computer when they returned for the day. I have a flock (?) of Black Crowned Night Herons living in my biggest tree. This is the fourth summer I've been in my house, and they've been here every year. Saturday evening B was here when a few of them took off. They hang out in my tree during the day, and then they head over to the marsh to hunt at night. It's a huge tree, and I really have to look hard to find them. http://10000birds.com/nightherons.htm I found this link - hopefully it'll work. One day last year I counted 10 adults and a teenager. This morning I saw a teenager fly in for the day as I was getting in my car to go to work. They are really huge birds, and they make a BIG mess. I'll just leave it at that.

Not too much else. I need to pay some bills and do some chores. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I need to get my ass in gear and get a new camera. No pictures = no fun. Bye for now.

I finally finished my Everyone's Doing It Shrug...

2010-08-08T10:59:00.001-04:00

...and I'll get to it in a minute. Happy Sunday! It is 9:30 AM, and I want to try cover a bunch of stuff as quickly as possible. That way I won't be chained to my desk all morning, and y'all won't fall asleep reading my blatherings. Today got off to a rocky start, so I'll begin by talking about yesterday. (Although this entry would've been WAY funnier if I began writing it a couple hours ago when I was really cranky...the cutting sarcasm was in overdrive.)

So yesterday. I'm back to the overscheduling again; even though it was Saturday, I was out of the house before 7:00. First I went from Winthrop to Rowley by way of Marblehead. Then I went from Rowley back to Winthrop by way of Beverly Farms. (If you looked at a map you would think was either totally lost or had absolutely no sense of direction. Neither of these are true.) On the way home, I wanted to stop in to see my friend Tink (aka Jill Stover) at Yarns in the Farms http://www.yarnsinthefarms.com/ I was only there a short time because I was rushing home to go on an adventure w/ my friend B. We were headed down to Dorchester because I needed 3 matching Cascade 220s in a light color and Stitch House has all the Cascade on sale this month at 40% off. http://stitchhousedorchester.com/ That means that I was in two out of three of my favorite yarn stores yesterday, which in itself makes it a pretty good day. (I want to mention that the "Best Of" issue of North Shore Magazine named Yarns in the Farms Editor's Choice for best yarn store on the North Shore while I was in Seattle. Big congrats to Tink and Wink!)
B and I then went to La Siesta for dinner. http://www.lasiestarestaurante.com/ The food is always awesome, and last night they had these two mariachi guys walking from table to table serenading the patrons. Sheesh. What a day. Since we were being serenaded and all, we opted to stay for (shared) flan and cappaccino. Probably a mistake, as I practically needed to lay on the floor when I got home. Go big or go home - there's nothing like a glutton.

We came back to my house and B cast on the Swallowtail Shawl and I finished my Everyone's Doing it Shrug. Here's a pic, but it was taken w/ my BlackBerry so it's not great. Check out Ravelry for a pic that shows the truer colors. I should mention that I'm not a total mutant - I'm bringing my left shoulder across so that both the back and sleeve can be seen at the same time. I really like how it turned out, so I'm planning to wear it over a black knit jumper this afternoon when I hit tea at the Taj. http://www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/TAJ%20Boston,BOSTON/default.htm Check out the tea menu if you're so inclined. My friend J and I go about three times a year - once for each of our birthdays and then once in the summer just because.

I was going to bitch about all the police officers standing around doing nothing at the construction of the new Chelsea bridge this morning (nine of them), and about my miserable trip to Market Basket (getting there at 7:45AM is too late as the masses have already arrived) but I'm over it and it wouldn't be as funny now. I was also going to talk about my Black Crowned Night Herons (some of you may remember them from last year) but I'm out of time and I want to post decent pictures (no camera remember?); so that will have to wait. I'm going to squeeze in some chores before heading in to town. Thanks for stopping by.

Mmmmm...Alpaca!

2010-08-04T18:26:00.005-04:00

Today is every-other Wednesday. It's my favorite day of the every-other week. When I arrived home from work today, my house was clean. I've not raved about A. since March (when I had the norovirus and she offered to take me to the doctor) but she's awesome. If anyone in the area is looking for a cleaning lady, I'm more than happy to recommend her. We have an ongoing thing where she puts my stuff away (deliberately hides it perhaps?) and I drive myself crazy trying to find it. Tonight it was the strainer. I've been throwing veggies (including beets and carrots from my garden) in with the peperoncini to cheat-pickle it. After just a couple days the veggies are tart and spicy but still crunchy. Anyway, I needed the strainer to get the veggies out of the peperoncini brine, and had to check every hiding place in the kitchen...but you'll be pleased to know it all worked out okay.

I have one left over picture from my vacation that I wanted to post. Here is me (in Seattle) with my boyfriend V. visiting a...that's right...a local yarn store. This one is called So Much Yarn http://www.somuchyarn.com/ and it is right down the block from Pike Place Market.
I wanted my friend S. to pick out some yarn so that I can make her a thank you gift and she picked out some Cascade Eco Alpaca in a taupe-y chocolate brown. I know what I'm going to make, but I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm going to keep my lip zipped...or at least try.
The other yarn store I visited was Bad Woman Yarn http://www.badwomanyarn.com/ in Wallingford Center. I was looking for Washington State wool at both stores, but it turns out that I was asking the impossible. I would have to go to an actual farm to get local wool, and I really didn't have the time or inclination for that. Next time perhaps.

Before I left for vacation, I promised photos of the work I did while away. Since most of my time was spent on i-cord to make a rug for my little friend, I really didn't get too much of my own knitting done. Here's the progress on my wrap...not much. The seed stitch is kind of boring, but I'm diggin' the cable. Typical. Cable girl.

Alright, time for dinner. Thanks for stopping by.

Back from Vacation!

2010-08-02T20:16:00.012-04:00

I have a lot to get to this evening, so I'm just going to dive right in. As per usual, my blatherings will come early in the post with plenty of visual aids. I'll finish up with the knitting close to the end.
I've spent the last week in the pacific northwest - specifically Seattle - with a four day vacation within a vacation in Union, Washington. There's not a whole lot going on in Union, Washington, but a very important person has a home right next door to where we were staying...but I'll get to that. One of my dearest friends, S lives in Seattle with her husband, J and son, V. S and I have been friends for about 20 years. She is one of VERY few people who knew me when I was married. In the summer of 1992, S was looking for a room mate, and I realized that I'd rather live with her than my husband, so I left my marriage. That's no joke.
When she picked me up, we headed to Pike Place Market which is a huge Seattle landmark. http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/ We had lunch at http://www.maximilienrestaurant.com/ which is a lovely french bistro w/ a great view. S had the most spectacular ham and cheese sandwich that I've even seen or tasted in my life. Technically, it was the Croque Madame without the eggs. Trust me - it's almost worth going to Seattle to get the sandwich.

After lunch, we poked around the market for a while. I know she's going to kill me for posting this photo, but I think it's beautiful. Hi S!

The next day we left for http://www.alderbrookresort.com/ which is an hour on the ferry and then an hour drive. It is incredibly beautiful there, and there's not a whole lot to do - which is perfect for me. I'm not one of those hike-up-the-side-of-a-mountain-for-kicks kind of people. I have a bad foot and a vestibular (middle ear/balance) issue that causes me to fall down all the time...but I'll get to that. Let's just say that I'd rather sit in a chaise and read or knit.

We rented a two bedroom cottage and this was basically our view for four days. We were on the Hood Canal looking at the Olympic Mountain Range across the way. Pretty, isn't it? Turns out that the philantropist founder of Microsoft has a summer place right next door. Seriously - right next door. Yes, I have a couple photos of the house but I'm not going to post them here. J said that the Nordstroms have a place up there also.

The first morning we were there we scurried off to yoga/pilates at 8:30, only to see 80's style aerobics when we got over there. We decided to sit near the fire and regroup. Here is the very instant I decided there was no possible way I was going to aerobics.

Obviously this is a photo of a hydrangea. They were all over the place, and the colors were unbelievable. Aren't these pictures great? I'm glad I took so many because I no longer have a camera...but I'll get to that too.

The second day we were there, J joined us, and this is my buddy V while we were waiting for his daddy to get there. Clearly, he's a cutie-patootie.

So this is "glamping" dinner. A lovely salad of mixed greens and chicken salad which S made supplemented by caprese salad and asparagus a la room service. (Yes, glamping is glamour camping.)

So the next day after not doing a whole lot, we decided to rent a pedal boat and go cruise around. S had taken V out the day before while I was at the spa, and I thought a little exercise might be a good thing after lunch. This is V running down the pier in search of our pedal boat.

Here he is with the pedal boat guy - picking out what they thought was a good one. I should mention that the photo of the vendor, V and the pedal boat was the last photo ever taken with my camera. You're thinking that the camera fell in the water, aren't you? No, because then how would I have the photos? Guess again. Anybody who talks to me even fairly often knows that I fall down all the time. Generally I fall down the stairs at home, but since I was on vacation, I thought I'd make a complete fool of myself by tripping over a gap in the dock and hitting the non-skid deck on all fours. Not only did I put the worst scape on my knees in 40 years, I also landed on my camera. S said she thought I was going to jump right back up until she saw my knees; I left plenty of DNA (in the form of skin) on the deck in case they decide to clone me.

About the time I climbed into the pedal boat I realized the camera was destroyed. That probably made me madder than anything, but the pedling experience in itself wasn't anything to write home about. J and V sat in the back facing out while S and I (with the banged up and bleeding knees) worked the pedals. Unfortunately there was more weight in the back than in the front, so the paddles weren't in the water...and our passengers were sitting in water nearly up to their waists. After about 20 minutes of a lot of pedaling without much reward, we headed back into the dock. If I could take back a half an hour, that's probably the one I would pick. We actually paid money to do that.

Now I try to be a glass-half-full kind of gal, so here's the upside: Munchie knocked my camera off my desk a couple days before I left for Seattle and broke it. The part that held the batteries and memory stick thing wouldn't stay closed, so I had to use half a roll of duct tape to make the camera even functional. I didn't have time to buy a new camera before I left, so it was the broken one that I fell on. Can you imagine if I had replaced it and then broke it four days later? There would NEVER have been another photo on this blog.

And finally...since this IS a knitting blog (for the most part) I will now present the knitting project I worked on from the day we got up to Alderwood 'till Saturday when I left to come home. I cut it close, but was able to finish. V has a Clover Wonder Knitter, which is a plastic four-peg knitting nancy. Using red solid and multi colored cotton yarns held together, I knit probably forty feet of i-cord and then turned it into a lovely rug which is a little larger than an average chair pad. It took what seemed like forever to sew the thing up, but V loved it! He's going to put it in his room and wipe his feet on it. Awesome.

The last thing I want to talk about is how pleased I am that people are actually following this blog. I thought the same four people were reading it each week, but it turns out that there are actually five! Ha! Just kidding. There are REALLY more than five people. Who knew?? Blogger knew, that's who! They just started publishing analytics, so I can see how many people read me and the countries in which they live. Welcome! Stop by anytime and I'll try not to bore you to death. Bye for now!

New Project Alert and Product Review

2010-07-25T09:18:00.012-04:00

After discussing my Xenocryst hat w/ D & B yesterday, I've decided to not use the Cascade 220 in the Dark Teal Heather colorway. I still plan to do the hat and matching Bella's Mittens, but I need to use a lighter color so that the work in the cables can be seen. The hat has been frogged and put away as if it never existed, but I'll come back to it. I might still grab a lighter shade of 220 or louet Riverstone and take the Xenocryst on my trip. I can probably bang out most, if not of it, on the plane ride to and from Seattle.

The bigger project that I started last night and will take with me is the Stay-Put Wrap by Mags Kandis shown here on the left. Anyone who has seen even a glimpse of me knows I couldn't pull off that horrible shade of toasted pumpkin if my life depended on it. That shade tried to get into my "I'm-a-cool-Summer" color palette, but it was run out of town.

It should come as no surprise that my wrap is going to be blue. I chose Lamb's Pride worsted in M-57, Brite Blue colorway. I just cast on last night, but I was able to do 3 or 4 inches. I need to track down the errata on this pattern before I get too far along. I've read online that there is/are errata, and I'm not ripping and re-doing this thing. By the time I get done, I'll never want to do another row of seed stitch so I'll get it right the first time. And speaking of which, I figured out how I made the error on the Everyone's Doing it Shrug.

Here is the culprit: The Clover brand piece-of-crap counter. Last night I was counting rows while memorizing the Stay-Put Wrap cable pattern and one click added 11 to the number on the counter. Uh huh. That's right. This counter caused my shrug sleeve to be exactly 10 rows short.

Here is the counter after being whacked w/ a hammer. For what it's worth, I would suggest that you either buy a better clicker or use a piece of paper and pencil before investing in this particular piece of junk.

Okay. I'm signing off now. I can't put off the packing any longer. I'll have pictures of my projects when I return from my trip. Bye!

I'd Rather Blog Than Pack...

2010-07-24T09:34:00.011-04:00

Since I ended yesterday's post talking about tomatoes, that's where I'll start today. But don't worry...I have a bunch of knitting stuff to get to.

Check out these guys! I can't even say how awesome they are. I love the fact that for the rest of the summer I don't have to pay outrageously expensive fees for tomatoes that taste like...nothing. (Hey Ma, there's no tomato in my tomato!)
Did I mention I'm on vacation? Kidding. Of course I did. The first thing I did last night was get my hair done. (Backstreet Salon in Medford, MA) I love having my hair done. It's really peaceful there. The ladies all talking...the trashy magazines...the smell of the bleach...the feel of the wax ripping the unwanted hair off my face (Yes, my eyebrows are rocking the house right now...Mustache? What mustache?).
I wanted to post some pictures of the Xenocryst Hat (by Linda Shelhamer) that I'm making. It calls for the Estonian Double Cast-on, which I'd never even heard of so of course I didn't know how to do it. There's a great tutorial video on You Tube: It's stretchy, it's decorative and it's Estonian - or so I've heard. I was able to get it without too much difficulty and here it is on the left. It's basically a regular continental long-tail cast on with an extra step and a double tail. Sorry if I'm getting too technical for you non-knitters. I'll knock it off. You can see that I'm about two inches in, and I've got a couple issues. First of all, there is no way this this is going to fit on the head of an adult. It's not the fault of the pattern, but the fault of the knitter (me). I'm an extremely tight knitter, so I need to switch to a bigger needle. At least I didn't get too far into it, because it's getting frogged (translation: ripped out) this afternoon. The other issue is the color. The cables are really beautiful, and they are hard to see b/c the teal is so dark. I'm trying to knit from my stash and I've got a ton of this colorway (1500 grams) so I figured I could use one hank on this hat and four or so on Bella's Mittens I'll do to go with. I'll ask D & B to opine when they get here later.
That takes me to the "Is Everybody REALLY Doing It? Shrug". That's the Holly version of the Everyone's Doing It Shrug by Megyn. What a complete nightmare. Here's the recap: D made and was wearing the shrug in less than a week. Holly thought, Cool! I'm looking for a quick project, but I'm going to add extra rows of seed stitch for sleeves and make it a bit longer down the back. Right HERE is where someone should've stopped me. I was 19 rows from completion and I knew I wasn't going to have enough yarn. D was here and held it while I frogged it directly onto the winder. I then cast on again with 44 instead of 48 stitches so it wouldn't be as long down the back. I blew through it and here it is. I sewed up the first "sleeve", tried it on and I loved it.

I then lined up the second sleeve and I realized I had a problem. It's a good one, too: The problem is that even though I used a row counter for the second sleeve, I still somehow managed to skip 1 1/4 inches of seed stitch. What the hell? If someone finds my brain, could you please return it? So it's not that big a deal. I can just undo the bind off, do another 10 rows of seed stitch, bind off and sew up the sleeve, right? No... I'm out of yarn. I need about 5 grams of yarn and it comes in 200 gram hanks (200 grams is enough to knit a whole 'nother shrug). So given the choice of A) Frogging it AGAIN, B) taking it out to the driveway and setting it on fire, C) buying another hank of which I need a fraction, or D) throwing it in the closet with the other dead UFOs to never be seen again, what did I do? That's right; I bought another hank. I'm not knitting this thing a third time. I can barely stand the sight of it now.

I'm still trying to finish up the organization of my stash. I'm at the point of winding half skeins and random bits - primarily Lamb's Pride and Cascade 220. I make a lot of felted bags, so I have tons of worsted weight laying around. The spaghetti looking yarn in the foreground was the stranded part of a lovely mitten that has been mostly done for a year and a half. B says finish it or frog it. Indeed.
Gotta scoot. Thanks for stopping by...

No Pictures Today...

2010-07-23T14:24:00.003-04:00

I'm being bad. I'm at work, but I only have an hour and a half until my vacation begins. I've pretty much wrapped everything up and I'm in a holding pattern until I leave to have my hair done at 4PM.
You probably think it's been 10 days since my last post, but there was an extra one in there from Sunday that I pulled after the fact. I needed to do a MAJOR edit after posting (generally I'll go in and fix a typo or misspell if I find any) but blogger wouldn't let me. I got so tangled up and frustrated that I just deleted the entire post. AND sadly for all of you, it was loaded w/ all kinds of fun knitting pictures. Speaking of pictures, you'll never guess who knocked my camera off my desk and broke it. (Hint: Spoiled, obnoxious, siamese who feels compelled to break things if I'm not giving her enough attention.) I'm going to Seattle Monday, so if I can't get the duct tape to work its magic on the Nikon, I'll have to get a new one over the weekend. I'm being a little more realistic this trip in terms of what I'll actually knit, so I'm only taking two projects. Maybe three. I'm working on the Xenocryst Hat by Linda Shelhamer that's in the Knitscene that just came out. I'm using Cascade 220 in a heathered dark teal and I'm going to make a pair of Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault (in the 220 doubled) to match. Both items are holiday gifts for my sister-in-law. She lives in NC, but it must be cold enough for mittens and a hat at least some of the time. The other project that I may or may not take with me is the Jubilee Scarf by Norah Gaughan. I started it May 1st, and it has been resting since I got home from Las Vegas on May 16th. Seriously. I took the baggie out of my suitcase, put it on the table in my bedroom and have not touched it since. Nice follow-though Hols. Anyway, I'm using Louisa Harding Mulberry for the Jubilee. (Sorry about the lack of links, but I'm being lazy.)
I'm very excited about my trip on Monday. Last year when I was out in Seattle, my friend S and I took a mini holiday up to Victoria, BC. This year we're taking a mini holiday here: http://www.alderbrookresort.com/ I've been practically dreaming about it...the peace...the quiet...the spa treatments...and no access to healthcare quality data! I couldn't analyze anything - even if I wanted to. YIPPEE!!
I'll try to get a post w/ pictures up before I leave. I have a bunch of lovely, yellow cherry tomatoes that I'd like to show off. After last year's blight, I only put in a couple tomato plants, but they're going crazy. I'll blather on more about the veggies at a later date. Bye for now.

New Books, New Yarn and Hot Flashes...

2010-07-10T21:00:00.008-04:00

Did you ever fall asleep in the late afternoon, then wake up in the early evening not knowing what day it is? I mean is it 8PM on Saturday or 8AM on Sunday?? And why isn't my brain able to process this very important question? It was the light - the light wasn't right for 8AM - even taking the thunderstorms into consideration, plus America's Funniest Home Videos was on when I woke up (Oh - the humanity!) and I don't think Tom Bergeron does 8AM. Did you know he's from Massachusetts? Yeah... I remember when he was here. Anyway, I'm exhausted. I can't sleep to save my ass. My life as I knew it has been decimated by hot flashes. No kidding. I am a walking, talking hot flash. Since March, I've been on a diet VERY heavy in soy protein - like over 70 grams/day. Soy in high doses mimics estrogen, so for three months I tricked my body into thinking it was young and happening. The joke's on me. My bod came back with, "Exactly who do you think you're dealing with? Your eggs are cooked and there's nothing you can do about it." Now I'm back to where I started, with both friends and strangers looking at me in horror - asking if I'm okay as I overheat, melt and nearly pass out in front of them - damp and freezing five minutes later.

The July 4th holiday has come and gone since my last entry. Everyone was home, which was cool. My sister H liked my bulky sweater, so I gave it to her. Maybe she'll let me wear it when I'm in Tahoe in the fall...

No trip home is complete without a trek to Freeport, and while there, I picked up a few knitting books at Sherman's Bookstore (which I need like another hole in my head). I've been meaning to pick up Knit 2 Together for a while; there's a shrug in there that I want to make but I don't think I'll do that now. I've been trying to decide what to do next. I want to start something kind of meaty, but it has been so hot that I can't deal with a ton of wool draped across my lap. I keep looking through pattern books, and keep coming back to the Janis Joplin coat by Jill Stover. This one I won't give away to one of my sisters. It's for me, and I can wear it in the fall. Tomorrow D, B and I are going down to Pawtucket to see the PSox play. (Beckett has a rehab start, which is crazy lucky for us!) D will probably drive, so I can spend some time either thinking about what to cast on, or actually casting on Janis. We'll see.

When I was in my room a few minutes ago, there was a commercial on with a guy named Dr. Richard Bock. He was saying, "Are you or is someone you know addicted to Narcotics?" I thought, hmm - I'm addicted to yarn. I wonder if there's a program for that. I bought some new yarn today, but I'll get to that in a minute. I'm really diggin' the fact that I organized the stash last week and put it all up on Ravelry. Today while I was out and about, I was looking at a pattern that called for 19 hanks of Berroco Softwist. I know I have some b/c I just inventoried it, but do I have 19 hanks?? I take out my handy BlackBerry, sign on to Ravelry and look at my stash, which has 22 hanks of Softwist - plenty to make the sweater in question. Wow. If I'm not careful - I'm going to come off as organized.

Today I bought some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran for a specific project, and some Noro Retro which is headed to the stash. The Alpaca Silk Aran is just sick. It is so gorgeous that I just want to hold it against my face. I'm not sure what to do w/ the Noro. I'm not a Noro lover, but maybe I'll like it once I work w/ it. Everyone else seems to like it. The only reason I like the Retro is because it is solid in Color. All the color variation in the Noro yarns bug me. I mean seriously, if you are buying yarn because of the blue/green/gray variegation, do you want to suddenly run into a big blob of orange? I don't. Anyway, the color is greener than it looks in the picture to the left.

I'm going to sign off. It's almost 11P and I need to go to sleep. Hopefully I'll get some cool shots of Josh Beckett tomorrow, which I'll post next time. Thanks for stopping by!

Quick Wrap Up...

2010-07-02T19:18:00.004-04:00

So. I went through MOST of the stash. Here is the stuff that is done.

And here is the stuff that is not done. Most of the not done stuff consists of long dead UFOs which I should frog. I probably will - just not today. I've looked at the yarn enough already.

H is going to get into Logan in about half an hour so I should scoot. I accidentally mentioned her by name in my earlier post. Sorry H - I outed you as my sister.

Happy 4th to all! Happy Birthday Mom!

Stash Inventory/Organization Update

2010-07-02T11:59:00.006-04:00

I'm in hell. That's the whole update.

I've been planning to give the yarn its own room for quite some time, but haven't gotten around to it. I've been hauling it up to the attic, and left unattended, it has been breeding up there. I was totally pumped this morning around 7:00 when I was bringing it all down, but by about 8:00 I was not so psyched.

This is what the yarn looked like when I got started this morning.

And after five hours of work, this is what it looks like now.

I've loaded 28 different yarns into Ravelry, which means they have been logged, counted, photographed and reloaded into a bin (based on either project or yarn). I need to get the hell out of Dodge, so I'm going to Target to get some more bins.

Heather's flight appears to have taken off on time. I was going to make guac, but didn't get around to buying the avacados. I also considered making nut brittle, but that is a holiday thing so I also blew that off. Now I feel kind of bad b/c there isn't a speck of food in this house. Luckily we're not opposed to restaurants.

Yesterday I bought this very cool book entitled No Idle Hands - The Social History of American Knitting. It's pretty cool; I'm in Colonial times right now. Who would've thunk it?? The history of knitting in America. Hmm.

Off to Target. Catch 'ya later.

I'm a Frogger, Baby I'm a Frogger....

2010-06-30T05:46:00.003-04:00

It is 5:47A on Wednesday, and I need to be out of this house by 6:20. I said I'd put up pics of my Everyone's Doing It Shrug, so here's the update. Last night with 19 rows of seed stitch to do before completion, I realized I was going to run short. D was here watching the Sox, and helped me to convince myself to frog the whole thing and start again w/ a 44 stitch cast on instead of 48. That would save enough yarn to finish the shrug even with the extra inches I added to make the "sleeves". D held it, and I frogged it right onto the winder. Yippee!! Here is the re-winded (or would that be re-wound? I don't think so) Blue Heron in Rain colorway. Lovely, isn't it?

So I have to be over at MGH for a 7:10 mammogram. The funniest description I ever read (of a mammogram) is as follows:

1. Lay down on the garage floor on your side.

2. Make sure your bottom breast is flush against the cement.

3. Have someone run it over with the car.

4. Don't move.

I'm just happy to be able to start my day with such a fun filled activity. (I know I'm being a smart ass, but on a serious note, my annual trip to the Breast Center gives me time to think about all the women close to me who have survived or been beaten by breast cancer; most notably my childhood best friend, Nancy.)

Tonight I'm going to an internet marketing thing - the guest speakers are two Google Analytics guys - really - all the way from Google. There I go again with the over scheduling...

Starving. Gotta scram. Bye.

Intermittent Blogger, That's Me

2010-06-28T20:12:00.004-04:00

I can't get out of my own way lately. Somebody please get me an assistant; I feel like I'm burning my candle at five different ends. I tried all weekend to sit down and write this entry, but I just could not cram it in. I did some cool stuff over the weekend, but just once, I'd like to do nothing. Nah, I wouldn't do that; I'm an over-scheduler even on the weekends. Although - now that I think of it, Memorial Day weekend when I had the splint on my hand and couldn't knit for four or five days, I did nothing but watch movies for an entire Saturday. I think I'm the last person on the planet to see the movie Meet Joe Black...

So check out my radishes. How cute are they? These guys came out on Friday, and I've got about the same amount nearly ready that I haven't pulled yet. The only thing with having a gazillion radishes is that I have to eat a gazillion radishes. When I was picking just a few at a time, they were getting dehydrated in the fridge and I was tossing them before I could eat them. I discovered that if I put them in cold water (in the fridge) they stay hydrated and I get a couple extra days in which to eat them. Carrots, beets and swiss chard not ready yet. Many little tomatoes coming along, but they're still green. We were supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, but nothing yet. I might have to go out and water which is a drag b/c it is about 90 degrees with oppressing humidity. My pansies are looking really desperate - they've gone limp and fallen over. I'll feel guilty if it doesn't rain and they die overnight.

If I wasn't typing, I'd be finishing up my Everyone's Doing It shrug by Megyn. I tried to add the link, but I couldn't do it. Her photo is on Ravelry, w/ a link to the pattern, so y'all have to go to Ravelry yourselves. I've altered the pattern to make half sleeves - I decided to do 41 rows of seed stitch but feel free to do 40.

I'm not totally wacked in the head - I had a to change yarns, and I wanted the ends to be in the back so I had to end the seed stitch on a wrong side row. I'm using Blue Heron cotton/rayon seed in Rain colorway which is sadly discontinued. These are Holly colors if I've ever seen them. I might have to try to corner the market on this colorway before it disappears forever. Only the best for my stash, right? I've never used this yarn before, but I really like it.

Alright. I need to scoot. I'm going out to water the pansies, coming in to take a 9:30 conference call and then going to bed. The shrug should be done tomorrow and I'll post pics on Thurs or Friday b/c I'm taking extra days off for the holiday! Yippee! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sunday

2010-06-20T08:34:00.008-04:00

I should probably say Happy Father's Day, right? Hmm. I don't think I have any fathers in the readership, but maybe. This is the 5th Father's Day that Hank, my late father, has missed. I'm terribly sad at this very instant, but I'm sure it will pass and I'll get back to my usual sarcastic, make-a-joke-out-of-everthing self before too long. Probably in the next sentence. Tubby is here with me, and she's rubbing against my hand making it difficult to type. I'm just warning all 'ya all - the upcoming typos are Tubby's. And now (so as not to be outdone) Munchie has jumped up in my lap and they are about to get into a fight. Psyched.

I have some sad news to report: All the blossoms fell off my orchid. I'm crushed. They lasted six months! And, two bloomed about two weeks before all of them fell off. I think it is the heat and humidity lately, but I don't know for sure. Now I've got three dormant orchids, and none of them will probably ever bloom again. I'll have to hope that A gets me another orchid this year for a holiday gift. I know I need to repot them, so maybe I'll give that a whirl when I have some free time. Their roots are all good. Anybody have any orchid tips?
Today I'm planning to take a yarn store field trip w/ my friend B. She has to exchange some yarn, and I'm always up for visiting a yarn store whether I need any or not. (Even I have to admit I'm in the NOT red zone at this point.) I'm just about done w/ the I-cord for my twirly skirt, and I'm trying to decide what to do next. I've got two things on the needles right now - a sweater and a lace scarf - but I want to start something new. I really want to start the Janis Joplin Jacket by Jill Stover, but I'm not sure I want to be buried under 900 grams of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky in the blazing heat of the summer. That one may have to wait until the fall...or at least the next rainy weekend. I think I'm leaning toward the Everyone's Doing it Shrug by Megyn. My friend D banged one out in less than a week and it looks great. I'm going to do mine in Blue Heron Beaded Cotton/Rayon. If I like it, I might make one for each of my sisters. OOPS! Not much of surprise, is it H & H? HA!
I was going to put up a picture of what I look like in my new glasses, but between the bedhead, the no make up, and trying to capture my own image it didn't go so well and I've opted to keep you all in suspense. Another time perhaps. I have a headache and I think I need some caffeine so I'm going to scoot. Thanks for reading, and say hi to your fathers for me!

Woo Hoo! Twirly is done...Finally!

2010-06-13T09:24:00.006-04:00

I'm leaving a couple minutes to go pick up my friend (and former room mate) G but I wanted to get a pic of the finished twirly skirt up pronto. I just have to weave in the ends and put the i-cord drawstring through the eyelet at the waist. I didn't think I'd ever get this thing done, so I'm so psyched to get it out of it's beat-up ziploc bag and off the needles. I should be able to get my Cinquefoil hat done next. I found a backwards stitch about seven rows back that I have to fix. See it? Probably not, but this is the kind of thing that would drive me insane. The stitch is right between my middle and ring fingers. Hey - check out my nails that I bit down on Thursday. My nails have been pretty long lately but Thursdays do me in and this past Thursday was especially harsh.

Okay - gotta scoot, but I'll check back in later if I have a sec. Tonight is the season premier of TrueBlood. Psyched. Hoping as always to hear Swedish spoken in this episode...

Yes, I'm back.

2010-05-31T16:27:00.011-04:00

It has been a while since my last post. I've been back from vacation for a couple weeks, but it hasn't really been a calm, peaceful two weeks. The two temporary crowns I had done the day I left on vacation pretty much fell out and I glued them back in every day while I was away. When I got home from vacation, the dentist cemented them back in and then a couple days later when they fell out (again), I bit down on them and broke them in five pieces. Thankfully, the permanent crowns came in quickly and the nubs were only bare from Friday night until the following Tuesday. I'm happy to say that the perm ones have been in for six days now without issue. About the same time I was dealing with the teeth, I finally had to come to terms with the fact that I can't see, and had to get glasses. The night before the glasses were ready, I misjudged where I was walking and slammed my left hand into the moulding at the top of my banister post. Luckily it was only a contusion, but I was in a splint to immobilize my left hand for five days. I'm left handed.
That pretty much takes us up to today. I did one of the things on my bucket list today. I've always wanted to have my hands painted with henna. My friends D and V just moved to a new home in Winchester, MA, and they had birthday party for D at their new house. She brought in a henna artist http://www.hennabyheather.com/ who was awesome. She did D's forearms, the tops and palms of both her hands, and both her feet. I had one of my hands done. I'm so psyched to see what it will look like tomorrow, I can hardly stand it (I still have most of the henna paste on). I had a chance to see some friends I haven't seen lately, and my friend Dominic http://www.dominicchavez.com/ said, if you've wanted to do this for like 20 years, why didn't you just go to Morocco and have it done? I didn't have an answer. Why not indeed? I should really start looking at the big picture, man. I'm stuck in the details. Anyway, for a start, I'm going to have at least both hands and feet done before my next vacation.
So check out the beginning of the 2010 harvest...yup, radishes. They're little, but I was so excited to see them that I yanked them early. I was under the impression that if you grew them at the very beginning or end of the season they would be mild, and if you grew them during the blazing heat of the summer they would be spicy. That's not really true because these guys were planted in april, survived a mild frost, and still turned out spicy. Oh well. I'm still very proud of them. They're so cute. My beets, carrots and chard are moving pretty slowly. Last year I transplanted chard, and I might go get some pre-started containers. I think the chard I started from seed is going to be too puny to do much of anything.
Okay, and now on to the knitting. I know I promised to finish my twirly skirt while I was away, but I didn't. Slacker. I have the attention span of a mosquito when it comes to knitting. I've been meaning to start the Cinquefoil hat (using Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere as suggested) by MaryJane Mucklestone for a while. I'm on the top of the hat, but the photos here are of the sides. The inside of the hat looks so awesome that I might wear it inside out. Ha!
I took so many projects with me on vacation that I actually went to the post office in Indiana and sent the yarn for one project back to my house in Mass. It was waiting for me when I got home from Las Vegas. Why not start another one, right? So yesterday I started a rectangular shawl using Schaefer Anne in a purple/gray variegated. The shawl is a very easy lace pattern. My next post will have the pattern author and photos. That's pretty much it I think. I literally have about seven projects going. My goal is to get SOMETHING off the needles this week. Probably Cinquefoil. It is an easy one and goes really fast. Sorry if this post was all over the map. Thanks for reading anyway.

Last post before vacation...

2010-05-07T19:33:00.006-04:00

I should be packing - or at least pulling my knitting projects together for the trip. It is Friday evening and I'm not flying out until Monday so I still have a couple days. Unfortunately I have more than a couple days worth of stuff to do. I should begin with a list. Yeah, that might help to point me in the right direction, so I probably won't make one.

Today's topics: My garden, my current WIP, and I'll finish up with the projects that are probably going to get the nod to accompany me across this great land of ours.

This first picture was taken from my back deck the first time I noticed that my radishes had sprouted.

The second photo is the radishes close up. If there is a reader out there who is a true gardener, please feel free to comment - something like "Hols - your radishes need to be thinned out", would be appropriate.
This third photo shows my beet sprouts! I didn't even see them until I put my nose about six inches from the dirt. See the red in the lower right corner?? That's BEET! It is actually kind of funny that I'm growing beets. I haven't had one since I was a child because they literally made me gag. The only ones I ever had growing up came in a can, and they were so completely disgusting that I could hardly bear it. I've heard from people that fresh beets are awesome, and if I succeed at growing them myself, I'll be so proud that I'll eat them even if I hate them (which I don't think I will). The swiss chard is also coming up and the sprouts look just like the beets. The seeds looked similar too. Maybe they're related.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've started the Jubilee Scarf, which is a Berroco pattern by Norah Gaughan. The first photo was taken with a flash and the yarn color is truer, but the lace detail isn't visible. I shut the flash off for the second shot so the detail can be seen but the color is washed out. Apparently, I can't have it both ways.

I decided to use Louisa Harding Mulberry in Silver (02) but when I finished my first 50 grams, I realized that I was not going to have nearly enough. Yes, it's the first time in history that I didn't buy the entire stock of a yarn I liked just to be on the safe side. It won't happen again. I asked Annissa at the Stitch House in Dorchester (MA) if she had any more, and then my friend B actually ran in there tonight on her way home from work to check for me. No such luck. I was sure this scarf-in-progress was going to be getting the frog treatment, but B GENEROUSLY offered to let me have some of the 02 from her personal stash. Looks like this one is coming with me on vacation.

And speaking of projects that get to go on vacation, here is hopefully the last photo of Twirly in its unfinished state.

The next time you see this albatross it will be off the needles and hanging from my waist. For those of you who have never seen this before, it is Tink's Twirly Skirt by Jill Stover, knit in Louet Euroflax. This skirt lives in Mass, but has visited Maine, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and will be going to Indiana and Nevada next week. Can you imagine the exciting life it will have when it's actually finished?? I can't even think about it. I'm thinking I might take the Cinquefoil hat by Mary Jane Mucklestone in elann peruvian baby cashmere.

http://twistcollective.com/2009/autumn/magazinepage_07.php

And then there's always the Bella's mittens by Marielle Henault. So many choices. So many yarns and needles to pack. I went up to the attic to get the BIG suitcase. Look out!

So Monday I'm having the drill work to make crowns for my two most rear lower right teeth. I am then immediately getting on a plane to Indianapolis (How do you think that flight will be??) I'm staying in Selma, Indiana until Thursday afternoon when I fly to Las Vegas until Sunday. I'll take tons of pictures and share the most interesting, however I won't take the camera to the dentist. I'll let you imagine the dental work. See you when I get back!

New Project Alert!

2010-05-02T11:18:00.004-04:00

I don't have a whole lot of time today, but I started a new scarf last night, and I wanted to get a couple shots of it up here and on Ravelry before I have to be in Arlington for 1PM lunch.

I'm guessing all of my readership resides in the US, so you've probably heard that Boston and the surrounding areas had a catastrophic water emergency yesterday. I'm in one of the communities that has to boil water. I saw on the news that people were storming the stores to buy up all the bottled water, but I didn't even hear about it until 10:30 last night, and by then all the storming had happened 10 hours prior. My friends D and B were over for a knitting-while-watching-Dexter marathon, and we didn't hear anything about the gazillion gallons of drinking water that were lost. My friend D drank some of my water while she was here, so I hope she's okay. It really isn't that big of an inconvenience b/c it's just me and the cats. If I had a family I suppose it would be more problematic. The biggest annoyance I had last night was brushing my teeth with Polar Triple Berry seltzer water.

So here's my scarf: Jubilee by Berroco. http://berroco.com/exclusives/jubilee/jubilee.html

I'm using Louisa Harding Mulberry (100% silk) in shade 02, which is silver/gray. I cruised through my first 16 rows of the pattern then looked at what was supposed to be a 2 stitch garter stitch border, and had botched on row six. Loser. I don't screw up the lace pattern, I can't remember to knit two stitches are the end

of each row. Duh. So I had to frog the 16 rows and start again. Sadly, I have only an inch to show, but I'll have a decent amount done the next time I post pics.

Gotta scram, but I'd like to welcome L to my readership. Thanks for stopping by!

I need to hop in a shower of bathable but not drinkable water...

Finished Object Alert!

2010-04-25T07:46:00.003-04:00

Yup...I'm still here. I've just been really busy lately; I've barely had time to knit and certainly haven't had a spare second to do a blog entry. I'm on vacation the week of May 10th, and plan to get LOTS of knitting done. For everyone who has been following the painfully slow progress of my twirly skirt since last July: I will post photos of the completed skirt sometime the week of May 17th. I'm going on three airplane rides, and the skirt will be the official carry-on project. Twirly is my most traveled UFO. It's been with me to Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and the Adirondacks. In two weeks it'll see rural Indiana and Las Vegas. Sheesh.
I've been working on a Cable and Lace Pullover (by Cecily Glowik MacDonald) which is coming along. I love the pattern and it knits up really quickly. No photos of that I'm afraid. Next time.

I just knit another Darkside Cowl (by Sarah Fama) because I was looking for some immediate gratification. I'm not sure what I'll do with it - it'll probably be a holiday gift. Yes, I'm starting my holiday gifts.

I have an update on my flooded condo. (Remember the idiot in the unit above who broke his toilet??) I got the estimate from my contractor and we're looking at over $35K in damage. I should've beaten the crap out of that guy when I had the chance. Since he was completely incapacitated as a result of drug and alcohol over-use, a) he wouldn't remember a beat down and b) I'd feel much better right now. I should've definitely taken his dog. Jerk.
Well, that's all for today. I have to post the cowl to Ravelry and step away from the computer. Bye.

Quick Follow up Post...

2010-04-04T10:17:00.003-04:00

I just finished posting the "real" entry below, but this is so funny I have to do two last pics.
This is what I have to deal with when I sit at my computer. Tubby is snoozing with her head on my keyboard and Munchie is camped in my lap. No one in this house ever heard of a kitty bed. Bye.

Happy Spring!

2010-04-04T08:53:00.010-04:00

Bet'cha thought I fell off the planet, eh? Nope, just right out straight. Last weekend (at 1:45 AM) my condo in Chelsea was flooded when the idiot living in the unit above broke his toilet. Literally. Broke his toilet tank in two. Then, not realizing he was about to wreck the two units below his (he didn't notice the tank was completely cracked- water pouring out of it should've been the first clue), staggered across the unit to his bed and passed out. By the time I saw his unit, there was 3" of water up there. I think I was in shock because I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around what was happening. The fire department tried to rouse him by using the phrase, "Don't you know you're unit is flooded?" Numb nuts replied that his unit was NOT flooded, and the fireman bent over, scooped up a handful of water and threw it in his face. It's an amusing visual, but I missed that exchange because I was already trying to get ServPro over to my place PRONTO. You ought to see me deal with a crisis at 2:00 in the morning. I spent 40 years in the Hank Martinson school of how to do everything right, so once I woke up, I was like a machine. Due to the flooding in Mass and Rhode Island, I couldn't get an adjuster to come for a visit until Monday, but hopefully the repair process can get underway and won't be too painful. I need to give a special shout out to my friend B (and her kitties) who lives in my condo and has been a great sport this week under really crappy circumstances. She had two dehumidifiers the size of refrigerators and three jet engine fans blowing for nearly 72 hours. The whole thing is just an unnecessary pain in the ass. As far as the guy upstairs, who does that? Even a week later I still can't believe it.

And now onto Spring...

I met up with my mother P for lunch yesterday, and she brought along these lovely roses. I was thinking that I should've brought her flowers as I was driving up to see her, so I felt kind of bad when she pulled these out of her hat. As you can see, they are a lovely pale peach color and opened up beautifully.

I took this second shot to point out that the orchid I received as a holiday gift is still thriving after nearly three and a half months! My other two are still domant. You can't see them, but they are there in the background snoring.

I bought the hyacinths and the flat of pansies last weekend up at Chapman's Greenhouses in Beverly Farms, MA. (Hi C!) The hyacinths have exploded and their scent fills the house. Since it finally stopped raining, I'm going to plant the pansies out front today.

I'll probably split and move a couple hostas out back as well. My backyard is trashed. I had a giant frost heave out their this winter, and I have areas of the lawn that have sunk as well as tree limbs everywhere. I can hardly bear to look at it. I'll just stay focused on the pansies and the hostas. When the yard dries out, I'll call someone in for advice.

And finally, since this supposed to be a knitting blog, I have a couple shots of the progress on my sweater. The darker color is truer to the color of the yarn, but the close up shows the stitches. It is coming along well. I have about one row's yarn left before I start a new hank, but I'm not sure where I put them. I know I the other five are all together b/c I separate by project to keep the queue orderly, but not being able to find this project bin will gum up the works. Current project yarn does not belong in the attic, but maybe it's up there. My sister H is really good at organizing...maybe I could somehow coerce her into helping me with my yarn?? Please?

Another Cable and Lace Pullover...

2010-03-23T17:50:00.006-04:00

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...

2010-03-20T08:51:00.016-04:00

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...

2010-03-17T08:31:00.004-04:00

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...

2010-03-14T08:54:00.007-04:00

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!

2010-03-07T10:15:00.007-05:00

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...

2010-03-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

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.

Quick update...

2010-02-27T07:45:00.000-05:00

I have to leave in an hour to take Munchie to the vet, so I don't have a whole lot of time today. This is her second follow up visit since December for her bad eye. She has had issues since she was a kitten, and her awesome vet, Dr T., wants to refer her to a kitty opthamologist. I guess I should go talk to the bank about a second mortgage on the house...

My voice seems a little better today. I had a couple rough days after my vocal cords were abused by a fiber optic camera on Wednesday. I'm still coming to terms with my diet - which has been decimated by restrictions. No tomatoes (or sauce, I guess), no citrus, nothing spicy, no soda, and no food for three hours before I go to bed. Three hours is a long time; I was soothed to sleep last night by the rumblings of my own stomach. Still have the cough and clearing throat thing, but there would be no reason to expect the thing on my cords to be gone after only two days.

Here are a couple photos of my bulky sweater in progresss. It's a little snug, but that'll be fixed when it is blocked. I really like it, and I've decided to make a matching hat b/c I have so much Magnum left over and it cost a king's ransom. I'll probably make matching mittens too. And tassels for the hat and pom poms for

the mittens... Now I'm kidding.

I'm headed over to my friend J's house today to help her with her knitting, and have lunch. I'm a tad concerned about the weather b/c I'm right on the coast and it is snowing. J lives inland - outside 128 - so chances are it's worse there, but I'm sure I'll be alright. Gotta scram. Have a great weekend. Have some spaghetti for me! Bye.

So many updates...but no socks.

2010-02-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

So has everyone been patiently waiting to see what I made at sock class? You'll be waiting a looooooong time. I should never say never, but I think it's safe to say that I won't be making socks anytime soon. And furthermore, would anyone like to buy my Takumi size 2 bamboo double pointed needles? Only VERY slightly used. When will I learn to just stick with what I like? I'm drawn to very specific things, and little, tiny needles don't make the short list. Here on the left, let's compare my favorite Brittany dpns (size 17) with my new size 2 dpns. Not much of a contest, is it? Hard to use my fave phrase "big, honkin" when referring to those pathetic little needles.

(Don't worry - I do have project photos which I plan to post at the end...)

So. I had an interesting day today... I had a laryngoscopy. For those of you who don't know what that is, the Ear, Nose and Throat doc puts a fiber optic camera up the patient's nose and down their throat to look around and take pictures. I've been having some issues with my neck and throat the last couple months, and the mystery is now solved...but I'll get to that in a minute. We started with aerosol novacaine sprayed up my nose. This shit tastes BAD. We waited a couple minutes and I'm instructed to breathe though my nose while the tube thing is inserted. The anatomy of my nose is unusual, so of course the tube got caught and had to be pulled out. Awesome! We got the opportunity to start over again. More aerosol novacaine; and I mean much more. Eyes watering, nose running, drooling, coughing and apologizing...that was me. Next I got to see the video of the inside of my nose and throat, and anyone who knows me knows I dig pretty much any kind of medical procedure. I think I missed my calling. (No, not a doctor...a hypochondriac!) Thankfully, there is nothing seriously wrong with me. I have a kind of reflux that I'd never heard of (laryngopharyngeal reflux - LPR as opposed to gastroesophageal reflux - GERD), and that has caused a bumpy irritation thing on my vocal cords. You could see it in the pictures, but I opted not to ask for a copy this time around. (Ya'll know I'd post it if I had it.) So I have plenty of diet and behavior changes which, in combination with my Zantac, should fix me up in no time. And just when I was getting used to the gravel voice and constant dry cough...

On the way home, I forgot to go to Rite Aid, so I stopped at CVS (which is always a mistake) to get my prescription filled. Given the choice between another laryngoscopy and stepping foot inside CVS again, I think I'll head back over to Mass Eye & Ear. I'm officially boycotting CVS, and I invite all of you to join me.

For dinner I made something I haven't had in years: Salt Potatoes. Any of my anonymous readership from Syracuse? Mmmmm...Salt potatoes...Syracuse food.

Okay, time to wrap this up. Remember the Magnum? I bought it for a sweater in Vogue Knitting last winter, then changed my mind to make the "Holly" sweater (both of these also-rans had bobbles all over the sweaters, and that's really not so good for me) but finally cast on the Weekend Neck Down Pullover sweater on Saturday after my (failure of a) sock class. So the first picture is the entire sweater - what I've done since Saturday - and the second picture is detail of the neck. I've been working on it a little each day, and it will be done over the weekend. In my case it is the week-long neck down pullover, not the weekend neck down pullover. Okay. I think enough of my blathering. Thanks for staying with me until the end! See you soon. :)

I think I'll go to a toe-up sock class today...

2010-02-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

...but first I'll talk about how I reached that decision. The soundtrack for this morning's blog will be provided by Pandora Radio where I've created a Herman's Hermits station. Groovy, Man. It's Saturday, and in keeping with tradition, I was up at the crack of dawn. The first plane left Logan at 5:53A, which is eight minutes late. I doubt anyone noticed besides me, the air traffic controllers, and the lobsters headed out to the west coast where they will become someone's dinner this evening. (But I thought I'd mention it anyway.) Since there wasn't much food in the house and I can only bear to go for groceries when the rest of the population is home asleep, I set off for Chelsea at 6:45. Remarkably, there were plenty of people at the store when I got there. While waiting at the deli, I saw a man I thought I recognized (looking at me), but at 7:05 on Saturday AM (and on my third day sans caffeine) I couldn't for the life of me place him. It came to me about 15 minutes later in produce: he fixed my computer last summer when I caught a scorching social networking virus on Facebook. Unfortunately he got the lights-are-on-but-Holly's-not-at-home stare, and there's not much I can do about it now.

So I've been a litttle scattered lately. I'm over tired, and I can't seem to complete any of my projects. I knit and tink (unknit, stitch by stitch) and re-knit and rip out. I'm stuck. Last weekend, my dear friend Tink (at Yarns in the Farms) taught me a new way to purl. (I throw. It was how I learned, and although it is comparatively inefficient, I'm pretty speedy at it.) Learning a new stitch was pretty cool; I came home and practiced it, and now it is firmly established in the repertoire. My friend D took a magic loop class a couple weeks ago and is taking a toe-up sock class today. I'm thinking maybe I just need to learn a new technique and this would work. I just have to find a pattern, which shouldn't be too difficult.

All I had to do was check the bookcase to realize finding a toe- up pattern won't be hard at all. Duh. I knew I had sock yarn, so I headed up to the attic to poke around.

This is my yarn stash. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I should mention that this isn't the whole thing, but this is the mostly organized part. No yarn for current projects or recent purchases have been banished to the attic. There are two bins keeping me company right now, and technically, the yarn doesn't belong in the office.

Okay, so this is what I decided on for today's sock class. REGIA Galaxy. I liked it more when I bought it than I do now, but it's not doing me any good sitting upstairs.

This is enough yarn for two pair, but my goal is more realistic: TWO SOCKS. I suffer from one finished sock syndrome, but I'm hoping to get psyched enough to bang out a full set. If I get really interested in socks, I'll learn how to knit 2 at a time (but I probably won't since I go barefoot year round). The plan is to hit the class, then come back here for a knitting/Weeds marathon. I bought stuff for guacamole, so that's probably dinner. I'll put up pictures of my socks in progress tomorrow. I knew I wouldn't actually do my taxes today...