Tales of Nomads

Pattern recommendations for Llama yarn?

2011-03-10T10:39:00.001-05:00

Any pattern recommendations for llama yarn that comes from my MIL's flock/herd/? I'd love to make a fitted cardigan...

Why I haven't been posting (or knitting)....

2008-02-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

Our little beans arrived on October 18, 2007 - a little early...

Introducing Cara & Liam

Double Knitting?

2007-06-26T21:33:00.000-04:00

I'm soliciting advice/recommendations/suggestions for very cute baby things to knit... say, for a boy *and* a girl... say, for a boy and a girl arriving (hopefully) in mid-November.... I have my eye on blue blog's girly bell bottoms, and I have my favourite Green Mountain Spinnery hat, but anything else? What would you recommend?

So, yeah, I've been SO influenced by my knitblog reading that I went out and got knocked up too. :-)

Hey again and... 7 Random Things About Me

2007-06-03T11:02:00.000-04:00

Hi there,

I know it has been a while... not sure if anyone is still out there, but anyway... I've done stranger things than write to myself. :-) So one of my reasons for lack of blog posts had something to do with all the bloody felted slippers I was knitting. I finished the last pair about a month ago (!), so I haven't had any new and exciting knitting content really. I have great plans forming for projects this summer though.

Ok, so Bryna didn't exactly tag me to do this meme, but I believe the phrase "I don't want to force anyone to do a meme if they don't want to, but if you feel like it, and you don't have anything better to blog about, consider yourself tagged" applied to me.

1. I am tone deaf. Well, I took piano lessons and then played the alto saxophone in high school and achieved a Grade 8 Conservatory level with the sax... but play by ear? No sir. I can't sing in tune to save my life. I could tell if I was playing a note sharp or flat but that was about it.

2. I can solve a Rubik's cube in under 2 minutes. In grade 4, my mom took me down to the Simpson's in downtown Toronto to take part in a Rubik's cube contest and made it to the Quarter Final Round.

3. In high school, I went through a phase of renting Alfred Hitchcock movies and that led me to see the movie, "Marnie", which in turn, led to a fixation with James Bond movies and Sean Connery, in general. (My favourite James Bond movie is "From Russia With Love".)

4. I hate my feet and I hate shoe shopping... I have size 11.5 feet and when my petite size 7-footed friends want to browse in shoe stores, it kind of drives me crazy.

5. My mom taught me to knit when I was about 7 or 8. My aunt taught me to crochet around the same time and my first non-scrap-yarn project was crocheted. At 14, I decided that I wanted to knit a sweater, so went out to Lewiscraft with my part-time job money and bought a Patons Aran pattern book and some (ack) acrylic yarn.

6. I laughed my a$$ off at Austin Powers (at least parts 1 and 2)... perhaps because of Item #3 above... and subsequently decided to throw an Austin Powers party at my house. I dressed as a Fembot. I was quite proud of making that, complete with "guns" that didn't droop.

7. My cat is named "Aston", well "Aston Martin", really because, again, see Item #3. When I picked her out at the Kingston Humane Society, she wasn't what I imagined the cool names I had thought up did not match her colouring. She was mottled grey and brown and well, there was a grey Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger and a brown Aston Martin V8 Vantage in The Living Daylights... hence, "Aston". She is a "she" and I figured that cars and ships were referred to in the feminine, but somehow people always think she is a boy because of her name.

As for who to tag, I think Bryna said it best: "I don't want to force anyone to do a meme if they don't want to, but if you feel like it, and you don't have anything better to blog about, consider yourself tagged." (Besides, I'm about the last person to have done this meme.)

WHEW frickin' HEW!

2007-02-18T21:07:00.000-05:00

Just got back from two days of glorious skiing in Maine in 30+ inches of fresh powder in the "Valentine's Day Blizzard of '07"... B and I had a fantastic time on Saturday in the fresh snow - there was a blue, blue sky and white, white sweet powdery snow and almost no wind. Perfect! Oh, and *no* crowds. The only thing that could have been better is my level of training prior to skiing - let's just say that I felt the burn. Yikes, surely after two days of burning thighs, they're hard as rocks?! Ho ho ho... I'll have my work cut out for me, getting ready for the next athletic venture.

In any case, I can't say enough about the happiness that comes along with an invitation to a friend's house on a ski hill that is equipped with a) a king size bed, huge duvet, and electric blanket in "our" room with a wall of windows facing the mountain, b) a toasty wood stove, c) a TV, DVD player and Season 3 of Alias, d) copious amounts of wine and decent amount of beer, e) lots of mushroom lasagna, f) wasabi almonds (have you tried these from TJ's?), and f) great company. All in all, a fantastic Valentine's slash Birthday weekend. :-)) Hope y'all in blogland had a great weekend too. Isn't winter fabulous?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T14:26:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a slightly happier-than-average day, today. It might be a manufactured holiday of sorts, but I was due to be born on Valentine's Day and ended up with a birthday the day after V-day, so this occasion is a favourite of mine.

Boston got the non-blizzard today - a couple of inches of snow followed by sleet for the last few hours. I'm working from home and contemplating some more snow clearing soon. Granted, I already have had a few distractions from work today (clearly, I'm currently blogging). B is headed home sick from work this afternoon (Boooo!) but my class tonight has been cancelled, so I'll be able to take care of him. Also takes the pressure off me not quite having finished my 200 pages of reading for the week.... and we can just hang out under a blankie on the couch - what is better than that?

Since the pictures I posted the other day were only *some* of the recent FFOs (felted finished objects) - here are some more FAFOs (felted almost finished objects).... yep, almost felted - where have I heard that expression before?

So, first we have Women's size 9 (unfelted) slippers in purple for Angela de Montreal and next we have Men's size 12 (unfelted and freaking huge family feet) slippers in blue for my B-I-L Paul in Toronto...

Lest you think I'm done with the felted slipper extravaganza, I have this:

Sorry for the blurriness - Patons Classic Wool Merino for my great Aunt "Jean". She taught me how to knit and crochet when I was about 5 or 6 and whenever she came over she actually brought craft projects for me to do. She has been having a crummy couple of years with breast cancer followed by a recurrence of cancer in her bladder. She lives far away, in London, Ontario and I definitely don't get to see her that often. Her condition has improved of late, and I thought I might send her some slippers.
Cascade 220 in black for my ahem, little 15 yo nephew (he's 6'2")... did I mention he wears a Men's 13? Yes, he's definitely related. *sigh*
More Cascade 220 - Heathers and Quattro (hopefully they'll felt evenly knit together) - for my llama-loving and llama-raising M-I-L.

Plus... some Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille for a couple of facecloth thank you gifts...

Catch up and some pictures posted...

2007-02-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, high pressure knitting projects have mostly ceased - for now. Just to catch you up - made an insane number of Fiber Trends felted clogs as Christmas gifts this year. Here is a sample:

I call these: "The Jaime"

My sister-in-law is artsy and wears clothes in chartreuse, orange, brown, lemon yellow, well, you get the idea. Used Cascade 220, no mods to the Fiber Trend Felted Clog pattern. Women's size 7.5.

"The Cathy" - These were for my sister in Toronto and made in a colour to match her eyes... okay, not sure why I'd choose making slippers that matched someone's eyes - I guess I just decided that she liked the colour. These were made in Lite Lopi that I picked up on sale at Fabric Place. The saleslady assured me that these would felt well - indeed they felted - it's just... well, they're rather *furry*... Women's size 10, no mods to the pattern.

"The Valerie" - These clogs in light pink and dark purple are for my 13 year old niece, Valerie. She seems to be outgrowing them right away... yikes. Anyway, used Cascade 220, no mods to the pattern, women's size 7.

"The Stripo" - For my dad (nickname - Stripo - origin was in the early 80s and it stuck), these are also in Lite Lopi (bought on sale with the green single ply yarn above) and are quite fuzzy. Men's size 12. (Have you noticed - my family - those related, have HUGE feet?)

Over New Year's, we visited my family in Toronto and had quite a delightful New Year's eve. We played games, ate two-year cake,

(the top tier of our wedding cake from July 2004... it had been stored in my sister's freezer since then and we missed eating it on our 1st wedding anniversary - we were in Tulsa - amazingly, the marzapan exterior nicely protected the chocolate cake interior from tasting 2.5 yrs old. :-))

....and some fresh cake as well

(This was a surprise - my sister ordered a cake to celebrate Brendan's graduation on New Year's Eve... we toasted with - get this - Carl Jung (Non-alcoholic) Sparkling "Wine"... not sure how my sister found that one, but we all got a good chuckle out of it.)

Other than that... had a great day - starting out with my first yoga class in a downward dog's age, then breakfast with friends, discovery of a new place to do grocery shopping that was phenomenal, some laundry and some homework.... and B gets home late tonight from Portland - the left coast one.

What's up with the Nomad?

2007-02-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Almost Felted,

Hey hey hey,

Thanks again for the recommendations… I found Sugar & Cream at a store in our local “Square” in our Belmont neighbourhood – it is called “Ben Franklin” and is like a cross between a Five and Dime, a (tiny) Joann’s and a tiny Kmart. They sell Lion Brand yarns, Bernat, some Patons, and Sugar n' Cream but also have needles, stitch holders, thread, quilting supplies, etc. (Not to mention, ugly crafty stuff, baking dishes, greeting cards, snow shovels, wrapping paper, and candy too!) Much better than driving an hour to get to a Walmart (one of the best things about Boston – it’s hard to find a Walmart!). I googled around and found some seed stitch patterns that I thought were possibly cute (for a second house)… I settled on patterns for the state of Maine, a moose head, and a star pattern. I’ll wrap those three up with some soap from Restoration Hardware and I’ll be set.

Turns out that I had some Cotton Chenille ( Crystal Palace ) knit up into these stuffed bears I was making while in Tulsa but stopped and got hung up on the embroidery skills required to stitch the face… Those were too far along (and partially sewn) to frog, so I tried Woolcott in Harvard sq – they had it in but had bizarre colours, then tried Wild & Woolly and found it there.. Still couldn’t find it in white but found a nice buttercup colour and a soft orange.

Oh, and almost done some felted slippers I started on Friday….

Best,

Jo

p.s. I have since learned from a coworker (I might note that various coworkers over the last 9 years have been responsible for most of my knowledge about the quirks of New England and the U.S. in general) that Ben Franklin is actually a chain...

Nomadic Wanderings

2006-12-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

This post is coming to you from "Shades of Brown" in Tulsa. We arrived yesterday afternoon for our little long weekend graduation trip. I'm looking forward to a small-ish yarn crawl to String, er, Fringe and to Loops (evil, but cool concept store competition) with my M-I-L tomorrow. The in-laws flight was delayed 8 HOURS today, so we'll have to amend our plans slightly. Behind on my Christmas knitting...

CLOSE Call

2006-12-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

Hmm, it seems that felting and blogging about felting concurrently is not a good idea for myself (even though my computer was 2 feet away from the washing machine in the kitchen)... only by dumb luck did I end up with a perfect size 7 women's slipper for my 13 yo niece. The first cycle ran through and then suddenly I heard spinning, stopped the machine, checked the slippers (which were still a size 10) and reset the washer. Next thing I knew, I noticed that the washer wasn't running at all - the water had already drained out, so apparently, I can be totally oblivious to my surroundings. When I checked the slippers after the second cycle, they were a perfect size 7. Yay!

I was a lot more careful about timing and setting a timer the first and second time around for this pattern but I caught on to the fact that checking the slippers after 10 minutes was much too soon to expect them to be done. I also figured that since I'm right here, again, TWO feet from the washing machine that I might, oh, say, notice the ambient noise.

Ingenious...

2006-12-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

I'm back, picture-less for now (bo-ring, sorry)... Thanks for all the tips on the bargain shopping, I've passed along those "hints" to B and now I can't wait for Christmas morning. :-)

The felted slipper count:

2 pairs knitted & felted (DONE) - 1 in Cascade 220, 1 in LiteLopi (big mistake using that Lopi for felting, incidentally)
2 pairs knitted only - 1 in Cascade 220, 1 in LiteLopi
1 pair knitted but seams not sewn - Cascade 220
1 pair knitted and IN THE WASHING machine (hmm, hope Cascade 220 is colourfast*)
3 pairs to go (wind the yarn, knit, sew, and felt)
Am I insane to be thinking about this? ("this" was going to be a link to Fabric Place's 25% off everything sale Dec 1-6, i.e., right now) Why is blogger not uploading pictures for me right now?

Anyway, while I like the Cascade 220, one of the reasons I considered the LiteLopi was because I'd save time not having to wind the yarn into balls from hanks. Does this make me lazy? I suppose this will become a moot point should my Christmas wish come true.

Oh, so now the ingenious part of this post... I was lamenting that my gift-knitting of felted slippers was difficult because even if I surreptitiously discovered my relatives & friends shoe sizes I would not know the exact size or when to stop the felting process. A lady at work suggested buying ODOR EATERS and using that as a guide since they have tracings of women's 5 through 10. Isn't that the best idea? You clever readers probably already figured that out or knew about it but I hadn't yet and it just struck me as a brilliant solution.

* Why YES, I *should* know better and have tested my light pink and dark purple colour combination before going to town on my niece's slippers, but well... what can I say?

Any bargain hunters out there?

2006-11-25T13:17:00.000-05:00

'Need some advice from blogland. I'm "hinting" that I might like a ball winder and swift for Christmas and am trying to point B in the right direction. I know that Joann's used to offer 40 or 50% coupons when you shopped online but that doesn't seem to be the deal these days. Joann's current "sale" price for a wooden (birch) swift is $45 and $40 for a ball winder. Is that competitive? Are the products durable or chintzy? Any other vendors for these products? Any and all advice welcome!!

Hello again!

2006-11-24T18:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been a very bad knitblogger - 2.5 months away, by my count... I've whittled down the 800 unread posts for my 31 subscription feeds in Bloglines down to 363 left unread over the last couple of days. I've been trying to go back to everyone's September archive posts and get caught up - eesh! I've missed so much. I didn't go to Rhinebeck but enjoyed reading about it (again). It looks like I missed a very good time - maybe next year.

Let me try to recap the big highlights from the last couple of months:

B successfully completed and defended his dissertation - graduation is in 3 weeks (in Tulsa) but I've already been calling him "Doctor",
I've been at my "new" job (almost 3 months now) - when I started, our group had 40 people and it is now down to 31. That is a result of 6 layoffs and 3 people quitting, one of the quitters being the head of the group and the guy who recruited me.
Work has been slow (the billable kind anyway), which makes my remaining coworkers and I nervous about filling out our timesheets and who will be next...
A certain technological institute let me know that I did not get the job I had been trying for (after 5 months of interviews and being shortlisted in the final round),
A new coworker (coincidentally) *did* get the job - he would be 1 of the 3 that left,
I'm taking a class this term in something that could, eventually, lead to a career change,
We're unpacked and partially decorated,
We've entertained more overnight guests in the last 4 months than we have in the previous 2 years,
I managed to catch a 25% everything sale at Fabric Place, and (as a result)
I'm knitting (trying to knit) an obscene number of felted slippers for family/loved ones this Christmas in between more baby caps.

Today is the day after "Thanksgiving" - sorry, I'm canadian and even though I live in the U.S. and have been here for 9 years, it still doesn't feel like the real Thanksgiving. That's back in October. Oh, and while I'm on the topic, today is my 9th anniversary being in the U.S. My, how time flies. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, today is the day after Thanksgiving and I've just PUT MY TREE UP! I'm so excited - it's the first tree I've had up in 3 years. I moved to Tulsa for a year and we were going to be away for 4 weeks around Christmas, then B & I moved to New Haven and our place was far too small to contemplate an 8 ft tree (no, there's no middle ground. ;-)) ... so *finally*, this year, my first tree since Christmas 2003. I'm loving it. Our place smells like pine and the decorations are glittering in the light. Ahh, my favourite time of year. Now for some hot apple cider....

Hope everyone is doing well this holiday season and hope to get caught up on all your blogs soon,

-Jo

p.s. And I haven't been going out to any Stitch n' Bitch groups in Boston either - just really trying to juggle work, class, homework, seeing friends now that I'm back in Boston, and well... life. I still want to go out to Knitsmiths since that seems like a fine group of talented ladies but the Sunday afternoon meeting time is remarkably inconvenient.

p.p.s. Any guesses on the date of the first snowfall?? (in Boston... that stays on the ground)

I'm still here...

2006-09-10T16:42:00.000-04:00

Turns out that the last couple of weeks have been busy - starting a job again, having my sister's family come and stay with us for a few days, Brendan being knee-deep in dissertation and starting his post-doc... things are going well though - no complaints. We'll both be happy once this "Big D" is done, no doubt.

So ok, even though I've been busy, I have been knitting... and, to some extent, trying to stay up to date on y'alls bloglife... just not updating my own. Here are 2 recent FOs:

Felt Clogs

Pattern: Fiber Trends, Designed by Bev Galeskas

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Colour "4002"
Needles: Addi Turbo 9 mm, 60 cm circular
Gauge: 9 sts = 4 in./10 cm
Mods: None
Special Notes: My first felted project!

I LOVED knitting this pattern and creating these slippers. The construction of the clog was fascinating to me and it was a really easy-to-follow pattern. I have desperately wanted to make these for about 5 years or so and just hadn't gotten around to it. I intended to make this first pair for me, but I think they are a tad small and may go to my mum under the Christmas tree since her feet are a tad smaller than mine. I do plan on making more for all my loved ones, so let's hope that they're as enchanted with these as I am. Since I started on a women's size 10 pair, I can't wait to work on more delicate sizes for my small-footed friends, niece, and nephews. :-) (And yes, the size 10 is too small for me...)

Now, is it just me, or do these two clogs look slightly different from one another?? I mean, I guess it is possible that I could have messed one up while knitting it if I wasn't paying attention... but could it be uneven felting? They seemed to be felting unevenly during the process even though they were both in the same zippered mesh bag in the washing machine.

Cap's Hat

Pattern: Green Mountain Spinnery, Designed by Cap Sease
Yarn: Cotton Fleece, 80% Cotton, 20% Merino Wool in Malibu Blue
Needles: Clover Bamboo 3.75 mm DPNs
Gauge: 5 sts. = 1 in.
Mods: None
Notes: Cute, fast baby hat

I whipped up one of these hats in a 18-30 month size for my friend's boy, Kian. Then, I made a newborn 0-6 month size (shown here) because I know that I'll need (another) one eventually. This pattern was intended for Cotton Comfort by Green Mountain Spinnery (80% organic cotton, 20% wool), but a recent new yarn store adventure uncovered an owner unwilling to carry anything organic because of some weevil or other.... anyway, he suggested the Cotton Fleece instead and I wasn't disappointed. Colour selection was good and the feel of the yarn is softer than the Cotton Comfort. Incidentally, speaking of YS owner's opinions - he was not a fan of the Cascade 220 or, at least, didn't prefer it because he stated that it was skimpy compared to other worsted weight yarns. I had only heard great things about Cascade 220, specifically related to felting, and from someone with tonnes of experience. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I quite liked the yarn and would work with it again, but may check out another worsted at some point, strictly out of curiosity and dedication to the scientific method.

By the way, the baby shower went well and the blanket was duly appreciated by the mom-to-be. Of course, the baby hat (similar to the one shown above) got almost the same number of "oohs" and "aaahs" but why think about *that*?

The Craziness is Over

2006-08-26T09:34:00.000-04:00

I've finally finished the *&$(@ baby blanket in Sandnes Mandarin Petit Egyptian Cotton...
Of course, after two parties today I'll have to finish and block the darn thing before the baby shower tomorrow... but still... "done".

I've been a little lazy on the finishing tasks and instead decided to buy some Cascade 220 at long last and make my first felted objects. I've been dying to make felted clog/slippers for about 8 years, so here I am, finally getting around to it. Granted, I haven't completed the second sole on these babies yet, but they knit up soooo fast (imagine, after using 3mm needles and that ridiculous cotton for 3 months that I'd think worsted on 9mms wouldn't knit up fast)... and the engineer in me loves the construction of these things... I'm far more in love with these than I was with those horrid first socks of mine. I have to admit my bias toward chunkier yarn and "warm", "cozy" knitting projects. I know, I know, not as technically impressive but I like what I like. (Probably why I'm not that intrigued or excited by the lace craze going on currently.)

I better run - I've got a couple of parties to go to today and the aforementioned blocking to take of... oh, and I have to mentally prepare for my new job on Monday morning. :-)

Other stuff I've been up to...

2006-08-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

...so I've written a "nice" letter to Merrell about their hiking boots and I explained that even though I'm past the 1 yr warranty, I think wearing the boots once and having the sole come off completely warrants a judgement of defective workmanship... I'll keep you posted about what I hear back. (The letter accompanied the boots themselves.) I had to call them first to get an authorization number for the boots to be sent back - let me just say that the customer representative was NOT encouraging at all and she was downright exasperated that I should try to complain about these boots when they were so "old".

Ok, I *have* been making progress around the house as well... I know that we just celebrated our *2nd* anniversary, but we only picked up our wedding pictures last Christmas while we were in Toronto (and we moved again in June). We decided that, instead of putting the pics away in an album that we might not look at all that often, that we'd put them up. As you can see, we haven't hung anything on the wall yet...
The back porch has been GREAT to read on lately - the temperatures are finally reasonable. :-) I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books (if you've noticed them racking up on the sidebar lately) because friends of ours told us about a theory predicted for the final book. It involves a central character and I wanted to look back for clues. Dorky, I know.

Baby Blanket progress

2006-08-05T11:21:00.002-04:00

...unfortunately, this is a really poor photo - I'll have to turn the flash off and try again, but I think you can get the detail if you enlarge the photo. This blanket in Mandarin Petit is on 3 mm needles, so this has taken me a good while to get this far. Good news is that I'm almost done (it's a blanket meant for a car seat).

I've snapped some more pics of our new place...

So, here's the outside of the house from the sidewalk, in front of our carport.... we have the first floor of this two-family...

So next is our sun porch - kinda hot to be using right now, but I think it'll be great in more moderate summer weather and in the fall and the spring.

And, finally (for now), here is our back porch minus flower boxes but including our new little potted hydrangea bush.

Hiking in the White Mountains

2006-08-03T09:04:00.000-04:00

I promised a blog entry on Brendan's and my hike last Saturday - and there is no knitting in this one, just some Murphy's law moments. So, it all started back in 2003 (no, really) when Wild Women Outfitters was having a sale... they had beautiful Merrell Chameleon Hiking boots in SIZE 11 (yes, I wear an 11 and it is sooooo frickin' hard to find stuff in my size that fits and might even be on sale)... so, of course, I had to buy these. Ok. Have hiking boots. Fantastic. Great. Although, at this point, Brendan and I had just gotten engaged and I was moving to Tulsa... fantastic but no need for hiking boots out there. Still - no problem... we're GOING to hike when we're back near the mountains, so not an issue. I just stored these babies in my shoe closet(s) in their box. So far, so good. I could wait to use them for the first time. Well, fast forward to last weekend when, despite the high heat and humidity, we decide that wouldn't it be nice for us to go hike up a mountain together and break in my 'new' (never-been-worn) boots? Excellent. We decide on this:

Mount Pemigewassett TrailThe Mount Pemigewassett Trail climbs to the summit of Mount Pemigewassett, a 2,500-foot peak at the southern end of Franconia Notch. The climb is a good one for children, since it’s never very steep. The views from the top are excellent, and the combination of stream crossings and rocks in the forest make for an interesting walk.

Fine. Great. Looks good, right? Well, we had checked out a map but cheaped out on buying a new White Mountain Guide when Brendan had a perfectly good one... somewhere (probably back at his parent's house since he hasn't hiked in the Whites since high school)... so we figure, we've looked at the map and the trail and it's this suitable-for-children hike that is no problem... we'll just do this one hike and then next time we visit the 'rents, we'll pick up the Trail guide for our *next* trip. That was a mistake. Here's what we ended up climbing because we unwittingly parked 100 yds too far, in the wrong parking lot (and followed the "Pemi Trail" which is NOT, the Pemigewassett Trail, even though they're trail heads are very near each other):

Mount Flume Trail

The White Mountain Guide has this to say about the Flume Slide on the Mount Flume Slide Trail: "It is an extremely steep, rough trail, with polished rock slabs that are extremely slippery when wet (and they are nearly always wet, due to the many seep springs on these steep slopes). It is not recommended for descent and its use is discouraged in wet weather when the ledges are more than ordinarily dangerous." It is a 4,328 ft peak, with an elevation gain of 3,700 ft from the trailhead.

For those that might enjoy a topo map, check this out:

We followed that black line... notice that we didn't *quite* make it to the top before we turned around. Seriously, I've been gym rock climbing before and this was what we were doing near the top - it wasn't a vertical wall, but it was a steep angle of sheer rock face where we had to grab hold of whatever we could and try to fit our feet on tiny ledges... and it was wet rock. Oh, and there were black flies (or some close cousin) that were biting like crazy while I needed to keep my hands and feet clutched to rock.

Ok, so we turn around and we're hiking back. Yes, it's still 90+ with 80% humidity... no problem... we're trudging along and when we've got 1 mile to go, I look down and my brand new boots feel funny:

Brendan suggested tying the laces around the sole so I could finish the hike (notice that the sole is still connected at the toe)... and that pretty much worked although I had to drag my foot so that the sole wouldn't come off.
The hike *felt* good - I mean, I felt like we had an exciting day and I felt like I had actually resumed exercising which I haven't done in a while... but my challenge now is to see if Merrell will back up their products and replace my boots. Wish me luck.

p.s. This is me - filthy, bitten to pieces, and favouring my right foot but finally arriving at the paved parking lot. Hallelujah.

Disaster strikes...

2006-07-31T12:48:00.000-04:00

... dear B's laptop (on which he has been feverishly writing his dissertation and analysing data) crashed yesterday. A serious, serious crash. Blue screen of death? Not even... if we were lucky, we could *get* the blue screen of death up. It was just a black DOS screen with a "disk error", and "press ctrl-alt-del to reboot with system disk"... Nasty. Completely nasty.

He has moved houses no fewer than 5 times since starting his PhD (and buying his laptop), including moving cross-country not once but twice, and has lost his original Windows XP software CD. So, we borrowed his parent's copy so we could have a recovery disk with which to re-boot the system. I had the honour of trying to re-boot the system by CD but it just wasn't working. Some DOS commands (when I miraculously managed to get a prompt) showed that "dir" and "cd" commands were coming up with errors - probably a sign that the hard drive had been wiped.

We ended up REFORMATTING his hard drive.

He is in the middle of writing his dissertation... you can imagine what the guy is going through currently. Anyway, when we went to re-install Windows, it asked for a serial number and we entered it off the CD sleeve but it is giving us an error... don't tell me we have to re-purchase Windows?!? Oh, I forgot to mention that it DOES appear that he has all his data and his writing backed up. (Happy Dance - all things considered, anyway) He is concerned now with the missing (original) software and losing time to all this. What a mess.

Anyway, just wanted to give the update in my rock'n'roll life.

In other news:

Knitting is going fine but egyptian cotton baby blanket project deadline moved up to late August because of scheduling of baby shower (baby is due in October)....

My M-I-L will be selling llama yarn and I will likely be giving her a hand. Her latest batch from this year's shearing will be mixed with Merino. I'm not sure of the details yet, but I'll pass those along when I get them. :-)

We went for a 6 hour, 9 mile hike up to 4,000+ ft in Franconia Notch State Park on Saturday. Did we set out to do this? Not exactly. I need to do a full post on this little trip of ours. Later. First, we must fix the computer.

The Domicile, Part I

2006-07-12T09:24:00.000-04:00

I've made some progress on the Sandnes blankie, but not enough to take another photo... I was able to get some of it done yesterday while watching Pride & Prejudice (note the ampersand) on DVD. Yes, the Pride & Prejudice production that thought it adequate to *use* an ampersand in the title... of course, I'm referring to the non-BBC, non-Colin Firth, non-Jennifer Ehle, non-pond swimming scene Pride & Prejudice. The Keira Knightley version. Ugh. Granted, cutting four hours out of the adaptation will cause the movie to suffer, but still... ugh. I'm just glad I had knitting there to soothe me as I scoffed at Keira Knightley's "acting". Don't get me wrong - she was good in Bend It Like Beckham, she even wasn't too bad in Love Actually even though that was a crappy movie, and I confess that I'm one of the four people on earth who hasn't seen Pirates of the Carribean - the first or the second - but I may cave on that one. But Pride & Prejudice? No. Ok, so I digress... not a lot of knitting content there and verging on rant... I went to my first stitch and bitch in the boston area last night - tried out the arlington group and had a good time. Thanks, of course, to Lauren for connecting Kristin and I as recent transplants to Boston. Incidentally, Kristin and I have decided that Lauren knows EVERYONE. Everyone, everywhere. Seriously, that woman is connected.

Pardon the slight disorganization (but seriously, that's as good as it's going to get for now... er, at least until Friday when my mom and dad are showing up from Toronto...), but this is our new living room. It is still a work in progress - we will hang things on the wall when we're done with the other rooms and we've still got two rooms left to go. Three, if you include the indoor porch at the front of the house (on the other side of those far living room windows). Notice my mobile knitting bag (as opposed to my "KNITTING BAG" which is an extra large, er, two extra large LL Bean totes that serve as my stash/WIP storage) strewn on the couch to the left.

And our very boring bathroom.

Ok, so these are boring pictures... I haven't figured out how to take a flattering picture of the kitchen yet - it is great - it's just a difficult room for a picture due to one super long counter... Oh, and then there's the fact that it is Dissertation Central currently. Brendan has boxes of stuff - files full of data actually - and his laptop at the kitchen table and is going to town. As for our bedroom, it is too boring to take a photo - I'll have to wait until there are things on the wall.

So, the dining room and the "office" (a.k.a. second bedroom) are complete disasters. I'm looking to make some serious progress before my parents get here. Wish me luck!

The Self-Striping Disaster of Ought Six

2006-07-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

...also known as: my first pair of socks. Formerly known as: ill turned-out baby sweater for my friend's baby, Kian.

Now, I was pleased to successfully finish my first pair of socks (VK Fall 2002) - don't get me wrong. However, I think my Regia self-striping / self-patterning days are over. Perhaps I just picked a bad colourway - I've certainly seen other Regia or similar sock yarn knit up in much cuter patterns than these. Nevermind, I've learned a new skill - I can knit socks now. That's the important thing. Technically, I did start these socks before the "Summer of Socks" kicked off, so I will have to knit at least one more pair this summer... my goal was first to learn how to knit socks, then to learn better ways to construct socks... I'm intrigued by the single circular/magic loop, toe-up, kitchener stitch bind-off construction but I may need to try out a two circular needle sock in between the basic model (top-down, heel flap) and the deluxe (toe-up baby).

So, amidst the moving and the cleaning and the teary goodbyes (don't get me started on how much I'm going to miss the New Haven SnB crowd), I have been doing a little bit of knitting... this is my progress on the Norwegian Sandnes baby blanket in egyptian cotton. (I have to keep reminding myself that it is, indeed, egyptian cotton so that I don't tell myself that I was crazy to pick this yarn to create a blanket)

Our new place is coming together but we've hit a lull in our set-up progress... we're acquiring a couple of pieces of furniture soon-ish, so hopefully that will spur on things like picture hanging and office organizing. :-)

In recent llama news: I've finished the reversible cable scarf but owe pictures and I have news that my M-I-L got *another* llama recently. Apparently, it is a 4 yr old boy llama that plays and rough-houses with the baby boy llama and they have a famous time together. (All the other llamas are older and/or girl llamas so the addition of the younger male is apparently a good thing for the herd. er.. pack? ...herd?)

Ascension?

2006-06-30T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, we're getting there... for one thing, I'm currently updating my blog at HOME - yes, friends, I have a new internet FiOS (fibre optic service) connection after a 7 HOUR installation today. Long story. Anyway, it and my new landline are working, so I'm thrilled. Of course, since I had all that time today during the installation, I've been able to unpack and set up quite a bit... things are looking pretty good even if I haven't located the dvd or tv remotes yet.

Kitty is liking the plethora of window ledges on *four* walls of the house and a whole screened-in porch to herself when I keep the front door open. I might add that indoor spayed kitty was quite popular last night - I went out for two hours from 8-10 pm and kept kitty on the porch - when I returned there was one orange tabby just parked outside on the exterior porch stairs, and a *second* black and white sylvester cat nosing around the bushes beneath the porch windows.

Still no pictures, but soon....

Purgatory

2006-06-28T15:04:00.000-04:00

"Where are we? Well, that depends who you ask. Collectively, you could say that we're in a state of purgatory... only without the gnats, the unbaptized babies and the good guide." -Brendan

Tonight is my last New Haven Stitch n' Bitch and then I'm angling for a visit for my last New Haven pizza... for a while. After spending the day luxuriating in our 1,100 sq. ft. palace yesterday and enlarging my ecological footprint by running the dishwasher and washing machine constantly, I've got our kitchen and bathroom in good shape. More than I can say about the state of our New Haven lovenest, er, closet, er, apartment. It's mostly empty but I'm finding the last 6 boxes the hardest to pack (!?). Despite my uber-cleaning yesterday, I managed to sit down and knit for a couple mini-breaks and have made some progress on that devilish egyptian cotton blankie. No pictures until the weekend! Home internet and phone hook-up don't happen till Friday, so I'm truly nomadic this week. I can't believe that I've moved 3 times in the last 2.5 yrs.... now you can understand the name of the blog, huh?

Gotta run and talk to one or both of these recruiters calling and perhaps the contact at the job I really want....

Weekend Update

2006-06-25T18:12:00.000-04:00

Move. Successful. We actually got done early (everything unloaded in Boston by 7:30 Saturday night)... back in New Haven overnight... back to Boston in the morning... back to New Haven Wednesday.... lots of cleaning and scrubbing in the next few days.

ARGHHH!

2006-06-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

Ok, here's the scoop. I.Move.Tomorrow. TOMORROW. I'm so not ready yet and have absolutely no excuse for this state of affairs. I did get about 28 hrs notice for a job interview on Wednesday, so spent yesterday up in Boston... but still, I could be further along right now.

I barely slept last night - I tossed and turned thinking about my interview and second-guessing my answers and my overall assessment that it went well. I went over and over the things I should have added or made more clear... seriously, why do I do this? Of course, I also tossed and turned thinking about getting the last of the apartment packed up today. In the there's-nothing-I-can-do-about-it-now department, I need to stop procrastinating and get organizing.

So, while I have a pair of finished socks and a recently revived egyptian cotton baby blanket to blog about, I will have no photos until... ? next week ? ... perhaps longer actually... since we won't have internet installed at the new place until *next* Friday...

p.s. Do you ever just blank out and forget things that you know you know? Well, could someone tell me something that I should remember... do you still have to park your C: drive before moving a desktop?

p.p.s. I would do very poorly on a cognitive assessment right about now.

p.p.p.s. Jessica, we found 2 college students to help us move our boxes into the truck here in New Haven and they're charging $12/hr... if they're good, I'll pass on their info in case you want to save your parent's the hard labour. :-)

p.p.p.p.s. I think I'm totally blocking out the fact that my dad went in for a bone scan yesterday to see if he has cancer, after having radiation on some small liver tumours they found last year.

Freedom

2006-06-16T10:10:00.000-04:00

I've got the okay to photograph and show the last two scarf projects I've been knitting (designed by Lauren). I couldn't be happier with how they turned out and I think that this was an appropriate use for the llama yarn (I was gifted a nonspecific amount and didn't want to scam my M-I-L's whole annual stash). So, where's the photo? Well, I'll procrastinate about that - it's a beautiful day and I'm meeting my honey for lunch "downtown".

The Regia socks (formerly the Regia baby sweater for Kian and otherwise known as my first pair of socks) are about 0.6 of a pair currently, but I think I'll get through the second sock quickly and likely while I busy myself during tomorrow night's Stanley Cup game (i.e., I won't be able to watch because I fear/expect the worst for Edmonton and looking down at one's knitting instead of at the game is a good way to deal with my anxiety. What? Turn off the game? I couldn't possibly.)

My next PRO-ject will have to be the Sandnes "mandarin petit" egyptian cotton baby blanket for "Octavian" that I deserted a while ago. Egyptian cotton. Fingering weight. Baby blanket. What on earth was I thinking? Well, at least it is a good hot weather knitting project...

In 8 days we (or at least our stuff) will be in Boston. I'm excited but definitely a little sad to be leaving.

What Do 'Ya Know?

2006-06-09T09:44:00.000-04:00

Turns out that I *was* making my sock correctly. Yes, boys and girls, this chica knows how to follow directions. Not much in the creativity department, but following a pattern, well, apparently, I can do at least that much.

{Total Aside: Actually, I'm secretly happy that I was, in fact, able to turn a heel on the first try. I compare this to the time I had to take my state Engineer-in-Training exam - it is an 8 hr exam on engineering principles (calculus, algebra, computer programming, chemistry, physics, material science) that you take after you graduate university - people I worked with at the time told me not to expect to pass it the first time - a coworker was writing it for the 4th or 5th time when I was writing for the 1st time. I guess I was preparing myself not to pass, but when I did pass on the first try I had that secret gladness that I had actually learned something in the undergraduate hell that was the engineering programme. Basically, everyone would understand if I didn't pass, but passing was good... everyone would understand if I wasn't able to turn the heel, but doing it right the first time was good.}

Ok, so after some free, yes, free wine at Chow last night, courtesy of this favourite place... it was off to Stitch n' Bitch. It was a quiet evening despite my prediction that the incredibly crappy June weather would draw people out to knit. Anyway, I was lucky enough to see the world's biggest high quality stash at Lauren's place. Oh. My. God. If you, dear reader, have created a heaven in which wool, silk, and cashmere fibre would be delivered unto thee for all of eternity, well then, hang a left at Lauren's hall closet and go directly to heaven. Seriously, I had more than a little bit of yarn envy going. AND, I have a new benchmark for what I consider a large stash. :-)

So anyway, back to the sock... part of my confusion stemmed from Vogue's pattern vs. picture... the socks shown were not, NOT constructed in the same way that the pattern was written. I feel marginally redeemed for thinking I had gone wrong.

Road Trips, Speeding Tickets, Interviews, Hockey and a New Name

2006-06-06T12:38:00.000-04:00

Got back from our CRAZY four-day road trip to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for our friend's wedding and had a fabulous time (despite the incessant rain the whole drive home and my USD$185 speeding ticket in northern Maine). I have no idea why, but I did not feel motivated to do even a stitch of knitting. I felt like I needed to be moral support for the driver and I was just not feeling like it (I blame the bad sock). With so much going on (let's see, two job interviews in Boston tomorrow and hopefully another next week, just changed my name at the social security office even though they were insisting my green card needed to be changed first but I had called INS and waited 30 minutes on hold to talk to someone and they said the ss card should/could be changed first, Stanley Cup Finals, houseguests this weekend, major cleaning this week, moving in 2-3 weeks, paaaaaacking, setting up our move(!), getting my car fixed, registered in MA and sold), I'm feeling overwhelmed. And these silly recruiter guys keep calling and set up appointments for me to talk with them before and after the actual interviews - annoying! Ok, enough ranting I guess since none of it is knitting related today. Oh! And WTF happened to Edmonton last night?? Ok, I feel sorry for the goalie that got plopped into net with nary a practice shot, but still. Pictures later... must prep for interview for consulting job I don't really want that much...

Sock Virgin....

2006-05-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I *was*... I think I'm partially de-flowered at this point, but in an embarassing kind of I've-been-caught-at-second-base-while-parked-in-a-car-with-a-boy-by-a-cop way. Not that that ever happened to er, anyone, um, I know. So, back to the sock... I'm definitely not photographing my progress at this point because I'm convinced that I have done something horribly wrong with the heel turn. I'll blame it on too much sun at the cottage while kayaking (soooo much fun, by the way), on super cold ocean water that I braved up to my ankles, and on knitting while in the car in I-95 Memorial Day erratic traffic. In any case, no photo-evidence until I can self-correct. (Hey, I'll even be optimistic and add a condition 'or until I determine that I've done everything right'.)

Just saw X-Men 3.... loved it. Mmmm, Wolverine. ;-)

Wednesday Night Stitch & Bitch

2006-05-25T15:52:00.000-04:00

I refuse to cease and desist.

It was awfully quiet last night... just Jessica and myself for most of the time with a newbie - Angie - joining us a little later. We had to reassure her that there were normally more than TWO people at the New Haven Stitch & Bitch... I'm not sure if she believed us. :-)

Did I mention that I have an 18 hour car trip (each way) coming up next weekend? Yes, we're *driving* to Sydney, Nova Scotia to attend a wedding - slightly crazy yet an exciting adventure since neither of us have been back to Nova Scotia since we first met there on (obviously) separate vacations in 1999. My cathartic bicycle tour through Nova Scotia netted a wonderful man with a fine taste in literature (I started talking to him because he was reading Camus' "L'etranger") and music (one of our first dates was at a Middle East Hometown Throwdown Mighty, Mighty Bosstones concert - if you live in Boston, you know what this is... one of our later but still early dates was Great Big Sea at Avalon on St. Patrick's Day). So, where was I? Yes, THIRTY-SIX hours in the car (my god, are we crazy?) next week, so I will need to pack some knitting to do while it's my turn at Navigator. :-) I see my first pair of socks being christened my "Nova Scotia Car-Ride Socks".

Second Scarf Progress

2006-05-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

A-ha, my second scarf is still pretty puny (less than 1 ft long), but the sun is out! The sun is out! This 2 x 2 ribbing is technically the backside, but I don't think the pattern is officially published by Alchemy yet, so I just peekabooed the other, more interesting side here. Hopefully, I'll be able to photograph the whole thing by the time I've finished.

And this is Aston, jumping onto the sunny (yet slightly dirty) windowsill. I blame my lack of housecleaning thoroughness on my lack of houseguests here in New Haven. Somehow, for me, houseguests = clean house. No houseguests = more slovenly behaviour. I guess incentive for me getting a "real" job (i.e., an engineering job) is that my salary would then support a cleaning lady. :-) That could be nice. In fact, that could be totally decadent.

Anyway, where was I? So, the scarf is coming along and here are some pics of the fibre's former owner:
Frankly, I can't remember her name - I think it is Dreamweaver, but I'm really not sure. I'm such a fibre slut - not even bothering to stop and pay attention to my fibre's provenance!

Boston vs. New Haven

2006-05-16T13:03:00.000-04:00

2,082 members of Boston's Stitch n' Bitch. Two THOUSAND eighty two members. I think I'm going to miss New Haven's cozy 221 members... oh, and 24 different weekly meeting places ?! ... including three in Cambridge alone (including one at Red Line which is a martini bar next to Woolcott & Co., my former LYS)... I guess I do have options... but then again, when I lived in Boston until 2004, I never "went out to knit". I wonder if I'll revert back to this behaviour...

Martinis and Good Company

2006-05-14T21:12:00.000-04:00

Zarzuela's post about our amazing group of New Haven knitters said it best. What a group of lovely and talented women! I'm sad to be relocating yet again and leaving this community. Our martini outing on Saturday night was filled with interesting conversation and (surprisingly) only minimal talk of knitting.

So, I've been working on this for little "Octavian":

The baby is due in October, so I'm hoping to have more than a foot blankie done by then.

...yesterday, I finished the incredible reversible cable (Ruby Cable) scarf by Lauren for Alchemy in dark brown llama wool. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure that I'd wear a brown scarf since I wear a lot of black and accessorize with dark red (the yarn looked black when it was in the skein)... so, I offered a trade - I gave the finished scarf to my M-I-L and I got more llama yarn in a colour I might wear. This off-white/beige colour is combined fibre from Molly and Dreamweaver:

Ok, the colour is kind of wonky between photos, but please, it's still grey, dreary and raining - so hard to get good natural light!

Running out of llama wool...

2006-05-11T11:51:00.000-04:00

I'm almost done with the incredible reversing cable scarf (designed by Lauren for Alchemy) or rather, I'm almost out of llama yarn (this yarn shortage is a recurring theme for me these days). I may get another skein of the llama stuff this weekend if we go to visit my M-I-L for Mother's Day... a plan in the works and dependent on the progress of Brendan's evil dissertation. This paucity of yarn may lead me to cast on the Egyptian cotton and get cracking on this blankie that will take me *forever*. Here is the yarn haul from my Canadian trip last weekend - only four skeins to make a small-ish (car seat) blanket. It's hard to make out the pattern, but it is under the navy blue clothing in the photo here. I cast on and got an inch or so done last night - it looks good, but man is it ever fine... wow. The tiniest cables ever.

Yarn Rigamarole

2006-05-08T21:37:00.000-04:00

Back from a lovely visit to the Motherland over the weekend - one where I visited my alma mater, spent time with my sister, brother-in-law and my niece and visited a favourite (former) LYS. The idea was to get more Lemoine Point yarn to finish this... unfortunately, the cupboard is bare. Yep, that's right, I'm going to have to frog this and come up with a simpler (i.e., less yarn intensive pattern) but still exterior friendly pattern. *sigh* The yarn is unprocessed so it has that lanolin feel and is a tad bit scratchy (perfect for the fisherman knit sweater I "designed" and knit for B) but not perfect for every pattern - it's definitely an outerwear yarn. I bought a whole whack of this stuff for B's sweater, then used it for the Aran pillow and then estimated that I'd have enough for the VK 2002 sweater. The owner of said LYS had bought 400 lbs of fleece from the farmer, washed it and stuff and then sent it off to be spun (read: LIMITED quantity). She sold her last skeins recently so I'm definitely out of luck.

But since I was there.... I *did* buy 100% Egyptian Cotton yarn from Norway ("Sandnes" of Norway), more addis (3mm, 60 cm), and a huge-ish patternbook of babystuff. The "mandarin Petit" is in white for a nautical themed baby blanket - my friend grew up in Barbados, so I thought it was appropriate for her baby. No?

To Canada!

2006-05-04T10:14:00.000-04:00

...until Saturday, anyway. Not.Long.Enough. Trying to get into The Wool Room in Kingston on Saturday morning and pick up some more local wool.... more on that later.

The Baby Llama has Arrived!

2006-05-01T08:34:00.000-04:00

Yay! So, after picking Brendan up from the Providence airport, we popped into my in-laws to say hello yesterday afternoon. The llama had just been born - it is a "he" - first boy llama born there after two girls. He was 3 weeks late for their normal 1 year gestation period. His mum, Contessa was doing well. Hell, *he* was doing well considering he was FOUR HOURS old when I saw him and took these photos. I guess that llamas start humming when they're going to give birth, so yesterday morning my M-I-L found all the llamas (there are seven) standing around together, humming. Contessa's last crea, now fully grown, Molly, was very confused all day because her mum was humming away but not with/to her. At noon, Contessa gave birth to this long-legged cutie. He has no name yet, but she wants to call him "Kokopelli"? It's an original idea... though probably won't be teaching the little crea how to play the flute anytime soon. :-) My vote was for "Java" or "Cocoa", hee hee or "Coco Crisp" but then what if *he* ever became a Yankee? So, city girl me was amazed by this miracle of nature, i.e., giving birth to a thing that huge with no medical assistance. Yowzers.

I have to confess that I'm sooo much more interested in the llamas (selfishly) now that I'm knitting with llama wool. If I keep feeding my M-I-L knitting patterns and help, maybe she'll keep hitting me with more fibre. A girl can dream. :-)

CT Sheep & Wool Festival... and mini yarn crawl

2006-04-30T12:44:00.000-04:00

'Went to the CT Sheep & Wool Festival yesterday in Tolland, Connecticut with Lauren and then met up with Jessica and HWJF. It was my very first festival of this sort and I think was overloading in terms of yarn stimuli, just a little bit (how will I ever handle "The Backroom" at WEBS?). While I don't think I was overly traumatized by watching the sheep sheering going on, I *was* amazed at the ability of the lone sheerer vs. the sheep. Singlehandedly holding down a several hundred pound sheep while holding clippers to the thing... well, let's just say it makes me think that I'm putting forth feeble attempts at restraining kitty (or should I say, Wolverine?) and trimming her claws. Yes, sad indeed.

I showed a boring level of budgetary restraint and refrained from buying anything... that's right, I bought nothing. And then, there was this place on the way home. So unassuming... so sad looking on the outside... yet, behold, such an above average yarn selection inside. And such a lovely staff. I had yarn lust over a few things and started rationalizing that I really *should* buy some Cascade 220 or Lopi to make those felted slippers I've always wanted to make.... and how those WIPs hiding away were no problem.... they could stand to be WIPs in perpetuity - that I wouldn't actually have to *finish* something before starting on a *new* project. Then I thought of Trooper and Lacey and what they would think. I had that beautiful llama yarn sitting and waiting for me to pick it up and continue and I felt better. The itch to buy went away and managed to leave as chaste as I entered.

Knitted aran pillow

2006-04-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

So, I wanted to surprise my in-laws with a special Christmas gift last year. My father-in-law mentioned these pillows (at right) that were knit by Brendan's maternal grandmother about 20 years ago and how it was a shame that they were getting beat up. I never met Brendan's grandmother but attended her funeral with him in 2000 and she sounded like a very accomplished woman and talented, talented knitter. So, anyway, armed with this gift idea, I secretly observed these pillows on one of our trips and figured out the pattern. So, here are the old pillows (above, right)...

and the new pillow...

Indian Food and Stitchin' n' Bitchin'

2006-04-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

Met up with some fine ladies and one guest blogger for an indian dinner pre-stitch n'bitch. I had a blonde moment and forgot, forgot (?) to order my dish HOT. The boti kebab massala was yummy though and it has been too long since my last indian food binge. I don't know how we started talking about it while waiting for our entrées, but somehow I brought up my dining experience when foie gras was presented in a non-paté form as my appetizer, that is, whole whack of marinated fatty liver on my plate. After reading about Chicago's decision this morning and the article background on just how those livers become fatty, I think I've decided I can live without foie gras completely.

Met up with more fine knitters at Stitch n' Bitch and an inquisitive author contributing to a book about 'subcultures in america'. Her section was investigating the knitterly subculture. Discussion ensued on the to-blog-or-not-to-blog question, Jessica's thoughts, and some other ideas. Lauren had very constructive advice about posting discussions or questions about any pattern problems I might have encountered (like the recent one concerning the VK 2002 "Double Twist" Green Mountain Spinnery sweater - but more on that later - I actually have future blogging ideas) .

Generally, I have/had? three main areas of concern for starting a knitting blog:

1) I wouldn't have enough interesting knitting projects to blog about. I have been knitting since I was 6 and have mostly stuck to bulky-ish sweaters that take a long (calendar) time to complete. I tend to like aran knitting after this monstrosity scared me away and I tend to like using unprocessed philosopher's wool. Boring, right? There is no Noro or Koigu or Karabella in my past. I'm just a plain jane knitter - usually on a budget (have you seen the Boston housing market?).

2) Procrastination. I might use the blog and the upkeep of the blog and the reading of other blogs as a prime procrastinatory activity that keeps me from performing basic tasks - like ADLs. I've picked up that little diagnostic description from dear Brendan - "Attention to Daily Living" - so someone with poor ADLs might smell kinda bad, be unkempt in appearance, etc. - it kind of indicates that someone is struggling to cope (I think). Now, I'm not saying that I'd go off the deep end with a blog and neglect daily showers and stuff, but I may get obsessive about it and spend a disproportionate amount of time with it. Sometimes, my knitting gets this way - I just want to finish something so I keep knitting and end up sitting in the same place on the couch with moving for hours - that can't be good? healthy? can it? Do other knitters manage a better KIP/life balance? They must.

3) Drinking the Kool-Aid. Brendan jokingly commented that blogging about knitting might be the first step toward collecting the intergallactic toll one needed for the Hale-Bopp Comet spaceship. A gateway step to further cult-dom.... Well, that is definitely hyperbole but how much street cred can he have after his DnD years?

The CT Sheep and Wool festival is this weekend... I've never been to such a thing, but I am happily being convinced that I *should* go.

p.s. Still no baby llama.

Llama, llama, duck, llama, llama

2006-04-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

I missed the birth of a new llama at my M-I-Ls yesterday and Friday. Apparently, llamas can hunker down and wait out the weather before they give birth. I was hoping to see another spindly legged, skinny llama through the kitchen window when I woke on Saturday. Instead, I saw something like this... this is Navigator. The baby llama has not been born yet. I did get a treat, though - llama yarn from "Trooper" and "Lacey" - thanks guys. Your fibre is wonderful. I'm sure "slippy" isn't a technical term and it may have been just because I was trying to knit on my straight needles in the car ride home through a rainstorm late yesterday afternoon, but the yarn sure seems *slippy*. Then again, it has occurred to me that Philosopher's Wool is probably one of the stickiest, scratchiest things out there and I've been knitting a lot of that lately.

While the weather on Saturday wasn't perfect - it was dry enough to attend Shauna's wedding shower, held on the banks of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. My friend Shauna has lived in Boston for a number of years and is originally from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In the last couple of years, she has: cycled a century, completed 2 triathlons, and scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro. She has also met her Mr. Right and is getting married in Cape Breton in June.

The Temporarily Abandoned Chenille Bears

2006-04-20T12:49:00.000-04:00

I dropped these bears once I started trying to embroider the faces - this was much more challenging to me than I thought it would be... as a result, well, they're buried WIPs...

Regia baby sweater that's just not working for me...

2006-04-19T09:48:00.000-04:00

This self-patterning yarn has been a big disappointment but I think it's partly due to my impatience and partly due to my pre-conceived notion of what this was going to look like. The sample knitted up in the store was ever-so-cute but they were out of that particular yarn colourway and that particular pattern. The store owner convinced me that any self-patterning yarn would yield the same results and she helped me find one that would self-pattern into quasi-fair isle rather than a striping pattern... In any case, here it is...

When I'm done with the VK Aran sweater, I'm going to frog it and attempt my first pair of socks.

Kian of Newton

2006-04-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

I visited this beautiful baby and his mom on Tuesday for lunch and a walk through Newton.
He was the recipient of one of two white baby blankets in "Color 4 Me" but not the model shown below (3/22/2005 post).

Oh, and the white chenille bear below... well, that was intended for Kian before I knew he was a he and before he was introduced to the world last August. The name, Kian, means "king" in Persian. Kian of Kensington? Tee hee - I wonder what ever happened to Al Waxman?

Vogue Pattern from 2002

2006-04-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

Here is (one of) my current projects... an Aran pattern from a Vogue Knitting issue, circa 2002, that I bought while visiting the beau in *Tulsa* before I ever thought I'd move there one day:

The recent past

2006-04-18T09:41:00.000-04:00

In the recent past, I had completed an aran cardigan from Philosopher's Wool - an unprocessed wool, spun from a LesMoines Point sheep herd just outside Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

And, well, the infamous fair isle sweater shown below (no recent progress on that bohemoth) - I've got the body done, one sleeve done, and the cuff of the second sleeve done.

Cataloging my dark, dark past

2006-04-18T09:30:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been trying to pull out ancient knitting projects (and really ancient crochet projects) to photograph them and post them. I learned to knit first when I was 6 or 7, but then started crocheting through age 13 or something... made lots of doilies.... My first knit sweater was completed when I was 14, so that would have been 1987 or so - needless to say, the patterns were not always the greatest in a historical aesthetic sense.

So, here is my first sweater - a simple Aran pattern from a Patons pattern book and Lewiscraft yarn. I believe it was mostly acrylic with a minor wool component - hey, I had a part time job as a busser (busgirl?) at the local Pizza Hut and the $3.75 /hr I was making wasn't that much spending money. :-) Here it is...

Next, I attempted colours in this wildly unsuccessful fugly sweater... well, in my defense, it *was* the 80s and I was only 14 or something, so clearly, my good taste had not developed yet. ;-) Anyway, this is Paton's Aztec-style (oh god, it's really called this) "Footloose and fancy free" pattern, knit in Beehive Shetland Chunky:

Oooh, and check out the photo in the pattern book - what the hell was I thinking?

A cotton sweater, this is the photo from the pattern... again, Patons... this one called "White and Bright" and knit in Patons Cotton DK.

Argh - next, well, a boyfriend sweater in Lopi in blue... and then I made one in green for myself (and it matched my eyes), but well, I ended up with the blue one and he ended up with the green one. This turned out to be a horrible picture - you can't really see the cable detail...

There was a lovely silk/wool blend scarf in brown (to match a new leather jacket) and I lined the other side with a beige silk fabric. No photos... gone.

Second and last boyfriend sweater - a beautiful aran in a pattern I loved... unfortunately, gone forever or I'd still be wearing it....

Nepal sari silk scarf

2006-03-12T20:35:00.000-05:00

I've had this on the needles for a while and finally - here it is. I thought my mum might like it...

Hawk outside our apartment

2006-03-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

Check out this hawk on the balcony across from our apartment! And the worried looking squirrel...

Making progress

2005-08-28T08:47:00.000-04:00

Ok, so splitting the sweater (instead of steeking) and knitting up front and back separately has commenced. I'm getting the hang of things now - so, hopefully things will start picking up and moving a bit faster. I fear that I had changed the needle size in the beginning, to adjust for tension and then didn't write it down anywhere. So, rather than follow the pattern, I went a size down on the needles and things seem to look right. Homecoming is only 3 weeks away, but we have a long car trip coming up next weekend and I could probably get a bunch knitted if B drives the whole way (!).

More about the Sesqui Sweater

2005-08-26T17:10:00.000-04:00

Went to the local Stitch n' Bitch last night and met some cool-ass knitters. I'm totally inspired to continue with this behemoth project and finish it (?) in time for our 10 year homecoming next month. I will insert a photo of its current state here...

So, let me explain this nifty sweater. As I said, it was designed for Queen's University's 150th (Sesquicentennial) celebration in 1991. The design incorporates the elements of the school coat of arms - the Scottish thistle, the Irish clover, the English Rose, the Canadian pine. It also incorporates the year of the Royal Charter starting the school (1841) and the "current" year at the time (my first year of engineering), 1991. Also found is the cross of St. Andrew and the crown as minor patterns. Definitely, a cool idea and I really love the finished sweaters I've seen. I'm not sure I would bother with another fair isle sweater if it didn't have this much meaning behind it. I much prefer using Philosopher's Wool / unprocessed wool for aran type sweaters (see Sept '04 entry).

Sesquicentennial Sweater

2005-08-20T17:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's back - well, it never really left. This fair isle sweater has been on the needles since 1998 or so. I bought the kit to make this special sweater (designed by Dr. Mabel Corlett of Kingston's "The Wool Room") that commemorated Queen's University's 150th anniversary. Dr. Corlett designed and presented one such sweater to His Royal Highness Prince Charles in 1991. (Incidentally, I took photos for the Tricolour yearbook of the royal visit, which included Diana.) Surreal to think back on that now.

Anyway, I took out the sweater today and started ripping back some. See, I decided I'd steek and cut just as the pattern was written, but later wimped out and decided that I had screwed up one side's steeks and... well, decided I'd take it back and split it in two to knit it up. :-(

So, this photo is the one that came with the pattern - this is what it is supposed to look like when it's done.

More baby hats

2005-07-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

...well the response was so positive on the Organic Cotton/Wool baby hat (www.spinnery.com), that I've found more of the same yarn in peony pink, and maize yellow. I'm knitting up the pink hats for Shari & Dave's little girl (Megan, born in June) and my cousin Ed & Linda's new little girl (Amanda, born in early July). I'll knit a yellow one for Anna & Hamid as well as for Matty & Dre (due the end of August), who were both retro enough to not find out the gender of their babies ahead of the birth. I'm forgetting a baby - oh, that's right, Andrew & Jen are due in October and that will be a yellow as well...

Our first anniversary

2005-07-17T20:14:00.000-04:00

... we celebrated in lovely Newport, RI and enjoyed the japanese festival going on... yes, it featured sumo wrestling...

Nice surprise at the Dentist

2005-07-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

Wow, had no idea there was such a cool wool store in Needham Centre. I was trying to kill some time after my Friday afternoon dentist appointment before hitting the Pike and found "The Black Sheep". They had an adorable baby hat (with knot top) knit in Green Mountain Spinnery's Organic Cotton and Wool blend. I bought some blue yarn and proceed to knit up a hat for Rasekh & Nermeen's little one (expected in September).

Rolled into New Haven...

2005-06-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

We got into our apartment yesterday after three long days of driving and we're slowly getting unpacked and set up. I think we're both readjusting to living within close proximity to other people. None of those wide open neighbourhoods like in Tulsa.

Here is our haul in that wide open neighbourhood in Tulsa, under the Magnolia tree...

Baby Blanket Deux

2005-03-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

Here is a (later) photo of the first finished blanket - in use! Here is Josie wrapped up tight in her blankie...

Ok, found out that Anna and Hamid are expecting, so that takes care of whom to knit the second baby blanket. They're due in September, so that gives me a little while to knit it up before moving.

Match Day

2005-02-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

Today is Match Day and the results are in... Brendan matched with Yale Medical School, Dept of Psychiatry, so we're going back to New England.

Good-bye Tulsa! We just opened the email and are still in shock.

The Match so far...

2005-02-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

... okay, we found out this morning that Brendan definitely matched... somewhere. We don't find out where until Monday morning, but at least we know that we're definitely leaving Tulsa and moving closer to all of you (oh, except you, Lor). Yes, we're definitely moving north and east and to a "blue" state, but that's all we can say until we find out on Monday.

Baby Blanket

2005-02-02T16:49:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, found some lovely white washable wool from New Zealand for a baby blanket (or two). First will be for Bernie & Anca, who are expecting in July. The next will be for ? ...well someone.

I have the best Mother-in-Law!

2004-12-26T17:14:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning and I find that my new M-I-L has knit me a family Christmas stocking to match all the others (Neil, Jane, Sean, and Brendan) that were originally done in the 70s. They were knit by Jane's late mom, I guess, and she still had the pattern. She put my name on it, but unlike the others, left off the year of my birth. (That was awfully nice of her. :-) ) Anyway, it was the sweetest thing ever.

Baby sweater for Elias

2004-11-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

A picture of my recently completed baby sweater (designed by Classic Elite) for Elias in London... and an almost identical one for Trajan in Toronto (same yarn, different buttons - little blue fishies for Trey).

Here is the original sweater and yarn (knit circa 2000) first knit for Serenna in Edinburgh and then for Emily in Toronto.

Due Date

2004-11-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

Today is the due date for 4 more of B's applications. So, 15 applications are in now with one to go (due Dec 1st)... and his dissertation proposal is getting handed in today which he will defend in front of his committee on Nov 29th (!) Phew. Now, just to wait on pins and needles to hear about whether or where he got interviews....

WTF?

2004-11-12T17:53:00.000-05:00

holy crap. brendan's apps (sent Nov 2, Nov 2, and Nov 4 to Bedford, MA, Worcester, West Haven, CT) are STILL not showing as arrived at their postal stations, let alone delivered. WTF?? This is a disaster.

Waiting...

2004-11-11T17:47:00.000-05:00

Things are going ok here - I'm stressed about apps - the waiting - oh, the waiting. Brendan is mailing two more off today for 15 total. 2 apps left to go. I just got a call from Paul who said that he just heard from one of his sites telling him that he didn't get an interview with them. (Ouch!) And he was wondering if Brendan had heard anything yet (he hasn't). Painful, the waiting. In fact, another problem was that B sent 2 apps to MA regular mail on Nov 2nd for a Nov 15th due date with tracking on them. They were supposed to take 3-4 d for delivery but have not shown up yet, according to the tracking website. (!) It is worrisome since one of those sites was his first pick (in Bedford)... ergh. Seems silly - we could have sent it priority but just thought that with so much lead time, it'd be fine. So, by Nov 29, Dec 5, and Dec 15th, places will gradually either drop off the "potential" list to the "definitely not" list. I really should relax, I know, but I don't do well in situations like this, so I'm bound to be high strung for a few weeks! The dining room table is clearing of application materials and things will return to normal by the end fo the weekend, I'm sure.

Since the election, I've been a bit of a hermit, aside from our favourite coffee shop - where we agree, when we're there, we can't even tell we're in Tulsa. :-) It's a good place to do work, so I've continued as editor for Brendan's cover letters and applications. In between reading the fifth Harry Potter book over the weekend.

10 down, 7 to go

2004-11-05T17:50:00.000-05:00

10 applications down, 7 to go... we went out to our little "shades of brown" coffee shop last night and I was trying to edit cover letters/app packages but I just hit the wall. I was just unable to do anything productive. I did bake peanut butter cookies last night though... yum. There's *something* productive! I've been in junk food overload since halloween... weather here is getting "cold" apparently - in the 40s at night and in the 60s and even 70s during the day - doesn't feel *that* cold, honestly.

good morning... from Tulsa!

2004-10-14T17:39:00.000-04:00

I got back on Tuesday evening, but I've been working non-stop since then because I had a big deadline. The weekend in Boston was good and I went to work on Monday but I didn't manage to get work done over the weekend days which put me behind (!). I finished what I was working on last night though and hopefully things will be more sane today and tomorrow. Yesterday, Brendan and I left here at 6 am to get to OK City for an 8:45 interview at immigration! So, that was our "green card interview" where we show them our bank records, tax returns, joint lease, accounts, insurance, etc., photos, correspondance... to prove that we have a real marriage and I didn't just hire Brendan so I could get a green card! It went fine, of course. A big tip-off: after noticing books on Jesus in the interviewers office shelves, he commented half-way through the interview that I looked like a Christian singer he knew but he couldn't recall her name. Brendan offered "Amy Grant" - like we too, were up on our Christian singers... I figured that if I looked like a Christian singer he liked, I might have an advantage (even though he just finished asking one of the questions on the form aloud: "Have you ever or do you plan to engage in prostitution while in the United States?"... even better, he then asked if Brendan planned to pimp me out). I think this is who he meant. And so we passed and now I should get my green card in the mail soon. That's a relief to have that done - I think the Boston office is much busier and processes things much slower.

So, it has been a really busy week. Jane picked me up in Providence on Friday after I was delayed a few hours. (The power went off in Tulsa b/c of a storm Thursday night, so we didn't wake up at 4:30, we woke up at 5:50 and my flight left at 6:05!! We got to the airport by 6:10 and I sweetly asked if they could do something for me. So, they put me on a flight going through Minneapolis instead of the original plan to go through Detroit. So, Instead of arriving at 11:30, I arrived at 5... long day). Sean and Jaime and I went out on Friday in Providence - to the Trinity, of course and that was good. I don't think I've ever spent time with them without Brendan, so it was great to do that. Saturday, Jane lent me her "Yama" SUV and I drove to the wedding at the Arnold Arboretum and then the reception and then back with Anna and Hamid to Newton to stay the night up there. Penny & Camil had all the out of towners over at noon for brunch at their house - they had bride's sister and boyfriend in from London, England, her mum from Barbados, her dad and his girlfriend of 10 years from Montreal, her late step-father's sister and aunt from Kingston and Ottawa, Camil's parents live in Ajax, Camil's sister and new husband live in Kingston... friends from Chicago, more family from Ontario... so lots and lots of Canadians! Anyway, it was a very non-traditional wedding but it was nice, different.

I went back to the Jane & Neil's on Sunday and we sat in the yard - beautiful day... watched the llamas (!) for a while and then went in to sit by a big toasty fire.

2004-10-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

Our weekend was somewhat quiet - we had Chris and Ashley over to our place on Friday night... found out that Ashley was fired from her job in August so that probably explains why they haven't come out / why we haven't seen her in a while. She didn't seem too embarassed by it or anything (I think I'd be mortified in a similar situation). She's just happily collecting unemployment, going to aerobics classes and taking a class toward a vocal performance degree at the Tulsa Community College.

I'm so glad that Paul (who we see much more often) is dating Katie (the teacher)... she's just a lot more like someone I might make friends with on my own. So now, that's 2 of 4 guys (including Brendan) in the PhD program who have dependent wives/fiancees that don't work. I thought 1 of 4 was a high percentage!

Brendan turns 30, Oom-paa-paa band plays

2004-10-01T17:44:00.000-04:00

Brendan is turning 30 on October 26th and by some strange coincidence, the Tulsa Oktoberfest is being held from October 21st through October 24th. I'd like to surprise Brendan with a little impromptu celebration at this fine Tulsa event...

I've arranged to get a table reserved in the "Bier" tent on Saturday, October 23rd and have the oom-paa-paa (ok, polka) band play happy birthday at 2:30 pm. I'll be bringing in a birthday cake as well.

Please let me know if you can make it Oct 23rd with your significant others, if I can't get a quorum together for the afternoon time then I'll call off the table reservation. This is a SURPRISE, so please don't let on (it's really not going to be challenging to get Brendan to Oktoberfest under false pretenses).

-Joanne

p.s. If the Red Sox are in the World Series (knock on wood) and a game coincides with this plan, then there *will* be a keg in our backyard and we will be hosting our own private J&B Oktoberfest. :-)

Fabuloso!

2004-09-30T17:32:00.000-04:00

I had noticed a new (independent!) coffee shop opening at this Brookside area a while ago and we tried it last night. It's so cool - it's like a clean but just as campy verson of Someday cafe - painted wood paneling on the walls and local artists work hanging (and for sale)... cups and saucers are all made by a potter down the street... place is called Shades of Brown (which Brendan has taken to calling Shades of Crap - he really hates coffee).. anyway, they have a room at the back with a huge table so the four of us went there and worked away. No starbucks evilness of Borders weirdness... it was really cool. I think they actually have music performances on Fri, Sat nights - oh! and they have WiFi! (Borders has it but it is $30 / month... this seems to be free ?! Hopefully, that's our new place.

Go Ropin'

2004-09-27T17:31:00.000-04:00

Not much to report from here aside from the fact that I cleaned like crazy yesterday which was very gratifying. Saturday, we headed to this town - suburb of Tulsa really - that is known to have a "quaint downtown"... it was hilarious from the New England perspective because it was new-ish and had several antique stores, but not too much to write home about. Further down the street there was a large store called the "Trading Post" that had 6'x6' booths of stuff for sale - people would rent out these little booths to sell their junk... kind of like going to 200 garage sales all at once. Some of the stuff was really awful. Kinda neat to just poke around.

Went to a housewarming party on Friday night... Matt and his wife Annie... horrified (but expected) to see a Bush-Cheney sign on their front lawn. Someone, I'm not kidding here, pulled out a rope... to go roping... i.e., a rodeo rope, cowboy style. Sadly, really, I'm not kidding. What kind of alternate universe are we living in?

Finally, the interview

2004-09-24T17:29:00.000-04:00

I just got the mail and there's a letter for a green card interview (which will be videotaped, apparently)... it is for October 13th (the morning after I get back from MA, thankfully!). Apparently, I shouldn't have surrendered my original I-94 to the OK city office when they gave me my EAD (!) - I'm supposed to bring it to the interview. And, argh, they want letters of employment showing rate of pay and hours worked... not a problem for me, but they're not supposed to count me/my income, just Brendan's... I better bring proof of all our assets and apparently, "evidence of a common residence and shared life (including photos)".

We should have one of those types of parties...

2004-09-24T17:24:00.000-04:00

Tonight we're going to a house party for some friends that just bought a house... Matt and his wife Annie. Brendan helped them move in last month that weekend I was in Boston. He described as "one of those disaster moves" that took 8+hours... Anyway, they're having a "stock our bar" housewarming party tonight. Brendan needs to work the rest of the weekend since he's trying to propose his dissertation (i.e., finish writing his proposal and propose it to his committee) before Nov 1st and apply for internship, etc. etc. I'm not planning anything really - there's lot of stuff on my to do list to take care of, so errands, cleaning, finishing the last of the wedding thank yous (which I put down for a couple of weeks to finish the sweater).

Designed and Knit and finally finished...

2004-09-22T17:12:00.000-04:00

I finished!

I designed this pattern last winter especially for Brendan to come up with his own family "Fisherman Knit Sweater"... I finished the knitting this week in the 88 deg weather, just in time for .... well, "fall". In any case, here it is:

Weekend Wedding on Lon Gisland

2004-09-08T17:21:00.000-04:00

After 2.5 exhausting weeks, we're back at home in Tulsa. We had a great time visiting while in MA (and RI and NY), but it took its toll. Last Saturday, I started feeling ill on the drive down to NYC. Once we got into Brooklyn, I was feeling kind of queasy and dizzy and bloated with swollen glands. Anyway, by Sunday I had alternating fever and chills, dizzyness and burning in my stomach. Ugh. I sent Brendan off to do Best Man stuff and I went to check into our little hotel and sweat out the fever. I felt a bit better after a few more hours of sleep and perked up for the wedding. Brendan's friend Paul (one of the groomsmen at our wedding) was the one getting married - his fiance/now wife is from long island.... so this was definitely the fanciest wedding I've been to - valet parking, white-gloved service at every turn, women in full-length formal dresses, several hors d'oeuvres stations in a crystal chandeliered, two story high room (wedding was at Bethpage Golf Club - where the 2002 and 2009 US Open for Golf was and will be, so previous hosts to Tiger Woods). Insanity. The dessert wasn't just dessert or one dessert table, but about six dessert tables, each staffed with someone making something for you - a guy with a waffle maker, fruit, syrup, and ice cream, a guy at an ice cream sundae bar, a 2 foot high chocolate fountain, a creperie... and so on. Live band... troupe of irish dancers performing during the first course (bride is sicilian-american, but brendan's buddy the groom, of course, is irish). La la...

After getting back yesterday morning, I slept most of the afternoon and then from 7pm till 8 am this morning. Tonsils briefly had white spots on Monday and those seem to be gone now, but still thinking I'll go to the doctor. I'm just now starting to eat (yes, I passed up that wonderful dessert oasis - ha ha, get it - at the wedding) and still feel like I have a bullfrog in my throat.

Oh, I went in for my fingerprinting today - with real ink and everything - at the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office. Apparently, I just made it under the line - next month, all fingerprinting will be done in Oklahoma City, so that save us three hours of driving. I guess the fbi now takes about 4-6 weeks to check me out before they give ins the okay. I was simply amazed that I missed my scheduled appt (which was going to happen 8/27, while I was in Boston) and I went in today instead and was done in about 20 minutes. :-) The guy had to make a note that I had a severed finger so that the fbi wouldn't think it was just a bad print and would need to be redone. la la...

Weather is like summer here which is nice - I can definitely handle another month or two of this. I'm really looking forward to kicking back this weekend, maybe going to the Tulsa Rose Garden and Horticultural Centre for the Iris Sale (saw a sign this morning) and cleaning/organizing the house, finishing the few straggler wedding thank yous...

Ali & Andy's Wedding in Amherst, MA

2004-08-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

The wedding in Mass was really very nice although it was pouring rain, thundering and lightning (and it was supposed to be an outdoor wedding). So, they had a tent (with hanging changeliers) over an interlocking brick patio in this historic Inn in Amherst, MA. They had little tealight candles along the aisle and a white runner with red rose petals scattered - very nice setting given the rain. It wasn't so much weird to go to the wedding so soon after but it was nice that we had ours first and we could just enjoy this one and eat and dance and have fun (and not worry about what they did that we were also going to do or not do - it was too late).

Country yoga

2004-05-27T17:09:00.000-04:00

Finally had my first class last night - yoga... well, power yoga, except I'm not sure what makes it "power" yoga - no high heat or anything. Anyway, it was really, really good. I was reasonably flexible but definitely, definitely had some issues where my lower back was concerned. My legs have tightened up somewhat, I noticed, so this will be really good for me. I actually feel something in my muscles today - not soreness but just can tell that they've been worked. After the class, I felt "loose".

I've got to go on a cleaning/laundry spree tonight before we go.... so far the using-up-all-the-food-before-going-on-a-trip exercise is going well... my goodness, I haven't been on a trip since my trip here! (My god, that feels like ages ago)

Non-negotiable

2004-05-26T17:03:00.000-04:00

B talked to the job guy yesterday. He wanted B to come in for an interview and they got talking. The guy said that B needing to take 2 weeks off in July was "non-negotiable". So Brendan said that he was pretty sure that missing his own wedding was "non-negotiable"... well, it was more funny than snarky the way he told it. The hiring guy basically said that B was perfectly qualified for the job and that his was by far the best resume he had seen, but wanted him to start yesterday kind of thing, and couldn't absorb him being away 2 weeks in july, etc. So, there is a possibility that they may have a part-time position there which would be better schedule-wise anyway, but unsure as yet. Brendan was pretty annoyed at the inflexibility of the guy after he had admitted that Brendan was the best candidate. In any case, the job would probably not mean more time in Tulsa - that is fixed by the internship timing - if his dissertation isn't done by next July (and it likely won't be written up and defended by then), he'll be finishing it off wherever we are at the internship site. The job would reduce the practicum hours Brendan would get doing therapy and neuropsych assessments. He already has over 2000 hours of practicum, which should be more than enough on his internship applications. You're right that the extra cash would be useful!

The boxing instructor was also a no-show! What a disorganized enterprise! I did start talking to another "spouse" - a woman who moved here from Chicago right after her wedding so her husband could go to law school. She was very nice and does PR for the Tulsa zoo. After the boxing class was cancelled we chatted on side-by-side treadmills for half an hour - and she gave me her card because I mentioned that I might like to get into Development work for a non-profit.

Jobs, yoga and boxing

2004-05-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

B applied for this job that is 12pm-8pm M-F, so he would have to cut down on his voluntary (practicum) time doing therapy at the VA Hospital and doing neuropsych evals. And he'd have to work on his dissertation mornings. Not sure about his M/W night class he's auditing right now till the end of July. But you get the point, his schedule would be very full. In any case, yes, not an easy decision. The added security would be reassuring (especially with three close friends of ours getting married 2-3 months after us... on the east coast).

Not sure how "power" the power yoga class I signed up for will be since the studio seems to be well air conditioned. Never done yoga before because I've always thought it'd be good for me but would bore me (and then, because I hadn't ever done it, too shy to go to the first class). I think power yoga will be good... and in standing around waiting for the instructor, met two women there who also hadn't done yoga before. The boxing class is being taught by an actual boxer (!) Eecks.

Tornado Warning

2004-04-21T16:59:00.000-04:00

Tornadoes here last night. I was at the gym on campus and they came around and herded everyone into the changerooms that are also the storm shelters. Everything was fine in the city - some power out and downed trees branches, but not too bad.

Bad news

2004-03-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

I'm having a "day". The toilet backed up yesterday and the landlord called roto rooter to come in this morning at 8:30 to clear out the sewer line to the street (apparently the big magnolia tree out front causes problems with its roots)... anyway the repair ended up taking 3 hours because they had to do both lines and basically found other problems. (My car got sprayed with some poopy water as the guy rolled up the auger - ugh!) Our landlord is about 28 years old, married 5 years, his wife is pregnant with their first kid and he's a banker... it's all very odd. Depressing.

Anyway... my mom emailed this morning to say that my dad was back in the hospital and is in line to see a couple of different specialists because they're having problems with the incision still. My aunt (technically my mom's aunt, but she's only 10 years older and has always been close to us - she taught me how to knit and crochet when I was a kid) found out that she has bladder cancer - and she just spent the last 2 years recovering from breast cancer. And my mom's uncle (different side of the family) died in his sleep last night. Oy. I can't get over this - I have to believe that they'll figure out what's going on with my dad and he'll recover soon and that (hopefully) my aunt's cancer is confined just to the bladder, so they can treat it.

A Real House

2004-03-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

I'm really enjoying life here so far... everything on the home front is going very smoothly and the house continues to shape up slowly. The backyard looks better everyday and I can't remember the last place I lived that had such a big backyard and big trees. I'm sure we'll go out and get a barbecue at some point.

I'm glad I'm missing the snow - I have to say. It's kind of nice to see the crocus(es?) and the daffodils in bloom in all the yards and the magnolia bushes are out too. Very strange, but I'm not complaining!

Rodin in Tulsa ?

2004-03-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

I got up early today to watch Brendan run a 5km road race... in the rain! Ugh. Yucky morning but it was a "St Patrick's Day Run", so there were bagpipers out there and it was a fundraiser for the special olympics, so a good cause. It cleared up later in the day and we went to the local museum to see a Rodin exhibit of his sculptures - it is in town at the museum here till the end of March. That was cool and we met up with a friend-couple as well and then rented a movie afterward.

Oh, the Passion

2004-03-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

Just winding down the work day... going to see a movie tonight. Yay! I get out of the house... but we're careful to go to a theatre NOT showing the Passion since I hear that there are car line-ups out the parking lots of those theatres with all the jesus-freaks er- I'm sorry, I mean, Christian Fundamentalists in town. The bible belt. It's interesting all right.

Exploring...

2004-03-10T16:45:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, the weather was about 70 degrees, so I cleaned the garage out - I had to flatten a bunch of boxes to save for when I move again and then throw out a bunch of boxes and stuff. I tried to sort through stuff for a future yard sale, maybe... and organize my bikes, my skis, the laundry area, my other sporting stuff and stuff I want to store out there. I felt better getting that done - especially if there is a hail storm or tornado warning anytime soon (!) and I need to get my car in the garage. Apparently the hail storms here are brutal and can really dent up your car pretty badly.

The weather here was up to 70 last Saturday, yesterday and today - the rest of the time it is in the 60s and down in the high 30s or 40s at night. Not super warm yet, not super cold either. It rained really, really hard last week for two days and I guess there were tornadoes in Okla City which is 2 hours from here. Not too worried though (knock on wood).

I'm just working away - not too much that's new. I haven't gone out all that much - mostly Brendan and I hang out and watch movies or meet up with his friends and their girlfriends - who I like. Three of the four guys have a wife or fiancees, the fourth guy just called off his engagement (which everyone agreed was a smart move - his fiancee - I met her once - was a monster). These guys have been in the program together since day one - so I've met them before and like them and they're pretty close because they're a small group and study together, etc.

The city is cool - I've been out to the Utica Square area - just an open air mall with Coach, Ann Taylor, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Saks, Pier One, the Gap, PF Changs, Starbucks, a post office, bank of america, etc. - it's nice weather - so nice to go and not be in a mall. Other than that, I've been going to the gym with Brendan almost every night (he's a good influence) and working out for the last two weeks. I'm already feeling stronger and hoping to lose some l-b s. Brendan is going to run a 5 km race this Saturday, but I'm sitting out - I've been doing the elliptical trainer mostly, because it is much easier on my back and my knees. Slowly, I'm starting to jog again - outside by the river when it's nice (well, only once last Saturday) or on the treadmill. The university gym is really cool. I like it a lot even if I feel OLD using it - a bunch of 18 year olds running around that are 13 years younger than me. Yikes. When did that happen? Wow. Anyway, it's all open concept so the three basketball courts are right next to the cardio with no walls and I've signed out basketballs a couple of times, just to take some shots and remember back... 13+ years ago to when I played. !! I'm thinking that I'm going to search around for tennis lessons either on campus or at the Tulsa Tennis Club near our house. (Not sure about the Tennis Club since it is private and looks kind of expensive, but we'll see.) Brendan and I went out to some public courts a couple of weeks ago and played for a while. The public courts are near my place and have wind screens with decent surfaces, so that's good. But I would like lessons so I can improve and maybe meet some people to play with and find friends of my own. Hopefully, not southern belles, but we'll see.

I haven't had to do the green card physical yet. Fun fun. I've looked at the forms though - looks like a lot... ugh. Just one more thing to add to the list.

Gruesome Surgery Details

2004-03-08T16:44:00.000-05:00

My dad did finally have his surgery, exactly two weeks later from the original date, so Feb 19th or so. He is still in the hospital because his incision has been weeping/leaking so they put him on an IV and are trying to get that drained and dried out before sending him home. My mom says that it looks like he has a huge zipper - the incision is from below his belly button up to his chest and is stapled up - eesh! sounds ghastly, doesn't it? Anyway, I'm glad that they're keeping an eye on him in the hospital. Better than sending him home too soon. When I talked to him last he sounded much better, so with any luck, his recovery will continue without more complications. I think he's itching to go fishing and I'd like to be able to talk him into going to Boston at the end of May and meeting Brendan's parents. I think he would enjoy seeing their cottage and going out in the boat down there. My parents used to take summer vacations on the Cape with my sisters in the 60's, before I was born and they always talk about it.

Anyway, things here are going pretty well. I'm woefully behind on wedding planning, but trying to make up for it lately. With any luck, we'll get caught up by the end of the week. I'm settling in here and I'm loving the house very much. Brendan and I have been working out together which is fun and good for me, since I can get distracted from going to the gym. We went jogging along the riverside on Saturday in shorts - then and today, it's almost 70, I think. So, there are definitely benefits to the weather down here. We had friends over Friday night to watch movies we rented - the friendgroup here is one that I've met since I've visited Tulsa 3 years ago, so I know these guys fairly well and like them a lot. Their girlfriends are okay, I can get along with them, but they're not my style - mostly southern types that wouldn't dare be seen by anyone without make-up on. Ick.

Other than that, I've got a ton of work to do and spend all day long working from the back bedroom while Aston sits on the file cabinets and looks out the window, transfixed by all the squirrels and birds in the backyard.

Consistency, corporate domination - same thing

2004-02-29T16:41:00.000-05:00

Went to the brand-spanking new Star*ucker's here this morning for some good coffee and to pick up today's NYT. I've been reading more of it and the new yorker just to make up for my geographical handicap. This coccoon-thing is working so far. :-)

Tulsa is okay

2004-02-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

Tulsa is okay. I'm seriously sheltered right now. I work during the day, full time, from home while emailing and calling people in the Boston office. When B gets home, we do stuff together and when we hang out, we go to the respectable irish pub in town (one of those that have imported the woodwork from ireland)... so, it's Boston-lite. I've met his friends here before and I like them all a lot. You'd like them, they enjoy the simpson's, the onion, conan, the daily show... so, I'm cool with the crowd.

I haven't caved and signed up for Tivo yet, but I have had bouts of Tivo envy. I have no self-control whatsoever and would *really* not leave the house if I had more TV access. And the high speed internet is a godsend.

I just opened mail from Elections Canada - they tracked me down here and I returned my status update to them. I don't think I can vote, actually, since I've been out of country for so long - I thought they had a 5 yr time limit. We'll see.

Grumpy, he must be feeling better

2004-02-24T16:38:00.000-05:00

Cathy said last night that Stripo was doing okay but was pretty grumpy - nothing too surprising, I guess. Good that he's improving though.

I finally got my membership at the University gym and I'm going to work out tonight with Brendan (and get a tour)... it is brand new and has a bunch of nice equipment, so I'm keen on using it.

Weather here is grey and cold today but I played tennis on Sunday outside in shorts and teeshirt... in 75 deg weather, so it varies. I don't want to hear how nice it is down in Phoenix. :-(

2004-02-23T16:37:00.000-05:00

Oh, my dad was in critical care over the weekend but should be getting out soon. They wanted to make sure all his organs were functioning properly (good thing to check, huh).

Gi-normous Aneurysm

2004-02-19T16:35:00.000-05:00

I just heard from my sister about an hour ago that my dad is in stable condition and the surgery seemed to go well. His aneurysm was bigger than they thought (7.5 cm) but they got it patched up.

Nothing has happened yet

2004-02-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

No good Oklahoma stories yet... aside from the scary cast of characters at the Walmart last week but I firmly believe that scary people are in Walmart's everywhere. I generally try to avoid Walmart but needed to pick up 2 file cabinets and they had them (2 dwrs) for $25 each... what can you do? I don't have a problem buying the odd thing there but I won't be doing my grocery shopping at the Walmart "Neighborhood Markets" since I was reading that those stores are driving down salaries in the supermarket business. That's the reason that unionized supermarket employees down here are on strike. I thought the whole "living wage" idea was something that would catch on more than it has. Much as I hate the slickness of John Edwards - he had a great catch line about there being "two americas" - one for the wealthy and one for everyone else. Besides, I thought he was the only democrat running who could beat George Bush in the next election. La la. Oh, I definitely need to get cable, I miss Jon Stewart too.

I should probably go and unpack some more of my crap. Man, I have a lot of crap. I brought bags and bags of stuff to Goodwill before I left Boston and I probably still have a bunch of old clothes and books to purge. I still have t-shirts from high school. Not good.

Birthday Weekend

2004-02-16T18:05:00.000-05:00

Nice to have a weekend birthday and get to relax on the actual day... bought a nice 9' by 12' area rug for the living room yesterday afternoon. I loooove the dark-stained hardwood floors but at the same time, I'm worried that our stuff will scratch up the floor. No sooner did we get the rug home and all set up, did Brendan cook a very nice dinner with an excellent birthday cake afterward. We invited company over at the last minute - Brendan's friends Chris and Ashley came over along with Jen (from Dallas, dating B's friend from MA, Jim) and Paul (Brendan's old roommate). Ashley has the same birthday as me *and* we found out last night that she and Chris got engaged... so we had them over for my cake and 20 (+1) yo Port :-) (except the preggers one, of course). Twas good. Very good.

It is 25 deg here this morning, getting up to 50 deg today. Apparently, Feb is a tease and it gets cold and somewhat snowy again in March? Who knows. (2/16/04)

New Place is Swank

2004-02-16T16:29:00.000-05:00

We got a lot of oooh's and ahhh's over the house last night because it is so nice (not really anything to do with us right now and more to do with the painted walls, crown and baseboard molding, california shutters, yard, neighbourhood... just the house basically)... although, I'm definitely working on it daily...

I haven't joined the gym yet or set up a local bank account but b/c of today's holiday (holiday from all except work, that is), I'll have to do those things tomorrow - feeling like I'm hiding in a bunker. A nice bunker, but still, a bunker. (2/16/04)

Unpacking...

2004-02-13T18:09:00.000-05:00

So I am looking forward to this weekend to get my clothes unpacked - I've been scrounging out of my suitcase and odds and ends this past week. Aside from the kitchen (big job that B did 95% of while I was away) and the DSL/computer set-up, everything else is still in purgatory. I need to buy a couple of 2 dwr file cabinets for work stuff as well as bookcases to put everything away. I refuse to set up my $29 utility bookcase that I stained for use in college.... we're going to go shopping for shelves tomorrow for the office... :-) With any luck, we will be uber-organized by Monday. By the way, you guys were very close - my birthday is this Sunday, the day after vday - which of course causes Brendan much stress apparently. He is cooking me dinner on Saturday night and my only request has been to rent a movie and put our feet up. Nothing too out-of-this-world, but all I want is to feel like we're settled in. (2/13/04)

Exploring the territory

2004-02-12T18:06:00.000-05:00

As for the weekend, I need to buy book shelves on the weekend... and file cabinets... to get the office set up completely. We went to walmart last night for the file cabinets and it was a nightmare! The sllllloooowest service ever with stupid people at the cash (there's got to be a lightbulb joke about 'how many walmart employees does it take...')

So, we went to the mall last night as well (The Limited, J Crew, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, The Gap, Express) - first time I had seen some of those stores down here, so I now feel like I have a "burlington" to go to (not that I spend that much time at the malls but somehow comforting). We have to find some furniture stores though - likely on Saturday - to figure out how to get shelving for in here. They have some funky stores in a she-she area near where we live - incidentally, B drove me through the rest of our zip code and these places are HUGE! Too funny (that we live so close to that for so little)...

B is cooking me dinner on Saturday night... other than that, we'll probably rent a movie and put our feet up (my greatest desire). I was very bummed to find out that MY martini bar here that I raved about with the $3 skyy martinis, Gargoyle-esque menu, and British owners just closed last week. How, oh how, could they do this to me? That was my saving locale for a nice night out.... they flew in fresh seafood daily from the Gulf... la la... apparently there are a few new spots to check out... we'll see. :-( (2/12/04)

Heart Surgery postponed

2004-02-12T18:04:00.000-05:00

Things are good here, but busy... I was away from work almost 2 weeks with the move and going to Toronto last week. My dad's surgery ended up being postponed a few days before the surgery but it was too late to change the ticket. I had 12 hours in Tulsa last week and then I got back this past Monday night and started telecommuting Tuesday morning. Needless to say, a little bit hectic. I can't wait for the weekend to unpack and get organized - I'm basically sitting in the midst of unpacked boxes and stuff, itching to organize... The house is fantastic - I'll send pictures when I get my digi camera software set up (IT guy at work erased ALL my photos on my hard drive as well as the driver/software - oh joy, with help like that...) (2/12/04)

My note to co-workers back at the office, 2/11/04:

2004-02-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

Hi there (or maybe Howdy?) -

A quick note from Tulsa to say hello and to say that I'm all set up in my window corner office (my spare back bedroom). My contact details are below and I can be reached *at least* from 9am-6pm (EST) - that's 8am-5pm CST.

I've been in town for about 36 hours and have mostly stayed inside my New England cocoon at home. Aside from the temperature getting up to 60 degrees yesterday, nothing too different to report down here.... so far.

-Joanne

Response from co-worker:

do not leave the house... oklahoma is outside....

Living in the South...

2004-02-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

I couldn't believe it but it was 60 deg F (15 ? C) today... bright and sunny... but then it is getting cold again tomorrow. Oh well... the sun and warmth was nice to experience. (2/10/04)

Yay! DSL is here

2004-02-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

I just set up my dsl (wasn't supposed to be active till tomorrow)... weird, this box comes in the mail and it contains a variety of implements to get set up and it is do-it-yourself (vs. the RCN cable modem hookup that is done for you). The company here is SBC with some sort of partnership with Yahoo, so everything is very slick and ties into your yahooID account but gives you a 25 MB yahoo! account instead of only 6MB. I will have to call our corporate IT help desk (in Newfoundland, as a matter of fact) to get this VPN connection working right.

Good karma on the place... like it a lot and spent this afternoon getting more unpacked since I found I wasn't able to work without getting some stuff unearthed. I went to Target and stocked up on cleaning and household supplies, then on to get groceries and fill the cupboards. We're doing pretty well but I will definitely need to shop for some new bookshelves, file cabinets and work table (or all of the above). I don't want to go nuts, but I need to organize the stuff I have here.

My car had been parked in the garage since last Wednesday and when I went to start it this afternoon, I realized the battery was completely kaput. I had to call AAA to come boost me since B was at the VA today doing therapy.... to my amazement and delight - when you call AAA here and they say it will be 30 minutes, it actually *is* 30 minutes. The guy showed up and boosted me - cool! Weird. It was 60 deg today and sunny, so I was in a bit of a culture shock wandering around town on my own to run my errands. ALSO, culture shocked because it seems like my neighbours stay at home during the day. A half hour after the garbage truck came by, the empty bins at the end of everyone's driveways were gone... ??!! Holy Twilight Zone.

Talked to my mum tonight and my dad's surgery date is set for Feb 18th. Good that it's reset soon. (2/10/04)