knitopotamus

Aftermath

2007-11-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

I survived Thanksgiving! The holiday proper was no problem - just me and Max and a big, tasty meal. The four or five days leading up to the holiday, however, were a different story. It's the biggest week of the year for us at the bakery, and with this being my first year as production manager, a lot was riding on me not screwing up. I did have one or two screw-ups, but thankfully they were minor and all things considered, this was one of the smoothest Thanksgivings we've had there.
Now I can return to the fun stuff - knitting, spinning, watching season one of Heroes, and importing lots of pictures into Ravelry. Yes, I joined the madness. If you're signed up, you'll find me there under knitopotamus. If you're not and you're a knitter, spinner, or crocheter, get on the list or just be patient. They're saying they'll be opening up the site pretty soon. It's worth it. The hard part will be keeping up with the blog, especially with photos, now that I'm posting so many fiber-related pictures there.
I'll try not to disappear completely.

Anniversary

2007-11-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

Last week Max and I celebrated our anniversary - nine years married, fourteen as partners. In addition to a not-quite-worth-the-exorbitant-price dinner out, we managed to get away for a whole weekend. We didn't get very far away, but away we got. We spent two nights in a cabin in Trinidad just a few miles to the north.

The cabin was perfect. A big comfy bed, a full kitchen, a woodstove, and a deck overlooking the ocean.

We listened to the waves and looked for whales while eating tasty treats and drinking good wine. And there might have been a little ass-kicking on the battlefield of Catan.

On Saturday we decided to sample some of the best tourism our region has to offer by visiting the Trees of Mystery. It continues to amaze me that the local response to awesome natural beauty is cheese and kitsch, but I guess that's not just limited to the North Coast.

Mr. Bunyan was there to greet us...

...along with his anatomically impressive buddy Babe.

Chainsaw art was brought to new heights...

...while humor and maturity hit a few lows.

The gondola ride to the top of the mountain paid off, though, with views like this:

And on the drive home we got to see these guys (they've become a common sight, but they never cease to impress me):

I fear for these windows.

One of the real surprises of the trip, though, was the museum at the Trees of Mystery. It's a private collection assembled by a woman with tremendous love and respect for local Native nations. The examples of Native basketry blew my mind. Sadly, the few flash-free photos I attempted didn't turn out well, but trust me when I say it was a touch of class amidst the exploitive crap and foreign-made souvenirs.

The other good surprise was finding Rooster McClintock, a local honky tonk band that nearly brought the roof down at a little Trinidad dive bar on Saturday night. The dance floor was packed with costumed revelers of all stripes. We were unaware of the Halloween party and therefore decked only in our usual garb, but we danced until we were ready to fall down. It was a fantastic way to round out our weekend and to celebrate our years together. May there be many more!

Finish Fest 2007

2007-10-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more things I can finally cross off the list. First off is Mariah. It's not even funny how long this has been a work in progress (I started it in May of 2005, while still in New York). I actually finished it back in July, but I wasn't happy with the zipper, and I didn't get around to changing it until today. See, the ribbing pulls in quite a bit at the waist, and the yoke is just a tad big, so it makes me look a little like a linebacker, and it doesn't stay on my shoulders that well. By changing to a double separating zipper, I can have it zipped at the top while leaving the ribbed section undone, like so:

Here it is with the full zip:

There are certainly things I love about this sweater. I love the long sleeves. I think I knit them a little shorter than the pattern called for, but honestly, I can't remember now. I love the way the cables turned out. I did a lot of ripping back on this sweater, but it was ultimately worth it. Despite its minor fit issues, I'm still really proud of it.

The recap: Mariah from Knitty in the smallest size, knit in organic wool from Full Belly Farm in natural gray (though it appears brown). I used a little less than 5 skeins at 250 yards each. I love that this yarn comes from an organic CSA and is undyed, but it is certainly rustic. I wish I had saved all the bits of vegetable matter I picked out during the knitting process, because it would easily amount to a small shrub's worth, and it was mostly burrs. Fortunately, this is not the kind of sweater I'll be wearing next to bare skin.
All-in-all, this was a rewarding project, although I'm not sure I would say I had a lot of fun knitting it.

The next finished object is Tubey.

Again, I'm excited to be finished, but I have reservations. It's just not that flattering on me. I'm hoping I'll wear it anyway, otherwise this poor yarn is destined to never see the light of day, even it its fourth (!) incarnation (here's an earlier one). The good news is that it is fabulously soft and cozy while being slightly dressier than most of my sweaters, so hopefully it will see some use this winter on evenings out.
The pattern is Tubey, again from Knitty, size medium. The yarn is Morehouse Merino 3 strand (worsted) in gray. I highly recommend this yarn as a sub for the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino called for in the original.
I did change the sleeves a bit because I didn't have enough yarn. I did a few decreases and echoed the ribbing of the body to finish them off a little short of where they were supposed to be. The body is also a couple of inches shorter than the pattern called for.
It's an easy knit, but I was bored to tears during the ribbing, and it was too big and bulky at that point to be mindless waiting room knitting. Still, it's an innovative pattern. I like that.

And finally, the results of my dyeing:

Again, I was surprised by the outcome of adding emerald dye to the twice-dyed Corriedale, especially the way that one skein stayed stubbornly brown, but I like it in an earthy, foresty kind of way. If I had to give this color a name, I think it would be Humus. Although if I were being arty about it, I would call it something like Mirkwood.
The whole multi-dyeing process definitely fulled the yarn, which is fine. (I think the worst of it happened during the workshop at the Fair when they let all the little hippie children stir the dyepots.) It's still really soft, and according to Spin Off, it will make my yarn a little more durable and less likely to pill. I've decided to go forward with a vest, based on Leftovers from Knitty, but with slightly different ribbing. Now that I have a relatively clean slate, I can work on it without worrying about all my languishing unfinished projects!

Just What Kind of Olive is That?

2007-10-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, this has got to be almost unprecedented. Three posts in three days? It probably won't work this way for long. It just so happens that this has been my weekend and I didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. (It's been a bit of a Fiber-and-Buffy Fest. Max went out of town and I found used copies of the two Buffy seasons I didn't already own. You should see the house. It's trashed.)

Anyway, last night I got it into my head to overdye the Corriedale yarn, both the natural grey and the dyed stuff, in an attempt to make it all work in the same project. I pulled out some acid dyes I bought at the Fiber Fair and chose the color Olive, using a small-ish amount of dye in the hopes that it would give a nice mellow olive green tone to the whole batch while preserving some of the natural dyed shades underneath.

Boy was I wrong:

I don't know if it's the previous dye job (there was the iron bath on two skeins, and I only rinsed, didn't wash afterward) or if those Jaquard people don't know what the hell an olive looks like, but I sure wasn't expecting this strange copper color.

As much as I normally love earthy colors, this one just didn't satisfy me, so the whole lot went back in the dyepot. It's currently soaking up some Emerald in an attempt to greenify it. I'm hoping it will be mossy and foresty and pretty, not vomitous, but who knows. I would really like to make a wearable vest out of this stuff, so I just hope it's something I can live with.

I also spun up another sample of the heathered top from the Fair.

This time I went with a single, spun from the fold.
Here are a couple of tiny swatches with both samples:

Both were knit on US #5 needles, though I probably could've gone down a size on the left-hand one. That one is from the single. It came out to about 12 wpi and knit to 6 1/2 stitches to the inch. It was a bit splitty to work with, but made a nice soft fabric.
The right one is from the two-ply, which was more like 11 wpi and knit to 6 stitches to the inch. It was easier to work with, gave better stitch definition, and produced a smoother, firmer fabric.
I like the look and feel of the fuzzier one, but I should probably figure out what I'd like to use it for first. I'm sure the worsted-spun two-ply would be far more durable.

There is other, more substantial knitting happening, and I hope to soon have another long-awaited FO to document. I know Buffy will help me through.

More Spinning and Another FO

2007-10-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I did with my new wheel was to spin up a batch of Corriedale roving I bought down in Sonoma County last year from the Artisan's Co-Op. I had played with it a little on the old wheel and the drop spindle, but it was a really nice introduction to my Lendrum.

I ended up with five skeins, each approximately 160 yards and worsted weight.

The skein on the far right is the first one I did, and it is noticeably chunkier than the others. I didn't notice until I had spun the second skein, which was much thinner. These two were both Navajo-plied, only compounding the problem. With the next three, I did a standard three-ply which helped to balance out the inconsistencies. These were done with a long backward draw, from the fold.

Last weekend was our local Natural Fiber Fair and I spent most of Saturday there. By the way, while the Fair had its disappointing moments (no Carolina Homespun or Chasing Rainbows this time!) they have a brilliant little thing called the Used Equipment Booth. I brought along my Ashford wheel, put a price tag on it and walked away. A couple of hours later, I returned to the woman running the booth to find that my wheel had sold. She handed me a bundle of cash, I handed her ten percent of it, and that was that. Practically effortless!

While there, I took a workshop on natural dyeing and brought my Corriedale yarn with me. Here are the results:

The one on the left, which is a little more yellow than this in person, was dyed with saffron, the middle is Brazilwood with an iron bath, the right is Cutch with an iron bath. Mine looked much different from the others, most of which were commercial white yarns bought from the workshop leader. I'm not particularly fond of how these colors turned out. I thought the saffron was especially disappointing since everyone else got such nice, bright yellows, but it was a good lesson in how dyes can vary on different yarns.

The process was fun to learn, and it would be neat to do more, but I don't see myself getting into it any time soon. It's quite a lot of work, especially to get predictable results.

Another fiber I played with on the new wheel is some dyed alpaca I bought at the Black Sheep Gathering.

This stuff felt great and I liked the colors, but it bled like crazy on my skin and my flyer as I was spinning.
Here's what I got from the first bundle:

I suppose you would call this a semi-worsted yarn. It's roving, not top, but spun with a worsted draw. I then Navajo-plied it to preserve the color sequence.

I tried to avert the bleeding problem by washing the second bundle of roving before spinning it so I could attempt to fix the dye with vinegar. Sadly, despite trying to be gentle, I felted it a bit, and spinning it is a real bear, so I've tossed it aside for now.

I emailed the company I bought it from with what might have been too gentle a message. I told them how disappointed I was and that I didn't feel confident buying from them any more, but I stopped short of asking for a refund or replacement. I never got a reply.

Here's some pretty dyed top I bought at the Fiber Fair last week.

The woman who sold it to me said it was from a breed called "Colonial," a Merino cross, she said, but there's no mention of it in my copy of In Sheep's Clothing, and Google only turned up references to them as a very general category, not a breed. If I'd been paying attention, I would have noticed that it's really not very Merino-esque. Long staple, not much loft, but pretty colors, and I like the way it spins up.

I've only done a small sample so far. This is a two-ply, worsted draw.

And finally, a non-spinning FO. I don't normally do baby stuff, but this is for an old friend of Max's. I still want to wash and block it before getting it in the mail. I really need to hurry, though, because the baby's already here and will probably soon be too big to wear this!

It's the Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting (Rosie the Riveter added to counteract girliness). I did it in Lion Brand Cotton, color Banana. I used just a smidge more than one ball, but I added some length to the body and width to the sleeves because I'm worried about shrinkage. I also went with buttons instead of the ties used in the original. I though the ties seemed fussy, and it looked like the inner flap of the kimono would sag without something securing it.
Here's a button close-up:

I can now see the appeal of baby projects for their speed and cuteness (I also made a hat for a different baby recently, but forgot to photograph it) but it still saddens me that they grow so fast and can only wear these things so briefly!

A Tentative Return

2007-10-11T10:19:00.001-07:00

It's been such a long time that I don't even know where to start. This is one of those things that gets harder and harder the longer you're away.

The last year has been a bit of a tough one for me, and I think the blog started to feel like another obligation I couldn't keep up with, so I dropped it, but in the last couple of months I've started to miss it.
At a most basic level, I've missed the visual and textual record of my projects. Since the spring, my fiber enthusiasm has come flooding back, but in a bit of a disorganized fashion. Since the original goal of the blog was to keep track of that stuff, it seemed the likely place to return.
I've also missed the connections I made with some inspiring people out there. I don't expect any real readership after such a long absence, but if a few interesting people wander my way I'll be pleasantly surprised.

So, on to a few updates.

First off, my health has improved dramatically. I had my thyroid nuked in March, and while my hormone levels went a little wacky for a couple of months, I'm now on a dose of synthetic hormone that works for me. As long as I remember to take my pill first thing in the morning, I feel fine. The only bummer is that I have to wait 30 to 60 minutes before I can eat or drink anything, which, for a coffee and breakfast lover like me, sometimes feels like an eternity. My newly balanced hormones coupled with a little outside help has also done wonders for my depression. That's not to say everything's hunky dory all the time, but at least everything doesn't suck all the time.

My position at work has changed again. I'm now the production manager, so I oversee all things bread. This has been a really exciting change for me. I was really bored doing sales and missed the dough. Now I get to play with dough with the added challenge of managing about a dozen people on two shifts. My hours are a little bizarre, but so far it hasn't bothered me. It's the personal challenges that will make or break me here, I think. I've been in the position about six weeks now, so I still remain optimistic about the whole thing.

But some of the most exciting updates, for the blog at least, are in the realm of fiber. As I said, I managed to recapture some of my knitting mojo back in the spring. I started small with these legwarmers:

Sadly, the color is a bit washed out in this photo. They're a very pretty olive green. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay in Uranium. The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I know many people are opposed to color pooling, but on these I like the way it looks. The downside is I started knitting these before my thyroid treatment when I weighed about 15-20 lbs less than I do now, so the cute skirt I planned to wear them with doesn't fit me any more, not to mention the slight mental scarring I have from youthful encounters with legwarmers. Thus, they languish unworn. Perhaps I can find someone younger and hipper than I am to give them to.

After this victory, I decided to pick up my unfinished Birch shawl in order to wear it to a wedding on Memorial Day weekend.
Here is the result, again with slightly washed out color due to our grey skies:

It turned out pretty enormous - 96" wide and 42" from top to point - but I like the size, and it's still light as a feather while being soft and warm. The yarn, a blend of silk, angora, and nylon, is recycled from a thrift store sweater. The only real drawback is that the angora sheds like crazy.

During this exciting knitting period, my spinning wheel was gathering dust, but in June, Max and I went north to Oregon and the Black Sheep Gathering for a little inspiration. While we were there, a couple of pivotal events happened. First off, I test-spun a Lendrum folding wheel, and it confirmed my suspicions that it's the wheel for me. Secondly, I bought this:

It's a Merino/Border Leicester fleece from Hub Corriedales in Oregon.
After sorting:

I photographed these locks while still in the hotel in Eugene. I couldn't stop fondling them.

It was a bit of a whim, but once I wandered into the fleece sale it seemed inevitable that something was coming home with me. I got there after the big initial rush, but early enough to find this. It's certainly not a perfect fleece, but for my first purchase I was pretty pleased. It had a few weak spots and some dandruff, but was very clean and well-skirted, with nice luster and incredible softness, and I love how the color goes from light brown tips to deep brown and even charcoal grey in places. It all blends together in the spinning, but I think it gives the color nice depth.

The thing I wasn't prepared for was just how much work a fleece is! I scoured it in several batches because I was paranoid about getting the grease out (I didn't want sticky Merino wax hanging around to muck up my spinning) and then tried some hand carding with carders I also bought at the festival. I learned an important lesson, which is that I suck at hand carding. Well, maybe I don't completely suck, but I'm really slow if I want it to come out nice, and I'm a bit on the impatient side.

So my new approach is drum carding. I've taken one batch to my LYS where I can rent time on her drum carder and I've got three lovely batts to show for it. The crazy part is that's only a small portion of the whole fleece. I'll need at least a couple more trips, but the teasing is slowing me down. It's almost enough to make me go back to hand carding!

The upside to all this processing work is that this wool is a pleasure to handle. It still has enough lanolin in it to stay soft without being sticky and I'm really enjoying the spinning. I almost wish I had saved a small sample of the unscoured wool, though, because I actually miss the sheepy smell of it.

My current goal is to spin enough for a sweater. I've been playing around a little with yarn weights and plies to see what works. Here's a recent sample skein (with apologies for the poor lighting):

It's Navajo-plied, roughly 11 wpi, although the twist isn't set, so I'm not sure if it'll bloom. I'm still working on getting balanced skeins, but improving all the time.

I have a lot more fiber stuff I'd like to post about, but this is getting a little long-winded, so I'll just add this final, important detail. In August the most generous and loving partner in the world bought me this:

My very own Lendrum folding double treadle wheel. It is absolutely the best thing that could have happened to my spinning.

I knew something wasn't right with my Ashford, but I didn't even know exactly what it was until I got this one. Even after having some repair work done on the Ashford, it was still fussy and clunky, and I would get sore after spinning for just a little while.
With the Lendrum I can, and sometimes do, spin all day long with no discomfort, and my yarn is coming out better and better. I finally see what all the fuss is about. Now if I can just figure out how to get the cats to settle down while I spin, all will be well.

Branching Out

2007-02-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for the kind thoughts. It's nice to know that a few of you are still out there. My sense of isolation is certainly lessened knowing that I have a few "virtual" friends.

On to the issue at hand...

When I was a student, many years ago, I wore skirts all the time. In the last several years, skirts have been reserved for more dressy occasions, but I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for those days. I love the comfort and freedom a skirt can give you. The right skirt, anyway.

Back in the day, I favored long, flowy numbers, or short dresses. Neither of these will suffice for everyday wear these days. I've been wanting something like a Utilikilt, or maybe this gardening skirt (although I don't know anyone who gardens in a skirt). Regardless, to suit my purposes it has to be functional, and ideally, less expensive than either of those examples. I've been keeping an eye out, but I haven't seen anything like it in my thrift store travels, so I finally decided to make my own.

Since I'm still pretty crap with the sewing machine, I decided to fall back on that seventies stand-by, the jeans-made-into-a-skirt. I found these instructions online, and with a pair of second-hand carpenter's pants that I never wore, I made this:

I didn't have quite enough fabric from the legs to fill the back panel, so I used a section of an old T-shirt in coordinating colors. I cut it wider than it needed to be so that, combined with the stretchiness of the T-shirt material, it provides a lot of give. It's been tested on a couple of dog walks, and I find it to be both comfortable and practical.

I was feeling very clever and proud of my achievement until I happened to walk by a shop the other day displaying several new, trendy skirts in a very similar style. I had no idea that I was making something that all the local 14-year-olds would be wearing. Oh well, I'm still pleased that I made it myself. I think the sewing machine and I have finally reached an understanding. As long as I don't ask her to anything too strenuous, she performs adequately. Someday I will replace her with a machine that can handle felted wool, but for now, she'll do.

The best part is that this project is inspiring me to do even more crafty business. I have a couple of other pairs of jeans destined for donation, so I may work my magic on at least one more pair, and I've also been inspired to start knitting a pair of legwarmers. I haven't yet decided if I'll feel too silly as a nearly thirty-five year-old woman to wear legwarmers, or if I'll throw caution to the wind and wear them anyway, but I forge ahead with the knitting.

I have also picked up another old friend/enemy (frenemy?): Mariah. I finished one sleeve and started the next, and the front and back are done. Someday soon I'll be able to join all the pieces together and knit the yoke, but I wouldn't want to rush things. It's only been 21 months since I began.

Caution: Slow Knitting

2007-02-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm always writing posts about how I've gotten back in the swing of knitting after a slump. Maybe it's time I realized that knitting for me is cyclical, and I'm simply not as fast and furious as I was in the beginning. I don't think I'd feel badly about that if I didn't have a stash the size of Texas. Apparently even very modest yarn-buying habits get out of hand if you knit slowly.

Meanwhile, one of the nice things about not having posted much in the last few months is that when I do a knitting update, it looks like a lot of progress.

This is the only thing I've actually completed since the green hat. It's a Kitty Pi, thick crust. By that I mean that I knit a double-layer bottom to help keep Barnaby's old bones cozy. I also did a three-stitch I-cord bind-off to draw the top edge in a little.

Here it is post-felting. The yarn was a Christmas gift from my brother. It came from Farmhouse Yarns, and a sheep named Chloe. It's very pretty - natural wool with little flecks of color - but it was significantly overspun and therefore scratchy. The swatch I felted left a lot of stitch definition and biased like mad, so a cat bed seemed like a good use for it. I haven't yet tested it on actual cats, since it's still a little damp, but I'll try to photograph it in action soon.

I have also been slogging my way through Tubey. I know lots of people tore through theirs, but I'm finding it to be one of the most boring things I've knit. I've only got a couple more inches to go before I can go back and finish the sleeves. I think I am going to run out of yarn, so the sleeves will be shorter than called for, but I think it'll look cool anyway. Boredom aside, I'm thrilled that I seem to have finally found the appropriate use for the Morehouse Merino yarn.

If you thought the knitting slump was bad, you should see the spinning slump. I don't know why, but I just don't seem to be able to motivate myself to spin. It seems easier when I have a specific project in mind. This is the only thing I've spun recently - a two-ply yarn out of the beautiful superfine alpaca roving I bought in Sonoma last summer. I had planned to make something for my brother for Christmas, but the plan fell apart (as did I). So now I have these three skeins of fantastically soft aran-to-bulky weight alpaca added to the stash.

That's about it, although I just remembered another project I can show off if I get some good picture-taking light. It's not likely to happen soon, since a much-needed rainy weather pattern has just settled in, but I'll see what I can do.

Surfacing

2007-02-01T01:27:00.000-08:00

I had a dream not long ago in which I was on a road trip, and along the way I stopped by the shore to go swimming. It was a hot day and several people had gathered along a seawall to jump in the ocean. I paused briefly at the edge and jumped in. From the wall, it looked to be about ten feet above the water, but when I jumped, it felt more like fifty. I was in the air for what felt like an eternity before hitting the warm water. I sank deep, almost getting my feet tangled in seaweed and muck before beginning to ascend. Again it seemed like the distance grew. I kept thinking I should be at the surface by now, and I would try to gasp for breath, but nothing would happen. I started to panic. I saw the light above me grow brighter and I knew I was almost there, but I still wasn't sure I would make it without sucking in a lungful of water.
Then I woke up.

I've never been very good at analyzing dreams, but this one felt like a pretty good metaphor for how I've been feeling lately. I think the leap I took when I moved out here looked pretty exhilarating when I started, but it's turned out to be a much longer drop than I anticipated. It's not the first time I've struggled with depression, but I think because it's always been mild and I've never really treated it, it sneaks up on me and I don't notice it until I'm in the thick of it. My wacky thyroid and my night job certainly haven't helped things this time around, either.

The good news is I'm making strides in those two areas. Some day soon, when the doctor's office and the hospital get their shit together and communicate properly, I will have my thyroid "ablated." This is a nice way of saying that they're going to nuke it with radiation until it dies. I'm not happy about this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I will have to spend a week staying at least six feet away from all other living creatures so as not to nuke their thyroid glands. Plus there's that whole thing about needing your thyroid gland. I was really having a hard time accepting that, at only age 34, one of my important body parts decided to go haywire and needs to die, and no one can tell me why (other than throwing around another fun euphemism: autoimmune disease). Not only that, but even here in hippie-lovefest-alternamedicine-central, they're telling me that this really is the way to go. So I have the fun of being nuked and being on synthetic hormones the rest of my life. Yay.

Let me just pause here to say that I know this all sounds very whiny. I don't have cancer and I'm not dying and lots of people live with this and much worse every day. But that doesn't mean it still doesn't suck. And it's the nature of blogging to be self-indulgent, so that's what I've come here to do. It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to.

On the job front, things are looking up, too. I have just accepted a daytime position as the assistant manager of the bakery. I'll work weekends, and I'll miss having my hands on the dough, but I'll be diurnal again. I will have seven evenings a week to do with as I please. Granted, I can't stay out late every night, but that's the last thing I want anyway. The problem I've been having is, with only two or three nights free, and me being a total homebody, I'm reluctant to go anywhere on my nights off. It adds to the general sense of isolation I've been feeling for months.

So I'm trying to be a little bit positive (although there's still a voice in my head muttering "optimism, shmoptimism") and hope that I will yet make some friends and really enjoy my surroundings. Even if not, just the fact that my new position will put me in contact with many more people every day is going to help me feel more connected. I'm not expecting it to change everything. In fact, it's going to have plenty of challenges and will probably drain me more than my current job does, but I expect that all the other aspects of my life will improve enough to make the job tolerable. And honestly, what more can I ask?

The job change won't take place for a few weeks yet, so there's plenty of time to get used to the idea, and time for me to write long-winded late-night posts (so if you've made it this far and are eager for more - lucky you). As long as I can hold my breath a little bit longer, I think I'll be alright.

What Goes Around Comes Around

2006-11-14T03:10:00.000-08:00

I finally got myself back to knitting with this hat:

It's Coronet from Knitty in Manos del Uruguay. I managed to squeeze it out of one skein by skipping the folded brim (it ultimately took about 112 yards). It was quick and easy and well-received by my coworker, for whom it was a gift. I call it his "karmic bonus" because he's a really nice guy who went above and beyond the call of duty recently.

This place, especially Arcata where I work, is full of eccentrics on a normal day, so you can imagine what happens on Halloween. The Saturday before Halloween I was at work, standing around the table with my three coworkers, shaping baguettes. Suddenly someone was pounding on the glass doors. I turned to see a man in nothing but his underwear knocking on the glass and frantically gesturing for someone to come outside. The whole scene was rendered significantly creepier by the fact that he was covered in blood.

I was closest to the door, but I turned back to the others with a look indicating that I wasn't going anywhere near that dude. The two guys, M and A, went to see what was up. The Naked Dude was trashed, angry, and barely coherent, but the guys stayed with him and calmed him down. M got the guy a chair, some water and a damp towel. He even let Naked Dude wear his cardigan sweater.

We were all reluctant to call the police, especially considering recent events, so they just took care of him until he was functioning well enough to borrow the phone and call some friends to pick him up. Unfortunately, the cardigan went with him. I was so impressed with M's patience and willingness to handle the situation rather than trying to make Naked Dude someone else's problem, and as a knitter I took the loss of the sweater pretty hard, so I decided to make him the hat.

In other work-related news, I haven't yet found a new job because I got a promotion at my old one. I had already been given a little bump up in responsibility, but it turns out that the job requires more responsibility than was originally planned. I'm now stuck in that awkward place between being frustrated and wanting to quit, and wanting to do well in my new position. Damn bosses. They know just how to push the guilt buttons.

Meanwhile, insomnia has come to visit and refuses to leave. It won't take the Sleepytime hint (even with Valerian root), so I'm resorting to Benadryl. I'm off to take some and stare at the ceiling for a while...

Long Time No See

2006-10-30T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hi. Just checking in. I'm still here.

I've been going through a little bit of a crappy time lately, both physically and emotionally. Nothing earth-shattering. Nothing that wouldn't be completely tolerable if I lived life like a normal person, but being nocturnal just amps the crappy stuff up a notch or two. It's sort of like having PMS all the time.

So as a result, I'm sort of looking for a new job, which I really don't want to do, since I like my job. The weird part is, my job is really frustrating right now, so I should think I'd want to get out, but I'd actually like to stick around and try to fix what's wrong. Instead, I think I might need to leave and try to fix what's wrong with me.

The tricky part is, I can't separate out what's causing what. I think my job contributes to my physical issues, which contributes to my emotional ones. Can I quit the job and resolve things? Not without medical intervention, it seems. Do I just go with medical intervention and see if that improves things enough for me to keep my job?
Add to this the insanity of trying to decipher medical bills, and I'm one stressed out little misanthrope.

Anyway, rather than channel my frustration into knitting (knitting has been oddly absent from my life these days) I've been eating, watching old episodes of The West Wing, and doing a little bit of home improvement. The good news is we are finally rid of the nasty, musty, ancient rust-colored carpet that was in our living room and we have a gorgeous new tile floor. The bad news is I spent several days painting a new shade of green over the shade of green I painted in there last year, and the color still isn't right. I guess I'll just have to do it again next year.

When we moved in:

Now, almost finished:

I also took a week off from all of this and flew back East to visit my mom and go with her to Martha's Vineyard.

She goes there every fall for a few days, and this year, since she is newly single, she didn't have anyone to go with. I was excited to get the chance to see family and to be in New England in October, so I flew out.

A week with my mom got a bit intense at times (I don't think I've spent that much time with her since I moved out) but I got to see a few of my brothers as well, and some achingly beautiful fall foliage.

While on the island we drove by this sheep farm:

These Corriedales have a pretty nice view if you ask me. We stopped to have a look and I bought a couple skeins of their yarn. I felt a small pang when I realized I was within striking distance of Rhinebeck, but I think I'm better off with what I got.

Now that the holiday season is fast approaching, I suspect I'll get back in the knitting swing. I'm hoping other things fall into place soon, too. If you need me, I'll be dusting off my resume.

Break Time

2006-09-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been spending a little more time away from the keyboard, and I have to say, I like it.

I've always been easily drawn in to time-sucking diversions. I finally had to give up cable when I caught myself watching way too many re-runs of Little House on the Prairie. Still, television shows find their way into my life through the video store or iTunes (I'm so addicted to Lost, it's not funny. The LostPedia is a good friend.) And there are more than a few DVDs in my house. But lately, the internet has been the biggest time-sink in my life.

That's not to say the internet hasn't been good to me. I've met some really amazing people, found some great resources, and a lot of inspiration, but I've also lost a lot of sleep and time that could have been used in better ways.

While I haven't yet turned translucent and started calling the laptop My Precious, I do feel that I haven't been paying enough attention to things in my life that really matter. So, at least for now, I'm going to be spending less time online and devoting a little more time to my in-the-flesh life.

I will certainly still be checking email, and I'm sure I'll cruise through my favorite blogs, but don't expect to see me around here or the Knittyboard very much, at least for now. I'm sure there will come a time when the whisperings of the Black Speech will call me back, but for the moment, I will be seeking other diversions. I'll start with second breakfast.

Good Beach Day

2006-08-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, on a beautiful day, Max and I decided to take a picnic lunch and go to the beach.
I am still wrapping my head around the new meaning of "going to the beach." Growing up on the Connecticut shore, it meant putting on your bathing suit, throwing a towel, some sunscreen, and a book into a bag for a day of heat, sweat, and swimming, and coming home with a glowing sunburn.

Here, when we head to the beach - even in August - it means throwing on a couple of extra layers, bringing a hat and a scarf just in case, and maybe grabbing your rain jacket. You can wear sandals, but you might want to bring along a pair of socks so your toes don't freeze. I brought most of these things, but the sun was shining and I didn't expect to need them.

We headed north to Patrick's Point State Park and one of our favorite beaches, which was, of course, completely engulfed in fog. On the bluff high above the beach, I was surprised to feel raindrops, but I soon realized it was fog condensing on the trees and dripping on us, since the beach itself was dry.

Most of the beaches around here are made up of velvety soft, dark sand. Agate Beach is different. There are a few patches of sand, but most of the beach looks like this:

Millions upon millions of tiny stones, polished smooth by the relentless pounding of the ocean. Even the driftwood, piled in undulating rows along the high tide line, is broken into smooth, finger-sized chunks.

I am completely mesmerized by the stones on this beach. I can't look up when I'm there. I can't even look Max in the eye for more than a few seconds, because the rocks are calling to me. I was actually glad the fog was obscuring the ocean on this visit, because I didn't feel guilty about not admiring the crashing waves. The only time I could tear my eyes away from the ground was to monitor the hungry seagull trying to muscle in on our picnic.

Max and I love to wander apart for a few minutes, and then meet up at the blanket to show off our finds. Sometimes we hold a few back in our pockets so we can surprise each other later on.
I feel a little greedy, tossing so many in the bag to take home, and I try to leave some of the really beautiful ones behind for others to find, but I can't leave without at least a couple of pockets full. We managed to find plenty of good ones the other day before our fingers got too cold.

There are rocks from Agate Beach in every room of my house. In bowls, or jars. Weighing down a grocery list. Perched on the bathroom vanity. We have several large ones that sit on top of the woodstove. On cold nights in the winter, when we're getting ready to go to sleep, we put a couple of them under the covers at the foot of the bed and they keep us toasty warm.

These stones are beautiful to look at, incredibly soothing to the touch, and they give me a sense of connectedness to this new place I live in. When people come to visit, I make them take at least one or two home with them. It's so much better than a postcard of a redwood tree, or a chocolate banana slug. It's a tangible piece of this incredibly unique and beautiful place, and a reminder that we humans are just a speck in a much, much larger picture.

Would you like an Agate Beach stone of your own? Come visit. I promise you'll like it better than a sunburn.

Pondering "stuff"

2006-08-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

Liz at Pocket Farm recently posted a great blog entry about knitting, blogging, and consumerism. She nailed a number of things that have been nagging at me for some time, but that I've been ignoring quite pointedly.

In the last couple of years knitting and online communities of knitting and fiber enthusiasts have become a huge part of my life - perhaps the online communities even moreso than knitting itself.
For an introvert like me, it's a great way to make friends. For a procrastinator like me, it's a great way to waste time. For a consumer like me, it's a great way to want more stuff.

I don't want to discredit the good things I've gotten from knit blogs and forums. I've made what I consider to be real friends, and it's all about an activity that I genuinely enjoy. The problem comes with the escalation of stash sizes and gift exchanges. I participated in a few swaps a while back and discovered the unspoken rule that you include more stuff in your swap than what was agreed upon. I also quickly realized that no one wanted anything I put up for swap, since it was mostly recycled or non-name brand yarn. I participated in the first "Flash Your Stash" only to feel simultaneously ostentatious and inadequate.

Recently I took up spinning - something I don't think I would've done without the influence of bloggers, but the influence can often be negative. In the last week or so I decided my perfectly adequate knitting bag isn't good enough for me, and I started browsing around for new ones. I also began to think I needed another whole set of needles after seeing the set put out by Knitpicks. Knitpicks!!? What the hell am I thinking!? I hate that company! They're the Wal-Mart of the knitting world, selling yarn at prices so low the labor producing it has to be done at slave wages, and bullying smaller companies into changing their names so as not to infringe upon the Knitpicks trademark. This is bad news, people. Bad news.

There's a part of me that wants to, and occasionally does, give in to these influences. I have great ways of rationalizing my behavior. I like to tell myself that because I don't eat meat, don't wear make-up, don't drive an SUV, don't have kids, etc., etc., that I can go a little crazy with my hobbies, but that's not why I picked up this hobby in the first place! I wanted to create something. Something simple and beautiful from my own hands, like the bread I bake, but that sticks around a little longer. Something nourishing and sustainable. My knitting habit has become unsustainable.

So what am I going to do? I'm not sure, really. I'm not going to make any sweeping pronouncements, because I'll just feel foolish if I slip up. But I'm going to knit and spin from the stash as much as possible. If I make any purchases, I'll try to make them carefully, and I'll go to the library more instead of buying any old knitting book that strikes my fancy.
I'm also going to follow the Knitting Simplicity blog for inspiration. Knitbloggers are obviously a powerful bunch. Maybe we can use our powers for good.

Duh

2006-08-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

Look at what Miss Smartypants bought to do some dyeing.

The Story of Birch

2006-08-01T03:24:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to start the Birch shawl the other day, and I'm beginning to remember why it's been a year since my last lace project.

I screwed up my courage and began the 299-stitch cast-on. About 50 stitches in I decided I should probably do a swatch first. I made a small swatch, thought it looked a little different from what I was expecting, but pressed on with the daunting cast-on. It wasn't actually that bad, since I placed markers every 20 stitches to help me count.

I knit the first row, carefully repositioning markers along the way to correspond to the chart, and started to get sleepy. Got to the end of the row and my count was off. I tinked back about 120 stitches or so to fix the problem and re-knit the row.

Row 2: Plain knitting! Yay!

Then I spent some time surfing around online, looking at other people's finished Birches, and I realized an important thing: I hate the garter stitch version of this pattern. So I made another swatch.

I couldn't believe the difference between the stockinette and garter versions. The garter version doesn't even look like the shawl I want to make. So all 297 stitches of row 2 got tinked, too, and then purled.

So now, four whole days later, this is what I have to show for my efforts:

Lace sucks.

The Search Continues

2006-07-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

I went for a bike ride to Michael's yesterday and picked up a few Wilton's Icing Colors and then ran a few more dyeing experiments.

This time, in addition to the periwinkle yarn, I used some white yarn from my early spinning efforts. I was surprised by the difference in the way the dye took. I was also surprised that the color is quite uneven. I'd like to think it was just a Wilton's problem, but my all Kool-Aid samples were uneven too. Perhaps I didn't mix well enough, or soak the yarn long enough.

This is the result of a 3:1 ratio of Berry Blue to Grape Kool-Aid:

It's almost a little too blue, but I like it.

I also like the combo of Teal Wilton's and Grape Kool-Aid. It's a deep, denim-y color. I think I would like it a lot if I could inch it just a little more toward green.

The Royal Blue/Violet Wilton's combo is also still in the running. I'm having a lot of fun with these experiments, so I might do another round before I decide. I'd also like to try to get the color more even. Good thing I've still got a small ball of the periwinkle yarn, and there's plenty more lumpy handspun where that came from!

Dyeing for Change

2006-07-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have no love for the color blue. I don't loathe it or anything, I mean, it's fine for jeans and sunny skies with puffy white clouds, but otherwise, I haven't got much use for it.

When my mom got married a couple years ago she put me, her matron of honor, into a periwinkle blue number, and I made this shawl to go with it. Here it is hanging out with the sweet peas (which were mis-labelled as sugar snap peas. Grrr).

I really like how it turned out. It's very simple and soft and airy, but the beads (which are sadly not visible in this photo) add a little glitz, and I like that it can be worn as a scarf or a stole. The problem is the color. It's a pretty color, but not one I'm ever tempted to wear.

So I've been doing a few dyeing experiments on some of the leftover yarn searching for a suitable overdyeing solution. I'm sticking with Kool-Aid because I prefer food-safe dyes. It took several tries, because the single flavors weren't producing the colors I wanted.

I like some of the results in general, but the problem is the beading. The beads are glass seed beads with a royal blue center, and I need something that works with them.

So far, this is the front runner. It's a mixture of Grape and Berry Blue. Does this work? I'm tempted to try one more experiment with the same combo, only adding a little more blue. I'm hoping that way it will still be purple, but it will go nicely with the beads. What do you think?

Old Timey Goodness

2006-07-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Ever since I changed my schedule to have Friday nights off, I've had very few when I haven't been asked to work anyway. However, tonight was one of those precious few and Max and I took full advantage of it.

We made our way to the Carlo Theater in Blue Lake for the Humboldt Folklife Festival and their Old Timey Show. I'm glad we jumped through a few hoops to find tickets (I thought Tuesday would be early enough, but they were almost sold out already) because we had a fantastic time.

The lineup included The Empty Bottle Boys, Devil's Dream String Band, Huckleberry Flint, and Wrangletown. The Empty Bottle Boys started things off adequately. They can certainly play, but they weren't tight, and their singing was lackluster. Fortunately, Devil's Dream turned things up a couple of notches. These guys were like rock stars in old timey garb. Whenever Jason was singing it made me think Eddie Vedder had cut his hair and learned the banjo. We bought their CD and I know it's going to go into heavy rotation in iTunes. Huckleberry Flint was another winner. They kept things moving with some rowdy tunes and then mellowed out a little, ending with a beautiful cover of Gillian Welch's "By the Mark." I think I would have been impressed even if they weren't all young hotties. We bought their CD, too. Wrangletown rounded out the evening with more rousing music. They included a few Cajun tunes, which weren't my favorite, but added a little spice. Like the other bands, they mixed up their instruments a lot. I liked it best when they included the upright bass, but they mostly favored the fiddle-banjo-guitar setup. It's a great combo, but it doesn't get me moving as much as music with a little bass. One of the best parts of Wrangletown is that it features the host of one of my favorite local radio shows. It's always fun to see the person behind the voice.

Local is what made this show so exciting to me. I am continually amazed at the amount of talent that resides in this out-of-the-way strange place I live in, and that the community supports it so well. I didn't even realize before this event that we had a folklife society, but they clearly are active and doing some really great stuff since this festval grows more and more popular every year (this event was only one of many in a weeklong festival). My only hope is that, if it continues to grow, they move the concerts to a larger venue to allow more people to enjoy them, and to give us room to dance! The show was fabulous, but having to sit reasonably still in uncomfortable theater seats didn't do the music justice. I'll say this, though, the theater went all out in setting an old timey mood with great lighting, old furniture, jugs and mason jars for the musicians' water. I also love that the concession stand sells really good locally roasted coffee, local wine and beer, and vegan tofu snacks. The other good news is, I now feel motivated to get out and hear these bands in some of the other local venues that provide a little room to move.

Summer's Here?

2006-07-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Max and I returned last night from his aunt and uncle's house down in Sonoma County. They had a big family reunion with a number of cousins and other relatives, including a dozen or so alarmingly polite children.

It was great to get away for the weekend. His aunt and uncle are always incredibly hospitable, and it was good to see the cousins. One of them was visiting from Paris with his French girlfriend and their five collective children and I was reminded yet again just how useless a minor in French really is after twelve years of neglect.

What surprised me the most was how hot it is outside of Humboldt County. I'm just now realizing that the rest of the country is sweltering while I am still wearing socks to bed. It was hot enough for me to brave a swimming pool full of tweens to cool off, but it was still a pleasant sort of hot - at least temporarily. I complain about the fog and the dampness here, but I am ecstatic not to be dealing with the kind of heat and humidity we got back East. May the gods bless a fine coastal breeze.

Speaking of coastal breeze, Max and I decided for the trip down to take Highway 1 along the coast. It was a fantastic drive, but not one I would want to do very often. It is very slow going and it's very steep and windy in places. By the end I was feeling quite queasy.

Fortunately, we saw a beautiful sunset.

We even saw the spouts of a couple of whales, although we couldn't see the whales themselves at all. I'm hoping to get a better look someday, but I was still pretty excited. Between that and the very large bear that was prowling around in front of my house the other night, we've had some exciting wildlife encounters.

But one of my favorite encounters of the weekend was with the Artisan's Co-Op in Bodega. I was excited to see their local offerings, and although their selection was a little limited, they had beautiful things.

I didn't go too crazy with fiber, though. I bought 11 ounces of Corriedale roving in a beautiful natural light grey. It's wonderfully soft and much nicer than the other Corrie I bought months ago.
And I got 8 ounces of superfine alpaca combed top in natural brown (they call it Nutmeg):

I'm not sure I can express how wonderful this feels.

The Co-Op had a few other local fibers, but since my spinning progress is slow, I didn't see the need to buy a ton of stuff. I just wish they had something a little bit colorful. I love the natural colors, and I know I can dye stuff, but it would be nice to find some really pretty colored rovings that came from a reliable, local source. They did carry some beautiful local yarn in pretty colors, but again, I just don't need it right now.

Now the challenge is to stick with one fiber long enough to finish off a bobbin. I have at least three partially filled bobbins, all with something different on them because I can't decide what to work on. I suppose there are worse dilemmas to have.

At Long Last, Knitting

2006-07-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I swear, there really is knitting still going on around here, I just haven't posted about it in months because the main thing I was working on was a gift for an occasional reader of the blog. (Well, the recipient's father is an occasional reader of the blog. The actual recipient doesn't read yet.) The gift has finally been mailed, and although I am still waiting for confirmation that it has arrived, I feel safe in posting photos.
So here it is:

Pocket detail with cute leafy buttons:

Back vent detail with alternating cute leafy buttons and boring grey buttons because Jo-Ann's ran out of cute leafy buttons:

I am quite proud of this sweater. The actual knitting was fun. It was done in many small sections with enough seed stitch to keep it interesting, but not enough to make me nuts. I also liked learning how to do the double-knitted channel for the draw cord, but the finishing was crazy-making. Seaming is no big deal for me, but attaching the hood and the zipper was like slogging through mud.
Now it is done and I hope that my niece, and eventually her little sister, will be able to wear and enjoy it.

The details: Meg parka from Junior Knits by Debbie Bliss. The yarn is Pakucho Organic Cotton in Avocado. (The photos don't do it justice. It's a lovely green that should deepen with washing.)
I did the 6-8 yr. old size, even though my niece is only four, because I knew the yarn would shrink and because it will be at least a few more months before it's cool enough in Washington DC for her to wear it.

This is another project I started when the finishing of the Meg sweater got to be too much for me. This yarn is very pretty and soft, and at first I wanted to hoard all I could find since it is discontinued, but now I'm beginning to think it doesn't have quite enough stretch for socks. I think these socks will feel great in the morning, but sag around my ankles and down into my Crocs by afternoon.

When I got bored knitting on DPNs, I started knitting a Tubey sweater, but now I've reached the part where this is knit on DPNs, so I might need another project. Although my plan is to mix up the knitting on this sweater, so hopefully I can stave off boredom. I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn, so I plan to knit a few inches of each sleeve, then do the body, then come back and make the sleeves as long as I can until I run out of yarn. I think this sweater would look cool with sleeves ending just above the elbow. Mostly I am just excited to have found a project that seems to work with this yarn. This poor Morehouse Merino has been knit and frogged so many times that I wasn't sure it would hold up, but it's doing fine, just a little pilly. It's still really soft and I think it's going to be a good match for this pattern.

Curse You, Booklegger!

2006-06-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here in Eureka we are blessed with two very good used bookstores. I happened to walk by them today with no intention whatsoever of entering, but the Booklegger had an entire window display of knitting books. (I later learned that they all came from the same person.)

It was tough to choose, because there were some classics in there, but these were my picks. The lace book looks good because it walks you through designing your own shawl. Waterman outlines the basic shapes and construction of shawls, then offers stitch patterns. I've been wanting to knit Rowan's Birch shawl with some lovely recycled yarn I have, but I didn't want to order the $20+ shipping Rowan book just for the one pattern. With this book, I should be able to create my own version of it.

I'm really excited about the Sock Workbook. Not only does this book explain all the myriad ways of knitting a sock, it goes into detail on how to spin and dye your own sock yarn. That part of it will be incredibly useful, even for non-sock yarn. I think this book is going to be very inspirational for me. I'm already dreaming up a few experiments.

I keep thinking about the other books I left behind, though. Payday is in two days, so I may just be venturing back to the Booklegger...

Class Dismissed

2006-06-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

I had my last spinning class this week, and I graduated at the top of my class! Okay, so as the only student, I was a shoo-in, but I'm still claiming victory. I think it was a really worthwhile venture for me. I still have issues with the way the class was taught, but I learned a lot of new skills. It was good to see things I'd only read about demonstrated in person.

Here are some of my results:

I actually think this yarn is really ugly. I chose to ply the grey with the colored stuff thinking it would turn out prettier than this. There's also one funky skein that has grey plied with blue, then plied with teal, then plied with more grey. But hey, it was a good learning experience.

These are yarns spun from the fleece we sorted and washed. The yarn on the bobbin is from fleece I carded and then spun with the long backward draft, resulting in a semi-woolen yarn. This is the primary technique I learned. I'm still a little unsure of how it differs from true woolen spinning, but I'm not sweating those details too much. The plied yarn is from the same fleece, but combed and spun worsted, then Navajo plied. I was amazed at the difference - so much smoother!

Here's a close-up of the worsted yarn (also a chance to try out the super-macro function on the new camera!)

I really loved the Navajo plying technique. It was also great to see wool combs in action. My teacher isn't into combing, so she didn't teach it to me - just did a quick demo. And I really liked spinning from combed fibers. One of these days I'll have to learn more about it. I figure at some point I'll probably buy hand cards (I need the practice) but if it turns out I like combing better, or if I find I like long-staple fibers better, I might get combs instead.

Meanwhile, I've still got a big chunk of that fleece to spin. I think I'll take the dog brush to it and see what happens. If that doesn't work, I can rent time on the drum carder at her store if need be.

And lest you think that it's all spinning and fiber around here, I'll show you that there's plenty of time for this:

Don't Take Your Love to Town

2006-06-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

Meet Ruby. Ruby may just be the bike I've been waiting for my whole life.

It's no use pretending I'm some bad-ass mountain biker, and I'm not about to plunk my butt on some skinny-seated road bike and commute 12 miles home from work at 3:00 in the morning. What I need is a comfortable, stylish way to cruise to the farmer's market, take a quick trip to the yarn store, or just go for a leisurely pedal around the neighborhood.

I love old cruisers, but I wanted something that could climb a hill if need be (although I tend to avoid those like the plague) and Ruby fits the bill. She's a Trek Calypso with fenders, fat tires, and a wide, cushy seat, but also with seven speeds and hand-grip brakes.

Not too flashy. No flames or shark teeth, but with good, solid, old-fashioned lines.

I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a bicycle. Okay, that's not entirely true. When I was nine I got a bike for Christmas. A pink Huffy dirt bike named Sweet Thunder. Man, did I love that bike.

I loved the time when "riding bikes" was on the list of possible things to do with your friends.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Do you want to go swimming?"

"Can't. Tide's out."

"We could walk on the rocks, maybe catch some bait and go fishing later."

"Nah, let's ride bikes."

Hours of amusement just riding in circles or racing to the beach and back. Then there were those really adventurous days when we would ride the three miles into town. Our destination: Lazy Daisy, the candy store, where $2 in scrounged change could set you up with a sugar-fest lasting at least a week.

I know I'm not nine any more, and Sweet Thunder is a pile of scrap somewhere, but I don't see why any one of us should have to give up those leisurely activities that brought us such pleasure as kids. Biking shouldn't have to be about getting all aggro or making sure you hit your target heartrate. If that's what turns you on, fine, but some of us think that looks too much like work. Biking should be fun!

I am really hoping there are many years of fun ahead for me and Ruby.

Blog Blahs

2006-06-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Well, the camera is still broken (new one on the way, though) and some other stuff I wanted to post about will have to wait until Monday, but I don't want to continue neglecting my poor blog, so I'm digging up some more photos from my trip to Washington DC last month.

One afternoon I walked down to the Mall to check out the new National Museum of the American Indian. I enjoyed it, although I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information presented. It's not easy to encapsulate the lives of indigenous people on two continents over several centuries, and I'm afraid I came out feeling a little jumbled. Given a choice, I'd go back to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut before I'd revisit the NMAI.

I didn't actually take any photos at the NMAI, but I did take several at the United States Botanic Garden on my way to the Indian Museum.

Across the street from the main building is Bartholdi Park. It is a small park, but stunning. I had missed most of the flowering trees in D.C., but in Bartholdi Park, irises were blooming like mad.

As were these (sorry, I'm not very good with identification, I just loved the profusion of white flowers).

Inside the Conservatory, the main atrium was filled with hydrangeas.

It also houses examples of some of my favorite imports (for those non-local food moments!):

Bananas

Pineapple

Coffee

Tea (I wish my tiny tea plant looked half this healthy.)

While I hate to single them out, since they get so much of the glory already, I was quite taken by the orchids.

And this very cool-looking passionflower.

Some of the neatest plants, though, are the ones from the desert. Who knew packing peanuts grew out of the ground?

Tarantula party? Muppet pig-pile? A bunch of those bendy hair curlers from the 80s?

And my personal favorite, juvenile though it may be.

Hehehe