We're hanging out in IA with Brett's folks for a few days before Thanksgiving. Brett ran the Living History Farms road race yesterday with Chris, his childhood buddy. Tradition has that this race is cold, wet, and absurdly muddy. I'd only seen pictures of the happy finishers until this year, and having seen it in person I can vouch that it is completely disgusting. The only reason Brett wasn't totally covered in mud was during one of the 8 creek crossings, a log someone ahead of him jostled tripped him up and he went face down in the frigid water. He was soaked.
Brett's folks and I had staked out a place along the run to watch them. (We also had to ford a creek to get to the prime locale, but no one fell in.) As soon as the first racer came past us I turned on the camera and waited. Every time it shut itself off, I turned it back on. I had it held up in front of me so that when we saw them coming down the trail, all I had to do was click the shutter and we'd have beautifully framed photos of our runners emerging from the mist.
Well, as you can imagine with a pack of 7500, it was a while before Brett and Chris appeared. Like, an hour. Eventually, the little low battery warning light came on, and I thought it was probably better to shut off the camera and save some for their grand entrance.
It's hard to pay close attention to thousands of runners for a whole hour. My only possible defense is that I was too diligent too early, expecting that they would be closer to the front of the herd.
Anyway, when they did run past us, we didn't even notice them until they were nearly past. I tried to turn on the camera quickly, but it was too late.
Well, I was determined not to miss a picture of them crossing the finish line, so I told the folks I'd meet up with them at the finish line and sprinted back across the creek and up the hill to beat the boys to the finish. I found a good spot, settled in, went to turn the camera on, and was horribly disappointed to find that there wasn't even enough battery to turn the stupid thing ON!
So there are no pictures of the guys running the race. I am shamed. Next time I go to a Brett race, I will be bringing my non-battery-powered, easy to use, SLR camera that Grandpa got me. I don't use it more often, because developing the film takes a while and is more costly than digital. But I do think it's worth it to get the shots I want.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Relaxing Weekend
Today is the last weekend day of my long weekend. Then I go back to work for a few days and then jump in the car to head out to the Midwest for the holiday.
I've been spending good chunks of each of my days this weekend making progress on both cleaning and holiday knitting. The goal is to have everything neat and tidy so that when we come back from vacation, we don't feel immediately oppressed by mess. I doubt it'll look as spotless as our respective parental houses, but it would be good to feel the house was calming and relaxing instead of stress producing clutter. I will say it looks a lot better. There are still boxes from the move, almost all stuff that no one's missing while it's boxed up, but I'd feel so much better if there were no cardboard containers left to clutter the house at all.
I have made good progress on knit projects, too. I finally darned Mom's sock, and blocked Brett's Mom's shawl so at least we won't be returning to the Midwest empty handed. My Priority One Christmas Knit is also making good progress. I'm not going to put too much info up here, but it is a technique I've never done before, so I'm experiencing a pretty big learning curve.
Spoiler A. I am using some combination in some proportion of the following yarns:
I didn't get to cook at home Saturday night because we went out to dinner with friends, but last night I cooked a pretty yummy shepherd's pie and one of the best loaves of bread I've made since leaving the farm. I want to do Knittle Bread rolls for Thanksgiving dinner, but I know I'm out of practice, so I did a little trial run. While I was looking for my recipe (a year ago I had it memorized!) I came across my Great grandmother's baked goods notebook. There's plenty of very old fashioned cookie and cake recipes in there, and I think it's time I pulled some of them back out.
So for dessert I made her molasses cookie recipe. Luckily it was one one with pretty good directions about how to execute the cookies. Lots of Greatgrandma's notes are just ingredients, some as wonderfully specific as "enough flour." She probably made those cookies all the time and knew just how the dough should look and feel, whether to roll and cut them or drop them, and how long and hot to bake them. I wonder how old some of the recipes are though; they often call for lard or to "bake in a quick oven". Those were things I was used to seeing in turn of the century cook books back on the farm, so it's neat to have some family recipes that may go back that far.
The recipe for the molasses cookies calls for melted shortening, and I recall Mom using margarine when she made cookie reciepes that called for that. Since my other shortening options were lard and Crisco, I went with Smart Balance, to get a buttery flavor I thought would be more appropriate in a cookie than that yummy lard flavor. I also thought, "this is plenty soft at room temp to cream together with the sugar, I don't think I need to melt it." Probably a mistake. The cookies, while totally delicious, were soft to the point of being goo when I took them out of the oven. I let them cool flat on parchment paper and they did firm up a bit and get kind of wafery crisp around the edges, but I'm blaming my substitution for their weirdness. I will use a more traditional shortening next time, and go ahead and melt it. But they did taste heavenly with a nice cuppa tea. The next recipe I'm trying from her notebook are the Phiffer Nusse.
Molasses Cookies
¾ cup shortening melted
1 cup sugar
¼ cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
Mix in order
Chill 2 hr. roll in balls roll in sugar bake on greased cooky sheets 375 degree oven 8 to 10 min take off pan when hot
I've been spending good chunks of each of my days this weekend making progress on both cleaning and holiday knitting. The goal is to have everything neat and tidy so that when we come back from vacation, we don't feel immediately oppressed by mess. I doubt it'll look as spotless as our respective parental houses, but it would be good to feel the house was calming and relaxing instead of stress producing clutter. I will say it looks a lot better. There are still boxes from the move, almost all stuff that no one's missing while it's boxed up, but I'd feel so much better if there were no cardboard containers left to clutter the house at all.
I have made good progress on knit projects, too. I finally darned Mom's sock, and blocked Brett's Mom's shawl so at least we won't be returning to the Midwest empty handed. My Priority One Christmas Knit is also making good progress. I'm not going to put too much info up here, but it is a technique I've never done before, so I'm experiencing a pretty big learning curve.
Spoiler A. I am using some combination in some proportion of the following yarns:
I didn't get to cook at home Saturday night because we went out to dinner with friends, but last night I cooked a pretty yummy shepherd's pie and one of the best loaves of bread I've made since leaving the farm. I want to do Knittle Bread rolls for Thanksgiving dinner, but I know I'm out of practice, so I did a little trial run. While I was looking for my recipe (a year ago I had it memorized!) I came across my Great grandmother's baked goods notebook. There's plenty of very old fashioned cookie and cake recipes in there, and I think it's time I pulled some of them back out.
So for dessert I made her molasses cookie recipe. Luckily it was one one with pretty good directions about how to execute the cookies. Lots of Greatgrandma's notes are just ingredients, some as wonderfully specific as "enough flour." She probably made those cookies all the time and knew just how the dough should look and feel, whether to roll and cut them or drop them, and how long and hot to bake them. I wonder how old some of the recipes are though; they often call for lard or to "bake in a quick oven". Those were things I was used to seeing in turn of the century cook books back on the farm, so it's neat to have some family recipes that may go back that far.
The recipe for the molasses cookies calls for melted shortening, and I recall Mom using margarine when she made cookie reciepes that called for that. Since my other shortening options were lard and Crisco, I went with Smart Balance, to get a buttery flavor I thought would be more appropriate in a cookie than that yummy lard flavor. I also thought, "this is plenty soft at room temp to cream together with the sugar, I don't think I need to melt it." Probably a mistake. The cookies, while totally delicious, were soft to the point of being goo when I took them out of the oven. I let them cool flat on parchment paper and they did firm up a bit and get kind of wafery crisp around the edges, but I'm blaming my substitution for their weirdness. I will use a more traditional shortening next time, and go ahead and melt it. But they did taste heavenly with a nice cuppa tea. The next recipe I'm trying from her notebook are the Phiffer Nusse.
Molasses Cookies
¾ cup shortening melted
1 cup sugar
¼ cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
Mix in order
Chill 2 hr. roll in balls roll in sugar bake on greased cooky sheets 375 degree oven 8 to 10 min take off pan when hot
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Darn it!
Last time I was in Illinois, Mom informed me that the socks I had knit her for Mother's Day one year had a pretty nasty hole in the bottom. I inspected the damage and, confident, able knitter that I am, I said, "Oh I can darn those, no problem!"
Judging by the placement of the hole, I'm blaming the damage on a wood floor mishap, rather than regular wear. It wasn't a bad hole, really. Sure, it had gotten a little out of hand with some dropped stitches, but the problem seemed to be a snagged thread on just one row.
Now, darning is not difficult.
No.
It's not.
But, like seaming, I always have a hard time reading the fabric well enough to pick out where to put the new stitches so everything is seamless. So last night I got a nice bright light, and kept the sock very close to my face while I worked. Often times a large hole is repaired with a weaving technique. However, since there was only a break on one row, I decided to try to mend with something more like a Kitchener stitch. (Oddly enough, while I hate seaming, I do love Kitchener. I use it all the time!) I was going for a subtle mend that wouldn't be too different from the rest of the sock.
First, I picked up the dropped stitches. A tiny little crochet hook would have been just the thing, but the only hooks I have are a smidgen too bulky to get into the little stitches of the sock. So I fiddled around with the darning needle until I had things picked up on both the top and bottom of the snagged row. I really wished I had a hook by the end.
The other tool that would have been helpful is a darning egg, or mushroom to hold the sock taut while I worked on the hole. It would have helped to keep the tension even and made it easier to see the stitches I was securing together.
I did run some black sewing thread through the stitches to give a solid background to work on and to pull the hole back together a bit. Then I took some spare yarn, the closest color I had to the Koigu I used in the sock, and Kitchenered the drifting stitches together along with a few solid stitches on either end of the loose ones. That's all it really took to fix the hole.
To keep things stable though, I went back over the strong stitches a few rows above and below the snag. I know from experience that the yarn in the repair will wear about the same as the Koigu. It will soften and bloom and felt just a bit and be plenty strong.
So there you have it! About an hour's work saves a perfectly good pair of socks. Does it take some effort? Yes, of course. But far fewer hours go into a good repair than into a new pair of handknit socks.
Judging by the placement of the hole, I'm blaming the damage on a wood floor mishap, rather than regular wear. It wasn't a bad hole, really. Sure, it had gotten a little out of hand with some dropped stitches, but the problem seemed to be a snagged thread on just one row.
Now, darning is not difficult.
No.
It's not.
But, like seaming, I always have a hard time reading the fabric well enough to pick out where to put the new stitches so everything is seamless. So last night I got a nice bright light, and kept the sock very close to my face while I worked. Often times a large hole is repaired with a weaving technique. However, since there was only a break on one row, I decided to try to mend with something more like a Kitchener stitch. (Oddly enough, while I hate seaming, I do love Kitchener. I use it all the time!) I was going for a subtle mend that wouldn't be too different from the rest of the sock.
First, I picked up the dropped stitches. A tiny little crochet hook would have been just the thing, but the only hooks I have are a smidgen too bulky to get into the little stitches of the sock. So I fiddled around with the darning needle until I had things picked up on both the top and bottom of the snagged row. I really wished I had a hook by the end.
The other tool that would have been helpful is a darning egg, or mushroom to hold the sock taut while I worked on the hole. It would have helped to keep the tension even and made it easier to see the stitches I was securing together.
I did run some black sewing thread through the stitches to give a solid background to work on and to pull the hole back together a bit. Then I took some spare yarn, the closest color I had to the Koigu I used in the sock, and Kitchenered the drifting stitches together along with a few solid stitches on either end of the loose ones. That's all it really took to fix the hole.
To keep things stable though, I went back over the strong stitches a few rows above and below the snag. I know from experience that the yarn in the repair will wear about the same as the Koigu. It will soften and bloom and felt just a bit and be plenty strong.
So there you have it! About an hour's work saves a perfectly good pair of socks. Does it take some effort? Yes, of course. But far fewer hours go into a good repair than into a new pair of handknit socks.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday View
And the Saturday view is awfully pretty today.
Milkweed is great food for Monarch butterfly larva, so maybe next year we'll see some butterflies in the yard. It's a beneficial plant for other plants in the garden, as it repels lots of pest bugs. It's also supposed to be a great plant for natural folk remedies, which is why Carolus Linnaeus got it's scientific name from Asclepius the Greek demigod of healing.
Milkweed is great food for Monarch butterfly larva, so maybe next year we'll see some butterflies in the yard. It's a beneficial plant for other plants in the garden, as it repels lots of pest bugs. It's also supposed to be a great plant for natural folk remedies, which is why Carolus Linnaeus got it's scientific name from Asclepius the Greek demigod of healing.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Cool!
Have you seen this!?
Sparkly Dream in Color sock yarn! I'm not a big one for sparkles, but the pictures I've seen of the stuff in piles at yarn shops make it look totally gorgeous. Dream in Color has really beautifully dyed yarn. (Remember the Chinatown Apple Mittens from last winter?) But I want to know how they manage to spin the silver into the yarn. If I was spinning by hand, I can only imagine it would be painful or even dangerous.
And technology has given us yarn made from seaweed and soy; corn and bamboo; along with fleecy animals, fluffy plants, and worm spit. How neat is that!
Sparkly Dream in Color sock yarn! I'm not a big one for sparkles, but the pictures I've seen of the stuff in piles at yarn shops make it look totally gorgeous. Dream in Color has really beautifully dyed yarn. (Remember the Chinatown Apple Mittens from last winter?) But I want to know how they manage to spin the silver into the yarn. If I was spinning by hand, I can only imagine it would be painful or even dangerous.
And technology has given us yarn made from seaweed and soy; corn and bamboo; along with fleecy animals, fluffy plants, and worm spit. How neat is that!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Off the needles
I really hate the light getting shorter and shorter these days.
But today I took advantage of a day off to grab a little sunlight and take some knit pictures.
I've finished two projects lately, both gift knits. The first one was a really fast winter hat I made for Brett out of the pearly grey Seacolors I picked up at Rhinebeck from Nanney Kennedy. There's a little bit left, enough for some wrist warmers, or mitten cuffs. I wound up just winging the pattern. It's a pretty basic boy-style stockinette hat, so it wasn't a huge design challenge. Still, I think it suits Brett and I like it a lot.
I do think my design tastes are trending more to the simple. I think it's because I'm appreciating my materials more and more and when I have great wool, dyed with such beautiful colors, I like to let it speak for itself.
My other F.O. is the shawl I started for Brett's Mom way back in the spring. The expectation was that I would polish it off in a matter of weeks, but then I got hung up on the yarn not being quite what I wanted for the pattern. It's a heavier weight which turned what should have been a super lofty confection into a little more serious winter scarf sort of shawl. Brett kept bugging me about not working on it, but I was convinced it wasn't what she wanted so I was delaying to see if I could get some actual laceweight from Lynn. No luck. So I just finished it off as best I could. I hope Brett's mom likes it regardless.
Unblocked lace always looks a little ragged,
but the afternoon sunlight helps it a bit, don't you think?
But today I took advantage of a day off to grab a little sunlight and take some knit pictures.
I've finished two projects lately, both gift knits. The first one was a really fast winter hat I made for Brett out of the pearly grey Seacolors I picked up at Rhinebeck from Nanney Kennedy. There's a little bit left, enough for some wrist warmers, or mitten cuffs. I wound up just winging the pattern. It's a pretty basic boy-style stockinette hat, so it wasn't a huge design challenge. Still, I think it suits Brett and I like it a lot.
I do think my design tastes are trending more to the simple. I think it's because I'm appreciating my materials more and more and when I have great wool, dyed with such beautiful colors, I like to let it speak for itself.
My other F.O. is the shawl I started for Brett's Mom way back in the spring. The expectation was that I would polish it off in a matter of weeks, but then I got hung up on the yarn not being quite what I wanted for the pattern. It's a heavier weight which turned what should have been a super lofty confection into a little more serious winter scarf sort of shawl. Brett kept bugging me about not working on it, but I was convinced it wasn't what she wanted so I was delaying to see if I could get some actual laceweight from Lynn. No luck. So I just finished it off as best I could. I hope Brett's mom likes it regardless.
Unblocked lace always looks a little ragged,
but the afternoon sunlight helps it a bit, don't you think?
Thursday, November 05, 2009
I do still knit sometimes
Since getting back from Rhinebeck with oodles of yarn I have actually been doing some knitting.
I finished a hat for Brett, which I love and think looks very nice on him. The next time I get home early enough to still have light to take pictures, I will.
And I'm still working on the Swallowtail Shawl. Pictures of that too.
I finished a hat for Brett, which I love and think looks very nice on him. The next time I get home early enough to still have light to take pictures, I will.
And I'm still working on the Swallowtail Shawl. Pictures of that too.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wooooooooooh!
Happy Halloween Everybody!
Brett and I just finished carving our pumpkins. And they look MAHVelous.
Next we're going to roast the seeds. 
I seem to remember trying this long ago and not being impressed with the results. Let's hope that either technique or tastebuds have changed enough to make a difference.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
When I'm not playing with wool, I'm playing with my food
One of my favorite things to do with my days off is cook.
Right after missing the people I worked with, the thing I miss most about the 1900 farm was having the chance to cook a great big meal every day and have it enjoyed and critiqued. Working with simple ingredients, basic tools like a wood burning stove, and poorly written instructions from hundred year old cook books taught me more about cooking than anything else I've done. Even more than my food guru Alton Brown. It was stressful at times, but incredibly rewarding.
I still love to cook, but it's hard to motivate yourself to cook something wonderful after a day of work. On my days off, then, I can put out a serious spread. Tonight we had a fall dinner. Brett seared us up a lovely appetizer of little bay scallops. We had a pork loin, seared in a little butter along with a couple Honeycrisp apples and a shallot, flavored with sage, thyme and bay, then braised in chicken stock. I turned the baked apples into a savory applesauce, and reduced the braising liquid into a gravy. I trimmed up a stalk of brussel sprouts from the farmer's market and made a sauce for them from chicken stock and cream. And I finally got to used a box of spaetzle Aunt Karen gave me for Christmas either last year or the year before. Now we're eating chocolate pudding. Yumm!
Of course, cooking big meals means lots of left overs. I'm seeing pork loin sandwiches and spaetzle n' cheese in our future.
But it'll have to be for lunch tomorrow, cause tomorrow night (if we're not watching game 7 Yankees vs Angels in NY. Brett got tickets through the Hall) we're going to have creamy polenta and bolognese sauce. I've never made polenta before, so we'll see how that goes. We're also probably going to carve our pumpkins, so there will be pumpkin seeds to roast. And maybe some creme brulee for after dinner?
I love days off!
Right after missing the people I worked with, the thing I miss most about the 1900 farm was having the chance to cook a great big meal every day and have it enjoyed and critiqued. Working with simple ingredients, basic tools like a wood burning stove, and poorly written instructions from hundred year old cook books taught me more about cooking than anything else I've done. Even more than my food guru Alton Brown. It was stressful at times, but incredibly rewarding.
I still love to cook, but it's hard to motivate yourself to cook something wonderful after a day of work. On my days off, then, I can put out a serious spread. Tonight we had a fall dinner. Brett seared us up a lovely appetizer of little bay scallops. We had a pork loin, seared in a little butter along with a couple Honeycrisp apples and a shallot, flavored with sage, thyme and bay, then braised in chicken stock. I turned the baked apples into a savory applesauce, and reduced the braising liquid into a gravy. I trimmed up a stalk of brussel sprouts from the farmer's market and made a sauce for them from chicken stock and cream. And I finally got to used a box of spaetzle Aunt Karen gave me for Christmas either last year or the year before. Now we're eating chocolate pudding. Yumm!
Of course, cooking big meals means lots of left overs. I'm seeing pork loin sandwiches and spaetzle n' cheese in our future.
But it'll have to be for lunch tomorrow, cause tomorrow night (if we're not watching game 7 Yankees vs Angels in NY. Brett got tickets through the Hall) we're going to have creamy polenta and bolognese sauce. I've never made polenta before, so we'll see how that goes. We're also probably going to carve our pumpkins, so there will be pumpkin seeds to roast. And maybe some creme brulee for after dinner?
I love days off!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Rhinebeck!
It was a fiber fiend's dream come true! Oh my goodness. Yesterday was a wonderful and very full day.
Brett and I left the house around 8:00 and took a beautiful scenic route to the fair. Brett took care of mapping our route and I'm so glad he did because a huge part of the fun of the day was the drive out. We drove through the hometown of Rip Van Winkle, and along a very steep mountain road with a pretty intense drop off to the right.
the drop to the right here was scary! snow on the mountaintops
The colors were awesome and Brett saw a black bear in the road! At exactly the same moment he saw the bear we were driving past a barn that had a big weathervane in the shape of a black bear, so while Brett was shouting, "Look at that big black bear!" and I was saying, "yeah, that's really neat" we weren't at all on the same page and I missed the real wild bear because I was impressed with a weathervane!
Once we got to the fair, we hit the bathrooms and stopped to check out the arena. We were just in time to catch the leaping lamas competition.
we identified an early favorite leaping lama
but had to cheer hardest for the hometown heroine, Lynn, our neighbor from down the street and her little guy. He was the last alpaca standing in the competition. Way to go Lynn!
We saw the community college students launch pumpkins with homemade trebuchet. It took them a long time to reset everything between launches.
but when they launched it was impressive.
I was most entertained by the dorky non-knitting husbands who spent a lot of time talking amongst themselves about the engineering behind the rigs and episodes of Mythbusters that may or may not have proved one thing or another about the trebuchet's effectiveness as a weapon of war.
We also watched a sheepdog at work and frisbee dog demonstration. These two pups were fast dogs.
There was a ton of fun stuff besides the fiber,
but if it hadn't been for the yarn, we'd have been hanging out at home yesterday not eating awesome gyros and cheese fries. Oh my goodness there was a ton of the fluffy stuff. Brett got a ton of pictures of me walking around with my mouth hanging open and my eyes slightly glazed. And a few were I look like the kind of person who might knock you down and steal your wool if you don't tell me where I can buy it.
(note the one mitten approach to maximize warmth, manual dexterity, and yarn fondling capacities.)
I had a really really nice day.
Also, I came home with sweet loot.
In that mix, I've got some Socks that Rock sock yarn that reminded me of the colors we saw on the trip out, a copy of "The New Stranded Colorwork" signed by the compleately charming Mary Scott Huff (there is a pattern in it called "Norwegian Blue" inspired by the Monty Python dead parrott sketch), some steel grey merino lace for my sweater, a skein of creme colored sportweight that Brett grabbed of his own accord and said, "if you knit me a hat out of this, I would wear it," a skein of solar seawater dyed pearly grey also intended for a Brett knit, and a bump of lovely merino top to spin.
To top it off, on the way home a box magically appeared out of Brett's jacket pocket containing a glorious set of glass knitting needles.
I feel like the Cinderella of knitting! So I need to stop blogging for goodness sake and get to work.
Brett and I left the house around 8:00 and took a beautiful scenic route to the fair. Brett took care of mapping our route and I'm so glad he did because a huge part of the fun of the day was the drive out. We drove through the hometown of Rip Van Winkle, and along a very steep mountain road with a pretty intense drop off to the right.
the drop to the right here was scary! snow on the mountaintops
The colors were awesome and Brett saw a black bear in the road! At exactly the same moment he saw the bear we were driving past a barn that had a big weathervane in the shape of a black bear, so while Brett was shouting, "Look at that big black bear!" and I was saying, "yeah, that's really neat" we weren't at all on the same page and I missed the real wild bear because I was impressed with a weathervane!
Once we got to the fair, we hit the bathrooms and stopped to check out the arena. We were just in time to catch the leaping lamas competition.
we identified an early favorite leaping lama
but had to cheer hardest for the hometown heroine, Lynn, our neighbor from down the street and her little guy. He was the last alpaca standing in the competition. Way to go Lynn!
We saw the community college students launch pumpkins with homemade trebuchet. It took them a long time to reset everything between launches.
but when they launched it was impressive.
I was most entertained by the dorky non-knitting husbands who spent a lot of time talking amongst themselves about the engineering behind the rigs and episodes of Mythbusters that may or may not have proved one thing or another about the trebuchet's effectiveness as a weapon of war.
We also watched a sheepdog at work and frisbee dog demonstration. These two pups were fast dogs.
There was a ton of fun stuff besides the fiber,
but if it hadn't been for the yarn, we'd have been hanging out at home yesterday not eating awesome gyros and cheese fries. Oh my goodness there was a ton of the fluffy stuff. Brett got a ton of pictures of me walking around with my mouth hanging open and my eyes slightly glazed. And a few were I look like the kind of person who might knock you down and steal your wool if you don't tell me where I can buy it.
(note the one mitten approach to maximize warmth, manual dexterity, and yarn fondling capacities.)
I had a really really nice day.
Also, I came home with sweet loot.
In that mix, I've got some Socks that Rock sock yarn that reminded me of the colors we saw on the trip out, a copy of "The New Stranded Colorwork" signed by the compleately charming Mary Scott Huff (there is a pattern in it called "Norwegian Blue" inspired by the Monty Python dead parrott sketch), some steel grey merino lace for my sweater, a skein of creme colored sportweight that Brett grabbed of his own accord and said, "if you knit me a hat out of this, I would wear it," a skein of solar seawater dyed pearly grey also intended for a Brett knit, and a bump of lovely merino top to spin.
To top it off, on the way home a box magically appeared out of Brett's jacket pocket containing a glorious set of glass knitting needles.
I feel like the Cinderella of knitting! So I need to stop blogging for goodness sake and get to work.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Baaaa
Tomorrow is Rhinebeck!
Budget is set. Brett's handling all the details. All I have to do is go and take as many pictures as possible.
Say it with me now...
RHINEBECK!
Budget is set. Brett's handling all the details. All I have to do is go and take as many pictures as possible.
Say it with me now...
RHINEBECK!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Pressure
Last night I had a terrible migraine. I don't often get them, so I've noticed some patterns. Usually they have one of three causes: dehydration, caffeine, or air pressure.
Knowing that if it was caffeine related, there wasn't anything to do, I drank a bunch of water, took a couple Excedrin and went to bed. When I woke up this morning and there was a blanket of snow on the ground I wasn't exactly surprised.
First snow of winter '09-'10: Friday October 16th!
Last winter just about this time, there was a horrible early snow storm that trapped Brett alone in the just moved into house on Donlon without heat, phone, cable, internet, or snowshoes. Can't wait!
Knowing that if it was caffeine related, there wasn't anything to do, I drank a bunch of water, took a couple Excedrin and went to bed. When I woke up this morning and there was a blanket of snow on the ground I wasn't exactly surprised.
First snow of winter '09-'10: Friday October 16th!
Last winter just about this time, there was a horrible early snow storm that trapped Brett alone in the just moved into house on Donlon without heat, phone, cable, internet, or snowshoes. Can't wait!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Bummer
So, I didn't get the job. I am, as is to be expected, devastated.
I got the call around 1:00 which made for a hard afternoon at the bakery, but Brett came by and gave me a hug and stocked up on tasty goodies. So now instead of asking people how I can help them, all I have to do is sit on the couch and eat the Ben and Jerry's my future husband wisely invested in.
I was told that I was one of the final two candidates. That should make me feel good, and in another week, it probably will. And they liked my presentation so much, they offered me a different position working part time as a museum teacher. If I saw that position posted I would have been just as excited about it as I was about the one I actually interviewed for. Right now, though, it feels like a big time silver medal when I was sure I had earned gold. I will (future tense) be happy about it, I'm sure, but I guess I need some time to grieve.
RHINEBECK!!! couldn't be more longed for or necessary at the moment. As every knitter knows, wool heals all wounds. Ben and Jerry's and love doesn't hurt either.
I got the call around 1:00 which made for a hard afternoon at the bakery, but Brett came by and gave me a hug and stocked up on tasty goodies. So now instead of asking people how I can help them, all I have to do is sit on the couch and eat the Ben and Jerry's my future husband wisely invested in.
I was told that I was one of the final two candidates. That should make me feel good, and in another week, it probably will. And they liked my presentation so much, they offered me a different position working part time as a museum teacher. If I saw that position posted I would have been just as excited about it as I was about the one I actually interviewed for. Right now, though, it feels like a big time silver medal when I was sure I had earned gold. I will (future tense) be happy about it, I'm sure, but I guess I need some time to grieve.
RHINEBECK!!! couldn't be more longed for or necessary at the moment. As every knitter knows, wool heals all wounds. Ben and Jerry's and love doesn't hurt either.
Monday, October 12, 2009
patience is a virtue
It's Monday. Logically, I know I won't hear about the job at the Hall for "about a week and a half" so, conservatively, Wednesday.
It's killing me. I've been checking my e-mail constantly, hoping that maybe, just maybe, they made a decision early and (joy of joys!) it's me and I can have the job and an office and teach again. It would be very good.
Last Monday I thought that the wait wouldn't be so bad, because I'd be at work and the time would just fly. But it's been impossible not to think about it every minute. I imagine Brett is very tired of me saying, "I really want that job" over and over again. While I know I gave a great interview and I clicked with the staff and my resume is strong, I've been thinking about all the other people who could have interviewed who could be so much more qualified. Grumble grumble.
In the mean time, I'm knitting but I can't show you because it's Christmas Knits. Bwahahahahaha!
It's killing me. I've been checking my e-mail constantly, hoping that maybe, just maybe, they made a decision early and (joy of joys!) it's me and I can have the job and an office and teach again. It would be very good.
Last Monday I thought that the wait wouldn't be so bad, because I'd be at work and the time would just fly. But it's been impossible not to think about it every minute. I imagine Brett is very tired of me saying, "I really want that job" over and over again. While I know I gave a great interview and I clicked with the staff and my resume is strong, I've been thinking about all the other people who could have interviewed who could be so much more qualified. Grumble grumble.
In the mean time, I'm knitting but I can't show you because it's Christmas Knits. Bwahahahahaha!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
POV
I went for a nearly pain free run today and I'm pretty psyched about it. I bought a new pair of running shoes last night at the Sneaker Store in New Hartford and it was a good idea. The knowledgeable staff looked at my feet and my ankles, listened to my price range and found me a lovely pair of stability shoes that let me run 50% longer than I usually do with minimal shin pain. It's going to take a while for them to work their magic, but they feel good today.
Next weekend is the uber awesome New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. Since I've wanted to go since first hearing about it, I will be dragging Brett and making the pilgrimage down to see the sheep and commune with the People of the Wool. There will be lamb tacos and pumpkin chunking and frisbee dogs and lots and lots and lots of wool. I've decided I need to have a project or two in mind to buy for or I'll probably buy too much.
Project A:
The Featherweight Cardigan needs about 1200 yards of laceweight yarn. It calls for Malabrigo Lace, which would be fantastic, but I bet I can find something as awesome and much more unusual at Rhinebeck. I need something with close to a 470 yd/50 g weight. I want this to be a celebration purchase for when the Hall of Fame offers me the job (cough cough) so I want a nice flexible color I can wear to the office. Pearl grey, or oatmeal, or go bold with a cherry red or maybe even the chartuese in the pictures I first was attracted to.
Project B:
A great pair of socks. It's easy to buy sock yarn, and I knit more socks than anything else.
I'm also giving myself budget room to buy skeins that I fall in love with, provided I buy enough to make a matching hat and mitten set.
I've been super good about not buying yarn for the stash this year and last and Rhinebeck is a once a year event so I'm ok with indulging this year.
I've decided to make Saturdays a new weekly ritual where I take a picture of my view. I love reading blogs with lots of pictures. So every Saturday I'm going to point the camera out the window and show you a shot of the weather, the scenery, the whatever. Today it's the fall colors across the street and the pumpkin on the front step. Enjoy!
Next weekend is the uber awesome New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. Since I've wanted to go since first hearing about it, I will be dragging Brett and making the pilgrimage down to see the sheep and commune with the People of the Wool. There will be lamb tacos and pumpkin chunking and frisbee dogs and lots and lots and lots of wool. I've decided I need to have a project or two in mind to buy for or I'll probably buy too much.
Project A:
The Featherweight Cardigan needs about 1200 yards of laceweight yarn. It calls for Malabrigo Lace, which would be fantastic, but I bet I can find something as awesome and much more unusual at Rhinebeck. I need something with close to a 470 yd/50 g weight. I want this to be a celebration purchase for when the Hall of Fame offers me the job (cough cough) so I want a nice flexible color I can wear to the office. Pearl grey, or oatmeal, or go bold with a cherry red or maybe even the chartuese in the pictures I first was attracted to.
Project B:
A great pair of socks. It's easy to buy sock yarn, and I knit more socks than anything else.
I'm also giving myself budget room to buy skeins that I fall in love with, provided I buy enough to make a matching hat and mitten set.
I've been super good about not buying yarn for the stash this year and last and Rhinebeck is a once a year event so I'm ok with indulging this year.
I've decided to make Saturdays a new weekly ritual where I take a picture of my view. I love reading blogs with lots of pictures. So every Saturday I'm going to point the camera out the window and show you a shot of the weather, the scenery, the whatever. Today it's the fall colors across the street and the pumpkin on the front step. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Leaf Peepers
I have absolutely no good reason for not posting before now, other than I don't have much of interest to report.
We're still unpacking boxes, more slowly now than in the beginning, but now we're down to knick knacks and whatnots instead of clothes and cooking utensils. That's nice.
Our new rental is extremely awkwardly set up for furniture placement. It's a beautiful house architecturally, but it's an old house, so there's quite a few big windows that conflict with putting things against walls. The second story is a well finished attic, so the ceilings pitch down very abruptly. Again, a ton of non-functional space. We are left with rather a lot of furniture that doesn't fit well in the house making things feel odd and uncomfortable. We're set up for optimal usage of the space, in that things make sense where they are, but they don't feel or look like they're in the right spot. Hard to explain.
Cooperstown is drop dead beautiful right now. Rather a lot of golden fall sunshine on dramatic hills. Lots of pretty colors in the trees. We live right next to a cider mill now so when I get home from the bakery I'm greeted by the smell of apple cider and pie and woodsmoke. Not bad, all around.
Other good news:
Brett and I got a joint membership at the local gym. It was more expensive than it would have been anywhere else, but it's still affordable and a really good idea for us both. The heated indoor flat track is a lot more enjoyable to run on than the cold, rainy, unlit hilly roads. We can also cross train in the pool or on the climbing wall, or use the bowling alley, or whatever, so that's great.
I interviewed for a position at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday. I really really really really really want the job, so I hope they think I'm as perfect for the position as I think the position is for me. I'll update with either shouts of jubilation or gnashing of teeth and rending of garments sometime next week.
In crappy news I have a horrible head cold that won't go away and I feel like ugh.
We're still unpacking boxes, more slowly now than in the beginning, but now we're down to knick knacks and whatnots instead of clothes and cooking utensils. That's nice.
Our new rental is extremely awkwardly set up for furniture placement. It's a beautiful house architecturally, but it's an old house, so there's quite a few big windows that conflict with putting things against walls. The second story is a well finished attic, so the ceilings pitch down very abruptly. Again, a ton of non-functional space. We are left with rather a lot of furniture that doesn't fit well in the house making things feel odd and uncomfortable. We're set up for optimal usage of the space, in that things make sense where they are, but they don't feel or look like they're in the right spot. Hard to explain.
Cooperstown is drop dead beautiful right now. Rather a lot of golden fall sunshine on dramatic hills. Lots of pretty colors in the trees. We live right next to a cider mill now so when I get home from the bakery I'm greeted by the smell of apple cider and pie and woodsmoke. Not bad, all around.
Other good news:
Brett and I got a joint membership at the local gym. It was more expensive than it would have been anywhere else, but it's still affordable and a really good idea for us both. The heated indoor flat track is a lot more enjoyable to run on than the cold, rainy, unlit hilly roads. We can also cross train in the pool or on the climbing wall, or use the bowling alley, or whatever, so that's great.
I interviewed for a position at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday. I really really really really really want the job, so I hope they think I'm as perfect for the position as I think the position is for me. I'll update with either shouts of jubilation or gnashing of teeth and rending of garments sometime next week.
In crappy news I have a horrible head cold that won't go away and I feel like ugh.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wedding Bells
So it's been weeks since I got back from Minnesota and I never got a chance to tell you about the actual WEDDING.
There were two whole days of primping beforehand. We got our nails done on Saturday.
On Sunday the wedding party did hair. I got a little emotional when Chelsea put on her veil.
The ceremony was in Chel's folks' backyard. Everything was lovely and I think Chelsea and family and friends put in a ton of work to get it all so perfect. Chelsea and Jeff were married with a view of a calm lake behind them. The sun was high in the sky and quite warm, really and I used the wedding program to alternately shade my eyes and give myself a little breeze.
Directly after the ceremony, the wedding folk ran off to take a million photographs
and the rest of us found our way to our seats for dinner.
All the flowers were from the local farmer's market and assembled by one of Chelsea's friends. I think our centerpiece was the prettiest.
Brett and I had a wonderful time.
And it was great to see all my girls again.
We left the dinner in the garden and headed to the Five Event Center in Minneapolis for drinks and dancing.
I hope Chelsea and Jeff enjoyed their party as much as we all did. It was a great way to celebrate an amazing love.
There were two whole days of primping beforehand. We got our nails done on Saturday.
On Sunday the wedding party did hair. I got a little emotional when Chelsea put on her veil.
The ceremony was in Chel's folks' backyard. Everything was lovely and I think Chelsea and family and friends put in a ton of work to get it all so perfect. Chelsea and Jeff were married with a view of a calm lake behind them. The sun was high in the sky and quite warm, really and I used the wedding program to alternately shade my eyes and give myself a little breeze.
Directly after the ceremony, the wedding folk ran off to take a million photographs
and the rest of us found our way to our seats for dinner.
All the flowers were from the local farmer's market and assembled by one of Chelsea's friends. I think our centerpiece was the prettiest.
Brett and I had a wonderful time.
And it was great to see all my girls again.
We left the dinner in the garden and headed to the Five Event Center in Minneapolis for drinks and dancing.
I hope Chelsea and Jeff enjoyed their party as much as we all did. It was a great way to celebrate an amazing love.
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