Chicken without a Head

I never really left you

2010-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so it was kind of a long blog break.

Let's get up to date!

1. I'm now self-employed, which sometimes bears are remarkable resemblance to being unemployed. Somehow it didn't occur to me that the job mission "help independent sewing machine dealers sell high-end sewing and embroidery machines" just might be affected by the Great Recession.

2. I apply for jobs (you know, the kind with an employer who is not me, and a salary) periodically. Job hunting is depressingly like dating. You get all dressed up via your resume and cover letter, and you convince yourself that this is the one, a perfect match. And then they never, ever call you back.

3. I went to the Netherlands with Trent this summer for two weeks. I have no photographic evidence that this happened.

4. We adopted another dog in late April. This is Daisy:

She is cute as a button. She loves people and having her belly rubbed.

She wants to kill Stella (which, to be fair, is a reasonable reaction to Stella's behavior around her), and pretty much every other animal in the world, with the possible exception of Kidd. It's been a rough road. We've had several dog fights that required trips to the vet for one or more dogs. Then we unwittingly made things much worse. Daisy developed spay incontinence, so the vet put her on the most common medication for that issue (Proin). Welllllll, it turns out that it's an amphetamine (and a meth precursor!), and for some dogs it increases anxiousness and aggressiveness. Daisy is in that percentage, and she nearly ripped out one of Kidd's eyes. (He looks extremely piratical now with his scar.)

She's much nicer now that she's on a different med. It's an estrogen replacement therapy, so Trent keeps joking that she's going to take up knitting. I'd like that, actually. We're also working with a behaviorist (the lovely Christine Hibbard from Companion Animal Solutions). Daisy and Stella are currently separated at all times while we train them (separately) to sit nicely and be calm. The training regime is called the relaxation protocol, but we call it doggie yoga since we use a yoga mat to be the "sit here" spot.

It's an ongoing project. Daisy now shows no inclination to murder Kidd, and she seems calmer and happier. She's even started chewing on dog bones, which is progress.

5. I've been making lots of stuff, so hopefully there will be pictures in the future.

Chloe

2010-04-03T18:19:00.001-07:00

Chloe
Chlo-chlo
Chlo Girl
Chlozilla
Zilla
Dogzilla
Dingo
Fanga
Snorty McDingo
Chlo-belle
Chlotilde
Woolia
Bella
Princess

We lost Chloe January 31st. The cancer metastasized. She had fluid in her lungs and a tumor pressing against her heart. We made the decision and took her to the vet for euthanasia and stayed with her to the end, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I know everyone thinks their dog is the best dog ever, in the whole world. I know Chloe was. The picture above pretty much sums up her and me. We found her at the Seattle Animal Shelter in June of 2004. We were in the process of buying a house, largely because we desperately wanted a dog. In the week before closing, when we had six million things we needed to be doing, we went to the shelter. I had spotted her there on a previous visit, but she didn't have any information because she had just been surrendered. I stalked petfinder.com waiting for info to appear, and when it did, we made that trip. Dogs bounced and jumped and barked, but Chloe sat at the front of her cage with her head tilted, and those big ears, and just smiled at me.

We took her to the shelter's little play area, and she rolled over and put her head in my lap, just like in that picture above. Trent was skeptical - her info said she was 6 (or maybe 8 - there were contradictions), and he thought she'd be boring and never play. Smart girl, when she got done nuzzling me, she bounced up, stuck her butt in the air, and pounced at Trent.

We took a couple of other dogs out to play, in the interest of fairness, but I was clearly a goner. We didn't have our house yet, and our apartment was definitely a no-dog zone, so I said we should wait until closing, come back Saturday, and if she was still there it was meant to be. Trent asked me how I'd feel if someone else adopted her. At that moment, some other woman was checking out the paperwork on her cage, and I felt murderous. We adopted Chloe on the spot, and she went off to our vet for a couple of days.

Don't wait when you fall in love.

And so it came to pass that Chloe was the very first thing that we moved into our house. She came to us with 10 or 15 pounds of extra fat, a bladder infection, and skanky fur. The vet, good food, and exercise had her bounding around the park chasing tennis balls and glowing in short order. Her previous owner has obviously trained her not to jump on the furniture, but we felt that a dog's place is on the couch where you can rub her tummy and stroke her big, pointy, silky ears.

When we adopted Chloe, Trent asked me if I was sure about getting and older dog. They die sooner. You don't have them as long. I argued that puppies can die suddenly too, and that it didn't matter. It didn't. She had a lot of health problems in the 5 and a half years we had her. She had ear infections, eye infections, abcessed teeth, mysterious skin growths, an injured knee, and increasingly painful arthritis. We took her to the vet, handed over money, and applied various pills and ointments. I took her to the doggy hot tub for swimming therapy. Eventually the tennis ball days were over. We walked the neighborhood and she made friends with everyone from little kids to homeless guys to biker types to the people with handicaps who exercise in the park. Friends came to our house and adored Chloe. Even a friend who actively dislikes dogs would pet Chloe.

When she was diagnosed with cancer my heart broke. I'm still heart-broken and grieving the loss. But I've never, ever, for one second been sorry that we adopted her (or that she adopted us).

Chloe showed me how to love completely, without reserve. She made the world better. She made my heart bigger. She loved the world, and it loved her right back. On sunny days, she rolled in the grass and the little daisies and snorted with joy. The sun came out for her.

Our household now has me, Trent, the dogs Kidd and Stella, and the cats Rudy and Callie. Very slowly over the last two months I've stopped feeling like there's a huge Chloe-shaped gap in the house, but we still miss her terribly.

Give everyone you love a hug,

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T15:43:00.001-08:00

My Chloe is still doing fabulously. She milks her 3-legged status for all it's worth, and is greatly spoiled and adored by all. It's been over 3 months since amputation. and about 6 since cancer diagnosis. It's bonus time, and I try hard to remember to appreciate every bit of it.

In other news, knitting!

Baby sweater for our friends James and Adria's forthcoming baby. I think it's hilariously like a little old man sweater. I even used the fake woven leather buttons.

I have my standard 6 billion other projects going, too. This year the Pacific Fabrics KAL is using Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick, so I'm currently in the throes of both a brioche hat and the petticoat socks (Ravelry links), as well as some secret holiday knitting projects.

Also in the ongoing project kingdom, I'm working on the quilting on a queen size quilt I'm making for my mother. I'm so close to done, but I'm having trouble getting done. But it sure is pretty.

WonderDog

2009-09-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Chloe is amazing. Two weeks after amputation, she's getting herself up and down the stairs, greeting visitors with a wagging tail, and generally behaving like her old self. Awww.

Here's still life with dogs and spinning wheels.

She's slowly growing her hair back. We'll get there.

Lots of good, and one really bad thing

2009-08-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting and spinning. The garden is growing, and I've had an abundance of cherry tomatoes. I've seen lots of family this summer. Trent and I got scooters, and we love zipping around town on them. I've read lots of books. All good.

Here's the hard thing: my beloved Chloe, my dearest darling of the pointy ears and the big doe eyes, has bone cancer (osteosarcoma). She was diagnosed earlier this summer, after she started growing a big lump on her shoulder.

I think I cried for a month. We've agonized about what to do. Osteosarcoma is hellishly aggressive and painful, and even with the state of the art treatment, only 50% of dogs are alive a year after diagnosis.

We started with two chemotherapy treatments, and two bone strengthening treatments (the cancer weakens the affected bone, which is both painful and can lead to fractures). It brought us a little time to see if the cancer was already spreading to her lungs (the usual COD for osteosarcoma), and how painful the leg was going to be. I canceled my plans to go to the Netherlands with Trent, and we agonized some more.

It became pretty clear that the tumor was incredibly painful, and we had to decide whether to have the leg amputated or have Chloe euthanized sooner rather than later. When we had the right balance between the pain and the sedative effects of the painkillers, Chloe was still her happy sweet self. She rolled in the grass in the sun, and made lots of new friends on all her walks. I didn't think she was ready to go yet, and I sure wasn't ready to let her go, so we opted for amputation.

That was last Wednesday. Because nothing is ever easy, Trent left for the Netherlands for his study abroad program on the same day. It's been kind of a stressful week. I visited her in the hospital a couple of times, and then brought her home on Sunday night. The vet staff spoiled her rotten while she was there. They fed and watered her by hand, not because it was necessary but because she liked it.

She's recovering incredibly well. I'm supposed to keep her very quiet and help her walk. That worked for about the first 24 hours, but by now she's self-propelled. I went out to get groceries, and she met me at the door when I came home. I left her resting on the ground floor while I did dishes, and when I went down to check on her, she had moved up the stairs onto the landing. She's a super hero (and I think her yellow bandage makes her look like one, too).

I wish this would fix the cancer, but it won't. It eliminates pain, which is important, but we're going to have to do more chemo if we want to to increase her chances. Happily, chemo has very mild side effects for Chloe. Unhappily, it is MAD expensive, and the vet already has a big chunk of our money from the amputation. (Honestly, for what it costs, you'd think she'd come home with an extra leg, not minus one.) So the decisions aren't really getting any easier.

Garden update 2

2009-06-14T18:57:00.001-07:00

I do still knit and sew. I just don't take many pictures of it. But look, here's a quilt I'm making for a store sample!

This is called Baby Dots. It's from a pattern called Dots and Daisies by Smith Street Designs. I'm also making the version pictured on the pattern cover, but that one hasn't come together yet.

But since Ryan asked, here's a garden update. I have peas, real actual visible edible snap peas. (Cascadia from Territorial).

I have broccoli heads forming (no, really, look in the center).

I have very lush cherry tomatoes and potatoes, though no produce from either just yet.

I have bolting arugula (with bolting collards in the background, and an Ichiban eggplant protected by a Wall of Water behind that). It was particularly nice, lush arugula before it bloomed, so I'm going to try to save some of the seeds for a fall arugula crop.

I also have imported cabbage worm. Grr. The caterpillars are really hard to spot, since they're exactly the color of whatever brassica plant they are mowing down. Little bastards. I've been picking them off and stomping them flat. Hate.

Garden update

2009-05-09T15:35:00.001-07:00

It's a sunny Saturday in Seattle, the sort of day that makes everyone forget the cold dark dreariness of winter. I'm fully embracing the madness.

My garden is looking positively...garden-like. I have peas well up:

I have Chinese cabbage that might be actually preparing to make heads (or it might be preparing to bolt - one can never say):

The kale, collards, and broccoli are all thriving, and the scallions have recovered from the pounding they took in a recent rain storm.

I planted two cherry tomatoes (Red Fig and Cherry Roma) in an Earthbox, and they're currently being warmed up with a Wall of Water (each). I would have held off on putting them out, but the pets have a bad habit of grazing on plants in the house, and I didn't want to risk it.

Additionally, I have two golden zucchini out (one protected by a Wall o' Water, one by a dog e-cone). Today I planted carrots (Bolero) and bush beans (Roma II) as well.

In other news
Chloe has been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and is now eating gold-plated dog food. It's seriously expensive, as were all the vet bills leading up to the diagnosis. She's doing much better now, which is a relief. At some point we'll have to decide whether to stick with the Very Expensive Chow, or try some other food and risk upsetting her system again.

Meanwhile, I've been working working working. I still knit and sew, but I never get anything done.

Patience

2009-04-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

Gardening

I spend an awful lot of time outside looking at my little garden and cheering on the plants. Despite a spell of good weather a week ago, it took longer than I expected for the peas, spinach, and lettuce to sprout. But lo, a pea shoot:

The plants from Sky Nursery are generally doing pretty well. I'm a little concerned by the yellowing of the Chinese Cabbage (background), but the broccoli (foreground) looks good.

There's still no signs of potato sprouts. I think I may have planted them too soon, or too deep, or too something. We've had a good bit of rain, and it's supposed to warm up this weekend. If they don't start sprouting, I'll do a little excavation to see if they rotted.

Excercise

I've started another long-term project...again. I've once again embarked on the couch potato to 5K plan. I tried it last year, then I tried jogging again last fall, in a less structured way. Starting didn't hurt nearly so much this time around. Either I have a tiny bit of lingering fitness from the last bout of running, or I've finally learned to jog slow enough to not kill myself.

Finished things

My friend Kristin is having a baby girl, which gave me an excuse to do some really girly knitting and sewing. I made a sweater

and a matching outfit.

And a quilt covered in ribbons.

Unfinished things
Remember how I said I was going to finish all those unfinished sweaters this year? I worked very diligently on Trent's fisherman sweater for awhile, almost finishing one sleeve. Then he tried it on, and the sleeve is too big. Not too long - too big around. So I'm going to have to rip the whole thing out and reknit it, starting with fewer stitches (I have a plan for that) and decreasing more rapidly. I could cry. Consequently, I've been knitting other things. Hopefully I'll make it back to the unfinished sweaters at some point.

Progress

2009-04-01T22:18:00.001-07:00

There’s been great progress on the garden, and I’ve got the blisters to prove it.

The potatoes went in last Thursday. I need to lay chicken wire or something over the bed because the frakking neighborhood cats are using it as a litterbox.

I eventually had topsoil delivered from Viking Topsoil. He was very efficient and more reasonable than Pacific Topsoil’s delivery. So, Mt. Dirt arrived Monday.

On Monday, I also broke up the subsoil in the base of the bed. Tuesday, I moved Mt. Dirt to the raised bed with the aid of Nancy’s wheelbarrow. Here's the before (actually, after about 4 wheelbarrow loads).

That’s when the blisters really came up. But here's the after:

As the cold, cold rain started to fall Tuesday afternoon, I planted the starts I bought at Sky nursery last week (kale, collards, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage). Then I used my frozen fingers to poke some Cascadia pea seeds in, and sowed a row of spinach seed (Tyee hybrid) and some mesclun mix. I covered the whole thing with a floating row cover, held down with some convenient rocks that I dug out of the subsoil.

It’s a good thing I used the row cover, since it’s snowing today. Oh, and here's a cheerful article about our likely spring weather.

Tuesday evening, after I took a dose of Ibuprofen and a shower, Trent and I joined up with our friends Melissa and Paul to celebrate their 2^nd wedding anniversary (we didn’t invite ourselves to their anniversary – they invited us). We had a lovely dinner with them, then headed to the Triple Door to see Habib Koite. We not only found street parking within a block, we also had a front row table. It was an amazing show. We’ve seen Habib Koite 2 times before, and this was by far the best show. We didn’t get home until midnight, and I had to be up at 6 this morning, but it was worth it.

Why I am not a carpenter

2009-03-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

Trent and I decided to build a vegetable garden. We bought books (because that's always the first step in new undertakings for Trent). We bought some seeds. We plotted and planned and studied seed catalogs. We shoveled a whole bunch of gravel out of the center of our courtyard. Then nothing happened for many weeks. I finally coerced Trent into going on a lumber expedition with me Saturday night. We learned that 10' boards do not fit into a Focus ZX3 particularly well, but if you drive slowly and carefully, it's doable.

Monday I went to Sky Nursery in pursuit of seed potatoes. I bought some plants while I was there (collards, broccoli, kale, and chinese cabbage). Having actual plants means that the raised bed needs to get built sooner rather than later. This is a crazy busy week for Trent, so I bravely hammered it together Monday afternoon.

It's lacking a certain quality of squareness that is ordinarily desirable in construction. However, it does possess a quality of doneness that I find even more desirable.

(If anyone is interested in the construction details: 2"x12"x10' and 2"x12"x4' held together with strong tie corner brackets and nails.)

Today I removed more gravel from the future raised bed and started working on the dirt. In the picture, the fluffy part is the bit I've done, and the smooth part is still covered in landscape cloth (it was under the rocks). I also worked on the future potato patch. It was a very pathetic flower bed, so I've ripped out most the plants growing there (the rest are scheduled for execution tomorrow, except for the rhododendron) and worked up nice fluffy soil.

For my gardening friends, here are the veggie specifics:
Potatoes: Satina, Calred, and yukon gold.
Kale: Lacinato
Collards: Vates
Broccoli: Packman
Chinese cabbage: China Express.

I can't remember the assorted seeds I've piled up. I know I've got Cascadia snap peas, but the rest is a blur. Some kind of spinach, some kind of pac choi (ching-chiang, I think), and a lettuce mix.

Our current issue is topsoil. If I'm reading the Pacific Topsoil price list correctly, it's going to cost around $140 to get topsoil delivered in a suitable quantity (1.5 cubic yards). That seems like a lot, but we certainly don't own a truck to go fetch it ourselves. Swanson's gave me the number for Viking Topsoil, which seems like it might be a smaller outfit, so maybe they're more reasonable for the relatively small quantity I need (calling them is on my "to-do when time permits" list). Alternatively, I suppose I could buy 40 cubic feet of topsoil in bags and haul it in the Focus.

There has been some knitting and sewing going on too, but I'm not finishing anything.

Sewing, and the terror of the runway

2009-03-02T13:34:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I participated in a garment sewing contest that culminated in a fashion show at Sew Expo last weekend. I didn't win :(. But here are pictures from backstage before the show.

Eventually, there are going to be clips and pics from the runway show itself on the Bernina website. I'll let you know.

I thought I was going to be cool on the runway, but I kind of freaked out. I think I forgot to breathe, and I felt like I made funny faces the whole time. The show was well attended (maybe 100 some odd people), and the runway was very long and very tall. I could have given a speech in front of that crowd with no problem, but just walking back and forth while they looked at me gave me hives.

In other sewing news, at Christmas 07 I promised my mom a queen sized quilt for her bed. Because I lack common sense, self-preservation, and good judgment, I picked a kind of crazy complicated quilt block to use, and a size that required 90 of the blocks. Then I made my life worse by deciding to do complicated sashing. I'm chipping away at it. The blocks are all assembled into horizontal rows, and the sashing strips that go between are also assembled. I've got 4 out of 10 rows put together. My photography efforts were somewhat hampered by my little helpers.

Life has otherwise been pets, work, and cursing the weather. The usual, you know?

Ketchup

2009-02-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

Look, I finished a knitting project!

These are Scrunchie Handwarmers from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, out of Jojoland Melody Superwash in the color "Magic Moment." (Do you have that song stuck in your head now? You're welcome.) They were the January project for the Pacific Fabrics and Crafts Knit Along.

Here's what else has been going on. Trent and I have decided to create a raised bed for vegetables in our courtyard, so we've started excavating, and I've spent inordinate amounts of time reading seed catalogs. Unfortunately, right after we started clearing for it, Trent got the Shitty Virus (our name - some sort of respiratory crud that lingers like the shameful memory of that time at the junior high dance when you made an ass out of yourself asking the cute popular guy/girl to dance with you). He was dog sick for a week and a half, then I got it, then I got a sinus infection. I think the grand total of time we spent moaning and groaning was over 3 weeks. It sucked. So, that was pretty much January.

Meanwhile, I've been sewing an outfit for a fashion sewing competition. If any of y'all are going to be at Sew Expo the last weekend of February, please try to make it to the fashion show on Saturday at 12:30 (the Bernina and the Sewing Workshop "Runway to Everyday" challenge). I'll be the one with the really uncomfortable smile and the stylin' chocolate brown jacket. So, my outfit for the competition is about done, but my sewing room looks like it exploded and then was ravaged by wolves.

Oh snowy night...

2009-01-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

We are not amused.

We are disgruntled, bitter, and disapproving. This wasn't in the contract when I moved to Seattle.

(There are some folks who migrated here who sometimes say things like "gosh, I miss having 4 seasons. I like winter." I am not one of those people. The normal temperature range of about 45 - 70 is just fine with me.)

Meanwhile, I've diligently continued work on one of the UFO sweaters. I've picked up for the first arm. The pattern is symmetrical both horizontally and vertically (what's the exact word for that?), so the pattern on the sleeve matches up with the pattern on the yoke. Spiffy, eh?

I'm sure the knitting gods are going to strike me down any second, though, because I've decided I know better than Meg Swansen. Her pattern has you do double decreases on the top of the sleeve. I'm doing mine on the underarm seam so they'll be inconspicuous instead of a design feature. There's a good chance that once I've painstakingly knit 20" or so of sleeve, I'll figure out why she put the decreases where she did.

New Year on the farm

2009-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

I spent New Year's Eve dogsitting for our friends Lauren and Garth on Bainbridge. I took Stella with me since she's stayed there before. It's kind of fun to have 3 black and white spotty dogs. Note that the pictures are deceptive - they were rarely all this still.

Staying on the wee farm is lovely. This morning I trooped out to the chicken coop and collected two eggs. Then I ate them.

While I do have all those sweaters to finish, it was a tad impractical to tote a mostly-done sweater that requires thought for the next step. So I started a new project, the elegantly names "Scarf with edging 21 and insertion 25 from The Knitted Lace Pattern Book, Thompson Bros, Killmarnock, Scotland, 1850" in Victorian Lace Today. I'm using Malabrigo sock yarn in color they call eggplant. Starting a complicated lace thing while trying to sooth dogs made hysterical by fireworks may not have been the best idea I've ever had, but I persevered and have finished the first repeat of the border.

This morning's big adventure (other than the chicken coop expedition) has been trying to get a fire going. I was a Campfire girl. In theory I know how to start a damn fire in a fireplace. But it's not going well. I'm on my second round of "oh the kindling is burning merrily", but it looks like the logs have once again failed to really get going. Sigh.

The deep snow, the long silence

2008-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

First, let me just get it out of the way. The snow sucked. I hated it. I was ready for it to melt within 24 hours of when it started falling. Living on a hill in north Seattle meant that we got more snow than many parts of the city and it has melted more slowly. I hate my hiking boots, which is fine since I don't think they'll ever dry out again.

Whew, now that I have that off my chest...

Life has been full of fun bloggable activity that I just haven't blogged. I'll try to do better.

For today, however, I wanted to bravely state a goal for the upcoming year. I've been observing folks like Jessica, who are planning to knit a sweater a month in 2009, in much the same way a field researcher would cautiously observe rabid squirrels. Then Erika posted about her Stash-down goal for 2009, Total Stash Turnover (tm). This also seems excessively ambitious to me, but it's at least tempting in an "out with the old" kind of a way. So, after a little consideration, I've decided that my goal for 2009 is to finish (or finally frog) all the started sweaters (and sweater-like projects) I have. Here's the list, in order of how long it's been since I worked on it (with Ravelry links, for those of you who are members):
1. Trent's Schoolhouse Shetland Pullover - I'm almost done knitting the body. Half a pattern repeat more, and I can steek and finish the shoulders. Then I'll just have the sleeves.
2. Colette Sweater - I've knit all the pieces for this, and blocked the fronts and back. I need to seam front to back and pick up and knit the band, then sew in the sleeves.
3. Wensleydale Claire - I don't even know where this is right now. The fronts and back are knit, and I was somewhere in mid sleeve when I ran out of steam. So, half of the sleeves (I'm knitting them at once), sew, and band and collar.
4. Carpathian Roses - I at least know where all the parts of this are. I'm somewhere in the yoke section, and there's over half a sleeve knit.
5. Stupid charity baby sweater - of my own design. This is really embarrassing - its done except for the last inch or two of the second sleeve, and seaming it together. It was my "in my desk at work" project, back when I had work with a desk. I brought it home to finish it, but it went into the sewing room closet and never emerged.
6. Star vest - All this needs is arm facings. I'm pretty sure it's not going to fit, so it's been having an extended time out. I don't know if I can find the yarn. I should finish the sucker and just give it to someone, just to get it out of my mental space.
7. Linen-drape shell in a completely different yarn - I'm up to dividing for the neck on the front of this. There are only two pieces - just a front and back. You don't even have to knit bands - they're incorporated. I'm done with the back. I'm a smarter knitter now than I was when I abandoned this, so hopefully I can figure out where the hell I was when I quit.
8. Garter stitch jacket - one of my earliest sweater projects, in deep storage for a long time. It's on something like size 10 or 11 needles, so really, I have no excuse. The fronts and back are knit in one piece, and if I remember correctly I was about done with them, so just sleeves. Again, I'm pretty convinced I won't like this, but I showed it to my mom when she was here, and she did, so there ya go.

Most of this doesn't represent that much knitting, really (except the sleeves of #1). But given my rate of distraction, I'll feel really impressed with myself if I manage to get through these in the next year.

It would make me feel better if y'all feel inclined to chime in with stories of long-ignored projects, particularly those that are embarrassingly close to being done.

Happiness and woe

2008-10-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

I finally blocked the eye searing pink shawl, with some help from Peggy and Rebecca.

We didn't wet block it, since it's already freakin' huge. We pinned out the loops on the edge, very gently straightening and stretching, and then misted it with warm water. It's been done for several days, and I could have retrieved it tonight at the Feral Knitters meeting, but my car is in the shop (woe).

I also finished another Knit Along project, this time Cozy Socks for Kids (from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders). These are out of Cascade 220 superwash.

On a bookstore trip, I fell in love with some of the critters in the Tamie Snow's book Tiny Yarn Animals, so of course I had to get the book, even though my crochet skillz are sad. I really bought the book for the lemur, but I started with the elephant. He came out cute, and rather charmingly crooked.

Now I'm working on a lemur. At some point this evening, after 2.5 hours on the couch crocheting lemur bits, I found myself thinking that I could have used the time for something useful, like a sweater, or sewing, or house cleaning. But then I said lemur lemur lemur lemur lemur until I started giggling.

I've been working many days in a row (woe). My boss is very sick, and since we have a wee staff, that means I'm in the trenches until she's back on her feet. Since my car is in the shop, she's sending her husband to pick me up in the morning - that's the upside of working for a wee company.

Shawls and capes

2008-10-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

I finally blocked two shawls that I finished knitting a long time ago, thanks to Peggy and Rebecca and their basement.

The melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today with a different border (I was running low on yarn). The yarn is handspun cormo/alpaca. I dyed it as roving and 2-plied. The color is washed out in these pictures - it's really a variety of soft greens.

Another spring lace scarf, from my own pattern. I started this one as an example when I was teaching a lace knitting class. The yarn is linen that I bought years ago at Stitches West. I have no idea who dyed it, but it sure is pretty. Now I just have to figure out how to soften it up without losing all the work we did blocking it.

Here's my first yarn from my new wheel. This is 4 oz of Reflections Farms roving, 3 plied. It's about 390 yards.

I also sewed a fairy cape for a friend's 3-year old daughter. I pressed the dogs into service modeling. Chloe was hiding at the time, perhaps wisely.

And finally, in the shameless self-promotion category: we're doing a series of "nifty gifty" classes at Bernina Northwest. If you sew at all, these are fun projects that make good gifts. You don't have to have a Bernina or even a sewing machine . Check out the details here.

New arrival

2008-10-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

I got a new spinning wheel! She's made by Betty Roberts, out of apricot wood. You can't really tell in this photo, but the green inlays are sparkly.

I love love love it. However, that means I know have two beautiful Betty Roberts wheels that I love to spin on...

And that means I need to find new homes for the two wheels I am less in love with.

Ashford Joy single treadle. This is a folding wheel, and it comes with three bobbins and a padded carrying bag. $425.

Louet s-10 with skein winder. (The second picture shows it without the skein winder.) I learned to spin on this wheel. It's very easy to use and take care of. $325.

I'd strongly prefer to sell these locally. I'd be happy to give any buyer a spinning lesson. Contact me at m k morrow (at) yahoo dot com (take out the spaces and so on) if you're interested.

Parties and projects

2008-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

First, a work/public service announcement:

Project Linus Blanket Party at Bernina Northwest:

Can you sew, serge, or cut (or are you willing to learn)? Using fleece fabric donated by Brewer Sewing Supply, we'll stitch and serge fleece blankets that will be donated to our local Project Linus chapter to comfort traumatized and seriously ill children.

Bernina Northwest will provide the sergers, sewing machines, and thread. We just need you to volunteer 1 hour (or more) on October 4th from 10am to 5pm. Call 206-523-4739 to sign up.

Bring your friends and let's make a difference!

And speaking of events...

I'm scheduled to teach a fair isle hat class at Pacific Fabrics Northgate store starting Sunday. We're using the Fiber Trends Swirls hat pattern. I don't have a picture of my (very cute) sample because it's at the store. Only two people are signed up right now, and the class won't go with less than three. So pleeeeeeease, if you or anyone you know wants to learn to do color work, sign up.

Project Pictures

I recently finished a baby quilt for a friend.

I've also been knitting up a storm of project samples for the KAL at Pacific Fabrics. Here's the December project, the garter stitch loop-through scarf. Because I am cruel and heartless, I forced the dogs to model.

The misery! The disapproval!

I've got yet more projects to show you, but I think the dogs are plotting against me, so I'd best wrap it up for today.

There and back again

2008-09-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Switzerland.

It's a very pretty country. I have no real idea what it's like to travel there, because I spent all my time in a large tour group. I don't know how the herd all those Swiss dairy cows, but for us they had guides clad in matching blazers with jaunty scarves and signs with our group number. If I never, ever ride another tour bus again, it will be too soon. I was there for 6 days, and I selected exactly one meal for myself (I don't count the breakfast buffet at the hotel). My favorite bits were a hike above Interlaken (the last two pictures above) and the trip to St. Gallen, with its textile museum and Abbey library (the link is to a .pdf file about the library).

After Switzerland, I took a train (10+ hours) to Rotterdam to meet up with my beloved Trent and his merry band of students. It felt like going home (but with fewer pets) because I've traveled in the Netherlands so much. Also, Trent and the students are staying in a very homey hotel, the Hotel Baan. While they had class in the morning, I wandered all over Rotterdam (except on Thursday, when I biked to Delft). I got to go on outings and field trips with the students, too, so I got to experience the Pancake Boat cruise, and the Hoge Veluwe and Kroller-Muller museum. We stayed in Arnhem after that visit, and to our delight learned that the Arnhem was hosting the International Living Statue competition. Yeah, I didn't know that existed either. I had a great time. I love Rotterdam. I generally love the Netherlands. I miss my husband.

I took very few pictures, because I was having far too much fun (also, Trent takes millions of pictures).

Since my return, it's been pets, work, and knitting, in pretty much that order. I'll inflict pet and project photos on the blog at a future date.

Increasingly headlong

2008-08-13T22:28:00.001-07:00

Trent leaves for the Netherlands Sunday. I leave for Switzerland Tuesday. It seemed very far away, but tonight I started seriously thinking about what needs to get done before we head out, and I completely freaked out. It was productive, at least. I now have a packing list and know what I need to shop for. (New black leather walking shoes, and a raincoat.) I also started the housecleaning. We've been putting it off because we only want to do it once, and we create mess at such a prodigious rate that cleaning at the last possible moments makes sense.

The last possible moments are rapidly arriving.

So, there are copies of the keys to be made and distributed, pet and house sitters to contact and make final arrangements with, and giant dust buffalo to round up. There's also yet more shopping for the above-mentioned items, and some work stuff I have to finalize. Trent's even more crazed than me, since he's trying to prepare a class as well as a month away from home (I'll only be gone two weeks).

It doesn't help at all that I'm obsessed with the Olympics. I really like things like rowing, that they broadcast overnight on the USA network. Sadly, obsession doesn't make up for lack of sleep.

Free sewing projects
Remember the martini apron? I wrote up the instructions for it and an apron with more of a utility-belt heritage.

You can download instructions Bernina Northwest's website - the link is currently on the front page in the midst of the Needle Expedition instructions.

New couch
I'm such a bad blogger. We finally got a real couch, and I didn't manage to take a picture in its pristine state. It promptly became covered with the usual riff-raff: books, knitting, dogs.

Tour de Fleece DNF*

2008-07-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Fail. I wrecked my shoulder (again) last week, and I know from experience that I have to let it rest. There's been no spinning, and very little knitting or sewing, for me this week. I'm glad I at least got the first batch plied, and I've started the second batch of singles, so it's not a complete disaster.

The little bit of stuff I have been working on is the ongoing Colette sweater, a pair of mittens for the knit-along I'm leading at Pacific Fabrics, baby quilt projects, and a quilt for my mom (not a surprise, although she may be surprised to hear that it's actually in progress now).

Random notes:

To women who wear low-rise jeans: if you choose to wear these jeans to an outdoor concert, and you sit on the ground, be aware that if your shirt is short, the nice folks behind you are totally staring at your ass. Way, way too much of your ass. Please, for the love of all that's decent, pull up your pants or wear a longer damn shirt.

To Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: you totally rocked. Zoo Tunes is cool and all, but I'd love to hear them in a club where I could actually SEE Sharon Jones (she's tiny, and we were well back in the crowd), and where she didn't have to worry about keeping it family-friendly.

To Gardenburger: please resolve your production difficulties so that our beloved sizzling soy sausage patties return to a nearby freezer case. Boca breakfast patties aren't nearly as good (plus they're weirdly proportioned for breakfast bread products such as English muffins), and I really don't like Morningstar that much either. I've been cranky since I'm not getting my protein for breakfast.

*DNF = Did Not Finish, fyi for those of you who don't spend as much time as Trent and me following cycling coverage.

My job is cooler than your job

2008-07-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

I can't stop giggling. For various reasons which are difficult to recreate, I set out to make a very silly apron as a work project. Here's the result modeled by my lamp:

It's reversible!

Check out that amazing rolled hem (which I did with a sewing machine, not a serger):

I even created the martini embroidery design from scratch. If you embigify, you'll see that the pink fabric has tiny martinis. This, friends, is the joy of working at a sewing store.

Tour de Fleece
I've been hard at work spinning. I plied. Here's 3 3/8 oz, about 700 yards:

I tried to take a close up, but my photography skillz are lacking. It now has a baby brother skein (I had too much singles [too many singles?] to ply onto one bobbin) now, so I think I've spun and plied just over 4 oz. I forgot to weigh the baby skein before I washed it, and it's still wet. Please note that I already had a bobbin and a half spun when I started this challenge. But given that it took me months to do that, I'm not really sure how I'm going to produce a comparable amount during the remainder of the tour to meet my 8 oz goal. Ah, well.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2008-07-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

1. I no longer work for that corporate university where I toiled for the last 5 some-odd years. I cut back to part-time, then I asked to not be scheduled for classes. It's not exactly like quitting - I have to option of going back if I ever want to. That's not a foreseeable future right now, but you never know. I now work mainly at Bernina Northwest, selling sewing machines and teaching people how to use them. I'm having a blast and learning a lot. We also sold enough sewing machines last year that I earned a trip to Switzerland (!) for a big Bernina event, so I'll be headed to Zurich in August.

2. We bought a real sofa. It's being delivered Wednesday. Good bye, dear futon. You've served us well.
'

3. I'm knitting up a storm these days. It doesn't seem like I'm finishing a lot, but that's because I'm rotating between several projects. I did finish some socks out of handspun BFL:

And I'm making great strides on the Colette sweater:

And I'm making another Spring Lace scarf, this time out of some well-aged linen.

4. I signed up (late) for the Tour de Fleece.

I recently finished up a batch of Romney (from Maria, as discussed here) that had been languishing on the bobbins of my Ashford Joy for ages. I can't face continuing with the Romney right now, so my Tour goal is to conquer 8 oz of the pound (!) of Reflections farm blue wool that I've been slowly spinning into lace weight since last winter. So, 8 oz lace weight singles, 2 plied.

I've just about got a second bobbin equal to the first, so I could ply some, just to break up the monotony. I'm not sure how many ounces I've spun into singles, but since it has to be plied, I'm counting it as TdF spinning.

5. Speaking of spinning wheels, I need to sell the Ashford Joy (portable, single treadle, with bag and 3 bobbins, $400) and my Louet S-10 (single treadle, 3 bobbins, skein winder, $225). I'll provide a starter spinning lesson with either. Contact me at m k morrow at yahoo dot com with interest/questions/etc.

I'm back, and a free pattern

2008-05-13T09:09:00.001-07:00

Hey all -

Busy, busy. I'll abbreviate: work, work, dogs, work, trip to the Chicago burbs, cold, work.

But hey, exciting news! Remember my green lace scarf?

I traded the pattern to Vickie Howell (for yarn, of course), and it's available on her website FREE for the next two weeks. Go print, folks. After that, she'll have it for sale in her store.

For those of y'all who are local, remember I'm teaching a class using this pattern at Pacific Fabrics Northgate store in June. You can lace if you want to.

I should have more clever titles

2008-04-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

But I don't.

I've been knitting, sewing, working, and dog walking, not necessarily in that order.

In knitting news, I finished knitting the Melon Patterned shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I was really sweating yarn quantities as I knit the border on. The yarn is hand-dyed and hand spun, and this was ALL of it. But in the end, the borders are finished.

And I had 5 grams of yarn left. Whyever was I so worried?

I've also been churning along on my Wensleydale sweater and a second sock for Trent. I'm trying to finish some things. Besides the melon shawl, I recently finished the pink shawl (still not blocked). Then I finished a scarf for a lace knitting class I'm teaching at Pacific Fabrics in June.

(Knit from Vickie Howell collection Craft yarn, which I love. The pattern will soon be available for purchase from Vickie, or you can come take the class with me.)

So, in this spate of finishing activity, I've made a deal with myself that I have to finish 2 more knitting projects (any size, provided it's already in progress) before I can start something new. It's killing me. I keep adding things to my Ravelry queue. I could knock off a couple of really old WIPs that are very close to done, or I could buckle down and finish the Wensleydale sweater. Project #2 is going to be those socks, or a nearly completed hat that's roaming around in my knitting bags.

Meanwhile, I've also been sewing up a storm. I've made 3 really cute skirts, flirty little cotton spring skirts. You know, for that gorgeous spring weather we're having.

I can't show you any of the skirts, because they're all off at Bernina or the Quilting Loft being shop samples, as is the newest blouse, lovingly titled Pintuck Madness. When I get it back I'll take pictures and you can see why.

I did, however, get a picture of myself modelling the dotty blouse from several posts back.

Anyway, in the midst of all this productive crafty activity, some of which is actually work, I'm having a great time. That seems to really surprise some folks. I was at my college teaching job (now only one day a week), and one of the faculty cornered me. He had just learned that I cut back to very-part-time, and wanted to know what I'm doing now. I told him I was working at a sewing machine dealer, selling sewing machines, and teaching sewing and sometimes knitting classes. He said, "You're kidding!" in a tone of incredulity that implied I had just told him I'd taking up the stroll on Aurora Avenue. I've perfected a really blissful smile for moments like that, when the person I'm talking to just isn't going to get it.

(That reminds me of my favorite student evaluation story. At Clemson, there's was a write-in question on "What were the teacher's strengths?" One of my survey of contemporary lit students wrote in: "Teacher is very enthusiastic about literature. I don't know why, but she is." I kind of think that's the reaction of my former faculty colleagues to my new career path.)

Finally, for those of you who might have wondered, there's still nowhere to sit at my house.

Quilting oops

2008-03-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to resuming the mystery quilt, Carolina Crossroads, that I started last year. I have all the sub-units done, so now I'm just putting it together. I ran into a hitch with the 16 setting triangles. They're supposed to look like this:

15 of mine looked like this:

and one of them looks like this:

In my defense, the directions I was following did have a picture with the incorrect assembly. There was also a picture of the RIGHT way, but I managed to follow the wrong one. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Kidd the terrier continues to make himself right at home.

And Callie has colonized the plastic box I keep by my sewing machine for scraps.

Quilt FO

2008-03-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I've confirmed that this quilt arrived at its destination, so I can post it in public now. It was a gift to my friend Miss Print for the arrival of her new baby, Penelope. It's based on Karla Alexander's pattern "Catch a Falling Star" in New Cuts for New Quilts. I took a few liberties with the color scheme and the borders. The border quilting was all improvised using my Bernina Stitch Regulator. The center was done with a walking foot.

Annual knitting retreat

2008-03-16T23:43:00.001-07:00

I spent the weekend in Portland (well, Troutdale, really) for my annual knitting retreat. I'm in an internet-based group that's been together for almost 6 years. We try to get together in person once a year, and this time we met up at the McMenamins Edgefield. It was, as ever, delightful. I totally forgot to pack a camera (as ever). We spent most the weekend camped out in one of the public areas of the Edgefield, the library. As groups of people walked by, we'd often hear a whispered "Knitters!", as if they'd just spotted a rare species in the wild.

I meant to diligently work on projects. My chosen big project was this sweater, which has been in cold storage for about a year and a half:

The back and 1.6 of the fronts are done. I made some good progress on that second front this weekend, until we all went out shopping on Saturday. We hit Knit/Purl in downtown Portland. Nice store, really nice staff. I was seduced by some blue yarn. Blue, people - not red or pink. Be amazed. There was only one skein of the blue I really loved, so I bought it a couple of coordinating little friends. Anyway, despite my good intentions to work on the sweater, I ended up casting on the blue.

I'm making a stole knit lengthwise in feather and fan. I quickly discovered that it's a really easy stitch pattern to screw up, and now there are markers between every one of the 20 pattern repeats.

In my absence, Kidd the terrier scaled the gate to come upstairs and get closer to his kitty friends. He also managed to wiggle under the bed in an effort to make friends with Callie. She was not amused.

Retinas beware

2008-03-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

The eye-searing pink shawl is finally off the needles, and loose in the wild.

(No dogs were harmed while taking these pictures.)

I haven't blocked it yet, because I don't know where the hell I'm going to do that.

Real pattern name: Spider's Web Shawl fromVictorian Lace Today. This is the full hexagon, knit out of Karabella lace weight mohair, a gift from my lovely friend Lori. It's brighter in person, if you can believe it. I wish I had been able to knit more of the floofy border before I bound off, but I was scared of running out of yarn. I also wish I had the warm glow of finishing satisfaction, but with blocking still ahead...

If everyone jumped off a cliff...

2008-03-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

I've joined Ravelry. I'm mkmorrow. I've barely added anything yet. I can tell that it's going to be an enormous time suck.

Life as adjunct faculty

2008-03-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

I survived

2008-03-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

But it was a close call. The schedule for Sew Expo sucked exactly as much as I thought it would. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the carpool left at 6:30 (instead of 6) so I got a whopping 1/2 hour of extra sleep, but we also got home later on all of those nights. I did reasonably well for myself there, and spread the Bernina love to new people. Sunday night, we had to tear down the booth and load up all the stuff. I got home sometime around 8:30 or 8:45, then I graded until 11:30, fell into bed, got back up at 6, and finished grading at 11, an hour late. Overcooked pasta looks lively in comparison to me at this point.

For your entertainment, I started taking a series of self-portraits on Friday morning. I present: Melinda at 6:00 AM. (I think the Sunday hair looks pretty good, but dude, check out those dark circles.)

Meanwhile, back at the dog ranch
Kidd isn't going anywhere. He's sweet, he's a calming influence on Stella, and he and Trent are in loooooove.

So now we have 3 dogs, and nowhere to sit.

Drive by update

2008-02-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

Not only is this the last week of the term for my college writing class, this weekend is also Sew Expo. I'm working in the Bernina booth selling (hopefully) sewing machines all four days. Here's a sample:

5:00 a.m.: alarm goes off
6:00 meet at Bernina to carpool
7:00 arrive at Sew Expo. Gates not yet open.
8:30 sales meeting
9:00 - 6 dizzying whirl of people and noise and sewing machines, with occasional very short breaks of standing behind booth curtain snarfing down sandwich and tea.
7:10 p.m. arrive home
7:45 return home with Thai take out
9:00 a time, now past, by which I needed to go to bed in order to get 8 hours of sleep before repeating all of the above (except, possibly, the Thai takeout).

I'm doing this all weekend. Sunday we finish an hour earlier, but since grades for the writing class are due Monday morning at 10, I don't really foresee sleeping much that night, either.

If any of y'all are at Sew Expo, stop by the Bernina machine booth (it's big and red - you can't miss it) and say hi. My hair is now shorter, but I'm wearing a convenient name tag so you can recognize me.

The dog came over the mountain

2008-02-10T21:11:00.001-08:00

Meet Kidd
We have a new foster dog. This is Kidd, who arrived today from the Wenatchee shelter. (We don't love the name. The shelter was apparently naming all their dogs after pirates for awhile.)

We don't know a lot about him or his background. So far, he's been an absolute doll. He rode home on Trent's lap. He seems to only want to be petted and adored. When we brought him home, there was a great deal of sniffing among dogs, and then everyone settled right in. Kidd loves to have his head scratched and his belly rubbed, and it's also pretty obvious from his layer of pudge that he loves his chow. We'll work on that.

Kidd is available for adoption through Rescue Every Dog. Right now, a lot of the dogs that R.E.D. is taking in are from eastern Washington. They're buried under snow over there, and dogs continue to come into the shelters even if people who want dogs aren't. A couple who work with Seattle Purebred Rescue made a trip in order to bring over a batch of Siberian Huskies who had been seized from a (fortunately no longer in business) breeder, and they brought a few dogs for R.E.D., including our Kidd. Animal rescue people are good folks.

He's pretty darn adorable and well-behaved, so I'm betting it won't take too long for him to be adopted.

Meanwhile
I think I'm going to live. According to the doctor, I had (have?) really bad bronchitis, not flu. He said I'd feel worse if I had the flu, which I find difficult to imagine. I spent the entire week at home, not venturing out except to the doctor until Saturday. I'm still feeling seriously wheezy and full of phlegm, but I'm no longer having the all over body aches, so I guess I'm mending.

Blurgh.

2008-02-05T23:46:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I'm sick. I think I may have the flu. I don't think I've ever had the flu before - every other kind of respiratory crud known to medicine, but not the flu - so it's at least an event.

We had a lovely weekend getaway to Vancouver BC, where we walked, ate, and shopped. We came home on Sunday in time to watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet before switching over to that other bowl for the fourth quarter. We probably would have stuck with the Puppy Bowl, but Pedigree was a sponsor and they were consequently showing a really heartbreaking "adopt a shelter dog" commercial. It made me cry every single commercial break. (Go ahead. Click on the link. Watch it. You'll see.) After a couple of repeats, we had to start flipping the channel during the commercials.

Anyway, since Sunday night I've basically been bed- and couch-ridden with the ick. I've now completely lost my voice, which is driving me crazy. I'm going to try to get in to see my doctor tomorrow, since at this point it's not looking like it's going to get better on its own.

One last fundraising plea

2008-01-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

Oh no! Bernie has slipped to #5 in the rankings. Keep tabs on the badge rankings here! She needs to be #4 or higher to win the big grant. There are only 2.5 hours left (contest ends at 3 EST today). It's the number of donors that counts. If you haven't donated and can possibly spare $10, please CLICK HERE TO DONATE VIA DIRECT LINK!!!!

My Blogiversary was yesterday, so you could consider it a little birthday gift to me :)

R.I.P.

2008-01-28T22:34:00.000-08:00

A Tragic Demise
Dear friends, we're gathered together today to mourn the passing of Melinda's first pair of hand knit socks. Let's have a moment of silence.

The socks gave 5 years of noble service in the face of machine washing (and sometimes drying) and being stuffed into an assortment of boots, shoes, and clogs. While the Koigu remained colorful to the last, it finally succumbed to wear and tear. The socks asked that they be allowed to pass peacefully, with no extraordinary darning measures taken.

Farewell, pink socks.

Still Running
I have no idea how or why, really. I'm now on my third week, except that I'm still doing the first week of the couch potato program because, well, I'm pathetic. Today I managed to time it so that I was out running during the heavy late morning snowfall. The snow promptly melted off, so I didn't really get the fun Abominable Jogger effect that I was hoping for when I came home. Well, I was abominable in the since of sucking at jogging, but not in the snow covered way.

I'm going to try to advance to week 2 of the program on my next run, in large part because I'm sick of the music on the first podcast.

And a final note
I'm with Rudy on appropriate behavior in late January.

moar funny pictures

Seeing spots

2008-01-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

Look! Shiny pictures!

Here's a shirt I've been working on. (I haven't bought buttons yet). The pattern is made with Bernina's MyLabel software. It looks like a couple of my measurements are a bit off, because it bunches up at the back of my head. However, the bust and sleeves fit really well. Here's why:

It's 3-D. It allows for my mighty blessedness. Yay! I'll try for a modeling picture after I get buttons. Also, I'm supposed to put some ruffles on this, since nominally it's a sample for a demo I'm doing next month at the Quilting Loft. Hmm. Maybe around the collar and cuffs? I don't know if I can face ruffles running down my chest or around my butt.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly inching along on the Carolina Crossroads quilt. Here are a couple of my stars for Part 6. I've been insanely working a ton lately, plus I've turned my attention back to garment sewing, so this has been languishing. I've got to get back to it while I still know where everything is.

Awww.
It's a notable anniversary for Trent and I. Today is the 10th anniversary of our first date.

A plea for a good cause

Bernie is currently in 2nd place, and stands a really good chance of winning the big prize and building a shelter. However, some of the other groups (all worthy causes, I know) are picking up steam. The contest runs through Jan. 31. It's the number of donors that counts. If you can spare $10, please please donate to Bernie's cause to help animals who otherwise wouldn't have a prayer. I'm lucky (and my sweet Chloe and Stella are, too) to live in a part of the country rich in well-funded animal rescue groups. Bernie's not, and the animals in her neck of the woods really need her.

And finally, leave a comment
My pal and reader Linda K informs me that she's been unable to leave comments. If you can leave a comment, please do so. If you can't, shoot me an email at mkmorrow (at symbol) yahoo dot com.

Sad lack of pictures

2008-01-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

We had a busy weekend, but I have no photographic evidence. Saturday morning I did manage to motivate myself to do my third run of the week. (Special note to concerned friends and family: yes, I am wearing supportive undergarments, and yes, I am being very careful to avoid the ice.) Saturday afternoon Nancy and I went to Ballard and visited the Quilting Loft (a bit of fabric was purchased). Saturday night we met up with friends and went to Mesob for Ethiopian food. It was very, very yummy, and I ate too much. Sunday we went to Accordi-o-Rama at Town Hall. It was pretty darn cool. Accordion players, by and large, don't take themselves too seriously, and the show ended with a polka band, so what's not to love?

This morning I hauled myself out of bed in time to go for my morning waddle. I'm repeating week 1, on the grounds that I'm pathetic. It was really damn cold this morning. Ouch.

I've got lots of projects in progress at the moment, but most are in an unphotographable state, and the camera's batteries are dead besides. Crap. Maybe later.

Running is still hard.

2008-01-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

I actually hauled myself out of bed this morning and out to do my couch potato "run" before work. Observations:

I vaguely feel that I've been invaded by a body snatcher. Who is this person getting up early to do something healthy? And where's my chocolate?
Dodging icy patches leftover from our wee little snowfall on Monday night added an extra bit of fun.
I hope I'm serving as an object lesson to the kids in that elementary school I trundle past. Kids, go out and play and exercise so you don't turn into that slow, pudgy lady.
I felt a tiny bit better today at the end than I did on Monday. Perhaps I just went slower in the running intervals, but I'll take it.

Help a good cause

2008-01-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

I was reading Vickie Howell's blog, and she pointed the way to a very important and worthwhile contest/fund raising venture. As Vickie says,

My friend, artist Bernie Berlin and the legions of furry friends she continues to help, need your support. You may remember her organization A Place to Bark from last year's pattern for dog ears to benefit the the horribly mistreated pup, Noel (who now has a happy home, thanks to Bernie!) Well, this year she's trying to win a matching grant for 50k to build a shelter for abandoned and abused dogs and cats. Through a massive grass-roots campaign she's in the front-running to make it happen, but she's not there yet! Please take a moment to read about her effort--including the 500 pets she's saved, and what you can do to nurture this amazing woman's passion for rescuing animals by meeting this financial goal.

The way the contest works, Bernie needs as many INDIVIDUAL donors as she can get to stay in the running for the big $50K. The minimum donation is only $10. Visit Bernie's blog and click on the blue badge to donate (they take PayPal or credit).

A Place to Bark rescues dogs (and cats) from high-kill shelters in the south. Trent and I moved to Seattle from South Carolina 8 years ago, but the memory of visiting the county animal shelters there 9 or 10 years ago (when Trent ended up acquiring Rudy) is still burned in my brain. As Bernie points out in her video (available just above the big "donate" button), some of the shelters she gets dogs from have a 98% euthanasia rate. If she can win the big prize, she'll be able to build a real shelter and increase her spay and neuter programs.

So, please please please if you can spare $10 for a good cause, go donate.

Another bag, and a news flash from Obvious Man

2008-01-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

Bag
I finished another messenger bag (I've lost count - #8? #9?), this time a rather late Christmas gift for Avril.

I had some help when I was cutting out the lining.

Running is hard.
Okay, this is probably Obvious Man territory, but wow, running is much harder than walking. In a spell of ambition combined with a little self-loathing, I decided I'd like to start running, and I decided to use the famous Couch Potato to 5K program, facilitated by the spiffy podcasts from Robert Ullrey. (Thanks to Rachel at Yarn-A-G0-Go for mentioning the podcasts.)

I don't exactly consider myself a couch potato. Yes, there's definitely a spuddish shape to me, but I do walk, sometimes for miles up and down hills. I can walk long enough to wear out Stella, so that seems reasonably fit to me. The first week of the program has you do 8 repeats of 60 seconds running/90 seconds walking. That didn't sound at all unreasonable.

Wow. I picked the flattest route available in my neighborhood. Maybe I just need to learn to jog slower, or maybe I'm more potatoey than I realized. Ouch. At the 6th jogging interval, Robert's podcast says something like "You should be feeling your work out, but you shouldn't be out of breath." Umm, okay, sure thing. I can breathe. This gasping is just like breathing.

It may take me more than the program's 9 weeks to get up to 5K. If you see a slow moving, gasping potato in your neighborhood, that's me.

ETA: I checked with the gmap pedometer, and I did manage to cover 2.2 miles in my 30 gasping minutes of walking and jogging (that includes the warm up and cool down), so I guess that's not too shameful.

stash explosion

2008-01-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

To satisfy my sibs
Since my siblings were kvetching in the comments on the last entry, here are two more Springfield stories.

On the visit to the F&M store, my niece, Camera Obscura's youngest, somehow managed to talk me into agreeing to make her a messenger bag. She also managed to talk her mom into paying for it, so at least I'm not the only one susceptible to her influence. A few years ago she sweet talked me into making her a felted purse. She's good, that one. She could be a very successful lobbyist. It's also worth noting that I was in there so long that my sisters, sister-in-law, and niece all gave up on me and went outside to wait in the car.

When Trent and I decided to walk the Galloway Greenway, we set out at about 3:30 in the afternoon. It doesn't get dark quite as early in Springfield as it does here, but nonetheless we were perhaps overly ambitious. When we left, I said that we might walk to the nature conservancy. My brother said it was way too far. A lifetime of being an obnoxious know-it-all younger sister meant I was by god going to walk that far. We did, but by the time we got there Trent had blisters, my feet hurt, and it was getting dark. We called home and asked for someone to come retrieve us (because Springfield, for its many virtues, doesn't have anything like a useful public transit system), and of course my brother was the only one who knew where to come get us. It was win-win: he got to feel superior because I was dumb enough to walk five miles without a way to get home, and I got to feel superior because I was right.

Fabric stash
The box of fabric I bought in Springfield arrived this week. Here's the contents:

On the right side of the front row you'll see the fabric my niece chose for her bag and its lining. The other fabric on that row is the beginning of a collection for the quilt Mom requested. Row 2 is quilt stash enhancement. The top row is garment or miscellaneous messenger bag fabric.

Meanwhile, my friend Karen is moving and wanted to clear out some of her fabric. She sent me a stuffed box:

Wowza. I guess I'd better get cracking with the quilt making.

Knitting
I finished something! Nothing exciting, but still:

Top up socks from Mega Boot Stretch, and a scarf from Taos wool. (That's a cat tail in the upper left of the picture, by the way.)

What I did during the holidays

2008-01-06T20:32:00.001-08:00

December was something of a blur. It was the end of an academic term (the last one during which I will be teaching college full time). We celebrated my birthday and our 8th wedding anniversary. My mother had to be hospitalized with major intestinal issues, so I got to do a lot of worrying long distance. She was released a few days before Christmas, so she was home, but still flattened, when we got to my hometown of Springfield, Missouri on Christmas day.

My parents have retired to the house where I grew up. It was a little freaky being back there, but it was also kind of nice. Trent liked Springfield, despite the sad unavailability of our preferred veggie sausages (Gardenburger breakfast sausage). They've built a delightful greenway (the Galloway Creek Greenway) that begins a couple of blocks from my parent's house, just across the street from my elementary and junior high school.

I was seriously worried about mom while she was hospitalized, and so I decided to make her a quilt for Christmas. It started out as a table runner, but I decided the blocks were too boring for that, and it would make a cool quilt. The block is a puss in the corner variation, and the finished quilt is a nice couch-nap size at about 68 x 78". Here it is pre-quilting, with cat assistance:

And here it is in its new home (corner turned down on purpose so you can see the backing):

I guess Mom really likes it, since she promptly asked me to make her another quilt.

Once I got home Missouri, I resumed construction of the Carolina Crossroads mystery quilt. Here are steps 4 and 5, completed:

Bonnie says we're going to start putting blocks together this week - I can't wait!

On the subject of quilts, here's one more note about Springfield: the FM store is like fabric heaven. Most quilting cotton is 3.99/yard. They had home dec weight silk, 54" wide, for $7.99/yard. I had to be forcibly pried out of there, and I found a way to go back the next day. My parents are shipping me a box full of fabric. I'll post new stash pictures once it arrives.

Trent and I also took a day trip to Branson, just so he could appreciate its tacky grandeur. Because he is a wonderful, wonderful husband, he actually pulled over when I spotted a quilt store. But he couldn't resist expressing his disapproval (he's been taking lessons from the disapproving rabbits):

I just couldn't resist.

More fun than it should be

2007-12-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Nancy has a nephew who hunts, and who proudly announced to the family at the last gathering that he had cooked and eaten the squirrel he bagged. Nancy decided to commemorate his skills in his Christmas present, a manly apron. Our twisted senses of humor + embroidery capabilities on my Bernina = probably sick, but really funny.

In progress:

Completed (the colors are a bit washed out here):

That's about the most fun I've had lately. I'm trying to wrap up grading for the term, which is slow going (mostly because I avoid it as much as possible). All my other sewing projects are presents for people who may read this blog, and hence can't be discussed. (Hi, y'all!)

A quilt, a shawl.

2007-12-12T21:14:00.001-08:00

Here's the finalized Baby Harris quilt. I love how it went all crinkly and wrinkly when washed and dried. I tried to take better pictures, but the colors came out really strange.

The Eye Searing Pink shawl is sloooooowly working it's way off the needles. Here's 1/3 of the stitches in their bound-off state. I think Janine at Ferals was right - this sucker is going to be huge. I like how it appears to be oozing menacingly off the couch in this picture. It's coming for you, and your little dog, too.

I'm anxiously awaiting the next clue for the mystery quilt. Meanwhile, it has begun to dawn on me that perhaps I should do something about, oh, you know, Christmas - that big holiday coming up where one is expected to produce presents for one's friends and family. Huh. I guess I'd better get on that.

Mystery Quilt part 2

2007-12-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

Mystery Quilt
I've finished step 2 of Bonnie's mystery. Here are my 103 little 9 patches (we need 100, so I have a few spares).

I found these stupidly fun to make, and stayed up WAY too late Saturday night finishing them. I'm afraid that this quilt is going to lead to yet another quilt in the same colors, because I've still got a pile of 1.5" strips that I cut, and more pieces of the fabric I cut them from. If only one of my friends would have a baby girl so I could make more pink things...

Other quiltiness
I'm making a blankie for Ryan's Baby Harris project. Originally, I was going to just sew right sides together, turn, and top stitch. But then, of course, I decided it was a delightful opportunity to practice my free motion quilting skillz (that's skillz with a z, y'all, 'cause I'm so hip). The quilting is now done, so I just have to bind it. The flowered part is a nice Anna Griffin cotton print, and the solid yellow is flannel. If you click to embigify the yellow picture, you can sort of see the quilting.

It's about 42" square (well, it's close enough to square that I don't think the baby will mind). I've got a cute coordinating stripe to bind it with. I thought about tackling that tonight, but the quilting was not so kind to my poor shoulder, and I should probably get to bed.

Knitting
I'm sloooooowly binding off the eye searing pink shawl. It's got a crocheted edging - you single crochet into a live stitch, chain 4, sc into next st, chain 8, repeat until your eyes cross from staring into the bright pink shawl. Someday I'll finish. Then I'll have to find somewhere to block it.

Carolina Crossroads mystery quilt

2007-12-08T16:06:00.001-08:00

My life is so empty, boring, and full of free time that I decided to add another project. (That's sarcasm, y'all, in case that wasn't clear.) I'm a fan of Bonnie Hunter's fabulous website and blog. She started a quilt project and was persuaded to turn it into a mystery quilt sew-along, now called Carolina Crossroads (because she's in the middle of moving from SC to NC). The Yahoo group for the project ballooned up to 700+ members in 4 days - that's a lot of quilters. Holy cow.

Bonnie's all about using stash and scraps. The mystery quilt needs a light, a dark, and an accent. I'm using pink, black, and red, mostly from my stash, although I will admit that I bought a few more pinks to round out my collection.

Step 1 was to make 100 3.5" rail fence blocks, using dark/accent/dark. Here are mine, stacked into groups of 10 for ease of counting. As you can see, I'm using an extremely liberal definition of black and red.

Step 2 requires making 100 "accent in one corner" blocks, again 3.5". I'm up to 31 finished so far. They're a little fiddlier than the rail fences to get together.

I've been suffering from a lot of "help" in this process.

I really need to be working on some Christmas present projects, but I just can't seem to rip myself away from the mystery quilt.

Thanksgiving report, and a little craftiness

2007-11-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I'm a terrible blogger. Yes, I know no one is reading this. I enjoy talking to the voices in my head.

Thanksgiving
Here's what having a really good friend means: you can invite her over for Thanksgiving, then realize you've invited too many people, ask her to host instead, ask to invite a few more people while you're at it, and she's totally cool with that and ends up hosting a giant, wonderful, celebratory dinner. Nancy, you're my hero.

Thanksgiving is really the sacred holiday for Trent and I. We believe in food, drink, and friends, and we forged into it with our usual enthusiasm this year. We cooked turkey (17 lbs of organic free range), dressing, gravy, and sweet potatoes, and transported them to Nancy's. She made a ton more food, and then the 11 other people who came over also brought food. It was carb-o-riffic. A forthcoming blog entry will feature favorite easy recipes.

Nancy provided art supplies for decorative turkeys, but someone made a slug, too.

We got to see our foster dog Briscoe (now Nancy's dog).

I've got more pictures, but I'm a tad reluctant to post non-family members on the blog without their agreement. But here's Jenine (Perkster of the comments) sniffing Trent's wine. She's practically family, as are Dan, Avril and Roger in the background, so I'm willing to post silly pictures of her.

Craftiness
I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, but some of it is for gifts, and some of it I just don't have pictures of. I did make another in the ongoing series of messenger bags:

I've also been knitting intermittently. The long term projects are hard to photograph (lace in progress is ugly, y'all, especially when it's 700 or so stitches jammed on a 29" circular needle). But here's some socks, just to prove I still knit.

The red (kind of pink on my monitor) is Panda Wool, and is a class model for a sock class I'm teaching at the Northgate Pacific Fabric and Crafts in February. I just finished it. The black tweedy one is for Trent. I temporarily lost the second ball of yarn, but I've now found it and can carry on with sock 2. The burgundy pair are from my birthday sock yarn from last year. Sock 2, as you can see, is almost done, but therefore I don't carry it around to work on it very much because I constantly need to check it against sock 1.

I'll try to make the next post sooner, and with recipes.

House concert

2007-11-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

We hired a security professional for our house concert. We wouldn't want any ruffians spoiling the show.

Trent and Misty performing. They did a short set and sounded great. (That is of course my unbiased opinion as wife and friend.)

Michael Fracasso performing. He was amazing, as we expected, performing both old and new songs.

Michael, merch-girl Jenine, and Trent. There's a story here. Our friend Jenine asked for a job at the house concert. Since we already had Chloe as security, we asked her if she'd do the cd sales for Michael. Jenine has amazing sales skills, and sold more cds to our guests than Michael sold on any other night of his tour - so he gave her the shirt off his back, and that's the shiny silver shirt Jenine is wearing here.

So, to summarize: great music with a fun party in the comfort of our own home. Next time, y'all should come over.

(There is some sewing and knitting going on, but there are also ongoing shoulder problems, so progress is slow and computer time limited.)

Real live music

2007-10-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Trent Hill & Misty Weaver
Saturday, Oct. 27, 8:00 - 9:30
Mr. Spot's Chai House, Ballard
Trent will perform about 30 minutes solo, then Misty will join him for songs about lovin', drinkin', dyin', and stalkin'. Mr. Spot's is a delightful venue with delicious beverages (caffeinated, alcoholic, or neither). No cover charge, so y'all come on out.

Michael Fracasso
Saturday, Nov. 10, 8:00 - ?
Chez Nous
Michael Fracasso is an insanely talented, Austin-based singer-songwriter. Go visit his website to hear samples (no, really, I'll wait). He's going to be performing at a house concert at our place while he's out here on the west coast, and we even get him on a weekend night. I'm afraid we don't have a keg this time, but we'll have wine, home brewed hard cider, soft drinks, and munchies. $10 cover charge. Please contact me at mkmorrow at yahoo (dot com, duh) with inquiries or to RSVP.

More obsessions

2007-10-12T10:11:00.003-07:00

My fancy sewing machine does machine embroidery. I'm currently obsessed with making these ornaments:

Obsessions

2007-10-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

First, I apologize for the long silence. Not only has life been crazy-busy, but I'm having excruciating shoulder pain. Sitting at the computer is very, very painful, and since I have to sit at the computer for my work (papers to be graded, you know), recreational computing has been limited.

Knitting is also painful in long stretches, so I've been very slowly knitting socks. It's not exciting.

Sewing, however, is not too bad as long as I remember not to hunch over at the sewing machine. I concocted a messenger bag pattern awhile ago (the black one with the pink polka dots and baby rick rack, which you can see two posts down), and since then I've made three more. I have fabric on deck for a fifth bag. It's kind of an illness.

The finished version of the unfinished bag two posts down. This one uses needle-felted wool and couched sock yarn. It also has spiffy lining. (Remember, you can click to embigify the pictures.)

More couched yarn, and more spiffy lining.

Velveteen with ribbon, and yet more fun lining. I'm thinking about using the leftover ribbon to make a big silly flower on this one.

Shameless self-promotion: I'm teaching a messenger bag class at Bernina Northwest on November 9 from 3-6 p.m. You'll get the pattern and suggestions for techniques. You can borrow one of the store machines, even. You can call to register: 206-523-4739.

I also made a lovely, lined swing jacket. Unfortunately, it turns out that this style makes me look round. Fortunately, it looks adorable on my best friend Nancy. It will be going to live with her as soon as I run the buttonholes.

And, just because no post is complete without gratuitous pet photos: I bought Stella a squeaky rubber chicken at Target. It's hours of amusement for both of us.

Living up to the title

2007-09-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

In true headless chicken fashion, I've been running around in circles this week. There's work, of course, complete with huge piles of papers I haven't graded. Then there's knitting. Since I'm teaching the bat shawl class at Pacific Fabrics, they needed a sample. They don't carry the yarn I used for the book's shawl, so I cranked out another sample in La Gran Mohair, which they do carry, so I could figure the yardage for that yarn. I finished knitting the shawl body at 1:00 am, then knit the choker this morning. I bought a button and sewed it on at the store, handed over the shawl, and then ran off to Bernina for sales floor training. I still need to finish making messenger bag samples for Bernina, but there are those pesky papers, and committees, and other worky stuff. Aargh.

So I don't have any fun pictures or new projects to show you, since the sample shawl went straight to the store without passing go or collecting $200 or any of that. Also, it's gray and dreary here. (That's pretty much unrelated to the previous statement, but is related to a certain lack of fun in the atmosphere.)

Now ketchup

2007-09-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

Oy. There was Trent's gig on Friday of Labor Day weekend (fun! successful! you should have been there!). Then I had a cold. Then I had to grade a lot. Then there was work. Ugh.

But, I did manage to sew a knit wrap dress that fits, with no pattern modifications. It fits really well - I didn't have to tug at the neckline to protect my bra all day. (Let's pretend my waist is as skinny as the dress in this picture, okay?)

I also made a messenger bag. I made up the pattern, and I'm going to be teaching a class on this at Bernina Northwest in November.

I've started another one using needle felting and the super spiffy free motion couching foot for my Bernina. This was about the most fun sewing thing ever. The lining-to-be is lost in the laundry right now, but I'm really looking forward to getting this done.

In other class teaching news, I'll be teaching a class about my Bat Shawl from Vickie's Not Another Teen Knitting Book.

The class will be 3 Wednesdays, Oct. 2, 9, and 16, from 7-9 pm at the Northgate Pacific Fabric and Crafts. We just scheduled it, so it's not on their website yet. I really hope people sign up - it's a fun and gratifying lace project (size 17 needles!) and just the thing for Halloween parties.

Incidentally, I caved into peer pressure (is spouse pressure peer pressure?) and joined Facebook. I can see that it's going to be a tremendous time-suck. But, hey, if you've joined the Borg too, add me as a friend.

Live music, Friday night

2007-08-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

My dearest darling Trent, along with singer Misty Weaver, will be performing Friday night at Mr. Spots Chai House in scenic Ballard. They're scheduled to go on at 8:00, and you can stick around to see and hear Aubrey Birdwell and our good friends The Ensemble Sub Masa. Mr. Spots serves chai, coffee, wine, beer, and some food. The show is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

For a preview of Trent, you can listen to some of his songs on his MySpace page.

I'll be there with my knitting, of course.

Got my goat

2007-08-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Adventures in cooking
Lake City, my 'hood, has a new store, the Discount Warehouse. It's a purveyor of Halal meats, assorted Indian and Mediterranean foods, and some other oddities. I bought some delicious (and insanely low priced) lamb for stew last week. Today, Trent and I went there to try to get some stew beef. They didn't have any boneless stew beef, so we ended up buying goat.

Why?

Why not.

So, we asked the nice guy at the counter how he'd suggest cooking goat. They sell boxed spice mixes for assorted Indian foods [edited to add: the spice mixes are from Pakistan, but you'd recognize some of the dish names from Indian restaurants], and he recommended the "Karahi/Fry Gosht spice mix for meat", which we duly purchased. Trent cooked it while I went off to the Bernina shop for a demo of some soon-to-be-released pattern software. It was delicious, but holy mother of Ganesh, it was HOT. What's more, the recipe on the box recommended adding 8-10 chiles, which we didn't do. My throat hurts just thinking about it.

At any rate, should you find yourself in Lake City, and find yourself thinking, gee, I could use some meat, I can highly recommend the Discount Warehouse. It's a little hard to spot, tucked away on the backside of the Rekhi building, but it's well worth a stop. Where else are you going to buy your fresh goat and lethal spice mix?

Conclusions and introductions

2007-08-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

The end of the Amalia saga
Her Royal Highness the World's Most Expensive Stray Cat, Amalia, has gone to a new home. She was pried out of her chair

Stuffed in a carrier

And went home with her new person, the lovely and delightful Erin.

So there's a happy end to my good deed for the year. (edited to add: no matter how pissy Amalia looks in all those pictures, she likes Erin and is doubtless sitting on her lap even as I write this.)

Approaching the end of a quilt
I spent most of yesterday evening turning 361 quarter blocks into 180 half blocks (with a quarter left over), which I'm now combining to make 90 whole Star Struck blocks. Here's a few of them laid out. I'm hoping the star pattern will show up better when they're actually sewn together instead of just flopped out on the bed.

Now on MySpace!
Trent has asked me to let y'all know: he now has his very own MySpace page, where you can hear his tunes. You can find it here, or there's a link over there in the sidebar. Also, for those of you here in the Seattle area, Trent and Misty will be performing on August 31 at Mr. Spots' Chai House in Ballard. Our friends the Ensemble Sub Masa are also playing.

Coming soon to your local Bernina Dealer
I'm going to start teaching some classes at Bernina Northwest in October. I'm very excited (not least of all because I get employee discount). I'll inflict more details on you as I get them.

Homeward bound
Our dear friend Jenine (aka my commenter, Perkster) is moving back to the Seattle area after a stint in Arkansas. She needs an apartment, and it looks like the rental market is pretty tight right now. If any of you locals know of a vacancy convenient to UW-bound buses, please let me know and I'll pass it on.

Amalia update

2007-08-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the antibiotics. Maybe she's getting over whatever ailed her. Maybe she's relieved to be safely back in the garage and not forced to interact with other household pets. Whatever the reason, her majesty has started eating again (I saw her eat crunchy chow!) and is noticably perkier. She's feeling well enough to resist vigorously when I pry her jaws open to syringe antibiotics down her.

Me? I've managed to grade a few papers, knit a tiny bit, and sew more Star Struck blocks. I've lost count of the blocks again, so there's going to be a soothing spell of counting, endlessly counting. I suspect I'm now in the 200's somewhere.

Quilts and cats, part #13779

2007-08-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a hellaciously busy week. Amalia drama continues. After a spell of good health, she stopped eating and became increasingly listless. We've been to the vet three times this week, and we still don't know what's wrong. Blood tests came back normal, so now they're running another viral panel and a urinalysis. Meanwhile, she'll only eat stinky meat baby food in microscopic quantities, and I'm once again giving her antibiotics. The upside is that I'm getting really good at poking syringes down the cat's throat. I'm considering this my charitable contribution to the universe for the year (or maybe the decade, at the rate we're stacking up vet bills).

Here's a happy family shot from before she became feeble. She's willing to be in the presence of dogs if she has a lap to sit on.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the Star Struck quilt. I can't remember how many blocks I have now - somewhere between 100-200. I also finished up the bright baby quilt:

While I was photographing it something very predictable happened.

Oh well, I needed to wash it anyway.

Note to my Feral friends: I miss y'all. My work schedule means that I'm now in transit and at work from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm on Mondays (and I'm sure it will be later with the upcoming delights of road construction), and I've been just too wiped out to get back in the car and come. I'll try harder.

Special note for Linda K.: You want to start sewing again. What else will you do with all that fabric? Besides, I need a partner in quilting crime.

Don't drink and sew

2007-08-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

And if you do drink and sew, and then knock over your glass of white wine, be really grateful that you just dumped WHITE wine all over your quilt blocks. The vaguely boozy smell is much easier to deal with than red stains would be.

These, by the way, are the ever growing double wrench blocks (current number: 26), some of the victims in last night's tragic wine spill. (It was tragic because it was the end of the bottle, not because there was permanent damage.) Rudy decided to assist me in the layout and photography of these blocks.

I've also started a Star Struck quilt from Quiltville. (As an aside, wowza. Bonnie is incredibly generous to maintain and share so many patterns with the public.) So far I have 36 of them (although the picture below only shows the first 19). The pattern says you need 396 or something like that for a full-size quilt. Hee hee hee. And to think, I started sewing again because it led to faster gratification than knitting.

The Star Struck started out as a scrap quilt, using up leftovers from the first baby quilt and some fat quarters I bought in the first flush of quilt fabric frenzy. After I chopped all of those up, I thought it could use some more variety. (I've rapidly learned that I'm in the "more fabrics better" camp in quilting.) Yesterday I visited The Quilting Loft and added 9 more fabrics to the collection. They'll get cut tonight, unless I decide to be responsible and grade literature papers.

I had a sweet surprise at the Quilting Loft yesterday. They ask for your name when you're rung up (because they keep track of your purchases in their database to reward you after you've mortgaged your firstborn). When I told them mine, they said "Oh, we have something for you." I was flummoxed. Did I leave something there in the past? They handed me an envelope with a lovely plump gift certificate, courtesy of Trent. He was out and about yesterday, and knew I'd be hitting the store, so he stopped by and left it for me. Say it with me: Awwwwwww.

In cat news, it's pretty much the cold war. We don't leave Amalia out and about unless one of us can supervise. Rudy actually emerged from under the bed last night to hang out in the hall and glare at Amalia, which had no discernible effect since she was curled up sleeping. We may have a potential home for her, but it's one of Trent's students who is currently on an exchange program and won't be home for three more weeks. Eep.

Cat fights and aprons

2007-07-29T17:44:00.001-07:00

The process of introducing Amalia to the rest of the household is rough. Rudy and Callie came out to sniff at her carrier when I brought her upstairs. She hissed, they hid under the bed. Eventually, I let her out to explore. She cried, they skulked and hid under the futon. They came out, they hissed, she hissed, I got scratched, everyone howled, and the dogs started barking furiously downstairs.

Today we skipped the hissing, and Rudy and Callie went straight to hiding. Amalia paced around howling at me. She doesn't understand why I'm not sitting down and making a lap. After she got ejected from my lap at the sewing machine, she got even by finding the most annoying place she could be at the moment.

No matter how it looks in the second picture, I am not actually ironing the cat.

I relocated her to a pile of quilts-in-progress. She stayed happily for awhile. Eventually, I returned her to the garage so Rudy and Callie could feel free to come back out for awhile. I'm really thinking that Amalia may need a home with someone who isn't already besieged by loving animals that want to be in her lap. If anyone knows of a good potential home for a very sweet lap cat (vaccinated and rapidly recovering from the flea-induced skin trauma), please let me know by emailing mkmorrow at yahoo.com.

Yesterday I hung out with Nancy. She's been sewing super-stylish aprons, so I finally got off my butt and made one that I've been meaning to sew. This is the Clothespin Apron by Mary Mulari. It's a fun pattern, although I had a bit of trouble squeezing it out of the yard of each fabric that the pattern called for, I think because this fabric isn't really 44" wide - more like 42" washed, and you need the extra 2" to cut the neck strap. I just pieced the neckstrap. The apron is completely reversible, and the contrast band on the bottom edge is pockets.

Here's a close up of the fabric. Chickens!

Must...grade...papers...

Amalia

2007-07-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

After a spell as "Wumpus," kitty became Amalia today. We named her for Amalia Rodrigues, the fado singer. I took her to our regular vet today for further analysis. Her skin is really clearing up, so the regular vet agrees that it was probably flea dermatitis. She got vaccinations and more dewormer, and has been cleared to meet the other household pets.

However, I've pretty much been at work since then, and Trent wasn't feeling brave, so that hasn't happened yet. I'm expecting chaos. Stay tuned. I'll try to take some quality pictures of cats puffed up and hissing.

Meanwhile, I've limped through another week of work. I enjoy the actual classroom time, especially since I have a pretty good batch of students, but the grading and committees are killing me. My self-evaluation for my annual review was also due this week. I hate writing that damn thing every year. I always sound like a pompous ass to myself. "Allow me to enunciate the myriad aspects of of my exceptional performance and my diverse accomplishments. Also, give me a raise."

I've been getting a bit of sock knitting done while sitting with Amalia, and I pieced another 4 double wrench blocks last night. I had originally intended to make a crib quilt out of those blocks, but I'm really digging them, so I may just keep going.

I'll try for a more colorful post this weekend.

The tale continues

2007-07-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

I called every vet in town looking for a regular vet that was open on Sunday. VCA Crown Hill, Green Lake Animal Hospital, and Northeast Veterinary Hospital all have regular Sunday hours, but they were all booked solid. I gave up and took kitty to the emergency vet (which also happens to be the closest vet to my house, conveniently). It's a good thing the trip was short, as kitty was none too happy about the transport and wailed.

Two hours and a large chunk of change later, here's the story. Kitty is female, perhaps 3 - 6 years old, not spayed (please please please don't let her be pregnant), FIV/FeLV negative (yay!), radically underweight, and has a vile skin condition. The most likely cause of the skin issue (responsible for all those scabs and bald patches I could see last night) is flea dermatitis. The vet dosed her with Advantage for the fleas (not that we could see any, but she's black) and de-tapeworm stuff. I've got antihistamines to try to calm the itching, and antibiotics to fend off infections in the raw spots. I'll be sure and update y'all on how well administering these meds to the cat goes, since I'm sure you can use a laugh.

We'll take her to our regular vet at the end of this week to see how she's doing. If de-fleaing and the antihistamines don't start to help the skin problem, we'll have to have more tests done. Meanwhile, she needs to be kept separate from Rudy and Callie and the dogs, so she's currently living in the jumbo dog crate in the garage. I go hang out with her and knit. She wants to be a lap cat, as you can see.

Here's a pic that gives you a sense of her skin problems (the flash makes the bald spots stand out.)

Kitty needs a name, since she's going to be with us for awhile and I don't want to get stuck on "Kitty." Trent likes Wumpus. I was thinking Neko, after singer Neko Case because kitty has an impressive set of lungs. Then I remembered that neko is also the Japanese word for cat, so it's still sort of like calling her kitty. Any suggestions?

Oh, and Harry Potter
Before I got totally derailed with cat rescue, I was going to post about the acquisition and reading of the last Harry Potter novel. Here's the condensed (but illustrated!) version.
11:53: arrive at Ravenna Third Place Books.

11:55: find the end of the line, which was winding through all the bookshelves.

12:15: line turns corner into home stretch.

12:30: Mischief managed, head home.
3:00 am: Bleary eyed, go to bed.
11:00 am (approximate): recommence reading.
5:00 pm: finish reading. Feel satisfied, and much less bummed than I did at the end of book #6.

(Incidentally, am I the only person in the whole world who likes the 5th movie, the one that's freshly out? I really enjoyed it, but several people whose opinions I generally value thought it was purely wretched.)

Cat tales

2007-07-22T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing a little black cat around our house. At first, I thought it belonged to our next door neighbor, because I'd see it sunning itself on his patio. But a few days ago, I noticed that the kitty was desperately thin and seemed to be wandering. Last time I tried to feed her, she had scampered by the time I got out with the food.

Tonight, Trent and I came home from a friend's going away party at about midnight. As we were walking up our driveway, I saw the kitty huddled by a neighbor's garage. This time she was still there when I came out with food. After a brief moment of shyness, she quickly got friendly with me, and was curled up on my lap ten minutes later when Trent came out to see what I was doing. Like the other members of my family, I have a rescuing gene. I couldn't leave her out in the rain and risk not finding her again.

She's been living rough. She's scrawny, and has some scabs and bald patches. But at least at one point in her life, she was someone's kitty. We've temporarily lodged her in the big dog crate we have from when we were fostering Briscoe, and I'll get her to the vet tomorrow to scan for a microchip and get her checked out. Stay tuned for pictures (although black cats are damn hard to photograph).

Unsurprisingly

2007-07-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Look! More sewing!

This is a shirt for Trent.

I've started piecing another quilt (the block is called double wrench).

I did get some spinning done. I finished spinning and 2 plying 8 ounces of Crown Mountain Farms superwash roving in the color "Heat Wave." It's nice roving, and I got massive yardage out of it (1,000+), but I've decided I just really don't like spinning superwash. But here's a skein:

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things at work. Classes are fun so far, but I'm having trouble getting off the nocturnal schedule I go on when I'm off.

Yet more sewing, and back to work

2007-07-11T23:02:00.001-07:00

I finished a baby quilt (batted and backed, quilted, and bound). I don't have a recipient in mind for this one.

I also assembled most of our future quilt. This is more or less made from the first pattern in Karla Alexander's latest book, New Cuts for New Quilts.

As soon as it cools off enough that I can bear to deal with a giant pile of fabric, I'll add the borders and start to consider how I'm going to back and quilt this sucker. I frequently have moments in which I think, what the hell am I doing, making a large quilt? I'm clueless and kind of inept. Of course, there's a certain advantage to that: there's not a chance in hell that this thing is going to be heirloom quality, so it can get used and washed and covered in cat hair without too many regrets.

Oh, and I made another new skirt. This one is McCall's M5431. Here's an arty shot of the pocket, since I couldn't be arsed to hang it up and try to get a decent full length shot:

I'm planning to wear the skirt to my first day back in the trenches tomorrow. I desperately, completely don't want to go to work. I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things and not actively feel like I'm being tortured, but it's hard to imagine that right now.

Incidentally, Seattle's temperatures topped out at a record-breaking 98 today. Trent reports that the thermostat inside our house registered 88 at one point this afternoon. I abandoned ship at around 1:00, when it was 83, and went to Ballard to visit the Quilting Loft and see the new Harry Potter. It's a good movie, and it was fun to see it with the matinée crowd, but that's not why I went. Let me just say: 153 minutes of air conditioning!

More sewing

2007-07-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

The valance and pillows that I made arrived chez Camera Obscura and are now deployed in the niece's room. (The walls are going to be repainted red, which will make the valance look better.)

In the last couple of days, I've pieced a screamin' bright baby quilt. (Worth noting in regards to the baby quilt: I am not pregnant, nor do I have any plans to become pregnant. But people around me keep having babies, and small quilts are fun to make without a lot of commitment.)

I've made Trent a shirt:

I've made a skirt for me:

I've also been slowly working on a big quilt for our bed. The cats were extremely helpful during the part of the process where I laid out blocks to decide on an arrangement.

I continue to be madly, deeply in love with my Bernina. The buttonholes rock, and it sews on buttons (which don't come off when you pull a thread, unlike commercial garments).

Vacation is wonderful. I really don't want to go back to work.

The blog returns from holiday

2007-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

I didn't set out to abandon the blog for an extended period. But I had to survive the end of the academic term (grading, ugh). Then I decided that for the first week of my vacation I was only going to do what I wanted to do, except for the bare essentials necessary to keep the household together. That translated into a lot of sewing, because I got a new sewing machine.

It's a Bernina Aurora 440 Quilter's Edition, purchased from my friendly neighborhood Bernina dealership. I love Bernie. She's fabulous. I've made placemats and napkins for my mom for a housewarming present.

I've made a baby quilt, and I charged right into the free motion quilting. (For perspective, the total baby quilt is about 40 x 40".)

And today I made a handbag. This is the Veronica bag from Lazy Girl Designs. This is a GREAT pattern. It's clearly written, illustrated with actual photos (with the bag's parts in different colors so you can tell what's going on), and very smartly designed.
There's been some more sewing, but that's what I've got pictures for. I made a valance and a couple of throw pillows for my niece, Camera Obscura's daughter, but I mailed them off without photographic proof. I'm sure Camera will post photos of these project in the redecorated room.

I did finish making socks for Jenine (Perkster of the comments) out of Tofutsies. I loved knitting with this yarn! I was afraid it would be stringy like some cotton yarns can be, but it was nicely plush and soft.

Alive but addled

2007-06-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm still alive, although sometimes I have to check my pulse to make sure. It's the end of the academic term, which means that my life now revolves around grading and miscellaneous student presentations that I'm obligated to attend.

In this middle of all that fun, Trent and I did our annual volunteering for the Seattle International Randonneurs. So, last weekend involved driving to Elma, WA and staying up for a huge part of the night checking in riders, feeding them, and assigning them to rooms. This year went more smoothly than last year because we had plenty of rooms, and the Elma Microtel was nice enough to let us use their conference center as a check in, food, and bike storage area. Most importantly, I won a bet with Trent. I made about 5 quarts of chicken stew on Friday night to take with us. Trent argued that long distance cyclists are so neurotic that they'd prefer to eat cup o' noodles rather than home cooked food. The soup was gone by 11:45. Ha! I made him admit out loud, in front of witnesses, that I was right. (Trent and I never bet money - we just bet for the right to be right.) So the night went smoothly, but I didn't go to bed until after 4:00 am because I felt compelled to stay up until most the riders had come through. I'm way too old to stay up all night. I got back up at about 9, and felt like holy hell.

Back in the real world, I've sewn a set of placemats and napkins as a wedding gift for a coworker:

These are made (more or less) from the pattern in Amy Butler's In Stitches. The placemats are the stripes on the back, and hence reversible. They're honkin' huge, too. Butler called for something like 22" square napkins, which seemed outrageously big, so I made mine 18" square. There was a wee mishap with the rotary cutter which resulted in the supposedly 18" square solid blue pieces turning into 18 x 9" rectangles, so I decided to make it a design feature, which is why the napkins are pieced.

I've also finished a skirt.

This is McCall's M5390, out of a linen/rayon blend I bought at Joann's because I liked the color. This skirt is super-skinny-fying on. The sewn-down pleats mean that one looks sleek through the waist and stomach, and then it poofs out, balancing everything out. The linen blend is a bit heavy for the style. I might make another one out of cotton. Right now, I'm in love with this Kaffe Fassett print.

RIP
Our dishwasher started leaking last week. We called an appliance repairman (Trent and I are NOT handy). Repair guy came Friday. When I got home from work, Trent has posted this helpful sign on the dishwasher.

We bought a new dishwasher over the weekend, but of course it was out of stock, so it's not going to get to us until probably early next week. Life is very, very bleak without our dishwasher.

Beginning to see the light

2007-05-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ah, the restorative power of a holiday weekend. I should have graded. I didn't. I did finish fixing the accursed hoodie:

Now it only requires a zipper.

I also finished sewing a bridal shower gift. This is the kimono-style robe from Amy Butler's In Stitches, made out of a 100% cotton Robert Kaufman screen print that I purchased from Pacific Fabrics and Crafts.

Speaking of Pacific Fabrics, they had a 25% off all fabric sale on Memorial Day. My credit card is still smoking.

Sweater surgery

2007-05-24T12:05:00.001-07:00

My design project ran into a hitch. I finished the second sleeve and sewed it to the body. I persuaded a size small friend to try it on. The sleeve was dorky. It was too long, and the difference in gauge between the cuff and the sleeve made it poof above the cuff. Here's a picture of the miscreant, with the hood turned away in shame. (The picture fails to capture the full stupidity of the original sleeve.)

After long meditation and much advice-seeking, I decided to remove the cuffs and bottom 2" of sleeve (they were REALLY long).

Then I reknit the cuff so it was wider, decreased in the last row to allow for the gauge difference, and grafted it back on to the sleeve.

I'm just about done reknitting the second cuff. To deal with it, I have to unseam the sleeve that I've already attached to the sweater. I hope this damn thing is cute when it's done.

First ever meme

2007-05-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

My big sis tagged me. Since I can't muster up the brain power or digital photographs to write a post about what's actually going on in my litter world, here you go.

Here are the rules:
-Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
-People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
-At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
-Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a reading problem. If I’m seriously involved in a book, I can ignore almost anything. I have to be careful about how close I am to finishing a book if bedtime is approaching, because if the end is in sight I’m likely to stay up far too late getting to it.

2. I’ve never broken a bone. (Knock on virtual wood.)

3. I never saw the ocean until I moved to Japan after finishing college. I’m a Midwestern girl (Missouri), and I stayed pretty close to home until I made the big move. I lived very near the coast in Japan, and no one I met there could imagine a country so large that the ocean was unreachable.

4. If I have the house to myself for any length of time, the first thing I do is clean the kitchen. Then I go buy a frozen pizza, rent a fluffy movie, and begin the descent to barbarism.

5. I can twiddle my thumbs in opposite directions (i.e. one clockwise and one counter-clockwise) simultaneously. I taught myself how to do it during many, many boring high school classes.

6. I’m insanely fidgety (see above). I tend to fold, curl, and shred pieces of paper (or tie my hair in knots, or pull threads out of my blue jeans) if I don’t have anything else in my hands. One of the many reasons I love knitting is that it turns this problem into productivity.

7. I have two English degrees. I always kind of feel like this ought to mean I love great literature and choose to curl up with timeless works in my free time. In reality, I love pop culture fluff. Give me a plot, some explosions, and a steamy sex scene, and I’m basically happy. Of course I do also like some serious, weighty works of Literature, but I spend most of my free time with more lightweight fare.

8. I totally, completely suck at sending holiday cards. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas – I ignore them all. I really love my friends and family, but that love just doesn’t seem to translate into purchased cards and postage stamps.

I'm not tagging anyone. If you, too, need a random blog post, consider yourself tagged.

Addictive

2007-05-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

For the doubtless very small sub-set of blog readers who are fans of both lolcats and Project Runway. (If such a sub-set exists, we could take it as proof of the Long Tail.)

Mah catz haf been lolled

2007-05-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Camera Obscura (mah big sis), and the LolCatBuildr.

Big sigh of relief

2007-05-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

We got Chloe's biopsy results today. The removed lump is not a scary cancerous tumor. It's a non-cancerous growth, which, in my giddy relief, I have promptly forgotten the name of. Since it may recur, and have to be removed AGAIN because it's in a place that's irritating to Chloe, Trent has dubbed it a "fiscal suckitoma".

The end is in sight for my SWTC design project. It's past deadline and I'm sick of it, but I still think it will be cute when done.

And in the "not sighing with relief" category, I got volunteered for another frakkin committee. Great is my joy. (By joy, I mean "snarling impotent rage.")

Poor, neglected blog

2007-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

Work work work sleep dogs sleep work dogs sleep work sew work dogs sleep knit work dogs work etc.

Since I've been so damn useless as a blogger lately, let me entertain you with pictures!

Here are the cats, "helping" me cut out a sewing project.

Recently completed outfit. The picture doesn't show the pleats on the skirt (between ribbon and hem) very well. The blouse is a fancy rayon/poly burnout. (Obviously I wear something under it.)

It's little blouse on the prairie! Actually I love this blouse, but it is, as my friend Nancy predicted, a little prim. It's also wrinkled because I wore it to and from work that day.

Same basic pattern, but with cherries! ruffles! and rick-rack!

Finally, our household continues to be full of dogs. Briscoe the foster dog is convinced he's a lapdog. Stella alternates between being his best friend (play! play! play!) and being wildly jealous. Chloe just had to have surgery to have a growth removed . We'll get biopsy results Monday or Tuesday. It could be harmless; it could be a mast cell tumor. I'm fixedly not thinking about it.

Thoughts on training

2007-04-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

A. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

B. I got a heckuva lot of knitting done.

C. I never, ever want to hear the following three things again:

"Take it to the next level"
"Get on the same page"
"Empower"

Raindrops keep falling in my bathroom

2007-04-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Seattle-area readers: can any of you recommend a good roofing or skylight repair company? When the rain was heavy on Saturday night, our bathroom skylight started leaking. It's way up high (recessed into the tippy point of our roof) so I'm not really sure if it's the skylight or the roof. I have neither a ladder nor the courage to get up on our roof and check it out for myself, so we'll be hiring a professional. Suggestions?

Look! More sewing!
Last week I finished a blouse. This is out of quilting cotton (Windham Feedsack III) I got at the new quilting store in Ballard, The Quilting Loft. It's made from Simplicity 3990 , with both the body and the sleeves shortened. (Tunic length on a fitted blouse = weird, as I discovered with the pale pink blouse from the last blog post.) Now that I've learned that ribbon is easy to sew on, I want to put ribbon on everything. Here, puppies....

(Yes, I know I look really, really weird in the second photo. Don't look at the nose - look at that spiffy ribbon trim! Also, the sleeves in the first photo look wrinkly because they were stuff in a cardigan earlier that day. They're actually very well set-in.)

I've also made two skirts in the last week. Sorry, no pictures. I've got two more blouses cut out of Simplicity 3893 (same pattern as the bathroom mirror shot w/cat in the last post). And there may have been some additional fabric purchases. Possibly.

Additionally
There's been both knitting (the pink and orange sweater for SWTC) and spinning (some superwash I got from Crown Mountain Farms at the Seattle Knitting Expo). And dogs. Lots of dogs. (The second photo is there to demonstrate that they do sometimes chill out.)

In grumpier news
Later this week, I have to go in to work to attend a five hour training session on what would normally be a day when I get to stay home. The training is called something like "Souper Serve Us Training" (I'd really rather that my blog not show up on my employer's radar). My attitude toward this "systemwide initiative" (jargon in honor of kmkat, who was collecting jargon for tax day)? Foul. Bitter. Hateful. I'm taking my knitting because I'm afraid I'll make strangly, stabby gestures if I don't keep my hands occupied.

From the sweatshop

2007-04-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sewing

I've been in a wee bit of a frenzy. I finished two dresses:

(The gray, button-print one is MUCH cuter on me than it looks on the hanger. It requires an ample bosom.)

And two blouses:

Callie was excessively helpful while I was taking the bathroom mirror shots.

Rudy was excessively helpful during the sewing process.

I've started another blouse, but Trent demanded desk space tonight to work on our taxes, so I'm taking a night off.

Knitting

The eye-searing pink shawl has lost Most Favored Nation status, and I'm working on another eye-searing project, a sweater I'm designing for SWTC. I'd like to pretend that this shot is artfully blurry because I wanted to protect my sacred design until it's official, but really I'm just a terrible photographer.

Briscoe the foster dog

He's turning out to be a real sweetie. He thinks he's a lap dog, which is a little awkward since he's about 45 pounds and kind of gangly. That's also part of the reason I haven't been getting much knitting done. It's hard to knit when a big, clumsy dog keeps climbing on you. On the upside, we do have wonderful photo ops like this:

Trent had just cut into a freshly baked loaf of bread, and had undivided attention.

Comprehensive summary

2007-04-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Linda K (blog here, but currently inactive) asked in the comments to my last post, "I take it you're not sleeping these days having taken on all this?" Why, yes Linda, that pretty much sums it up. Actually, my approach seems to be to continually add new responsibilities. Busy people get things done, right? (Except blog updates - sorry, peeps.)

Knitting
I'm slowly oozing along on the hexagon. It still looks exactly like it looked in the last picture. I think I now have 36 rows to go. It's been back-burnered because I received the yarn for a design project I'm doing for Southwest Trading Company. It's also bright pink, plus orange. My poor eyeballs.

Sewing
I am super-productive here. One dress is entirely done.

Simplicity 4050, view D, out of stash polyester plus new ribbon. Sewing on ribbon wasn't nearly as hard as I expected. I learned that you can scotch tape it to the fabric, sew over the tape, and then remove it. Cool. I wore this to a wedding on Saturday, and someone actually called it fashionable.

Dress #2 ended up being a radically overhauled Vogue pattern, also out of stash material (rayon, this time). It's done but for hems, which were pinned up yesterday. Dress #3 is out of more rayon, purchased for the project, and Simplicity 3877 (the other pattern in the post below). It needs the zipper installed and a bottom hem. It's the best looking of the current sewing binge - and it's also pink and orange (my eyes! my eyes!).

Next up, I think, is a blouse.

Dogs
You may have noticed in the pictures above that there's a new dog. We're fostering Briscoe, which means that we're keeping him for the rescue organization (Rescue Every Dog) until someone adopts him permanently. He's listed as Jack on Petfinder. I'm a little unclear on exactly how or why this happened. The reasons seemed good at the time. He's sweet and fun, and endearingly clumsy. We're now going to the dog park 2 times a day on most days.

Work
Trent and I have a maxim based on observation of academic life. Those who can, get more to do. Those who can't, don't, and get paid just the same. I'm currently chairing 4 committees. I hate committees. I hate committee meetings. Consequently, I run very efficient meetings. Everyone is awed by my efficiency, so they give me more to do. When I got one of the committees handed to me, my superviser said it was because I'm the only one she trusts. Yet, strangely, those untrustworthy colleagues seem to get raises and promotions too. (Yes, I'm bitching and whining.)

To illustrate

2007-03-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

More fun with technology: the MacBook will connect to Blogger if we use an ethernet cable instead of wireless. Trent has had a few go-rounds with tech support about this fun issue. (Note: issue still not resolved. I've given up and am using my work computer, which is probably against some policy.)

The Spider's-web Shawl
It's really hard to take a picture of lace-in-progress, especially when you have 700+ stitches crammed onto a 32" needle. But here it is, in all its eye-searing glory (remember, you can click on the pictures to embigify them):

Here's what it wants to be when it grows up:

Spider's-web shawl, full hexagon, from Victorian Lace Today, out of Karabella laceweight mohair. At this point, it takes over an hour to do two rounds (one patterned, one plain), and I have 42 rounds left, so this may be a loooooong term project.

Sewing
As I mentioned in the last post, I'm trying sewing clothes again. Inspired by the Dress a Day blog, and a couple of upcoming weddings I need to attend looking respectable, I decided to start with dresses. Here are my chosen victims:

I'll be attempting view A, shown in tan, on 3877 (the first pattern above), and view D (shown in mauve) on 4050. I spent a couple of evenings working on bodice fit for 3877, and I still haven't quite conquered the sleeves, so I decided to start with 4050, which is much easier to fit. I'm going to be using stash fabric, some polyester I bought in Vancouver, BC in the Indian district several years ago. The view I'm making has thin ribbon trim, which should be just a boatload of fun to sew onto polyester. I cut the dress fabric tonight, but I haven't cut the interfacing yet. I scanned the fabric for you:

I bought 3877 for the black and white print in the middle of the picture below (it's a stretch cotton), but now I think that the skirt, which has godets, is too full for the fabric, which is a tiny bit on the stiff side. I may alter the dress into a real wrap dress and take out the godets, or I may pick a different pattern for this fabric. So, 3877 is now designated for the screaming red rayon/linen blend at the far right of the picture below.

The fabrics on the left are a gorgeous wool windowpane check, and a cotton 1930's print reproduction. I purchased them both at Britex Fabrics in San Francisco.

100 Miles by April 1

I'm in real trouble here. I'm at 73, assuming my count is remotely accurate.

Time keeps on slippin'....

2007-03-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

In the nearly-a-month since my last post, the following things have happened:

1. I finished an academic term, which means I spent two weeks straight grading papers and then wept in despair because so many of my students failed because they didn't turn in assignments. If they had turned in more assignments, I would have had to do yet more grading, but at least it wouldn't have seemed so futile.

2. After the plague of F's, only magenta mohair could cure my pain, so I promptly cast on the Spider Web Shawl (full hexagon version) from Victorian Lace Today. It's motoring right along. I've dubbed mine the Eye Searing Pink (ESP for short) shawl, because...well, as soon as I can get our home computer to talk to Blogger, or remember to transfer pictures, I'll show you. Oh, and the camera will need new batteries.

3. There were a series of computer problems. For awhile, my work laptop wouldn't speak to our home network. Meanwhile, our home computer (now an cute widdle Mac) won't speak to Blogger as long as our wireless connection is encrypted. This state of affairs greatly inhibited my ability to update my blog.

4. I had a glorious week without work. I knit, I took the dogs to the park, and I cooked. I have no real memory of anything else. I think there was some fabric and yarn shopping, and also a lot of sleep.

5. I decided to start sewing again. I stopped sewing several years ago because the patterns never fit and the fabric selection was lousy anyway. Now, however, there's a lot of cute fabric available. Also, I had an "Ah ha!" moment and realized I could make test versions of garments out of cheap fabric (these are also known as muslins). I have no idea why it took me 5 years to realize this, because I made muslins for everything back in college when I worked in the costume shop. It's fascinating to return to sewing after several years of knitting because I have a great deal more patience for the process now. I spent two evenings last week working on a muslin for a dress bodice (because I'd like to be able to raise my arms), and I wasn't nearly as twitchy and frustrated as I would have been 5 years ago. It's like swatching, but bigger and faster. Once I get the picture/computer connection issue straightened out, I'll post pictures of recent fabric and pattern acquisitions, too.

6. A new term started. My body came back to work, but my brain didn't. Those first few classes were pretty painful. I may not have used coherent English sentences. I wouldn't be surprised if I sounded like a Charlie Brown teacher.

7. I went to San Francisco for the annual get-together of my online knitting group, and forgot the camera. It was a completely wonderful trip: good friends and lots of laughing. (Also, some shopping, and more than a few glasses of wine.)

8. There's probably been more, but damned if I can remember. I'll try to create a more colorfully picturey and linky post tomorrow.

The Handsome Triangle

2007-02-21T23:08:00.000-08:00

Ah, the magic of blocking. It's now pretty much a triangle!

Blocking

Outside at dusk

Modeling shot

To reiterate, this is the Handsome Triangle shawl from Victorian Lace Today. It's knit from my handspun, which was made from Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms, in the color "Silver Fox." I started it exactly a month ago, on Jan. 21. Trent doesn't really like the color; he says it's "very Victorian", and I don't think he means that in a positive way. It's very muted for me, but I love it nonetheless. I thought I had more than the amount of yarn the pattern calls for (950 yards), but either I overestimated my yardage, or the pattern underestimates the yarn requirement. Happily, it's a design where you an stop pretty much any time and bind off. It's enormous anyway, so it's probably good that I stopped when I did.

I also finished Trent's green Fleece Artist socks.

So far, I've resisted starting anything new and have been working on UFOs.

Just barely

2007-02-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

I finished my handsome triangle tonight. Right now it's not looking especially handsome, or even triangular. I'll be sure to post post-blocking pictures later.

For those of you (Peggy and Rebecca particularly) who watched me fret about the yarn amount at Ferals tonight, I had JUST enough. Here's the leftovers:

It won't even register on my digital scale. That's less than a gram, y'all.

A responsible knitter would now return her attention to her many UFOs. An irresponsible knitter would start another shawl. What do you think is going to happen, hmmm?

Playing catch up

2007-02-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

I'm behind, both in life and on the blog. Here's the (reasonably) short version.

Feb. 3-4: Knitting friends visit town. I spend Saturday running around with Lori and Kristin, and attending Vickie's book signing at Pacific Fabrics. They had the complete line of her yarn, which was very cool to see. Sunday, I got up and frantically finished tidying my house, and then the knitters descended at 1:00. We had Lori (from New York), Kristin (lives here), and of course Vickie, blogging her heart out.

(They're all wearing a rendition of a scarf I've designed for SWTC out of Vickie's Love yarn.) Nancy and Stacy (also local) rounded out our brave troupe of knitters. Stacy brought the nicest gifts, ever - Kiehl's hand lotion for everyone, and a six-pack of Shiner Bock for Vickie, in case she was homesick for Austin.

Vickie didn't get to have a lot of fun, because it turns out that writing blog posts while trying to simultaneously answering 500 comments is hard work.

The days from Feb. 5-9: Oh my god. So, I'm chair of a committee whose primary task is to organize the faculty development day (3 times a year) at my workplace. My mom has a favorite expression: "God so loved the world that he didn't send a committee." If only... This committee is a particularly challenging case because members are appointed rather than volunteering. As you might imagine, that means that they're not all approaching the task at hand with joy in their hearts. Also, the event itself has often been treated as a dull, punishing, and pointless day that keeps faculty from more important things, like grading and sleep. I'm doing my best to inject some enthusiasm and value into the day, but I might have better luck selling sand in Arizona. My committee members ran the gamut from helpful but uncreative to actively hostile and negative. Anyway, as a result, I spent the week chasing down details and dealing with last minute bonfires. I'm happy to report that it came off without a hitch, and then I came home and slept a long time.

The most recent weekend: Grading. Because there was knitting fun, followed by committee event planning no-fun, I've gotten a little bit behind in my classes. Okay, a lot behind. So this weekend I graded. Tonight? Grading. The foreseeable future? Take a guess.

There has been a little knitting and a little walking amongst all this. I'm up to 46.5 miles (but fatter than ever, since I'm a stress eater). The knitting looks remarkably like it did last time I took a picture of it: a rumpled mess of gray that's going to be a shawl, and a green fleece artist sock in progress for Trent.

Poetry

2007-02-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading. I participated last year (see the Feb 2006 archives) with one of my very favorite poems by Louis Simpson. This year's poem is by one of Trent's favorites, Charles Simic:

My Weariness of Epic Proportions

I like it when
Achilles
Gets killed
And even his buddy Patroclus --
And that hothead Hector --
And the whole Greek and Trojan
Jeunesse doree
Is more or less
Expertly slaughtered
So there's finally
Peace and quiet
(The gods having momentarily
Shut up)
One can hear
A bird sing
And a daughter ask her mother
Whether she can go to the well
And of course she can
By that lovely little path
That winds through
The olive orchard

Yarn winner, and an unhappy husband

2007-02-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

Blogiversary random drawing

Rebecca (Supergirl) is the lucky winner! I'm sending an email as soon as I finish this blog post.

Complaints department

Dear Trent checked in on my blog sometime yesterday, after which I received the following email:

subject: snif, snif

Cuuutie pie,

It's lovely that you sung my praises on your
blog, but I'm a trifle disturbed that none of your commenters said anything
about my wholly unselfish and supportive work as a yarn enabler. I mean,
really, I would've thought there would have been at least one "Gee, Trent is
completely wonderful! You're so lucky!" Instead, silence. What
kinds of sociopaths do you have reading your blog? This is deeply
troubling.

I loooooove you,

me

Well, sociopaths, what do you have to say for yourselves?

Exciting weekend news

The fabulous Vickie Howell will be in Seattle this weekend. She's signing her latest book, Knitty Gritty Knits, at Pacific Fabric and Crafts (the Northgate store) on Saturday at 1:00. Sunday, DIY is airing a Knitty Gritty marathon from 2-8 (PST), and Vickie will be doing a live blog and chat...from my living room. Her hotel doesn't get DIY; I knew having the sattelite television so I can get it would come in handy.

Blogiversary!

2007-01-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

It's my blog's birthday. Today would be a lovely day for everyone to leave a comment. In fact, as incentive, sometime Thursday morning I'll draw the name of one lucky commenter and send them a delightful skein of handspun yarn (enough for socks or a scarf). I suppose if the draw-ee is a non-knitter, I can convert the yarn to a knitted item.

I finished a baby sweater in the nick of time for a shower yesterday. Truthfully, the knitting and blocking was done over a week ago, but the buttons went on at the last possible moment.

Pattern: Ann Norling top-down raglan, with seed stitch and collar by moi.
Yarn: Madil wool/acrylic blend, 4 skeins

The parents-to-be loved it, and there was a gratifying amount of cooing at the baby shower.

A good husband
Trent watched me mope on Saturday, and ordered me to take myself down to Tacoma and visit the marketplace for Madrona Fiber Arts. I saw lots of people, bought lots of roving, and was generally glad I went. Everyone I know who took classes said they were great, so next year I'm going to try harder to fit some classes in.

Jealousy

2007-01-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

All the cool kids are at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat, and I'm sad and jealous. I didn't sign up because I knew I'd be crazy busy with work at this time of year, and that's absolutely true. I'm not even going to go the market because, good lord, my stash is ginormous. But I'm still feeling the magnetic pull of all that fibery goodness, so close...

Meanwhile, I just can't seem to wedge much knitting time into my work week. I'm not doing so well on the walking, either. I'm currently at 31, which is pretty much on track for the month. I've only made it out once this week, though (yesterday), and last week was only 2 walks. If I can manage to avoid falling asleep as soon as I get home, I should be able to get another 3 or so miles in today when I get home from work.

Wallpaper

Kmkat asked everyone to post their desktop pictures. I don't actually have one up right now because of the glacial slowness of my poor work laptop, but here are two favorite desktops past.

The top photo is the harbor of Zeerikzee, a small town in the Zeeland province of the Netherlands. We've been there a couple of times, on bike trips. It may be my favorite place in the world. The light is gorgeous, and I always feel happy and peaceful there.

The second photo is somewhere along the coast of Oregon, from the bike trip we took two summers ago. The views were staggering. Since this picture is well-composed and not blurry, I imagine Trent took it.

Seeing these makes me weepy with longing for summer vacation. I know that, compared to people with normal business jobs, my 7 weeks off a year is a lot. But I still want more. I don't know how people survive going off to work at the same place day after day with only a week here and there for relief. I'm practically counting the days until I'm eligible for sabbatical.

The concussion scarf

2007-01-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Our old modem died over the weekend, so I was unable to post a scarf pic until now. Here it is, modeled by the kitties just for Jenine.

This is the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf pattern, in handspun Perendale (pictured here on the left in its yarn form, back in May). I dyed the roving, too.

In other knitting news, I once again succumbed to casting on.

This will be the Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace Today. This is handspun corriedale, purchased from Crown Mountain Farms, in the color "Silver Fox." I made a little more headway on it tonight at Ferals. As many, many bloggers have pointed out, it's nearly impossible to take a non-crappy picture of lace on the needles.

Thanks for the concern for my concussion. I'm really fine, although I'll be even happier when the dumb-lump on my skull finally goes down.

Not my week, my month, maybe my year

2007-01-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

It hasn't been the happiest couple of weeks. First, there was the cruel shock of returning to work after the 2 week break. I hadn't managed to do very much grading or preparation over the break, so that first week back was a killer. But then it was interrupted by a snow day (Thursday Jan. 11). The day off work made me happy, but the slick white stuff did not inspire as much joy. Then, Sunday night, I slipped on the ice, conked my head on bricks that surround my neighbor's flowerbed, and gave myself a concussion. I'm willing to admit that I was childish and petulant about going to the hospital. They eventually did a CT scan, and I'm happy to report that my brain is in place and the size, shape, and presumably even the color that it is supposed to be.

To sum up: work, snow and ice, concussion, ow, work.

Knitting
My mom sent me a picture of an FO from last year, the Two Swans Tea Cozy. (It has "I'm a little teapot" on it. Awww...) I finished this for mom while she was visiting in the fall, and she whisked it away before I got a picture.

There's also been current knitting. I started and finished a scarf from my handspun (it was even roving dyed by moi) using the Yarn Harlot's one-row scarf pattern. I'll forever think of it as the concussion scarf. It's even appropriate bruise colors, purple and green. (I'll edit this post later today to add a picture of the scarf.) I'm a little bogged down with my complicated knitting right now, and I wanted to do something with faster gratification.

Everything else going on in my knitting life is about delayed gratification. Trent gave me the lovely book Latvian Dreams for Christmas (or my birthday? It's easy to lose track). When we used the Amazon gift certificate we got by running our vast amounts of change through a Coinstar machine, I ordered Victorian Lace Today. Both of these books are full of beautiful projects that I long to knit, but I have so many sweaters and socks and such in the works that I feel like I have to deal with some of them before I start any major new projects. (The scarf didn't count, since it only took 3 days.) Right now I'm making the most headway on the red Wensleydale sweater, pictured back in this post. The back is done, and one of the fronts (it's a cardigan) is just shy of the neck shaping. I'm also periodically forging ahead on Trent's green Fleece Artist socks and the green cormo/alpaca that I started spinning at the St. Distaff's spin-in.

Last day of vacation

2007-01-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

I could use another week. My schedule at work is going to be hellish for the next two months, and thinking about it makes me want to huddle under the covers.

St. Distaff's Day spin-in
I headed up to Mountlake Terrace yesterday for the St. Distaff's Day spin-in that NWRSA (Northwest Regional Spinners' Association) puts together. Peggy and Rebecca encouraged me to turn up with my Betty Roberts' wheel so we could have a little block of them for people to admire. They did. I spent a lot of time explaining how it worked. I was there from just after 10 to sometime after 3, and even deducting time for shopping, I did a lot of spinning. My pictures did not come out well, but here are two blurry shots that give you a sense of what it's like to be in a gym with 150 or so spinners. That's the view to my left and to my right (where you'll see TMK's hands. I feel so proud to have had a small part in sucking in another victim).

Knitting progress
I've finished the knitting on the baby sweater, and just need to block it and sew on buttons. I'm still chippping away at Trent's green Fleece Artist sock 2 and my red Wensleydale sweater.

Walking
I did one mile with Chloe after I got home yesterday. Nancy's coming over today with her dog to keep me company, so that should be another 3-4 miles.

Pink sock problem

2007-01-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Remember the red sweater thing I have going? The other day, when I was hanging the delicate laundry up to dry, I noticed something about my handknit socks: a certain pinkness.

In addition to the 4 pairs pictured here, there's also the pink pair I just finished (that's the leftover yarn in balls above the sock line-up). To the left of the socks, that's the pink BFL I recently finished (intended for socks) and the burgundy Fleece Artist sock yarn I bought myself in Chicago. I'm sort of afraid to go look in the sock yarn stash. What if there's more?

100 miles
I did 3.6 miles with Stella today. We went slower, and she didn't stay flat quite as long when we got home.

I've decided that I'm not going to count the walking that I do normally (morning dog walk around the park, post office, Blockbuster, and so on). Partly that's because it would be a pain keeping track of those little distances, and partly because I want to do the 100 miles above and beyond my normal level of activity. I'm really enjoying getting to know my neighborhood better, too.

Off the couch

2007-01-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Despite my basic dislike of New Year festivities and (especially) resolutions, I'm joining Rachael's 100 Miles by April 1.

Recently, we've learned that Stella is now old enough to be tired out by a long walk. We've been taking her (every day) to an off leash area and playing fetch. While it does wonders for her, standing in one place and lobbing a tennis ball doesn't do so much for our fat butts. Trent got the ball rolling by hauling her off to Green Lake for several days in a row (Chloe and I went too on Sunday), and, inspired by him and by the gang at Runagogo, Stella and I did 4 miles today. I figured the distance using the very spiffy Google pedometer.

She was hyper hyper hyper when we started. See the mad gleam in her eye?

We headed across Lake City Way and down 35th toward Meadowbrook pond.

There's still some visible damage from the wind storm.

Meadowbrook pond, across from the Meadowbrook Community Center, "is a flood control and water quality project" according to Seattle Public Utilities. But when you're there, it's a lovely, landscaped little park with good bird watching. We saw this one. (Anyone? I need a field guide in the worst way.)

Our route had some hills, and Stella and I both came home tired. Ah, flat doggy.

In other news
I'm finally feeling better. We had the most low-key holiday season ever. We spent NY's eve at home, watching movies and knitting (me) and reading and playing guitar (Trent). I've been knitting a skein of the Fleece Artist sock yarn I got in Chicago into socks for Trent, spinning up more of my roving from Spunky Eclectic, and working on a baby sweater for a pregnant coworker. Pictures will appear when any of those things get done.

Finished socks

2006-12-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

I'm in a blogging rut. Since I've had the pure pleasure of spending most of the last week at home napping, knitting, watching movies, and walking the dogs, there's not a heck of a lot of interesting blog fodder.

I finished the socks I started on the trip to Chicago. I lurve them. So pink! I have a ton of yarn left, so I may try to make Eunny's Endpaper mitts if I have something in my stash that coordinates.

Meanwhile, I'm currently knitting on my interminable complicated sweaters, a pair of socks for Trent out of some of the Fleece Artist yarn I got in Chicago, and a baby sweater. The baby sweater is almost done (yay!) but I ran out of yarn (boo!). Back to the Fiber Gallery for me.

Christmas decorations

2006-12-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

We decorated, in a small way. (That tree's about a foot and a half tall, with the pot.)

Some of the decorations didn't last very long.

It's been a very low-key holiday season. I've been sick since my birthday (the 19th), so we haven't been as festive as usual. But now I have antibiotics, and the doctor's encouragement to sleep as much as I want, so I expect to feel better soon.

I'll try to get back into the blogging groove with a report on wooly holiday presents in my next post. Maybe I'll even finish something...

I will not mock the meterologists

2006-12-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

They weren't kidding. The storm was terrifying and dangerous. (I feel bad about the title of my last post, because there really were fatalities from the storm.) The winds really picked up at about 10 pm. We lost power somewhere between 11 and 12. Stella conked right out, but Chloe was pacing and nervous, and all of us jumped up everytime something thumped against the house. I finally convinced Trent to let me break the one sacrosanct house rule, and I heft Chloe up into bed with us. I couldn't handle being anxious about my house and my dog, so I found it reassuring to have her taking up 2/3 of the bed.

In the morning, we were pleased that no windows were broken and the roof wasn't leaking. Here's what was waiting at my front door:

No, I didn't artistically lean them there - that's where they landed. Here's the spot where I usually park my car:

And here's the roofline of my block of townhouses.

We've got a little bit of damage to our siding and the weather stripping around our bay window, but I feel really, really lucky. Our power was back on around noon the next day, our local Fred Meyer's had generators and hence stayed open, and our phone stayed on.

In happier news, I gave Melissa her red scarf, and she loved it.

I finished spinning by Tahiti BFL from Spunky Eclectic. I randomly 2 plied. (The colors are right in the first picture, and the second is for scale.)

Killer weather!

2006-12-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

I'm really going to have to change the subtitle of the blog so it mentions weather, since god knows I seem to post about it all the time. We're currently at home wondering how long the power will be on. I should be at school teaching the final film and lit class of the term, but the power went off at work just before class was due to start.

The wind hasn't been quite as ferocious as our (admittedly hysterical and paranoid) local meteorologists predicted...not yet anyway. According to one forecaster, the worst of it will come late tonight. My favorite visual so far comes from weather.com:

I think what this map really needs, though, are some "here there be dragons" or "here there be the waves of death" illustrations.

Grace and style
It hasn't been my week for trousers and pockets. First there was the key episode on Monday (thank you for your support). Today's trousers have a hole in the right pocket. While teaching, I tend to wave around my dry erase markers while I'm lecturing. To keep track of them, and also try to limit the number of times that a marker slips out of my fingers and pelts a student, I frequently stick them in my pocket. Since I'm right handed, at some point during today's writing class I forgot about the hole and stuck my marker in my right pocket. A minute later I reached in the pocket, only to discover that the marker had made a break for it.

I kept talking about introductory devices while idly taking a couple of steps to help the marker work its way down. When I felt it slither out past my ankle, I calmly bent down to pick it up, still talking. If any of my students noticed, they were kind enough not to point it out.

Maybe I'll wear skirts all next week.

Knitting
I finished my second batch of Soaring Eagles Project hats and got them off in priority mail today. It looks like Rachel is going to make her goal of a hat per student, which is fabulous news. I hope she posts pictures of the hat distribution assembly.

In other knitting news, I'm working on the Chicago sock. I still can't seem to concentrate on sweaters. Meanwhile, I'm spinning my second bobbin of Tahiti BFL. Yummy. I can't wait to finish it ('cause, you know, I need more sock yarn).