Bead & Fiber Babe!

2012-01-20T08:06:00.003-05:00

TGIF!

I haven't been in this good a mood in quite a while. It's Friday, I slept for 7 hours in a row last night, I didn't realize it had snowed until I stepped out the door to go to work (and it looked so pretty), I have dinner plans with friends tonight, I stopped at Brew'd Awakening this morning and have a GOOD cup of coffee at the ready...

all seems right with the world.

2012-01-15T22:25:00.002-05:00

Halfway Through January

So, it's halfway through January, and I figured I'd provide an update thus far. Good news- I have stuck to resolution #1! I have indeed been writing down every penny spent, and it's been interesting thus far. I find that I naturally curb my spending more if I'm paying close, daily attention than otherwise. It is what you'd expect, naturally! Of course, it does take a little time and attention every day, going through receipts, quickly jotting down expenses when there are no receipts, and tallying things up at the end of the month... that part I haven't gotten to yet this month, of course.

Anyway, I am glad that I've started back up with this habit. Only a couple more weeks until I unveil Resolution #2! Stay tuned!

2012-01-02T23:07:00.004-05:00

12 in 12 in 2012

I've never had much luck with resolutions. The only one I ever got to stick was the resolution to start using reusable shopping bags... that resolution went quite well, to the point that I didn't have any plastic bags left in the house to use for garbage bags! I also did quite well with my "five year plan" to pay down a bunch of debt. *pats self on back*

2011 was an all right year for me, but looking back, nothing really stellar stands out for me. I'd like for 2012 to be a little different. To that end, I'm going to try to make 12 changes over 12 months. I'm going to start with what I consider to be a "gimme", because I want to start with a success. For me, making financial changes seems to be easy in comparison to, say, going to bed early. So, we start with that.

For the month of January, I will improve my financial health by doing the following:

1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year

Folks, I have done this for years at a time. I fell off the wagon in 2011, but it should be easy enough to start back up. I can do this one!

I haven't actually figured out goals 2-11 yet. I am thinking about the following:

Improve my sleep habits
Exercise regularly
Track my eating habits (I have gained a lot of weight over the last 1 1/2 years, and am not feeling my best)
Rekindle my enjoyment of my camera
Spend less time mindlessly surfing internet
Learn to meditate
Blog more often
Read more (I love to read - why don't I read more???)
Keep home in a tidier state

Part of the problem, as I see it: We all want to do better on most of these things. But why don't we? Why is it so hard to get it together? For me, it's certainly not a lack of time or finances. I work very close to home, don't work long hours, don't have a family. None of these tasks will cost much money, if any at all. In fact, #1 will hopefully have me SAVING money. I guess we get tired, distracted, or the to-do list just looks too long for us to actually believe that we can ever make a dent in it.

At any rate, I'm going to give this a try. For what it's worth, it's already January 9 and I've been tracking my spending all month, and have set up a nifty little spreadsheet and everything.

2011-09-21T18:26:00.002-05:00

Heartwarming

I was in an unusually good mood when I left work today. I have a cold, had to stay late and STILL didn't get all of my work finished, and had more than one reason to be crabby, but for some reason, I wasn't. Because of this good mood, I stopped for some teenagers to jaywalk downtown... I think part of it was the good mood, and part of it was because they were waiting politely rather than just blasting into traffic.

Anyway, I thought I recognized one of the students, so I said his name out of the window of my car, but then decided I was wrong; it wasn't who I thought it was. A moment later, after I had parked in the parking garage, there he was, standing outside waiting for me. "You were right, it was me... so I figured I'd better come and find out who was saying my name!" I re-introduced myself, and once he remembered who I was, he gave me a big hug and I said I'd walk him to his next destination as we chatted.

I was his counselor almost ten years ago. He had been referred to me after he witnessed a terrible event that left him parentless. He struggled a little in school, but was always such a nice and lovable little kid. A Now, he is a senior in high school, and is looking at colleges he wants to go to next year. He has a nice group of friends, a nice variety of after school activities, and he seems well spoken, sociable, and is as kind as always.

I was just thrilled that he is living a nice life. I was also secretly pleased that he remembered me, and that he was willing to share a little bit about how his life has been going. I hope I run into him again someday; I would love to see him in another ten years and see how he's doing. Here's hoping he crosses the road in front of me one day, when I'm in another good mood!

Fruit Bento

2011-09-06T19:41:00.001-05:00

Fruit Bento 9-6-11, a photo by BrickMillStudio on Flickr.

(Click on photo for uncropped version)

Tomorrow's lunch is a major departure from the one I had packed for today... rather than traditional Korean foods, I packed various fresh fruits, some pita slices, cheese, yogurt, and a little quail egg.

In case you were curious, a quail egg is about 1/4 the size of a chicken egg, but tastes the same.

I enjoyed eating my fancy Bento lunch today, but interestingly, I found it to be a bit too much food, and will think about using a smaller container for heavy, meaty meals in the future... but for the fruit plate, I think a bigger container will be fine, as there are a lot fewer calories!

2011-09-05T19:21:00.002-05:00

Korean Chicken Bento 9-5-11, a photo by BrickMillStudio on Flickr.

(click on the photo to see an un-awkwardly cropped version)

I love learning new things. This past summer, I took a bartending course, because I've always wanted to. Actually tending a bar for money sounds hellish to me... standing on your feet for hours and hours, dealing with drunk people, trying to remember drinks, ruining your shoes from all that sticky liquor dripping onto them (or so I would imagine), loud environment, late, late hours... but I'm getting away from the point. I really enjoyed learning how to do a counted pour, how to mix drinks, and it was fun to meet new people.

The latest thing I became interested in learning about was how to create a Bento Box meal. I have only ever eaten such meals at Korean or Japanese restaurants, but recently saw cute pictures of Bento style meals online. So, I decided I needed to try it for myself!

I didn't want to invest in any fancy boxes or materials quite yet, in case I didn't really enjoy making or eating meals in this way. I did, however, go to HMart, a giant Korean grocery store in Burlington, to get a few interesting ingredients.

I bought some ready - made items, such as the Korean omelet, Kimchi, spicy anchovies, and marinated (uncooked) chicken. I also cooked up some millet and some brussels sprouts.

I then read up on how to pack the food into a bento box, and tried to make mine look okay. I think it's all right for a first try, but I will try to plan ahead better for more colorful meals and try to get better at packing things neatly.

I don't have the cutesy rice balls with faces, or interestingly molded hard boiled eggs... but I do think it makes the meal look pretty interesting! What do you think?

2011-02-12T22:11:00.005-05:00

My adorable nephew!

I can't help it, I think my nephew is sincerely adorable. And luckily for me, my brother indulges me with pictures of him in the things that I knit for him. Evidently, Max loves the sock monkey hat that I made for him, and he gets complimented on it all the time.

I also knitted him an amazing cardigan (if I do say so myself) that Max needed a little time to warm up to, evidently... initially, the phrase, "let's try on your Christmas sweater" struck fear and horror into Max's soul... but now, he asks for it by name, "dozer"! Awwwww!

Sorry, those images are smaller than I'd like, but you get the point. I'm quite pleased with how it came out, and am relieved that Max likes it. I realize that within a couple of years, he's going to think that items knitted by his auntie are 'lame', and a few years after that, he'll be asking for itunes gift cards or a new game for his nintendo ds. But for now, he likes wearing his dozer sweater and his sock monkey hat.

Stay tuned... next month, Mr. Max is visiting the Northeast, and I plan on taking fifty bajillion pictures as usual. I won't lie and say that it is likely that I'll post before then... but who knows - stranger things have happened!

2010-11-18T22:22:00.002-05:00

Hair Cut!

All right, might as well try and breathe some new life back into this blog. I have taken loads of pictures over the last six months that I never got to edit, but that endeavor sounds a little overwhelming for bed time on a Thursday night. Boy howdy.

So instead, I will begin this story with a picture:

Yes, that is a giant pile of hair next to my toe! The end result was this:

After two months, it now looks like this:

At first, I was a little dazed - it's a big change, after all! Now, I'm used to it for the most part... but looking at that last picture (yes, I'm wearing my zebra print bathrobe, what of it???), I'm thinking I shouldn't wait a whole month for my next hair cut... although I am going to wait! Shaggy city!

Anyway, that's what's new with me. Or, new-ish. Next, I'll have to start hacking away at those pictures I have been taking of those amazingly wild and exciting adventures I've been having.

2010-11-11T14:06:00.002-05:00

A Product That Works!

I know, I know... it has been a REALLY long time since I've posted. I find myself really busy, working a hectic, full time job, two part time jobs, with a languishing jewelry business somewhere in the background. However, I have the day off today, and was so excited by a product that I bought that actually does what it says, that I figured I'd take a minute to post and share.

It's the Thermos Sipp Travel Mug, and just as advertised, it keeps your beverage hot or cold for a long, long time. I brewed some hot tea two hours ago and put it into the mug. I just tried to take a sip, and it was still so hot, I burned my tongue! After two hours! Did I mention that, because I didn't know how the valve worked yet, the mug was actually in the "open" position during those two hours??? Holy moly! This would be an ideal gift for yourself, or for anyone you know who is a sipper of hot or cold beverages. It's so nice and insulatey, that the outside stays room temperature.

Additionally, I was able to determine whether or not I'd be able to buy the mug at my local Target via their website, which I linked to above... just click on the "Find It At A Target Store" button below the product pic, put in your local zip, and it will tell you where it's in stock. Now, an employee at the actual store couldn't tell me whether or not it was in stock, but when I did the search on my smartphone, I was even told what aisle the product was in... I can't seem to find that info on my computer, though. (For locals, it's in aisle E39 of the Lowell Target)

Never again will I have to take a sip of coldish coffee or tea after I've been at work for a couple of hours... huzzah!

2010-06-07T12:18:00.002-05:00

Spreadin' the Love

I saw a student today who has two older sisters. I asked him how they were, and told him that they had both been in my after school knitting group a few years ago. He told me that they both still knit "all the time", as he put it - the younger one even made a blanket for her new baby brother!

Naturally, I am thrilled. I know how much I enjoyed being able to knit when I was a kid, and if they are still knitting several years later, I know that it is a skill that they can and will enjoy for the rest of their lives.

Hooray!

2010-05-20T15:32:00.002-05:00

WOOOOOO! YEAHHHHH!

I still haven't had much time for blogging lately, have I? I did think I would take a moment to share a funny interaction I just had with a gaggle of teenagers. I was in my building, waiting for the elevator, and when the door opened, about 10 kids were in there, and before they saw me, one of the boys shouted VERY loudly, "WOOOOOOO!" he then saw me, looked embarrassed, so I screamed at the top of my lungs, "YEAHHHHHH!" He then started laughing, and said to his friends several times, "That was awesome!"

Heaven forbid he actually address me directly and tell me that my unexpected action was awesome, but I'll take an indirect affirmation of my awesomeness any day.

2010-04-05T21:55:00.003-05:00

Poison Spraying Robots??

About once a week, I walk to the library, hand in the books I had at home, and check out a new book or two. Today was such a day, and it was just so nice out! I even wore my flip flops - a true sign of wonderful weather if ever there was one.

The walk is fairly short, and is usually pretty uneventful... but today, at a main intersection, there was a man holding several posters that he had hand printed, and warned of the dangers that laid in wait JUST a couple of blocks away.

Evidently, Bin Laden is in cahoots with our government, and has disseminated POISON - FILLED MINIATURE ROBOTS in the downtown Lowell area! I had no idea!!! This man was shouting, warning us all not to go downtown, or we would get sprayed by these robots. Several possible conversation starters entered my head:

"What are the signs that you have been poisoned? Is it a rash? LIKE THE ONE I HAVE ON MY ARM RIGHT HEEEEERE???" (waves arm in his face)

"I am from the CDC and I believe you have stumbled upon a very important, covert government conspiracy. We need your valuable information, so that we may disperse HAZMAT vans throughout the city to contain the contamination. Of course, it may ALREADY BE TOO LATE."

In a rare fit of good judgment, I kept my fool mouth shut.

2010-03-28T07:14:00.002-05:00

STUR

Yeah, yeah... two posts in one day. But I figured a good meal out deserved its own post. And no, I didn't bring my camera, which I REALLY should have!

I went out to eat last night at the new restaurant, Stur, which is located in downtown Lowell. It serves lovely, fancy Mediterranean food (I always spell Mediterranean wrong the first go-round, I swear) in small portions, Tapas style, I suppose, but not Spanish food... so you are meant to get 2-3 plates per person and share them around the table.

The food was delicious! We got a grilled Romaine salad, which caused my friend Heather to want to go back into the kitchen and lick the grill (ha ha), a wonderful mushroom risotto, perfectly cooked seared scallops (and we all know how easy it is to overcook scallops), and pistachio encrusted lamb lollipops. Each thing was more delicious than the rest, and I definitely recommend checking it out. We left feeling full but not sick to our stomachs, and I cannot WAIT to go again. MMMmmmmMMMmmmmm.

2010-03-28T07:08:00.002-05:00

But I deserve to be Comfortable NOW!!!

For a few years now, I have wanted to buy a new mattress. My current one is getting painfully close to being 2 decades old. It is also very firm, which is great for stomach sleeping, but I tend to clench my teeth more when I'm on my stomach, blah blah blah. I will stop myself before telling a boring story.

I have hesitated in buying a new mattress, though, because my current platform bed is Queen sized, and I keep telling myself that if I meet someone and want to live with/ marry this fellow, I will want a KING sized bed... let's face it, I am a King sized gal, and will quite possibly end up with a King sized dude!

But you know what? Rather than waiting for this fictional character to enter my life, I do believe I deserve to be nice and comfy RIGHT ABOUT...... NOWWWW! Plus, in my fictionally glorious home with my fictional husband, we will naturally have a guest room which will require a queen mattress, yes?

My pal Heather got me thinking more about this when we were looking around Jordan's Furniture after an IMAX movie a couple of weeks ago, so this past Friday after work, I drove to Jordan's, spent about an hour narrowing it down to two choices, then going from one to the other about 15 times, and then buying a Simmons with a super smooshy pillow top. I am thrilled! It will be delivered on Good Friday, and I just can't wait!

Huzzah for refusing to wait to be comfy!

2010-03-21T11:47:00.004-05:00

PUPPIES!

It is my nephew's birthday soon, so I decided to crochet him a small family of puppies. I got the pattern from the book Amigurumi World , and used a bunch of leftover acrylic yarn scraps. They were fun to make!

2010-03-17T08:55:00.002-05:00

I know, I am nuts.

Well, here it is, less than 48 hours after getting a tooth pulled, and I just called the dentist to try and make plans to get rid of the rest of my wisdom teeth!

How in the world did I go from traumatized and whimpering, to excited to have it happen again, in such a short amount of time? Well, for one thing, I already don't need any pain relief - I woke up today not even needing a single Advil, so the unknown is now known to me: feeling better afterward is a much shorter process than I had realized. Second, I can already tell how much EASIER it is going to be to brush all of my teeth - those wisdom teeth have been giving me trouble for two decades... enough is enough!

So, I have made the appointment for about a month from now, to get the other upper wisdom tooth yanked, and at that time, my dentist will analyze the situation for the lower ones, and I guess we'll go from there.

Wish me luck!

2010-03-15T17:23:00.002-05:00

My Mouth Has a Sad.

I went to the dentist for a simple cleaning today, and came home with one less tooth in my mouth! It was not exactly what I had expected today to say the least.

Until today, I still had all of my wisdom teeth. However, they are really packed in back there, and have always been hard to brush. So, one of them finally got a cavity today. I asked the dentist, "We're not actually going to put a filling in a wisdom tooth, are we?" I also said something foolish like, "Just pull them all OUT!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt my anxiety level skyrocket and my heart started beating a mile a minute. I actually started shaking a little! The last novocaine experience I had was... not so excellent, and since I clench my teeth, they have become sensitive, and tooth cleanings are sometimes accompanied by zings of pain during scraping.

The dentist agreed that it made much more sense to pull the tooth rather than fill it, because I will continue to have difficulty brushing the tooth over time, and more decay will most likely occur. He said cheerfully, "Well, we can do it right now if you like; I have an open chair!" He also noted that if I really did want all four pulled, he would recommend going to an oral surgeon and getting put under anesthesia.

I bit the bullet, and walked over to the "empty chair". Although it was rather icky, I must say it was not as bad as I had feared, and didn't seem to take very long at all. And of course, once the trauma was actually over, I cheerfully requested that I be able to take the tooth home with me. Right now, the tooth looks a bit gross, but I was told that I can spruce it up in a little bleach for a less gruesome show and tell opportunity. (anyone want to see a picture?)

I don't feel so bad right now, but of course, the novocaine hasn't worn off yet... we'll see how things feel in a few hours!

2010-03-07T13:52:00.002-05:00

Don't look now...

but I think Spring might be on its way!

Yeah yeah, I am breaking the longest silence this blog has ever seen, but what can I say... I have been very busy, with nothing very noteworthy! Lots and lots of knitting for pay, no knitting for fun, and a few social outings sprinkled in here and there.

I just got back from my first outdoor bike ride of the season. I kept it short, only about 12 miles... I could have gone longer, but I want to ease my butt back into things, rather than having an incredibly sore posterior the next time I go out. My backside has been through enough over the years, and needs to last me a long, long time (or so I hope - gotta make sure not to walk under any dangling pianos), so I might as well treat it reasonably well.

It's lovely out there today! Of course, it's all relative: I follow someone on Twitter who is supposedly all tough and manly and swings really heavy kettlebells for exercise, but was whining about whether or not he could do an outdoor workout... it was warmer than it is here today! (he's in Texas) But around these parts, 50+ Fahrenheit means all kinds of people frolicking outdoors in various states of undress.

When I got back home, one of my neighbors asked me, "where in the WORLD are you coming back from in THAT costume?" Uhhhh, does the bicycle not give it away? Is it too subtle a hint for you??? I managed not to give a snarky response, but I did think it was a very funny question.

Hm, what else has been going on? I turned *cough cough* thirty seven about a month ago, I went down to CT to visit my childhood friend Laura, I've done some knitting, some hibernating from the cold, and have started working out with kettlebells. Now, those are good fun, I tell you.

I make no promises that I will blog any time soon, but who knows... maybe one of these days, I'll have something extra interesting to report! Until then, enjoy the Spring!

2010-02-01T10:11:00.002-05:00

A Narrow Escape

I don't know who remembers the enormous car repair bill I got around this time of year last year, but it hurt quite badly. In remembrance of that horrific event, my car decided that the "check engine" light needed to be lit, perhaps as a candlelight vigil of sorts.

When I saw the light, my heart sank. I REALLY want and need this car to last me a couple more years, at least. Perhaps even longer. And I don't want it to keep costing me $3000+ per year in repairs in maintenance, like it did last year! Yuck! The following options ran through my head, in case the bill ended up being painfully astronomical:

1. Push car off cliff; walk everywhere for two years, stick with Master Repayment Plan. *
2. Pay astronomical bill; keep driving the Skittle until the next giant repair comes along; proceed to option 1. Try to stick to Master Repayment Plan.
3. Sell car, (probably to local gang member who will trick it out and shoot people from it, no doubt they will keep the cool leopard print seat covers) lease CHEAPO car for two years, Try to stick to MRP, buy NICE new car at the end of the two year lease.
4. Sell car, (again, probably to local gang member), rewrite MRP to last about 4 years instead of just over 2 years, buy NICE new car now instead of waiting.

It was interesting to mull about these ideas for a few days until I could get the car looked at. I tell you, option 1 was sounding REALLY bad in light of the extra cold weather we've been having lately... trudge to and from the grocery store when it is 11 degrees out and super windy? No, thank you. I'd probably be wearing out friendships asking for rides to the grocery store. However, pushing the car off a cliff might be kind of fun!

Option 2 also felt bad to me... why would I plunk down thousands of dollars for a car that is probably going to start having repairs more and more frequently?

Option 3 was actually sounding pretty good. I was doing some cursory research and found that I could probably get a pretty cheap lease on a Civic for a couple of years... I definitely don't drive a lot of miles every year, and it would be very nice to spend the same amount of money on a NEW car that wouldn't be breaking down all the time, instead of continually fixing the old car. I might also be able to be frugal elsewhere and still stick to the MRP.

Option 4 was tempting. I mean, a shiny, newish new car sounds awfully nice. However, I have been working awfully hard on the MRP to throw it all away now.

Fortunately, I don't have to pick any of the above options. The repair will only be a few hundred dollars. I guess I will revisit the list the next time I need a repair. Cross your fingers for me!

*master repayment plan is the plan to get rid of all debt but main mortgage. The aggressive version has me finished in about 26 months.

2010-01-28T09:39:00.003-05:00

How Will the World Remember You?

A friend of mine tweeted this question today... "How will the world remember you when you're gone?" It gave me food for thought...

To be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no aspirations whatsoever to have "the world" remember me. I will be completely satisfied if a few close friends and family members think of me fondly. Hopefully, those few close friends and family members will have a nice knitted item from me that they can remember me by, paired with some funny memories of fun things we did together.

What about you? Do you wish the world to remember you? Will you be perfectly happy if only a dozen or so people show up for your memorial service, or will you only feel that your life was well lived if hundreds of seats are overflowing with people?

2010-01-19T11:26:00.008-05:00

A Visit to Cece's House!

I got to hang out with Maggie (um, and her mother, Cece) this past weekend... as soon as I arrived, an adorable sleeping Maggie was deposited in my arms, where she slept and cuddled for quite a long time, actually! Being half the size of Max, she felt small and light and wee. I loved it!

Eventually, she woke up, and I was able to get a couple of pictures of her, including a shot of her in her new Viking hat, knitted up by Yours Truly. She was a bit of a Crabby McCrabbersons during the photo shoot, but still managed to look adorable.

I love that last arty shot of Maggie, don't you? All professional-like.

And, a couple of cutie pictures of her older brother, lovingly referred to as Hulk:

2010-01-19T11:23:00.018-05:00

Christmas Pictures, FINALLY!

I don't know why I was dragging my feet on this, I really don't. No, wait, I think I do... I took SO MANY pictures, and I kind of dreaded going through all of them and culling out the good ones, deleting the terrible ones... so, here they are.

I know you all are probably wanting to see the Max pictures most of all, because really, who doesn't like to look at a cute baby doing cute things? Even if you don't like babies, it's just PICTURES of a baby, without the reality of bad diaper smells, screaming, drooling, or other things that dislikers of babies generally object to. So, on with the cuteness!

First up, how much fun is a Viking in the box... especially a lampshade box!

"Isn't there more? Please???"

"I like my truck!"

Father and Son

"Hewwo!"

Max and Auntie Amanda (sure, it's not the most flattering pic of me, but... don't we look like we're having fun?)

Up next, a few candid family shots:

My pretty mom:

Her snazzy husband, my dad:

My grandma:

My sister Liz, and her future husband (!!!) Markos:

It snowed over the time I was at my parents' house, and I took a ton of snow pictures... but I cheated and took them all from inside! Hahaha! Here is one I liked a lot:

And finally, some photos of the Christmas tree decorations:

You all are in for another treat for my next post... pics of my friend Cece's kids! Yippee!

2010-01-11T11:23:00.002-05:00

Fresh Bread

Next up on the list, making my own bread. I used a recipe for whole wheat bread from the book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". I got the book from the library, to see whether the idea of pre-making the dough and storing it in the fridge for future use would be of any use to me. The actually turned out fairly well, but I think I will need to do some tweaking in the future in order to come up with a bread that will be good for sandwiches and such. A big bonus was that the bread was no-knead, which made it pretty low maintenance. I think I will wait and take a look at "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day", which features more breads with a higher percentage of whole grain flour used in the recipes, which is more my speed.

So, things are already looking up - making my own bread and croutons. The toilet is looking like it's ready for a cleaning with some home made cleaner, so maybe I'll have something new to report soon.

Also, I've been sick with a disgusting cold, so have been low in motivation... I have a bunch of pictures to upload of my nephew from Christmas - I WILL get to them eventually, I promise!

2010-01-07T10:13:00.003-05:00

Croutons!

I love making enormous salads, with a wide variety of veggies, and lots of croonchy stuff on top, too, like nuts, seeds and croutons. However, store bought croutons tend to have some weird ingredients in them, so I decided to make some of my own. I looked at my new cookbook, "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", and decided to try a hybrid of the crouton recipes I found. The dry baked croutons sounded a bit TOO dry for me, and the others sounded a bit too oily. So, I cubed a few slices of bread, tossed the cubes with a tablespoon or so of oil, along with some Italian seasoning and some salt and pepper. I spread them out on a baking sheet, baked them at 300 degrees for 10 or so minutes, tossed them around again, and baked until I was satisfied with the crunch level.

Verdict? Very yummy! I will definitely continue making my own croutons. I get to use whole wheat bread, no weird ingredients, and the cost is much lower than buying them at the store, too.

Confession: I initially tried the oven at 400 degrees as suggested by the recipe, and promptly burned the croutons. I figured a lower temp would give me more time to notice that burnination was happening.

Second confession: I ate said unburnt croutons before I could take a picture of them atop my lovely salad. Many apologies.

2010-01-05T22:43:00.002-05:00

Not Exactly a Resolution...

... but sort of. It goes along with my free floating idea of being nice to the environment, as well as the idea to being nice to my body, too. The resolution? As products/items in my home are used up, I will think about how to replace them with healthier, eco-friendlier products.

The first opportunity for making a change is going to be finding a new toilet cleaner. I will be turning to a great book by Linda Cobb for a lot of the cleaning solutions called "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean". It contains loads of make-it-yourself cleaning ideas. For cleaning the toilet, she recommends vinegar and borax. I have also seen suggestions of vinegar and baking soda, and borax and lemon juice. I believe I'll give the vinegar and baking soda a try, and see what happens.

Actually, in my research, I have found that baking soda and vinegar appear to be rather popular for all sorts of cleaning applications, including washing one's hair!

I will naturally continue the updates as they occur, but will continue to use whatever products I have in my home until they run out - it seems silly to just throw them away!

2009-12-30T13:34:00.003-05:00

Max the Conqueror!

I jumped the gun and HAD to try the hat on Mr. Max before gifts were exchanged... I just couldn't resist! It's not like he knows it was supposed to be a gift anyway, right? Without further delay, here he is - and the hat is a perfect fit, with just a little room to grow.

(Back story: My family JUST congregated last night for our family Christmas celebration) - tonight will be Christmas Eve, complete with a Thanksgiving-like turkey meal, as requested by my sister who lives abroad where there is no Thanksgiving. As is traditional in our family, we will open most Christmas gifts tonight, after an early-ish dinner. I always loved that when I was a kid - after I opened my presents, I ran to the phone to tell all of my friends what I got, and they were always VERY envious that I had gotten my gifts a full 12 hours before they had! Tomorrow will be Christmas day, where we open up our stockings. When we were younger, "Santa" filled the stockings, but now that we are all much older, we pick names from a hat and fill the stocking of a family member; it takes the burden off of Santa. It's fun to try and guess who filled your stocking!

Well, although we are just about to have a merry Christmas, I know it's almost New Year's... I need to nail down that resolution thingy, and soon! Or maybe since Christmas was late, I have some more time to decide, hmmm...

Stay tuned for more Max pics... I've already taken a bunch!

2009-12-27T12:28:00.002-05:00

Adorable Hat!

I'm pretty sure that Max doesn't read my blog, and for that matter, I'm fairly certain my brother doesn't, either, so I think I'm safe in posting this - I just couldn't wait! Of course, I'll post more photos once I actually get the hat onto Max's wee head, don't worry.

Isn't it cute? I hope he enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it!

I basically followed the Viking Hat pattern by Becky Veverka, with a few changes: I had a different gauge, so I cast on fewer stitches, and also rewrote the pattern for the horns so that they were a bit smaller and so that they could be worked in the round... ANYTHING to avoid seaming!

2009-12-23T11:14:00.002-05:00

Finally!

Well, after being at this job for 3 1/2 years, I FINALLY have an inhabitable office! They came in and gave me a thermostat that WORKS, and set the temperature to a very bearable 68 degrees. For some reason, it still gets up to 10 degrees warmer than that at times, but not because hot air is pumping into the room, but maybe just because I"m on the top floor and in the middle of the building.

I can live with that. After all, it's below 90! Woo!

It is so nice to be able to actually pick out a sweater to wear to work, that I'll be able to wear ALL DAY and not have to plan ahead to have a light, summery top on underneath...

Finally!

2009-12-22T08:36:00.002-05:00

The Holidays: The Problem, and The Cure!

We all know what the problem with the holidays is... rushing around, trying to find gifts for everyone, cooking cleaning, party hopping, and whatever else is unique to your own life.

For me, my regular job is extra busy around this time... when teachers are stressed, kids are stressed, which stresses teachers out even more, which stresses kids out to the max! My office has been a busy place, because it's one of the places stressed kids get sent.

In addition, it's the busy season for selling jewelry, and I spent the first two weekends in December at my studio, selling things. This past week, I brought my jewelry in to work, brought it to our monthly social work staff meeting, and then brought it to knit night up in New Hampshire. By the end of this week, I was totally frazzled!

Friday night, I was so 'on' that I really couldn't sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night, going through checklists of things that still need to be done, FINALLY fell back to sleep, and was then awakened at 5:50 AM by a terrifying zombie dream. TERRIFYING! My heart was in my throat, and I think I woke up gasping in fear. At that point, I gave up on getting any more sleep, and just got up for the day.

Anyway, the jewelry selling frenzy is over for now, most of my gifts are in order, and my 11 day winter break starts after work tomorrow. To celebrate, I BOOKED A MASSAGE. A friend of mine mentioned that Oasis Day Spa in Lowell, MA was having a 50% off sale on all spa treatments, so I signed right up! I was hoping to get the appointment for tomorrow after work, but ended up having to book for last night.... ohhhhhhh my, it was so very relaxing! The name of the massage therapist was Erin, and she was really great. It was a very nice combination of relaxing massage and deep tissue work to get out some of those awful knots that build up - I hate it when there is NO deep tissue work, but I suppose an hour of deep tissue might be a bit awful! Anyway, hot stones were involved as well, which I really liked, and I totally started falling asleep and SNORING at one point. I figure that is actually a high compliment to a massage therapist, that it feels so good and relaxing that you fall asleep, right? Another big plus was that Erin took her cues from me regarding when I wanted things to be all quiet, and when I was feeling more like chatting a little... I wish I could go every week! THAT would be nice...

2009-12-16T09:36:00.003-05:00

Resolutions, Revisited

So, we are quite close to the end of 2009 now, and I have to say that my budgeting resolution for the year has been a screaming success! To recap, I had a goal of decreasing wasteful spending, so that I could start paying down my debt more aggressively. I reviewed all of my bills, cut down monthly expenses where I could (I STILL miss my DVR, sniff), started writing down every penny I spent, and started working various extra jobs as they came my way.

I have kept up with the blistering repayment pace I set for myself, and will continue to do so until the only debt I have left is my main mortgage. At this rate, this magical date will be approximately 30 months from now, and I can hardly wait!

I had never been much of a resolution maker until a couple of years ago... but in 2008, I resolved to reduce my use of plastic bags, and that went quite well, too. I am still using reusable shopping bags on a very regular basis.

So the question is, what to tackle next? The idea I've been toying with is to adopt a new eco-friendly habit every month. It could be small things, like not using that after-shower spray every day, or not using popup bathroom cleaning wipes. I am also thinking about ways to stop using/consuming products with loads of creepy ingredients, and either making my own, or shopping for organic/ earth friendly alternatives. I already make my own laundry detergent, so that's cool...

I am still shopping around for ideas, though... and still have a couple of weeks to decide!

2009-12-15T14:32:00.002-05:00

'Tis the (dark) Season

I'm kind of glad this is the time of year to be bustling around, shopping, and preparing for the holidays, because otherwise, I might get around to noticing that it's pitch black out there most of the time I'm not at work! We're getting closer and closer to the date when the days start getting longer again, though, and I'm grateful for that.

I know nobody likes getting to work and leaving from work in the dark, so I won't claim that I'm special and deserve your sympathy, because I know you're probably in the same boat, too! I also think it is cruel to design work offices without any natural light... I neeeeeeeed to see the sun, please!

Soon enough, I hope...

2009-12-01T20:46:00.004-05:00

The Thanksgiving Picture

I only took one picture all day. ONE! But, it was a good one!

2009-11-26T21:09:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent a quiet day up at my parents' house, with mom, dad and grandma. It was a very low key afternoon, and the most melodramatic thing that happened was that mom forgot to serve the stuffing! It just sat right there in the bird, with none of us even noticing that it was missing from our plates!

One thing that I think everyone is grateful for is family. My brother sent us the most recent picture of my nephew, who is now sitting up and looking adorable:

I can't wait to see him at Christmas... just a month away!

2009-11-09T11:54:00.004-05:00

Broomstick Lace

I stumbled across some broomstick lace somewhere on Ravelry the other day, and immediately decided that I needed to try it. The internet being what it is, I was able to find several tutorials, and got to work. Basically, you use a crochet hook and an oversized knitting needle or broomstick or a broomstick lace 'pin', whichever you happen to have available. You begin by creating a chain of a multiple of 4-6, then get down to business!

"Business" = alternating rows of pulling up big loops and putting them onto the broomstick, then bunching those loops together and creating a row of single crochet. That's the simplest way I can figure out to explain the basic nature of broomstick lace.

Of course, all of the pictures online were 'backwards' for me, since I'm left handed, and I needed a bit of experimentation time to make sure I was working into the correct loops.

Here's a photo of the scarf I'm making; I'm using some of my own handspun yarn. The effect is quite different using a thick/thin slubby yarn versus a very smoothly spun yarn, but both are very visually appealing to me. Also, this works up fairly quickly, and I will definitely be including this technique in my scarf making activities in the future. Very fun and different!

2009-11-07T13:36:00.003-05:00

Images of Autumn

A few weeks ago, I took a nice, long walk around Lowell, determined to find beautiful foliage to photograph WITHOUT having to leave my neighborhood. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

I will note that I did not process any of the images in Photoshop or anything like that, but I did recently purchase a polarized filter for my camera. The result is that it brightens and deepens some colors, especially on this particular day. In a couple of the photos, the sky looks sooooo deep blue! I love the effect, despite the fact that it's not really what color the sky actually was.

2009-11-07T12:40:00.004-05:00

Rhinebeck, part deux, extremely late!

Because I have been so remiss in posting this update, I'll get right to the point of sharing yarn pictures!

The first two are worsted weight yarns from Maple Creek Farms, in a wool/merino blend. I have several skeins of the first, solid yarn, and will use the variegated yarn to do a 'fake isle' style pattern on the sweater I am planning for:

And although I have a zillion skeins of sock yarn, I couldn't help but pick up this lovely yarn from Creatively Dyed:

I am always drawn to variegated sock yarns, so I feel that it is important to build up the stash of solid and semi-solid sock yarns... so this purchase was a success!

Next post, I plan on sharing some great fall foliage pics I took a couple of weeks ago... it was a perfect day for it, and the pics turned out great... stay tuned!

2009-10-19T20:50:00.003-05:00

Rhinebeck, part 1

Well, I am now recovered from my weekend at Rhinebeck, the New York State Sheep and Wool festival! I have caught up with sleep, unpacked my bags and put them away, and am working on figuring out where to put my newly purchased yarn!

I rushed home after work on Friday to make sure I was all ready to be picked up by my pal Marianne, and we went and got Katy and Yovani afterward. We got a little mixed up on our way to the KOA Kampground we stayed at, but the mixup meant that we got a good look at the town of Saugerties, which helped us scout for restaurants and get the lay of the land. The "Kabin" was small, clean, and 'heated' by a space heater, and the bathrooms were in a building a few campground spots away.

After we quickly settled in, we headed back out for some dinner... I don't remember the name of the restaurant/pub, but the menu was interesting and the food was good. We went to bed fairly early, but I had a hard time adjusting to the cold and such... and didn't sleep very well at all!

However, I did my best to look alive the next day, and we started out with a great diner meal before heading over to the fairgrounds. The festival itself offered so much to see - so much yarn, fiber, so many animals, great fair-type food... the best of which was the maple cotton candy - yummmm!

Our plans to eat at a particular fancy restaurant that evening were foiled by a desire to be a bit more free-wheeling with our plans, but we know for next year to make a reservation... otherwise, you end up at a restaurant with empty tables... and the tables are empty for a reason! The food was pretty good, but the service was fairly poor, to be honest.

After dinner, we made our way to the Ravelry party. By that point, I was awfully tired and didn't have as much fun as I probably would have otherwise! However, I chatted with a bunch of nice people by the bonfire, and tried to do some dancing to the tunes pumped out by a groovy dj who had a great, grizzly beard and a cigarette perpetually dangling out of his mouth.

I slept much better on Saturday night, which is usually the case in a new bed... the second night always goes better!

On Sunday, we ate at Mezzaluna for breakfast... it was SO GOOOOD! After that, we swung by the fairgrounds one last time, and I bought some wonderful yarn from Maple Creek Farm - enough for a fabulous sweater, which I plan on designing myself!

On our way home, we enjoyed the sight of snow while we drove along the Taconic Parkway, which is actually a beautiful drive!

Many thanks go to Marianne for taking the lion's share of the driving responsibilities, you were a champ, my dear!

I haven't taken photos of my new yarn yet; that will be taken care of whenever I get around to "Rhinebeck Part 2"!

2009-10-13T08:07:00.002-05:00

There is Hope!

A few of you may have been reading my blog from the beginning, and may remember one of my very first posts where I showed a picture of the bottom of my foot after a run. Here is a link if you wish to see an incredibly gross picture. Don't click if you do NOT want to see an incredibly gross picture!

For those of you who do not know the blistery saga I live with on a regular basis, here goes: I blister very, very easily. I can't run more than about 20 minutes without blistering. I cannot hike up a mountain without blistering within the first 10-15 minutes or so. In order to avoid blistering on a daily basis, I wear floppy, loose, and/or unsupportive shoes, because achy feet are easier to deal with than blistery ones.

People, I have had ENOUGH of this. ENOUGH! I want to climb a mountain! I want to go for a 5+ walk in the woods on a beautiful Autumn day without getting a blister the size of a quarter (this happened a couple of weekends ago) on the back of my heel! (I couldn't put on regular shoes for a week, when I finally cut the blister off because it was getting too cold for flip flops)

I did some research, and found the company up in NH that seems to be quite popular for custom hiking boots. However, my research also revealed that the boots take A YEAR of heavy use to break in, and let's face it... that would probably take several years for me, because of the blistery thing. So, I kept looking. I found another company that is in Vermont, and the woman in charge talked to me for a long time on the phone, explaining her process and listening to my various complaints and concerns. She sounded great!

So, yesterday, I headed out to VT (gorgeous drive, too cloudy for a lot of pics, though, bummer) to get my feet measured for some custom walking shoes and hiking boots. I was very impressed with the exhaustive nature of her examination of my feet. She told me things about my feet I have been trying to tell doctors for YEARS... that attempting to 'correct' the pronation in my feet just causes more pain and discomfort, and that they are just supposed to BE that way. Terry told me that I DO have an arch, and that my foot hasn't 'fallen' into pronation over time, that this is just the way my feet are meant to be. So, the blistering happens in highly supportive shoes because my feet are being forced into a more upright position that they do not like, and they fight the shoe to tilt back inwards, into their natural position.

She told me a bunch of other interesting things about my feet, such as that my heel is the size of a size 10 foot, but that my feet are only size 8 1/2, meaning the front of my foot is even smaller than an 8 1/2. Also, that my arch does not spring like a shock absorber like it is supposed to. And that my foot does not spread out when I stand up, like it is supposed to. And that I have a very flexible ankle, but very inflexible plantar muscles. And that my ankle bone is 1/2 inch higher than the upper average limit for regular peeps. She said the walking inkblot looked like that of someone with a VERY high arch, which is not what anyone would ever have guessed, just looking at my feet. She said she'd use the inkblot to stump people if she ever got the chance.

Anyway, she will now make a custom last, which she will use to make me some hiking boots and some walking boots. If they work out, I will probably look into getting a couple more pairs... maybe some sandals for summer, and maybe some more heavy duty walking shoes, for times I'm tromping around in the woods but not exactly hiking up a mountain? Or maybe some running shoes? Who can say.

At any rate, the idea of getting to the top of a mountain without a blister is highly exciting to me, and makes me mist up a little... cross your fingers for me!

2009-10-08T20:58:00.003-05:00

Autumn is Kinda Here...

The evenings are coldddd, the leaves are turning, apples are being picked by the meeeelions. It must be Fall!

With this time of year also comes my favorite bike riding weather... cool and sunny. I took a nice bike ride from Great Brook Farm a couple of days ago, and took some photos afterward. I also got test-stung by a bee... on the butt. That was not my most favorite part of the day.

I did enjoy seeing this nice woolly bear... I resisted the urge to pat it... might as well leave it alone. Plus, I think I ran over a dead one on my ride, and I was feeling a little guilty.

Look at those lovely clouds!

This picture made me think I was peeking into a secret glen - check out the foliage I spy!

More foliage:

Some neato pods:

On that day, I enjoyed two things that seemed like such extravagant expenses at the time... my fancy schmancy custom bicycle, and my snazzy camera. But since I've gotten the bike, I have enjoyed it every time I took it out for a ride, and I have taken over 6000 photos with my camera since I got it a couple of years ago. That's an average of over 8 pics a day... I'd say it was well worth the investment!

I'm planning on doing a bit of leaf peeping this weekend... crossing my fingers for some decent weather and clear skies!

2009-09-30T10:41:00.003-05:00

AHHHH SO EXCITED!

So, I have done some writing about my financial plans and goals, so I figure I might as well add more as it comes along.

A few months back, I realized that soon, my mortgage interest rate would be adjusting, and I was worried about that. So, I re-read my mortgage documents, looked online for current LIBOR rates, and called around to see what kinds of deals were out there for refinancing. For the most part, no one wanted to touch my loan with a ten foot pole, except for the company who already owned the loan. This made me suspicious. So, I kept researching, and finally decided that I thought my rate would actually drop upon readjusting.

To answer your question if you were wondering, here is a link to the explanation of a LIBOR rate. My mortgage documents state that my loan will adjust to the one year LIBOR plus 2.25% or something to that effect.

Anyway, on a whim, I looked up my loan info online today, and... boy oh boy, my rate is definitely dropping! I am thrilled for more than one reason... of course, I'm happy that my monthly expenses will be dropping, but I'm also pleased that I was able to research the situation and then make a sound decision that ended up being the RIGHT decision!

I am definitely beyond relieved. And of course, the extra money will mean added cushioning for any unanticipated expenses that may come along, although I am truly hoping for NONE of those for a while... that car repair last January was plenty for a long while, as far as I'm concerned!

2009-09-24T22:38:00.002-05:00

Keepin' the Streak Alive

Yep, another blog post... but don't get used to it or anything!

I also whipped up a cozy scarf recently, using the glorious Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica yarn. I did the "My So Called Scarf" pattern, which features a herringbone stitch. I am certainly not the first to pair this pattern with this yarn (even in the same colorway); it is a great pairing, in my opinion.

Here's a closeup shot of the stitch pattern. It really requires a jump in needle size, so if you strike out on your own and make this with a yarn other than what is called for, be sure to use a needle larger than is noted on the ball band.

On the topic of weather and the seasons, I have been happily enjoying this unseasonably warm weather! However, I was quite dismayed to note how much earlier the sun is setting now... before you know it, (less than 2 months from now, I suppose) the sun will be down before 5 PM, which I just hate so much! I suppose it's good news that it's Christmas then, as well - always a fun and welcome part of the year!

2009-09-17T08:17:00.004-05:00

Shoulderette Bonanza!

As promised, I will now share the details of the three shoulderettes I knit up over the past couple of weeks. In the past, I have been very insistent that shawls and scarves should be enormous and should wrap around the neck one meeeeelion times. However, I have more recently decided that this is perhaps too narrow a view, and that perhaps there is room in this world for a smaller version of the shawl. Enter, the shoulderette.

First up, was Laminaria by Elizabeth Freeman. I used a skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the "Solis" colorway. The yarn color was gorgeous, and I can tell it would be lovely and squishy as socks, as well. I also adored the knitting pattern - there were several different pattern charts, which kept things interesting. And not only were the charts interesting, but the resulting knitted fabric/ pattern was soooo pretty! Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn with 1/2 a row left to go, plus the bindoff. What a dilemma - do I buy another $20 skein of yarn? Ugh, for just one more row? Nooooo! Instead, I went onto Ravelry and searched for completed projects worked out of the same yarn/ colorway. I ravmailed a couple of those people who lived fairly nearby, and asked them if they had any leftovers. Indeed, I found several people willing to send me some of their leftovers, and I was able to complete the project! The donated yarn wasn't really the right color due to differences in dye lots, but because it was just the bindoff in question, the difference wasn't noticeable. If I had had to change mid-project, it would have been a much bigger problem.

Check out how pretty:

Some of the flowery lace and edging detail:

Up next was the Zetor Scarf by Jatta Soheltaa. I used a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, which I really enjoy working with. It is a very rough, primitive, and rustic yarn, with very unusual color combinations, and I just love that about it. The pattern itself was simpler than that of Laminaria, which was a better fit for the more busy/stripey nature of the Noro yarn.

Check it out:

And last but not least, the Aeolian shawl, again by Elizabeth Freeman. I used 1 1/3 balls of Knitpicks Shadow in the Snorkel colorway. When I ordered this yarn, I was super disappointed when it arrived, because the color was WAY off from how it looked online, at least on my home computer. Now that I look at it from work (naughty, naughty), it actually looks more accurate. It's a lovely color, but is very close to a knitpicks lace yarn I've used in the past for TWO different shawls! Blagh. Anyway, I decided to suck it up and use it anyway - no sense in wasting perfectly good yarn! You will also notice it's awfully close to the Malabrigo sock yarn I used for the first shoulderette in the post... too bad, so sad!

Again, I really enjoyed this pattern. There were several different charts to work through, and the pattern includes nupps, which look so cool in the finished project! The pattern also called for beads, but I decided to omit them this go 'round. I did do two extra repeats of the "Yucca" chart to make the final size a bit larger than the wee shoulderette size, which meant that I ended with 599 stitches to cast off at the end. Elizabeth uses a nice bindoff that provides enough stretch to block out nicely at the end, and it is firm enough that it's not rolling up all over the place. I like it.

Here are some photos:

And looky here at those wonderful nupps:

I have to say, I hope that Elizabeth Freeman writes more and more patterns... it may mean that my shawl collection becomes ridiculously huge, but who cares? It's more about the enjoyment of the knitting for me than it is the utility of each and every knitted project.

I'm currently working on another for-pay project, but I'll be sure to share more pics as more projects are completed...

2009-09-17T08:02:00.003-05:00

Knitting Needles Afire!

All month, I have not had any knit-for-pay projects, until last night, actually. So, I have had the chance to do a LOT of knitting for myself!

First up, I pulled out the Forecast Cardigan , and finally finished up the second sleeve and the button bands, and sewed on the buttons... that thing had been languishing in the UFO pile for an eternity! I used one of Webs' Valley Yarns selections, called Berkshire, in the lovely "Ming Blue" colorway. It's a great wool/ alpaca blend that knit up very nicely. I did make some mods to the pattern... I did a braided cable instead of the bobble-icious cable called for in the original pattern. I also lengthened the ribbed torso segment, and removed the garter ribs around the wrists... they stuck out funny even after blocking.

All in all, I enjoyed knitting this sweater, and think it turned out well. I am reevaluating whether I did a good job with button placement... and I do have a criticism about the button hole band... the ribbing causes the buttons to slide into the ribbing, which looks dumb. I may have to consider fixing that, actually, if it drives me crazy enough.

Here are a couple of photos:

Up next, the Slanting Gretel Tee from the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits Magazine. As soon as I saw the pattern, I was very excited to realize that I had yarn that would work just right for the pattern! I then had to slightly reevaluate that decision, since the yarn I had was actually a bit thinner than the yarn called for. I made the next size up, and it all worked out just fine. I had a big ol' cone of Brown Sheep Lanaloft Sport in "Cherry Splash", and I actually have a decent amount of that yarn left. Probably not enough for another sweater, but certainly enough for a hat or two.

Here are some shots - the red did NOT come out right at all in these pictures. It is not nearly as nuclear as all that! I'll try to get better photos, really.

Isn't the center cable pretty?

I also made THREE 'shoulderettes', which are small, shoulder covering lace shawls. I am thrilled with how they turned out, and had a lot of fun making them, too. However, I feel that I should save them for another post, so stay tuned!

2009-08-25T08:33:00.000-05:00

FERRET! AAAHHHHHHHH!!!

I was sitting in my office this morning, minding my own business, when I suddenly spied a large-ish, dark shape moving across the floor. I looked up, and it was a dark brown ferret! What in the world?!?

At first, I tried to call it over to me... it is/was probably someone's pet, so it had to be friendly, right? (I know, I don't know what I was thinking, but whatever.) It didn't come over to me, just kept hopping around, so I calmly left the room and shut the door.

I found the custodian.

Me: Rick, you will never believe what I have trapped in my office right now.
Rick: (looking skeptical) what?
Me: A FERRET! Hand to God, Rick, there is a ferret in my office.
Rick: Are you sure it's not a rat?
Me: Yes, I'm sure it's not a rat.

We go back and forth a bit; Rick is hesitant to believe my tale of mystery and excitement.

I tell several other coworkers; no one believes me. "How did a ferret get into the building?"

I was a bit baffled by their question... this isn't exactly Fort Knox over here. Doors are propped open during deliveries, for instance, and ferrets are sneaky, squeezy little creatures.

My coworkers tromped upstairs and looked in through the window next to the door. The ferret was frolicking around, jumping up on the bookshelf, trying to knock my pictures down from the wall, and having a good old time. After a while, he appeared tired and rested in the corner. I took advantage of the moment and darted in to my office to grab my breakfast and my iced coffee; the ferret did not seem to mind. I really didn't want the ferret to eat my breakfast!

Anyway, animal control arrived in a fairly short period of time, and caught my little friend in one of those bags-at-the-end-of-a-stick contraptions. Now here comes the most exciting part:

Ferrets spray when they are scared. This spray smells rather terrible. Now, my office smells skunky/ musky/ animal urine-y. Ewwwww! Even grosser, I checked out the spots where I saw the ferret had climbed, and it looks like there are pee trails everywhere. GROSSSS! Fortunately, I have some all purpose cleaner and unlimited paper towels and some industrial spray disinfectant.

I just hope the ferret didn't sneak into my purse and use my cell phone to make any long distance calls.

It has been quite the week already... all of this happened before 9 AM today! Jeepers.

2009-08-24T20:34:00.003-05:00

Quincy Hat

In the middle of doing some knitting for pay, I've had occasion here and there to whip off a project or two. The most recent one is the Quincy Hat from the Brooklyn Tweed booklet by Jared Flood, put out by Classic Elite Yarns. That was a mouthful! Edited to add: I used Manos del Uruguay classic wool in the Wildflowers colorway.

Anyway, I really liked the simple yet very creative construction of this hat! The brim section is knitted flat, with built-in i-cord edging. You then put a twist into the brim, kitchener stitch the brim together, and pick up the crown stitches. Each step is relatively simple, but with enough interest to keep you wanting to knit more. And, the final result is super cute!

Here is an ultra glamorous shot of me in the bathroom mirror:

And here is a better shot at the crown:

The only changes I made were to go down a couple of needle sizes, and to cast on two fewer stitches when making the brim. I frequently like a slightly shallower hat than patterns call for.

Now, I'm trying to decide whether to make a matchy scarf by repeating the brim pattern, or to just use the same yarn in a different pattern. At this point, I can't decide!

2009-08-23T23:04:00.002-05:00

Max's Knitted Socks, Leak Update

I had promised a leak update about a month ago; here it is: They fixed the leak. Huzzah!

Now, on to the knitting. I tweaked the Wee Tiny Elf Socks (ravelry link) pattern to fit a human baby foot, since it's originally designed to be just a little decorative sock. I also knitted the cuff lengthwise rather than knitting all of those little triangles one by one (I am too impatient for that). I think they turned out great!

Don't you just love those pointy toes???

I also made a pair of socks without pointy toes, using the Baby Keep Your Socks On pattern.

Both of these sock photos were more difficult to snap than you'd expect... it required a lot of assistance from other family members. We figured out that if we lifted him up in the air and then brought his feet down to the table, he'd keep his feet still for a split second... which is when you have to snap the photo!

Almost as great as the socks in the photo? Those cute little chubtastic legs!

2009-08-22T15:25:00.002-05:00

New Garbage Disposer!

A while back, I may have mentioned that my garbage disposal had kicked the bucket. With work resuming in two days, I finally figured that I had better get kickin' on some of those around-the-house jobs I've been meaning to work on.

I was initially worried that I would not be able to install it myself, but finally just went to the store to ask about how hard it really is. Turns out, it's not that difficult at all! It would have been easier if I had been able to find a unit that was compatible to my old one, but that was just not meant to be. However, the whole process, including rewiring and everything, took less than 1/2 hour. That's less time than it takes to put together an Ikea bookcase!

I have run the garbage disposer successfully already - no leakage, no problemo. I am tickled pink!

2009-08-20T20:51:00.002-05:00

Finally!

I started a post back on August 7, but then my computer started acting sassy, so I never got to finish! I am back from Oregon, where I finally met my new nephew, Max! I took about 150 pictures, and whittled them down to about 50 sharable pics... click here if you want to see them all, or simply enjoy a few selected pics below.

Here he is, enjoying the swing at the park... we pushed him very gently of course, since he can't quite sit up on his own yet...

Here is my brother, probably making entertaining noises for Max:

Max REALLY liked the flavor of my sister Liz's hand... he was going to town on it!

Napping in the baby carrier:

Enjoying his play mat:

I enjoyed my visit, particularly meeting Mr. Max. Of course, I also attended the Sock Summit, but that is for another post!

2009-07-19T08:40:00.002-05:00

The Leak Update, So Far

So, the leak occurred again last night, at the more acceptable time of 10 PM. How considerate.

I again called my neighbor and maintenance, and we all decided that the a/c should be turned off, and turned back on again an hour before the maintenance guy could arrive.

This guy was a bit more on the ball - he dumped a whole 4 liters of water into the drip pan, and blammo... leaking commenced. So, it appears that there is a leak somewhere in the line AFTER the drip pan.

Fortunately, my neighbor is agreeable to having his a/c unit looked at further, and will avoid turning on the a/c until the issue is resolved.

I must say, I am relieved that the actual cause was narrowed down... I was fearing a miserable cycle of leak-> maintenance -> "we don't know" -> leak -> maintenance... so on and so forth, with no one taking responsibility for rolling up their sleeves and taking responsibility for solving the problem.

That's it for now... several nights have been spent tossing and turning now, or managing drips, and having to get up early for repair personnel. I am tired, but wow, it looks like a gorgeous day out there!

I'll be sure to update again once an actual fix/solution has been put into place.

2009-07-17T03:43:00.003-05:00

Water From Above

I am a light sleeper. It's a pain in the neck sometimes, but every once in a while, I'm glad stuff wakes me up. Take 1:30 AM, for instance, like, just a few hours ago. I really do think I was in a deep sleep, but still woke up... I initially thought the noise was my blinds slapping against the window frame, (which happens with a fair bit of regularity) but once I made my way over to the window, I realized the noise was coming from further in my apartment. I turned the lights on, and to my horror, water was dripping from my ceiling all over my PlayStation2, right next to my TV and stereo! Noooooooooo!

I will briefly interrupt the story to state that I actually have occasional nightmares about water dripping into my home. The dreams are more strangethan what would happen in reality, though... for instance, I have had a few dreams where I move in to my new condo, only to realize that it only had part of a roof, and that rain and snow would accumulate on a regular basis. I hate those dreams.

Back to the story... I quickly unplugged all electronics in the area and moved them away from the region of drippiness. The drips were happening every 2-3 seconds I'd say. The thin puddle on the floor was a few feet in diameter.

Of course, I ran upstairs, and, feeling guilty, started pounding on my neighbor's door. He eventually came to the door, and I apologetically explained the situation. He and I examined the area where water ought to be coming from, but we couldn't see anything. The area in question was also next to the HVAC vent, but we didn't really think anything of it at the time.

So, I called the management company. The woman who answered (thank goodness for 24 hour service) said that she'd call maintenance right away.

An hour passes.

I call again. She seems surprised that I have not seen hide nor hair of said maintenance personnel. She assures me she will call them again.

30 minutes pass.

I call again. Same assurances are given. Dripping had stopped briefly, but started up again. I begin to strongly suspect the air conditioning unit of my neighbor.

30 more minutes pass.

I call again.

20 minutes pass. I am getting understandably vexed. Finally, there is a knock on the door. My wet ceiling and puddly floor are inspected. Maintenance dude leaves and knocks on my upstairs neighbor's door. I listen and hear thumps and evidence of possible progress being made in the a/c ventilation system.

Mr. Maintenance comes back. Evidently water is not draining properly from the drip pan of my neighbor's a/c. Instead, it is draining into my condo. The HVAC repair company has been notified and will *theoretically* show up first thing in the morning. My neighbor's a/c is turned off, and the dripping has stopped.

It is currently almost 5 AM; maintenance has been gone for some time now, but I am unable to sleep. The fear of damage to my home has my adrenaline pumping, and I am irrationally worried that the dripping will start again. My neighbor is very nice; he is not the type to turn on the air conditioning when he knows it will flood my condo. Intellectually, I know there is nothing to worry about, but I am still wide awake... and exceedingly tired. And of course, I can't sleep in; I have to get up and shower and such so that I am presentable for the next round of repair personnel!

Hahaha, that is kind of funny, considering the state of pajamitude I was in when the first guy got here! You'd think I would have had plenty of time to put on appropriate clothing (2+hours), but I was sleepy and was expecting him to call first, not just show up; I assumed I had appropriate changing time! However, there is something about middle-of-the-night visitors that makes pajamas seem more acceptable. Once daylight hits, it feels like I ought to have actual clothes on, yes?

I will close by stating that spell check has selected a couple of words as misspelled, but did NOT highlight "pajamitude". This surprises me!

2009-07-09T22:09:00.002-05:00

Enjoying the Out of Doors

Last weekend, I spent some time at my parents' house. One of the things I did was go on a very hilly bike ride with my father... man, I am not used to those hills! And living where I do, I don't really get a chance to practice... let's be honest, I would not practice if I could avoid it! But, it's much hillier where my parents live, so I am forced into the hill climbs.

The next day, my left wrist hurt really badly. I think I put a lot of strain on my wrists when I ride. Not quite sure what to do about it.

I also took my camera into the woods and took some photos. Here are a couple of the ones I thought turned out the best. My parents live in the woods near some good granite quarry spots, and the old hollowed out quarried areas are full of water at times. See if you can spot the wee black tadpoles in the pool of water.

2009-07-03T15:15:00.002-05:00

The Sun!!!

It almost feels like a miracle that the sun is shining. I quickly took advantage of it to take some pictures of a few projects I have finished up in the semi-recent past.

First up is the Counterpane Carpetbag, which I actually knitted eons ago, but never got around to sewing it up. I really like how it turned out. I did end up lining it, because I can just imagine stuff inside wriggling its way out through the knitted holes!

Next up, the 4 Corners Dishcloth. You knit one quadrant at a time, and then seam it up using a garter stitch graft, which I had never done before. Slightly different from kitchener stitch.

Next, the Chinese Waves dishcloth. Slipped stitches help to create a nice, waffly texture.

The Varanasi Socks are up next. It's a free pattern... actually, most of them are free, except for the Counterpane Carpet Bag pattern. Not too many people on Ravelry seem to have made the Varanasi socks yet, but I really liked the pattern. I enjoyed that the socks are different in the front and the back. There is a little ribbing up the back of the leg, kind of like a spine.

And finally, the one I'm probably the most excited about, the Easy Ripple Afghan! It's crocheted, and I don't crochet all that often. However, I am quite pleased with how it came out. I like the colors I picked, and the chevron pattern is easy to memorize. Don't you just love it?

That's all for now, folks... I have to go get ready for the weekend!

2009-06-29T22:17:00.002-05:00

The 6 Month Report

So, in 43 minutes, it will be the last day of the 6th month of the year... close enough for me to feel as though it is time for a 6 month report on my New Year's Resolution... which was to "spend less money and reduce my debts". In reviewing the post I made about said resolution in January, I can safely say that a lot of the changes I've made have not only become second nature, but have really made a difference in helping me reach my goals.

To briefly review, I first took a look at all of my bills and cut/reduced what I could - quit the gym, changed my cell phone plan, reduced my cable package and Netflix package, and so on.

After trimming whatever bills I could, I decided to write down every penny I spent. I have been doing this every single day since January 1, and it has been very illuminating. Here are a few things I have learned:

1. Coffee and bagels are a slippery slope, and the few bucks add up. Better to make coffee at home, and if you really "need" a bagel, buy them at the grocery store.
2. Writing things down sort of automatically makes me spend less - you can't be in denial about where the money is going.
3. I spend about $350 a month on groceries, eating out, and entertainment. This is actually pretty good, in my opinion. I also think that this is a lot less than I used to spend - again, keeping track seems to be helping.
4. It is a lot harder to earn money back to pay off a credit card bill than it is to just not spend it in the first place. Is that splurge on a fancy new outfit REALLY worth it? Possibly every once in a while, but definitely not every time the urge strikes.
5. My desire to buy new stuff has been seriously dampened. This goes for yarn, too. I've spent about $60 on yarn all year so far, and all of that yarn was either required to finish a project I had already started, or was for a gift I did not have appropriate yarn for.

As for making extra money, I have done various odd jobs, as described before on this blog. The one odd job I continue to do is test knitting. Check this out - I'm on my 19th "for-pay" knitting project since the beginning of the year! Amazingly, during that time, I have also managed to complete 13 projects for myself, including 3 sweaters, 7 pairs of socks, and various other projects. Not too shabby, I must say. I can only imagine how small my stash would be right now if I had been only knitting with my own yarn!

And, finally, I should mention that I am keeping up with my "debt pay-down" plan, as well. I am optimistic that at some point within the next 36 months, I will be able to say that I no longer have a student loan or a second mortgage. Now, that sounds really nice!

So, that's the 6 month status report. I am optimistic that the rest of the year will go well, too. Wish me luck!

2009-06-22T23:08:00.002-05:00

Maxi Dress - I'm Confused

Soooo, this spring, everyone is advertising and selling maxi dresses - halter top or spaghetti strap dresses, frequently with an empire waist, and trailing alllll the way down to the ground. I was excited to see this style, because I think it would look good on me. In fact, I actually bought one the other day at Target, and it looks pretty cute!

My confusion is this: who in the world are they making these dresses for??? The one I bought (as well as all of the others I tried on) came all the way down to my feet - the hem actually touches my feet, people! For any of you who have never seen me in person, I'm 5'11" tall... which places me in the top 1% of all women... which means that these danged dresses really couldn't possibly fit anyone whose shoulders are any closer to the ground than mine are, without the dang thing dragging on the ground.

Personally, I am as pleased as punch - a cute, trendy look that I can actually carry off! However, I'm sure it's a look that will fade fast, since the other 99% of women are going to pick the dress up (if they can actually REACH the high-up rack these dresses have to hang from), hold it up to them, and realize a foot of fabric is lying on the ground. A non starter - that dress will never even make it into the dressing room!

ANYWAY, I intend to rock this style for as long as it's still cool - it's a nice way to look glamorous but still be comfy - the dress I got is a knit jersey fabric... nice!

Apologies to the other 99% of women out there... if you have a sewing machine, perhaps you can hem a maxi dress to your liking???

2009-06-17T22:44:00.003-05:00

Thankful

At this time of the school year, I am incredibly thankful that I did not receive a pink slip on the 15th. Dozens and dozens and dozens of school employees received them, but I did not receive one. True, most of these people will have these pink slips rescinded prior to the first of the fiscal year (July 1), but they have to wait and worry until then, and my heart goes out to them. I attended a union meeting today, where we discussed possible concessions that we as a unit could offer up to the school board, so as to preserve as many jobs as possible, and I am hopeful that negotiations will go well.

It was hard to sit at this meeting and look around at all of the anxious faces - one woman noted to our table that her husband had just been laid off, and that she also just received a pink slip. What an absolute nightmare!

I worry that things will get worse before they get better, but I am incredibly grateful that I am most likely safe for one more year.

2009-06-14T20:33:00.002-05:00

Tossing Some Crochet Into The Mix!

Although I am a knitting fiend, I do also know how to crochet. I've been rather successful in my efforts to bring little to no new yarn into my home, and have been 'shopping the stash' any time I want to start a new project. This past weekend, I didn't really feel like picking up any of my current WIPS, so I impulsively dragged out a BIG bag of acrylic yarn that I bought some time in 2008 (an impulse purchase at the time; no idea why I had planned to make a crochet afghan). What better way to blast through a BIG bunch of stash yarn?

Of course, it is an ill timed project... who wants to keep a big, warm, cozy afghan on their lap while they are working away on it? However, after only a couple of afternoons of work, it's already 16 inches long... at that rate, it will be just over 5 feet long in 8 full evenings... not sure whether those 8 evenings will all be soon or later, but they will happen eventually, I suppose! Irritatingly, I think I will have to buy more yarn to finish the blankie, but if I buy it on sale, it won't be too expensive to complete.

The colors are quite pretty, and it's decent acrylic - check it out so far:

I feel like the colors are a bit richer and prettier in real life. Interestingly, a lot of the colors match the stripey chair I have in my living room... I'm not sure if I'll keep the blankie or give it away... but considering the matchy aspect, maybe I'll keep it!

2009-06-06T09:34:00.002-05:00

I was zazzed!

Last night, after trying to make plans with a friend which potentially involved some convoluted idea of when/where to take a bike ride, I became quite zazzed about the idea of riding my bicycle. So zazzed, in fact, that I woke up earlyish and went for a 20 mile ride this morning. I've gone on a handful of rides so far this spring, but none yet where I just rolled out the front door of my home... I had been bringing my bike by car to somewhere so the whole ride would be quiet and pretty. One disadvantage of the 'coming home' part is an unavoidable stretch of cobblestones... quite jangly on a bicycle!

Anyway, it was a very nice ride. I evidently enjoy exercising when it is cool and cloudy out, and this morning did not dissapoint. 55 degrees when I set out, and not a single ray of sun to be seen - perfect! Now that I'm home, I feel a bit clammy, but that is when a hot shower feels best, in my opinion! Anyway, I'll have to break the news to my friend that we will not be going on a ride together this evening; at least, not on bikes!

The sun did start peeping out a little bit near the very end of my ride - I am hopeful that it makes a more grand appearance later on today! Enjoy your weekends, everyone!

2009-06-04T11:18:00.003-05:00

Whoa, Another Job?

A while back, I mentioned that part time jobs keep falling in my lap. Today, it happened again! I received a call from Student Support Services (a department within the Lowell Public School Department) saying that there was a family that needed some mental health support over the summer. I won't be too specific about the family demographics, as it would be very easy to identify the family. It is a family that has arrived to the US fairly recently, and they have two children, both of whom have the same noncurable genetic disorder that prevents them from being able to go to school. The disorder is medical in nature, and the school environment is simply too dangerous to their physical well being.

Anyway, the children already receive in home tutoring and nursing assistance, but the school department and the family are worried about isolation and the children's mental health. Enter, me! The specifics of the job are a bit unclear, but it sounds like I might visit a couple of times a week and hang out/ interact with the kids. Even better, it is very close by to where I live, so it's not an annoying schlep anywhere inconvenient.

So, that's all of the information I have at the moment. I was very specific when I said I was not interested in anything more than a few small hours a week - so this would be pretty perfect, wouldn't it!

2009-05-31T14:34:00.002-05:00

Great Brook Farm

Yesterday, I went for a nice walk in the woods at Great Brook Farm, in Carlisle, MA. It was an incredibly gorgeous day; I couldn't believe how beautiful a day it was! There were still mosquitoes who chomped away despite the "Australian Rain Forest Tested" bug spray I used, but for some reason, the bites aren't really all that itchy. I am grateful.

I had recently bought a new rechargeable battery for my pocket sized point & shoot digital camera, so I tucked it in my pocket and snapped a few pictures - it's a much easier camera to pack and pull out than the big ol' DSLR I have. I enjoy using the DSLR more, but... it is a bit unwieldy when tromping through the woods.

Here are some of the photos I took:

Look at how many lady slippers there were!

Here is another one... they were everywhere.

A poofy dandelion:

Just LOOK how gorgeous it was!

Another nice feature of this spot is that they have amazing ice cream there. I got butter crunch, and it was incredibly creamy, rich, and wonderful. Yeah, it kind of negates the exercise I did, but hey... it was worth it.

While we sat and ate our ice cream, we saw a bunch of geese across the pond. One of them seemed to be in trouble , flapping around and not following his family into the water. The family swam away, then mom quacked at him and went back to get him, but he did not follow. An intrepid human boy tiptoed toward the situation, and finally he and his dad figured out what was going on... the gosling was trapped with a length of fishing line! The mom watched carefully as the humans freed her baby... and then he swam happily out onto the water and joined the other geese. It was rather exciting, I must say! At first, I didn't realize the gosling was in trouble, and I thought that the boy was going to get nipped by an angry mom, but everything worked out okay in the end.

I saw a few excellent dung beetles, but the photos didn't turn out very well... I'm sure you are all quite disappointed.

2009-05-28T08:49:00.002-05:00

Weird Dreams

We all have them. Ever since I've moved into an old mill building, I have occasional dreams relating to living in an old building. My actual home is watertight and snug as a bug, but in my dreams, sometimes there is only part of a roof, letting birds fly right in, and last night, there was water GUSHING down from the ceiling. (In my dream. Not in reality) I stood there, not knowing what to do, and then climbed up on a ladder and tightened a bolt on some pipe going across the ceiling. All gushing water stopped. Evidently, in my dreams, I am a plumbing genius.

I am assuming I dreamed about gushing water for a couple of reasons... it was raining, and I needed to use the "facilities". I will reflect on this theory the next time I dream about my home flooding...

I dunno what I feel like doing this weekend. Anyone have some good plans?

2009-05-26T08:49:00.002-05:00

What a Weekend!

Was this weekend lovely, or what? Or, am I only able to remember yesterday, which was sunny and breezy and wonderful? Yeah, I guess that was it, actually.... because now that I think about it, Saturday was downright cold, and Sunday was spent sleepy and snoozy and waiting for the sky to open up... did it ever rain? I can't even remember now.

Monday really was the star of the show. I went to Newburyport to visit my friend Heather, and we went on a nice, long bike ride... I'd guess it was 30+miles. Unfortunately, the wind was fighting against us the whole way home - no wonder the trip out seemed so easy! And also, I evidently did a very poor job of applying my sunblock - dangit! I have lobstery legs and some odd patches of sunburn here and there in odd spots.

After the bike ride, we quickly chowed down some pasta and then walked into town... walking helps get out that lactic acid, of course. Oh, and the new gelato stand was also a contributing factor. Gelato is some good stuff.

Regarding the extra freezy Saturday, well, that was a very nice day, too... despite the fact that I was kinda cold all day! Bike ride, car ride, ice cream (sense a theme here?), and watching the NH Fishercats play ball. And fireworks at the end of the game! I love fireworks! Blammo!

I finally have a new knit-for-pay project, which is being knit out of Classic Elite's Princess yarn. So soft and nice! Merino, viscose, cashmere, angora and nylon. So soft and nice! The pattern has ribbing and cables, and the yarn shows off the patterning very nicely.

I also managed to eke out another pair of socks prior to receiving the pattern... and to start yet another pair. One of these days, I"m going to get someone to take pics of me in the 3-4 sweaters I have yet to photograph... they're good ones!

2009-05-18T22:11:00.002-05:00

Now, that's a lotta fiber!

This may sound strange to the knitters out there, but lately, I have been feeling stressed out by my stash. This is particularly true now that I'm doing more knitting for designers, and not knitting out of my stash... I feel like I NEED to knit more, to knit through the stash, for whatever reason. (Designers, don't feel bad - this is MY issue, not yours! ;-) ) I've forgone purchasing yarn for the most part this year... I spent a mere $16 on yarn at SPA in Maine this year, and only added one ball of sock yarn in with an order that I placed when I needed more yarn to finish a project. That sock yarn was featured 2 posts ago, btw... so it's not in my stash!

Okay, I'm sort of meandering away from the point of this post. I decided that in order to better know what I had in my stash, I really needed to photograph and organize it all. The upshot? I own seven pounds of spinning fiber - enough for 22 different projects, actually.

And that's just the spinning fiber. As for yarn, it appears as though I have about 100 different yarns, many of which I have multiple balls of. This includes only FULL balls of yarn that have never been used by me in any other project. It does NOT include the partial balls I have that are left over from years and years worth of projects! I still have delusions of pulling these leftover bits out and knitting up some wacky afghan or something like that. Who knows... maybe someday I will!

So, you might wonder how many years' worth of knitting happiness all of this yarn will give me... well, considering that I have logged about 75 projects (not including for-pay projects I've done this year) since October 2007, I definitely haven't reached SABLE yet. (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) Perhaps I will actually NEED to go yarn shopping before my 40th birthday, but then again, perhaps I won't!

Now, how in the world am I going to resist buying yarn at the Sock Summit in August, or at Rhinebeck this fall??? Maybe if I make those crazy leftover afghans before then, I can allow myself a little purchase or two???

Oh, and if you are interested in seeing some of the most recent yarns I have stashed, click HERE.

2009-05-18T07:41:00.003-05:00

Pics of Lowell

This past weekend was the "Doors Open Lowell" event, which affords people the luxury of exploring numerous buildings that are not always casually opened to the public. This year, I only actually went into one of the buildings, but in years past, I have enjoyed a more full day of exploration. Saturday was perfect for walking around - it was warm and sunny, if not a bit breezy.

The building I did go into was St. Anne's Church, which I chose because I wanted to try and get some photos of some of their stained glass windows. Here are a few shots:

There were many more, but those are a few of the highlights. I was glad it was sunny out, as the windows look so much better with glowing sunlight coming through them.

After looking at the church, it was a perfect day for a walk down by the river. We came across an odd sight; a "start" and "finish" line combo that looked... extremely GRUELING. I mean, that has to be at LEAST 1/10TH OF A MILE THERE!!! Those race coordinators are ANIMALS!

Here are some other shots of stuff.

Next up are some photos from a fascinating statue-y thingy I pass on my walks sometimes. I didn't actually take a picture of the entire thing this go around, just some closeups of the carvings.

Some of the carving sections are quite small - here is a shot with my finger for comparison:

And finally, an arty up-shot:

All in all, it was a very nice day. Coming up, a long weekend with no plans yet...

2009-05-17T20:00:00.002-05:00

New Socks, New Yarn

No, I didn't buy new yarn... I just finished spinning up some fiber that has been on the wheel for a couple of months... for shame! The fiber was from Pigeonroof Studios on Etsy, in the "Bruise" colorway. It's a merino/ seacell blend, and I ended up with 418 yards of sock weight yarn. I am thinking that I will be knitting this up as gift socks, but have not totally decided yet.

Up next, a simple pair of ribbed socks, a gift for my brother. He doesn't read this blog, and even if he does... well, I'd be surprised, just as surprised as he'd be to see his new socks! They are big and baggy on me, and have been tried on by a dude with appropriately sized feet, so I assume they'll fit nicely. I tried Kraemer Yarn Saucon Sock for these; it's a rather nice blend of cotton, acrylic and nylon. I liked knitting with it, and it feels like it will wear well, too.

Next up, ONline Supersocke yarn; Priscilla's Dream Socks pattern. Short row toe and heel, toe up, and they fit quite nicely. I am also thinking I might give these away, but haven't decided yet.

There are also three unphotographed sweaters waiting in the wings... I am waiting for the 'perfect storm' of photography conditions, which would include:
1. Me being showered with my hair looking nice
2. The sweaters being around
3. A camera being around
4. Someone else being around who could photograph me
5. The light being good for getting nice pictures of my groovy sweaters
6. All of the above being true, AND me remembering!

These 'perfect storm' moments are few and far between, unfortunately. Two of the three sweaters turned out AWESOME, and I"m a little on the fence about the third. Stay tuned!

2009-05-14T22:21:00.002-05:00

Bead Crochet

For a long time now, I have avoided listing things on Etsy because I just loathe photographing jewelry, and do not enjoy the listing process in general. However, I finally took a bunch of photos the other day - about 175 of them in less than 30 minutes, actually... and some of them were totally usable, after some cropping and such. Here are a few of the photos:

I think the rainbow on black one is my favorite picture. Anyway, as I was listing the bracelets in my Etsy Shop, someone actually bought one of them - it was very exciting! I guess I ought to go ahead and list things every so often. Too bad I hate it so much!

Tomorrow is Friday, and I'm looking forward to it. For whatever reason, it's been a dog of a week... going by very slowly and my time at work has felt kind of stressful. Fortunately, I have a social worker staff meeting first thing tomorrow morning, which means that I will get the chance to sit quietly and soak in social worky knowledge for a few hours before reentering the hubbub of being in a middle school.

Speaking of work, I am continuing to tutor after school. The extra money is certainly nice, but I have to be honest... I love me some free time, and the tutoring is really cramping my style. It's not immediately after work; I tutor about 1 1/2 hours after I get out of school. that's not quite enough to get out and exercise (and clean up afterwards), just enough time to go grocery shopping... but I will think twice about tutoring again in the future.

Time to sleep...

2009-05-07T16:40:00.001-05:00

I did it.

I ripped out the entire sweater. I have cast on again and have knit three rows. I'm feeling a little whimpery about it, to be honest, but I guess I will just keep trucking!

2009-05-07T09:01:00.002-05:00

Rrrrrrrippppp.

Dagnabbit! I finally have some more time to knit for myself, and the sweater I'm already halfway done with is DEFINITELY too big. It's supposed to fit nice and snug; here is a photo of the Gathered Pullover of which I speak. I have knit all the way up to the armpit (in the round), and finished the rest of the front... so I tried it on. It is nice and loose, nowhere near the snug, body skimming fit that is appropriate for the style/cut of the sweater. Rats!

So, I am going to have to rip the entire thing out. Yarrrrgh! I am tempted not to rip the body out just yet, and to knit up the sleeves first so I feel like I'm actually making progress. However, I'm going to an all day workshop tomorrow, so 11 inches of circular stockinette might be just the right speed for the day. We'll see.

In other disappointing news, I did not win the NH Powerball lottery drawing last night. Bummer, dude.

2009-04-30T21:33:00.003-05:00

CT Sheep & Wool

Yeah, it's been almost a week since this event, but hey, at least I finally got to it! Last Saturday, Marianne and I drove down to Connecticut to check out the small but mighty CT Sheep & Wool show. It really only took us about an hour to walk through the whole thing twice, but... there were some lovely vendors and adorable animals. There was some beautiful alpaca yarn calling my name, but I resisted by thinking about how well I've been doing on my budget, and also thinking about my still gigantic stash waiting to be knit up!

It was a very, very warm day, and was really the first 'shorts appropriate' day so far this year... we went from the 60's to the 90's in one fell swoop! The animals were all panting and looking very hot... of course, you can't tell in the pictures, but I promise it's true.

"Shear me next... I'm hot!"

Mellow Llama:

*chewchewchew*

This here was the teeny, tiny, teensy tiniest baby dwarf goat in the world. I wish there was something in the picture to show the scale... she weighed maybe a couple of pounds, I'd say. She didn't have a name, as she had just been born 3 days ago, and they weren't sure she'd live, because her mommy stomped her. :( Here, she is jumping and looking very lively. It's the least blurry of the action shots....
um, except for the peeing shot. A baby goat has got to go sometimes, you know?

Aaaaand here is another peeing animal picture. I know, I know... typical. This here is a brace of oxen named Tom and Jerry, who were 1600 and 1800 pounds. Again, the scale is not evident, but these dudes were LARGE and in charge. They were giving oxcart rides, and looked VERY hot. One of them was drooling quite profusely, and his drool threads were being blown around by the breeze - you couldn't get too close!
It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. It's a much smaller show than MA or NH, but still worth the time, especially on a nice day. If you recall, it was at this show that I bought my spinning wheel last year. It was cold and sorta rainy at the show last year, so I suppose it is still possible to have fun when it is not nice out, but still, I know which I prefer!

2009-04-27T07:13:00.002-05:00

A Visit to the Decordova

If you live in this neck of the woods and want a nice place to walk around outdoors and see some sculptures, I recommend the Decordova Museum. However, when the heck did they start charging money? I was so irritated! Fortunately, it was a Sunday and they stop charging at 5PM, and we arrived at 4:45, so we went elsewhere for 15 minutes. All's well that ends well.

We used those 15 minutes to stop at the Lincoln Library:

Now, it is true that most of the pictures aren't even of the library, but whatever. That's how I roll.

Once we were at the Decordova, there were tons of sculptures to photograph. Here are a few of them, with a few nature shots mixed in, of course.

It was a beautiful afternoon, although a stiff breeze cooled things down a bit more than anticipated. The same cannot be said for this past weekend, which soared into the 80's! We'll evidently see 90 tomorrow, and it will then plummet back down into the 60's for the next week or so. Never a dull moment!

2009-04-16T07:18:00.002-05:00

I'm in the Paper!

Click here to read the article!

So, there is not a photo online, but my smiling face made the actual article in the paper. It's an article about various girls' nights out, and the Lowell knitting gals made the cut!

There was one quote that I was afraid they were going to throw in there... at one point, I confessed that one year, I calculated that I had spent... um... $4000 on knitting stuff. (Yes, you may faint now) This was a long time ago, and I have no excuse for such lavishness. I'm willing to bet that all of that yarn has been knitted up by now, though, and as of this time for 2009, I have only spent $36 all year on yarn.

I got off lucky, though, and that ill-thought-out statement did not make the cut. However, one important quote got in there... "I think it's... really important to keep up female friendships." I stand behind that quote 100%. Over the course of my life, there have been periods of time where I did not have a lot of close female friendships, and I gotta tell ya... those times are not so great. Female friends provide a type of closeness, camaraderie, and support that a guy friend (or boyfriend/lover/what have you) just don't offer, and friendship is different from a romantic relationship. I think if I had to choose between being single but with a good group of girl friends, or being partnered but with no friends, I'd go with the former. Of course, I'm aiming to have both!

April vacation is coming up quickly. Today and tomorrow will probably go by pretty fast - our school has a Cambodian New Year show today. Students will be performing traditional dances and such - it's really cool. And tomorrow, I have an out-of-the-building meeting that lasts all morning, so tomorrow will go by quickly, as well. Then, a week of relaxing and perhaps even crossing a couple of things off the to-do list. I have populated the to-do list with a bunch of fun stuff... I want to try and make bagels, and an authentic mole' sauce, for instance. Unfortunately, I also have an appointment with a bank to review my mortgage (boring) and I think I'll get the garbage disposal replaced, too (money I wish I didn't have to spend).

Have a good one, everyone!

2009-04-15T07:23:00.002-05:00

Jogging and Blisters and Allergies, Oh My!

So, I have been slowly and consistently increasing the amount of time/distance that I've been jogging, going out a couple of times a week, adding a minute or two to the total jog time each time I go out. It still feels like a struggle - I don't feel relaxed and comfortable yet, but I'm muscling my way through it. Muscles. Suuuuure, Amanda, lots and lots of muscles. *eyeroll*

At the same time, the weather has been getting warmer out, and if I go jogging in the afternoon after work, it has been shorts and t-shirt weather. Know what that means? I had forgotten all about it, actually... it means sweaty feet and BLISTERS. If you go all the way back to the beginning of this blog, you'll get a nice photo of one of the juicy blisters I tend to get when running. It's awful! Anyway, it seems that I do best running in 30-45 degree weather for this reason. Dagnabbit! And before you make a suggestion, I have tried various shoes, socks, no socks, powders, taping, lubing, etc. etc. etc. I have even toughened up that area of the foot... I blister UNDER the callus instead. It's ridiculous, really.

Additionally, a couple of years ago, I started suffering from springtime seasonal allergies. And of course, I have been telling myself that this was a fluke, and that I don't REALLY have allergies. However, when I came back in from my jog yesterday, I sneezed about 50 times until I rushed into the shower, ostensibly to rinse the pollen off of me. Time to get out that neti pot more than every few days, I suppose... Yeah, I guess I really do have allergies.

I am getting dangerously close to finishing my most recent knitting project, but have run into another error in the pattern. The other errors, of which there were several, were all easily sorted out without much head scratching, but this last one is a doozy. It may require some time consuming trial and error, but rest assured, there will be FO pics very soon!

2009-04-13T14:24:00.003-05:00

The Surlies

Do you ever come down with a case of 'The Surlies', where you just feel surly for no good reason? I have been a bit crabby today, and also not very hungry at all, which is very odd indeed. I don't feel sick. I've been quite able to pull it together and be pleasant and polite and even cheerful toward other people as needed, but I really didn't FEEL like it.

In unsurly news, I have a couple of projects for myself that are quite close to completion. Here is a closeup of some knot stitches in the High Neck Lace Top (ravelry link) that I am about 75% finished with:

I was told that the knots looked like nipples by a non knitter... perhaps that is why I was drawn to the pattern!?!

2009-04-06T06:57:00.003-05:00

A TERRIBLE Start to the Day!

My phone rang this morning before I had gotten out of bed. Fortunately, I decided to answer it, and it was my neighbor, telling me my car was getting towed! I threw on a pair of jeans under my wee nightie, and grabbed a jacket and my keys, and ran across the street in a most inappropriate state of semi-dress. I believe I was still wearing my night guard, but gracefully yanked it out before addressing the tow truck operator.

The upshot was that yes, he'd drop my car back down for a modest $75, in cash. The silly part of all of this is that I have NEVER, in all of the 4 1/2 years of living where I do, EVER, parked in that parking lot. I figured, hey, I'll be out of there by 7:30, who will care? Evidently, the owners of the parking lot care. Fortunately, so do my neighbors Brett and Suzz, and I am incredibly grateful that I had a car to drive to work in today!

On a more positive note, I had a nice evening last night after my bike ride. My friend came over and we wandered around downtown Lowell taking pictures. One of these days, I'd like to take a hobbyist photography course of some sort - I'd like to get even better shots than the ones that I do, as well as learn a few more tricks along the way.

Here are a couple of the photos I took:

Door on St. Ann's Church:

Canal next to Middlesex Community College:

Reflection in window at St. Ann's Church:

Lock doors behind Doubletree:

Desiccated, thorny plant with spider web:

I took a whole bunch of photos, but only edited/ cropped a few of them.

Ooh, today I am starting my tutoring job after work today! It is going to feel like a very long work day... I'm not used to working that many hours in a row! I will have to let you all know how it goes today...

2009-04-05T16:18:00.003-05:00

Beautiful Day!

Wow, what a lovely day today turned out to be! The high winds cooled things off a bit, but it was sunny and warm for an early April day.

I managed to go for a bike ride outdoors, as well. I had a bit of a tough time getting started... I had decided to drive a few miles out of the city center so that the whole ride would be quiet and pleasant, and when I got to my destination (Gary's Ice Cream, yum), I realized I did not have my cycling shoes with me. Sooooo, back home to get the shoes. Try #2 was better, but I realized a few miles in that my water bottle was still in the car! I gazed adoringly at other cyclists' bottles, and even at a couple of brownish streams here and there... it made that lime rickey at Gary's that much more delicious once the ride was done!

I rode for about 1 1/4 hours; no clue how far I went. I kind of don't want to know, because I'm afraid it's like 12 miles or something embarrassing like that! Okay, it's probably longer than that, but still. I don't wanna know.

It was pretty windy, and my legs are a bit out of shape, but it was still beautiful out there. There was one point where I was riding past a place with a bunch of cows... the manure was making me feel a bit gaggy... but I survived!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

2009-04-02T23:24:00.003-05:00

Can't Sleep.

I hate it when that happens! I even got into bed nice and early, like 10pm. 2 1/2 hours later, I have given up and am on the computer. I did find this, and would like to share it with you - you know on hand dryers they have the icons that show you what's going to happen? Well, here is another interpretation of the photos.

Oh, if only it were true.

All right, time to strive for sleep again...

2009-03-31T08:12:00.003-05:00

Meet Max!

I know, two posts in one hour... but I had to give him his own post. I got the "okay" from his parents to post his picture online, so here goes!

My nephew was born this past Saturday! I have seen a few pictures, and even got to see him on video over Skype last night - he is all cute and great and I adore him already!

Here he is, modestly shielding his face from the paparazzi:

And here he is with Mom and Dad (my brother and his wife), looking all elf (or dwarf?) like for the trip home.

Now, August seems sooooo far away - that is when I booked a trip to go out for a visit. Max, I will totally bring presents, okay?

2009-03-31T07:52:00.003-05:00

When it Rains, it Pours

While this IS a great post title for the nearing onset of April, it's not the reason I chose the title. There is a much better, much more long-winded reason for my title choice!

I have made many mentions of my plan to pay down certain amounts of debt over the next few years, and have also mentioned that I am still sticking to the plan. Actually, I just crunched the numbers for March, and not only did I meet my monthly paydown goal, I have a little over $100 surplus for the month. That might not seem like a lot, but trust me.... the paydown goal is really aggressive, and to have anything left over at the end of the month is quite an accomplishment!

Aaaaanyway, what is it raining in my world this year, ever since making this goal? It's raining part time jobs, believe it or not! Now, the jewelry 'business' has been slumping quite a bit, so I'm not really counting that, but I have that part time babysitting job and the knitting job already. And as of yesterday, I was offered another part time job out of the blue! I was running a little later than I would have liked to get to work (although still not technically late). I passed by a coworker from the downtown office, and she said, "I have your name on my desk." Hm, why might that be? Turns out, I had put in an application to tutor expelled students at the beginning of the year, but nothing had materialized from that. But now, there is a position available at a local homeless shelter for someone to help the kids who live there with their homework. I would get to use my social work skills, too, because the grant funding goals include family support, as well as generalized educational/social/academic support for the kids. I have an 'interview' on Wednesday, but was basicallly told by my pal from the downtown office, "let me know what hours you decide upon with the shelter manager". Wow. "Pardon me, ma'am, would you like a job that is just perfect for you?" "Why yes, yes I would." *insert several more wows here*

I think I have more jobs than I know what to do with at this point, but I am incredibly grateful to have this type of problem! There is also the possibility of part time work over the summer, which would be pretty cool. How did I get to be so lucky???

2009-03-30T07:17:00.002-05:00

Almost April!

March is a very tedious month in the field of education, as I believe I have mentioned before. The thrill of snow and cold weather is definitely over, and kids and educators alike are suffering from cabin fever. There are no long weekends in March, and it's just one grindingly long day after another. The teachers are frazzled, and the kids pick up on that... and act like untrained monkeys (minus the poo flinging, in most instances). These untrained monkeys are sent to me in droves as teachers' abilities to wrangle them into their seats decreases - it's been interesting, to say the least.

At any rate, this dreadful month (referred to as the "longest three months of the school year" by a former coworker) will be over quite soon, and this is rather good news to me. Yes, April brings lots of sogginess and rain, but rain does not need to be shoveled or scraped off the car at the end of the day. April means that there will be days where a light jacket will do for warmth, rather than a scarf and heavy coat. April means a long weekend for Easter, and a week off for April vacation. April means spending time outside without preparing for frostbite prevention, it means green stuff will start to grow again outside, and it means longer amounts of daylight after work. The kids are able to get outside and run around and burn off that untrained monkey energy, and the school year is 3/4 over. All good things.

Speaking of good things, my nephew Max was born over the weekend! He considerately did most of the work of coming out during regular daytime hours, although I doubt that helped the new mom and dad get any sleep that night! I will post a picture once I get permission to do so from the parents... some people do not wish their kids' photos to be shared on the internet, and I'd like to respect those wishes! Of course, to me, he looks like MY side of the family, but I"m sure the other side of the family is thinking the same thing! In all reality, he just looks teeny and squished and raisiny, just like any baby, but he sure is cute to me.

Well, back to wild monkey wrangling... happy almost April, everyone!

2009-03-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

The Decision

So, I went ahead and decided to do the triathlon. It's a short one, 1/4 mile swim, 8 mile bike, 3.1 mile (5k) run. I have done a bunch of triathlons in the past, but we're really talking about the distant past at this point, particularly given my current physical conditioning levels! I am decidedly more husky than I was when I was doing triathlons regularly, and man... you can fool yourself about the significance of that extra weight during regular life, but NOT when you try to go out for a run or squeeze into your old cycling shorts. NOT. PRETTY. Cycling clothing can make certain people look like superheroes... I think my current look is much more akin to that of a sausage.

mmmmmm. sausage.

I shot off a quick email to the race organizers to inquire about the course conditions, notably, the average water temperature and the hilliness of the bike/run. I received a speedy response: the water temp is generally around 71-74, and the bike/run has "rolling hills". Sure, I would have liked to have received words that included "fast" and "flat", but... that is not the case. I suppose I will need to chart out some hillier bike and run courses, yes?

I sat on my bicycle for the first time in a while about a week ago and again last night. People, racing saddles are so very narrow. So very, very narrow. So narrow that I suspect the entire saddle is invisible to the observer, having hidden itself so far up my behind. (oh, my!) Will my posterior ever adjust? I do hope so. Hm, now that I think about it, it does not seem to hurt at this very moment, so maybe things are looking up. Otherwise, I might be tempted to purchase a new saddle, which might well push me over the precipice of the extremely slippery slope that is... PURCHASING TRI GEEK GEAR. Fortunately, I own an awful lot of tri-geek gear already... wetsuit, neoprene helmet for cold water swimming, aero bars, cycling shoes, various outfits, race belts, fuel belt, snazzy sunglasses, helmet, indoor trainer, etc. etc. etc... but I will most certainly need a new trisuit (see above 'sausage' reference) and possibly a new saddle, and maybe some Endurox R4, Hammer gel, bike gloves... you see where this could possibly lead!

I have also been thinking about the fact that we are entering the rainy season. I'm mentally preparing myself for some very damp runs and bike rides. Bleaugh!

Anyway, it's Friday, people! Even better, it's lunch time! This weekend promises to be a good one: weekly chores are already finished (except for vacuuming, so wear socks if you're coming over); the weather may be nice enough for an outdoor bike ride tomorrow, and tomorrow evening I'm going to a Horrorthon (10 hours of scary movies) at a friend's house. What fun!

2009-03-24T22:35:00.001-05:00

Oh, Brother.

So, it is possible that my friend Katy may be talking me into doing a triathlon this summer. She has never done one, and it has been a few years since I have done one... it is very safe to say that both of us have a lot of work to do if this thing is actually going to happen.

More details later... I already have my jogging outfit laid out for after work today. Wish me luck!

2009-03-20T12:10:00.001-05:00

Happy Spring!

So no, this picture is not from this year, but I am looking forward to spying arrival of the first flowers, to be sure!

2009-03-18T09:14:00.002-05:00

How is it only Wednesday???

I guess some weeks tick by a bit slower than others. Not sure what it is about this particular week that makes it feel like the second hand got stuck and is plinking against some invisible barrier, working like heck to make the next second pass. By right, this week should be sailing delightfully by - spring has been flirting with us, with tweeting birds in the morning, warm springy air on our faces in the afternoon, sunlight still available for our enjoyment well past 6 PM.

But, nooooooo. For some reason, I am getting a "Groundhog Day" feeling about this week, like, "wasn't it just Wednesday YESTERDAY???" Evidently, it was not, much to my dismay.

ANYway... did everyone have a nice St. Patrick's Day? I did nothing St. Patricky other than wearing a greenish shirt to work, and going to an Irish pub the day before... things were pretty dead in there, actually. I met up with some Lowell area knitting friends, and we had a nice time, until a very slurringly drunk 'gentleman' decided it was high time to come on over and chat us up. Oh, it was a train wreck. His opening line was something to the effect that if he was sitting with us, he would see it as a very big insult that we were knitting... like we were ignoring our table mates. Yeah, way to go dude... alienate every single person at the table with your opening statement! I contradicted him, and he then guessed (sharp one, he was) that I was the one at the table who thought he was rude and obnoxious.

Things only went downhill from there, and he got angrier and angrier with each thing I said to him. I finally told him to leave us alone (much more politely than he deserved), but it took a few tries to get him to buzz off. Poor, poor drunk Patrick... he's probably home blogging about those arrogant b!tches at the bar who wouldn't give his wonderful self the time of day... wouldn't that be apt!

For those who are interested, I am continuing to do well with my new year's financial challenge to myself. Perhaps at the 6 month mark, I will make a more detailed report on that front.

Knitting: I continue to be knitting for other people, so have no new pictures, although I may have a new spinning picture for you within the next week - stay tuned!

2009-03-07T17:58:00.002-05:00

Knitting Content!

Yes, yes, yes! I have knitting to share. Last weekend, I went to "SPA" weekend up in Freeport, Maine. There was yarn, fiber, and there were many, many knitters and spinners. It was very relaxing and I enjoyed myself. Also, I only spent $16 on yarn/fiber! We will not, however, discuss my meal budget, which was slightly higher. SLIGHTLY.

Here there be mittens!

The pattern is Bella's Mittens (Ravelry link) by Marielle Henault. The yarn is Classic Elite Tryst, which is 100% cashmere. These mittens are deliciously soft! I added two cable repeats to make them long enough... they were way too short for me otherwise. If you make these mittens, definitely try them on before decreasing for the fingertips... or else you risk having to back up and do some lengthening. My hands are not as long as you would think give my height, so I know of what I speak.

Next up, some handspun yarn! I got the fiber from Lynne/ Witchypoo, who dyed up this hot, hot, hot pink superwash merino just for me. I spun it up right away, since I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out!

It's pink, all right! I got about 425 yards of sock weight yarn... those are going to be some exciting socks!

And finally, some fiber that I got from Sereknity... we bartered - fiber for jewelry. Looky those colors!

Well, here ends the fibery update... hopefully, there will be more soonish!

For those of you who live in my general area of the world... how 'bout that weather today - it was gorgeous!!! I was out of the house all day, and left the windows open... my apartment smelled so fresh and airy when I got home. It was verrrrry nice.

2009-02-26T09:49:00.002-05:00

Sick of Winter Yet?

Because I'm not... at least, not quite yet. True, we'be been pummeled by snow, ice storms, snow, sleet, rain, snow and snow, and because of those factors my summer will be shortened by over a week, but I am not quite sick of it yet.

I have talked about this fact with a few different people and have come to a conclusion... it's the snow and the cold that get people down during the winter, and I have to deal with those two factors less than other people who live near me. First off, the snow: I live in a condo AND I park my car in a garage, so I am not responsible for any snow removal duties at all. Also, on especially bad days, I don't even have to drive to work, because it gets canceled. And, even if it is snowy and I have to go to work, it's only a couple of miles away - not exactly grueling. I remember last year when it took some coworkers 7 hours to drive home during a particularly ill-timed storm, it indeed took me 3 times longer than usual to get home... but... uh... it only took 30 minutes. Not exactly a hardship.

This brings me to the cold. My workplace is unpleasantly hot, so no shivering at work. Also, my home is all warm and cozy, so no shivering at home, either. I am sensible enough to put on long underwear when it is necessary for outdoor activities or what have you, so the cold isn't that terrible, either.

Now, don't get me wrong... this 'winter doesn't suck THAT bad' bravado usually lasts me until partway through March, and then I hit a wall. At that point in time, my feet start yearning for the spring's first pedicure and a pair of squishy flip flops, and I get super sick of putting on wool socks, sweater, hat, mittens, and scarf (under a warm coat, of course) every dang time I want to leave the house. I want to hear a damn bird tweeting, I want to enjoy an iced coffee, and awesomest of all, I want to know that I don't have to go to work for WEEKS! (that fact is why I don't feel all that bad about summer getting shortened - how in the world could I possibly whine about getting 7 weeks of vaca instead of 8? that would just be bitchy)

Speaking of summer vacation, I am starting to cook up some plans. I want to possibly go out to visit my brother and their new baby, who will be born some time in the next few weeks, and I am also thinking about whether or not I want to get some kind of part time job. The more I think about that one, though, the less possible I think it is... I work a week past when school ends, and have to go back a week before it starts... add in a week of traveling, and then I'm not that great of a summer hire, now am I? Good - scratch working off the list, haha!

In a few more hours, I'll be off to Maine for a nice, long weekend of relaxing and knitting. I do think I'm bringing my camera and laptop, so maybe I'll find the time to do some updates. I started my first knitting project last night, to get the ball rolling. New mittens by sunup? We'll see!

2009-02-25T08:56:00.002-05:00

Coraline

I went and saw the movie Coraline last night with my friend Marianne. If you haven't heard about it, it is a stop-motion, 3-D film, and is visually glorious to watch! I really enjoyed it, and am so glad I made the time to go and see it.

After I got home, I wasn't feeling all that great, so I went to bed at 9. I never do that, but I tell you what - I was super happy about that decision once the alarm went off this morning. I wouldn't QUITE use the phrase, "fresh as a daisy", but I still felt a whole lot better than I had when I went to sleep.

I'm getting pretty excited for tomorrow. Right after work, I will be heading up to Maine with Marianne and Nancy to "SPA", which has been referred to as the "knitting jamboree" by a certain non-knitting friend of mine. It's an apt enough name, to be sure! For the first time in a while, I have knitting FOR MYSELF planned, so there will actually be pictures to share, once the weekend is over. SPA is a gathering of many knitters, with no real game plan other than to hang out and knit and buy yarn and ogle each other's projects and go out to eat and shop in Freeport and whatever else... I have picked out a few projects to work on, most of which are small and fairly simple and will be easy enough to work on while chatting with other people.

Speaking of knitting, it might seem like I haven't done much of it in 2009... but I have actually completed 7 2/3 projects since the new year, just all for pay! There has been a sweater dress, a ribbed vest, a lace cardigan, a pair of sleeves, a bamboo pullover, panels for a knitted bag, a pea coat, and a halfway finished hat. They have all been cool patterns to work on, and I keep looking forward to the next project. What will those designers come up with next! One of the odd things is that I am always knitting up a size "small", meaning I never get to really see what the items would look like on me (well maybe the hat), since I am certainly not a small individual. And, barring some sort of wasting disease, I will never be a size small in the future! It sure is nice to knit such small garments, though... it goes a bit faster!

Anyway... I am debating whether or not to take my laptop up to SPA so I can post pics as the weekend goes along. I will certainly bring the camera!

2009-02-15T18:26:00.002-05:00

Faster than a Speeding Glacier!

I was feeling very antsy today, what with all of the knitting for moneys I've been doing lately - I have to get up off the sofa every so often so as to ensure that the fibers from the upholstery don't start to meld to my backside. So, I decided that I'd go out for a walk/jog/ shuffle type bout of exercise activity. I checked the temperature, 40 degrees. Not too bad at all! What I did not account for was the wind - dear lord, I was popsicle-ized by the time I got home!

However, I did survive, and the cold definitely caused an increase rate of hustle.

I have this entire next week off from work. I already took care of the 'clean my apartment' portion of the to-do list, and really, that was the only one that would have been nagging at me had I not taken care of it. Now, it's back to knitting and relaxing.

2009-02-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

A Good Time was Had by All!

As most of you seemed to remember, my birthday was yesterday! Wednesday evening, I was bestowed some delicious cupcakes, some soffffft yarn, and a bottle of wine. Thursday, my coworker baked me a cake, and in the evening, I went out for tasty beverages with friends.

The drink above was called an 'island girl'. It was mostly just fruity, and was 100% delicious! I had a very nice time chatting and laughing with friends... I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening! After I went home, I had a cupcake. Delicious!

2009-02-04T12:02:00.002-05:00

Only Wednesday?!?

How can that be? Stuff and nonsense! Someone has clearly made a clerical error.

I don't know why, but this week is CRAWLING by. Ugh!

We have been getting pummeled by snow this winter, and it has started to affect my commute. On the way to school, there are a couple of roads where oncoming traffic is unable to pass one another... you have to time it right so that one of you can swerve in behind a parked car, let the other person pass, and then you can swerve back out and continue on your way. This fact made me late today as a school bus and a garbage truck encountered one another along the way... it is very difficult for such large vehicles to 'swerve' anywhere, and we all sat around mulling over various options. Eventually, a move was made and we all went along our merry ways... but I was still late.

I babysat again the other day. I created a new favorite game called 'monster'. It requires no fancy equipment, no skill... you place the child underneath the kitchen table, and then you pretend to be a monster, trying to catch the child and eat him. Fortunately, one need not be fast in order for this to be fun, because the game lasts longer if you never catch him/ her. I peppered in a few 'you look delicious' and 'I think I will add ketchup' phrases, and we had good fun for almost 45 minutes. 45 MINUTES! I then was getting understandably bored, so I said, "let's go do something else." He replied, "Okay, let's go play 'monster' in the other room!" Uhhhh.. not different enough! I guess I came up with a winner. I'll bet he was nice and tired that night, too!

I am still doing loads of secret 'not for me' knitting. In between, I am making slow progress on the B-Side Cardigan - slow because it's DK weight yarn on small needles, and it's knit in one piece up to the armpits... I think I have a few more inches to go until I get up to the pits, though. I'm excited to get to wear it someday; something tells me it is going to be a great go-to sweater.

Ooh, I have the January review for you, regarding my New Year's resolution to save money and pay off debt. If it hadn't been for my car repair bill, I would have had a stellar month! I wrote down every penny I spent and earned, and definitely noticed the difference when it came time to pay bills - not only did I shave off money owed by cutting bills (as previously discusses), but that bit of knitting and babysitting I did definitely added up to a noticeable amount of money. Unfortunately, the car repair means that my tax return will go *poof* as soon as I get it...

2009-01-27T21:05:00.003-05:00

Beef Induced Bliss

So, I don't eat meat that often these days, but I find myself cooking it now and again. Recently, I decided I'd cook beef stew for my knitting friends. However, the entire process takes a long time, so I decided to cook it the night before they usually come. That night was tonight.

I have never made beef stew before, but I cruised the internet and found a recipe I thought sounded good. Anything called 'ultimate beef stew recipe' ought to be good, right? Indeed, it was fantastic! Someone had mentioned to me recently that they had beef stew with mushrooms in it, and they really are good - they turn sort of silky smooth and wonderful in the stew. The recipe also called for a horseradish sour cream sauce, which was okay, but not necessary. I did add some corn starch to thicken things up a bit, and used less red wine and more beef broth to balance it out, but all of the other flavors were perfect as is. Some unusual ingredients included large strips of orange zest and ground cloves... I really do think the orange zest added something special.

My tummy is happy and warm. Yumbo!

I hear we are getting another large pile of snow tomorrow. That might mean no knit night... I guess that might also mean more stew for me! Don't worry, ladies, this recipe will DEFINITELY make it back into the rotation in the future!

2009-01-23T23:19:00.003-05:00

Sniffles, Speed Knitting

I have had the sniffles this week. Not a super stuffed nose, just really runny and ouchy. I do hope it stops soon - it is so runny, it woke me up at night, running right out of my nose! (ewwww)

I have been doing a fair bit of knitting, but as I have already noted, it is not sharable at the moment. When it IS sharable, I shall simply point you in the direction of pictures from the pattern book! Too cool - it occurred to me that indeed, the items that I'm knitting will be the ones modeled for the pattern books... neato! I handed in the first project, and now have a cardigan and a cabled vest to churn out.

Sorry for the pathetically short post - it is bed time and I totally have to sneeze. Again.

2009-01-17T23:16:00.002-05:00

Vehicular Update

So, a couple of people pointed out to me that I had not blogged about what finally ended up happening with my car. What happened was painful. Ouchy. Worse than stubbing a toe, then dropping an anvil on it. The upshot is, they couldn't replicate the scrapy noise, but the exhaust issue they said was coming down the pike finally came to fruition, along with word of a catalytic converter that needed replacing. Oh, and I was also due for the 'do these things every 30,000 miles or your car will die' maintenance... of course, that list is an expensive one. The good news, if you can call it that, is that the car will hopefully be retired before it needs another one of those maintenance visits.

The whole shebang was rather expensive. Like, several weeks' net salary expensive. However, the car is still running, has been starting up without complaint even in this ridiculously cold weather, and the shop says the Skittle will hopefully be in action for another 20-30,000 miles. That is good news, particularly because I only drive about 7,500 miles a year these days.

So, needless to say, the whole 'spend no unnecessary money and sell a kidney on the black market' plan is in full effect. I actually babysat today for a few hours today. It was the first time in YEARS that I have babysat, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and let's face it - I have over 20 years' experience working with kids - I am a ridiculously overqualified babysitting machine. It was like riding a bicycle - we were playing games, building stuff, and I was calmly suggesting that he not throw ALL 52 cards up in the air all at the same time. Conveniently, he totally bought the act (you know, the act that I tooootally knew what I was doing). He even fell for the old 'cleanup as competition' trick that my mother taught me - at one point, I needed to use the bathroom, but was not sure what trouble he'd get into while I was out of the room, so I challenged him to a race: he needed to clean up the puzzle before I returned, and yes, it worked like it always does. Huzzah! What's even better? I evidently tired him out so much that he took a 3 hour nap after I left and went to bed on time tonight. Naturally, I won both him and his parents over with that.

Even better than that is that I will be paying for my groceries in cash for the next two weeks. Yesssssss.

2009-01-15T18:58:00.002-05:00

Brr, and no knitting pics!

We are having record cold weather - it hasn't been this cold in five years, as a matter of fact! When the temperature dips below a certain temperature, I can feel the cold radiating in from the windows... and it wakes me up at night. Last night, I rolled over to face the window, and the cold woke me up. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to roll over and face the other direction!

Now, I am not complaining about the cold - I have a warm place to live, loads of cozy sweaters, and don't work outside. It's definitely freezly out there, but I'll survive.

So, yeah, no knitting pics now, or possibly for a little while... I have found another source of a little extra income, doing some test knitting for pattern writers. I am rather sure that I am not allowed to photograph and show off the patterns prior to publishing, so no pictures - sorry people! I'll just have to come up with other things to photograph.

In the meantime, stay warm, people... it is currently 8 F here... and will be -1 F when I have to WALK to a meeting tomorrow morning, 45 minutes after sunrise. triple brr! I will be wearing long underwear, to be sure. And warm jeans. And wool socks, mittens, sweater, scarf, hat, multiple shirts, down parka, and possibly a kooky giant shawl over the whole ensemble. If so, there will also be large sunglasses to hide my face, so as to hide my identity. Crazy wool lady, that is me. Yeehaw!

2009-01-13T08:41:00.002-05:00

New Socks

A few years ago, I made a concerted effort not to buy any new yarn and knit only from my stash, and the plan worked quite well. Now, it is time to do that again, and wow... I have a lot of really pretty yarn! I joined a 'stash knit down' group on Ravelry, and one of the groups-within-a-group is a 'personal sock club'. The idea is that you pick out several sock yarns, and pair them with patterns. Each month, you pull out a new yarn/pattern combo, and away you go. The first one for 2009 is Mad Color Weave using Shibuiknits Sock yarn.

Ain't it grand? The slipped stitches break up the minor pooling, and I love how the elements on the side split off down the foot and heel.

I took a one-evening intermission from knitting these socks, because I was struck by the desire to knit a reusable Swiffer dry mop cover. I cruised Ravelry, found a crocheted loopy cover, and decided to make a knitted version of my own:

It is not exactly a thing of beauty, but it is rather functional, picking up surprisingly large amounts of dust bunnies and lint and such from the floor. I would call it a success! It took about 1.4 ounces of that cotton Sugar and Cream yarn. It probably should/could take a bit less, as the 'sleeve' part really should be a bit shorter. I may tweak the pattern and then write it up in case anyone is interested.

Now, I have started up on the B-Side Cardigan by Cosmicplutoknits. It is a fabulous cardigan that I will knit up in black, and will hopefully serve well as a go-to piece to throw on over anything and everything. Here's hoping!

2009-01-10T19:08:00.002-05:00

A Bad Noise

Well, just in time for me to try minimizing expenses, my car started making A BAD NOISE. Sort of a scraping, flapping situation. A brief, uneducated under-car inspection (by me) resulted in no visual conclusion, other than the conclusion that my jeans had gotten salt stains on the knees.

This happened last night, which was rather ill-timed, as I had an important appointment to get to today, not to mention getting to and from work and whatnot. So, here is the part of the story where I explain that, even when things aren't working out, they somehow work out. Last night, I determined that Enterprise (car rental place) is less than two miles away from my mechanic. So, I reserved a car online, and made sure to get to the mechanic right when they opened this morning. I had planned to walk to Enterprise, as usually the mechanic does not have a shuttle running on Saturdays. This would have been a bit unpleasant, as the temperature was in the teens this morning, and it was a bit breezy. Also, the sidewalks (where there are sidewalks) are all lumpy and freezy and definitely difficult to navigate while remaining vertical.

But for some reason, they had a shuttle running today, so instead of hoofing it 2 miles in the freezing cold, I had a nice, warm ride. And, there was no line at the car place, so I was in and out in plenty of time to get to my appointment.

What is this important appointment? Well, I know I said I was not going to get a job, but... I decided that babysitting 1-2 times a month isn't quite as terrible as flipping burgers or selling stuff. So, today I met with a family who has a young son who needs looking after now and again, and yay! they liked me. A few more bucks flowing in the correct direction. Huzzah! Now, I just hope that the noise that my car was making was not an EXPENSIVE NOISE. I hate expensive noises.

2009-01-06T00:20:00.002-05:00

Excellent tip, readers!

Several of you contacted me, either through comments or backchannel email, suggesting that I save money by doing meal planning. I could not agree more - I have been on the meal planning bandwagon for some time now, and it saves a ton of money, not to mention preventing food waste!

It has become a regular routine for me to sit down with a cookbook every week or so, and pick out a couple of recipes to buy ingredients for. I have even been known to look through my cabinets to see what various canned foodstuffs might already be at hand, to make the recipe even cheaper.

In addition to buying ingredients for a couple of recipes, I always get milk, eggs, cheese, bread, cottage cheese, fruit, peanut butter and jelly, cereal... you know, the stuff that you can cobble together a quick meal with once you have eaten the recipes, and before you feel like going to to the grocery store again!

I estimate that I spend as little as $30 and as much as $60 on groceries in any given week. Usually in the $40-$50 range... I have no idea if that is normal for one person, but that is what it costs for me. Another grocery related saving tip is to avoid buying prepackaged snacks... they are empty calories, and it is easy to inhale 20 bucks' worth in just a few days - especially if you are pro-snack, like I tend to be, if my true snacking urges are left unchecked! Also, you can try to center your recipes around ingredients that are on sale that week.

This week, my snazzy recipe was pork chops cooked with red cabbage and apples, alongside some herbed cooked carrots... 'twas rather tasty!

2009-01-05T08:55:00.002-05:00

Finally, a gigantic knitting update
And we're talking gigantic!

I'm just going to blast you with images and very brief details... these days, all of the specs like pattern, needle size, yarn used are well taken care of on Ravelry. My knitting friends can view them there, and my non knitting friends don't need to be bored by having to look at the details here.

First up, a zig zaggy scarf with a pattern name of Isobel:

Next up, a couple of pairs of felted clogs - the nicer looking pair went to my sister for Christmas, and the lamer pair was made of leftovers from various Christmas knitting projects. They look a bit weird, but they are warm and cozy and remind me of the other projects I made with the yarn:

Next is actually a crochet pattern; it is a baby blanket for my future nephew. My grandmother supplied the yarn, and I supplied the obsessively fast crocheting. My grandma was the one who taught me how to crochet when I was young, so this was an appropriate gift from the both of us:

Next, Christmas stockings for my brother, his wife, and the new baby. After all, it would seem weird for them to have stockings with their names on them, they HAVE to say "mom" and "dad", right?

Here is another crocheted project, the One Skein Scarf, made from leftovers:

And here is a lovely scarf knitted from Malabrigo Lace yarn, the pattern is the Plum Lotus Scarf pattern:

Next up, is the Arbor Sweater, which I knit over the Christmas vacation. It has an I-cord bindoff at the neck, which makes the neckline very stable, rather than stretchy or droopy... a lot of scoop necks tend to sag all over the place, but not this one:

I don't know why I'm burying them way down here in the post, because I'm quite proud of these socks - I knit them with yarn I spun myself:

These next three sweaters were finished a little while ago, but I got my sister to take pictures of me wearing them, rather than me taking a picture of the sweater lying on the floor, as is my custom:

And finally, a groovy pair of socks that I initially wanted to knit for my sister for her birthday, but that never quite worked out... so I gave them to her as a 'just because' over Christmas.

Whew. I hope you enjoyed the parade of knitting pictures. I already have another project to photograph and yet another that I'm currently working on... we'll see how I do about getting them up here on the ol' blog!

2009-01-03T14:46:00.002-05:00

Resolutions, past and present

In 2008, I was able to make my first resolution that I've ever kept throughout a whole year: to reduce my plastic bag usage. I would rate my efforts as quite successful, actually! I made the following changes:

1. Got and used reusable shopping bags, for groceries, the mall, whatever... at first, I would sometimes forget the bags, but now, it is totally an ingrained habit, and I pretty much always grab a shopping bag before leaving the house.

2. Made reusable produce bags for fruits/ vegetables - I made the bags out of nylon mesh, with drawstrings, and have been using them all year quite successfully. They have weathered the washing machine quite nicely, as well.

3. Carried a giant purse/bag/satchel thingy - for when I forget the shopping bags.

4. Separated wet garbage from dry garbage - dry garbage can be collected in a separate container and emptied into the dumpster; the container can be reused. Wet garbage still needs a plastic bag, though.

So, a simple success that I will certainly continue over the coming years. I even gave reusable produce bags to a couple of people for Christmas - spread the reusable joy!

So. What about this year? This year, I don't have any original ideas... so I am defaulting to an old tried and true resolution: to spend less money and reduce my debts. The problem? The monthly bill total is painfully close to my monthly income... a typical problem, I'm sure! So, how to pay off more debt (mortgage and student loan being the chief offenders) without getting... *shudder* a second job!!!! (retch, moan, blarf)

Here is what I have already done:
1. Quit the gym. I got funny looks going in 2 days after New Years asking to QUIT the gym - it was hilarious!
2. Decrease my cable package. This one is going to be painful. No more DVR, no more fancy channels. Basic network channels ONLY now. *sob*
3. Decrease Netflix package.
4. Fortunately, my monthly escrow payment for my real estate tax actually went down this year. Whew.
5. Decrease my cell phone package.

Here is what I plan to do:
1. Write down everything I spend.
2. Review my automobile and homeowner's insurance packages - perhaps a bit of fat can be trimmed there?
3. Brainstorm other non-spending ideas... beg blog readers for help? (ideas that do not include stealing ketchup packets from restaurants, if you please)

I thought about adding in money making schemes, like increasing jewelry sales, or selling more doll clothes (sewn and knitted), but if the past few years have taught me anything, it is that I love making stuff, but really HATE the marketing and selling aspects, so I wanted to shy away from that as much as possible.

Check this out - with the changes listed above, I have already shaved about $260 off my monthly bills, which will add up to $3120 by the end of the year. Amazing! I could use it to pay off more debt, or could put some away for a new water heater... a new mattress... a new CAR! :)

And, with just those changes, I will have paid $12,480 LESS in monthly bills by my 40th birthday - which is the date by which I hope to buy said new car. MMMMm.... new carrrrrr...

2008-12-22T23:38:00.002-05:00

One reason to dislike the snow

In general, I like snow. It is pretty, and the whole 'winter wonderland' thing is pretty appealing to me. The main issue I have with it is its ability to bring modern transportation to its knees. It is not quite so bad now that I work somewhere that frequently is closed when the snow is really bad... but the worst part is this: people who are unable to get to their families for special occasions, like, say, Christmas.

For instance, my brother and his wife are going to miss Christmas with us this year. They are snowed in and there is no chance that they will make it here. I am going to guess that it would have been the last Christmas for a while that we'd see them - once their baby is born, I would assume that they would want to stay closer to home and celebrate as a family, much as we did when I was a kid. I'm at least glad that they have each other to be with... and with modern technology, we can take lots of pictures, and maybe even chat by webcam and such.... but still.

I don't always like the snow.

2008-12-21T23:18:00.003-05:00

We made it to the 21st!

Yep, the days are going to start getting longer now. Most excellent!

So, this past Friday, they called off school in anticipation of a big old grody snowstorm. Right on cue, it started snowing within 20 minutes of when it was predicted by forecasters... next time, try to be more accurate, willya? Sheesh.

Anyway, it snowed Friday. It snowed lightly all day Saturday. And, it snowed all day today - the weather just reported that we got 13 inches here! Dude! I did bundle up and wander outside this afternoon, and snapped a couple of pictures. By the way, one of the most useful Christmas gifts I ever got was a pair of gaiters - my shoes and lower pants region remain nice and dry and snow free - and I can happily hop into (and through) snowdrifts without worrying about frosty ankles. They are the best; observe:

Looky those gaiters - I highly recommend gettin' some for general snow-traipsing purposes, not to mention snowshoeing or cross country skiing. Or looking totally awesome. As an aside, I was sorta falling over while taking that picture - I lifted my leg up in the air to get a good angle, and was sorta teeeeetering over while the camera snapped. What I won't do for a good shot!

Here are a few more pictures I took, starting with a street shot. I imagine that this is about what it would look like 100 years ago - not a car in sight, and the reproduction gas lamps give it an old timey flair... whaddya think? I mean, you have to ignore the parking meters, but...

Here's another festive street shot:

Some pointy snow:

No, thanks, I think I'll stand:

Toot, toot!

Can you see me?

How about now?

You can't tell in the picture, except maybe on my chin, that my face is all wet with melty snow. Also, I took my hood down for the pic, which is why my head is not all snowy. Observe the scarf... that is how snowy I'm sure my head would have been otherwise. :) It's not the most glamorous shot, but it's hard to be glamorous in a driving snowstorm! Under the circumstances, I think I look damn good. (Like that snowflake in front of my eye? That was a lucky shot!)

But speaking of looks, check it out... my age is starting to show... I spy a frowny wrinkle between my eyebrows! I will wear it with pride... my face wrinkles are going to all be related to smiling or making funny faces, which I consider to be a reflection of my personality. I'm sure there are some excellent eyebrow raising related wrinkles beginning to form under the brim of that hat, too! And I'm not ashamed to admit that the ones between my eyebrows are quite pronounced when i wake up in the morning, from my face being all relaxed all night or something. I assume that happens to other people, too, but I don't generally see people immediately after they get up in the morning, so have no frame of reference. Or, is it just a phenomenon that happens to stomach sleepers and side sleepers? Maybe it doesn't happen to people sleeping on their backs! Something to think about... maybe they get mega wrinkles on the backs of their heads instead! hahaha!

2008-12-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

A Wintry Update

So, I have been quite lax in bloggifying, haven't I? Part of it is because much of my knitting has been sooper sekrit lately, and part of it is because we are now down to 9 hours of daylight per day, which means very little photography time every day. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some good pictures of the secret knitting next week, once the cat's out of the bag.

So yes, we are now at the time of year when the days are their shortest. Every fall/ winter, I look forward to December 21, the day when the days finally start getting longer, slowly but surely. It is fairly depressing to only be able to enjoy 45 minutes of daylight every day! It's not quite so horrible this year, since my office has a window that looks into the hallway, and there is a skylight in the hallway. I can't see outside, but I can see evidence of daylight. Someday, I will either live or work SOMEWHERE I can see the ground or the sky or something!

This part of the world has been experiencing some terribly icy weather. Tens of thousands of people are still without power since last Thursday, and we had more windy, icy weather today. It took me 30 minutes to chip the ice off of my windows after work today - my entire car was encased in almost 1/4 inch of ice! If it weren't so annoying, it would have been pretty amazing. I don't know if I've ever had THAT much ice on my car!

To make matters worse, we are expecting more snow on Friday, possibly 6+ inches. That is not such terrible news for me personally, but for people who still don't have power, the inclement weather just slows down the progress of the power line workers.

Anyway, I have been knitting and crocheting like a crazy woman - I have completed 7-8 projects (or so) since Thanksgiving, only one of which was a one-night type of project. I will share pictures when I can!