Knitting Update

For a knitting-related blog, I haven’t been posting many photos of my knitting, have I?

Well, in my defense, most of the things I’ve been knitting lately are gifts for folks, so I’ve had to keep them on the DL.

But now…photos.

First, a baby set for our fried R, who just had a baby in late November. Sweater, hat, socks, and blanket.  The sweater, hat, and socks are made of Caron Simply soft Acrylic, and I must love R because I hate acrylics.  Then the blanket is Lily Sugar n’ Cream cotton yarn.  Machine washable is key.  Blanket pattern is a Pinwheel blanket.
           

I made a scarf/hat set for R’s little girl, G (who is also M’s goddaughter).  She’s almost 4, so I thought that these colors were just bright enough for a little girl.  I know that I couldn’t pull them off.  The yarn is Cosmic Fiber’s superwash wool in her Jim Jones colorway (terrible name, I know…it’s from the Nefarious Characters yarn club, so it’s nice and bright and looks like it was dyed with Kool-Aid).  The hat pattern is Grumperina’s Odessa, and the scarf pattern is a simple keyhole ribbed scarf.

 

I also knitted a baby set for M’s sister, who is expecting in February.  She had her shower this past Saturday, and it was a HUGE affair.  It was like nothing I’ve ever seen, with nearly 100 guests.  It was bigger than most weddings I’ve been to, and it was just a huge affair.  I can’t even begin to describe the amount of effort that must have gone into this shower.  Beautiful.    M’s sister got about a dozen baby blankets that day as gifts, so I’ll know for future reference to not knit blankets for baby showers.  Whatever is she going to do with yet another baby blanket???  Live and learn. =)  The blanket is Blue Sky Alpaca’s Organic Cotton in natural undyed, lemonade, and aloe colors.  The hat/socks is Bernat Cottontots.

   

Oh yeah, socks.  I have TOO MUCH SOCK YARN.  It’s insane.  So I’m making a concerted effort to knit some of it up.  I started with this Storm Moon Knits’ colorways.  It’s nicely self-striping, and I can’t wait to finish the second one.  The colorway is “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

And finally, those of you who know me know that I love me some cute creepiness.  Yes,  become a bit of a hippy girl these days, and less of a high-heel-wearin’ chick in black, but still…I love creepy cute.  Sock Yarn Cinema is a sock yarn club that bases each month’s colorway on a different film.  November was…yep, you guessed it…a Tim Burton film, and I LOVE me some Tim Burton.  This is her colorway called “Sandy Claws” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it was just TOO MUCH FUN unwrapping.  I know that the lighting isn’t fantastic in these photos, but you get the idea.

     

I’ve also been working on a number of very intricate lace projects, including an Icarus shawl and a Forest Canopy Shawl, but I can’t post photos of those just yet.

For those of you wanting updates about Ishi, I don’t have much to offer.  He’s less and less able to walk around without losing his balance, and he falls more often now too.  The tumor is affecting his spinal cord’s ability to communicate with the rear end, so it’s as if he’s unable to control that back area.  I’m just hoping to keep him around until Christmas, but that is looking exceedingly unlikely these days.  I’m so sad all the time.  I start to cry every time I look at him, which I’m sure is doing wonders for his self-esteem.  But he still occasionally picks up a toy to nibble on, and he’s still interested in food.  I just don’t know when to make the call, to be honest.  God, I’m going to miss that dog.

M’s birthday was yesterday, so I cooked him a steak dinner complete with cake/ice cream for dessert.  We’re also going to go car shopping this afternoon again.  I think we’ve narrowed it down to two very different automobiles, and we keep going back and forth on them.

We’re considering a nice, tricked out Mazda3 s Grand Touring.  It’s very nice, and I like Mazdas.  I’m just worried that it won’t be enough room if we have a child next year as planned.  We also test drove a Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner, and it has a lot more room, but is still reasonably good on gas.  It just feels weird to drive a vehicle that’s so high off the ground.  I’m more accustomed to little sports cars, I guess.  I really hate car shopping.  But the good thing is that we don’t NEED a new car, so we’re in a good position to bargain shop a bit.

Dark Days

These are dark days in our house.   I took my oldest Great Dane to the vet on Tuesday night for a spur of the moment appointment when I discovered that his urine was blood red.  And I don’t mean just tinged with red.  I mean blood.  It was scary, but I figured that maybe he was just dealing with another UTI or something.

I am always a little afraid to take him to the vet, because he’s a 9yo Great Dane.  I’m already living on borrowed time with him, according to the experts.  Well, the other shoe has dropped.  They found a HUGE tumor in his abdomen — football sized.  There’s nothing to be done.  It’s very aggressive, and I don’t have much time with him.

I’ve spent the last 3 days crying…weeping, really.  It’s been difficult to force myself to leave the house, knowing that my days with him are numbered.  He’s been the best companion in the world, and he’s been in my life longer than my very own husband.  I just hope that, when the time comes to help him along, I have the courage to do it and the strength to not be selfish.

I guess I’m just not ready to say goodbye to my most loyal, most loving companion.

I contacted the vet, and they assured me that they would make a house call for him when the time comes, so that he’s not afraid, and so that our younger girl Dane isn’t so traumatized if he were to just disappear.  She’s never know a house without him. 

Dark days.  Very dark days.  Here I go, crying again.  I’m going to go downstairs now to hug on him for a while.

No words, just dog photos

How cute are these faces???  Faces that only a mother could love, I know.

 

 

And they finally got to break out their winter coats.  I made these last winter by making freeform patterns with old newspapers, cutting them to fit (with a scalpel, not a hatchet!), and sewing them up.  Aren’t they cute?  I really need to get a daylight photo.  My wisened boy has learned to pose.  The girl hasn’t quite learned that yet.

   

ack. pathetic.

So I have all of this pretty handpainted fiber sitting around.  Alpaca.  BFL.  Silk blends.  Merino.  It’s all so pretty and soft and I just want to sit around all day petting it.  But I though, hey, I can spin it, right?  I can make it into yarn, and get rid of the middle production person.  Hell, the next step is to buy the sheep or alpaca, shear it, card the fiber, dye it, spin it, knit it, gift it.  One more step towards that end goal.

So I was gifted with a spinning wheel, as you’ll recall.  I have no idea how to operate it. I bought a bottom whorl drop spindle to try my hand at spinning, to ease myself into it.  I bought a book to show me how to do it.  I watched a video on how to spin.  I sat down last night and tried my hand at it with some cheap merino just to practice.

Ack.  Pathetic.  I am pathetic at this.  I really need help.  And I really need to find somebody to help me learn to use that spinning wheel. 

My first pathetic attempt.  It’s slubby.  It’s overtwisted.  It’s undertwisted.  It’s coiled.  It’s fuzzy.  It’s thick and thin.  It’s unusable.  Ack.  Pathetic.

Fire and WATER!!! — Fall Break Happenings II

Then, on Tuesday we went to the Camden Adventure Aquarium.  I have been whining and whining and whining about wanting to go there, so M finally gave in.  It was nice.  I’m completely obsessed with those deep underwater creatures.  So our beloved friend, M, babysat our two dogs, and off we went for a day of adventure. 

But enough of that.  On to what you really want to see.  Pictures!  Of sharks and moray eels and manta rays and sea turtles!!  whee!

When we walked in, we were immediately greeted by a “pet the sharks” exhbit.  I did.  M did not.  These were funny little guys.  I also got to pet some other oceanic beasties — some rays and some starfish.

     

The Oceanic Realm exhibit was quite incredible.

     

These giant manta rays were incredible.

   

Camden is one of only two aquariums in the US to have a Great Hammerhead Shark.  I was pretty enthralled by him, to be honest.

     

Sea turtles.

Penguins.

 

Seals.

 

Pretty fishes (really, I just love the way that the colors are so saturated in this photo!)

Moray Eels.

   

Hippos.

       

Jellies (not the SpongeBob variety, mind you)

   

Octopus.

 

Lots of sharks (in the shark tunnel).  They have this really cool option where you can swim with the sharks for 2 hours.  I’d love to do this one day.

       

A fresh-water crocodile.

Pirahnas.

More eels (of the electric variety, I think)

and the regular kind.

Some of M’s favorites — clown fish. 

 

And human clowning around…

  

After the aquarium, we spent some time enjoying the view of the Camden waterfront.  Across the river is center city Philadelphia. 

       

We ended the evening by enjoying a nice little Italian restaurant on South Street, Pietro’s.  Then we stopped to visit our good friends, A&A.  It was really nice to catch up with them both and meet their dog, Miles. 

 

FIRE and Water!!! — Fall Break Happenings I

On Saturday, Theresa and I went to see Quarantine.  It actually wan’t bad, compared with the usual horror film fare of late.  A few jumps here and there, and it was nice to just hang out with the girls and watch a movie and share a bottle of wine afterwards.

Our fall break was Monday and Tuesday, so while I should have been catching up on grading and sleep, M and I instead decided to catch up on some of the things we’ve been meaning to do.  So, on Saturday we met my mother and my stepfather for some dinner in Bloomsburg, PA.  My stepfather’s brother (my step-uncle??) owns a little Thai restaurant in Bloomsburg, and it was delish.  Then, we headed about 20 miles south to visit Centralia, PA.  I’ve been there before, but this time, I was armed with a camera. 

I’m really quite fascinated with the story of Centralia, which is deep in the heart of the anthracite coal region of central Pennsylvania.  In 1962, someone burned some trash in one of the old abandoned strip mines, which connected to a coal vein that ran all the way to the surface.  The trash fire lit the exposed vein, and *poof*, an underground mine fire.  They thought that they had initially been able to extinguish the fire when it was discovered in the strip mine a few days later, but that wasn’t the case.  The coal began to burn underground.  For the next 20 years or so, workers battled the blaze unsuccessfully, trying to either extinguish it, or at least contain it.  Government officials really failed the town of Centralia, as they delayed taking any decisive action to save the village of Centralia.  By the 1980s, the fire had affected nearly 200 acres and the government declared the area unsafe for homeowners as carbon monoxide levels reached life-threatening levels.  A 1983 engineering study found that the fire could burn for another full 100 years or more, and “could conceivably spread over an area of approximately 3700 acres.”

Nearly 5 decades and 50 million dollars later, this underground fire still burns through the old coal mines and coal veins under the town and its surrounding landscape.  You can smell the toxic gases as the fire vents itself through the ground, and the ground is warm from the fires smoldering underneath the back yards, basements, and streets of Centralia.  Most of the homes were concemned and residents relocated with federal grant monies, but I have spoken with a couple of folks who refuse to be bought out, and a couple even still live in their houses in the old ghost town.  I spoke with one man who said that it’s where he met his wife, where he raised his children, where his wife died, where his wife and family are buried, and it’s where he’ll die and be buried as well.  Centralia is, for all intents and purposes, a ghost town.  It’s just so sad and somewhat eery to see the vents, to feel the hot ground, to see the desolate landscape, knowing that there’s a HUGE fire burning underneath you, and that it was once a very nice little town.

But I digress.  Photos of our visit.

       

Some photos of the cemetary that still stands in Centralia.  The wife of the old man with whom I spoke is buried in this cemetary.  

 

Another place that we visited was the old highway that ran through the town of Centralia.  It has since been re-routed, for obvious reasons.  The heat and venting caused the asphalt to buckle, making it no longer safe.  It’s clearly a hangout for kids.  The entrance to this old road is quite hidden from the main road that goes around Centralia.

  

The abandoned road.

   

Some of the devestation that this fire has done to the old road.

      

       

You can feel the heat coming from the ground, and the air smells like coal burning.  It’s such a surreal landscape, very “hell hath broken open here on earth.”  I think there’s a documentary film to be made about this place, one day, I think.

The Lace Bug

I still love knitting socks.  I won’t deny it.  But lately, I’ve totally been bitten by the lace-knitting bug.  I LOVE it.  I love the delicate patterns that emerge chrysalis-like from my needles.  I love the sleek lace yarns.  I love the change — from bunchy lace post-needles to the post-blocked creation.  It’s just so intricate and gorgeous.  I love the idea of knitting sweaters, but they seem so tedious to me.  I think I have found my calling.  I love my sock yarns, but I think I might very well be a lace knitter.  Who knew?  There’s such a lovely ritual to following the charts and watching this delicate garment emerge from my needles.  It is, dare I say, cathartic…

I’d love to post photos of my lace projects in progress, but shhh….they’re secret and holiday gifties.  Later.

Bad Grammar and Mis-communication

So I was driving to work today behind a truck that was being used to advertise their business — some kind of tiling business.  On the back of their truck, in big, bold, white letters, is the company’s slogan, apparently.

“We’re Taken Over”

Now maybe it’s just me, but I laughed out loud, nearly spewing coffee from my nose when I saw this.  Maybe they meant “We’re Takin’ Over.”  But “We’re Taken Over” hardly seems to be something to proclaim loudly to the world in an attempt to market your company.  As in, woohoo, somebody just done bought us out, y’all.  Yep.   Mmm hmm.

I know that I’m a total grammar and spelling junkie.  I admit it.  I have a problem.  I correct my husband all the time with pronunciation, etc.  I go nuts when my students send me emails in “textese.”  And I rip them apart for sloppy, badly written work.

But this was just a grammatical mistake that was so impossibly funny!!!

It kills me.  People are just idiots.  To spend all of that money on having one’s business truck professionally painted, just to mis-spell and completely alter the intent of your message. 

On an unrelated note, the boy and I went to see Blindness on Sunday afternoon.  Interesting.  I’ll post more later.

Why Vote?

Please take a moment and check out this video.

If you haven’t already registered, the deadline in PA is Monday, October 6th.

Knitting update.

I keep starting these projects, and I can’t seem to finish anything.  I’m just feeling overwhelmed by my really gorgeous stash. I’m trying to figure out a better way to store my yarn.  Right now, it’s all in ziplocs in totes, but the problem with that is that I can’t seem to remember what I have, so I occasionally need to root through it to find something.  I’m often surprised to find some yarns that I forgot that I had.  ugh.

But I have been knitting, which is the good news.  I’ve finished several baby projects for my many reproducing friends.  I can’t post photos of those yet.

I also have one sock done from my first sportweight socks.  It’s Chameleon Colorworks Evolution yarn in the Ophelia colorway, and I really love this stuff.  So soft and cushy.  I’m working on the second sock now.  It’s pooling, but I like it.  They make my feet happy.

I’m also working on my first ever lace project.  I was worried (and to be honest, I still am) about whether the lace pattern is overpowered by the constrasting colors.  I can’t decide.  Any comments?

   

I’m enjoying the lace knitting, though, and will definitely be doing more of this.  The yarn is DKKnits‘ Technicolor Dream Toes yarn in Salem Spirits.  I love it.  The pattern is the Gothic Leaf Lace stole.  It’s a nice, relatively easy first lace project.

I’ve also been working on this little keyhole scarf that is suitable only for your average 4 year old little girl.  Nice, mindless ribbed knitting. It’s made with the Jim Jones colorway of the Nefarious Yarn Club by Cosmic Fibers.  It’s a series of yarns based on nefarious characters in literature, film, and history.  This particular yarn was based on Jim Jones, as it looks like it’s dyed with kool aid.  Very cute.  I think the little girl for whom this is intended will enjoy it.  I’m hoping to pair it with a matching hat.

My Clapotis is coming along slowly.  This would be a more pleasant project if I were knitting it with slightly heavier yarn, though the alpaca is admittedly the softest stuff on this earth, I think. 

 

And what about that February Lady Sweater I’ve been working on?  Well, it’s snoozing on the needles right now.  I know I need to get back to it, but I lost my motivation for a while.  Maybe after the holidays.

I’m having some girlfriends, new and old, over to the house on Saturday.  I’m looking forward to the opportunity for a testosterone-less evening with wine, homemade lasagna, and maybe an autumnal campfire on the back patio.

That’s all the knitting news that’s fit to print.  Off to grade some papers now.  Is it Fall Break yet?

How ’bout now?

Now?

How ’bout now?