Catching up - again

There are times when I think I should hang up this blogging thing, considering how frequently I fall behind - but I kind of like having it at the end of the year to remember some of the fun things we did - and some of the less than fun - a 6hr kayak trip that was only supposed to be 3 comes to mind. The SigO still cringes when I mention Potomac and Kayak in the same sentence.

So, let's see, since last we spoke the SigO and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. Once again, we spent the evening at Foti's enjoying a fabulous meal. But first, we started off the day at the Manassass battle field. For some odd reason, the SigO had never been to that particular battlefield - odd since he's a civil war buff and had been to several others, but not the one closest to us. We didn't have time to do the entire loop, so ended up crossing the field and startling a young doe. I would very much like to go back when we have more time and do the entire loop.

After the battlefield, we went to Rappahanock Cellars for a barrel tasting. What was supposed to be a one, maybe 1.5 hr wine tasting event was still going strong after 3hrs when we had to leave in order to make it in time to check in at the B&B and change for our evening at Foti's.

It was a very nice meal

Since then, I've been concentrating a great deal on getting some of the rooms in my house the way I want them - including finishing the storeroom downstairs and turning the spare room into a nicely laid out office and bedroom.

Of course, I've been doing some knitting. The berocco grid is hibernating right now - mostly because I still don't know if I'm going to like it or not. The beach tunic is definitely in a waiting pattern - I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that thing. I thought I had a handle on the crochet stitch needed, but somehow I've increased with every row such that the bottom looks like it's turning into a skirt, instead of a top. And if I rip it back, I know that dang yarn is going to start breaking. So, I've broken my "fast" and have started a new top from RYC called Wildflower. I'm knitting it in RYC Bamboo Soft (100% bamboo) and so far I've already decided to rip it back once and start again. I seem to do that a great deal these days.

No quilting for a while - the sewing machine is in the shop right now having her innards cleaned from a chinese food spillage incident. Keep your fingers crossed for her. Her name is Faith in case you want to include her in your prayers (yes! I'm still talking about my sewing machine).

That's it for now. Not much excitement here. Maybe in six more weeks when I head down to Australia on business. But we don't discuss that much. Makes the SigO grouchy.

Any suggestions for a title would be welcome

Where to begin, where to begin...

Well, I guess I could begin with the Dr. Fish pedicure I got this weekend. More and more, spas are getting away from "shaving" your feet and instead they scrub at them with a pumice. Now, I don't know about your feet, but even if they spent the entire day scrubbing away, they ain't gonna make a dent on mine. I've been going barefoot at every opportunity since I came out of the womb and my feet are living proof of that lifestyle. So, if I can't find a place that shaves the calluses off, well then...I'll just have to get some fish to nibble the calluses off.

Yes - it's very weird. Yes - it tickles like hell. But my feet were pretty smooth at the end of the appointment. But if you think I'm weird - apparently when the fish get too mature, it's too uncomfortable for the average person to sit there while they dine on your piggies - so the owner of the spa takes the more mature fish home, puts them in a tub - and - you guessed it - immerses her entire body in the tub. Puts a whole new spin on "I'll have the fish, please" doesn't it?

In addition to feeding the fish, I've been very productive lately. Not only am I sticking to my self-enforced yarn diet, I've decided I won't start anything new until I've finished at least 4 UFO's.

The first thing I finished is the Jester Sweater made with Fiesta Ballet in Onyx colorway. It was a LOT of stockinette stitch (yawn), but at least that's easy to knit while watching TV.

In fact, the only interesting part was the edging.I'm pretty pleased with it. The neck is a little higher than I'm used to and the sleeves have some seaming flaws, but otherwise, it seamed up easily and fits nicely.

The next thing I FINALLY seamed up is the Sideways Striped Pullover - knit in various colors of Filatura Di Crosa Print.

I wan't in a huge hurry to seam this up since I deliberately made it a size too small in order to try to force myself to lose weight to get into it - and I still haven't lost enough. At least I'm on a downward pattern now - instead of the steady plateau I've been on for the past year, but I digress. I did try this on, and it definitely needs to wait til I've lost 10lbs, but other than the neck, which I would have made deeper, I'm really happy with the way this turned out - and the sleeves went in great - in fact, the entire seaming went well.

So, now I'm trying to finish up the Berocco Suede jacket - a process slowed by the fact that I completely ripped it and started it again. In this blog post, I mentioned that I was a little worried about how this would look finished, since it knits up striped - and sure enough, I realized very shortly after I started the right front panel that it was going to look crappy. So, I ripped out the back and changed the pattern so that I could at least knit the body all in one piece. I'm at the sleeve opening right now - which means working three balls of yarn at once - and trying to keep them somewhat on the same color - but the sleeve will disrupt that ever so slightly anyway. It will be interesting to see how this jacket finishes. It may go to charity shortly after setting in the sleeves.

That just leaves the Beachcomber Tunic as my fourth UFO - I've crocheted about two inches and then set it aside - I have to pay attention too much when I crochet - which is hard to do while watching Lost - or whatever. And the yarn is very splitty -not the best kind of yarn to learn a new technique on.

So, yeah, I'm doing really well at this whole "finish 4 UFO's" resolution...for now. I just got my Socks That Rock sock of the month yarn (No, that DOESN'T count as breaking the yarn diet, thank you very much!) and it's a beaded sock project - how am I supposed to resist starting that right away, I ask you?!

So, that's how I've been spending my time lately.

A few more fun notes - it's snowing right now! Woo Hoo!! We've already got about an inch and it's still coming down. I'm voting for 12" and no relief so we can chill in the house all week long.

And finally, the SigO saw this while out running errands and thought we'd all get a kick out of it.

Happy New Year

Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday and reveled in the New Year's celebrations.

The SigO and I celebrated the holidays in the Adirondacks, in Chestertown, NY . We stayed in a nice little place called Friends Lake Inn, which had nice rooms, friendly people, good food and great drinks. We arrived Tue, 12/30 at about 3PM and immediately strapped on our snow shoes and went out to check out the trails.

We mostly stayed on groomed trails that first day, since our daylight was limited, but the next day we headed out on some unexplored trails and had a great time trekking through the trackless snow.

Even still, our time was limited, since we were actually up in the mountains for a XC ski trip and we had a lesson scheduled at 1:30. We were pretty surprised when Paul, our waiter from the night before, showed up to give us lessons.

Everyone in that Inn wore multiple hats. Turns out, Paul is a huge telemark skier, marathon runner, off-road biker, all round super-athlete. He really enjoyed teaching the SigO - no surprise -the SigO doesn't spring a gasket if he doesn't perfect a new move on the very first try. Not that anyone you know is like that. Suffice it to say, he picked it up much faster than I did the first time I went XC skiing.

So, to recap, it's 12/31/2008 and we went snow shoeing for about 2.5hrs first thing in the morning, then skiing for another 2.5hrs in the afternoon. But of course, we're in great shape, and had no problems partying the New Year in. Yeah, I'm lying. We went to dinner, had a five-course meal with wine pairings, then went upstairs and went to bed - at 8:30. We were so tired we didn't even go skiing the next day either. We hung out and I let the SigO beat me at Billiards and then Backgammon a few times. In our defense, it was 10 degrees outside and he didn't really have good clothes for such severe cold, so we also went to an Eddie Bauer outlet and got him some warm clothes.

Bundled up in layers the next day, we got out for one last excursion, but the snow had iced up and it just wasn't as much fun skiing as the first day, so we called it quits and headed home, where we sat, holed up in front of the TV for the rest of the weekend.

For the record, I didn't pick up my knitting once the whole time we were in the mountains. Which is pretty funny, since, as usual, I was 100% under the whole "time will stand still while I'm on vacation and I'll be able to work on all three of these projects I brought" delusion.

I have finished all the knitting to be done on the Jester sweater and it is now in the same place as the sideways stripe sweater - waiting for finishing. Seriously - someone needs to start a business finishing people's knitting. They have people to quilt your quilt tops for you - it's not like this is a new idea!

Maybe that can be my New Year's resolution - to finish all the knitting I start.

LMAO just thinking about it!

Jack's Lament - The nightmare before Christmas

Merry Christmas to All

Yummy, yummy cashmere

At Stitches East this year, I signed up for the block of the month club for the Great American Afghan. The yarn is an 8ply cashmere from Hunt Valley. It's the softest, most luxurious yarn I've ever worked with. It's taking me a while to knit up my first square, because I keep squeezing it and rubbing it on my face, arms...well, let me just stop there.

The first block is Barbara Selesnick's:

Reading the patterns in this book is a bit of a challenge, but once figured out, this block is knitting up very prettily.

My SigO, his daughter and I went to Sushi Taro this weekend. The SigO's daughter has a small fascination with the japanese culture and this is about as authentic japanese food as I can find in DC. We didn't get to sit on the floor-that's only a small section of the restaurant-but we did have some interesting food. We had BBQ Eel, sushi, sashimi, steamed dumplings, kabobs and a very different dish with tuna and grated yam which made the tuna very slippery - like trying to go fishing with chopsticks.

Before dinner, we went to go see the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Don't bother. Someone please explain to me why Hollywood needs to take a perfectly good movie and add as many explosions as they can fit in in a two hour movie? Of course, it was doomed the minute they signed Keanu Reeves, wooden boy, to play Klaatu.

Finally, Sunday, the SigO and I went and rode around Burke Lake. He just bought himself a new mountain bike and we really had a lot of fun - even if my chain kept falling off. When we took it to be repaired the guy asked if I was a radical rider, since the chain wheel was bent and the rear derailer was all catty-whompus. I told him, no, I really only rode Dual Track, easy trails - but hey, that doesn't mean I don't crash - a lot!

So, another good weekend. Over too soon, as usual.

Wine Tasting, Hiking, Knitting - In that order

As wine club members of Rappahannock Cellars winery, we got to spend Saturday afternoon in the cellars of the winery eating really great soup paired with really nice wine.There were three soup courses (Champagne Brie, Butternut Squash and Apple Bisque, and Lentils and Sausage) each paired with their own wine (Seyval Blanc, Viogner, Big World Red) and their own bread. The best part was that the bread was served by the owner's daughters - the youngest of which was four. She had a sister helping her who I suspect was no older than eight, but when we asked her how old her sister was, she rolled her eyes and with a look of great long suffering said "Four...sigh". So funny. As though at the ripe old age of eight, she had seen it all and the responsibility of educating her, oh so naive, sister was just too heavy a burden to bear! The meal was topped off with Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies paired with Norton Port. Again served by the four year old. Too cute.

After the winery, we went and bought our Christmas tree and brought it home to decorate. Lovely huh? Just barely squeezed it into the space we had for it. The top branch is touching the ceiling. Please don't look at it too hard - you may tip it over. I apparently underestimated the amount of humidity in my basement storage area and that humidity has definitely affected the christmas tree stand, such that we had problems getting the clamps to completely screw in and clamp down the tree trunk. So if you breathe on it too heavily, it begins to tilt ever so slightly. Try adjusting it one way or another and it's a Christmas Tree Yard sale. Ah, but isn't it lovely?!

Sunday, we went for a hike in Prince William forest...again. I love that park. So close, yet so remote. Got a picture of my SigO with hat head:

and he trekked over the river and through the woods to get the perfect angle of the trees, the sky, and the waterfall for me in this picture:

I got to take one of my favorite shots.

I have this same basic picture from a few parks. I just love the leaves lying at the bottom of the river and the reflections playing out on the water. Such a tranquil picture - to me. Do you think it's tranquil to trees, or is this the equivalent of us seeing severed body parts lying at the bottom of a river? Wow...where did that come from? OK, the dark side of me is firmly tucked away again.

I did get some knitting done this weekend as well. I finished the front and back of my latest sweater and used a friend's suggestion to bind the shoulders off together instead of having to seam them up. I need to ask her if I was supposed to bind them off on the inside of the top though, instead of the outside. Probably. Not surprisingly, to those that know me, I'm fine with it the way it is.

I started on the sleeves but had a minor set back:I'll have to name this sweater "Destroyer of Needles" since this is the second set to go astray. The first set had one just walk off, never to return. This set, as you can see broke as a result of me trying to get the warp out of the needle - it was really making me crazy and I was trying to bend it back - like that was really going to work.

I have finally started seaming up the sideways striped sweater, but I've ripped out more than I've sewn (which doesn't bother me as much as you'd think. My sister-in-law prepared me for that eventuality a long time ago when she taught me how to cross stitch. I'll never forget her words of wisdom: "Just remember, you rip what you sew". And I have. A Lot.) So far I have one shoulder seam sewn and I'm trying several different variations on the collar. At first I seamed it the normal way, but then as soon as it laid down, I saw the seam would be on the wrong side. So I ripped it and tried a single crochet seam with a very small yarn (much smaller than the yarn used in the sweater) and I hate that. So I need to rip that and try again with the yarn used in the sweater. So, some trial and error going on there, but it will get done eventually.

In the meantime, there's always more knitting to be done...

Thanks

Well, it's Thanksgiving weekend, and if for nothing else, I'm thankful for a weekend off - mostly -gotta work Sunday, but that's just killing the mood, so let's drop the subject. I'm thankful for my family, my friends, and my LOML - all sources and receptacles of all my love. I'm thankful for a steady income, which comes from a job that makes a difference in the world. I'm thankful for all the different types of fiber and all the things we can do with it. I'm thankful for all the people who understand why I would be thankful for such a thing.
I met people of that ilk at Clara Parke's Knitter's Retreat last weekend and we had a great time. I got to see friends I hadn't seen since last year.

I really re-connected with these ladies and have promised myself to stay in touch with them this year - unlike last year where our only communication was whenever I bothered to post a blog.

I also made new friends this year, but true to my brain-dead self, I forgot to bring my camera along, so all pictures in this blog are complements of those who did bring a camera and who sent me what they took.

This year's retreat was at the Williams Inn in Williamstown, MA, which is only about 30 miles away from last years retreat, but I really enjoyed the setting so much more. For one thing, we were in a college town and the campus was loaded with gorgeous buildings like this one:

There was this great artist, whose name I've already forgotten, who had sculptures all over the campus. I especially loved the eyes looking out of the hillside and I don't know if these frogs were done by her as well, but they seem to belong to the same type of thinker.

Very whimsical. And on that note, could someone please explain this sign to me:

I'm guessing there's some humor here, but I suspect the geographically challenged side of me is completely missing the joke - so if someone would be so kind as to enlighten me...

Mostly though, I loved the mountains out there - so majestic. Such a wonderful view with the tiny little dusting of snow. The few locals I spent time talking to are still enamored with them as well, which is great since so often you meet people who grew up in that setting and completely take it for granted as the years go by.

All in all, it was a splendid retreat marred only by me overspending my allowance at Webs - not a big surprise, but still something to give me pause. After spending so much at Stitches East, and then to spend a wad again a few weeks later, I've come to the realization that it's time to start slowing down on this free-for-all, as if the money will never run out. Time to go on *shudder* a yarn diet. So, even if it's not the new year yet, that's my resolution and you can all keep track of how well I stick to it in the year to come right here on my blog. Friends who will keep me honest - one more thing to be thankful for.