I Have Three Mothers

The mother-daughter relationship can be very difficult sometimes and I'm sure there are some women who think that one mother (or daughter) is more than enough. I'm so blessed to have not one, but three mothers in my life.

Of course, I think my own mother is the world's best. She has unfailingly supported me in all my endeavors, offered gentle guidance when she thought that the choices I made (especially the romantic kind) were not the best, and was there to help me pick up the pieces when I didn't heed her advice. As I go deeper into this creative life I'm ever-so-slowly building, she's there, offering encouragement. I love and honor my mother deeply, as a mother and as a best friend.

Mom and Dad at their 50th wedding anniversary
My second mother is my mother-in-law. I want to be like her when I grow up. She is in her mid-80s and volunteers at least 40 hours each week with Olney Help, the hospital, her church. She went down south to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and for the last three years, she's gone to either Uruguay or Chile to help rebuild churches. She's not going this year, although I think she wants to. But on the last trip, the people in village didn't let her do the work that she wanted to do (hauling cement and brick, and painting). Instead, they assigned her gentler work, like watching after young children. Family is very important to her and every year she travels to Minnesota to visit her family there, and every year, she rents a house at the Outer Banks for her children and their families. She's the glue that holds us all together.

Mom Simonds on the occasion of her birthday this year
And my third mother? She is the mother of a dear friend of mine, my Persian sister. She is my Persian mother. I saw her twice about eight or nine years ago and there was a connection that I can't explain. After she returned to Iran, she would always ask about me when she talked to her daughter. And whenever Shirin and I talked, I would always ask about her. She was so devout in her faith that I knew that any prayers she made would be answered. I wanted to knit her a prayer shawl. But I didn't. And now it is too late. My Persian mother passed out of this world last week. I wish I could have seen her one more time before she left. I commend her soul to Allah.

And so ends the tale of the three mothers. I truly am blessed.

With Gratitude

As the holiday season approaches, I start to reflect on the past year. I have been so blessed this year. My health has been good, I have a job, and most importantly, I'm surrounded by wonderful, loving, family and friends.

My parents and brothers provide such unconditional love and support, especially during the tough times. They encourage me to follow my dream (starting my own business) and Carl has helped me overcome my fear of leaving raw milk on the counter (hint: clabbered milk makes awesome cheese)(second hint: raw milk tastes a million times better than even the cream-line, flash-pasteurized, organic milk at the health food store). Scott has inspired me to expand my artistic endeavors and I'm thrilled that he's following his heart by surrounding himself with pottery that he finds beautiful. And Brian humbles me; he has remained strong in the face of really difficult times and doesn't ask for anything.

My husband, Tom, tolerates my creative explorations and takes care of hearth and home since my job this year has required a lot of overtime. I don't think he realizes how much I appreciate all that he does to keep this household together and how much I love him.

My friends have also provided undying support, good humor, and spiritual guidance. Marcia, Leigh, Heidi, Pat, Val, Keith, and Mike are there for good conversation, political diatribes, and perspective.

And last but not least, I'm so very grateful for the Squam Art Workshops community. I've lost my fear of trying things I never thought I was good at (drawing, painting, photography) and found that I can do these things better than I ever thought I could. All it took was trying, and the support of this wonderful community.

I wish for everyone a very happy and grateful Thanksgiving.

Namaste...

The Change

I always want to write a blog post after each Squam but composing at the computer feels cold and mechanical. The softness and soulfulness of the Squam experience requires pen and paper. And only then can it be moved to the computer.

Squam by the Sea...what can I say about it? The best Squam ever? It was certainly one that took me out of my comfort zone with a three-day painting workshop by Flora Bowley (hint: I'm not a painter). But after taking online workshops with Alena Hennessy and Sarah Ahearn Bellemare, I approached this workshop with no fear--only curiosity and a child's mind.

The words that describe the Squam experience are not coming easily. Squam fills my soul to the brim--I am energized and at the same time at peace. I become more open to possibilities and ideas bubble up, seemingly out of nowhere. The negative voices (I am not an artist, I can't paint, I am mediocre) fall away and I realize down to my core that, yes, I am an artist and I can paint and I'm not mediocre.

The love and support of the women who attend Squam enable the flow of creativity. A confession: After my first spring Squam in 2011, I was a bit disappointed. It was a nice knitting retreat, but not life-changing (or so I thought). Slowly, slowly the change happened and after Spring Squam this year, I could see that yes, indeed, Squam changed my life. The changes are small but they have a large impact.

I'm still floating from Squam by the Sea. Re-entry has been soft...I replay the sunrise walks on the beach, relive in my mind the feeling of putting paint on canvas, the discussions at mealtimes about how we can achieve our dreams.

I'm at a point in my creative life where I want to do all the things: paint, cook, draw, knit, photograph, spin, weave, write... And wanting to do all the things leads to a paralysis, where I do none of the things.

I challenge myself to get up early and do one thing each morning and one thing each evening, even if it's only for an hour.

Being able to express myself creatively is no longer a luxury or something that I will get around to after I take care of those things thing need to be done (work, laundry, housecleaning). It has become a necessity.

Bright blessings upon Elizabeth and everyone at Squam who has touched my life and helped me realize my creative potential.

Namaste.

Awareness

For the last several months, I've been living under a rock...so overwhelmed with work that I simply ignored a lot of things, including current events.

So imagine my surprise and dismay when Elizabeth at Squam Art Workshops posted that California will be closing 70 of their 279 state parks. This video, The First 70, is very compelling. You can get more information about the closures at Save Our State Parks.

Parks are incredibly important to everyone's well-being. For those who use them, parks offer respite from the noise and stress of the city. Parks provide education through ranger programs. They encourage tourism, which brings money into the localities where the parks are. And parks even benefit those who don't or can't use them. The wild spaces help keep our air and water clean, and support biological diversity, which keeps the ecosystem healthy. Which keeps people healthy.

I asked Rachel Herron of Yarnagogo (who lives in California) if she had heard anything about the park closures. She had, but only in passing. She also said that California is facing major challenges...schools are closing (some kids won't be able to go to school at all) and other essential services (like police and fire) are being reduced. And that makes the park closures that much more complex.

What can you do? Let people know about the park closures. Use the parks. If you don't live in California, use the parks in your area. Go camping, visit a historical site.

Because you never know, your own parks might be at risk.

Hello! It's been a while...

I find it hard to believe that my last blog post was in February. Work intruded and any kind of writing, even the fun stuff, felt like...well...work. So no blogging, and really, not much of anything else, except work. And that makes for a very boring blog.

However, the "all work and no play" aspect of my life is changing. I hired a technical writer at work, which will relieve me of a lot of the work I've been doing and given me time to focus on other aspects of my job. And after my husband and several friends threatened interventions, I will put boundaries around my work. I have to, to preserve my marriage, my friendships, and my health (multiple migraines a week are not fun).

So twice a week, I need to leave work early to come home and fix dinner. It will be, by necessity, simple: grilled fish and vegetables and a nice salad. Every other Thursday I leave a little early to teach a knitting class. And I will not work weekends unless it's critical.

Creativity
One thing that I realized is that it's absolutely critical to have a creative outlet in my life. Yes, knitting is creative, but when you think about it, it's still kind of a left brain activity (can you say "math"?). Even with my knitting, I could feel that I was getting stuck--paralyzed by color, afraid to try new things. The knitting was just too familiar. So when I read on the Squam blog that Alena Hennessy was teaching an online art workshop, I ignored the fear and plunged in. I haven't done any painting or drawing since I was in elementary school (and that was a very long time ago!). I bought the art supplied (india inks come in such pretty colors!) and anxiously waiting for the class to start. Once the class started, I was surprised to find that I like what I was creating. And the process of creating was liberating. I was wholly engaged in making art--time stopped, my concentration was focused, and everything just flowed. The workshop didn't focus only on creating art; Alena included breathing exercises, photography, and self-care (long hot baths, tea, flower essences). The students shared their work and writings on a private Facebook group and the support from the group was amazing. Some of the art created was stunning. I enjoyed the class so much that I signed up for the next Squam online art workshop Pages and Paint. That workshop is focused more on mixed media (Alena's class was sort of mixed media) and looks like it will be fun!

Knitting News
Despite the 60-hour weeks, I did manage to get some knitting in. I started a knit-along with my 11-year old niece in April. We're knitting Clapotis, and are using the same yarn base (different colors). It will be interesting to see how our Clapotis differ.

I'm still plodding along on the Elizabeth R shawl from the Shakespeare in Lace shawl club. I think I might have enough yarn for a 6th repeat (I'm on repeat 5 now, so am almost done).

I knit two Baby Surprise Jackets for co-workers. Amazingly, even though the babies were almost four months old by the time they got their jackets, the jackets fit! I wasn't sure, since I don't have any babies laying around the house to see if the fit was good. And two more coworkers are expecting babies to come into their families, so I get to knit two more BSJs. The BSJ is a fun knit.

So before it gets too late, I'm going to post this and start knitting Elizabeth R. In my next post, I'll blog about Spring Squam...there was Shetland lace, vintage patterns, wild garter stitch, bears, loons, owls, and more. It was awesome!

Happy knitting!

Random Saturday

The little voice in my head has been a little too persistent lately and is doing too good of a job of trying to drag me down. Today is World Happy Day and in the spirit of the day, I'm blogging about what makes me happy. So here goes...

• Tom and everything he does around the house (which is everything)
• My family
• Having a flock of cedar waxwings hanging out in our yard
• Having both cats sleeping next to me on a cold winter's night
• Coming across a flock of wild turkeys in a friend's driveway
• Knitting (mostly)
• All the love my friends share with me
• Snow (of which we do not have enough this winter)

And of course, the little voice in my head wants to negate all of these things that make me happy by guilting me:

• "You don't pull your weight around the house"
• "You don't visit your family often enough:
• "You have too much yarn and will never knit it all"
• "You aren't productive enough at work"

And the voice drones on and on and on, to the point where it creates an actual physical heaviness in me. We all have that negative, persistent little voice. What strategies do you find useful to quiet that voice?

Knitting News
I keep hearing about Signature Needles and how wonderful they are to knit with. I also keep hearing about how expensive they are. And there's a good reason for it. Pop on over to kmcat's blog and read about her experience with Signature Needles. Her story makes me want to knit only with Signatures!

Regarding actual knitting productivity, there isn't much. I've made too many gauge swatches for the Baby Surprise Jacket, mostly because I kept increasing needle size and couldn't understand why I kept getting fewer stitches to the inch (I'm easily confused). It finally dawned on me yesterday what the problem was and this morning I swatched some more and got close, 5-1/2 to 5-3/4 stitches per inch on US5 needles. I need 6 stitches per inch, so US4 needles are next on the agenda. I thought I was a tight knitter but that doesn't appear to be the case with this project.

I almost finished the Slouchy Beret but ran out of yarn. The pattern didn't give any gauge, although I suppose I could have done the math myself (duh!) but it didn't occur to me. (Note to self: use your brain, woman!) I managed to eke out a few more rows on the Elizabeth R shawl and am almost finished with the second pattern repeat. This project will go on the shelf until the two BSJs are finished.

And I ordered the Pinehurst fingerless mitts kit from the Squam store, in the Deepest Depth colorway. The pattern is by Natalie Selles and the yarn is dyed by Jill Draper. These mitts should be perfect for the chilly evenings at Squam this year. Naturally, since I'll be prepared with warm clothes, the weather this year will be tropical. Last year started out tropical and quickly turned winterish and I was woefully underdressed.

Running Progress
Nothing to see here. Move along now...

Okay...the little voice is telling me I'm having too much fun and that it's time to clean the house. The dust buffalo herd once again needs to be culled. And I need to figure out what we've got on hand for dinner. Tom cooks every night and it would be nice to give him a break from the kitchen.

Happy World Happy Day! And happy knitting!

A New Year and a New Me

In the middle of the night, 2011 crept out the back door and in snuck 2012 (and over a month ago, I might add). I'm not sure how that happened. Or why I'm so surprised because that little sequence of events happens once a year right around this time. Each year, the new year seems to come a little faster the older I get. While that can be exciting (I'm moving into uncharted territory), it's also a tad bit frightening (I'm moving into uncharted territory).

December and January (and so far February) have been dull and dreary and I needed a little pick-me-up. Now, I don't consider myself a girly-girl--I hate to go shopping and wearing makeup is...well...time-consuming. I pride myself on being able to get by without wearing makeup and pity the poor souls who do. So imagine my surprise when late last year, I went on a bender of sorts.

My nephew was getting married and while I don't wear makeup on a daily basis (not even mascara or blush), I will wear it for special occasions. The problem was that all of my makeup was at least five years old, and in the world of cosmetics, it's considered a big no-no to even think about using a product that old. What's a girl to do when the stuff gets worn once a year, at most?

Enter Leigh, who recommended Jane Iredale mineral makeup. She pointed me to a salon that carries the line and after a lengthy consultation with their consultant, I walked out fully made-up and feeling (dare I say it?) rather beautiful. My wallet was also much, much, much lighter. There are several things about this makeup that I like--it looks "fresh" all day long, it has an indefinite shelf life, and it's an SPF20 sunscreen. No really, it is! I didn't believe it (marketing hype and all that) but I got the chance to prove it to myself. I went fishing with my brother the day after Thanksgiving. I wore the makeup (I felt silly and vain putting on makeup to go fishing, let me tell you). The day was sunny, the sun was reflecting off the water, there was no shade (we were in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay) and I didn't get sunburned! So I'm sold. I still don't like that it takes too much time to put on (and take off) but I supposed that's one of the prices to pay.

With the advent of my 53rd birthday (yikes!), I started to go through yet another phase of feeling like I looked frumpy and dumpy and decidedly middle-aged. And my clothes no longer pleased me (most being at least six years old and many being much older than that). I hate shopping with a passion which is why I like shopping at Nordstrom: they stick you in a dressing room and keep bringing clothes to you. And if you use their Personal Stylist service (totally free, by the way), they have at least a dozen outfits already waiting for you! Yes, their clothes are expensive but in my opinion, it's well worth it. I'm very happy with my purchases and probably won't have to go shopping again for another six years!

Running Update
Run? What's that? Hee hee...I'm still working long, stressful hours and am finding that long, stressful hours aren't conducive to running, or anything else for that matter. My running goal this year is to complete a 50-mile race in November, but right now that goal is seriously at risk and might need revising. I've been running at most, four to six miles every couple of weeks. Tom, on the other hand, is ramping up his training for the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 in May and running one (or more) 50K runs every other weekend. He makes me look like a slacker.

Knitting News
As always, there are lots of things to knit and not enough time to knit them. In addition to the hat I'm knitting for a coworker who was diagnosed with breast cancer, I'm knitting (or will be) two Baby Surprise Jackets for coworkers' babies. Unfortunately for me, the babies surprised the parents by arriving early (and fortunately, in excellent health). I'm at the gauge swatch stage and it seems that I need to go up at least two needle sizes to get gauge. So we'll see. Either the jackets will be too small for the tiniest of newborns or else the BSJs will fit the babies when they become teenagers. Gauge is fickle.

The other project on the needles is the Elizabeth R shawl, the first offering of the 2012 Shakespeare in Lace club from Wooly Wonka Fibers. I want to say this shawl's for me, but I don't think the color suits me, even though I like it. So far it's a wonderful knit and even though I had to perform surgery not once but three times (and for the same mistake), I'm enjoying the knitting immensely. The little pops of red and teal in the gold enchant me. Here's a photo (pre-surgery):

2012 should be the year I knit from the stash (yarn clubs notwithstanding). I started cleaning out the closet in my office/fiber room and was rather shocked to see how much fiber I had squirreled away. I need to cull the stash and will be putting yarn in the Trade/Sell stash category on Ravelry, so stop by for a little shopping.

That's about it for now. The blog has been way too quiet of late. I'm doing a lot of writing and editing at work and have temporarily lost the will to write for fun, even in random bullet points.
With any luck, the work writing will taper off in the next couple of weeks and I'll resume blogging more frequently than once every two or three months.

Happy knitting!

Third Time's the Charm

Okay, according to the little timeline of blogs over at Sheepish Annie, it's been two months since my last post. Time flies when you're having fun (or an avalanche of work comes crashing down upon your head).

I actually started two blog posts and then stopped because I ran out of time and I couldn't remember to how to insert photos using the Mac (copy photo to desktop, then insert...or something). So, here are some photos from happenings over the past several months.

Oh look! It's Mount Rainier (from our trip to Washington in August). We had a wonderful time (despite the fact that Tom went missing for a while during the race and race personnel were considering mounting a search and rescue mission) and I met a woman who worked at the office supply store in Cle Elum who knew Elizabeth Zimmermann! And of course, there was some yarn shopping in Seattle.

Front view of the Cleite wedding shawl. I'm happy with the way it turned out, although it probably should have been larger.

View of the back...

And the stitch detail...

And since today is Thanksgiving, in addition to being thankful for awesome family and friends, I'm thankful for those who continue to read this blog, despite long periods of silence.

I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

Decisions, Decisions...

For the last couple of weeks, the knitting on the stealth project and the wedding shawl has been moving right along. I was feeling a little concerned about the width of the stealth project, but after measuring it earlier today, I'm no longer worried. It will block to size admirably well. However, I'm more concerned about the color matching on the two skeins. Despite the recommendation on the label, I did not knit alternately from the two skeins. I made that decision because I closely examined them, under an Ott light no less, and could discern no difference in color. That is, until I started knitting from the second skein. Observe:

I have 3 choices: Do nothing and keep on knitting; rip back to several inches before the skein change and start alternating the two skeins, or rip back the entire thing and start over. If I keep knitting, the color change will be a design element, with the colors going from the vibrant colors of early summer to the tired, faded colors of late summer. The third option is almost a non-starter, since I'm knitting on deadline and I have a wedding shawl to knit, also on deadline. I think the second option is probably the best. What do the fine knitting minds who read this blog recommend?

The wedding Cleite shawl is also giving me fits. I knit (albeit slowly) the entire first repeat without major mishap. The second repeat, however, is not working out at all. I have 49 stitches before the center stitch. The pattern shows 49 stitches before the center stitch. The pattern repeat within the larger pattern repeat is 24 stitches. I'm supposed to knit 24-stitch repeat twice, plus 1 extra stitch. That equals 49 stitches. But I'm 3 stitches short and I have no idea why. I must be missing something critical.

A Young Knitter
My parents got a bushel of blue crabs this weekend for a mini-family reunion so we traveled down to Smithfield yesterday. My 10-year old niece was there, with her knitting. She's become quite good, knitting quickly and evenly, often without looking at her knitting. I told her about Ravelry and Knitty.com and, with the blessing of her mother, she's now a Raveler! She even started recording her stash and needles. I also brought a spare drop spindle and some roving and taught her the rudiments of drop spinning. She's hooked. Fortunately, I have a good-sized stash and rather a lot of needles and those items will be finding their way to her. It's very gratifying to see her blossom as a knitter and spinner.

Running Progress
The running is just not happening, which is problematic because I'm supposed to run a trail half marathon in less than a month. I think if the weather is cool on race day, I'll be fine. If it's hot and humid, it's not going to be pretty. I didn't run this weekend and won't be running next weekend, since I'll be crewing a 100-mile race for Tom. Oh well...it will be what it will be.

That's it for now. Have a great week and happy knitting!

Beach Bloggin'

This post comes to you from the beautiful Outer Banks, North Carolina, where we're spending a week with Tom's family, as we do every year. Our numbers are somewhat reduced this year--the three nephews aren't here and the two nieces didn't bring boyfriends. The days are spent on the beach, reading (or if it's too hot, inside reading), with much good food, good drink, and good conversation (assuming we aren't all engrossed in our books). My mother-in-law doesn't spend time on the beach, but she brought several puzzles and spends her day reading, putting together puzzles, and crocheting.

Sadly, I've been spending most of my days working. What starts as an innocent attempt to stay caught up on email ends up as almost a full work day. Yesterday was particularly bad, with the whole day spent tethered to my laptop. Today is better; I'm done with work until the afternoon (when I'll check email again and finish one small task for the production migration tonight).

Despite spending time working, I've made additional progress on the stealth project and Madeline's Cleite shawl is moving along (although it might move along faster with lace needles, which I've ordered). I'm on the first repeat of chart 2 and despite being off on the intial stitch count for the first row (which I handily fixed by increasing), it seems to be going well. I can see why lace can be addictive and find it oddly meditative (until I find that I'm not where I'm supposed to be and have to tink back). I think this pattern will make a beautiful wedding shawl.

That's it for now. Stay cool and happy knitting!

Can You Believe It?

Two, count 'em, two posts in a month! That's got to be some kind of recent record for me. Ah, I long for the halcyon days when I was blogging several times a week. Alas, I fear those days are gone for good. Because I do a lot of writing at work, writing for fun feels like...well...work.

Anyway, I've got 30 more minutes of spinning time and then I can declare victory in the Tour de Fleece, although I did not finish spinning the Rambouillet. I still have a couple of hours of spinning left, plus the plying. I'm afraid I'm not being as careful with the consistency of my spinning. I'm getting a little tired of spinning grey and am at the point where I just want to be done with it. I still like the spinning but it's time to move on to something new.

Last week, or week before last, I discovered that something ate through the wool on one of my bobbins (this was old wool). And I found little insect carcasses in said wool. So today I went through the stash in that cabinet and a basket that was nearby to determine how bad the damage is. Two skeins of sock yarn are damaged (both grey), although I didn't see any sign of critters. All the yarn in that basket has been bagged and is now enjoying the arctic clime of the freezer. Most of the yarn in other cabinet was already bagged and I didn't see any evidence of insects. I still need to check the closet that has all of my unspun wool in it. I'd like to think it's okay, but as soon as I say that, it won't be. Time will tell (and that time will be next weekend).

The Mule Run last weekend was a lot of fun (if you call staying up all night waiting for runners to come by "fun"). The software upgrade we did on Saturday went well until the primary load balancer at the data center went belly-up, which caused a three-hour delay, which in turn delayed me prepping for the Mule Run. In the end, though, everything worked out (and I even managed to get a 45-minute nap in around dawn on Sunday). Tom ran about 50 miles before deciding he had had enough (it was a little humid and he didn't eat and drink enough early on). There were three finishers out of seven starters and all the finishers looked great at the end. I was up for 31 hours (except for the little nap). And I paid for it on Monday, with the worst migraine I've had in recent memory. I was totally flattened. It became clear to me that I need to clean up my diet: eliminate gluten again, reduce my sugar intake, and reduce the amount of alcohol I drink (I do so enjoy a cocktail after work). There was a period when the migraines were much less frequent and I think it was during my gluten-free period.

My nephew is getting married at the end of October at the beach (an outdoor wedding, barring any nor'easters or hurricanes) and I thought it would be nice to knit a shawl for his fiancee, just in case it's a little chilly. I found a pattern and had her choose the yarn (a burgundy alpaca/silk blend from Alpaca with a Twist). I started knitting it this afternoon and I think it will look okay, although right now it's tiny and shriveled-looking). I have to keep reminding myself that blocking will do wonders for it.

And the stealth progress continues to grow. I'm not quite halfway through it and it still continues to charm. Although I'm wondering about the wisdom of knitting a lace shawl (pretty much my first) and the stealth project, each of which has a deadline. I hope I didn't over commit.

Anyway, that's all for now. I need to finish preparing for the week ahead.

Happy knitting!

How'd It Get To Be July?

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted. I owe you all a Squam Art Workshops trip report (it was very cool, in more ways than one). I owe you some photos of finished objects, especially the Corinne sweater. One day I'll get all these things done.

Work is occupying a large amount of my time, although I'm working much less than I was earlier this year. But the writing and the emails continue and that makes writing and emailing outside of work feel like...well...work. The last thing I want to do when I get home is to sit down at a computer. So the blog suffers and my correspondence suffers.

But I do have some random bullet points for you!

• We have ants in the house, a lot of tiny ants
• At first we had only black ants; now we have some tiny pale red ants too
• EcoSmart, window cleaner, and vinegar and water are all effective ant killers
• But they don't keep the ants at bay
• It's highly annoying when they have the audacity to crawl on you and bite you
• Also, is it too much to ask that the dishwasher actually get dishes clean?
• Tom and I got it working better, but I still have to rinse the items on the top rack after the dishes are "clean."
• Grrrrr
• Bosco has turned into quite the hunter of shrews
• Shrews are beneficial to the garden
• Bosco is working hard at decimating the shrew population
• He likes to catch chipmunks, too
• Fortunately, we've been able to rescue the chipmunks
• We've started harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, and hot peppers from the garden
• Some critter takes a single bite out of each ripe tomato
• Grrrrr
• That's why we stopped growing tomatoes several years ago
• I joined the Tour de Fleece this year
• And I've actually been spinning every day (except one day when I forgot)
• I think I'm going to finish spinning 4 ounces of Rambouillet!
• It only took me four years
• Work on the large stealth project that will contain approximately two pounds of wool when it is finished continues apace
• I can't watch "Poirot" and knit at the same time
• Too much ripping back
• I love David Suchet as Poirot

Ha! There appears to be a limit on the number of bullet points one can have before getting an html error. That's probably a hint for me to stop rambling on and go to bed. Tomorrow's a big day. We're completing a major software upgrade at work for our client and it's also the annual Mule Run for our running club. I'm not running it this year but Tom is, so I'll be up all night. It should be...fun...

And now I must spin a little Rambouillet so I can say that I did spin today. Today was the mountain stage of the Tour de France and the suggestion was for the spinners to spin something challenging. My challenge is simply to get to the wheel and spin!

Happy knitting!

Gone Again

Another three weeks has gone by with nary a blog post. To be fair, the first week was because I was on vacation and didn't have access to the Internet. Also, I was high on wool fumes (more about that in a few). Then I had to go back to work (which is much more pleasant when one is high on wool fumes) and eventually got back into the same old routine of getting up, going to work, coming home late, eating dinner, and going to bed. And I was knitting a sweater, too.

Maryland Sheep and Wool was fun as always. I didn't buy much...sock yarn for Tom and buttons for the sweater. It was crowded and as soon as my friend left, I went in search of sheep and I found them. At first I thought there weren't as many in previous years but then I found the big barn. And the most beautiful black and silver sheep I have ever seen. I wanted to start spinning the fleece right off his back. I'll post a picture after I return from Squam. I couldn't find the owner, but if I could have, I would have asked to buy the fleece right then and there! Next year I'm going to spend more time with the sheep.

Then I went to the beach, which is as the beach always is...relaxing with good food, excellent conversation, abundant cocktails at sunset, and plenty of knitting on the sweater. I also managed to get some spinning in, to reinforce what I learned in Maggie's class.

And now I'm in Waterbury, Connecticut getting ready to complete the trip up to New Hampshire to attend the Squam Art Workshops. I finished my sweater (although the idea of wearing wool right now makes me slightly nauseous; the weather is decidedly August-like). I've packed all of my knitting supplies. I have more clothes than a girl could possibly need for four days (I like to be prepared), and I practiced the moebious cast-on last night. So now there's nothing left to do except get there!

I've taken the day after I return off from work (to recover from the drive) and hope to post pictures and stories about Squam. And now? It's time to sew the buttons on the sweater.

Happy knitting!

Vacating

As of 7:30 p.m. on May 3, I officially started my long-awaited vacation and I won't go back to work until So far, it's been wonderful, although not necessarily restful. I completed Maggie Casey's two-day Learn to Spin class yesterday. It was wonderful and I learned so much. I'm not a bad spinner but my drafting repertoire was limited and hampered my ability to spin different fiber preparations. I think my drafting technique was a cross between the long backwards draw and the short forward draw. Now I know how to do both properly, although the forward short draw was a bit of a challenge, kind of like patting your head while rubbing your tummy.

At one point in class yesterday, I felt like I was fighting with my wheel...the spinning became difficult. Maggie replaced the existing drive band with a lighter one and that made a huge difference. Who knew? Suddenly, spinning top and combed fibers became much easier.

And the piece de resistance...I learned how to do a chained ply (and when to do it). I had read instructions and looked at illustrations and they didn't make any sense. But seeing the technique demonstrated made all the difference in the world. I'll probably practice on leftover singles. Ha! And then maybe I'll actually knit some of my hand-spun. That would be a first.

The biggest benefit from taking Maggie's class is that now I have the confidence to spin any fiber without fearing that I'll ruin it. That's a giant step forward for me.

Knitting Progress
Not much knitting going on lately. I've realized that if I want to knit every day, I'm going to have to approach my knitting (and spinning) like I do exercise: first thing in the morning. I have great intentions to knit every evening after work, but by the time I get home at night and eat dinner, it's time to go to bed. I'm not particularly thrilled with staying up after feeding the cats at 5:00 a.m. but I think that's what it's going to take.

I'm almost to the first sleeve on Corinne. But with Squam just a mere three weeks away, I need to increase my knitting time by a lot, or else I'm not going to have a new sweater to wear.

As far as the stealth project is concerned, I haven't even finished swatching for it. That's bad; I'm behind before I've even started.

Maryland Sheep and Wool
Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend at MD$W. My initial goal was to just hang out with her and vicariously enjoy her purchases. But I'm beginning to feel the siren call of the fleeces and yarns. And spinning wheels. I do need a new threading hook so I might look for a pretty one. And buttons...I need some buttons for Corinne. I also realized that my body doesn't like spinning all day on a single treadle wheel, so after Gina goes home, I might sample different wheels. And no, a new spinning wheel is not going to follow me home. I need to make sure that I'm actually going to be spinning enough to make the investment. And I want to make sure that I buy the right wheel. Does anyone have any recommendations for a double treadle wheel?

In closing, here's Bosco doing one of his three favorite things:

The other two? Eating and hunting for voles.

Have a great weekend and happy knitting!

Breathe

The end of my second day without working is coming to a close and I'm so sad. It's amazing how much stuff you can get done without work getting in the way. In short, it was a blissfully productive weekend:

• I started breathing again
• And my jaws started to unclench
• I cleaned the house...all of it
• The dust buffalo herd is now manageable
• I vacuumed up enough cat hair to make a litter of kittens
• I did laundry
• I even folded it and put it away
• Not sure that I'll be able to find my clothes now
• The cats got some good walks this weekend
• It's amazing how much fun a cat can have with a dead vole
• Bosco's quite the hunter
• There was knitting, but not as much as I would have liked

I started the Corinne cardigan from the current issue of Knitty today. I was blithely knitting along, chatting with my mother-in-law, and promptly hit a snag. "Knit to 1st marker; turn. Knit across" Hmmm...do I simply turn and knit back and won't that make a wonky stitch? Do I slip the first stitch? Do I wrap and turn and knit back? I'm now in experiment mode. I slipped the stitch for the first pattern repeat. I'm turning and knitting back on the second pattern repeat. If I don't like how either looks, I might add wrap-and-turn to the mix. But I think just turning and knitting back is the way to go. I tend to overthink the knitting a little lot and that never fails to get me in trouble.

I'm on the verge of starting another project, this one being a stealth project. Suffice it to say that come July, working on that project will be miserable. I did not choose wisely for summer knitting.

That's it for now.

Happy knitting!

Coming Up For Air

Work has been unbelievably...crazy. For the last several months, I feel like all I've done is work. And my investigations yesterday proved that it's true. It's been nine weeks since I've had an entire weekend off; I worked both days three of those weekends. I've averaged about 52.25 hours per week for the last 11 weeks. Now in the grand scheme of things, that's not too bad. I don't have to work that many hours in order to make a living wage. And there are people who work many more hours than I do. However, I'm at that point in my life where the rewards for working like that just aren't there.

But, I got the biggest part of the project I was working on out the door and am hoping it doesn't come boomeranging back to me for additional revisions. The revisions for the remainder of the design document should be relatively minor, if only because each appendix is well under 100 pages. I have about another week of solid work and everything should be done. It's been a long haul on this...many, many months of writing and revising. The original author did a fantastic job; the bones of the design are solid. It's a shame that the client is extremely particular about language and formatting.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and for once, I don't think it's a train.

As a result of work, I feel like my life is pretty much in a shambles: the dust buffalo herd is totally unmanageable, the cats have scimitars for claws, I've been packing on the pounds because I'm too tired/it's too dark/too cold/too wet to run, and the knitting is languishing. It's hard to believe that just over a year ago, I ran the Boston Marathon. Now I'm lucky if I can eke out an 11-minute mile over six miles. Or that two years ago, I was running ultra marathons. I need to knuckle down and get back to that level of fitness. But I'm tired/it's too dark/too cold/too wet to run. And soon it will be too sunny/too hot/too humid to run.

Another result of work is that I haven't taken any time off and all of my PTO is pretty much at the maximum accrual level (meaning that unless I take time off, I don't accrue any more)(which is so not right...working long hours for the good of the company and I get penalized because I can't take time off?!). But the vacations, they are a-coming (note the use of the plural).

First up is a two-day spinning workshop with Maggie Casey at Maryland Sheep and Wool (MDSW). In my younger days (like about almost 30 years ago(ack!)), I started spinning. I had this sweet little top whorl drop spindle made from a dowel, drawer pull and cup hook, and I spun my little heart out. A year or so later, I saved up my pennies (or most likely went further into debt; this was during those very lean post-college years) and bought an Ashford Traditional. I continued to spin my little heart out. But I was pretty much self-taught and only knew how to produce a rather tightly-spun worsted yarn. And as time passed, the spinning (and weaving; I wasn't knitting then) lapsed.

Over the last couple of years, I've been eyeing Judith MacKenzie-McCuin's class at MDSW, but it always seemed to fall at a bad time. So this year, I jumped at the chance to take the workshop (even though it wasn't Judith's class). It was touch and go for a while because they had too many registrants for the class. But I got in and I'm so excited! I'm hoping to take my spinning to new heights...er...lengths.

A couple of days after Maggie's class, I'll be driving down to North Carolina to spend a week at the beach with Tom's sister-in-law. That little trip will be pure bliss...beach, knitting, spinning, eating, talking. Right after I get back, Tom will run the Massanutten Mountain Trail Run, which is 100 miles of rocky, steep, gnarly trail. I had better be well-rested because I'll be pulling an all-nighter plus to support him during the run.

And if that wasn't enough, right after Memorial Day I'm driving up to New Hampshire to attend the Squam Art Workhops. Two classes by Cat Bordhi should pretty much do me in. In July, we've got a week at the beach with Tom's family. In August we're headed to Seattle for Tom to run another 100-mile race. And then in October we're at the beach again for my nephew's wedding. Whew! It will be busy but so much fun! And best of all, I won't be working.

I'll try to post again this weekend. I've got a couple of knitting projects that are getting started. I'm almost finished with the obligatory swatches (and amazingly enough, seem to have gotten gauge) and hopefully will be able to cast on this weekend.

Hey, I get a weekend...what a novel idea!

Happy knitting!

Breaking Radio Silence

Well! I've been much quieter than I planned. My goal was to post a blog entry at least once a week this year. Clearly, I've not succeeded. I blame work and nothing but work (and my inability to do anything other than stare into space after I get home from work).

As they say, all work and no play makes Teri a dull girl. I've just started running again but missed my goal of running a 50K this weekend by a long shot (a 10K distance leaves me huffing and puffing, even at a slow pace). I've got a sock on the needles (a rather dull brown sock, with a streak of orange for excitement) and I can't seem to get past the heel. I'm ripping it out for the second time (the instructions ambiguously said to inc 1 after each decrease until there are 22 sts left; I should know better that if you decrease 1, then inc 1, you don't decrease). The "inc" mean "including". Sigh...

The herd of dust buffalo is impressive. I managed to cull the downstairs herd last weekend, but the upstairs herd is threatening to stampede if their territory is not increased. I simply must cull them next weekend.

There are bright spots. We've acquired some new gadgets recently (and not so recently). The big purchase in July (and one I forgot to blog about) was a new car: a Subaru Outback. The air conditioning in the Volvo was shot and given the heat this past summer, the commute, and the age of the car, we decided it was prudent to replace it. It found a good home with my step-niece. And even though I loved the Volvo, I really love the Outback. When it comes down to it, I'm a station-wagon kind of gal. It was the family car until all us kids were grown, My first two cars were (small) station wagons. The Volvo was my first (and only) sedan.

Other recent purchases include an iPhone (very cool, but it would be nice to combine the best of the Blackberry with the best of the iPhone), the new MacBook Pro, and an iPad. Tom uses the MacBook and iPad the most. What really surprised me about the iPhone was how much I would use the iBook and Kindle apps. I've been skeptical. I mean, how good can reading be on a little screen. The answer? Surprisingly good. What's best is that there are tons of free books out there by authors I love: P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, Mark Twain. Plus I can sample other authors like Trollope, without having to buy the book (or make a trip to the library). Who knew?!

The final purchase was a new high efficiency washer. I'm in love. Seriously. This washer washes clothes like nobody's business. Old stains come right out. It uses very little water and very little soap. It's quiet. In short, it's amazing.

Maryland Sheep and Wool is fast approaching and I'm debating whether to take a spinning 101 class offered by Maggie Casey. I think I might. Immediately thereafter, I'll head down to the beach with my sister-in-law. And then a couple of weeks later, I'll be on my way to Vermont for the Squam Art Workshops, even though I'm sure that two classes with Cat Bordhi will make my head explode (in a good way, of course). A month later, another trip to the beach, followed by a trip to Washington state the following month for Tom to run a 100-mile race. And then at the end of October, we'll attend my nephew's wedding. And of course, there's work to contend with, which promises to be even more hectic than it is now. Whew!

I wonder if I'll be able to finish that single brown sock?

Happy knitting!

Be Careful What You Wish For

How many times have we wished, when work or life gets a little overwhelming, for an illness or injury that's just bad enough to keep us home but not bad enough to keep us from knitting? It's okay, you can admit it. I periodically do it myself. Of course, nothing ever happens.

Until now.

Early Tuesday morning, I woke up with a little migraine, which was annoying because I had a business meeting in Richmond. I took my usual Excedrin and headed out. By mid-afternoon, I noticed my hips were feeling decidedly ache-y and the headache was getting a little worse. By the time I went to bed, every bone and muscle in my body ached.

Wednesday was even worse. The muscles in my back yelped with every footfall. I wasn't comfortable laying down, sitting up, or standing. I was running a fever (thus explaining the ache-y hips). Add to that a headache of epic proportions. I quickly caved and saw the doctor, who thought it was the flu, even though the flu test was negative. She prescribed Tamiflu but didn't tell me how to alleviate the pain (I think she thought I was weak and whining). Unfortunately, my pharmacy of choice didn't have Tamiflu in stock so they had to send the order to a different pharmacy. I didn't pick up the prescription because all I wanted to do was be in bed.

600 mg of ibuprofen helped alleviate the body pain, but did nothing for my headache. It was getting to the point where I wanted to rip my brain out of my head to make the pain stop. Seriously, it was that bad.

Fortunately, most of the aches were gone yesterday, although my back still hurts a little when I walk. I still have the headache (72 hours and counting), but it's much diminished. I managed to drag myself out of bed around 1:30 yesterday afternoon and haven't relapsed yet, so I think I'm on the mend.

I managed to make some progress last night on the second Cloning Anemone Rib sock last night and should be able to finish it today. Here's a teaser photo of the first sock:

The worst part is that Tom and I were supposed to go away for our anniversary. We canceled our reservations and that makes me sad because it will probably be a while before we can go again. Tom and I haven't been away by ourselves for years, it seems. We're always vacationing with friends or his family or going to ultra marathons. The good news, however, is that we received a voucher in lieu of the deposit from the inn where we were going to stay. So we'll have to go.

In honor of our anniversary (which was yesterday), here's a wedding picture. It's hard to believe that it's been 15 years.

In Other News...
Verizon opened the pre-order for the iPhone4 yesterday. I wasn't in any shape to get up at 3:00 a.m. yesterday to order and by the time I got online, the web site was bogged down. I gave up (I don't have the patience to sit at the computer, repeatedly clicking a button for hours until I get in). I was up at 4:30 this morning to feed the cats and decided to give it a try. Guess what? The pre-order was sold out. Now I have to wait a week and order with everyone else. I'll be lucky to get the iPhone4 before they release iPhone5. My current phone does what I need it to, but it doesn't display pictures in email and web sites that are built using Drupal don't render at all. That's a major shortcoming. So you can be sure that I'm going to set my alarm for very early the day of public release and order.

That's it for now. I'm going to spend the day doing fiberly things and reading. For all of you in the frozen north, stay warm and safe. I envy you your snow. I wish we'd get a whopper of a snowstorm this year. I miss the amazing amount of snow we had last year.

Wait...should I have said that? Maybe I'll get what I wished for.

Happy knitting!

Inertia

Winter has always been a time of drawing in for me, but never has the drawing in been so intense. Like "I never want to get out of bed" intense. On the plus side, I feel very indulgent by staying in bed until (get this) 7:30(!) but on the negative side, it's hard to get motivated to do anything. I mostly want to be a bump. And knit. And read. Oh, and eat.

My running goal for this year was to run a 50K at the end of March, but with the miles I haven't been logging, I suspect I'm going to fall short of my goal. If I'm lucky, I can get my butt out of bed for a 6-mile run. But mostly I haven't been running. The problem is that I'm still eating like I'm running, which pretty much equals disaster on the weight gain front. Will I ever return to trail running and ultra marathons, which I professed to love? Only time (and Spring) will tell.

Despite the inertia, I managed to be fairly productive today. The herds of dust buffalo were wrangled and culled (both upstairs and downstairs, which is amazing in itself because I can usually manage to get one level cleaned in a weekend), and I did a little bit of stash organization. As I've acquired yarn, I've squirreled it away in various bags shoved into a closet. Today was the day to go through the bags and the Basket of Shame (BoS). The BoS contains UFOs. While I have UFOs aplenty, I didn't find as many as I thought. However, I did discover more sock yarn. Like kind of a lot of sock yarn. Some is destined for socks for Tom and the rest? Well, the rest is all for me! Or maybe my relatives and friends. In addition to the sock yarn, I found a lot of sock needles. And point protectors, stitch markers, row counters... Yikes! How many Brittany size 1 needles does a girl need? Apparently, a lot. Oddly, I found two socks-in-progress, of the same yarn, in different patterns. I think one sock lost its charm and I used the remaining wool for a different sock, which also lost its charm. Fortunately, the yarn has not lost its charm, so I'll eventually frog both socks and start afresh.

Sadly, I did not find the single finished Norwegian mitten from the 2006 Knitting Olympics, only its unfinished mate. I suspect the finished mitten is tucked into a bag in a basket somewhere. I'll find it one of these days.

I'm making progress on the second Cloning Anemone Rib sock. The gusset is in progress and the stitch count is correct. Expect the finished pair by next weekend!

And speaking of which, we're celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary soon and I'm taking several days off work. Woo hoo! I'm sure that I'll find time to knit. The question is, what shall I knit next? There are any number of UFOs that I could finish. Or I could knit another pair of socks for Tom. Maybe I'll do both...pull out a UFO to finish and start a pair of socks.

I joined the Rockin' Sock Club this year after a two-year hiatus (like I need more sock yarn) and the January kit arrived yesterday. As always, the colors are gorgeous. This kit contains two skeins of yarn (why do I keep spelling "yarn" as "yearn"?) and two patterns. One pattern is color work; the other has a sort of honeycomb stitch pattern. I like them both and have no idea which one to make.

I was planning to be a little more philosophical in this post, but well...I was overcome by inertia.

Maybe your week be filled with forward momentum!

Happy knitting!

Flying Solo

Tom has started training for MMT, even though he's way down on the wait list (his lottery number was not a winner). So this weekend he's off running the hills and rocks of the Massanutten Mountains, leaving me at home with the cats. Ordinarily, I would have gone with him and helped at the aid stations but both of our cat sitters are out of town this weekend. So, I'm a single woman this weekend.

Whenever Tom is gone, I've got all sorts of ideas about what I want to accomplish, and the weekend stretches before me, seemingly endless. By the time he returns home, I haven't accomplished half of what I wanted to. Today, however, was rather productive.

I ran this morning, only six miles, and as has been the case lately, I struggled to keep my heart rate down. I ended up running by myself, which I don't enjoy, but instead of grumping about it and berating myself for being an old, fat, slow runner, I looked around and noticed things--the dun color of the fields, the way the wind sculpted the snow on the side of the road and how it glittered in the sunlight, the blue of the mountains in the distance. While I didn't get to my happy running place (my heart rate was still too high and I was still struggling), noticing did get me out of that negative frame of mind.

Later in the day, a friend came over for some joint career counseling. We've been in our careers for decades and for the last year or so have been toying with the idea of doing something different. The problem is we don't know what we want to do. Today we tried to figure it out. After wracking our brains for several hours (and not finding any answers), we went to Market Table Bistro. The food was good, reasonably priced, and at the early hour of 5:30, the service was fast (perhaps a little too fast).

So what's in store for the rest of the weekend (which sadly is not a long weekend)? A wee bit of housecleaning, perhaps. Some grocery shopping and cooking, maybe start planning a sweater, maybe figure out what to do with design for Shauna's mittens (the stitch count isn't working out for the patterns I want to use)...the possibilities are endless.

Knitting Progress
I've made some headway on the second Cloning Anemone Rib sock. But I noticed a mistake near the top that's bugging me more than it should, given that no one is going to see it. I might end up ripping it out once again.

In better news, I'm going to be attending the Squam Art Workshops in June. I've signed up for two all-day classes with Cat Bordhi--Personal Footprints and Moebius Knitting. I have a suspicion that my head will explode by the end of the second day. On the third day, I'll take a drop spindling class with Denny McMillan. I know how to use a drop spindle (or at least I used to know how), but recently all my attempts at spindling fail. I don't know if it's me or the spindle, but I can't get the spindle to spin for any length of time. Could it be the roving I'm using? At any rate, it's very frustrating. Anyway, I'll be taking a road trip to New Hampshire in June and it will be a lot of fun. Two days up (I really don't want to drive for 11 hours) and two days back. Squam will provide a much-needed vacation, even more so since work from now until then will be intense, to say the least.

Well, it's getting late and I still have things I want to do...read, knit, dream a sweater...

Happy Knitting!