when she was knitting

Tuesday Afternoon Pick-Me Up

2010-03-09T14:45:00.002-05:00

Zooey Deschanel is so very cute, her wardrobe rocks, I love her voice and her songs are just as adorable as she is. This video for She & Him's* new song is worth watching just for the little skip at the end.

*I'm sure M. Ward (the Him half of She & Him) lovely, too. I just don't know who he is, besides some musician guy.

Long time, no see

2010-02-23T13:44:00.003-05:00

It turns out, it has become difficult to post about knitting that is in progress. The pictures are boring to take, so you can probably just blame the other blog since that is taking most of my interesting photos. So, what is going on?

Knitting: I have finished both fronts for the Barcelona Jacket and am about 1/3 done with the sleeves.

I finished Len's hat, but it was about an inch too short, plus the decreases for the crown were too fast and made the top all gathered. I hate that. Len didn't care, but I do, so out it came. I'm getting to the point of starting the decreases again and need to figure out how to do them so the top isn't gathered. Because I want the cables to go up as far as possible, decreasing isn't as simple as knit 10, knit 2 together.

I have finished one knee sock and started the other.

I'm further along than this: I'm actually into the decrease section now.

Non-Knitting:
Kitties: Last weekend was the first weekend since the end of January none of the cats have needed to go to the vet for check ups or medications. I doubt we have seen the last of the gross, but things are calm for now (nothing life threatening, just gross). I did find out that they have all been eating too much, so they are on a more austere program. It hurts Len more than any of the cats.

Technology:
Len is becoming a nerd.

He found a laptop that had been left behind by a tenant 5 years ago (it is a long, kind of sordid tale, involving parents and power plays, best not to get into it). He brought it home and now our computer can keep up with our relatively slow DSL. Plus it has FreeCell. I've been seeing less of Len. And now he brings the thing to work with him and searches for free floating wireless internet. It's kind of hilarious. He hasn't gone too far, though: I asked him if I could unhook his e-mail from mine, and he wasn't comfortable with that yet. He did make an attempt at The Reason the Internet Took Off (ah, porn), scared him half to death, what with all the pop-ups and flashing and what not, so I don't think I'll have to worry about that anymore.

Also, this weekend I found myself in electronics wiring hell. It was not fun. I'm back to purgatory, but I ask you: why do I have to run our DVR and DVD player through an RF Modulator and VCR (which we do not ever use) in order for them both to work? Does that make any sense at all? Stupid wires. I had wiring diagrams lying all over the house, to no avail. Nothing worked, so we had to hook the VCR (seriously, we don't even turn the thing on!) and modulator thingy back up in defeat.

This squirrel yelled at me the whole time I was outside taking pictures yesterday.

Yes. Squirrels are fat in Ann Arbor, even in the winter. And yes. It was snowing. A lot.

Some more also rans

2010-02-12T13:39:00.001-05:00

Ripping and Knitting

2010-01-29T10:24:00.002-05:00

This doesn't look quite as funny in the picture as it did in person (or nearly as orange, for that matter). The ankle and foot looked much, much skinnier. Too skinny.

It looked like this fairly soon after that first picture was taken. I probably could have just taken out the foot and ankle to where I had 72 stitches, but the calf didn't fit right either (too big), and since I was ripping anyway, I might as well take it all the way back. I suppose it should at least annoy me that I've had to rip the calf out so many time (three, so far), but I want these to fit well. I think I have the right numbers now, so it should go much better this time.

Simon doesn't want your hipster beer.

Also Ran

2010-01-20T14:42:00.002-05:00

I like this picture almost as much as the one I posted at the other place.

Finished Knitting

2010-01-19T11:48:00.003-05:00

With crummy pictures!

These are the Austrian Socks from Favorite Socks. The color is way off but the yarn is Louet Gems sport weight (Willow, I believe), knitted on size 2 needles.

That's a little closer to the color. I enjoyed knitting them, but they were a bit hard on my hands -- I think the pattern calls for fingering weight, but I went with the heavier yarn because I don't like the way fingering works up with #2 needles (at least not for socks).

I love the way the toe works out, and that the socks fit exactly as written.

Now I can knit these without guilt. Not that I wasn't knitting them before, but it was guilty, furtive knitting, since I hadn't finished the Austrian socks. This is the first time I've used Koigu and I might be addicted.

Simon does not approve.

Cat update: I still haven't gotten Judy to the vet, but I discovered fleas on Thursday night. I managed to get flea stuff on her on Saturday morning. She still hasn't forgiven me, but I'm calling it a minor victory, even if it doesn't take care of the obsessive licking.

Census 101

2010-01-15T16:02:00.002-05:00

You know how I keep saying I'm going to do a Census post and then I put it off? Well, the day has arrived. This is kind of long, but I hope not too boring.

"The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of 10 years, in such manner as they shall by Law direct."
-- Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States

The first Census was taken in 1790, it was supervised by then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and was under the supervision of the U.S. Marshals. The final count was 3.9 million, which both Washington and Jefferson suspect was an under count.

You can find a nice decade by decade overview, including the authorizing legislation and enumeration, here.

The questionnaire is 10 questions, each a result of legislation. These questions have to do with age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, relationships within the household and whether you own or rent the dwelling (you can look here to see when the question was enacted and what the purpose is).

This is the first year you will not get a long form from the Census Bureau. The long form has been replaced by the American Community Survey (ACS), which is a monthly sample survey. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one of the more important is that the demographic and economic data is more timely than the decennial census. If you happen to get an ACS questionnaire you are required to answer it (there are penalties, but they are rarely if ever enforced); because it is separate from the census, you have to fill out the census form as well.

Census data is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives (and thus in the Electoral College). States may gain or lose seats (Ohio is projected to lose a couple of seats with this Census). For more information on apportionment, including a map of projected gains and losses, look here. The data is also used to distribute federal funding for hospitals, schools, roads and bridges (sometimes in Alaska). The data can be used by community leaders, residents and advocates to argue for (or against) funding for projects.

The basic timeline for this year’s Census: In May of last year Census workers fanned out to verify addresses, making sure that 123 Any Avenue is still a single family house that hasn’t burnt to the ground in the last 10 years. In March 2010, the forms will be mailed (or otherwise delivered). April 1 is National Census Day. If you or a member of your household splits time evenly between two houses, wherever you are on April 1 is where you should be counted. Census workers (or enumerators) will visit households which did not send in their form (this is why the Census is so expensive) from April to July. Population information is delivered to the President in December 2010 for reapportionment, and redistricting data is due the states by March of 2011.

My sister, who works in an unemployment agency (and she is very busy for the foreseeable future) said this about applying for and hiring Census workers: “Census workers are hired through the same process any employer would hire someone. Positions (as one might expect), are temporary and local to the area. They hire for clerical and enumerators 18yrs or older & generally with no criminal background. They are also required to take 30min. test that covers reading, math & attention to detail. Additional training is required once they've completed the application process. They also pay a decent starting wage (at least for my clients)for such a mundane job-$12 for clerical & $16.50 for enumerators. So there you have it. The census worker in a nutshell;)”

The sample test she mentions can be found here, along with other application material and background check information.

In the coming months you may find me geeking out over sampling issues, over- and undercounting and other fun minutia, but this is the important stuff so I will spare you for now. The picture is my library's copy of the 1990 Census (with a bit of the 1980 Census). That is the last census to be printed. Its all online now.

Update

2010-01-13T14:52:00.003-05:00

I'm up to my eyeballs in a big, hairy project (can anyone tell me why no one indexes Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics?), so a Census post is going to be delayed a bit.

In the meantime, I thought you might like an update on the great Feline Adventure.

Judy: 6 (scratches); Me: 0
I'll try sedation next. Not sure who it will benefit more.

Paranoid Cat

2010-01-12T11:11:00.002-05:00

While we have finally upgraded our home internet service to the slowest DSL available (which is still blazing fast compared to dial-up), our ancient (in Techie years) computer can't really keep up, so this post might be a bit bare bones.

This is Judy. She's paranoid. The other two cats have been having various cat health problems (too gross to go into), and in the midst of it all Judy started licking her back raw, so now I need to get her to the vet. The only time I am allowed to even touch Judy is when she is in this room, better yet, when she is on the chair. This is my best chance to get Judy into the cat box and up to the vet. I was hoping to get her on Saturday but I only had two opportunities: once while the cat box was unavailable and then after the vet had closed. Judy is not stupid. I am home today, trying again. I have already missed one opportunity, and now she is in hiding. I love the crazy creature, but she does not make it easy.

Knitting Seen in the Wild

2010-01-07T14:09:00.002-05:00

Is it just me or did the holiday rush by in a flash? I put up decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving and took them down January 3rd, barely a week later. I did a lot of frantic knitting during that time, but have very few pictures to show for it. Exactly one, in fact.

I knitted eight wee little stockings, took a picture of this one and the green and red ones, but none of the others (including the super cute beaded ones). I'm lame.

I also knitted a very nice wrap for a friend, out of some Blue Heron Silk Rayon she gave me in a fit of I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this-Get-it-out-of-my-house (I could use a couple of those fits in my life). I made Asymmetry from Wrap Style, I didn't take a picture and I can't find an accessible one on the web, so you will just have to trust me that it came out well.

Today was my 100th day of photos. To celebrate, WordPress released a new photoblogging template. Wasn't that nice of them? It isn't very different, but I can finally link to my brother's photo blog.

And last, but not least: are you getting excited about Census 2010? Of course you are! This video of the unveiling of the Census 2010 NASCAR Ford Fusion is pretty funny (if you are as giant a nerd as I am). Some time ago, Sharon had suggested I do a post about the Census. I did actually start one, but got worried that I would get something and be boring at the same time. The director of the Census, Bob Groves, is keeping a blog and provides some interesting details (e.g. his post on January 4 explains why filling out the census form is mandatory). However, if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to put together a piece. If you give me some idea of what you would like know about, I might be able to keep it short.

This, That, and the Other Thing

2009-12-21T11:55:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, while I was driving around lost in a maze of condominiums, Len called me in a bit of a panic. Since I was already close to a meltdown, he decided whatever he had to tell me could wait. This sent me further over the edge because he had spent the day with his mother and ailing father, so I made my apologies to my family (or the part of my family I was meeting for dinner) and hightail it home. It turns out all of the drama was because Lizzy chewed up some knitting and a needle. This knitting, in fact. After some minutes of trying to decide if at least some of it could be saved, this is what it looks like now:

No dogs were harmed in the destruction of this knitting. Oh well, it could have been worse, I have a ton of this yarn, and while I had gotten pretty far on it, the hat wasn't deadline knitting or anything. So the dog got off with a {shrug}.

After 2 months of searching, Len finally found a truck (2006 Toyota Tacoma, 4x4, 6 speed manual, extended cab). It took a long time because he had some very specific criteria and we were beginning to despair of ever finding what he wanted. We had to go all the way to not-so sunny Akron, Ohio (it took us about 12 hours total), but he finally has a truck and a budding case of buyer's remorse (par for the course with him).

Then I was laid up all day Sunday with a nasty sinus headache. Are sinuses really necessary?

I finished Gilead a little while ago. When I first read reviews, it sounded good but very dry, demanding, but kind of dull. I knew I wanted to read it, but I was afraid it would be a chore. I was completely unprepared for what a deeply moving experience it would be. Demanding, yes. The book demands time, attention, and no small amount of devotion, but for this the reader is rewarded with a literary experience brimming with grace, love, and redemption. It is one of those books that makes you happy to be alive.

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-10T12:44:00.003-05:00

For the past several years I've been going to an evening craft show in Saline and in the last couple of years my niece Lauren and nephew Isaac have come along. A particular feature of this show is the Gingerbread House competition/fundraiser.

Part of the competition is for professional bakers. The public votes for their favorite houses by dropping change in a little box by the displays, the display with the most money wins and all of the money is donated to a school charity.

I voted for this one. It was decorated by the children of the bakers and it is just so gleeful (more is more!)

The area school kids get in on the action, too. Part of the school's cafeteria is taken up with their houses. I think the younger kids all do the same basic pattern and the older kids get more leeway.

There is a cookie decorating station. Lauren takes her decorating seriously.

Sort of.

Isaac is of the More is More school of cookie decorating.

He went out on a sugar high.

We came home to find my dad backing out of the attic crawl space with this little guy in tow. Lauren was smitten, much to my dad's horror. They took him a few miles out to a nature preserve and let him go.

Silence and Knitting

2009-12-08T13:10:00.004-05:00

I can't guarantee my blog silence is over, but I will try. We are finally getting DSL at home, so that might help (although our computer is still ancient and sometimes it has trouble working things out).

One small piece of housekeeping: I moved my photo blog to WordPress. I was playing around with that platform for a work project and decided I liked the way it worked for the pictures better than anything I could come up with here at Blogger. Because I am a bit obsessive, I reloaded most pictures so they would be that nice big size.

Anyway. Despite feeling like I don't have much to say in the last few weeks, I have been knitting. A lot. My knitting mojo has raised its fuzzy head in such a way that I am having a hard time keeping myself from casting 5 or 6 new projects, despite actively knitting on five projects (not to mention the projects I want to be knitting but am not getting to). I have not been as successful at keeping myself from ordering yarn.

Austrian Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks (also a very old issue of IK). I didn't do the i-cord cuff because I am not bright enough to figure it out. My aunt convinced me I'd be happier with a ribbed cuff anyway. I don't think I'm happier with it, but it is fine. I am at the toe of this one, then I knit the second one then I can make knee socks (don't ask me why I want knee socks but I do). I have yarn to do the Treetop Socks from Knitty and ordered yarn to do these (yes, Koigu, I am a lame copy cat).

Sorry about that picture. This is the right front of the Barcelona Jacket from the Fall 2009 IK. I'm not planning on making the full collar. I would normally do both sides at the same time, but there is way too much shaping happening at both sides for me to able to make that work. After this, there is a whole bunch of Mission Falls burning a hole in my stash. And alpaca. And...oy.

Teeny, tiny stocking ornaments. I love these. These are Priscilla's Dream Socks (also from the aforementioned Favorite Socks), 32 stitches, size 2 needles, scrap yarn, a couple of hours and done. I don't have much more red, but I do have a ton of green in various shades, so I think the next 4 will be different textures (cables, lace, etc.).

Hat for Len. I have quite a bit more than this done (6 cable crossing). I've been knitting this while riding in the vanpool (very productive), but it is getting so that it is too dark to see so progress may slow on this. He wants more socks and more hats, which is easy enough to accommodate.

I'm also making some progress on Frost Flowers and Leaves, which I don't seem to have posted about since April 2008 (scroll down). It looks like that, but bigger.

Isaac & Lauren

2009-11-23T11:39:00.001-05:00

Break

2009-11-06T16:31:00.002-05:00

It seems I am taking a break from the blog. I don't really mean to, but there you are. Here is a pretty picture to distract you:

Um. Otherwise, the new car is fabulous. It seems one does not need to major muscles to shift. Who knew? The van pool is fine, there are two drivers who switch back and forth. They both listen to really bad country music, but neither has tried to kill the passengers or anyone else, so that's good.

And I'm reading a really good book: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Such a lovely meditation on faith, love, family and loneliness, the writing is so beautiful it is almost painful to read.

Len is going to Florida for week, he is leaving tomorrow night. I'm using that as an excuse to take next week off. He told his sister he thought I was excited to have the house to myself, but I am actually kind of weirded out by it. I haven't been alone in our house for that long. I have the first season of Mad Men coming, all those pretty clothes should sustain me.

Do you want to hear something funny?

2009-10-27T15:37:00.001-04:00

I'm buying this car:

And starting in a vanpool on Monday. Yep. I am very bright.

Knitting! And Sewing!

2009-10-21T15:57:00.003-04:00

Good gracious! And the worst pictures ever!*

The Purple Blob. I finished this just after last year's retreat and promptly decided it was too short and too boxy, so I ripped it back to the armholes, figured out a better rate of decrease (which is to say, I thought about it before I reknitted, unlike last time when I got to somewhere around my waist and totally faked it, which didn't work at all. I know. I'm surprised, too) and re-knitted. I finished it again at this year's retreat. And then bought new buttons because I totally winged the buttonholes and ended up with more holes than buttons. It's still a little short and boxy but I'm much happier with it. It is a basic top down cardigan following Barbara Walker's instructions in Knitting From the Top Down.

Tulip Skirt from the winter 2008 issue of Stitch (will they make this available for subscription?). I made one last year from a black rayon-linen blend (no picture, apparently), which I do not recommend as it feels nasty and pills. This is something called "weaver's cloth", I have no idea what that is (100% cotton from JoAnn's). I don't know. I want to like this skirt, but it may be too short and too poufy for me and I end up feeling like my rear end goes on forever. Maybe if the fabric has better drape and is a little longer? How many times will I sew this skirt before I admit that I am not 25 and thin as a rail? The color for the sweater in this picture is just right, though.

This is also from that issue of Stitch, but I don't remember what it is called. I have also made this one before, but I only took my waist measurement into account, forgetting completely about my hips. Hahaha! Let's pretend that one never existed. This is supposed to have horizontal pin tucks as well, but at some point early on I realized that was going to take 2 inches I didn't think I had to spare. I was right. This fits perfectly in the hips, the waist is a little big, but that is manageable.

*I've been playing with Blogger and headers and layouts for most of the afternoon (for work, not for me) and I'm a little loopy. Here is a sunflower, just because:

This and That

2009-10-19T11:15:00.003-04:00

I want to get back to posting more than once a week, but I seem to be at a loss for words these days. It will get better, it has to.

I saw Where the Wild Things Are on Saturday with my mom, my sister Krista and her two kids (plus a friend of Mani's).

It was as beautiful as I had hoped it would be. One objection I've heard is that this isn't a movie for children, I find it hard to be objective, though, since it didn't seem that far off from my own childhood which was lonely, scary, occasionally dangerous, and often very fun.

We went shopping earlier in the day. Along with two blouses and a bunch of t-shirts, I found a great deal on this:

I've wanted a Professional 600 for a long time and now I have one! I want to go home and pet it right now!

On Sunday I dragged myself off the couch (quite difficult, I must say) and pulled out the rest of the garden: four stalks of Brussels Sprouts and a basketful of potatoes.

I didn't have Brussels Sprouts until I was an adult, since my dad hates them and he did the cooking. I love them, as does Len. There are four stalks in that picture. This was the first year we did potatoes, they worked out well, despite my having put them in late.

Completely gratuitous picture of Lizzy. It might have been my picture of the day, but she wouldn't look at me and then she ran over to bark at the neighbor's horses.

Health Care Costs

2009-10-12T15:47:00.002-04:00

I don't know if you are following the health care debate, or if you even care (there are certainly plenty of things to get worked up about, I would think one could be forgiven for not getting worked up about this issue). I myself am alternately fascinated, appalled, confused and depressed by the whole mess. My opinion is as simple as this: I have really good health insurance, Len has no health insurance and I am at a loss to explain why I deserve to have health care and he does not (of course if a catastrophic event happened, he would have care, but it would bankrupt him).

However, no matter where you sit in the spectrum of opinion on this one, I highly recommend listening to this week's This American Life which explains the rising costs of health care. It is fascinating, appalling and depressing. But not confusing. More Is Less.

Also Ran

2009-10-07T16:26:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, I'm still feeling crummy, which has apparently dried up my usual witty drivel. Mostly I just want to complain. No, that isn't even true. I just want to take a nap. I did finally see the endocrinologist and there are a couple of solutions. Maybe, someday, I'll feel better. In the meantime, I am taking pictures and posting them at the other place. Here are some that I haven't posted there:

I love these fuchsia, they look so fake, like plastic flowers.

These colors shouldn't go together.

I really like grass seed heads.

Volunteer lettuce. This started growing out of our porch a couple of months ago, I haven't had the heart to take it out. It's so random, I have no idea how a seed could have gotten there.

365 Days of...

2009-10-01T15:55:00.002-04:00

...something.

I've been seriously remiss at taking pictures this summer. I don't really know why besides an overwhelming lack of motivation. I'd been needing something to kick start me, and a few weeks ago I got one. My brother sent a link to a very large 365 Project (80 women post one picture a day). We talked briefly about taking on the project, but didn't really make a decision either way.

Today, I made a decision. I'm doing it. What do I have to lose, besides a little self respect? And he has decided to do it too. I finally made the decision when I found a blog called 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs. That is clearly more insane than one little picture a day.

I will be egging on my brother and posting pictures here.
He will be egging me on and posting pictures here.

Of course, I don't actually have my camera with me right now, and I am taking tomorrow off, so the fun (for me) starts Monday.

Inventory

2009-09-29T08:28:00.003-04:00

25 half-pint jars of pickled jalapenos;
25 pints of smushed tomatoes*;
6 quarts smushed tomatoes;
21 half-pints of tomato sauce (to be doctored later);
28 pints of salsa;
4 pints of ketchup;
7 pints of Zydeco beans;
1 gallon + 1 cup pesto (frozen without the $20 per pound cheese);
A lot of ground up basil and oil;
A lot of dried tomatoes;
A lot of roasted tomatoes;
2 ice cube tray-fuls of tomato paste

I need a nap.

*Smushed tomatoes: peel them, quarter them, drop them in a jar and press down. Wide mouth jars work best, unless you have tiny hands.

I'm Here, I'm Here

2009-09-21T10:47:00.002-04:00

Don't panic! However, I'm fairly certain my brain has drowned in a vat of tomato sauce. Ugh. I know I'll be very happy about all the work, but right now I am so sick of tomatoes I could cry (which I figure I'll be doing around 9:00 tonight).

The knitting retreat was fabulous, I had such a good time. It is so inspiring to hang out with 60 other women who are just as delighted by the craft of knitting and I feel totally recharged. I took well over 100 photos, but only about a quarter of them turned out.

I stayed with my friend Cindy and her lovely family on Thursday night (and didn't managed to take any pictures of them, how lame is that?) Portland has an amazing light rail system, which I took from the airport to Beaverton, where Cindy et al. live.

Each lodge at Silver Falls State Park has six rooms, three on each side and a common area in between.

Plus a porch. Friday and Saturday were very warm and sunny. Sunday was cooler and overcast.

One side of the dining hall. Even though there wasn't ever a fire in the fireplace, it is still a natural place to gather.

A few of us went for a walk on Sunday. Everything seems to be covered in moss.

Most of the pictures I took on the walk didn't turn out because it was just dark enough in the woods that focusing was difficult. I took this one with the flash, which I don't use much because it can be very harsh. The effect is very eerie and looks like it is much darker than it really was (it was around 5:00 P.M.)

Hand sized clover.

You'd think as much knitting as was going on, I'd have taken more pictures of that, but no. I was, you know, too busy knitting.

Manistee

2009-09-09T16:28:00.004-04:00

Len dragged me up to Manistee, Michigan to spend the night in a camper. Which is to say, he asked nicely, and I, because I am really not very bright, agreed. Let me give you a piece of advice from my own hard won experience: if you have spent the last month dealing single-handedly with the garden, house and dog because your beloved has been working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, do not, under any circumstances, go to Manistee to spend the night in a camper, with the dog, so your beloved can go fishing. Especially if you hate camping. It is a very bad idea. And you will cry. I did, anyway.

For what it's worth, here are some pictures (many more in Fickr):

We borrowed Len's nephew, Connor, who was delightful. He and Lizzy bonded.

He caught a salmon.

And cleaned it.

Amanda

Dylan

Anyway. Once I got over the melt down, it was fine. And pretty. I am leaving tomorrow for the knitting retreat and that really will be relaxing. See you next week!

I've Been Known to Knit a Stitch or Two

2009-09-08T16:32:00.002-04:00

I know, that surprises me, too. But here is proof:

Soleil from Knitty.com. Do you like how it blocking on Mabel? I haven't unpinned it and tried it on yet to see how that worked, but I'm betting it is fine.

But wait! There's more!

The Featherweight Cardigan from Hannah Fettig. I love this cardigan. The yarn is a lace weight from Blackberry Ridge which I dyed with grape and black cherry Kool Aid.

The dye behaved oddly when I washed the finished item: it continued to bleed (which isn't so surprising), but the backs of the sleeves are much darker than the fronts. Very weird.

I would like to note that at the moment it is 66.6 degrees. I find that hilarious. And kind of cold.

Miscellaneous Whining and some Road Trip Music

2009-08-26T08:57:00.002-04:00

Normally I would be off this week scrubbing toilets for Len. However, he has plenty of other helpers this week, so I am off the hook. Cleaning apartments isn't the most fun in the world, but it is nice to have the extra cash. It's a draw.

I read something today that Blew. My. Mind. Apparently it is no longer acceptable to put 2 spaces after a period. Not only that, it hasn't been acceptable for a very long time and is very annoying to people in the know (which seems to everyone who learned to type on a computer rather than a typewriter). I will try to get used to this new fangled word processing thing, but I cannot guarantee it. My head hurts. (via Amy a la Mode, a sewing blog for cripes sake!)

After a few weeks of iron, I continue to be very tired and cranky. It seems I am a bit hyperthyroid. I have only one symptom: "nervous, moody, weak, or tired." I am, indeed, nervous, moody and tired. The iron took care of the "weak". Whatever. The doctor told me I need to see an Endocrinologist. After much back and forth and someone making an appointment for me without ever speaking with me, I have an appointment in October. Can I sleep until then? As irritating as it all was, at least I have health insurance and I don't have to worry about any of this being covered. Many other, including Len, are not so lucky.

Pajiba had a Roadtrip Playlist Comment Diversion last night. This is my list, which was culled from a much longer iPod playlist. I think it shows my '80s cultural roots:

"American Girl" -- Tom Petty
"Any Way You Want It" -- Journey (I can't believe I just typed that)
"Blitzkrieg Bop" -- The Ramones
"Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" -- Neil Diamond
"Corona" -- The Minutemen
"Drive South" -- John Hiatt
"Give it Away" -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Higher Ground" -- Stevie or the Red Hots or both
"Look at the Rain" -- Meat Puppets
"Love Train" -- O'Jays
"Memphis in the Meantime" -- John Hiatt
"No Fun" -- The Stooges
"Running on Empty" -- Jackson Browne (too obvious?)
"Sabatoge" -- Beastie Boys
"Someday, Someway" -- Marshall Crenshaw
"Teenage Riot" -- Sonic Youth
"These Boots are Made for Walkin'" -- Nancy Sinatra
"Third Uncle" -- Brian Eno
"4th of July" -- X

I really can't get used to that whole Single-Space-After-a-Period thing. Not at all.

It's a Dress!

2009-08-20T15:53:00.003-04:00

A crummy picture of a dress, but a dress nonetheless. This is Vogue 2902, it started out as view A, but ended up view B (with the contrasting hem band) because I, um, yeah. I cut it too short. The dress would have been knee length, which might have been ok but the proportion just seemed out of whack. Since the dress is completely lined (which is good since the fabric is cotton lawn), adding the contrast band was a simple matter of trimming the lining piece I had cut off and sewing it onto the outside skirt. As if cutting the skirt wasn't enough of a screw up, I also managed to put the zipper in the wrong side. Oh well.

I was supposed to hand stitch that band to the dress. I am much too lazy for that! Besides, I kind of like the look of the topstitching. I also had to shorten the straps by about an inch and a half. I think this will be fine, but had I made a muslin first I would have avoided cutting the skirt too short (though I do like the contrast hem), I could have fixed the straps more elegantly, and I probably would have managed to get the zipper on the correct side.

I've started cutting for a new quilt. That is all for now.

Blueberries

2009-08-17T13:11:00.002-04:00

There is a U-Pick blueberry place down the road from us, the berries are lovely and plentiful. I braved 90 degrees, god knows what humidity, rain and other fun stuff, but picked 6 pounds in about two hours.

Produce

2009-08-10T12:26:00.002-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me that, despite my utter neglect*, the garden puts out these amazing red balls of loveliness.

These are my annual Super Sweet 100s, I love these things. They have a lovely balance of sweet and acidic, they are nice straight from the garden, dried or roasted. Once we figured out that it is best to back way off the watering, they don't split as much, and the hornworms don't seem to care for them. This particular batch went into the food drier.

The larger tomatoes haven't started ripening yet, at least as far as I can tell, it is a jungle in the tomato garden this year. But I have so far harvest 3 pounds of beans (green and purple). Yikes. I also have a large basil harvest pending. After my first attempt at raising basil seed failed this Spring, I threw the rest of the seeds into a pot. I got lots of teeny plants, but they didn't look very promising, but when the radishes were done, I put the tiny plants in the garden. They have been very happy. Sometime this week (when I find the kitchen, I'm sure it is in the house somewhere) I will make a boatload of pre-pesto (no cheese or salt) for the freezer.

*It turns out I have an excuse for my neglect this year (not that I really need one to be neglectful). I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago with the very vague complaint, "I'm tired". It turns out I am anemic, which is good news because there is an actual cause and I can do something about it (namely, take iron supplements). The bad news is that, while the cause of the anemia isn't by any stretch of the imagination life threatening, it is caused by something I will need get taken care of, probably in the next 5 years. This time permanently. Not really something to worry about right now. In the meantime, I've been on iron for about a week, so I should be getting back to my normal, peppy self. Any second now.

A Friday Song List

2009-07-31T10:57:00.003-04:00

Giveaway: Really? No one? You're missing out...

I've been revamping my teeny iPod (and dreaming of a big one), so I think it time to see what comes up in a shuffle, don't you?

1. "Flame of the West" -- Big Country (Steeltown)

Scots dissing Reagan. I wore out my cassette of this album when I was 16 and found a German import a couple years ago to replace it. The album is as good as I remember it, and since it isn't that synth-pop that was so popular it still sounds fresh. Also. They so do not sound like U2.

2. "Marie's Wedding" -- Van Morrison & the Chieftains (Irish Heartbeat)

This is another CD I bought to replace a cassette, but it turned out I don't like the album as much as I did when it came out. I do really like the very traditional Irish songs though, Van Morrison's voice is so beautiful.

3. "This is Your Country" -- Luka Bloom (The Acoustic Motor Bike)

Luka Bloom was a minor obsession for me in the early 1990's. I saw him at the Blind Pig the night after a riot in Ann Arbor (the UM basketball team either won or lost, I don't remember or care). Bloom is from Northern Ireland (which, you may recall, was having some...troubles), he said Ann Arbor looked just like home. Very sweet.

4. "Three Hopeful Thoughts" -- Rilo Kiley (The Execution of All Things)

I don't know this album as well as I should, but I always like the songs when they come up in the shuffle. This one is kind of power pop.

5. "Last Night" -- Traveling Wilburies (self-titled)

I downloaded a couple of the hits for nostalgia's sake. You know, bunch a great musicians hanging out, having a good time.

6. "So Wrong" -- Patsy Cline (12 Greatest Hits)

I think listening to Patsy Cline is the first time I realized that having a great voice is not nearly enough to make someone a great singer, the phrasing matters so much more. Patsy's voice is fine, but the way she uses it is what makes her a truly great singer (and this is a truly heartbreaking song).

7. "Voice of Harold" -- R.E.M. (Dead Letter Office)

My knowledge of R.E.M. begins with Murmur and ends with Document (which roughly encompasses my college, depressed, hipster years). Dead Letter Office is a collection of alternate versions of songs, covers, and B-Sides (remember those?), and is worth having for the hilarious linear notes. "Voice of Harold" is a pre-lyrics version of "7 Chinese Brothers" (from Reckoning), they used the linear notes from some random gospel album as stand-in lyrics. Michael Stipes sings with great sincerity.

8. "One Night in Bangkok" -- Murray Head

This would be 1980's synth-pop. It's kind of terrible in a nostalgic way.

9. "Don't Pass Me By" -- The Beatles ("White Album")

I do so love The Beatles and the "White Album" is my favorite in all of it's out of control, messy, weird, indulgent, in-fighting glory. Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abby Road may be better albums, but for me, they don't top this one for it's sheer human-ness.

10. "Mr. Jones" -- Counting Crows (August & Everything After)

Even though the Crows are so not Seattle in the 1990s, this is what I was listening to and these songs always take me back there.

And now for something completely different. According to this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, between the years 2003-2007 2,228 deaths occurred in the production of crops and animals; 108 of those deaths involved cattle as a primary or secondary cause. I wonder how many involved roosters?

Summer Madness Give-Away!

2009-07-23T16:26:00.003-04:00

I'm dubious about the "summer" part, actually. I don't think we are really getting summer this year.

It's a meme by way of Quixotic Pixels, but one with prizes! I know, be still your heart.

Here’s how it works:

The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.
But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people. The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address – after I contact you.

I know some of you do not have blogs, in that case you could use Facebook or invade someone else's blog (for example, your wife's while she is off at Creative People Camp). So, get to it!

And no, I will not be making you a queen sized quilt.

Lame Blogger

2009-07-20T16:05:00.003-04:00

That's me. I thought I would be back in the swing of things after the 4th of July, but apparently not. I'd love to say I'm too busy, but no. I'm just lame.

Here is a pretty picture to distract you from my lameness:

So, what is going on that I haven't been posting?

I just started the fifth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Um. This is embarrassing, I'm addicted. They are stupid, but funny (mostly intentionally). Once you get beyond the awful of the first couple of books (which I did, because I was promised semi-incestous werepanthers, it turns out there is nothing "semi" about the incestuousness), her storytelling is really quite. You know. Good. There, I said it. If you want something fun and won't tax you too much while you nurse your sunburn, you could do worse.

I also finished Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss---and the Myths and Realities of Dieting by Gina Kolata. Kolata, a health journalist for the New York Times, compiles the history and research of dieting and obesity and reaches the conclusion that weight has far more to do with genetics than willpower. It's so well written, so readable, I had a hard time putting it down (even for Sookie).

It was Art Fair last week.

I ate a lot of very bad food.

I bought a piece of pottery (which I failed to take a picture of), I didn't realize until I was leaving the booth that it was by my old housemate (she wasn't in the booth, I'm not that lame). Kind of a coincidence, but I have always liked her stuff.

In other news, the dog got skunked Thursday night at bedtime. That's a smell that will bring tears to your eyes! Len gave her a bath before I got home on Friday evening. It didn't work. My brother and sister-in-law had looked up a natural de-skunking recipe, which mostly did (hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a bit of dish soap). Then on Saturday evening she went out happy and came back broken. Her tail was between her legs and she was very very sad. We took her for a very expensive vet visit on Sunday, it seems she strained her back. She's on some anti-inflammatory and she should be better by tomorrow. At which time she will get another peroxide-soda bath, 'cos, seriously. She stinks.

Len's Cheesy Shirt

2009-07-09T12:59:00.003-04:00

In a crazed moment of silliness, I bought this flamingo fabric thinking I would make a 1950's style dress, full skirt and all. When I came to a few months later, I thought better of it. I showed the fabric to Len (who knows why) and told him now that the dress plan was out, I didn't know what to do with it all. He shrugged and said, "you could make me a shirt out of it". After I picked up my jaw, I did. And he wore it...in public.

By the way, this does not give anyone license to gift us with flamingo-related anything. Just in case you are tempted.

Flowery Landscapes

2009-07-07T16:50:00.002-04:00

I Arrived In Time to See the Firetrucks

2009-07-07T15:56:00.002-04:00

It turned out the parade in Grass Lake was at 10:00, not 11:00. Oh well.

Too late.

The weather has been a bit loopy, but I don't think it's October.

Gratuitous picture of super cute kid (C & A's kid).

Sparklers are always pretty

Silhouette with added filter in a misguided attempt to distract you from the lack of crisp focus.

Trippy fireworks

Long Silence

2009-07-01T15:53:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the long silence. It isn't that I haven't had anything to report, I've just been tired and cranky. Hopefully, I'll get back in the swing of things after the weekend.

In the meantime, here is a clip from the Colbert Report about the census.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Noncensus

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Jeff Goldblum

Around the 2 minute mark Colbert mentions the nominee to head the Census Bureau, Bob Groves. Groves is the director of the Survey Research Center, the largest center in the institute where I work. In case you are interested, the controversy around his nomination is because he is an advocate of using sampling to supplement the head count -- essentially a bit of statistical mojo (also known as "science") which allows a smaller group to stand in for the whole group. If the sample is large enough and random enough, it gives an accurate view of the whole. Sampling for the census is off the table, so really, those holding up Groves confirmation are just being big babies. Also, contrary to what Michelle Bachman implies in the clip, pretty much the only question you will be asked on the census is "how many people live here?". The long form questions have all migrated to the American Community Survey (which is a sampled survey and, if you happen to be called for one of these, it is part of your duty as a U.S. resident to respond).

See you in better days (as my stepmother's sister says).

Garden Goodness

2009-06-19T11:40:00.002-04:00

Despite being rather unmotivated to do a garden, not mention the remarkably chilly spring, things are growing. Edible things. It never ceases to amaze me.

A pretty lettuce bouquet. The cool spring has been a boon to the lettuce, when I've planted it before, it usually bolts to seed.

The weather has also been good for radishes. I've never planted these before. An old boyfriend once claimed that radishes are a garden's equivalent of instant gratification. No kidding: these are close to the last of my first planting.

I had no idea how much I love radishes. Len claims to like them, but he hasn't eaten many. I, on the other hand, am totally addicted.

Especially when eaten with a touch of homemade butter and a sprinkle of sea salt. To die for.

I'm feeling a little more motivated now.

Decision Made

2009-06-17T16:28:00.002-04:00

I had decided that I wasn't going to go to the Silver Springs Knitting Retreat in September. The timing is terrible, I always take the last week in August off to help Len with the rental properties, and the retreat is two weeks later. Plus, the garden is producing like crazy at that time of the year, and when I returned last year, I discovered Len hadn't picked a single bean. Grrr. So, no. Too hard, go to the one in February instead.

And then the registration form came. I was sent into a tailspin of indecision, but finally I realized two things: I don't have to go for 10 days as I did last year, and if I don't go now, I would manage to talk myself out it in February, too. And I really really really want to go, and if a few beans go bad because Len is too lazy to pick them, so be it. We will probably survive (as will the library).

Speaking of the library, there is a profile of one of our faculty and her research in the Miller-McCune Online Magazine. I think it is a very interesting look at what she does in particular and why population study is often so very crucial. Her work on teen pregnancy and racial health inequality is very controversial to both liberals and conservatives, and if she is right, the crisis (and it is a crisis) is more complex and intractable than anyone can imagine.

Book Binge

2009-06-12T11:00:00.004-04:00

I've been on a bit of a book buying binge. I think this is an attempt to keep at least some of my brain cells around during the the Great Stackhouse Massacre*.

The Home Creamery. I think I saw this on Angry Chicken -- the possibility of making our own sour cream, cottage cheese and butter proved too irresistible. 'Cos, you know, I need to fill all that free time I have. The book also has a couple of mozzarella recipes, which I have failed at in the past. A friend of ours makes cheese (of all kinds), her feeling is that my failure has to do with the rennet or citric acid I have, so I ordered from her supply house, Leeners (I placed the order on Wednesday and got it yesterday).

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them. I had heard the author on Fresh Air many months ago and thought this sounded fascinating. I have fairly complex ideas and beliefs about religion in general and Christianity in particular, which I would expand on if this were a different sort of blog, but my interest in this book is more about being a bit of a history geek.

Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss -- and the myths and realities of dieting. I had heard an interview with this author over a year ago and promptly forgot the title and author. I would occasionally think I wanted to read the book but had no idea how to go about finding it (bad librarian!), then last week Sharon left a comment on Valerie's blog with the title. I bought it immediately.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. This is one of those books that keeps popping up on my radar and I finally broke down and bought it. Essays on pop culture from my generation.

Dead Star Twilight. This is only available as a download and the only time I've bought this kind of book (aside from a weaving booklet). I've been reading Chez Pazienza's blog for awhile and really like his writing, which is often brutally honest and wickedly funny. Here is a review from Pajiba.

*There is some sort of weird psychological effect going on with these books. I'm almost done with the second one and I'm starting to find her terrible writing kind of endearing. I just thought of another advantage of reading these: one of Len's sisters keeps trying to convince to read the Twilight books -- I will be able to tell her that I have had quite enough of vampire fiction for the foreseeable future (rather than coming off as the snob I really am).

Quiltiness!

2009-06-09T13:00:00.002-04:00

Done!

I'm sorry to say, I loved making this quilt.

I thought the free motion quilting would be the most difficult part, but after a couple of false starts (on practice pieces) it went rather smoothly and was quite fun, though a bit of a workout for my seriously underused arms. The tutorial has a diagram which implies that you should quilt half of the width, then the other half. I found it easier to go up each stack of blocks separately, the scribbling blended in well enough that even I can't tell.

The only part I'm not in love with is the binding. I think it would be nicer with a darker green or blue, but I'm certainly not taking it out now.

Of course I have big plans for another quilt, as well as fixing one my dad made for me many years ago. And another obsession is born.

Two Books

2009-06-05T14:59:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to report. Knitting is chugging along and isn't very photographable. The quilt is, too. I am sewing on the binding which isn't as tedious as I imagined it would be. At my current rate I should be done this evening. The garden is going in very slowly. I haven't been able to get excited about it, the seeds I started in March came up but didn't go any further (they barely have secondary leaves) which has been a bummer.

So. Books instead. I am actively reading two (and have two on inactive status, which I think means I will get back to them. Or not).

The first is Honky, by Dalton Conley. Conley is a sociologist who studies race, class and inequality (and is kind of famous in my little professional world). Honky is his memoir of growing up white in a prominently black and Hispanic New York housing project. One the one hand, he brings a very personal voice to what can sometimes be a very academic field of study, and on the other hand a fairly dispassionate view of the forces that propel some people out of poverty while trapping others.

The other book is actually a series. The Sookie Stackhouse books. They are the literary equivalent of speed (not that I'd know): terrible, not that great of a high, and very addictive. Perfect for summer and I fully expect my brain to be rotted out by the end of them. There are nine, god help me, I've committed to the first seven. The HBO show is just as bad and just as addictive (with the added pleasure of Anna Paquin's awful accent).

Vacation All I Ever Wanted

2009-06-01T16:58:00.003-04:00

I was on vacation last week. I didn't go anywhere, or do much of anything except knitting and sewing. It was awesome.

I didn't even take very many pictures, except of some iris.

I took this picture before I left. It is one of my favorite buildings, reflected in the windows of the building where I work.

I hope to have sewing/knitting/garden news sometime this week, but for now, that is all.

Pretty Flowers

2009-05-21T13:47:00.001-04:00

Uvularia

Happy Things

2009-05-19T15:10:00.004-04:00

Sharon tagged me for the Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy meme. Sometimes I worry that all I think about are the dumb little things that annoy me, so it is very nice to think about the sorts of little things that make me happy. And really, it is the little things that make or break most days.

1. Lilacs.

2. Coffee. Not just any coffee, the cup in which the mix of brewing, sugar and milk all combine into something perfect. Why can't I get that more often?

3. At the end of an episode of Scrubs, the air band consisting of Ted, the janitor, the pill-popping delivery man and Turk perform "More Than a Feeling" by Boston. It isn't just that the scene is funny (it is), it's that the performance is pure joy.

4. Islands in the Stream -- Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (extra points in this video because she giggles, and there are few things better than Dolly Parton giggling)

5. The 1961 Chevrolet Impala. That is as elegant a car as you will find. Yeah, yeah, gas guzzler, blah blah blah. Whatever. This is Detroit doing it's greatest design work, the likes of which we will not see again, no matter how the current crisis shakes down.

6. Fluevogs! Was there any doubt?

So, I'm supposed to tag 6 more people, but I can't help but think most of the folks I would tag would either kick me or ignore me. So, if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged. I recommend the experience.

Baby brother

2009-05-18T08:32:00.002-04:00

My baby brother got tenure! Everyone send him an online high five! Can you tell, I'm so proud?

Photo Shoot on the Back Porch

2009-05-13T14:13:00.004-04:00

After taking pictures of flowers I was struck with the crazy notion that I could bring other thing outside to take pictures. Wacky.

The quilt top is a bit on the wrinkly side, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I got the back done, too, but not until after these pictures.

I particularly love this fabric combination.

And on the knitting front:

This is the beginning of the Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig Knitbot. I really like her Whisper Cardigan in the Spring 2009 Interweave and was on the verge of casting it on when I came across this more structured version, which I think I will be happier with. It is a top down design, so I can control the size. This was a natural white silk-merino from Blackberry Ridge, it is now Dark Cherry and Grape Kool-Aid flavored. I love how the colors came out. My other dye experiment this weekend came out less well. I don't want to talk about it.

And this is the beginning of Soleil. Not very exciting yet, but if I don't screw it up, it should be a nice summer top. The yarn is DK weight cotton, of some variety I've never heard of (and of course I didn't manage to bring a ball band with me so I could tell you).

I have several other projects I'm poking at or desperate to start, which is great timing, since it's garden season. Only twenty some years to retirement, can't wait!

Backyard Fieldtrip

2009-05-13T14:01:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I don't get far.

Dame's Rocket

I am surprised at how much I like this picture. It is terrible in the small version, but lots of detail in the medium to larger versions.

I don't know what kind of tree this is. I've been trying to capture it's minimalist qualities for awhile and this is as close as I've gotten.

While wandering around the back yard I found a morel, then a nest and robin's egg on the ground (the bigger version of this picture doesn't work as the egg is a bit out of focus).

Poor Lizzy

2009-05-08T10:20:00.002-04:00

Why, mommy, why are you torturing me?

It's tick season and Lizzy, poor thing, is a magnet. Especially those cute ears and she does not appreciate us yanking the nasty things out, when we call to her now, she goes and hides in her kennel. Pretty pathetic. We hadn't gotten the Frontline in time to prevent the infestation 'cos we are bad parents. Len finally got the stuff on her yesterday so we should not have to pull bugs out of her any more. Life in the country, it can be kind of gross.

Dress

2009-05-06T14:26:00.002-04:00

I hoped that Mabel would help with pictures, but not so much in this case (but at least I managed to crop out the litter box before posting). This is Butterick 5315, made with Sanae Twiggy Flower.

I wouldn't mind if the waist sat a little lower on me (it's fine on Mabel, which means I need to lengthen her torso), it looks ok, but an inch lower would feel better.

The pleat in the back is a nice touch.

Pretty Pictures

2009-05-06T13:37:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile.

Pretty Mushroom

Spent daffodils can be pretty, too.

Meet Mabel

2009-05-05T16:10:00.003-04:00

I used a Singer 151G dress form and am working on padding and stuffing so she will be fairly similar to me. She's still a little lumpy but she's getting there. And, to be honest, I am a bit lumpy myself. Or a lot lumpy. I whipped the skirt up (pattern and all) while on a sewing date with Stef (many weeks ago, before Scotland and her husband's death rattle). The fabric is a seersucker from a thrift store. The skirt definitely gives my hips a bit of extra pouf.

I made the daisy skirt late last fall. I had intended that it be an elastic waist skirt, but I kind forgot about my hips. Since I had already cut it out, I ended up throwing in a zipper. I need to add some darts for the skirt to fit my waist. Instead of a hem, I used yellow bias tape. I'm quite proud of that touch.

This wrap skirt is from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. There was a mistake in the directions and yardage requirements and ince I didn't have enough fabric to cut the two additional panels, I cut about 3 inches off of the waist. It made the skirt shorter (a couple of inches longer than knee length) and I am overall pretty happy with how it turned out.

Tomorrow: dress.

William Carlos Williams

2009-04-30T16:31:00.002-04:00

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Yeah, yeah, it's blue. What of it?

Swine Flu

2009-04-28T13:01:00.003-04:00

Just kidding.

I am on break from a conference where I am really getting my nerd on (remind to tell you about spatial data and the problems it poses for confidentiality), and it turns out people still need books and stuff, so I will make this quick.

I know it seems like sewing has taken over everything, but I have, in fact been knitting. Indeed, I have finished the Shetland Triangle:

Pretty, huh?

The act of blocking* is not my favorite thing to do, but it is transformative:

From this:

To this:

with just some water, wire and pins.

*For the non-knitters: blocking is the use of water or steam to shape a piece of fabric. It can be as simple as soaking a finished sweater and laying it flat to dry, to meticulously stretching and pinning out a round shawl bit by bit and tapping it gently with steam. This was not quite so meticulous: I soaked it, rolled it in a towel to get most of the water out, threaded some large gauge wire through the top to keep it straight and then pinned out each point (and because it was fairly dry by the time I'd finished, I sprayed it with water). Natural fibers have, to greater or lesser degree, memory: once unpinned, the shawl stays pretty much in the pinned out state. If I need to wash the shawl, I will need to pin it out again, but maybe not so aggressively.

That is all. Back to the conference.

Bad Day Made Better

2009-04-23T08:34:00.002-04:00

I am in the middle of hormone hell: run down, crampy, irritable in the extreme. I'd take a couple of days off of work, but it is a very busy time (for not being particularly tied to the academic calendar, I sure get busy at the end of the semester). Plus, I forgot to take an allergy pill and don't have any with me. Why yes, I am on a fast train to Crazy Town.

But I watched two videos of "Across the Universe" which made at least 8 minutes of my morning a little more pleasant.

Fiona Apple's version is just lovely. In the background a bunch of guys cheerfully destroy a soda shop.

Rufus Wainwright's version does not allow embedding, but you can go to YouTube to see it. It is also a lovely version, and his video is more on the surreal side.

I'm hard pressed to say who is prettier, Fiona or Rufus.

Today in Poetry Month

2009-04-21T12:21:00.003-04:00

Nikki Giovanni. My mom gave us Spin a Soft Black Song when it came out and it was one of my favorite books growing up (if you can find a first edition, I highly recommend it. For some reason the illustrations are different). My dad and I saw her speak several years ago. When we met her, he thanked her for helping him raise his kids, which I imagine she found...odd. I don't know exactly what he meant, but her poetry advocates having a strong sense of self and of pride. "Ego Tripping" comes from her next children's book, published in 1973. It is one of my favorite pieces of writing.

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...

Saturday Fun

2009-04-20T15:15:00.003-04:00

On Saturday we went to our friends' Craig and Chrissy's for a party. They have a farm with many animals (including, for your spinning jealousy, Shetland sheep). As it turns out, it is baby goat season. Len plotzed.

For the last several months, he has been trying to talk me into getting goats, I imagine the pressure will mount.

While that face is difficult to resist, you only have to see all the poo to know what a terrible idea it would be.

No. We are not getting goats!

We got Lizzy from Craig and Chrissy. They didn't want to keep her because they already had two dogs and a third was too much (do I know that feeling!). But within a few months, they ended up with a third dog anyway (I know how that goes). Apparently Baby was headed for a dog fighting ring and they could not allow that to happen. It looks like Lizzy and Baby are good friends. They are not, I don't know why, some sort of canine politics. Lizzy escaped confinement and spent the afternoon charming everyone.

Hula hoops are still entertaining.

I don't know who this kid is, but isn't she cute? She didn't quite have the coordination yet to make the thing work.

Happy pigs.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect (Sunday was 40s and raining). I'm thinking we should round up a bunch of nieces and nephews and take a field trip before the goats become louder and less cute.

No. We can't have goats.

Taxman

2009-04-15T11:22:00.003-04:00

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

--George Harrison

Don't worry, I'm not really going to talk about taxes. However, it seems a boxed set of remastered versions of all 12 original Beatles albums, plus "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Past Masters" (a 2-cd set of non-album singles) will be released on September 9. That is 24 days before my birthday. You know, just in case you were wondering.

In other news, we have the quilt project, which has become quite a Something. "Thorn in my side" would indicate that I am not enjoying it and, unfortunately, I am. "Puzzle" isn't right either. Here is the problem:

I have all of the squares done and I love them. I have a layout that I like (the pictures are horrible and I will not subject you to them). But the fabric which will outline the squares is making me crazy. My original thought was white, which was nixed by general consensus (including by Len). I went to the quilt shop earlier this week and layed squares out on fabric. None of the solids worked and this is what we came up with. I am not convinced.

A comment on Flickr summed it up for me perfectly: it is both a bit too busy and there isn't enough contrast in the squares where yellow is predominate. I have a spring green on order for the binding on order, when that comes, I will see if it will work. If so, I'll use this for the binding. If not, my forehead may get bloody from the banging on the wall. Actually, JoAnn's linen section may have a solution.

In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of Len's niece as she calmly pigs out on peanut butter cups:

Today in Poetry Month

2009-04-13T11:41:00.002-04:00

Leonard Cohen. With a few exceptions, I tend to think of Cohen as a poet who happens to set his writing to music (I can't imagine that is an unusual opinion). This one is from Songs of Love and Hate (and his first "Best Of..."). I love Tori Amos' cover on Tower of Song.

Lyrics via Cohen's official website.

Famous Blue Raincoat

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --

She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

-- Sincerely, L. Cohen

This and That

2009-04-10T16:23:00.000-04:00

Len got more chicks on Tuesday.

The little black one is especially adorable -- her breed is Black Sex Link (I should get some interesting keyword hits from that one!).

Cyndy asked what kind of chickens we have: the yellow ones are dinner, the brown ones are some sort of hybrid which are good layers. We also have Aracunas, Rhode Island Reds and something else. They're Len's project, they kind of freak me out (and rooster scares me).

I've been mostly silent this week because I have been working hard on a presentation about blogging. I find it highly amusing that I should considered an expert on anything related to computers and their wacky ways, but there you are.

Barb S. and ...

Valerie both nominated me for awards. They are such lovely compliments and I deeply appreciate them. I'll take the opportunity to point out some blogs I've been enjoying recently.

Deus Ex Malcontent often has very interesting commentary on the media (he was a producer at CNN until they found out that he had a blog).

Film In the Fridge has an amazing design sense and is at least partly to blame for my new quilt obsession.

Habitual -- I love her photography.

Pretty to Think So is a high school English teacher and has interesting things to say about books, music, pretty pictures and the dumb things teenagers do.

The Crabby Scientist -- It is a good thing to be reminded of just how hilarious my brother is (my personal favorite posts were about their camping trip trip last summer, part 1 and part 2).

Margaret and Helen -- Very funny political commentary.

Flashlight Worthy and The Second Pass -- Books. Need I say more?

Pause for Breath is visual poetry.

NPR's As a Matter of Fact is the NPR librarians' blog. NPR librarian is my dream job.

National Poetry Month

2009-04-06T13:41:00.002-04:00

Valerie's recent post reminds me that it is National Poetry Month. My intention is to commemorate the month by posting poems by some of my favorite poets, not every day, but I will try for at least once a week.

This first one is by Hayden Carruth, a poet who I was a little obsessed with in the mid-1980s. This is from Doctor Jazz.

THE HERON

Let me tell you, my dear, about the heron I saw

by the edge of Dave Haflett's lovely little pond.

A great blue heron, standing perfectly still, where it had been

studying Dave's rainbows and brookies beneath the surface.

And I too stood perfectly still—as perfectly as I could—

not twenty feet away, each of us contemplative and quiet.

Communication occurred. I felt it. Not just simple

wonder and apprehension, but curiosity and concern.

It was evident. The great bird in its heraldic presence,

so beautifully marked, so poised against the dark green water.

I in my raggedness, with my cigarette smoldering, my eyes

squinting, my cap titlted back. Two invisibly beating hearts.

Then the impetus lapsed. The heron nodded and flew away.

I turned back into Dave's workshop and picked up a wrench.

If goodness exists in the world—and it does—then this moment

was the paradigm of it, a recognition, a life in conjunction with a life.

But why am I compelled to tell you about it? It was wordless.

And why, over and over again, must I write this poem?

Random Mix Friday

2009-04-03T16:05:00.001-04:00

It's that time again, time to take a little stroll through the iPod and see if anything embarrassing comes up. I added 5 songs to the usual 10, just to make sure. I did not add album credit to songs I downloaded singly.

1. Walking on Sunshine -- Katrina and the Waves
I love this song, it's so happy. Also, one of my favorite scenes in High Fidelity (Jack Black headbanging to it -- awesome!)

2. Psycho Therapy -- The Ramones (Loud Fast)
The Ramones are happy, too, in their way.

3. Wrecking Ball -- Gillian Welch (Soul Journey)
This is one of those perfect meetings of lyric, voice and playing. This song just kills me:

Also, she was born the very same day as me: Oct. 2, 1967.

4. Tubthumping -- Chumbawamba
Of course it's a stupid song. But it seems like the song you want driving around with your friends on a hot summer day with the top down. Does anyone do that anymore?

5. Love Train -- O'Jays
"People all over the world, join hands, start a love train, love train." Huh, that sounds kind of dirty.

6. Without Condition -- Ginny Owen (Without Condition)
My one and only overtly religious CD. I especially like the line, "You won't find the answers 'til you learn to question". Questioning faith isn't something that seems to come up that often in the religious music you hear advertised on cable.

7. I Want Candy -- Bow Wow Wow
Around this time last year, I did a One Hit Wonder March Madness e-mail thing. Unbelievably, this song lost to "Play that Funky Music White Boy". I'm still shocked, 'cos this song is awesome.

8. Story of Isaac -- Suzanne Vega (Tower of Song)
Leonard Cohen song. I'm pretty sure you could write a book explicating this song (not to mention the Old Testament story from which it is derived). The link is to the lyrics. It was originally on Cohen's second album, released in 1969, it sounds very much like a condemnation of the war machine: "You who build these altars now/to sacrifice these children/You must not do it anymore/A scheme is not a vision/And you never have been tempted/By a demon or a god". Isaac would know. I love Vega's version, it is so angry.

9. Melt Your Heart -- Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins (Rabbit Fur Coat)
A simple, sweet little song, kind of lullaby like. The lyrics are a little melancholy, "If you're kissing someone who's too much like you/It's like kissing on a mirror/If you're sleeping with someone who doesn't get you/You're gonna hate yourself in the morning". "Its like a valentine from your mother/It's bound to melt your heart".

10. Higher Ground -- Stevie Wonder
This song is pure, funky awesome. Red Hot Chili Peppers version is, too.

11. Heat of the Moment -- Asia
Yeah, I totally had this album. Look at that cover, how good could it possibly be? Yet here it is, on my iPod.

12. She's in Love with the Boy -- Trisha Yearwood
I'm not so much embarrassed by the song, more that every time I sing to it, I choke up. Because I am a weenie.

13. Ace in the Hole -- Paul Simon (One Trick Pony)
I have great affection for this album. It's kind of a time, place and person thing.

14. These Boots Are Made for Walkin' -- Nancy Sinatra
This song is all sheath mini-dress, go-go boots, bouffant hair, and cigarettes. A gin and tonic would nicely as well.

15. Corona -- Minutemen (Double Nickels on the Dime)
This is kind of a lie, the song didn't really show up in the mix, but I heard it on my way to work. The Minutemen make me wish I had had a really cool older sibling, I might have enjoyed the 1980's more fun (instead, I was the really uncool older sibling and the 1980s weren't that much fun). They were a brilliant punk band who had a huge influence on the California scene (once the audience stopped spitting at them). The lead singer, D. Boon, died in a van accident in 1985 (Len uses dboon as a user name whenever he has to sign up for anything on the internet). This song is that mix of country and punk I love so much (an instrumental version can be heard as the theme to the MTV show, Jackass).

Quilt Squares

2009-04-02T13:30:00.002-04:00

I'm moving right along on these. Unfortunately, I am not hating every minute.

Block A

Block B

Block C

Block D

New Chicks!

2009-04-02T13:26:00.002-04:00

Obsession

2009-03-25T15:43:00.002-04:00

I have been saying for a very long time that I would not make quilts. Then I took up sewing. But I still swore I would not make a quilt, no matter how pretty they are, because, seriously, how much more can I realistically take on? But, you know, I have all these scraps and I can't just throw them away. So, a scrap quilt. That's ok, right?

In this post, I said you could slap me if I ever bought fabric specifically for a quilt.

Well. Go ahead. I can take it.

I came across Oh, Fransson just as she was starting a very detailed quilt tutorial and it was just too much temptation. And I am weak. I had lunch with my sister on Sunday and used the excuse of being in Ann Arbor and having plenty of time to pick fabrics to indulge my weakness. It was quite fun, shuffling fabric bolts around until I had a combination that I liked (even more fun was how impressed the ladies/experts were). The composition ended up hinging on the piece in the middle of the top row, it took quite a balancing act to get it to fit in, but I think it works.

I really hope I hate every stinking minute of this.

100 Movies

2009-03-24T14:47:00.002-04:00

Earlier today, Pajiba posted Yahoo's list of 100 Movies You Should See Before You Die.

12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) -- My mother claims to have fallen asleep while 8 months pregnant when she saw this one. I don't think she needed pregnancy as an excuse.
The 400 Blows (1959)
8 ½ (1963)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) -- I thought I'd seen this one, but no. It was Help! Bugger.
The African Queen (1952) -- Bogart and Kate. What more could you ask for?
Alien (1979)
All About Eve (1950)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Battle of Algiers (1967)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blow Up (1966)
Blue Velvet (1986) -- A great movie I will never see again.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Breathless (1960)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Casablanca (1942)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Die Hard (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Duck Soup (1933)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
The French Connection (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Goldfinger (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Graduate (1967)
Grand Illusion (1938)
Groundhog Day (1993)
In the Mood For Love (2001)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jaws (1975)
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Lord of the Rings (2001,2002,2003)
M (1931)
M*A*S*H (1970)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Matrix (1999)
Modern Times (1936)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Network (1976)
Nosferatu (1922)
On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Paths of Glory (1958)
Princess Mononoke (1999) -- ?????
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raise the Red Lantern (1992) -- I might even have the poster for this (I worked at a movie theater when it came out).
Rashomon (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rocky (1976)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Saving Private Ryan (1998) -- Aside from a pretty spectacular (and realistic) opening scene, I thought this was a standard Hollywood war movie.
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Searchers (1956)
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) -- I know I am in the minority, but while it is entertaining, this one seems more like a very good TV movie to me.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) -- and I never really got the fuss over this one either.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) -- Really????
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Star Wars (1977)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Third Man (1949)
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Titanic (1997) -- 2+ hours of my life I will never get back.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Toy Story (1995) -- Really?
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Vertigo (1958)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wings of Desire (1988) -- I can't count this: every time it has come on, I've fallen asleep.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The World of Apu (1959) -- ?????

I've seen 54 of these. I don't agree with them all, or even very many. Some movies I think are missing: His Girl Friday, The Apartment, 28 Weeks (switch Silence of the Lambs with this one), Say Anything, The Unforgiven, The Incredibles, Harold and Maude. And so on.

What say you?

Pool Disaster

2009-03-16T14:29:00.006-04:00

There is a long story about why we aren't exactly crying over this. The pool was not at all what attracted us to the house, since neither of us are swimmers (and I won't even put my face in the water when swimming), but even so, we opened it the summer we moved in. We discovered two fun things: between our inspection and closing, it had become a swamp due to a storm blowing a branch into the pool and puncturing the cover (the branch also put a hole in the liner) and the liner was already about 5 years over its limit and was cracking in some places. Every summer Len has patched the liner and we have debated spending $5,000 to get it replaced.

Usually we pay the $100 or so to have it professionally closed, mainly because the water lines need to be blown out and Len never felt comfortable doing that, but this year we needed to buy a new cover, which would have added a couple hundred bucks. Len decided that, rather than spending $300-$400 on something we aren't even sure we want to keep, he would try closing the pool himself this year. He did fine, but obviously neglected a crucial step. A couple of weeks ago the liner finally failed completely. Which finally forced a decision.

He made an appointment with the pool people (who we really highly recommend by the way, if you live around Jackson, MI) for an estimate on replacing the liner and talked to our neighbor who is a contractor. It turns out the neighbor can use most of the concrete (I don't know what for), which saves us having to cart it to where ever one takes concrete. Len has canceled the estimate for the liner and he and Dick (the neighbor) will be doing in the pool.

The only disadvantage is that Len was looking forward to perfecting his pool heater.

Oh, and the frogs will have to find a new home.

Sure Signs of Spring

2009-03-16T14:26:00.001-04:00

Lumpy Lace

2009-03-12T16:21:00.002-04:00

This, when it is finished and not lumpy, will be the Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark (and the only reason I have Wrap Style, which is a bit annoying). The yarn is Alpaca with a Twist Fino, which I am pretty sure is my favorite lace yarn. So shiny!

And Go With the Flow socks by, um, Evelyn Clark (a coincidence I did not notice until now because I am dim). These are in Favorite Socks (and a 2005 issue of Interweave). The yarn is Louet Gems, which seems to be my go-to sock yarn.

Dead Tree

2009-03-10T14:44:00.001-04:00

Here is a pretty (dead) tree from this fall, to try and make up for the terrible pictures of the last post:

Sewing and Very Bad Pictures

2009-03-10T14:05:00.002-04:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of some of my recent sewing. The pictures are terrible, but, well, there you are.

This is another AB Barcelona skirt from a rose print I found very cheap at Big Box Craft Store (BBCS). This time I put half inch darts in the waist, which helps it fit in the waist better. My next edit will be to change the angle a bit so it comes away from my hips a little sooner.

This one is Simplicity 3688, a reprint of a 1940's pattern. The woman in the drawing is an Amazon, the skirt is much longer on me. The fabric is black corduroy with white dots and is quite elegant with a pair of heels (as opposed to the sneakers, which do not work at all).

A wrap skirt (McCalls 5430), also corduroy.

And finally, the best pair of pajama pants ever:

Yes, that is Noah's Ark in the worst 1970's color palette. For some reason, I have held onto this sheet from my childhood for all these years, schlepping it from place to place. Why?

And why, I would like to know, is Noah's Ark a children's story? God was so pissed off at humans that He killed all but a select few, and all of the animals, except those few who managed to make it on a boat. That's a kid's story, cute enough to be made into sheets? Yeah. Jonah and the big fish (or whale) isn't very cute either.

Statistics are fun!

2009-03-03T10:44:00.003-05:00

The 2009 edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States arrived at my library yesterday. Since I still have not managed to take my camera out of my purse -- and what is the point of telling you about skirt trouble without pictures of the stupid thing -- I will subject you to some fun statistics.

Per Capita Consumption of Beverages. The obvious statistic here is bottled water: in 1980 Americans drank 2.7 gallons of bottled water; in 2006, 27.6. The big jump in consumption happened around 1995. Alcohol consumption has dropped a bit, from 28.3 gallons in 1980 to 25.3 in 2006; wine consumption went up from 2.1 gallons to 2.3 (in 1983, "wine" includes "wine coolers", a disgusting invention, but that inclusion doesn't explain anything, since consumption was down in the 1990s). Beer and distilled spirit consumption went down, beer by 2.7 gallons to 21.6 and distilled spirits by .6 gallon (1.4 gallons per person in 2006). We have consumed a steady half gallon of vegetable juice per person per year since 2000 (no data before that), someone has been drinking my share since I'd rather have a wine cooler.

Per Capita Consumption of Meat and Eggs: The amount of red meat (beef, lamb, veal and pork) went down from 126.4 pounds per capita in 1980 to 109.9 pounds in 2006. The amount of poultry (chicken and turkey, boneless, trimmed weight) went up significantly, from 40.8 pounds in 1980 to 74.7 pounds in 2006. Neither is surprising, but it is interesting to me that red meat consumption didn't go down as much as poultry consumption went up -- we aren't replacing red meat with chicken. Fish and shellfish consumption went up by 4 pounds. The one that really blow me away though, is egg consumption: the number of shell eggs consumed per year dropped from 236 in 1980 to 177, but processed egg consumption grew from 35 to 73. People eat more Egg Beaters? Yuck.

And there you are, just a small snippet of the interesting information to be found in the Statistical Abstract. Until I worked here, I had no idea a table of numbers could suck me in so completely.

Fluevog, Ho!

2009-03-02T10:30:00.003-05:00

I really cannot explain my love for Fluevog. I would snort at any other shoes this expensive, yet in face of these fabulous, funky shoes, I am helpless.

I did hold off on ordering another pair, since they are not quite in my size, but it was very, very hard. I will probably get a dressform instead.

Flowers for You

2009-02-25T17:00:00.002-05:00

Instead of a real post, how about some flowers on a rainy day?

It turns out, if you add pennies to the water, tulips won't fall apart. These have been on my desk for a week.

Gwen

2009-02-19T11:02:00.003-05:00

Gwen died last night. She didn't really bounce back from her last steroid shot a couple of weeks ago and on Tuesday night it became painfully obvious that her time had come. We took her to the vet last night; she is being cremated and we will bury her in the Spring.

Gwennie had a way of always making her presence known, for better or worse. She could be neurotic, crabby and extremely shy. She was also pretty, cuddly, and could put up with Judy's insanity far better than anyone else. She peed on Len's dirty clothes (and sometimes our clean clothes) and had taken to smacking the dog. We'll miss her terribly.

25 Things of Nothin'

2009-02-13T10:35:00.003-05:00

I've got nothing. Nothing interesting. I'm halfway through legwarmer #2. No pictures. I made a black skirt with white polka dots. No pictures. The snow is gone and the potholes are out. And my sinuses hurt. I'm a barrel of laughs.

So to kill some time I will try this 25 Things thing that is going around. My brother did it. Sharon did it. What the heck.

1. I'm terrible with money. I'm not in that much debt, but only because no one is stupid enough to give me very much credit.

2. While I'm easily annoyed, I don't have much of a temper.

3. I hate playing games. Not only do I hate losing (which I usually do), but I hate winning too. It seems to make whoever I played against angry. I don't see how that is fun.

4. I am the only coffee drinker in my immediate family. None of my siblings, or parents, or Len drink the stuff.

5. I tried to give up coffee once. It lasted 6 weeks, but I missed making it.

6. I don't drink much pop (or soda, whatever).

7. I drink a lot of water.

8. Easily my favorite part of my job is looking for Vital Statistics. Did you know that the largest average number of births occurred on a Friday in 1984? The fewest was on Sunday. 10,681 and 8,517 respectively.

9. Which leads to a question: why would anyone care how many babies were born on an average Sunday?

10. I am a feminist.

11. Of the radical variety. Which does not mean I hate men. Feminism has nothing to do with men. Which is a radical thought in and of itself.

12. Do you ever notice in ads trying to sell cleaning products or almost anything having to do with domestic scut work, it is always women doing (and enjoying) the work? Feh. I use vinegar and baking soda.

13. I hate Valentines Day.

14. I am terrible at remembering birthdays and anniversaries. My mother usually reminds me about my father's birthday and they have been divorced for over 30 years. Sad.

15. I never get sick.

16. But I've had a sinus headache since Friday and it was bad enough to keep me home yesterday.

17. I have a tattoo, which isn't a huge surprise. It is a drawing by Hannes Bok, who illustrated Science Fiction and Fantasy books in the '40s, '50s and '60s (including some by L. Ron Hubbard).

18. I'm not a fall-apart kind of gal, but I cry really easily.

19. I don't have a library card.

20. I'm on Facebook, but I didn't use my last name.

21. I have a cell phone which I usually forget to turn on, or if I turn it on, it runs out of battery power and I forget to charge it.

22. I don't like to talk on the phone (Len does, which annoys the piss out of me).

23. 25 random pointless things is hard to come up with.

24. I just ordered all of the Paul Simon albums I didn't already have on CD. Hearts and Bones, One Trick Pony, Still Crazy After All These Years, and There Goes Rhymin' Simon. I have the LPs, but I don't quite know how to operate Len's stereo equipment (I have to turn two things on to operate the radio, which is my limit for complexity).

25. I like beer and I have expensive taste. I don't drink much, so why waste the one beer I will drink tonight on something cheap?

That is all.

Music, Movies, Books and TV

2009-02-05T15:19:00.003-05:00

I think that covers all of my media bases!

Music: I've gotten a couple of CDs recently which I am enjoying very much:

Uncle Tupelo, No Depression: This is Uncle Tupelo's first album and they sound like a really, really good bar band, a good solid fusion of country and punk (and which I think founded the genre "Alt Country"), coming down somewhat more in favor of the country. It is great fun and makes driving very enjoyable. Jeff Tweedy went on to found Wilco and Jeff Ferrar founded Sun Volt. Apparently it was quite the messy breakup -- you gotta love musician egos!

Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago: This album wound up on several Best Of 2008 lists, but I resisted it for awhile. The premise sounds awfully bleak: singer songwriter retreats to a cabin in North Wisconsin during the winter to recuperate from a year of heartbreak and major illness and winds up recording an album. The result is not nearly as sorrowful as you might think, it is lovely and it sounds like winter. Not the grinding winter of now, the curl up on the couch, in front of a fire with a cat (or a calm dog), wrapped in a quilt, drinking something warm and reading your favorite book kind of winter. Warm, healing, and comforting.

Movies: Also two recent movies. We finally saw Juno. Twice. I'd heard good things, and was not disappointed. I appreciated, in particular, Juno's relationship with her stepmother (played by the great Allison Janney). It is a small thing, but I'm pretty sensitive to how stepmothers are portrayed -- I have one, who I like a lot -- and this movie got the relationship (at least as I experienced it) really well.

Darjeeling Limited has been on HBO recently. It's directed by Wes Anderson who did The Royal Tannenbaums, which I did not much care for. It is odd, sweet, funny and heartbreaking. Tannenbaums seemed quirky for its own sake, but it works here.

Books: It turns out, going to a bookstore while bored is a lot like going to a grocery store while hungry. I came away with The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, which I have not started yet, and I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, which I am in the middle of (very funny). If you were paying attention (not that you would be), I am now in the middle of three books, which is not a good idea. The other two are Consider the Lobster and Traffic. It seems I am in a non-fiction phase.

TV: I don't really have much to say about this, except that DirecTV (our satellite provider) will be showing all seven seasons of Trailer Park Boys on Thursdays at 10:00. This show is wrong is so many ways (in one episode a father and his 10 year old daughter try to give up smoking. Hilarity ensues), but really damn funny. It stupid, wrong, foul mouthed comedy is your thing, I highly recommend you check it out. If not, stay far far away from this.

Miss Crabby Crab Head

2009-02-03T14:07:00.002-05:00

I don't know if it is hormones, the never ending winter, the fun combination of sick cat* and sick mother**, or what, but I am not in a good place today. It doesn't help that everything I've tried to do at work has been full of complications: my computer decided to stop speaking to one of my printers, when our tech guy tried to fix it, my computer quit speaking to any printer. I was working on a list of new publications on our work blog, which is not nearly as user friendly as Blogger, formatting is a bit of a pain, and it does not autosave, occasionally, because the software wants to test my will, the post goes blank and all remnants of what I spent the hour on are gone. Good times. It goes on. I will not bore you.

*The steroids kicked in and Gwen is doing fine (aside from failing the drug test for the Tour de France). She is eating and looks quite well, it is easy to forget that anything is wrong with her at all. She goes in for her next round this weekend.

**My has had a very large kidney stone for a few months, surgery was postponed for a variety of reasons, but last Tuesday the thing shifted and it became very necessary to get it out. She had surgery on Wednesday. Basically, they do a small incision, insert a tube, blast the stone apart and suck out the bits. They don't usually get all the bits in one go, so she got to keep the tube and she is going in for round 2 on Friday, so I will be spending this weekend in South Haven.

I had planned on going out there this past weekend, and in fact, turned down a sewing date with Stef, but my brother was there and my mom suspected she would be needing me soon (trust me, it was for the best, I was not good company), so I finally made a pillow for Lizzy's new(ish) kennel. Fred loves it.

Lizzy likes it, too, when she gets to use it. I also screwed up cutting out a skirt, 'cos that is the way it is going these days.

Oh well. At least I don't have a tube sticking out of my back.

Winter Eggs

2009-01-27T16:38:00.002-05:00

It is a teeny egg.

With a hole pecked in it.

A Knitting Break

2009-01-27T12:54:00.003-05:00

Thank you, everyone, for your comments about Gwen. She's doing ok for now, eating more, looking better, and loony as ever (bless her wee little heart).

Anyway. As promised, I have knitting for you, with pictures. Very exciting.

Are these not the prettiest mittens you have ever seen? Not because I'm such a great knitter, but the design is so irresistable (and free). I used Jo Sharp's Alpaca Silk Georgette (Devon, Woodland and Pond, to be exact).

Should you decide to make a pair of these of your very own (and of course you should), I have a couple of suggestions: buy an extra ball of the main color. And there is a round of increases in the flower band, mark that on your chart before you start knitting or you will end up having to go back to do it, twice (then again, I am a bit dim).

They are nice and warm, a little big, but they do fit perfectly over my gloves, which is how I tend to wear mittens anyway. I'm in love with them, but will gladly give them up for warm weather.

I have started the Traveling Stitch Leg Warmers (yes, leg warmers. Shut up.). They are in the Knit So Fine book, but also appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Interweave.

The back lozenge is what seduced me. I figure, under boots, no one will know they are footless. The yarn is Louet Gems sportweight.

Underneath all this knitted goodness is the beginnings of a skirt which did not work out. At all. Suffice to say, when measuring yourself for a straight skirt, take into account your hips, especially if, like mine, they are ample. Moving on.

Gwennie

2009-01-26T12:51:00.002-05:00

On December 24, Len took Gwen to the vet because she had lost a couple of pounds, rarely a good sign. They did blood work and checked her kidneys, all of which were normal. The vet didn't think it was serious at that time since she seemed to be eating and drinking, and her weight was not dangerously low. I took her back two weeks later, hoping she had at least maintained her weight, but instead she had lost 4 more ounces. At that time we got an appetite stimulant and a prediction that a liver ultrasound was next, since that was were her last major illness was.

Well, I took her in for another re-check on Friday. The problem is not in her liver. There are masses in the lymph nodes around her intestines, too many to be surgically removed. The two options are chemotherapy, which might give her a year, or bi-weekly steroid injections, which should give her a few months of decent quality of life. We were not expecting this and I am still in shock.

I took these yesterday. They are unusual, in that you can see her eyes. Her pupils are usually much more dilated.

Knitting tomorrow..really. I have pictures!

Look What We Did

2009-01-20T13:33:00.001-05:00

Diving Board

2009-01-15T13:52:00.003-05:00

One of the best pictures I took last year was of two lawn chairs in some friend's backyard. I think they thought it was photographic evidence of laziness. I thought it was pretty.

My favorite picture so far this year is evidence of our laziness:

Come on in! The water's fine!

Unpleasantness

2009-01-13T09:49:00.002-05:00

Sick Animals: With so many of them, it shouldn't be a big surprise when several are sick at once. Lizzy had some sort of stomach thing and she made messes too disgusting to report. She'll put anything in her mouth, so who knows what caused it, but it is over now. Thank god.

Judy, bless her heart, developed an eye infection. I managed to corral her into a crate (with no injuries!) and got her up to our vet, only to find out I would have to put goo into her nasty, weepy, red, swollen eye. Which was awesome, since I happen to have a phobia about eyes (I don't wear contacts for a reason) and Judy has a phobia of humans. I was supposed to do this goo thing 2 - 3 times a day. I've managed to get it into her eye three times in the last week. Luckily that was enough and her eye is looking a lot better since I can't get near her anymore. Plus the dog ate the eye medicine (like I said, she'll eat anything).

And Gwen. On Christmas Eve, Len had taken her to the vet because she had lost a couple of pounds (at which time we found out she is blind, and don't think I haven't tried to poke her in the eye, "yep! Still blind!") I thought she was looking better and maybe had gained a little weight, or at least not lost more, but when I took her for a re-check on Saturday (between blizzards), it turned out she had lost 4 ounces. Also she has an ear infection (not unusual for her). So we were sent home with an appetite stimulant, ear goo and more eye goo for Judy. If she doesn't improve we will need to do a liver ultrasound, because she has had liver problems in the past.

At least Simon and Fred are healthy. For now.

Vanpool: I tried to do the right thing, I really did. In November I joined a van pool, on December 19 I dropped out. To make a long, gruesome story short, the driver is reckless and I got very tired of wondering what would happen next. Pulling out in traffic, merging before it was her turn (into the lane the semi in front of us would have merged into), she had some serious Right of Way issues. Two other people had already dropped out because of her driving, but used other excuses, and the remaining members of the pool don't seem to have a problem with her, I am the crazy bitch whose standards are beyond high. I was a bit, um, blunt when I told her why I was leaving. I'm not usually confrontational, but I thought she needed to know. We had a big e-mail argument about it, and I don't think it did much good for her driving, but I feel much better. And now I am back to being an evil, single driver, gas guzzling* American.

*Not really, my tiny Ford Escort still gets 31-34 miles per gallon.

Oh look, here is Lizzy:

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do gross things in my kennel!"

Teeny Mittens

2009-01-07T16:26:00.003-05:00

The wee mittens were based on Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns (and it is, indeed, handy), tweaked to get the right proportions:

I used sock yarn for most of them, sport weight will make a somewhat larger mitten and #2 double point needles:
Cast on 22 stitches and divide onto 3 or 4 needles
Knit 7 rounds of K1 P1 ribbing
Change to stockinette and increase 1 stitch at the end of round (23)
Shape thumb gusset:
Knit 11 stitches, place marker, M1, k1, M1, place marker, knit to end (25).
Increase 2 stitches every 3rd round two more times for 7 gusset stitches.
On the next round, place gusset stitches on a length of yarn, cast on one stitch with backward loop and knit to end of round (23 stitches).
Knit 3 rounds.
On next round, decrease 3 stitches evenly. (20 stitches)

Shape top:
Round 1: K3, K2tog
Round 2: Knit

Decrease 4 stitches, working one less knit stitch between decrease in this manner until 12 stitches remain.
Decrease ever round until 8 stitches remain. Thread tail through remaining stitch and pull tight.

Thumb:
Place held stitches on needles, pick up one stitch over gap (10)
Work 3 rounds
Decrease round 1: (k2tog, k1) 2x, k2tog, k2
Decrease round 2: (k2tog) 2x, k1

Thread tail through remaining stitches and pull tight. Use tails to close up any gaps with weaving in.

I connected the pairs using a crochet chain. Easy peasy and very cute.

Back in the Land of High Speed

2009-01-05T16:56:00.004-05:00

I am back in the land of high speed internet (otherwise known as "work"). Remind to tell you about the time Len drunkenly answered a sales call offering high speed for only $5.00 more a month and chatted with the guy for 10 minutes. Or not.

Anyway. We did as little as possible, including watching a 12 hour marathon of Bones (and really, by about 8:00 pm, it became a point of pride to make it through the whole thing). I am happy to report I did not have nightmares, surprising since it can be pretty gruesome.

Holiday knitting and crafting: I have tried in the last few years not to participate in the Christmas knitting frenzy. Christmas tends to be stressful enough without adding knitting deadlines. I don't know what happened this year, I had a sudden need to make stuff, and happily the knitting, sewing and gluing was much more fun than frantic.

Some number of years ago (7?) I started giving each of my nieces and nephews Christmas ornaments, my goal being that they would each have a small collection of ornaments when they move out and have their own Christmas trees. I don't know what possessed me (I have never made the ornaments before), but I had a sudden urge to knit teeny mittens for them all. All 8 of them (4 on my side, 4 on Len's). They knitted up really fast and I didn't get bored with them until the very last pair. I will post the pattern tomorrow, in case you would like to knit a pair of your very own (or someone else).

Kitty and Bear

2008-12-24T11:33:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago -- no, make that a week ago -- I saw this insanely adorable stuffed doll over at Whispering Pine and decided I absolutely had to make one, so I bought the pattern and apparently couldn't stop at just one.

These are for Len's niece and nephew, Max and Maddie. I did not do the crazy cute shoes or collars because. Well, because I am out of time. There it is. I changed their faces because I wasn't able to pull off "cute half smile" and they looked like they were smirking. At one and a half, I don't think their sense of irony are very well developed.

I think they are kind of cute anyway.

A bunny will be making an appearance soon. I can't recommend Wee Wonderful's store enough for the cuteness factor -- she has a stuffed robot pattern*, for heaven's sake! -- and her freebie section is pretty freakin' adorable too. I know what everyone is getting for their birthdays this year.

*Which I am buying right now, as I type.

An unrelated cat story: Len took Gwen to the vet this morning. She has lost a couple pounds (which she didn't really have available to lose) and her fur has been kind of greasy. We still don't know what is wrong -- thyroid, worms, something else -- but it turns out that she is blind. I really find that much more amusing than I should (considering she is sick), but I think she has had vision problems for the last 4 years or more, so she's had plenty of time to get used to it. We have integrated Judy back into the population (which is going better than I expected), but have left her room with a baby gate over the door so the dog can't get in. Gwen will not jump the gate to get into the room, she yells at me until I open it for her. Which wouldn't be all that surprising, considering the blindness factor, EXCEPT she will jump the gate to get out. That cat is a mental case.

Anyway, I will be in the land of dial-up for the next week and a half and will probably not post during that time. So have joyful holiday-of-your-choosing and a peaceful New Year!

Pretty Pine and Snow

2008-12-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

Pine boughs and snow are a natural pairing.

Lizzy Loves Snow

2008-12-22T16:32:00.003-05:00

(Doesn't she look like a mean ol' junk yard dog. Ha! As if.)

Late Train - Part 3

2008-12-18T15:32:00.002-05:00

11. Coma Girl -- Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros (Streetcore)
I like this album better than Global A Go-Go, it is a little more punk (not much, though) and less World Music. This song is particularly sweet, very catchy with a bit of an edge.

12. Shave Yo' Legs -- Keb' Mo' (Keep It Simple)
His voice is as smooth as silk. The title is a little unfortunate, the sentiment of the song is along the lines of "you don't have to make yourself beautiful, you are beautiful just the way you are, shaved legs, or not". Something everyone wants to hear occasionally.

13. Downtown Train -- Tom Waits (Raindogs)
Rod Stewart covered this in 1989. I remember it fondly, but it is a great song and, whatever I might think of his terrible music choices, he has an amazing set of pipes. Tom Waits, however, is something else altogether. Once I got used to his voice, a mixture of cigarettes and cheap whiskey, I can't help but find it beautiful (the way a Diane Arbus photo is disturbing but beautiful).

14. Evangeline -- Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend)
Before Georgie James was power pop, Matthew Sweet was. This album was stuck in my player for weeks in the early '90s (and I even got it autographed, back when there was a place for musicians to do that). This is a great song for driving around singing at the top of your lungs. I can't link to a video as I am writing this from home, in my pajamas, and we are still in the land of dial-up. I can't help but suspect You Tube would completely gum up my computer.

Actual Crafting Content

2008-12-16T08:20:00.003-05:00

I know, crazy. I finally managed to take some pictures this weekend, despite the lack of sun and can show off a few things I've been working on:

February Lady sweater. I used Manos del Uruguay, rescued from a long unfinished sweater. In keeping with the rescue theme:

I rescued these wolf buttons from a jacket I bought many years ago, but never liked. They work nicely with this, I think.

The Christmas tradition in my step-mother's family is called "Door Prizes": instead of a big, chaotic gift exchange, everyone brings stuff -- stuff they've been shopping for all year, stuff they think will appeal to one person or another, or to everyone, found stuff, made stuff -- it all goes on a table (or three), we draw numbers and pick (no one gets to steal stuff from anyone else). It is big and chaotic.

I made these for Door Prizes. I'm pretty sure I saw a tutorial somewhere, then realized this would be a great use for fat quarters. Here's how you do it: take two fat quarters of coordinating colors (or not), slap 'em right sides together, trim to the same size, sew together, leaving an opening to turn, turn them right side out, press, top stitch about 1/4 inch from edge. Easy and pretty.

I made these, too. Here is the other (not terribly coordinated side):

Also, despite swearing up one side of my sewing machine and down the other that I would not do this, I seem to have started a quilt. My only excuse is scraps and lots of them:

This comes via a Melly and Me tutorial. I intend to make this large enough to fit our queen size bed, obviously, I have a ways to go. I can totally see the appeal of quilting, but if I ever buy fabric specifically for that purpose, you may feel free to slap me.

Late Train - Part 2

2008-12-12T16:28:00.003-05:00

6. Kiko and the Lavender Moon -- Los Lobos (Kiko)
Los Lobos is an unclassifiable band -- rock, folk, Tex-Mex -- Wikipedia describes Kiko as "creative and wildly experimental". I myself think the album is a classic, the songs work individually and as a complete whole. This song is hot, slinky and very sexy. Click through to the video and you will see what was meant by creative and wildly experimental:

7. You Really Got a Hold on Me -- She & Him (Volume One)
This is a lovely cover of the Smokey Robinson classic.

8. More Adventurous -- Rilo Kiley (More Adventurous)
This is one of those songs that I don't know what to say about. It is big, full of fear and hope: "I've been trying to nod my head, but it's like I've got a broken neck
Wanting to say I will as my last testament
For me to be saved and you to be brave
We don't have to walk down that aisle
'Cause if marriage ain't enough
Well at least we'll be loved"

9. Cake Parade -- Georgie James (Places)

10. Hooky Junk -- The Gourds (Heavy Ornamentals)
Another NPR find, and it was the story behind this song that did it for me: the writer's very young kid kept wanting to hear some of that "Hooky junk", which he finally figured out was Tom Waits (that kid has some very mature taste in music). No video, but you can hear the song here.

Late Train - CDs for Sarah

2008-12-09T16:48:00.004-05:00

A couple of months ago, I made a 2 volume set of CD mixes for my sister, Sarah ("CD mix" just does not have the same ring as "Mixtape"), and because I was fairly busy at work (where I do anything having to do with the computer) I did not manage to come up with an annotated song list. Also, I will admit that I was rather lazy about getting them to the post office, so she didn't actually get the mixes until Thanksgiving, with a song list, but no annotation. That just won't do. So, I have decided to present the list here, over the course of several days. It is 40 songs, after all.

Late Train, vol. 1

1. "Shake Ya Boogie" -- Mocean Worker (Cinco de Mowo!)
On the one hand, I don't tend to find music NPR presents all that interesting; on the other hand, three of the albums represented on this set came to me via NPR. Go figure. This one is even odder in that it is "Electronica", a genre which has never appealed to me. Mocean Worker takes classic jazz lines (played by the likes of Herbie Hancock), cuts them apart and remixes them into a Latin beat. The result is an interesting, infectious collage. I don't necessarily want to listen to the whole album in one sitting, but the individual cuts work well in a mix.

2. "Look Me Up" -- Georgie James (Places)
NPR find number 2. They are pretty rockin' power pop, but also like Mocean Worker, the songs work better in mixes than all together. As Heidi Klum might say, the album very matchy-matchy. Very fun, but a bit much all at once.

3. "Sentimental Heart" -- She & Him (Volume One)
I love this song. I love this album. And I have a massive girl crush on Zooey Deschanel. There is a vintage early-60's feel to this. Her singing chops may not blow you out of the water, but her voice is sweet and heartfelt, as are her songs.

4. "Johnny Appleseed" -- Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros (Global A Go Go)
A couple of years ago, HBO chose to cancel "Deadwood", some of the best television ever to air (once you got past the cussing, which was...plentiful and operatic) in favor of a show called "John from Cinncinati". One of the only good things about that show was it's theme song, "Johnny Appleseed". He has a voice that just makes me melt.

5. "Hesitating Beauty" -- Billy Bragg & Wilco (Mermaid Avenue)
If you have any love for folk music, the two "Mermaid Avenue" albums need to be in your collection. This is such a sweet, romantic song and is one of my favorites from the project: "We can ramble hand in hand/across the grasses of our land/I'll kiss you for each leaf on every tree".

That is all for now..

A Meme!

2008-12-03T15:21:00.004-05:00

Sharon tagged me for a photo meme, and thank goodness, 'cos I've got nothing in the way of a full blog post otherwise. So, I shall post the meme and whatever bits and pieces I find floating around my brain.

The rules are to post the sixth photo from your sixth folder of pictures. I will have to post from the 7th, since there is only one photo in the 6th folder:

Luckily, I remember this: it is the Swallowtail shawl, knitted with copper penny dyed yarn. The blog post tells me these were the first pictures I took with my then camera (Canon Powershot A530 or something). I never wear the shawl because it is the size of a kerchief.

I'm supposed to tag 5 people. I'm not going to, instead, if you need a blog post excuse (Stef? Crabby Scientist*?), use this one. It's fun! Instead, here is the sixth photo from the sixth folder from the bottom of the list:

Lizzy, running too fast to be in focus.

Speaking of Lizzy, she had her female parts removed this weekend. It has been kind nice having a calmer dog, we don't expect it to last. We love Lizzy, but we are not really dog people.

I have finished a number of projects -- knitting and sewing -- which I have completely failed to take pictures of, mainly because I am rarely home when it is light. Of course, one could reasonably point out that I just had a four day weekend, 3 days of which were sunny. In which case, chalk it up to laziness. For the record: 3 skirts, a set of four napkins, two sweaters and some wee mittens. Maybe that is why I don't take pictures of anything, I'm too busy. As if.

This past weekend was the 40th anniversary of The White Album. While it is not technically their best album (Revolver? Sgt. Pepper? Abbey Road? Take your pick), it is my favorite of the Beatles, and one of my all time favorites. They were coming apart at the seams, and it showed -- how else do you explain "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da", "Dear Prudence", "Helter Skelter" and "Revolution 9" showing up on the same album? George Harrison brought in Eric Clapton (God!) for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (and how gorgeous is that song?!) All of the tension and bitterness produced a masterpiece of a mess.

Today is the 75th anniversary of my grandparents wedding.

*Crabby Scientist is my brother. He is a space scientist, which I think means he is smart. Crabbiness runs in the family. He and his lovely wife hosted Thanksgiving for something like 26 people (siblings, cousins, spouses and children). As far as I know, everyone survived intact, which is impressive. Had it been our house, someone would have been carted off to the loony bin and someone else would have had knitting needles sticking out of his ears. The food was very good and it was lovely to see everyone in a non-funeral setting..

Oh! One other completely random thing. This morning I was struck with a sudden, overwhelming desire for a pair of Fluevog shoes. These or these. I am ill. But they are more practical than the yellow ones, right?

Pretty Pictures

2008-11-24T16:23:00.001-05:00

This one works better in the large size.

Very Bad Dog

2008-11-24T16:01:00.002-05:00

We are having Thanksgiving at my brother's this year. I made rolls on Sunday so I wouldn't have to on Wednesday night or have to get up very early on Thursday. While the first batch were rising, I divided the second batch into 12 pieces and left them on the counter to rest. When I came back to the kitchen, I discovered only 4 pieces of dough. And in the living room was a dog, with a belly ache. She had consumed 24 ounces of raw bread dough.

I made more and teased her for the rest of the night. I had plenty time, ingredients and the Kitchen-Aid does most of the work, so I wasn't particularly upset. And Lizzy's upset stomach was surely punishment enough.

Pre-dough incident.

Message from warmer days

2008-11-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

Geek out

2008-11-20T14:00:00.002-05:00

Please excuse me while I geek out for a moment, because if you can't be a big geek on your own blog, where can you?

It seems that David Tennant is leaving Dr. Who. {sniffle} No, really, go see him in his kilt finery. Isn't he lovely? Today I read a rumor (which was really just a comment on a post on a pop culture site, so probably not true at all) that Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played the kick ass Operative in Serenity might take his place. Be still my heart.

Um. Yeah. Sorry about that. How about a picture of a cute kitty to make up for it:

Yes, Fred has pretty much taken over the dog bed.

Red Berries

2008-11-14T16:35:00.001-05:00

Personal Do-Not-Play List

2008-11-11T15:29:00.003-05:00

It's been sad song days out there on the musical interwebs. These lists reminded me of one I've been thinking about posting for a couple of months.

A few years ago my mother mentioned that she hates the song "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers. It seems, when they were teenagers, my mom and dad broke up for some amount of time and he went on a date with a girl named Cathy (for the record, my dad does not remember this. Then again, he was a teenage-boy). She has hated that song ever since, even though they got back together, got married, had kids, and divorced. I found that kind of sweet, that so many years later, a fairly innocuous song could still feel that way. I have several songs I just can't listen to, which may make me extra sensitive.

1. I'm Sorry -- John Denver. This came out the year my parents got divorced. I'll leave it at that.

2. "Something So Right" -- Paul Simon. This is on "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" and reminds me way too much of the first boy I was in love with. He was not in love with me. You know how it goes. "They've got a wall in China/A thousand miles long/To keep out the foreigners they built it strong/I've got a wall around me you can't even see/It took a little time to get next to me."

3. "And So it Goes" -- Billy Joel. The way I remember it, my then best friend played this for me around the time he started dating his now wife and the cracks in our friendship were just beginning. But now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was a lot earlier (the song came out in 1990), but I associate it very strongly with him and since it is about the end of a relationship, the end of our's. Not to mention, he cried when he played it, which reminds me of why I loved him. Damn that Billy Joel anyway.

4. "Wildflowers" -- Tom Petty. Same friend as above played this one for me and said it reminded him of me. That was enough to get it on this list, but then it came on while I was riding with my friend Lynn, a month or so after our friend Sue died. Lynn said she always thinks of Sue whenever she hears it. That is a double whammy.

5. "Good Luck Fire Chief" -- Brian Lillie. So no link for this one, he is an Ann Arbor singer/songwriter. When I worked in Constantine, I became very close to the fire chief, Tom. He was in his mid-50's, very funny, and so alive. I loved him dearly. He had had a heart attack 20 years before, and those troubles started again. He died a couple of days after I started a new job in Ann Arbor and I was not able to go to his funeral (something I deeply regret). Around the time Tom's heart problems began, I saw Lillie perform this song and thought it was funny because Tommy was having no luck at all. It is a goofy little tune about a zany small town (and rings fairly true, in spirit anyway), but to me it is about Tommy. This is the only one of these songs that shows up on regular basis, since I have the album of the same name on my ipod; sometimes I can hear it and remember how funny he was, most of the time I just miss him. "So good luck Fire Chief, where ever you're going/I hope you have buildings to burn."

Well, that was cheerful. How about you? Does anyone else out there have certain song that makes your heart seize up in pain?

To make it up to you, here a couple of pictures of our delightful not-so-little puppy:

Clapotis or Lapping

2008-11-10T14:47:00.003-05:00

It was still a little damp, and I was weaving in ends on the way, but I managed to get the shawl done in time for Friday's Euchre Tournament.

Here it is, folded in half (no, it did not dry that way!). Pretty and snuggly. Wet blocking really makes a difference with this yarn, a half hour soak with Eucalan made the yarn so soft and really gave the shawl a lovely drape.

I was hoping you'd get an idea from this picture, but not really. By the way, weaving in ends, in the dark in a car is not as much fun as you might imagine. Don't worry, I wasn't driving.

I ran out of time so the scarf wasn't has long as I had hoped, it could have done with another couple of repeats, and I steam blocked rather than wet blocked.

The hat came out rather nicely. All of these were knitted on size 8 needles, which produces a rather firm fabric.

But the best thing was that they have raised $10,000 for ALS of Michigan in the five years they have organized the tournament, which is a great tribute to Sue.