2009.10.30

Today has been a bit of a mixed bag.  It all started last night, really.

I was sitting on the couch while the cauliflower was roasting and the steak was marinating, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of movement – a flash of brownish-grey across the dining room.  A mouse!  So apparently we didn’t get them all.

An hour or so later, I was upstairs and heard a faint rustling sound inside the radiator cover.  Larry had said earlier that he thought they were traveling through the house by the heat pipes, and he had plugged up the ones from the basement to the first floor – but we (I, at least) never thought that they’d be going upstairs.

Needless to say, I did the whole 1950’s television housewife thing – jumped on top of the furniture and squealed like a stuck pig.  And Larry did the manly thing, and put down the traps again.

On top of that, the Peep had a pretty restless night – he had a runny nose starting yesterday afternoon, and it kept him sniffling and coughing all night – so by extension, Larry and I didn’t get quality sleep.  Which of course translated into waking up late, and the associated mad dash to get to work on time for the 9 o’clock meeting.  I made it, walked in at 8:57, but it wasn’t easy.

On the other hand, we just got out of a company meeting that delivered some happy news, so that was good.

I’m now ready to look ahead to the weekend, and I’ve got to tell you, the immediate future looks a bit foggy.

Will the boy be recovered in time for tomorrow’s festivities, or will we be dragging around a kid who, costume notwithstanding, closely resembles a wet noodle?

Will I finally be able to get the vegetable bed ready for winter, and put the grill and the yard furniture in the garage?

Will I really be able to turn the heel on these danged socks?  I’ve got an inch of leg to go, so I’m hoping yes.

And most importantly – will we be able to resolve our mouse problem once and for all?

 

2009.10.29

Not much going on these past few days.  A lot of work, a little knitting on Larry’s socks, precious few chores.   That about sums it up.

I’m hoping to turn the heel of the socks over the weekend, so hopefully the end is in sight.

But for the most part, nothing to see here, folks; move along.

2009.10.27

One of my local yarn shops is closing today.  For good.

This stinks on several levels:

- Small businesses are continuing to struggle in this economy.

- Good yarn shops are hard to find and support.

- It’s another sign of the homogenization of Harvard Square.

- The people were uniformly nice and helpful.  So much so, in fact, that my non-knitting male cousin, who’d been in there twice to buy me gift certificates, said upon hearing the news “That stinks – they were really nice”.

I visited the shop for the last time on Saturday, and managed to score a couple of luxury fibers at a discount.  Which was bittersweet – great score, but sad to know it was the last time I’d be petting yarn there.

For that matter, we’re running out of yarn shops in general.  This can be chalked up to the number of online vendors selling yarn, which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself; it makes me sad that there can’t be a happy medium, though.

So a moment of silence, please, for Woolcott and Company.  Sean (owner) says that he’s got a few things up his sleeve; I’m steadily sending good vibes his way.

 

2009.10.26

My new camera was indeed delivered on Thursday.  I haven’t had time to go through the manual just yet, so I’ve been depending on the “auto” settings thus far.

As a result, the photos from the weekend were subpar at best.  The ones from my birthday dinner are loaded with red eyes and blurry children; the other random ones strangely lit.  All except for this one, the first photo taken with this camera, taken Thursday night right after bath time.

I don’t think either of them thought the camera was working yet.

As I mentioned last week, I finished and blocked the Christmas scarves.  They both blocked out nicely; one finished up at 55 inches long and the other 66 inches, which I think are fine for 10 year olds.

The second one was supposed to be more like camoflage and less like stripes, but oh well.

I also finished all EIGHT of the mini-mitten Christmas ornaments:

Sooo cute, right?

I’m midway down the leg of Larry’s socks, and then I can get down to business and start knitting for my own selfish self again.

I’m sorry to say so, but I’m sick of knitting socks.  This is the 10th pair this year, and I’m allowing myself to take a bit of a break.

In favor of what, I’m not quite sure – I want a hat and mittens and a cowl or two for this winter, but I also want a cardigan and a shawl.  So what comes first will depend on … well, nothing; it’ll purely be a whim.  I think after 4 months of knitting gifts, I’m allowed a bit of whimsy.

2009.10.22

Although there has been knitting, there’s no camera to capture it, so today we’ll do a little book review.

(First, a disclaimer:  I was contacted by the publisher and offered an advance copy of this book, provided that I post a review for it.  I’m not getting otherwise compensated in anyway.)

Knit the Season is the latest installment in the series that began in 2007 with The Friday Night Knitting Club.   It is the third installment; Knit Two was published last year.  If you haven’t read the first two, you won’t be entirely in the weeds if you start with Knit the Season, although some of the casual references will be lost on you.

We pick up the story a year and a half after the close of KTwo – five or six years after the end of FNKC.  Dakota Walker is the center of this book, although some attention is given to Peri and Catherine.

(a quick aside:  it’s REALLY hard to write a review without drawing from the previous books for references)

Anyhoo, Dakota is an aspiring chef enrolled in cooking school.  She shuttles home on the weekends and works in the yarn shop managed by Peri, who also has a burgeoning pocketbook business.   It’s autumn, and the group (Catherine, Anita, Darwin, KC and Lucie, all women of varying ages and circumstances) is making their holiday plans.  Dakota has a job offer to intern at a posh hotel in the city over Christmas, but her family is planning a trip to Scotland.   Controversy ensues, and I won’t tell you how it works out.

There are some flashback passages – back to the first two books and even before – which all help to round out the larger story a bit.  A couple of long-standing storylines are nicely wrapped up as well.  And a couple of interesting ones are started off, neatly laying the groundwork for many books to come (I can only hope).

Oh, and there’s knitting scattered throughout, along with recipes and knitting patterns.

All in all, if you’ve enjoyed the first two books in the series, chances are you’ll enjoy this one too.

Knit the Season is set to be released on November 3rd.  Which gives you plenty of time to read the other two books if you’re so inclined.  Again, not mandatory; I’m just saying.

Also,  Kate Jacobs wrote another book I read earlier in this year and thoroughly enjoyed – somehow I missed the fact that she was the author, and didn’t realize it until I saw the cover of KTS.  It’s not about knitting, it’s about food (which as you know is also near and dear to my heart).  It’s called Comfort Food, and I heartily recommend it as well.

2009.10.20

Sadly, my camera cannot be fixed.  A new replacement has been ordered and will arrive on my birthday.

Luckily, I was able to get the images off the memory card.  Unfortunately, they aren’t great, nor are the indicative of the Rhinebeck experience.

For good representative photos, you can visit the blogs of Emilee, Norma, the Twist Collective…and there will likely many others.  In short, anyone besides me.  Chalk it up to first-time jitters, or just sensory overload…or the fact that the camera was quickly buried under yarny goodness.

We drove out Friday night, and the trip was uneventful.  We checked into the hotel in Kingston around 7:30, and then set about finding somewhere to eat dinner.  A few minutes’ drive made us very nervous – the roads didn’t have streetlights, or any sort of discernible layout – but we eventually stumbled upon the town square, and a wonderfully cozy little restaurant, where the pizza was fantastic and the wine flowed like, well, wine.

We’d planned to pick up a bottle of wine for the room, but the liquor stores were all closed by the time we got out of the restaurant, so we settled for a few tallboys.

We totally lucked out, weather-wise; the forecast had called for rain, freezing rain, and snow.  Although it was probably in the 40’s, it was dry, with even some watery sunshine at times.

We had a quick breakfast at a local bagel joint, and then hopped on the highway to Rhinebeck.  We sat in a bit of fair-related traffic, but we knew we were headed in the right direction.

We got through the turnstiles around 11, and were bombarded with yarny goodness of all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures.

And then there was the food.  The chicken pot pie and baked potato/sweet potato stand looked enticing, but the lines were outrageous.  Ditto for the grill stand.  And the line for the restrooms.  At the end we had a scratch lunch (fried dough for me, kettle corn for V, and a milkshake for CC), which held us over.

My bags were full by 2:30, and the weather was getting nippy, so it was time to hit the road.

The only booth I was unable to get into was Brooks Farm.  Which is a bummer, since they only sell at fairs and online, and I wanted to see their stuff up close and in person.  I was able to see and touch the skeins that they had hanging outside their booth, but literally could not get into the booth the see the full selection.  Literally.  It was shoulder to shoulder the whole way through.

Nonetheless, I was able to rise above, and made quite a respectable haul.

(All of these photos are the same yarn, one taken with my old camera with flash and one taken with Larry’s camera in daylight)

Green Mountain Spinnery, ‘Yarn Over’

Briar Rose Fibers, ‘Grandmothers Blessing’

Briar Rose Fibers, ‘Angel Face’

Bijou Basin, 75% Merino/25% yak (top), and 100% yak (bottom)

Next year I won’t be so starry-eyed, and will remember to take some pictures.

And I’ll bring a bigger bag!