Victoria and her hat

Victoria and the hat

Originally uploaded by synedra.

Yes! There is a finished object in my house! What’s that you say? You don’t believe I finished a knitted item? Well… I would be insulted if it weren’t such a reasonable question. And true. Because actually the object was not technically finished by me. It’s the hat my daughter made for her teacher, and all I did was cast on and bind off.
My moebius scarf is getting bound off tonight, and then I can help Victoria with hers (which is going to be her grandma’s Christmas present… shhh!!!)

Up for air…

Another sunset

Originally uploaded by synedra.

I’ve been doing the standard ‘work yourself silly’ startup stuff and it’s been a lot of fun, but I now have several days off for a much needed vacation (off to Disneyland) and I’m very grateful for the break.

My new job as a field engineer at SocialText is a lot of fun, I’m learning tons of cool stuff and am surrounded by very smart, interesting people. Sadly it doesn’t leave much time for other pursuits. Actually, looking back on the last few weeks, I have been doing some non-work things, they’ve just mostly been away from the computer.

For one, I’ve taken up dancing again… this time I’m doing hip-hop. It seems odd that dancing is helping my darned foot to get better, but it actually is… so I’m not complaining. Hopefully soon I’ll get to go back to Ninja School but until then I gotta admit there’s something really fun about putting some funk in my day.

We went over to visit with some friends for Thanksgiving so I had another occasion to make my Sweet Potato Bread Pudding. As always, it was a big hit. I still have a hankering to brine and cook a turkey, I think it’ll have to wait a few weeks until folks aren’t all turkey’d out.

After looking over our family’s spending habits again, I decided to try again to find ways to get us to eat at home more often. I really like cooking… although I never did like the cleaning part, and cooking seems to be the first thing to go when other priorities intrude on my life. A few years ago we decided to try to eat at home more often by using a personal chef. The chef came, made really yummy food, then put it in the fridge to be microwaved. Guess what? Really chi-chi well-cooked food, when microwaved… tastes like microwaved food. Ah well. But there’s a new game in town – Fresh Prep Kitchens – there, I discovered that I really really like preparing food when someone else is cleaning up after me… It’s a neat idea – you put together the food the way your family likes it (not so much onion, extra garlic, etc.) and freeze it for future cooking. Then you defrost it, cook it up, and serve it. It’s a grand way to save time and still cook yummy food. The atmosphere is fun and the family has really loved most of the foods I made. It’s not cheap, but not really that expensive either, considering that the food is included and their portions are generous.

But what about knitting? Well. As I mentioned, I’ve been really busy. Actually, that’s a major understatement. But yesterday, while visiting with my friends at Thanksgiving, I did cast on for that cat bed I’ve been threatening to make for so long. After all, I knew that Lyssa was going to be there working on some crafty project and I didn’t want to feel left out. Victoria is hard at work on a fuzzy soft hat, and we just bought some nifty yarn for Devon and I to make a present for his teacher. Teachers really like it when their students make things for them, so it’s worth the extra effort of sitting in a chair with a wiggly six year old boy waving around a couple of very sharp, fat, long sticks. I mean… what could go wrong?

Serendipity

As most of my readers have probably noticed, I tend to keep a lot on my plate at once. I’ve got a lot of energy, and a lot of things I want to do with that energy. However, I’m not necessarily good (who am I kidding, I’m completely awful) at the whole ‘day-to-day’ things that other people magically achieve. Keeping track of my keys/phone/credit cards. Making/keeping appointments. Yes, I have ical and it’s very nice… when I remember to start it up. It even puts schedule on my phone… when I remember to tell it to sync.
Anyhow, one of the things about which I am so neglectful is my car. Thank heavens it’s a Honda so it doesn’t need much attention, but periodically, yes, I need to have it serviced. Last time I had it serviced was *waves hands vaguely* a while ago, and about a month ago I noticed that my brakes were squeaky and I made a mental note that I *should* make an *appointment* to get the brakes fixed (oh, and an oil change too). This morning I realized the squeak was gone and the squish had appeared. Uh oh.
Now, usually what I do at this point is to call and make an appointment with the auto guy for 3 weeks from yesterday and spend all of the intervening time certain that my brakes are going to go out, killing my family, because I am a flake. Oh, I know, I could drive my husband’s car most of the time. But he doesn’t have satellite radio, so that’s out.
Anyhow, being as I am a research fiend, I checked Monterey Bay Opinions to see if I could find any highly rated local auto folks so I could start the ticking clock of anxiety before the brakes are actually fixed. I picked the most highly rated place and called them up. He said “I can fit you in any time after Tuesday…” (at this, my heart leaped. Tuesday, that’s not so bad!) “…or I had a cancellation today if you can come in right now.” Hurray! So now I’m sitting in Starbucks while my car becomes less squeaky and more safe. I’m very happy to have been so lucky – must be clean living or something.
I managed to unpack my yarn yesterday, so I can get back to work on those Fixation Broadripple Socks. Our house is starting to really shape up well, and I’m starting to feel somewhat less anxious about things in general… plus I’ve been assured that I will see the sun next month so I’m looking forward to that.
Oh hey, I also found my camera, so I will put up some pictures reallyreallyreally soon!

Friday!

Whew. It’s Friday. I got to see Star Wars yesterday morning and it was fun (not fantastic, but fun). I won’t ruin the story for you on the off chance that you’ve been lost in Antarctica for the last 30 years… but it was entertaining, and taking a few hours off to play hookie was pretty nice too.
I got some stuff done on my to-do list, including ordering a few things I need to complete the raffle prizes – I should get the things early next week and then I’ll send out your goodies.
For those of you reading with bloglines, look! Over there! <<<< I managed to get my little icon widgety thing to show up in bloglines! I feel so geeky. Oh wait, I'm an engineer, I'm already geeky. I guess it's ok then.
I didn’t go running this morning because work beckoned, but I will go this weekend. I am trying a new method of running, Chi Running, and although I feel a little silly doing some of this stuff while running in public I have to say that it actually seems to be working. His theory largely involves keeping your lower legs relaxed, leaning forward, and letting gravity and your quads do the work. I felt totally feeble and ineffective but kept working on it… and you know what? At the end of my 3 miles: My calves did not hurt at all (not even during the run, which is pretty uncommon); my knees and ankles felt great; and my quads felt like they’d been doing some serious work.
So tomorrow or Sunday I’ll get out there again with my shuffle and do it again. I haven’t exactly been slacking off… went to martial arts 3 times this week, ran one day. Which probably has a lot to do with my improved attitude. So all you readers out there, please do me a favor, ok? If you notice me starting to buzz and whine as if my internal fan is overheated, tell me to get off my ass and do something. Thank you.
I’ve been reminded that I didn’t really do a race report for Revlon. I have to say that it was incredibly crowded – I’ve never been around so many people in my life and it was somewhat overwhelming. On the other hand it was almost dizzying, realizing that all of those people had raised some money for cancer research. Very cool to be a part of something so powerful. Michelle and I weren’t able to run as fast as we wanted, but running across the finish line in the colloseum was pretty darned wonderful. Then we took the afternoon to hit a yarn shop and have some yummy lunch – it was nice to have a day just for me for once.
OK, I think that’s a sufficient amount of rambling for now. I dug the sock out of my computer backpack and dusted it off and I’m now to the heel flap – there’s some hope that the thing will start taking shape sometime soon! Which is great because I’m heading over to visit with Susan tonight (at her house!) and she’s probably going to think my pace is a little off.
Must remember… when I feel and act like an out-of-control whirling dervish, must exercise. Must.

Scenes from Santa Cruz

This has been a good day.
I have had a very stressful couple of weeks, which has been compounded by the fact that I apparently forgot that I turn into a raving lunatic when I don’t exercise. Sometimes I fear that I am not very bright. Finally, this morning, I took a long, hard look at myself and realized that I might stop flapping my arms and squaking like a rabid chicken if I moved my body around. So I went running. And I felt a lot better. And tonight I went to martial arts, and felt even better. And my wonderful husband went and dealt with my martial arts school issue, which was a huge load off of my mind. I think I’ll keep him…
Also, I made a to-do list and moved a lot of things to the ‘done’ category. Plus the remaining list looks manageable. It’s really not that bad. Not even the ‘work’ part. The ‘non-work’ item I’m looking most forward to is finding good prizes for the raffle winners. I really love trying to match stuff to people, and I’m hoping to get all the goodies in the mail tomorrow. And I feel so good having raised this money, I’m glad to give some of you a little something to thank you for participating with me!
My co-worker is finally back from vacation so I went to lunch with him, which was fun. He allows me to babble non-stop (most people roll their eyes, but he just looks amused and waits until I’m out of breath before he tries to talk). Plus I got some much-needed perspective by talking to a homeless person while Erik (my co-worker) ran into the deli to buy him a sandwich. Erik’s a good guy. I’m proud to know him. Don’t tell him I said so, though. His head is already fairly swollen, especially on the days when he kicks my ass at Scrabble.
And now that my to-do list looks more manageable I can get back to knitting on those poor neglected socks. And cast on for the kitty bed. And my summer tank. What the heck, I might even get that one DONE before the summer is out. The J4M KAL may be just what I need, an excuse to spoil myself for a little while and stop feeling like the world will stop spinning if I take the time to soak myself in the tub… or knit for a while just because I want to. Apparently the world doesn’t require that I race around non-stop without stopping to smell the roses. Thank goodness.
It looks like Susan will be coming home this week. She’s been doing so well in rehab, I’m so proud of her.
All of the electronic equipment in my office (hardware VPN router, wireless router, network backup drive…) is working correctly and flawlessly. Of course, my office *does* need a tiny bit of tidying but it’s on my list! Also the order for my new Powerbook went in today, so I’ll have a new computer sometime next week.
Oh wait, I forgot to mention… I FOUND the lost yarn!
Like I said, a Very Good Day. Tomorrow there will be pictures. Of something.
Good night, all.

Quest for Addis

As I’ve mentioned, I live in an area with an inordinate number of LYS’s. And yet my attempts to locate an Addi Turbo in something larger than 40″ have been met with cheerfully delivered, chirpy answers which basically boil down to ‘you silly girl, nobody needs anything that long!’
The Yarn Place, one of my fave LYS’s, assured me in no uncertain terms that I could do *anything* on a 40″ and I didn’t need anything longer, no sir! To their credit, they did provide me with the perfect yarn for the kitty bed so I’ll forgive them this lapse and assume that they just haven’t ever made any large moebius projects. However, the 40″ was severely short of what I needed so I’ve been shopping around and trying to find a longer length.
I prefer to patronize my LYS’s over online vendors for various reasons, and so I was darned frustrated when all of them said they had nothing longer than 40″.
But hark! There is a new LYS in town (as if we didn’t have enough of them)! The Swift Stitch has just opened on the West Side of Santa Cruz, so I called them to ask (not very hopefully) whether they had long Addis. They weren’t open but still the owner answered the phone and very cheerfully helped me. It was a much different conversation than the previous ones I’d had:
Me (somewhat gloomily): I don’t suppose you have any addi turbos in 47″ or 60″?
Her: Oh, are you making a moebius project? Let me check my stock. (little wait) I have all sizes in 47″, but we don’t have any 60″ lengths in right now. Would you like me to call and order them? I could have them in by Thursday.
Me: That would be great! I don’t suppose you have any Cascade Magnum in stock… in the bright red color? I didn’t buy enough for this project.
Her: Oh yes, that’s wonderful yarn! We have 2 skeins and I’ll put them aside for you to get when the needles come in.
She called back about 15 minutes later to report that the needles would be here for sure by Thursday, maybe Wednesday, and she’d call to let me know when they arrived.
Boy howdy, what a great phone call! This week I’ll have my long needles, the yarn for the kitty bed, all from my new LYS. She’s just as chirpy as the other yarn sellers, but her service level left me all warm and fuzzy so I had to share.
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll manage to get a pic of the broad ripple socks! The fixation yarn is really fun to work with, not fussy at all – great for TV knitting.

Random Thrashing

Happy Monday everyone…
It was a very busy weekend, running around to beach bonfire parties and summer camp open houses and all kinds of other mania, leaving precious little time for knitting, alas. The broad ripple socks, I’m sorry to say, are still only about 2-1/2 inches long and not worthy of a picture yet. And yet, even with no pictures, I feel like blathering on my blog so here I am with some random thoughts because I know you will find them riveting.

1. The good news is, I got to run by the beach this morning. The bad news… ow. I have strained my achilles tendon by increasing my mileage too fast for the Revlon Run/Walk. It says in all the books ‘don’t increase your mileage by more than 10-20% a week’ so I went out and increased my mileage by about 200% in a week and duh, my achilles tendon is now sad. Go figure. I’ll rest it this week and hope I’m in better shape by the time the Revlon run/walk comes around in 2 weeks.
2. I found the new best-ever spam killer for movable type. Seriously, this thing is da bomb, very configurable. SpamLookup. Get it, install it, live a blissful spam-free life while still getting comments on your MT blog.
3. What the heck is up with Google this morning? I’m glad there’s a Netherlands version, really I am, but please don’t redirect me there. I’m guessing it’s the work of some bored hacker. Hopefully by the time you read this entry you’ll be baffled by it, but trust me, for some reason this morning google.com is redirecting to google.nl
4. Those wacky searchers are at it again. I am so sorry to report that I do not have a pattern for Susan’s scarf from Desperate Housewives. Nor for her sweater. Really, very sorry. I hope you find it. And, uh, “penitent whipping self jpg”? I know that I did use all of those words (except for jpg) in the chapter I posted from my romance novel, but I’m guessing that’s not what you were looking for. My apologies also to the person looking for “incredibles elasti-girl porn pictures”. Now there’s an interesting mental image!
5. I got one of those little icon things for my blog! But I’m not sure if I like it… anyone have any opinions about the little starry D thing? I can muck with it some more. Did anyone else realize what a Windows-centric thing that format is? I had to do some serious scrounging around to be able to create one on my mac. But I am stubborn. And so there it is.
6. I still haven’t ordered those 60″ Addi Turbos. Partly because once I order those needles I’ll have to cough up some more money for the Cascade Magnum – I only got 2 skeins and I need something closer to 6. It’s not like the stuff is expensive, I just don’t like admitting I got my patterns messed up. Also I’ve been too lazy (still!) to bring in my VISA from the car or find a different yarn store that actually takes Amex. Plus it still really irks me that none of my LYS’s (and there are many!) carry the Addis in anything larger than 40″. Even the Knitter’s Studio, which is Mentioned By Name in the Magical Knitting Books. Makes me stomp my foot like a frustrated toddler… which brings us back to #1 – the hurty achilles tendon. In The Land of Domestigirl, all things are related. Especially on Whiny Mondays…
7. If we could please all think really strong positive thoughts about Susan actually getting transferred to Santa Cruz today, that would be great. Thanks.

The Dryer Ate It

OK, where did it go? I had a skein of silk yarn for Susan’s Hallowig. You’ve seen pictures, I know I had it around here somewhere… where could it be? I’ve checked my office (which is really more of a craft room – I work from my recliner in the family room). I’ve checked my van. I’ve checked all my knitting bags (which were selected because they’re CLEAR and I can see what’s in them). But it’s nowhere to be found! How can a ball of yarn (I think it’s a ball… pretty sure I wound it) disappear like that? Did I maybe leave it in the room at Disneyland? *sigh* I would be certain that the dryer ate it like some errant sock, except that I’m certain that it’s never even seen the laundry room. Perhaps the van ate it. That vehicle definitely has a mind of its own.
Until I solve this mystery, I’m getting started on some Broad Ripple socks for Susan (she’s allergic to wool), and someday I will be ordering some 60″ needles so I can make my kitty a cozy moebius bed. Just as soon as I remember to bring my wallet in from the car because Jimmy Beans Wool doesn’t take Amex and that’s the only card number I’ve got memorized. I really need to make this kitty bed because my arm is in constant danger of some kind of circulation disorder from the 17 pound cat lying atop it while I type. Ironically enough, I’ll probably miss having him squishing me when he’s got a cozy bed to lie in. Maybe our other cat will take up residence instead.
In the meantime, some wonderful anonymous person sponsored me for the Revlon Run/Walk, bringing my online total to $396! A friend has promised $50 so I’m over $400… the mind boggles. The pictures have been posted from my race last Sunday – I put them on my Fitness Blog. Go ahead, take a look! I love race photos, they’re my favorite part of racing. OK, I can tell you’re not going to go look, so I’ll include a gratuitous race photo here too:

Even though I have somehow lost a $20 skein of yarn it’s been a good week:
- I had a better time than expected for the race
- My son had a fabulous week at kindergarten (new teacher, major upheaval, he’s not good with change, but he did great!)
- Susan will (hopefully!) be moved back to Santa Cruz on Monday
- I had a good work week this week – got a couple of nasty coding tasks out of the way
So in general it’s been a good week. But still, where did I put that yarn?

Let’s Talk Socks!

An update on my Revlon fundraising… Over the last few days I’ve gotten contributions from Kimberli and Carla, bringing my grand total to $110! That means I’ll be giving away fabulous raffle prizes to at least 2 of my sponsors! So far I’ve talked about spinning and sweets. So let’s talk socks!
I think we’ve established that I have a lot of sock yarn. Especially for someone who has knitted, so far, a single pair of socks (for sockapalooza!)
I have these:

And I’ve also got this koigu which was previously destined for a Clapotis but is now just plain old ‘sock yarn’ (if you can call anything this gorgeous ‘plain’):

If one of the lucky winners chooses the Sock Prize, I will give them:
- Two socks worth of any of my sock yarn (personally, I’d choose the Koigu, but I also have some Sockotta, Lornas’ Laces Shepherd, Lana Grossa, and Swizzle)
- One set of Lantern Moon DPN’s in an appropriate size to create socks with the chosen yarn
- One sock book – ‘Knit Socks’ or ‘Cool Socks Warm Feet’
A fabulous prize for any sock knitter, be they newbie or pro. If it speaks to you, click the ‘sponsor me’ link in the right hand sidebar and throw some money in the ring. Again, each dollar will get you a virtual raffle ticket and I’ll give prizes based on the total amount donated, as well as donating 10% of my total to a couple of my fellow runners.
Now, I’m running out of ideas, so let me know what kind of thing you would want if you could have some kind of goody that you wouldn’t buy for yourself. That’s the best kind of prize, in my mind.
And in actual knitting news, the moebius is still chugging along. I think I’ll need to get one more color to make this thing complete, but I’m pretty jazzed about how it looks so far. Despite the fact that it’s all scrunched up on the teenytiny 40″ circular.
I almost forgot to mention – my sockapalooza pal got her socks! And she liked them! And they fit! Very exciting

Happy Friday!

Well, I had a post all ready to go and my browser took a dive, hmph. Ah well. Second time’s the charm, I guess!
Still working hard on my moebius thing, so I’ll take this opportunity to thank those wonderful folks who have already sponsored me for the Revlon Run/Walk. Many thanks to Lu, Michelle and Kathy! I’m up to $40 now which is very exciting
I’m now going to whet your appetites with some lovely fiber porn, hoping to entice even more of you to contribute. As I said, the winners of this raffle will get to pick the type of prize they want (spinning, knitting, books, sweet treats) – or take the ‘surprise me’ option.
Today I’m going to talk about the spinning option! When I was at Stitches West I got some great roving and a spindle, but haven’t had time to work on my spinning. It seems a shame that this fabulous roving isn’t being fondled regularly by anyone, so I’ll be happy to pass it along to a lucky winner.
The Spinning Prize will include:
(1) nice wooden drop spindle and (1) brochure with spinning instructions

(1) hank of merino/tencel roving from Deep Color. I can’t even begin to describe how incredibly yummy this stuff feels and looks. I’ve heard that it spins up just like butter and I can totally believe it. Seriously, look me straight in the eye and tell me these photos don’t start your salivary glands up.
You can pick either of the two colors I have:
purple…

or teal…

here’s the money shot with both of them

So come on! Who could possibly resist all that shimmery wool, intertwined together on the floor? Sponsor me and win some yummy roving…
I’ll leave you with some random thoughts for those folks finding me through interesting search engine searches:
For those of you searching on ‘koigu clapotis’ and ‘clapotis fingering’, let me just warn you that many a knitter has run out of steam about 2/3 of the way through when using teeny tiny yarn. On the other hand I’ve seen some incredibly beautiful ones so it’s up to you. I haven’t started mine yet…
Whoever searched on ‘SUSHI +WASHCLOTH -EAT -RICE +CUTE’ I’m pretty certain you didn’t find what you were looking for here. I hope you found your cute sushi washcloths somewhere! I’d like to see those, actually.
‘silk & seagrass drawstring box’ and ‘lantern moon drawstring box’ – yes, I have one of those!


And, strangely, someone found me by searching on ‘grumpy’. I don’t think I’m that grumpy, do you?