Socks and the people who love them

It's an absolutely gorgeous fall day outside, bright, crisp, leafy, clear and warm. I really don't want to be inside today.

I've been messing about with my new sock yarn, some Socks that Rock medium weight in a colorway "Rooster Rock". I really liked it in the skein. I do not like it so much knitted up:

The colors remind of an unfortunate 70s afghan in a color combination that I particularly dislike.

Guess I will have to overdye the sucker. Blue? Red? Turquoisey-green?
Sigh. I am not cool enough for 70s retro color combos.

Colorful metaphor

a.k.a. expletive

stupid stupid machines

I'm back to work reality this week. I'm currently trying to test something on Mac OS 9 (yeah, moldy oldie) so I've obtained a creaky old machine from the company pile o' useless hardware. And it boots up into German. German. Wonderful. Too bad I took French in high school. Useless new mad job skillz: "Abbrechen" means cancel.

As part of my job (and jobs past) I have to work with a lot of different flavors of computers and operating systems. I've pretty much lost all fear of computer hardware, software, and buzzwords. Most computer buzzwords sound impressive but are, almost entirely, just a new way for computer/software/camera A to talk to piece o' hardware/software B. Ethernet, USB, XML, wifi protocols, blah blah blah blah -- it's just A talking to B.

And really, nothing works. No, really. It's mostly all broken, and the fact that you might be able to push the "on" button and the computer actually starts and talks to the internet correctly is a little miracle. Too often it's like today where I'm clicking through German menus, hoping I'll find "English" in one of them. I attached another monitor to my machine the other day and the machine fuzzed out, went to sleep, then, quel miracle!, came back to life with the monitor working. I almost cried.

---

San Francisco was gorgeous. So was San Jose (weather-wise). I shouldn't have bothered bringing a coat. No fog, no rain, all sun, all the time. I was generally pretty busy seeing old friends in the evenings and going to class during the days, but I did make it to Commuknity one afternoon while doing laundry in the coin-op down the street (Tip: before you walk away from the washing machine, be sure that the cycle has ACTUALLY STARTED). It's a very nice shop, very airy and light-filled. It just felt comfortable. As well as having a big selection of kick-ass yarn, needles, and books. I wish I could have just sat there and knit all evening.

I took Caltrain to Bart to San Francisco on Friday afternoon and met K the Love Monkey downtown. The hotel room was fabulous - in this old Victorian, but right on the edge of the building, so we had light coming in from 2 sides. I love the old houses and buildings before everything was built at right angles. Each window bowed out over the street.

We went to the farmer's market, took the ferry over to Sausalito to get a whole-bay view, I made it to Artfibers to pet the fiber and gawk at the displays. We walked over Nob Hill to North Beach, climbed up Telegraph Hill to Coit tower to see the WPA murals and the view of the bay, and even got to see the parrots (hi, squawky parrots). It was a good weekend.

Edit

My parents don't read my blog and don't know it exists, but there's always the possibility they might stumble on it. I don't want to hurt them, I'm sure I've already caused them more than enough pain over the years. So, edit.

Plus, how much of anything is just all in my head? Probably more than I think. It's easy enough to misunderstand people even without each of you looking through the lens of strong opinion. It's why I don't argue. I don't believe anyone ever changes their mind in an argument, at least anyone actively participating. In my experience, people only change their opinions as a result of direct personal experience. I try to listen to other ideas and not close myself off but I'm just as susceptable to my little theory above, I'm sure.

Anyway, back to class. Happy Wednesday

But never ever on a Sunday, a fun day, a Sunday, 'cause that's my day of rest!

Enough of this crap. Now you know why I go on about knitting ribbing and socks. Introspection == scary and dull.

I'm in lovely suburban San Jose, California, listening to the cars rush by on the 101 freeway. The inner curtains don't close all the way but I've got free wifi, so enh.

I hate trips on my own. I miss K and the cat and my own bed and pillow and favorite cereal. Mostly just K and the cat, though. And San Jose? One messed-up airport. It's like a habitrail with big open areas and small low-ceilinged passageways connecting them. At least there were NO TVs. Because sorry, I'm firmly of the mind that if I have to fly somewhere, the absolute last thing I want to have blaring at me is CNN. There's enough bad vibes around airports already without watching the latest tragedy over and over and over (and over) again.

I just have never learned that Stuff Takes Up Space. I don't know why I don't understand this basic concept. Every trip I have the best intentions of "packing light" and yet I seem to end up with a huge bag full o' stuff. I really cut it thin this time; I'm going to have to find a laundry somewhere or wash stuff in the sink, but no way was I hauling more than one duffel bag and personal bag around.

I only took 3 skeins of yarn. 3 skeins, is it enough to last me through the week?

Rachel gave me a TON of great restaurant and yarn store information, so I am SAVED from crappy hotel food, hooRAY! (oh and is it crappy - "Microbrews and Megabites" is their tagline. Save me) There will hopefully be much fiber fondling in my near future. Thanks to Zardra too for fabulous San Francisco restaurant suggestions and good coffee joints (K will be much appreciative).

Sick

Lately I've been walking around in this miasma of anger. For the last few weeks; well, more like months. Recent events have pushed my cynisism to toxic levels. I'm having a difficult time believing any more in the general goodness of humanity. There is so much pain and suffering and so much of it can be traced back to other people's greed and desire for power and money. Not as if I am exempt. I do far too little and most times nothing at all to alleviate anyone's misery.

So in that last post, a little of that anger crept out from the dark place and displayed its ugly. I'm still trying to decide whether I meant it or not. I'm having a hard time self-evaluating.

I know that it's eating away at me and what's probably making me feel like shit most of the time, but I haven't found a way to make it go away. So I appreciate the small happinesses of everyday life and try not to think about it. Maybe that's why I haven't done much, because that reminds me.

There are a lot of good people out there in blogland. I read your stories and laugh and cry at them and marvel at how good you are. But I'm having trouble with reality, because after everything, they're just stories. Are you really flesh and blood and living? Are you really real?

I've been having a lot of trouble connecting with other people lately. It's as if I'm afraid of any interaction with anyone I don't know very well. I avoid checking my email. I look at someone passing on the street and immediately assume they're making fun of me or are disgusted with me. And then immediately kill that thought because it's stupidly narcissistic and probably wrong. I have a hard time not generalizing about people, which I can't stand when people do it about me, so it's doubly guilt-inducing.

I should get out more but it just hasn't been working and I avoid it because it drains my energy. I went to a knit night at local yarn shop. It went poorly, I don't think I was very good at the small talk and they were playing the "I am cooler/more educated/more experienced than you" game with one-upmanship stories. I don't play that game, I really dislike it. Anyway, haven't been back.

So there you go, personal introspection/masturbation post #1. It just all means that I'm a hoser who won't get off her ass long enough to sew Rabbitch some hats for people who really need them. Well, maybe this weekend. I've got an airport wait and a plane flight. That's long enough to do 1/3 of a big chunky yarn Crazy Aunt Purl Easy Roll-brim hat.

Lord love a crow

The small(and not so small) furry rodents & feathered friends are living high on the hog these days. The squirrels are digging holes in anything, including hard, pine-tree-rooted ground. Actually, they just give up after a few minutes and stick the nut into the half-hole. They're eating as much as they bury, though, I've never seen fatter, sleaker squirrels.

The crows like the walnut trees down the street, there's always a dozen or so of them over there, perched in the trees, on the ground, on wires. I finally figured out their scheme this morning: A couple of them fly up into the tree and peck at the hanging nuts until they drop 15-20 feet to the concrete and shatter. Then the crows go out and eat walnut until a car comes along. I had no idea crows were fond of walnuts.

My next-door neighbor's fig tree is host to roving hordes of starlings. They'll swoop down on the (not really very big) tree, making a huge racket, and peck the hell out of the figs. The cat is absolutely fascinated by them (small feathered things being her specialty). I wish she's attack the squirrels. I'm tired of the holes dug in all my pots.

------

I hate it when I sleep wrong somehow and wake up and can't move my neck without pain. Something up with the trapezius, I guess, since raising my arms up hurts too. Bah. I'm stuck with a (seemingly) intractable problem and a deadline at work and a week of gorgeous warm fall weather.

I'm turning the heel (already!) on the Toasty Toes sock. I could get used to this bigger needles/bigger yarn/faster project thing (if you define 3.25 mm needles as bigger; I do because I usually do socks on 2.75 mm because I'm loose, baby). A week of commute knitting and it's almost done.

A local yarn store, Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks, is having a Socktoberfest celebration by offering to display everyone's socks - completed before the end of the month - in their store, for all of November. I'm feeling all exhibitionist and I'm working on a sock pattern of my own. It'd be nice to show it off, uh, I mean proudly display my handiwork. Hmmm. So much other crap to do, though. Like make up a bunch of hats for Rabbitch's hat drive. I'm really a slow knitter so I think it'd be better for us all if I sewed up fleece hats. And also seeing as I rediscovered my fleece stash in the recent basement re-org. I made socks for just about everyone for Christmas one year when I had a lot of Jo-Ann 50%-off coupons and not a lot of money, so I've got leftovers. Stupid packrat tendencies.

Fall(ing off a log)

I was going to post a big expos&eague; of the silk garden beanie this weekend. Hot pictures! Sexy heads! But I was a big lame-o and didn't manage to find my way to the computer all weekend long. Instead of doing something fun (e.g. knitting), I was cleaning up the basement (a bit of fun since it involved Stash Organization woo!) and the attic. SO EXCITING. not.

I'm going to training in San Jose, CA for all of next week so I'm scrambling at work trying to get all the loose ends tucked up so they'll stay in place for a week, and instructing others in loose end cleanup in case they come, um, loose. (Training, ugh. I have never done Training and I'm afriad that I'm going to get there and know more than the instructor and the cost and loss of time is going to severely piss me off. I'm also worried that I'm going to fall asleep in these lectures because, computer training? BORING. And I've got a finely developed Pavlovian response to lectures and dark rooms which is: fall asleep in 15 minutes. Great for insomnia, really. I'm taking a sock. I figure it's less of a faux pas to knit in class when sleepy than to actually fall asleep).

So, yo, if anyone knows any fabulous fiber or restaurants I should hit while I'm in this Bay Area thingy, I'd appreciate it. I'd say South/East bay only, please (and still open past 6 pm), except:

K the Love Monkey is flying up to SFO on Friday. I'm ditching the rental and taking Caltrain up to meet him and we're going to do the Weekend of San Francisco (via public transit and cabs). So if there are any nifty SF places you love, we don't have plans except a lot of walking and the searching out of Good Food and ArtFibers. We'll be staying near Union Square, and proximity to mass transit or <2 miles walking distance is a big plus.

I've been only once, and that was with family to the tourista spots, and for a single day. So really I have never been. I have these vague memories of a cable car and sourdough bread and a really small hotel room.

Sorry there have been no pictures lately. That always seems to take me the longest time to do. I took some commute photos today. Just for you.

I love these purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), they're so dramatic.


The Toasty Toes sock says hello from the MAX station platform


View from the MAX, going over the Steel bridge. That's the Willamette, which connects up to the Columbia some miles to the north.


Happy (belated, sorry) Thanksgiving, Canada!

Met a knitter today!

What does it say about me when I get all excited to have another knitter come up to me, in a non-yarn-store setting?

I ride the light rail into downtown every day to work, and I'm knitting most days. I'm the only person I've ever seen do this. But this morning, I was working on a trusty sock (Interlacements Toasty Toes mid-calf socks. #2 of the pair, but has been languishing for 6 months or so) and someone came up to me!

Her: Are you knitting a sock?

Me: yes.

Her: Hey, I'm a knitter too! We're going on a trip so all my knitting is packed away right now. Your sock looks great! What is that yarn, is it Mountain Colors Bearfoot?

Excellent! She commented on how comfy and cute the sock looked and I told her the yarn was Interlacements toasty toes and she was so effusively nice I got all glowy inside. We didn't have much time (about 90 seconds) to talk as my train arrived, but, yay! I didn't feel so isolated and weird knitting on the commute today. Too bad she was traveling the other way.

Lately I've just had this obsessive need to knit. I wake up and knit, I knit on the train to work, I spend all day at work wishing I were knitting, then come home and knit. It's a little disturbing. I start resenting dinner and breakfast because it takes time out from knitting.

I was really excited to start work on new sock pattern I was messing around with and bust into the Socks that Rock I got at OFFF. That died quickly, after I realized the pattern I'd designed didn't look so hot and was a pain in the neck to knit. NO FUN. Kind of dampened the enthusiasm a bit.

I messed with the pattern a little and started another test sock, but it's not going so well either. So instead I abandoned it for a swatch. Fickle, I know.

Hey, at least it's Friday. Unfortunately the camellias REALLY need a trim this weekend or we won't be able to see out the front porch. I've got some other yard cleanup to do as well and the waste disposal has died on us. So this weekend will probably not be as knit-filled as I would like. Sulk.

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers

Want want want. I have too much crap already. And too much yarn. And too many projects.

I did finish 2 large projects last weekend: Lily of the Valley is OFF the needles! She needs a block still but we had a guest last weekend so I couldn't use the guest bed for blocking. I ripped out the original bind off and redid it. Because, you know, I'm all about the pain.

I also finished the blue-green diamonds quilt top. Did that take forever. I've done several Lone Stars so I'm familiar with getting non-90 degree intersections to match at the seam so that the diamonds are nice and pointy, but those at least have some big background chunks of unbroken fabric. This was unremitting 60 degree seams and 10 foot long strips of fabric. Ugh.

Now the always-entertaining question: how'm I going to quilt it?

But before we even get there, I need to
1) baste the sucker
2) teach myself how to machine quilt
3) practice. probably a lot. Hand-eye coordination is not my strong suit.

And THEN I think I'll need to stabilize the puppy with some straight lines because the entire thing is on the bias except a few random fussy-cut diamonds, and because I'd like to freehand quilt it and not have it look like puckered ass when I'm finished. Freehand == not bothering to mark a pattern, but having some idea of the general design. Like drawing on a sketchpad, but with thread. Very good for stomping on your inner perfectionist, because you just have to chill out and let it go. Not recommended for control "enthusiasts." They have this awesome water-soluble thread I'm going to use for the stabilizing straight lines. Water-soluble! How cool is that?

I think I'll block Lily first so I can pathetically feel accomplished. All that quilting prep sounds like too much to deal with when I put it in a list.

Oh yeah, and there's the dyeing. And the marbling. And the beads. And the non-cotton fabric. And the sewing & patterns. And the fabric paints and stamps and stencils. The embossing supplies (not much of those). Did we mention the dyeing? We've got both plant and animal fibers covered here at Chez TooMuchCrap.

I had to clean out the basement so the plumbers could put in a new water main into our house. So now I am yet again acutely aware of the piles of stuff that I have acquired to divert myself. I'm not compulsive about buying, but.... Well maybe I am compulsive, with all those boxes piled up.

And yet I am still lusting after NEW THINGS. I bought Rogue last night. I've been wanting to make it for forever (no hyperbole here, no sir). After the unfortunate and disheartening experience with cabling and Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, I was bummed enough to put it out of my head. I didn't think I'd ever find the right yarn; I'm sensitive to wool so it has to be soft, and I think I better enjoy knitting cables with it. But I found a possible substitute, so I ordered a couple of skeins for some test swatching and the color cards and...geez, what is wrong with me?

What is it about new things that makes them better? Truly, I love my stash. How come every time I get the urge to buy more yarn/fabric/stuff I don't just go stash-diving and re-appreciate what I already have? Why don't I knit up all the projects I've got lined up already with the yarn I ALREADY OWN. What is wrong with me, people?

Funky Mojo

Wendy just recently asked what causes one to lose their knitting mojo (a note to you grammarians: I'm using 'their' as a neutral 3rd person possessive since there isn't one in English. Yes it's bad classic grammar. No I am not apologetic). There are lots of fabulous answers in the comments to this post.

For me (because it's ALL ABOUT ME HERE), a bunch of stuff can throw off my mojo, bt I guess I've learned to deal with them since I have not ever suffered a serious Loss o' Mojo. We (the royal we) have definitely descended down into knitting funk at some times but never all that far. Mostly my Mojo-droppin' can be attributed to all the things everyone else mentions:

• Yarn that is not fun to knit with. (Conversely, yarn I love to knit will keep me entertained for hours, if it fits the project. I will get COMPULSIONS to knit. Compulsions, people).
  
  This has happened a couple times. Most lately, I picked up a cute little hank of Manos Cotton Stria at my LYS, dyed in different shades of violet - very subtle, very nice. It's a super-soft yarn - just a single ply wrapped with a binder thread, so it's naturally kind of kinked up. I'd been meaning to try it (I lurrve the Manos de Uruguay wool), and this single skein was sitting forlornly at the bottom of the 50%-off bucket. I thought, this'll make a cute swatch-cum-baby-hat.
  
  I got partway into the hat and decided I hate this yarn. It's cotton so I have to knit it tightly, but it's still gapping between stitches, even when I'm using 3.25 mm/US 3 needles (K the Love Monkey says it looks fine but I'm still not sure). I like the variegation but knitting with it turns me into a clench-fisted monkey. I only survived to the end of this hat by doing it as commuter knitting. And I was so glad when I bound it off. Love the yarn, hate to knit with it.
  
  Same thing happened with doing a cable swatch with Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed Aran. Really, the yarn is gorgeous, but I got through 3 cable turns on my swatch and decided I would rather pick lint and cat hair off the floor than continue. Yay that it was only a swatch and I'd just bought a single ball for swatching.



• I suspect that the project isn't working out (see also the Gapping Baby Hat O' Manos Doom above). I've got a pair of socks that depress me every time I see them. Love the pattern (one of the Nancy Bush sock patterns), like the yarn (Rowan wool-cotton), but I got 5 inches into the sock before admitting that perhaps I should try the sucker on and sadly confirm that yes, it is too small for my leg and ankle. Damn. Now I've got to rip it all out and adjust the pattern, or work it again with larger needles,... or find someone with petite legs who likes them.
  
  I vacillate on the current test-slip-stitch-baby sweater on whether it looks cute or nauseating. The current opinion swung to butt-ugly several weeks ago and I haven't made any progress since then. And because I have to figure out the sleeve increases (see next).



• When I have to sit down and modify a pattern or design. Not only does this take significant time that can't really be interrupted, but I'm always afraid that I'm doing it wrong. Shut up, inner perfectionist. See slip-stitch-baby-sweater (I'm currently trying to get the sleeves to look right with both increases and the slip-stitch pattern.)

My coping mechanisms:

• Approximately a billion different projects going at once. I have:
  
  • a commuter project (mindless/memorized pattern, easily portable)
  
  
  • lace (gauge does not have to be spot-on)
  
  
  • travel project (easily portable, long enough to last the trip, no metal needles (I know, they're fine on planes. I still have no wish at all to be detained for any reason at security and all it takes is one guy who hasn't read the rules lately))
  
  
  • Agressive Monumental Project (might need design time, thought, perhaps lots of note taking, a Long-Term Goal)
  
  
  • TV knitting (stockinette ONLY)
  
  
  • Quickie (not-instant-but-close-to-it gratification project), so that it appears that YES, I AM MAKING KNITTING PROGRESS.
  
  
  I'm all about the appropriate project for particular conditions. Also, lots of projects means that if something is bugging me, I ditch it temporarily for the more compelling project (See next one if it keeps bugging me for more than a week).


• If it's not fun, either finish it fast (see Manos baby hat above) or rip it out now. Don't let it sit and glare at you. You can finish it faster if you have something to distract you.


• Use yarn I like to knit. I know, duh. But you'd be surprised at how long it took me to figure that out.


• Swatches! I love me some swatching. See, it doesn't count as something new, because you're just SWATCHING, which you're SUPPOSED to do, right? You're not actually embarking on a new project, just laying the future groundwork. This lets you get to play with new yarn and stitch patterns without feeling guilty about all the unfinished projects you have. Almost a guaranteed pick-me-up (see also the Quickie, above)


• My first college roommate gave me some of the most useful advice I ever got about college classes. She said, "If you're not passing by drop day, you're not going to be passing by finals." (drop day = last day you're allowed to stop taking the class with no report card reprisals).
  
  Same goes for me a project. If I don't like it now, I'm not going to like it later.
  
  And the corollary: Fix the thing that's been bugging you NOW if it's still bugging you several rows after the mistake. It will continue to bug you.
  
  Ripping is cathartic.


• Work on what I want to do. Dammit, it's my hobby and I'll do what I enjoy. I spend much of my time already doing Work that I frequently don't like, why torture myself in my off-hours as well? No one expects stamp collectors to have something useful at the end of all that collecting. Or windsurfers or mountain climbers. If you detest finishing, knit only in the round or pay/bribe/cajole/force someone else to finish it.


• I never work to a deadline. No, not ever. I just don't like to do that. They're done when they're done. Corrollary: I also have learned to never, ever, promise anything.


• Finishing goes faster with loud music

I went to OFFF and all I got was this lousy... oh, wait.

We're the unfortunately owners of a leak in the water main coming into the house. The plumber's outside right now digging a big hole in the grass (I wonder what's more expensive: the increased cost in the water bills or how much it'll actually take to fix the leak. My short term vote is with the water bills) so it seems like a great time for a...

Post About Llamas!

I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival last Saturday. My very first fiber show. I'm not a spinner and the show was definitely geared to the raw fiber crowd, but there was still lots of animals and yarn to appreciate.

(First as a preliminary: am I the only person bothered by the juxtaposition of "oh, cute lamb fleeces" and "mmm, tasty lamb kebabs"? I swear, the line for the lamb-sausage/kebab/rib booth was 3 dozen long.)

Back to the llamas: the Llama Barn was an enormous roofed enclosure with a big fenced area and some bleachers so you could watch. All the llamas were at the back. In the middle: the Llama Obstacle course. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the llamas to show you: they were all dolled with beauty queen hairdos. Some of them had ruffs like poodles, some had hair long on the back and shaved on the belly and flanks, with cute little puff rings around the bottom of their legs. That must a fun task, figuring out a 'do for your llama for the big competition.

Bad picture of a llama, but you can see his (her?) careful coif.

Anyway, the Llama Obstacle Course: A bunch of teenagers, one by one, would lead their llamas through various Llama Activities: walk over a bridge; step all the way into a circle and stay there; carry a pack of lead weights on their back; jump over 12-inch-high fences. My favorite: Climb through the side door of a mini-van, then out the back door. Yes, there was a mini van parked in the middle. With llamas ducking and walking through it.

Other obstacles for llamas:

• walk by a blowing fan


• stand by a person who then Opened An Umbrella (do llamas not like umbrellas?)


• lead the llama over a plastic tarp (the llama I saw really DID NOT like doing this)


• stand by a person who ran her hand slowly over the llamas back

Contrary to popular report, I did not see any llama spit at all.

The alpacas: unbelievably cute. Surpassing bunny-cuteness, even. There were LOTS of alpacas: huacayas mostly, as those are the bulk of the herd that were allowed into the US. Some alpaca facts at this site. They sit like my cat does, with their legs folded demurely underneath.


Rabbits, alpacas, llamas, goats, and a bazillion different types of sheep. I had no idea sheep could get so big. The goats made all these worried-sounding naaaaaas most of the time.

Sheep!

More sheep! Nice horns, buddy.

I wandered up to the fiber judging area and felt different kinds of fleeces. I really didn't realize there were so many different breeds of sheep.

a Navajo Churro fleece. Look at those locks! (scratchy though)

Found the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. Oooh, the love. The color. The sock yarn! I bought a skein in the lightweight and a skein in the medium weight. I should have gotten 2 in the lightweight. I have ENORMOUS feet. No, truly. Size 11s, darling. I need a minimum of 400 yards of fingering weight for socks, but I was dazzled by the display and only bought 1 skein: 360 yards. Grrrr. Now I either need to get creative with the toes and heel or call them up and see if they have any more of that color and dyelot.

Blue Moon Socks that Rock in Puck's Mischief (lightweight) and Rooster Rock (medium weight)

Interlacements was also there! Fabulous! Really, I love their colors. I probably shouldn't of, but I fell in love with a skein of toasty toes. It was all that scarlet and eggplant and vermillion and deep sapphire blues and emerald greens. So much for self-control, bah. I would have tried tiny toes but did I mention the ginormous feet? There's only 340 (350?) yards in a skein I was a bit annoyed at having to buy 2 skeins and use only 50 yards of the second.

Interlacements Toasty Toes in colorway 213

I stayed away from the Mountain Colors but I probably would have been sucked into some Bearfoot if they'd actually had a booth and not just re-sellers.

I wasn't able to get close enough to the llamas to really take a good look; they were all at the back of the barn. But the alpacas.... Well, let me introduce you to Raspberry Truffles.


Or more correctly, her last year's fleece, transformed into laceweight yarn.

Raspberry Truffles is a "red" huacaya and I got to see a picture of her as a 2-hour-old cria. This laceweight I could not put down. I tried. I put it down, walked all the rest of the festival and still couldn't get it out of my head.

Yes, I like brown. This is an unbelievably rich chocolate brown. And soft, soft like air and goose down and the little fluff hair under my cat's chin.

I bought enough for a shawl (hopefully. 1000 yards should be enough, right?). Now my perfectionist side is Completely Obsessed with finding/creating the PERFECT shawl pattern for this yarn. I think we're leaning toward creating, as I want more of a geometric and less of a lacey effect, while still being Lace. Hard to describe - I guess I'm looking for something with a definitely structure - not so airy. Yet still lace. Hmmm. I've got the Barbara Walkers 1 & 2 cracked and I'll probably not be able to stop myself swatching soon, despite the unfinished state of Lily. (Actually, Lily of the Valley is on the final border! I added 4 more repeats to give it some more length. Wooo, home stretch!)

I'm glad I went (regardless of the schwag), I've always been concentrated on the end product - the yarn and fabric - and it was interesting to plunge my hands into the raw fleece it starts out as. Woulda been more fun with someone along, but on the other hand, I got to wander and gawk at whatever I liked, for as long as I liked. Now of course, I want a pet goat. Look at it this way, I'd never have to mow the stupid lawn again.

Easily amused

I saw this license plate the other day:

HRU2DU

Heh.

(it's an obscure reference to a made-up language in a novel; I like the book a lot but I also have a talent for remembering random facts and details from books, movies, and music I've enjoyed. That ability was extremely useful for did-you-read-it English exams; isn't very useful now, unless I were a reference librarian or something)

Screw Rhinebeck, I'm going to Oregon Flock & Fiber!

I don't spin, but I can still feel the fiber festival love. You all seem like you have such a good time, hanging out with people who actually know what a cast-on is. Around this time of year all I ever seem to read on the blogs is Rhinebeck blah blah blah meetup blah blah Rhinebeck blah fleece blah blah Rhinebeck. Darlins, it's too far to fly to New York for sheepy goodness. I need some West Coast happenings.

I know, there was Estes Park, but that's also an expensive plane ticket away, it was back in June, and, um, none of them knew me from a shawl-stealing axe murderer?

Hey, so I am going to Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in the grand metropolis of Canby, Oregon, THIS WEEKEND! WOOOO!

In honor of my west coast homies, I present:

The OFFF drinking game
Fun for the whole over-21 family!

Instructions:

Take a drink when you see:

• The Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth!


• Another if you escape with only enough yarn for one pair of socks


• The Llama Barn! LLAMA! LLAMA! (duck)


• Pygora goats. (you must NOT expire from the cuteness)


• Raining? Better get a coffee (-1, too tipsy = slippery)


• Raining hard? Better make it a double. Espresso. (-2, really too tipsy = stuck in the mud/eaten by slugs)


• Fleece to shawl competition! Drink an extra shot for those hard workers.


• A Huacaya alpaca. +1 more if you know/have learnt the difference between them and the Suris.
  


• Yarn that you cannot live without


• Roving that you cannot live without.


• Family members/friends dragging you away from all that you can't live without (-1, more caffeine needed for fiber-lifting strength)


• Myrna Stahman (teaching multiple classes!)


• Carolina Homespun of San Fran-cisco! Rachael recommends their alpaca as being LUSH.


• A vendor or exhibitor from Boring, OR. Most honest rural town name ever.


• A Woolee Winder at work (why does that name always sound vagulely naughty to me?)

Winning conditions: Whomever is still staggering around with their yarn/fleece/take-home-sheep after all that deserves another drink! Or, go back to to Blue Moon Fiber Arts and make your buddies buy you some MORE! SOCK! YARN!

Wooo! See you Saturday!

Moon made of honey

I did go see the Yarn Harlot and it was definitely worth going despite having to stand for 3 hour -- she's hysterically funny. Go if you have the chance.

Finally posting the Honeymoon pics! Lots! of! pictures! Click for big.

This is the view from our hotel, the Tu Tu'Tun Lodge (rhymes with "you're darn tootin!") in southern Oregon. That's the Rogue River in the background.


The Oregon Jam Council wants to know -- are you in possession of jam?



Had to get in some knitting by the river (do I really hunch over that much?). Actually, first day there: didn't do much except sit around the hotel and veg. Both of us were just too tired of Doing Stuff. This lodge: very nice, very friendly, good food. But be warned: if you're not white, moneyed, and retired you're not the core demographic at this place. We ate WAY too much food - neither of us are used to more than 1 course dinners and breakfasts, and never dessert.

We did go hiking later on. We did a short 1-mile loop through an old growth forest.


And later headed for the coast. This is the view of the Oregon coast from the top of Cape Sebastian - north.


The hike was 2 miles down to a sheltered cove then 2 miles back up again to the top of the cape.

Yes, there are actually sandy beaches. Here's the cove.


Most of the pacific coast is precipitous cliffs and small sandy beaches. Rugged, check. Dramatic, check. Hospitable to usual beach activities, no.

Islands and ocean. Lots of seabirds roost on these rocks and sections of immediate offshore coastline are wildlife preserves.

Did I mention cold and windy? I grew up in the west, so the Pacific's the only ocean I've known. A friend of mine in college was from New Jersey and we took a beach trip one Saturday. He ran right in the water... and ran right out again, affronted that the water was COLD. We mocked his ignorance mercilessly and he refused to get his feet wet again.

That water just taken an extended vacation around northern Siberia, the Arctic, and Alaska, and is just now moving south again. Playing in the ocean consists of waiting until your feet get numb so you can't feel the cold any more. I visited the east coast for the first time when I was 11? 12? and my brothers and I were completely shocked to find that the water was warm. Lukewarm-bath warm! In Massachusetts!

I'll reiterate the windy part. Too windy that particular day to fly the kites we'd brought.

Um, yeah.

Yay! Friday! Hooray!

Did that distract you? Yeah, me neither. Although that is a happy thought.

Wish I were going to Venice and Brussels with Rachael and Lala, but 1) I haven't ever actually met either of them nor do I know them well through the Internets, and 2) foreign travel isn't in the cards right now. Sitting here looking out at all the green trees and the clouds (it's been raining on and off) I wish I were in Dublin, though.

I don't really have an exciting career, and it usually requires little to no travel, but 2 years ago I got a phone call out of the blue from my boss asking me if I could go to Dublin. Ireland, yes. The next day. I told him I had a doctor's appointment the next day but I could swing it after that, and 2 days later I was on a flight to Ireland.

It's a convoluted and, more essential to why I won't go into details, work-related story why I got sent there, but Dublin sure was fun. Despite there being... problems with the business-related aspects of why I went, the people I worked with there were exceedingly friendly, as was just about everyone. Dublin's a cool town. Plus you get the most fabulous accents (drunker you got, the less comprehensible. Fabulous.) I spent a week and a half there, then another week later on, and despite having to work part of the weekend and putting in late hours the rest of the time, I got some time to myself.

I'm not really a good tourist, because most of the thing I really like to do in unfamiliar places is to feel familiar and not like a tourist. I do that by walking around a lot and looking at stuff. So I got to walk all over Dublin and took random tour bus things and ate very well (oh, the food. Irish food is wonderful). Luckily I was staying in a very posh hotel right off St. Stephen's Green and about 100 steps from the end of Grafton Street, the big wander-through-the-shops area of Dublin. So, easy to get to just about everything.

The weather was similar to Oregon's, except more variable. So it already felt like home. It's a lovely walkable town with lots of interesting things and people and I wish I could move there and drink at the pub on Fridays and be one of the Dubliners. I'm trying to push K into a Real Honeymoon (tm) there but it really is a long flight and honestly? Kinda looks and feels like Portland. Yeah. Or Seattle. But older. (I like the sense of history about everything.) So it's not really an exotic location.

But it's a comfortable place. And to be honest, I don't like touristing for adventure. I like vacations to be laid-back and low-key. I could take him through St. Stephen's Green to see the ducks, past the Oscar Wilde statue, then over to the canal and the swans. Up and down Grafton street and then over to Guinness to play tourist and make fun of the ridiculous Like-Disnleyland-Only-Its-Beer tour they have. Through Trinity college to see all the old buildings (my favorite: the Dean who declared women would be let in "over my dead body." He's buried beneath one of the bigger promenades and women were admitted the year after his death. Bwhahahaha) and the child singers and the woman playing harp on the street corner. Oh, and a fabulous dinner or 3 or 7. And then a long slow evening at the pub.

I think a long slow evening at the pub is just the thing for tonight.

Obsession

Yes, still obsessed with the Silk Garden beanie. I'm not one for project fidelity, if you haven't already guessed that.

How do I put this politely? It's my own hobby and I'll damn well do what I enjoy. The quilters pull this guilt-to-finish thing on themselves all the time. Why should I make myself feel bad about something that's supposed to give me pleasure? I suppose that makes me a process not a product knitter (or quilter).

Anyway. I have not given up on Lily or the K sweater or the in-preparation-for-the-K-Sweater-sweater. I just wanted to see what the Silk Garden would look like knitted up. And it is oh so seductive. I'm a sucker for this yarn already and this colorway - 82 (on closeout at WEBS because it's a discontinued colorway) - is beautiful. Subtle, greyed shades that flow slowly into each other. It reminds me of beachcombing for agates and jasper on the coast, and the look of the stones when they're wet and gleaming on the beach.


I've saved this knitting so that I only do it during the day, in natural light, because otherwise I miss the true colors and gradations that I am fascinated with.

Of course, I suspect that I'd enjoy knitting with any friggin' Silk Garden colorway. Yes, I know about the high amount of vegetable matter. I pick out burrs and twigs and I do not care. I know it's thick/thin and sometimes overspun and sometimes under. Some Silk Garden was so underspun that a good tug pulled it apart. I still don't care.

Pretty flowers

I can't really say I'm a gardener, but I've got a thing for the plants. Now, the place I live was built in the 1920s and has landscaping to prove it. I have no desire to kill the beautiful huge dogwood that overhangs the front of the house. Oh yeah and the soil = heavy clay, so not all that great of conditions (the calendula loves it. go figure). And K likes him some grass (bleh, grass. Not my favorite except to walk on), so I do most "gardening" in pots.

I'm a sucker for a pretty face so I REALLY should go nowhere near plant nurseries from April through September, but flowers! pretty! sigh.

Hey, I actually have some favorites and do some research and don't impulse-buy everything. Mostly.


This is my black-eyed susan vine, Thunbergia alata. I've been wanting to try this one for awhile. They're in a pot twining over the rusty bits in the iron railing, and the flowers are the most beautiful peachy-red shades. That's some sapphire lobelia growing out of another pot.


Lilac-colored lobelia and purple brachycome - aka Swan River Daisy. Leftovers from some other pots, I just threw them into a basket together. Worked ok, but they need some bigger-leaved things in with them so they don't look paltry.


Some of the big peach roses growing out front. Lesson to me for this summer: if you water the roses, they get don't get as diseased. Yeah, I know, duh.

Behind

In more ways than one.

I had a post all composed on Friday. But it was a little... personal and just a bit bitter and I haven't decided whether I'm going to post it yet or not. It's marinating. Does the world need more public bitterness? Or more self-centered whining blog posts? No, probably not.

Sunday I got my crap together and exported the honeymoon (abbreviated) photos and wrote a cute little "My Honeymoon (minus the sex)" post and then the mouse stopped working and blogger's server decided to not accept photos.

Um, so, not much here. Still got the cold. Vampires called again. I must really be on their shit list now ("what do mean you're still coughing?" Actually I'm sure they were very nice; K took the phone call when I was taking my dammit-I'm-sick nap). I almost cried this morning because

1) I really don't want to be at work today, and

2) I stayed late on Friday to try to fix some problems and none of them worked on Monday morning when they were tested.

I can't go home, there's too many pressing things to do, and I need to keep my gainful employment. So I'm just hunkered down, poking at things with my little virtual sticks until they squeal and bite back. I'd make a terrible doctor (what the HELL is wrong with you?)

So here, I will distract you with the Pretty Flowers. Pretty, pretty!

Oops, blogger's pic server is still unhappy. Pretty flowers later!

I started a Silk Garden Beanie this weekend because I can't keep my hands off the silk garden. There's pictures at that link! Go and enjoy. It's a quick knit and I can't believe how easy it is to keep me entertained; just give me some self-striping wool and I'm fascinated.

Feh

So it's that kind of day where everything is falling apart and there are no triumphs, only disasters. Hiding under my desk and crying seems like a good idea and NO I DO NOT WANT TO COPE with any of my coworkers or the bloated pile of fecal matter a.k.a the software tools I need to perform my job. Innocent and guilty alike are getting big FUCK OFF AND DIE thoughts but, please don't take it personally.

In any case. I'm going to see the Yarn Harlot talk tonight at Powell's Cooks & Gardeners (oops, that's "Powell's Books for Home and Garden" now) and hopefully some beforehand comfort knitting will make me less likely to want to kill people. I missed last year because, well, I wasn't yet reading blogs and I'd just started knitting a few months before. I'm looking forward to seeing her as a real person instead of pictures and words. Can't quite fathom it, it feels like meeting a person from a tv show (not the actor, the actual character) in real life.

JUST. HAVE. TO. GET. THROUGH. THE. WORKDAY. GRRRRRRRRR