First Engagement Shoot

Hi everyone! Just a little cross-posting to say that I did my first engagement shoot last weekend! Sarah, whom I spoke about here first, and her fiance came up from Providence for the shoot around Boston's Back Bay. I guess we are getting our reward for making through the endless rain this summer, because the leaves were (are) still intact even now, which made for a very lovely, autumnal shoot. I never did appreciate just how beautiful Commonwealth Avenue is, with its trees all aglow from leaves and Christmas lights alike. And Sarah & Rich, they were such a great couple. I still need a lot of work in posing people, but they sure helped me out by being relaxed, playful and comfortable in front of the camera. Not to mention gorgeous.

I can't wait for their wedding next year. Really can't wait.

To see more photos of the shoot, visit here.

Oh and this post has to do tangentially with knitting because I wouldn't have gotten this gig if Cirilia hadn't hooked us up. I feel like I owe her a bit of commission!

It's December. Wow. Time to get cracking on my goals and wishes for 2010. The list is going to be long.

Comments [2]
Filed Under: Life | Pet Photography

Trying to work it!

Hee. Thanks for all the What to Knit advice! I wasn't expecting replies to my whining. I think I might be ready to get back into sweaters, so I liked Monica's suggestion of Novak in the latest twistcollective. Love the collar.

I also liked Marisa's suggestion of Kate Davies' Paper Dolls (Rav link) sweater, because it led to me Kate Davie's Owls sweater. OMG owls! And in bulky yarn. I'll have owls in no time. I know this sweater has been around the block but as you might have guessed I haven't been keeping up with latest news in knitting. I have however, lately developed a thing for owls. First of all, they're cool and second, in Chinese the word for "owl" - or words really - literally translates to "cat-headed hawk." A hawk...with a cat head. How can I resist anything with a cat head? I cannot! So I think that's what I'll be knitting next. As soon as it stops being a billion degrees.

Hey. In other news (photography-related o'course), I just finished writing up a contract.

A photography terms and services agreement for the bride and groom to peruse, understand, agree to and sign, and return along with a retainer fee. I feel SO GROWN UP! I took about 6 example contracts plus tons of advice on flickr groups to cobble up a version that suits me - on the up and up, yet easy to understand. I tried to use as little "hereunders" and "hereinafters" and "Title 17 US Code Section 101s" as possible. A few might have snuck in.

Oh did I mention: I was booked last month for a wedding in Sept 2010! Knitting had something to do with it. And we did it sans agreement! Risky, but no, not really. In any case I will be sending the contract to the B&G soon. They are the housemates of Cirilia of Berroco's. I photographed Sarah's exuberant dog in April, and in return she made me custom letterpressed cards (swoon). She was engaged already then and has been keeping up a blog with all her wonderful ideas of how she wants to put together her wedding - it was going to be rustic and simple but with exquisite attention to detail and style, and family and friends. There would be a lot of DIY flair. And things you might see in a Martha Stewart spread. Our aesthetics seemed perfectly aligned. They hadn't nailed any one thing down, not venue or time or place, but already could immediately see that if I had to choose one type of wedding to shoot, it would be theirs. If I were to ever do such a thing as shoot weddings, that is. Wedding photog'y was still a tiny speck of an idea in my brain then.

Well they nailed down a venue not long ago - at a working farm in Maine!!! - as well as the date, and by then I had decided I'd start shooting weddings. Hers was always the one I kept referring to in the back of my mind as the ideal, but she had told me back in April that they'd probably be using a friend photog. I'd leave comments here and there on her blog, hoping she might change her mind...

So I was SO VERY EXCITED when Sarah asked me to their main photographer. And she wants some portraits with cows. AAAAGAGAGAKUGGG! (that was a happy noise, trust me) It's going to be an awesome wedding. Sept 2010 seems so far away. And wow. 2010. What a crazy looking number.

But yes, so far this is all a verbal agreement, so I'm happy that I finally got my contracts together and do this legit.

Also, I'm bringing a copy of the contract to my VERY FIRST CONSULTATION this afternoon. With a perfect stranger! Her wedding will be downtown in a historic church this December (on my birthday no less, but I won't mention that. I had thought about it thinking maybe that would work to my advantage somehow, like, "Hey omg that's my birthday it would be SUCH A GIFT to shoot your wedding on my birthday!!" So cheesy but more to the point, Duck rightly said it's about her day and not mine, and to keep it that way.)

Wish me luck and send good vibes so she'll book me!

Anyway, why am I talking all this photog stuff on the knitting blog instead of the photog blog? I will have to write this again on the other blog. But I dunno. I just felt like sharing this exciting news with my knitterly friends first. :)

Comments [5]
Filed Under: Life

I've been up to stuff

So what have I been up to? Well, in the last couple of months I did manage to finish up Wanida, which I gave to my SIL for her birthday.

Pattern: Wanida by Cookie A's Sock Innovation
Yarn: Sundara Yarn in Candied Chrome

I've also been doing a lot of pet photography, which has been so surprising and so great. And fun! There have been a lot of puppies - YAY - and Labs and English and German pointers, strangely. I say strangely because I don't think I've ever met one before this year, and now I see them everywhere. I have some more appointments coming up, including a couple of horses and a Shar Pei which I am SO excited for because I've never ever met one. Their folds should be interesting to photograph. The one thing my portfolio is seriously lacking however, are kittens. Where are the kittens?!

Anyway, here is a little collage of some of the new friends I made the last two months, in no particular order. But the puppies do get to go first!

I've also been doing some people photography - weddings. I did my first wedding back in March and had to be practically strong-armed into it. When I hear things like, "If you can make cats look good, then you should be able to make people look like supermodels," I want to run screaming for the hills. Nothing could be more dangerous than comparing yourself to a cat. For one, I tend to find cats to be infinitely cuter than most humans. And for two, cats are SO MUCH EASIER to photograph. But maybe that's just me. In any case, these potential wedding clients force-fed three rounds of martinis in me before I said yes.

And wouldn't you know it, I had a blast. Subjects who sat when you said Sit! and stayed when you said Stay! How refreshing.

Since then I've done several more as a second shooter, plus one rehearsal dinner on my own, to see if wedding photog is something I indeed wanted to get into seriously (forgive me if you've heard all this before on the other blog!). The world needs another wedding photographer like it needs a hole in the head, right? Can I possibly bring anything new to the table?

I don't have the clout at this point to dictate the kind of wedding I'd like to shoot, but I definitely definitely very definitely have a kind of wedding that I'd love to shoot, and be my niche. My ideal wedding would be intimate backyard, barnyard, in a forest, under a tree, beachside affairs, with a lots of DIY details and flair, tons of flowers, candles and booze. And somewhere around 50-100 people...

...I'm pretty much describing our own wedding 7 years ago, which we had on a tiny island off Puerto Rico. It was perfect - a super fun, 3-day affair with close friends and family, wonderful in every single way. Except for one thing.

What it comes down to now is me redeeming my poor choice of a photographer by shooting my own wedding. Because oh man if I could do ONE thing over again, it would have been to sink 90% of our budget into hiring the perfect photographer. I didn't because it wasn't worth the expense. And this coming from someone who has always loved and appreciated good photography. I am seriously the worst consumer - I would hate to get myself as a client!

So if anyone is planning a small wedding this year or the next, give me a shout!
Email me at
fatorangecatstudio *at* gmail *dot* com

Last but not least, I'm still doing Bunny&Veebs photography. The latest craze are action shots - not easy to do in indoor lighting I might add. But I have the greatest subjects ever and oodles of patience. You have no idea the hours I've spent amusing myself in this way. Those guys, they'll do just about anything for a single morsel of kitty treats. Love them!

So that's it! Thanks to any readers who are still visiting this site! xoxo

Comments [18]
Filed Under: Cats | Life | Pet Photography

Everywhere but here

This blog, biz blog, twitter, fb, flickr, raverly...I need to join another social network like I need a hole in the head.

But after a lot of hemming I've just put up a facebook page for the photog business. So far I have just 4 fans, and that includes me and Duck, heh. Become a FOCStudio fan, won't you?

Honestly I have no idea how a biz FB page will differ from my personal profile...or why I should ALSO have a biz twitter account and do I say things there that I wouldn't on FB or do I say the same thing? Blergh. The whole thing makes me want to throw up into the huge time sinkhole that I've created.

Where do you guys find yourself most often? Twitter? FB? Rav? Flickr? Your own blog? All of the above?

In knitting news, I have none.

Oh, I finally met Ms. Berroco (very briefly) last weekend in Providence. She put in a good word for me to her housemate who owns a Lab mix, and we did the shoot a week ago. She was hilarious, you can see the photos here. And the best part - and I got a set of custom letterpress cards in exchange! Swoon.

And a public service announcement to anyone in the Boston area who may be thinking of adopting a cat, or knows of someone who is thinking about it. There are more than several adult cats who have been there for longer than is comfortable. It's kitten season, and during this time the older set tends to get overlooked. There are a few very sweet boys and girls who are still looking for a warm and loving home. If you're in the area, stop by the shelter and ask to visit!

Ms. Marmalade

Figaro (my favorite! he's been at the shelter for so long!)

Stash

I hope next time I blog here I'll have some knitting to share. All these online...PLACES I live in is kicking my ass.

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life | Pet Photography

It all started with yarn

Starting out on a new career path is an extremely scary thing. You're not sure if it's all folly, a lapse in rational thinking because you're having an especially bad day at work. You're not sure if you'll have the time, the finances, the energy and courage to follow through. It's too much of a risk. You're already afraid of failing before you've even begun. But before you get mired in having all the right answers to questions that don't yet exist, take the first step and Say it out loud. Your dream, your fantasy, your wish. It's the biggest step. And say it like you mean it. I want! I want I want I want! For sure, just saying it out loud has been the best first step I could have made. You just never know who's out there listening...

A month after I announced out loud to myself and Duck that I wanted to be a photographer, I got my first paying gig.

At this point I still had no clue what kind of photographer I wanted to be. I daydreamed, nightdreamed constantly. Sundara and I had been emailing back and forth during this time, and in the middle of a particularly bad week at work, I blurted out, "I don't want to be a web developer anymore. It's not my true calling. I want to be a photographer." But how, right? How? I heaved a million forlorn sighs.

And who knew what would happen next? Even though I meant it, the remark at that moment was offhand, same as saying, "I need to win the lottery." But I did say it, the right thing at the right time to the right person. To my shock and almost horror, she took me up on it immediately, hired me on the spot to take product photography of her yarns for her new site. The whole arrangement was hammered out in a series of emails that were typed in all caps because I was literally screaming with excitement. By the next week, a box full of glorious yarn arrived at my doorstep, and I was officially a photographer! Paid! With money! To photograph YARN. Which many times I do FOR FUN. To Duck I said, "Pinch me!" To Sundara I said, "Marry me."

Every week for the next several months, a shipment of yarn came to the door. Every week I photographed a dozen or so skeins in the traditional, "full-length" pose with a stark white background, post-processed them, optimized them to 3 sizes, and uploaded them to the site.

I also photographed them in additional poses, and those were included in the site as well. We called these "Glamour Shots." So fun. So so so so so unbelievably fun. A job that doesn't feel like one. Can it always be this way, please?

Sundara had given me "creative license" to photograph the skeins in whatever manner I saw fit. One thing I tried was to give the skeins some personality, if such a thing were possible in a skein. So the skeins below are actually swimsuit models. They're wearing skimpy bikinis, laying belly down on the beach and propped up by the elbows, cleavage spilling out and mouth half opened as they stare into the camera.

These initially made the cut, and then when they were on the site, Sundara was spooked. She was "scared" of them. Ha ha! Too aggressively suggestive for yarn I guess. Rar!! Hahahaha.

When I wasn't busy making p*rn, I let the beautiful colors speak for themselves.

Then came that sad day, that very sad awful day when All Good Things Must End. Sundara's new shopping cart site was crashing left and right at every update, and she had to change the way she sold her yarns. Instead stocking x number of skeins each week, she went to a monthly subscription process. It came down to a set handful of colors and base yarns each month, and with that it no longer made sense logistically to have me photograph her yarns. Sob.

The last shoot I did was for the Sock Collection.

Even sadder still is that I had to ship all the yarns back. No I did not get to keep them! (Although I did swipe a few on the way out, heh.) By now I had I think almost 100 skeins of her yarn, mostly in Sock. With a tear-stained face I gathered them together for one last hurrah.

Just recently I printed some of these group photos, as a way to test out a few printing vendors.

Sundara Yarns are worthy as "fine art" prints, no?

You never know how your first break might come about, who might turn out to be your biggest supporter. Put yourself out there, and someone just might take you up on it. When I told family of this gig, they were very confused. They were like, Yarn? All this so people can buy yarn? What? Who is she? Sun-dar-a? What kind of name is that? Dyes yarn full-time, really? How did you meet? And they get more fascinated still when I say that we have never met (yet!).

Being given a chance by a stranger could only be possible with the crazy phenomenom that is blogging. Specifically KNIT blogging. The knitting community amazes me.

So that's how I got started on photography. It was the best gig ever. Thank you, Sundara. Thank you very, very much. :)

Comments [27]
Filed Under: Life | Pet Photography

Right in front of me

The exact moment I decided I wanted to get really serious with photography was back in Apri/May 2008 while at my parent's house in Atl. I was helping them prepare their move to Beijing. At one point I was strolling through the internet and stumbled upon this wedding photographer's blog. Her photos just blew me away. I had kind of been stalking her blog a long time ago when it was in another incarnation, before all this. It seems her whole foray into photography was fairly recent, and the fact that someone had the ability to recognize that natural talent within them and turn it into a new career path was just, wow. Wow kapow! I was both inspired and envious at the same time. And even a little...sad? Is that the word? Sad for me and my lack of foresight/ambition/courage that I never saw it in myself to do the same. It never occurred to me that photography could be more than a hobby. I loved to do it, but never thought to push myself to take it to the next level.

Right after reading every single post and drooling over every single photo, I called up Duck and said, I want to be serious. I want to become a photographer. I had to say it out loud so that the universe would take note and keep me to my word. Because sometimes, I'm really flakey. But this made sense. I wasn't afraid.

I was however, puzzled. Now what? How does one start? What kind of photographer do I want to be? How do I set myself apart? I knew I did NOT want to do weddings. We could cross that off the list. So what then? I needed a niche. But I had no clue.

I was going to think really hard about it though. I was going to read books, play with my camera more, gain more technical knowledge, all the while thinking about what my niche could be so that when the time came, I'd be that much more prepared.

But in the meantime, I'm going outside to take portraits of my dog Mocha...

I love these photos. They make me laugh. The answer was in right in front of me but my again, my mind and my eyes were closed.

They make me a little misty-eyed too. Here she is, enjoying what would be her last spring under the southern sun. Don't worry, Mocha is doing well, but poor girl. She's had a rough 6 months. She's too old for this.

Here is the very overdue update:

My parents left for China in May. Most airlines do not allow pets in cargo from May until September, so there was no way she could go with them then. A family friend had agreed to take Mocha in until September, and they had a trial run with her when my parents went away for a weekend. They left her in the backyard, and frantic as she was to get home, she dug a hole under their fence and escaped. Somehow Mocha ended up at her vet's - probably a neighbor found her and used her collar tags to drop her off - but at the end of a single day my parents friends decided they could not host Mocha.

Having no other alternative, my mom boarded her at petsmart, confined to a little room and taken out only once a day. So sad! I cried. I wanted to take her in Boston but the cats, however sweet they may be with humans, would have eaten her for breakfast, then pooped her out and covered her in litter. I called every weekend to make sure she hadn't died of a broken heart. She was there for over a month until another friend of a friend (very complicated) heard of Mocha's sad little orphaned story and took pity. She had 2 dogs of her own and was willing to host Mocha for a much smaller monthly stipend than petsmart. Mocha was signed out and was able to live in a comfortable home again. So that worked out great...

...until Mocha, after 6 weeks, turned on the other dogs. I am 100% sure this stemmed out of jealousy for the human. Obviously she got comfortable, became attached, and another animal competing for the beloved human's attention had to leave. Except Mocha forgot that she was the guest! This woman tried her best to control the situation, but when it became clear that Mocha had become the house bully, she had no choice. OH MOCHA.

So back to boarding school she went, there for another three whole months before my parents finally were able to come back and fly her out to Beijing. And she survived the flight, from Atl to DC to Beijing, without a drop of water or a bite of food. When my mom went to find her at the airport, the containers of water and food remained unopened in the crate, bowls empty. OoooooOOoooo I get so mad thinking about it.

The reunion with my mom was probably absolute heaven. City-dwelling dog, living high on the 26th floor, finally by mom's side. Except that it only lasted only about a month! My parents had to come back unexpectedly to the States for more visa BS (long story) which will keep them here for another 2 months. That's where we are right now. Moch taken to another dog hotel, this one for pets of ex-pats specifically. Apparently they're very good, she gets free reign of the office, the owner of the boutique takes Mocha home with her at nights, and she even has a photo album on facebook. They called her a "young lady." I don't like looking at it though because it makes me want to cry some more. The last time I saw her she was in my mother's garden, eyes squinting in the warm sun, sniffing roses. Now she's in suffocating, smoggy Beijing, where pantless toddlers run amok, bouncing from one foster home to the next. POOR OLD GIRL.

But when my parents go back next month, they'll be moving into a big house with a nice yard, so things can only look up for our brave little poodle.

Really though, she wants nothing more than your foot to rest her chin on. Oh I miss her!

Comments [18]
Filed Under: Life | Pet Photography

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

I love ya, tomorrow. You're only a daaaaay aaaaaa-waaaaaaaay....

Comments [5]
Filed Under: Life

Bye, summer

Well. Summer's officially over. I've given up hope of having those final few days of unexpected, uncomfortable heat before I started pulling out the sweaters - I HATE pulling out the sweaters - but it looks like it's not to be. Haven't seen the sun in days, and tomorrow October comes. Already! As much as I like wearing my handknit socks, I choose you, flip-flops. I choose you.

Here is one last homage to summer, when we let Bunny out on the roof, supervised. His pink rabbit nose went into overdrive smelling all those outdoorsy city scents. I think he had a nice time up there. As did I.

Comments [11]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

Hold me

Just had a traumatizing frustrating afternoon at work. Need a martini to chug and a fat orange cat to hold.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

This town is all about the parades

First, on Saturday the Pride Parade rolled into town.

Afterwards all the bodies crammed themselves into a block party half a block from where we live. You couldn't get away from Cher and Whitney and George Michael all afternoon long, the music was all OOMPTUH OOMPTUH OOMPTUH, the floorboards were shaking, the cats were like WTF, and I was all I CAN'T BELIEVE I GET TO LIVE HERE.

Then yesterday, the Celtics Rolling Rally, which I stopped by on my way to anthropologie. Ha! Ha ha!

Boston. I love you.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

Like working from inside a Bartlett pear

We've been in this condo for almost a year. Hard to believe. There was only one bit of major work that needed to be done, and that was to refinish the upstairs flooring. All three bedrooms were covered in this hideously dirty, white, wall-to-wall carpeting. Whoever invented white carpeting needs to die. Whoever took the white carpeting to hide the pumpkin pine flooring from the 1890's also needs to die.

Had the schedule allowed, we would have gotten the floors done before moving in. Alas. But it had to be done. So last month we bit the bullet, moved all our stuff upstairs down to the living room and kitchen and lived like packrats for a couple of weeks while the floors were sanded and finished piecemeal. The really really heavy pieces - bureaus, office desk, elliptical machine - we left in the rooms, sort of dismantled if possible and pushed to a corner. Once one area of a room was completely done, we'd move the furniture to that side, and then the sanders would finish the other. The process took 100 times longer than normal. Humans and felines alike were getting cranky. Two floors of furniture crammed into two rooms, living out of suitcases, dust everywhere despite best effors to keep it contained, cats crawling around everything despite best effors to keep them contained, not being able to find anything, and hey I think I just realized why I stopped knitting for a bit there. There was no ZEN. You cannot knit without the ZEN.

The results were totally worth it though. The original pine flooring has been returned to their former glory.

This is the office. Where all the blogging magic happens.

Before, as furnished by the previous owner:

After:

Our office desk is significantly larger

In Between the Before and After:

Floors sanded to a warm blonde, stained to a warm amber, then varnished to a glow.

We also knocked down the wall that covered the chimney. Obviously at some point this was a working fireplace, but no more. Unless we want to burn the entire rowhouse to the ground. We almost exposed the whole wall over there but decided we needed the wall space, and long column of brick was more accenty than an entire wall of brick.

The wall color was inspired by this outfit from the now-defunct Blueprint Magazine, March/April 2007 issue.

I love that crisp pear-green skirt accompanied by the pale gray/blue shirt. I almost went with that gray/blue for the office, but will do it for the adjacent bedroom instead.

Next I throw some things on the walls and some nice rugs on the floors (just around the desk for the chairs, not going to cover up those floors too much!) and then it'll be 1 room down, 2 more to go...

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Life

Hello summer. Please stay awhile.

I had a goal this weekend. Come hell or high water, I was getting started on the Roofdeck Garden of 2008. Yes, the 95+ degree temps did make the process a bit uncomfortable, but last week the heat turned on for a few minutes each day in the house, so what I would say to 100 degree temps at this point is, SABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP. In fact I relished working in the heat, like a self-imposed rite of passage towards summer. One has not properly enjoyed summer until one's sweat glands have turned inside out.  So sunscreen-stained sweat drained happily into my eyes, underpants laminated themselves to the cheeks, dirt hitched a ride on the skin, and it felt great. I got a ton of exercise, a decent tan, enjoyed the view...have I mentioned how much I really love living here?

This is before. There are about 10 containers up there and all of them are filled with a dead trunk sticking out of the dirt.

This is after, if you can tell the difference. It's not terribly dramatic through photos but I assure you. The difference is there. There are more green things now. And the occasional yellow and orange and red things. At the garden center I bought a plethora of heat-loving, sun-loving all-around hardy plants - geraniums, lantanas, potato vines, petunias, hens and chicks, some other tropical dohickeys of various heights - and arranged them randomly in various containers.

Also moved the grill and deck table from the back to the front, just to spice things up even more. Eventually there will be a big umbrella for the table. It would be nice to be up here with the option of not scorching to death.

Here is the back of the deck, with views south. I was going to go for evergreen hedges but went for grass at the last minute. They are mundane and yet strangely elegant because of it. So swishy. In fact I think I would like to get a couple more. I planted strawberries and catnip too. Here's hoping they will remain unviolated by the neighborhood squirrels and Phillip, the cat next door who roams the upper decks.

Still a work in progress, but very much improved

There will eventually be a couple of lounge chairs to fill the space. Tonight I walk to Pottery Barn to investigate their deck chair selection. I will be very excited once those are in. And very tan. I'd also like to see if there are any outdoor "rugs" available that I could throw up there, to add more color and texture.

It's coming along though, it's coming along.

Here is the deck at sunset. Everything's in rosy, post-apocalyptic glow.

The next goal this summer is to enjoy this deck as much as possible with friends. There must be parties. There must be.

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Life

Ptown

Duck and I have been in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod for the past week with our friends. It's our 3rd annual Memorial Day Week getaway to our 3rd seaside town.

We've been mostly drinking and playing Mario Kart and eating bacon. It pretty much doesn't get much better than this.

Still not knitting much though. :(

Comments [4]
Filed Under: Life | Travel

Oh oops

Duck left last week. I'm still in Atlanta, still helping my Mom clean out the house. It's like a giant spider lived here, what with all the cobwebs and detritus of dried bug corpses littered in every unswept corner. Can't wait to go back to mine so I can start my life anew as a minimalist slash obsessive-compulsive neatfreak. I will be a caveman meets MarthaStewart, possessing only a sharp rock, and a couple of votive candles.

I was taking a break at friends' house for dinner last night. We were gossiping about old high school acquaintances - who has kids and how many, who are balding, who are married and who are already divorced - all that juicy stuff, which led to a discussion as to the appropriate age for marriage. Apparently age is pretty much the only deciding factor used to determine wedded longevity, and according to my high school buddy, I married too young. You're just feeling dumb that it took you 10 years to propose to your girlfriend, but look now you've already spawned! I countered. I'm still gettin' it AND sleeping eight hours a night haha! I like how old friends can be relied upon with all the non-sugarcoating. That led to some reminiscing about our wedding in Puerto Rico, and it was only after a full 10 minutes' discussion that I suddenly bolted upright and screamed, WAIT WHAT'S TODAY'S DATE?!?!

Today's Date (as in yesterday) would be our 6th anniversary. I would have mentioned it to Duck during the two phone calls we had earlier in the day. Had I remembered. Had either of us remembered. Heh.

April 27, 2002

Here's to 60 more years of forgetting!

Comments [11]
Filed Under: Life

Wednesday is for Where I Live

I live in Boston. For almost the last 10 years I lived in various suburbs of, none of them more than 5 miles away, but this past summer we moved downtown and what a lifestyle change it's been! All for the better.

We donated our car sometime in November, just in time to avoid the pains of the season's first major snowstorm. It is not fun having a car in the city with only on-street parking available which is impossible to find as it is. Since I work from home mostly and Duck takes the subway to work, keeping it no longer made sense. Now we just use zipcar (a very cool urban service) when we need a vehicle.

The side effect to not having a car anymore, besides the reduction in bills from not having to pay for insurance or gas, is that we are totally jacked! Two or three times a week we walk to the grocery store with our backpacks, and are not afraid to fill them with a large cantaloupe, a gallon of milk, a bag of apples, a roast chicken and a couple of bottles of wine, give or take several other items, and haul all that stuff home. We're walking everywhere, patronizing local shops and with a mall and two major bookstores nearby, I've find that we're shopping online less and less. Which means no need for shipping.

We support our local stores, we get our exercise, we reduce our monthly bills, we reduce our carbon footprint.

It's a nice win-win-win-win.

Comments [16]
Filed Under: Life | Wednesday is for Where I Live

Carnivore

Well it's been quite the work month for me, quite stressful and pressureful. As a reward for conducting myself with all that grace under all that fire (except for that one night on Valentine's when we were out with friends drinking and I started crying when talking about work) (not my most shining-est moment), I bought a little present for me on Friday - a Le Creuset grill pan that is super petite (enough to grill two steaks or 4 small burgers or 4 links of sweet Italian sausages), super heavy, and super cherry red. It's a piece of cookware that's super not shitting around.

Then I went around the corner to our local butcher to buy some steaks. I love having a local butcher! They don't shit around either when it comes to their produce or their meats. I asked one day if they had any duck - I'd like to try roasting a duck sometime - and they told me to order it on Tuesday so that it could be slaughtered on Wednesday at a farm nearby to be delivered fresh to the store by Thursday. How cute! So cute that I wonder why I keep putting off ordering that duck! Huh!

Everything is seasonal, from local sustainable farms. I'll be honest and tell you right now that I don't know 100% what "sustainable" means, except that it can be very expensive, but since it's all the rage with all the liberals, sustainable must be something worthwhile, right?

So we bought a pound of hanger steak from a grass-fed cow and grilled it up on my new grill pan.

While our tastebuds rejoiced, our jaws were very tired by the end of the meal. We were left to wonder how FAR this particular cow had to travel away from the barn to get to its patch of grass. You normally don't think about it but cows tend to get rather muscular when allowed to roam so freely.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life

Vowing to be more like TomBrady in 2008

Me: I wonder what it's like to be T0m Brady

Kitty: It must be great. He wakes up in the morning and is all hot. Then he has half the year off.

Me: You look in the mirror and you're like, Shit. Will you look at me.

Kitty: I have such a shitty work ethic - I would be like, Shiiiit my salary for this year could set me up for the rest of my life, I'm not doing jack. Throw the ball, run the ball, who cares.

Me: Hahaha.

Kitty: Dollar dollar bill ya'll.

Me: Yeah that's why we aren't T0m Brady.

Kitty: Exactly. Bad attitude.

Me: Oh to be the T0m Brady of web development...

Kitty: I show up for football practice and check my hotmail on the sidelines.

Me: I show up to the games, sit on the bench, and IM...

Me: ...Critique my fellow teammates' work and note that I could do better if I really wanted to, but it's my choice not to.

Kitty: Hahahahaha.

Me: Damnit T0m Brady.

Kitty: T0m Brady, you are a better person than me.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

The boys would like to wish you happy holidays

and especially a Meowwy Christmas!

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

Living in the city, Part I

What's better than autumn in New England, with plump, friendly squirrels burrowing and hopping on thick golden carpets of fallen maple and gingko leaves?

Fall at its finest in the Boston Public Garden.

When you don't have to rake a single one of them.

As I'm walking along the pile of leaves just outside our door, I am warmed by the knowledge that each week, courtesy of our newly bloated property tax dollars, there will be that trusty street sweeper coming by to clean away all the detritus, and that our weekends of endlessly filling and stomping dry leaves into Home Depot refuse bags are over, oh so over, to be replaced by the less chore-y task of strolling to and through the Public Gardens or the Commons and enjoying the autumn leaves the way they should be enjoyed: by sight, by smell. Not by rake.

So it's been 4 months since we ditched our suburban house for digs in the city and we are loving every. single. second of it. I don't miss our old house. At all. Right now as I sit here, SOCKLESS, in a T-SHIRT, with the heat cranked up to keep the place at a constant 72 degrees (and we don't even have a choice about that! No thermostat!), I think about the couple now at our old house and imagine what they're saying to each other as they're discovering that they've just bought an oversized ice-box, and oil prices are at an all time high. They're probably not high-fiving. Because they're fingers are all swollen and it would hurt.

In the new place, there are no weeds to pull. I mean is this Shangri-La or what?! This has been the extent of my gardening so far:

Planting bulbs - amaryllis and paperwhites - in pots to be brought indoors. This year I bought somewhere around 60 paperwhite bulbs, and have planted maybe half of them so far, in soil, or rocks, or sea glass. I'm hoping they'll begin blooming near Christmas time because there is nothing quite so nice as fragrant white paperwhite blossoms to add more holiday cheer.

So, in general I haven't really talked much about our new place, except for the mantle. I love that thing. I get a couple of emails now and then from people asking how I'm liking it, and I'm fine with talking about it one on one, but with the general public...We're so happy and feel so incredibly lucky that we get to live the way we do, but do you really want to hear about it? Because maybe I'll come across as an arrogant douchebag, and apparently that would be just about the worst thing in the world for strangers to think me a douchebag. And then there's that creepy feeling of being voyeured...I should really quit thinking so much. If you haven't noticed, my writing here as been few and far between as lately I do this back and forth in my head and then censor myself into silence. Dude, WHAT is the big deal?? This is a blog is it not?

Stay tuned for more douchebaggery!

Comments [16]
Filed Under: Life

Finally got that pony I've been asking for

I was going to show you the entrelac socks I just finished, but then something MUCH MORE EXCITING arrived at the doorstep this morning.

It's the dawn of a new era. Hello! to the very first Mac I have ever owned.

I have never seen prettier styrofoam in all my life.

(but Made by People With Small Delicate Fingers in China)

What a pretty pony you are.

Pretty is pretty much the only reason why I have this. That, and because it can run Windows, which is SO COOL. I mean, not Windows. Windows isn't what I'd call cool, at all, but it's what all the apps I use for my job requires, so I've never had a choice. But now I do, and I choose Mac, this pretty pony of a Mac that's been totally jacked up to be a real workhorse.

Right now I'm installing some stuff and I feel the same way I did when I was learning how to drive stick shift. You know how to work it, but everything's just a little off. It's a little terrifying.

Comments [17]
Filed Under: Life

He'll be out there until the bowl is empty

Halloween was sort of a bust on our street. A lion, a fireman, a ladybug, a black cat and a chocolate lab came by and that was it. The chocolate lab was a real one and boy did he have the droopy-eyed, you-know-you-want-to-give-me-a-piece-of-that-chocolate look down pat. His owner could not get him to resume pace. And actually the cat cannot be counted as a visit because she took one look at Duck and refused to cross the threshold, so I had to hand the candy over to her while her father picked her up and carried her across the street. So disappointing.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

Happy Halloween

I am in severe baseball withdrawal. This was the first year that I watched or listened to just about every single Red Sox game. Usually I don't start following until towards the end of the season. But ah I have discovered what a perfect pairing baseball and say, knitting makes. Neither requires your undivided attention, but done together you get to use all sides of your brain at once and still in a very non-taxing sort of way. I love listening to baseball and cooking, working, drinking, whatever. Last night after dinner I just didn't know what to do with myself. During Game 4 of the World Series I was probably the only Red Sox fan cheering for the other team, just so they could play at least another game. Just another game!

Game 6 would have been today, on Halloween, and with the weather as warm as it is, AH it would have been the perfect evening!

Woot! Big Papi at the Rolling Rally yesterday. Taken by Duck. I was too short to see anything.

While at the barber's the other day, Duck overheard that the way candy is doled out to trick-or-treaters in a Bostonian neighborhood where most people live in multi-family units is to just park yourself out on the front stoops and hand candy out from there. That sounds frightening to me, deliberately placing yourself in a position where you have to interact with strange little children or worse, teenagers who are clearly too old to trick-or-treat...But Duck seems up for it, especially when it means he gets to wear his Venetian Man-Bird mask. He's worn it, with a monk's robe, to parties past and while the beak kind of prevented him from enjoying the party drinks, it never failed to freak people out.

I wonder how little children will take it.

Happy Halloween!

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Life

Handknits are officially in vogue!

Have you seen this?

Twinkle's Striped Tunic, as it is called in Vogue Knitting's 2005 Holiday issue, is now the Butter Hill Funnelneck, part of anthropologie's fall 2007 sweater collection. Fascinating! So cool that as knitters we were able to be two whole years ahead of what was going to be fashionable in the stores! I only wish I had actually made this sweater like I meant to when I first saw this.

They're advertising it as an actual handknit, selling for $228.00. I might be crazy, but that price does not seem too unreasonable to me...

I mean I tried selling a pair of Red Socks once for more than that.

Here was an email I received recently from a Sox fan:

Here was my reply:

And then here was his reply:

I think I pissed him off. Oh well, art isn't cheap!

(GO SOX!)

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Life

Things in the kitchen

This post courtesy of my brain being currently unable to string words into interesting or useful sentences. The heat finally got to it.

Cookbooks.

Part of wedding registry. One person bought out the whole thing.

Fan.

Came with the new place. The previous owner had some eclectic tastes...

Cats.

He's always trying to sit on the keyboard.

Ducks.

Make way!

(They're measuring cups!!)

Cats and Ducks.

THE END

PS The side-to-side sweater is nearly completed, just had to get through the weather and a couple more inches of ribbing. Stay tuned! (GEEZ LOUISE was it hot. We spent the evenings grilling and over the dying coals we roasted marshmellows. Guess what though, I hate marshmellows! And yet I ate an entire bag! So gross! The heat made me do it. Also, the leaves are turning colors from being scorched. That's the last time I ask for an extended summer.)

Comments [17]
Filed Under: House |  Cat in the Kitchen | Life

Give me more summer days

So the first day of Fall was several days past, neighbors are placing potted flame-colored mums on their front stoops, and there's a wooly sweater blocking on the blocking board, smelling appropriately like a barn.

But as far as I'm concerned it's still Summer. Lucky for me, the weather is cooperating. 90F forecasted for the next few days!

Homemade sweet Italian sausages from our friendly neighborhood grocer

I'm here on the deck squeezing out every last drop. Am I the only person here who doesn't like Autumn? Probably...

Caprese salad, minus the mozzarella

One of the best things about being in a relationship is that you can eat all the red onions, and he'll still like you for who you are.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

Revisiting Santa Fe

A year ago today Duck and I rolled into Santa Fe, where we camped for 7 weeks and got ourselves into all sorts of sun-soaked, chile-soaked, margarita-soaked fun.

On our very first day there the Santa Fe Festival was going full swing in the plaza. There were parades and music and art vendors, like they were there to welcome us into town, and that's when we bought this:

The little bit of Santa Fe in Boston.

A couple of you asked about it on my previous post. It's called Sparrow Disenchantment and when we saw it we had to have it. I wish I could remember the artist's name. She had some really cool pieces.

An entire year ago! I can't believe it. 2 thousand miles way, we celebrated with brunch this morning at a Southwestern restaurant around the corner. I ordered a "Santa Fe Eggs Benedict," smothered in green chile hollandaise sauce atop a biscuit. I had something similiar in Taos except the sauce was deep shade of red from the red chiles and the biscuits were from yams and my god was it delicious. This dish here wasn't bad. It just didn't remotely come close to melting my teeth the way my first experience with New Mexican green chile did. Not wasn't expecting it to. That kind of dish wouldn't be polite in Boston.

The tiniest bit of Santa Fe in Boston.

Luckily we still have a several pounds of the hot stuff left in the freezer and tonight we're going to make grilled chicken swimming in obscene amounts of cheese and chile, the way it's supposed to be!

But I MISS YOU SANTA FE.

I miss the real thing. Hopefully we'll meet again soon someday...

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Life

Small adjustments

The living room, in the new place.

Furnishings that used to spread out over 3 rooms - so luxurious! - are now stuffed into one. Notice that eyesore of a basement couch and TV stand? Some of them will have to go eventually.

But this chubby little guy is going to stick around to enjoy the view.

All in all, we're adjusting to city livin' pretty well. Even though there's like, no storage space. (One bike leaning against the piano, one against the kitchen wall). Ah so you win some, you lose some. I think I'd take a overstuffed room with a view over closets any day.

Comments [16]
Filed Under: Cats | House | Life

Eye Candy Friday

Our first meal when we moved in consisted of champagne, left on the kitchen counter by the previous owner with a nice little note, and Wendy's. After moving we craved nothing but alcohol and grease.

The boys wanted to join in the fun, but we shoo'd them back down. Veebs was such an obedient cat that he made an immediate U-turn.

Bunny, however, would not be deterred. So we had to bring up the vacuum to stand sentinel next to the stairs. Bunny hates the vacuum, almost as much as other people sneezing. If we could get the vacuum to sneeze with a press of a remote button, we would have a fail-proof way of deterring Bunny from the stairs forever.

Sunset over Boston.

I likes living here.

Comments [21]
Filed Under: Life

Update

Sorry for the lack of any. The capable folks at comcast have not provided us with any internet access though they have commercials on teevee (which we can't watch because also, no cable) that advertise the EASE of transitioning through a move. All you have to do before your move is to go their web site and update your address and poof! your account will transition seamlessly to your new home.

Only we don't really trust web sites, probably because it is our profession to make web sites, and we know something you probably might already guess, which is that web sites, especially the biggest most corporate ones, are strung in place with the floss of cotton candy, so we called someone and talked to a real live person who also assured us the transition would be seamless, and well that person probably used the web to put in our ticket. So, no internet.

No internet, and no water. I mean, first there was water, and just when I got my hair piled high and the shampoo at its most sudsiest, there wasn't.

The single guy in the lower unit is renovating. After I finished my shower via bottled water, I asked him to give a heads up before his plumber shuts off the water to the entire building. I did it with a smile though, as it was the first time I was meeting this fellow building-mate (we met the other occupant below the day we moved in and WOW is she BUBBLY!!!). My first impression of him is already wobbly, but there was no need for him to feel the same about me!

(I also have this fantasy of being BFF's with all my neighbors where on warm summer evenings we'd all sit on the front stoop of our buildings and chitchat over a glass of wine. I've witnessed this scene countless of times already on other stoops. I've wanted to join in. And then I'd remember, Right. I am DEATHLY AFRAID OF PEOPLE.)'

Over the weekend we had found out from neighbors that he had a penchant for not paying his condo fees on a time which is why the other owners got a separate building management involved to go after him...but then last winter the building management didn't shovel the sidewalk well enough so all the occupants were fined by the city of Boston.

Lose-lose situations are sometimes funny.

Before that, an occupant in the second unit had gassed him or herself. Not so funny.

And way before that, this building housed a stained-glass and mosiac studio. One neighbor in the rowhouse adjacent is trying to find out the name of the artist, who she claims has important works in old churches around Boston.

Mosaic glass tiles circa 1920 (?)

Hee!

More photos soon...when I can find the USB cables...

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Life

All moved!!

Oh hi!

We have moved into our city condo, and we are very very very very very very happy.

Very.

The unpacking is taking much longer than I thought it would. Two days to unpack the kitchen, that's all I've been able to do so far. With the smaller space there's nowhere to put the pile of trash, nowhere to move...so after organizing our stuff for one room we have to diligently organize the trash as well. Breakdown all boxes, dissolve the dissolve-able peanuts, separate the styofoam from the plastic bubble wraps, unfurl the crumpled newspapers used for wrapping and put them in neat stacks for recycling and disposal later. It's taking more time than anything else but what can you do? Welcome to city livin'!

Yay!

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

A sneak peak or two

Yesterday we were allowed into the condo so we could take measurements for the move. The beloved purple and greenish couch is in danger of being left behind, sad face. But keep fingers crosssed that the movers are really worth what they're getting paid...

Once in though I quickly scampered to the roofdeck. Since it was raining cats and dogs during our first viewing, I had only a hazy impression of what it was like.

So this is what it's like, on a picture perfect summer's afternoon. View of the Hancock Tower - skinny side facing - unobstructed views of the neighborhood, no other decks to the immediate side of ours. La.

Luckily Duck was around because I never took the measuring tape out. Too busy imagining the first thing I was going to do on the roof. Immediately buy some plants for the start of my little urban garden? Put a couple of potted hedges here, here and here? Sunbathe and read? Sunbathe and knit? Sunbathe and read and knit over a tall glass of drink? What kind of drink? If I get too groggy from the liquor and the sun, the stairs might be too dangerously steep for me to navigate, so maybe we should sleep out here the first night? Roll out the sleeping bags and have ourselves a camping trip, count the number of low-flying planes we see ascend and descend under the urban sky?

This will be great fun.

When I finally made my way back inside, I snuck more than a few peaks at the photos lining the fridge, the wall, the shelves. A natural curiousity got a hold of me, the same sort that had me google the name of the buyers of our house to see who they were besides just the buyers of our house (I put all our photos away for our open house and inspection, I'm such a hypocrite!).

Today though I wasn't just curious to see what a twenty-something single gal living alone in a fabulous pad her parents bought looked like.

I was curious to see what OUR child might look like.

Bahahaha.

I mentioned in the previous post that the buyers of our house are the same demographic as Duck and me. Well guess what, the sellers are too! We're keepin' it all in the family!

So I was just curious, you know, as to how their daughter, who lives in the condo, looked. 

It was for, ah, research.

I don't even know what I'm saying.

I guess I'm a little fascinated with the phenotype of a mixed-race couple...in other words, what a potential Junior CatDuck would look like...in other words, whether our children would be exotic-looking...in other words...

Whether our children would be hot.

We should not be allowed to have children.

(Even if they might turn out to have honey-blonde colored hair, ooooo!!)

Comments [23]
Filed Under: Life

Move #1 completed

I signed up for the new domain shortly after this slightly whiny post and then for 3 months did nothing with it, exhausted from all the energy spent coming up with such a CLEVER name. That actually Duck invented. Not bad, huh?

It was quite the brainstorming session: domesticat.com was already taken, but I really wanted to continue using that moniker and build the brand, if it's not already established already (heh heh), in preparation for my ascension as a huge multimedia conglomerate. Anyway. domesticatknits.com was the next obvious choice, but then I didn't like the idea of limiting myself to just knitting, even though currently it is the craft of choice.

So here we are with DOMESTICRAFTS. The door is wide open for anything and everything under the crafting sun. And if you squint not too hard you'll notice that domesticat is still alive and kicking in there. Yay!

And I kept the subdirectory name clog - which aside from cat log, can now also stand for craftlog. Or cooking log. Or cocktail log. Or crazydrunk log. See? So versatile. Couldn't get rid of it!

As for Move #2, that is coming along. Two more weeks! The last couple of days have been the hottest of the year, and that was when I 1) chose to make risotto for dinner and 2) haul armful after armful of books for packing and donation.

I can't believe all the college books we'd been toting around from apartment to apartment to house. Bye bye forever you guys!

But that yarn stash has really come in handy.

How to pack a glass vase.

Look at the tower of Stephen King novels. Some of these are Duck's, but most of them are mine! From when I was in 6th to 8th grades.

Duck said he read Stephen King around the same age as well. What is it with pre-teens and gore? (Where were my parents?) Because though I'm keeping a few, like The Shining and It, I don't ever ever EVER want to see Pet Sematary again. Nor Cujo. Ever.

I guess the older I get, the more I like my pets cute and friendly and not undead. Sorry.

The house is in complete disarray, and it saddens me to think that when it gets put back together is when it is totally empty. So it is officially no longer lived in, at least not by us anyways, and I'm all sentimental and mushy sad about it.

But then maybe not so much will change. Did I tell you that the buyers of our house is the same, um, demographic as we are? Don't make me spell it out. OK I'll spell it out: the husband is lily-white Caucasian and the wife is dragon-red Asian. About the same age too.

I picture our neighbors going up to them saying, "I thought you guys moved."

Comments [23]
Filed Under: Life

Surrounding myself with June

I planted a couple of peony bushes in the front yard 4 years ago. My thumb is really more brown than it is green, so it's always a happy surprise when they come up and bloom each spring.

I've gathered a bunch of blossoms (so hard to muster the courage to cut flowers from their source, I don't know why) and put them all around the house. This weekend we had a lovely al fresco dinner - grilled steak, scallops, lots of wine, lots of candles - and the peonies served as the centerpiece.

I moved from the Extremely Orange Office upstairs to the hardly-used sunroom downstairs. It gets really cold here in the winter that we usually keep this room closed off from the rest of the house. During the summers it is furnished simply with just the red couch and a couple of chairs, and I'll occassionally knit here. But mostly, the room serves as the access point to the backyard deck, and that's it.

When we first moved here I had these grand plans of turning this room into a greenhouse, an English teahouse, with plants in every corner, covering the walls from top to bottom. There would be indoor butterflies and a finch in a cage, and we'd sit down for tea everyday at 4...

Only when we decided to sell this place did we spruce the sunroom up. No live butterflies or birds, but an empty birdcage and some simple but lush ferns placed at each corner of the room, a few knick-knacks and stray candles placed here and there. It made a huge difference. I want to be in here all the time now, especially with the old rhododendron and rose bushes blooming just outside.

I keep the windows open to let the perfume waft in.

Hee hee there are rose petals on his little cat head.

I didn't think I would but I am going to miss this house.

Comments [21]
Filed Under: House | Life

Hullo from Rhode Island

We are in the midst of our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Getaway with Kitty and her fiance. (This trip has been planned much more in advance than our plans to sell our house, if that gives any indication to how well Duck and I ready ourselves for major life events...) Last year we were in Ogunquit, Maine. This year we are in another seaside town of Jamestown, Rhode Island, just adjacent to Newport.

We have been eating seafood and making cocktails, of course.

A "Jamestown"

Look how pretty this drink is! Kitty has made an old-fashioned of sorts, which comprises of: fresh mashed cherries, sugar, a splash of orange juice, a dash of bitters, and bourbon over ice. We have dubbed this drink "The Jamestown" in honor of our week here.

Meanwhile, I made this...

A Pink Mojito

It's a pink mojito, the pink courtesy also of two mashed cherries. There is no cherry flavor per se, so they're there for color really. Pretty, no?

I have finished my glass and now must refill.

How I love the summer. Cheers to you all!

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Life | Cocktails

Good vibes gratefully accepted. AS WAS OUR OFFER!

Actually I don't think our offer was so much gratefully accepted as it was begrudgingly accepted. It was rather an interesting / worthy-of-a-case-study-for-burgeoning-real-estate-agents / wouldn't-really-recommend-it-to-others kind of transaction which I might talk about later but won't now because at the end of the day WHO THE !@#& CARES THEY TOOK OUR OFFER.

** Insert maniacal screaming here **

Some choice descriptions from the MLS entry regarding this property that make my eyes dilate, hyperventilate, and gestate (ok not quite but needed a third word to complete the cycle) as they read them:

Under Agreement! They agree! With us!

South End! It's in the US National Register of Historic Places!

1890 Rowhouse! Owning not just a home, but a little piece of history!

Fireplace! I smell the roasting chestnuts!

Roof deck! PRIVATE! ALL OURS! NO SHARING! CITY VIEWS!

Everyone's invited for martinis on the roof!

** We now take a short break to run around in circles **

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pendulum, the inspection on our house came back and the basement passed the radon test! Hooray, House, for passing! Whatever that was about!

Maybe now I can finally get a decent night's worth of sleep...On second thought, sleep? I'm too excited to sleep!!

Thanks all for sending your good vibes. Thank you thank you thank you! xoxoxoxoxoxo to all!

TEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEEEEEEEE!

Comments [48]
Filed Under: Life

Brought to you by the color Purple

Tulips | Boston Public Garden

Lilacs, my favorite flower, which I only encountered during my first May in New England, up in rural Connecticut. There are no lilacs in the South where I grew up. It was love at first smell. | Backyard

Wisteria, my other favorite flower, which grow as wild and thick as the kudzu in the South: up pine trees, around telephone poles, dripping from cables. Up here in the North, the wisteria behave in a more more civilized manner. | South End

 
Our house (in a color of not our choosing, fyi) for sale.

As it turns out, a house with a yard and picket fence is just not our thing. So, we're trading it for a shoebox with no parking in the middle of the city. And we can't wait.

After a lot of painting and prepping and touch-ups over the last month and a half, our house officially went on the market last week. We had an Open House on Saturday, 4 offers by Tuesday, an acceptance on Wednesday, followed by the inspection on Thursday.

Meanwhile, I'm one good swipe away from gouging my own eyes out as we wait for our offer on a condo - our DREAM HOUSE in the city! - to be accepted. I can't talk much about what this place is like because I'm afraid...to talk too much...would mean getting hopes up...better safe to be a glass half-empty kind of girl right now...that's the only way I can deal with the stress...

If you have good vibes to give, I'll take good vibes in any form you wish to send them: a coin tossed into a fountain, a warm thought, or body of a freshly decapitated animal. Anything will do.

Dude what a week it's been.

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Comments [22]
Filed Under: House Stuff | Life

Brought to you by the color Pink (and various shades of)

Pattern: Meida's Socks from IK's Favorite Socks. Pattern by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Poppy, just under one skein
Needles: US size 1

Phew. I got a pair of socks with barely a skein of Poppy at my disposal. I actually decreased the stitch count by 2 for each pattern repeat, resulting in a pair of very small socks. They're too small for me (you can't see in this photo, but when I wear these the heel of the sock is practically at the soles of my feet), but just right for a certain diminutive mother whose feet are the size of a pixie's. I sent these off in the beginning of the week, and she's already received them, just in time for Mother's Day.

E-mail from her this morning: You are something, the gift is so marvelous, can't believe you have so much patient!

Heh heh. So much patient.

And so much pink! Socks and spring are marvelous!

Dutch tulips from the garden

Flowering apple trees, Boston Public Garden

Pink blossom overload, Boston Public Garden

Meida's Socks, for Mom

Comments [20]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Life | Socks | Meida's

Brought to you by the color Green

Now I like Christmas probably as much as you do, but let's get one thing straight: Christmas is not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Spring is. Spring. Especially when you've had to slog through five, six months of cold, detestable winter that make your fingers swell indoors, spring tastes that much better when it finally arrives.

I'm so happy that spring's green is here that I'm going to overload this page with a gazillion pictures.

Golden Creeping Jenny

Glamour shot of BFL yarn custom-dyed for me by Scout

Unfurling peonies. Soon they will become this.

The season's first batch of mojitos.

More sock love.

I love you Spring.

Comments [26]
Filed Under: Life | Yarn Stash

Desperate for Spring

Oooo. I am in a foul mood. Today we are experiencing what meteorologists up here in Boston love to call a "wintery mix." It starts as rain, with flecks of snow thrown in. That goes on for a hateful amount of time until you add some wind to it to get a hateful mix of driving rain and snow. Add some more of that hateful "blast of cold air coming in from Canada" now you've got an all-out blizzard. It's April and I hate it I hate it I hate it. These shenanigans would never happen in Barbados. Or Santa Fe (right?). Why am I still here?!

In knitting news. Kooch is at a point where I can actually start seaming. And yet, instead closing in on my first FO in over a year, I have this:

The Triumvirate of Sock. They can not be stopped.

Anna socks from Rowan 40 in Koigu.

Anastasia socks by pepperknit in Koigu again.

Meida's socks from IK's Favorite Socks, in Lorna's Laces.
LOVE this pattern.

What can I say. Tulips, magnolia and cherry tree blossoms and blue skies will not make their appearances here for another month yet. This is what I must do to tie myself over.

Desperate needs, desperate measures.

Comments [33]
Filed Under: Life | Socks

We just assumed

My BFF, the recipient of the red Monkey socks and the one who gave me my nickname "Cat," became engaged back in October. Since then she's kept me appraised of all details - the church, the possible reception locations, the food, the color scheme, her dress.

However there was one very important piece of information missing from all this. And it wasn't until yesterday that I found out what it was.

"We need to discuss what flowers you will have..."

"Me?"

"...and will need to pair with your dress. Yes you get some flowers - "

"Me?"

" - either as corsage or bouquet or hair."

"But...am I..."

"Are you what, kitty?"

"I don't know!!"

"I had flowers at YOUR wedding. You get flowers at MY wedding."

"Yes but - "

"Why are you worried kitty?"

"You were a bridesmaid. Am I a bridesmaid?"

"You are a matron of honor."

"HAHAHA YOU NEVER TOLD ME."

"YES I DID. First thing!"

"No you didn't."

"Right?"

"You did?"

"Didn't I?"

"I don't think so."

"OH MY GOD."

Flashback to October 2006 when BFF's engagement was first revealed...

"FINALLY!!!  I can be BRIDESMAID! Heh."

"Yes you can!"

"HAHAHA!"

"I've had it in my head that I wasn't 100% bridesmaid because I invited myself.  And then we never talked about it after that. So I just assumed I wasn't..."

"Yeah I said yes you can and I thought that was it. Dude that's hilarious."

So at long last, hooray! I am officially BFF's bridesmaid! This will be the second time I've been asked to be maid of honor, but the first time that I will actually perform the task. The first time my relationship with the bride-to-be - who I'd known since 9th grade - completely dissolved months before her wedding. Needless to say it was ugly, and ultimately very sad. There was just no other way around it though. But that's another story for another day.

Right now I'm very excited to officially be my BFF's Cat of Honor. Thank goodness this comedy of errors has ended. During my recent trip to NYC in February she assumed I was there to shop for a bridesmaid dress. Ha ha! I wasn't! Which explains why she thought I wasn't really "into it." Imagine though if I had bought a dress, and it was all gold and shiny and low-cut and bedazzled with rhinestones. Imagine if we had kept up our assumptions until 2 weeks before her wedding?

Communication is key, people.

**********************

In knitting news, at long last I am on the sleeves of Kooch! This thing is far from being close to finished though. After the sleeves there's the collar to knit and attach. Then the border for the front, including button holes. Then the buttons to sew. Then the belt. One day my friends, one day.

**********************

The deadline - this Friday - for the Knitterly Letter Swap fast approaches! Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far. There are lots of you (yay!), and I am so pleased to have my organizational skills tested in this way. Heh. I have tried to reply to each person as "confirmation" but have lost track here and there. So if you haven't heard from me, don't worry. I have your info. Woot!

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Letter-writing | Life | Rowan | Kooch

Eye Candy Friday, and I want to set up an epistolary club but may be too unorganized and/or lazy

It's always nice to get flowers for no reason every now and then, isn't it? When Duck remembers this rule, he stops by the local flower shop after work, where the nice lady florist likes to come up with a medley bouquet such as the one above. Roses, hydrangeas, tulips, irises, orchids, apple blossoms...anything goes! Although I'm not sure if they do go. Hm. Anyway the flowers are still very lovely and very much appreciated, particularly on a day like today when we're getting yucky, wet snow.

Did you know I once aspired to be a florist? In fact I quit my first job to do just that. My aspirations died the second I realized what I was going to be paid. Or not paid. Former co-workers still laugh at me because I'm so good with the follow-through.

Just as I'm not surprised that most knitters own at least one cat, I am not surprised that most knitters enjoy paper goods. Duck doesn't knit and therefore does not understand the hoopla surrounding paper, and I cannot explain it to him. But there it is, and as a result of my last post, I have many letters to write, to send off to all parts of the U.S. and even Australia! I am so pleased. I will definitely follow through with writing letters, don't you worry. (If anyone else out there is interested in a handwritten letter, drop me an email with your address and I'll get write to it. Heh.)

I was very very intrigued, however, by a very intriguing comment left by blogless reader Dana, who suggested that

Someone should most definitely start a pen pal club for knitters. We could include a little snippet of yarn from in the envelope from our most recent project. Or pictures...or free patterns...or recipes...oh, my head, the possibilities are endless.

It seems like a great idea! A penpal club for knitters! I love those ideas! Only, who is this mysterious Someone that she mentions to jumpstart them into motion, that's what I would like to know. I would do it except, and there's no getting around this, I am horribly, UNBELIEVABLY PASSIVE. It is my greatest weakness. That, and bacon. If you have not yet noticed, I have joined no clubs, no knit-alongs, and worst of all, I barely leave comments. I am so ashamed! But no matter how I try, it is just not my nature to participate. It's an odd thing I have this blog, isn't it. But maybe now you wouldn't be too surprised to learn that I was Girl Scout for all of 10 minutes before dropping out - couldn't stand it! - and one of the most hateful activities you could ask of me is to play boardgames with you. Especially Monopoly. I will play Monopoly for no one, under no circumstances. Not even if you were Br@d Pitt and as Br@d Pitt your dying wish was that I play Monopoly with you. While naked.

Here's a more recent example of my reticence to participate, and this one even got me laughing at myself for being such a twit. Last weekend the cable guy paid us a visit. I was in the middle of watching a recorded episode of Jane Eyre from Mahstapiece Theatah, and just getting to one of the steamier scenes in the story: Jane had just seen Mr. Rochester for the first time in his night shirt, a very thin and gauzy and wide open down the front night shirt, revealing bare English skin and curly English chest hair. Also, he was on fire. It was all very sexy.

Anyway they were just getting to putting out the flames when the screen went blank and the cable box froze, and I did what any rational, educated adult person would do, and that is to press every single button on the remote control, then press them at the same time, then with increasing speed and pressure, and then to do the same on the cable box when the remote stopped working.

So the cable guy paid a visit. I was upstairs working on some stuff while Duck watched the cable guy in the basement. I don't know how much time passed before I realized that a lot of it had, and the cable van was still idling in the driveway. So I went downstairs to check on the progress.

And can you believe what I saw? Down in the basement? I saw Duck. Playing video games. With the cable guy.

For how long the cable box was fixed, I don't know. He still had on his little tool belt and everything. They were in the middle of their second? third? match when the cable guy turned around and called out to me, "Hey came and join us! Come and play!" And you know what I did right? Because a stranger just asked me to Participate in Something, I instinctually hesitated. I demured and I turned red, I wanted to get out of it, run up to my room and hide just like I did when I was 10-years old and my parents had people over and demanded that I play and talk with their children, as if socializing with other people my own age were a normal, enjoyable thing for me to do!

Unfortunately I'm not 10 anymore and as I was watching him jot down his personal phone number on the invoice (so we could call him to come over and play, haha!) I finally got a grip on myself. I just got asked, by the cable guy, the so not shy cable guy, if I wanted to play my video game in my house, and here I am shaking in my boots. IN MY OWN HOUSE. Pathetic! Get over it and grow a pair! He's not going to bite!

But right as I was on the verge of participating, his mobile rang and the client on the other line wanted to know where the hell he was, so he had to go.

Ah well. I tried.

And at long last we get to the point! I want get over this passive attitude of mine and attempt to organize this penpal club thing for knitters. Even if it's just a handful of participants, even if only a couple of letters are swapped. Like me maybe you're a little nutty and you're just dying to write a letter, about anything, to anyone, but especially to someone who enjoys receiving letters as much as you enjoy writing them. Maybe.

Hmmmmm.

While I ponder about this some more , another commenter wanted to see another sketchbook doodle. Here's one I did a couple of weeks ago for Duck. He had to get up outrageously early one day for work, so I left him this scribble to find in the morning. And in case you were wondering, I really do address him as "Duck." I follow-through with that cat/duck metaphor of ours and take all the way.

Comments [24]
Filed Under: Life

The other stash

I have this collection of Japanese silkscreen paper. The collection is small, but the immediate, visceral feelings it illicits from me is anything but. Is it just paper? No way. For me this stuff is like my favorite sock yarn dipped in platinum and then encrusted with diamonds and covered in hot fudge and then placed next to a kitten.

What is that odd sound of a word that I've been seeing lately on blogs? Is it "squee"? If you've ever encountered Japanese silkscreen paper face to face, maybe you've squeed too (but probably not), and wonder why people don't just wallpaper their entire house with them, as I've often pondered about doing to mine. On the outside too.

 

Love love love you all.

But since just a single sheet isn't exactly economic, I have so far just had to make do with smaller projects, such as these handmade journals, which I fill with doodles of my boys.

 

I've also wallpapered the office cubby holes with them.

 

Before and after of my Very Orange Office.

But THIS is my greatest most prized collection ever.

With these paper goods I will build Shangri-la!

My coveted stash of Crane paper goods. And I don't even have anyone to write to! Nevertheless, my goal is that this stash just gets bigger and larger and wider. Even though I hardly write letters anymore, I can never get enough of stationery. It is my #1 Achilles heel, even more so than sock yarn by a mile. Just looking at that mountain of paper - all 100% cotton! - makes my little eyes well up with tears. 99% of this stash is courtesy of Duck's mother who used to work at Crane. As my dealer she feeds me paper crack every Christmas, birthday, anniversary, Easter, Flag Day. (By the way, Crane's is also responsible for producing the U.S. paper currency and I believe the Euro as well. The company has a very fascinating history.)

The obsession with paper goods has been lifelong. I have more stationery than friends to address them to, and more blank journals and more sketch books than any inkwell can fill. And I want more!

Hey! If you want help me go through my paper stash, I'd love to write you a little letter! (I love the physical act of writing too - and conveniently enough I also LOVE PENS!) Forget emails and text messaging and comments and whathaveyou - how about receiving a good old-fashioned honest to goodness handwritten letter? Honestly, when was the last time you received one that wasn't from your great-aunt Betty on your birthday?

Squeee!

Squee?

Comments [38]
Filed Under: Letter-writing | Life

A stroll through Boston

Spring was in the air today, so we took advantage of the mild temps, and a stroll through Boston. Here we are in Beacon Hill, my most favorite neighborhood in the entire universe.

Dottie too finally gets out of the house!

Comments [11]
Filed Under: Life | Postcards from Dottie

A Day in the Life

I saw this "day in the life of" post several weeks ago and thought it would be fun-ish change of pace from all the knitting talk to give a glimpse of what I'm doing when I'm not knitting or talking about knitting.

So here was my Monday, yesterday:

7:15AM - 9:00AM: I am not a morning person, by the way
Morning wake-up call from Duck as he leaves for work. I stay in bed for 15 minutes to 1 hour longer. If I don't get up by 9:00am, then I either have no gigs or I am not caring much about the gigs I do have, heh (shhh). I really really wish I were the type of person who gets up at 5am, jogs a hundred miles, finishes writing a novel, and bakes a wedding cake from scratch before the sun breaks. But ALAS.

Today I get up at 7:45am, and the first thing I do is fire up the laptop and brush the teeth. Sometimes I will even start surfing before I brush. I am so addicted to the Internet that I would choose surfing over brushing my teeth after a whole night of drooling.

Depending on whether I will be seeing people other than Duck during the course of the day, I may or may not shower. But I will get dressed, even if the tempation to remain in one's pajamas is overwhelming. I do have standards. Despite the fact they are very sub-standard sort of standards.

I will definitely make a cup of coffee though. This is our coffee maker. For the last five years, we (as in Duck) buy raw coffee beans, roast them by hand (in an orville redenbacher popcorn maker), and use this fancy pants coffee maker to grind and make the perfect cup of joe with just a push of a button.

 8:00AM - 9:00AM: Breakfast
I have the same breakfast everyday: coffee, juice, and a bowl of yogurt with granola and fruit, sometimes bananas, sometimes peaches.

The yogurt has to be Brown Cow brand vanilla yogurt with cream on top (actually, we can't get it any other way). The granola must be Honey Gone Nuts from Whole Foods. The banana must not have any bruises.

I take my coffee with two spoonfuls of sugar and half 'n half, and I have to drink them from the mugs I bought in Santa Fe.

I take my breakfast upstairs to the office and officially start my day...

Office Space
I work from home, and this is my office. We painted it several years ago and I am rather regretting my choice of color. I wanted something bold and unconventional, but did it have to be so orange? We didn't even paint the trim a contrasting color to break up all that boldness.

One day this house will be futon-free.

The cats hang out with me here most of the day. They sleep in that comfy plush-filled wicker basket when they're not on the lookout for the neighborhood black cat who likes to visit our backyard.

Office Desk
We only put the shelving units (from IKEA) up this past weekend. There will be another long shelf that will run below the cubbies, and hopefully when that's in place the blocks won't look so goofy and free-floating. I also plan on "wallpapering" the white backs with some pretty Japanese silkscreen paper. And add a lot of plants. I also want a beta fish.

The desk, chair, and rolling cabinet I bought from my former company when they were liquidating an office they shut down. I like it. Spacious and ergonomic.

Office supplies
I listen to Howard everyday. He's totally my cup of tea...but not always. Sometimes the on-air shenanigans are too distracting, too annoying, and when that happens, I like to flip to over to the jazz/standards channel.

When I really have to zone out, I pop in the iPod earbuds and listen to Mozart. When music is directly plugged into the ears, I'm able to concentrate more.

I can't concentrate when it's quiet.

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Lunch
You know, I love to eat but I absolutely hate lunch. I will gladly spend 3 hours preparing dinner, but more than 10 minutes for lunch is a pain in the ass. More often than not I don't eat til 2 because I'm just too busy stop, or too lazy to figure out what the hell I want to eat.

In any case, lunch is either leftovers (I've been cooking dinner for 12 lately to ensure leftovers) or a sandwich. Today I make my favorite sandwich, the BLT. Depending on how busy I am, I will eat lunch in the office, or I will take it to the basement and eat it while watching a recorded television show.

View outside the window
I look to my left and, hi bird!

5:00pm Sunset
Must break for sunset. Sometimes they're eh, sometimes they're spectacular.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Clocking out
Today I don't clock out til 9pm. That doesn't stop me from busting out the nightly glass of wine while I work. Duck gets home at around 5:30pm and today he makes dinner for me: another BLT sandwich that I eat while working.

I have had six to seven slabs of bacon - extra thick - and two avocados just today. And I have barely moved from my seat. Shoot me.

When I finally do get up from my desk, I mosey downstairs and spend another more couple of hours sitting on the basement couch while knitting and watching TV.

I sit until I have to haul myself up and go to bed, usually around 11:00-midnight.

It's been a tough, relatively immobile day. But my brain, my big big brain, it's on the move constantly.

Comments [31]
Filed Under: Life

Best birthday card ever

"Good luck." Bahahaha.

From my mom to Duck, whose birthday this year fell on Chinese New Year.

I used to draw my pigs like that too.

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life

Must-see television

Remember this? While briefly living in Santa Fe, New Mexico this past fall, Duck and I had brunch at the ChocolateMaven one Sunday morning to find there a small crew and one Ms. Italian HotPants filming a segment for her new upcoming show.

Well the show is finally running, and the Santa Fe episode -featuring YOURS TRULY - will be on. TONIGHT. OK, so "featuring" might be an slight exaggeration, but if my mug is on TV for longer than 1 second, than it's good enough for me!

The scene where she walks in the restaurant for the "first" time and does her "Oh wooow!" (don't know if she will, but she everything seems to excite her), keep in mind that she filmed that two dozen times, while a small mob of hungry, cold patrons huddling outside in the parking lot. When I watch these kinds of shows I always think the scenes totally seamless and not at all choreographed.

I'm the Asian girl wearing the grey sweater. You'll see the backside of Duck's very metrosexual white shirt with small flowers all over it. If you blink you'll probably miss us. So don't blink!

So if you're in the US and you have the F00DNetwork, the show is on tonight at 9:30pm. I'll be missing it as we're heading off to NYC for the weekend in just a few. So watch and report back!

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Santa Fe

Where there's green, there's purple.

A scarf came in the mail today! And here I am modeling it, with my new purple peacoat, indoors, because it's too cold - not to mention very unsafe - to go outside.

Thank you Elemmaciltur for sending this beauty over! He wasn't so into the So-Called Scarf he made, but I was, and half-jokingly commented that I would take it if he didn't think he could wear it. First, I need a scarf. Second, it's in a pattern that I've been wanting to knit myself, if I could ever yank myself away from knitting socks. Third and MOST excitingly, it's got my #1 all-time Never Realized It Was My Favorite Color Combination Until I Looked Around My House and Realized Everything Is That Combination color combination - green and purple! Purple and green!

OK so the colors are really more magenta and green, but close enough. I love it. Magenta is like a drop of blue away from being purple anyway. They all compliment each other very nicely.

By themselves purple and green are not my favorite colors. But I naturally gravitate to them when they're together. They're everywhere.

My purple peacoat, lined in apple-green goodness.

Ah purple and green. You're the perfect couple.

In my purple coat with my green-magenta-almost-purple scarf on my purple and moss couch in my green living room with purple curtains that's adjacent to my dining room. Which by the way is purple.

Thanks again Elemmaciltur for the beautiful scarf! It will be well-loved and well-worn.

Comments [22]
Filed Under: General Knitting | Life

A little yellow to brighten up a very gloomy day

Lemon custard cakes from Everyday Food. My favorite dessert to make.

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Cat in the Kitchen | Life

A message from Dottie, currently sailing the high seas

Happy New Year to you, wherever you may be!

Comments [4]
Filed Under: Life | Postcards from Dottie

This Christmas, all VanBuren wants is more tuna.

"And I want more tuna now!!!"

Happy Holidays and see you in 2007!

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

Before there was knitting...

...there was stamping.

I purchased this whole lot in one go. I was in Seattle on business, all by myself, for months, without the leisure of being able to go home once. Oh it was a sad sad day! I wandered bored out of my hotel to the mall across the street to have a sad sad lunch alone in the food court, after which I meandered aimlessly around the mall feeling very sorry for my lonesome, homesick self.

And then I discovered something I never knew existed. It was a store covered wall-to-wall with stamps, their little wooden backs stacked and glowing like tiny blocks of gold. There was ink in all colors of the rainbow, this wonderful thing called embossing powder, shiny stationery and pretty pretty handstamped wedding invitations and baby announcements and Valentine's Day cards.

Some crazy synapse in my brain fired and came to life, it told me I had found Shangri-La, and so many many hours later I walked out with many many dollars' worth of stamps. And then I took them all back to my hotel and stamped, all weekend. Alone. In my hotel room. With rubber stamps. Hundreds of them.

Thank God for knitting.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

Christmas knits

Behold. My Christmas knitting, actually completely and totally finished before Christmas! It's a Christmas miracle!

From top: Pomatomus anklets in Koigu
Jaywalkers in Yarntini
Red Sox in Baby Cashmerino
Cable Twist Socks in Socks That Rock

Since the Cable Twist Socks have not been given their official debut, here they are.

Then there's this, Ms. Clapotis, finished months ago...

No idea how to wear this, so hopefully my mother-in-law can figure it out! And wear it!

And I'm gifting the Mermaid Gloves as well.

Along with some other non-knitterly items, I am on time, on schedule, and 100% done with Christmas shopping. And I didn't step foot in a mall once! Let's dance! Or take more pictures!

Cleeeck!

From this post forward (actually from yesterday's post forward), all photos on this site shall be courtesy of my very advanced, rather heavy but TOTALLY AWESOME new camera and lens. Thanks - or no thanks! I'm broke! - to Kathy for getting this ball rolling. And many many thanks to brooklyn tweed for answering all my incessant emails with great info and advise. I've wanted a dSLR forever and ever but not too long ago they were for people who were either very rich or who were actual photographers. I wasn't any of those things, I'm still neither of those things. However technology keeps getting cheaper - and better - by the minute. And one of the funny side effects of knit blogging is the desire to not only become a better knitter, or even a better writer, but a better photographer as well. I don't know what's in store for 2007, perhaps not better knitting or better writing, but by Jove there will be better photos!

There will be!

Comments [21]
Filed Under: Clapotis | Completed Projects | General Knitting | Life | Socks

Trying out some new things...

Koigu (in blue) pilfered from Kathy's yarn stash.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock bought for cheaps on ebay.

Bunny's first portrait

Mr. Sleepy Head McCurltongue

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life | Yarn Stash

Dottie expands her circle

Knitting did not bring us together, oh no, nor even our fondness for fruity drinks. It was the prospect of trying out Kathy's new DSLR that lured me out of my little cave, and I must say, Give it to me. Give it to me now. I need to do more research and a little soul-searching, but I'm definitely ready to upgrade and use the big guns. And hopefully with more time and practice my shots will not be so overexposed and will become uh, focused.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Postcards from Dottie

Life is now complete

14 lbs of diced chiles from NM just arrived today! They're frozen solid, but even so I could smell their hot green goodness. Oh yeah LET'S PARTY!!!

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Cat in the Kitchen | Life

Blah

I've had no time to post. Or I've made no time to post. The car broke down AGAIN this weekend and had to be towed away. It happened in the tiny and cramped parking lot of an Asian grocery store in the city. By the time it was finally dragged away there was a 15-car long backup that snaked all the way out into the busy intersection outside of the lot. I was almost more stressed about causing shopping mayhem (it's chaotic there without a disabled vehicle to contend with), and whether the tow truck was going to be able to fit in the lot in the first place. It was a real nailbiter. Well now we get to throw more money into this car which one breakdown ago officially became a dinosaur. Ugh dude ugh. But again, like the other issues that occured before Santa Fe, and while in Santa Fe, we were lucky that they all happened while we were approaching a parking lot, and not during any of the many moments we were speeding crosscountry along the highway.

Still. Come on car. Get with it.

"I'm not wearing any underpants." - Dottie

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life | Postcards from Dottie

Hello from Amarillo TEXAS!

This is Day 3 of about 10 to 11 hours of driving per day. It hasn't been so bad, but then again, I haven't sat behind the wheel once. And this allowed me to finish reading my book, and to finish Clapotis. Ha.

We've gone through Mass., New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Only four more hours of driving until we reach Santa Fe. I guess if we pushed it we could have gone all the way and made it there late tonight, but. We are pooped.

And we are in need of something crispy, something crunchy, preferably raw, preferably green, food. After 3 days of Arby's, Waffle House, various truck stops and the like, we both screamed like little children at Sea World when we saw a billboard for the Olive Garden off route 40 here in Amarillo Texas. I mean, not to bash the place, but does anyone really physically CRAVE a meal at the OLIVE GARDEN unless they have been under extreme conditions? I don't even want the pasta. Just salad. Saaaalaaaad.

Anyway here are just a couple of pics from our journey.

 

St. Louis and a Texas field

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Travel

The Plans

So many cities, so little time...

Ever vacation somewhere, whether it be for one day or for one week, and for whatever reasons be it the beauty, the food, the culture, the lifestyle, you wonder what it would be like to live there, if only for a little while, in order to really experience life there beyond that of a passing tourist?

I do. All the time. Everywhere I go, whether it be a town 30 miles away, or a town an ocean away, I never want to go home. I covet and fixate on some small aspect there enough to want to live it. The salt-water ponds in Martha's Vineyard, the bicycle paths in Amsterdam, the wrought-iron fences in Charleston, the cassoulet in Paris, SoHo in New York City, the Spanish moss in Savannah, foxgloves and delphiniums in England, the shaved ice and black sesame dumplings in Taipei...Just for a moment! to be a lucky resident and have all these lovely things all the time, instead of for the too-short moments as a salivating tourist looking in.

Well, for the past couple of years or so, we have been trying immerse ourselves elsewhere. To Taipei, the seat of my Large Family. However this move was largely contingent on my own parents moving there, and we were all ready to go within the year, my parents were THIS CLOSE to putting the house on the market (hence my extended visit to Atlanta in May to say farewell), when they abruptly changed their minds. That shouldn't stop us from going, but it has. It just feels weird to go without them.

Also have I mentioned that I'm kind of Chinese illiterate? When I'm there I feel this need to mention this to every waitstaff at every restaurant so they don't wonder at my illiteracy because I can speak but am pointing at only the pictures in the menu. If I just outright say, HELLO I CAN'T READ! then the air is cleared and everyone feels better. Or I do. Maybe they feel sorry for me. Anyway.

So we're not moving to Taipei now (but someday still!), and I was left feeling very unsatisfactory. We must go somewhere, and we must go there now.

You see, our time as a carefree, childless couple is running out (no I am not presently with child, but I am getting older, and Duck is older still. How long can one put this off?). Not only are we right now blessed with no dependants, we have jobs that allow us to work anywhere, thanks to the awesome glory that is the Internet. And having graduated during the dotcom era.

So if we can work anywhere, why don't we just...work from anywhere? Immediately? If we dilly dally diddle dawdle any longer, we will fall into complacency, we will have a whole troupe of howling monkey babies, the flexibility will disappear, and we will be full of regrets.

We tossed around the idea of living Amsterdam for a year. It's the perfect little big city. I researched on the web, got advice from Jeannine, went to Martha's Vineyard and talked about it to strangers at the roofdeck bar, all of them egging us on. We wondered aloud what a pain it is to figure out what to do with our house for a year. Sell? Rent? Nothing...? We can't afford Nothing...

But while talking to these people from different parts of the country, a totally different-but-manageable-while-still-fun plan emerged. We would not relocate for an entire year or more, but maybe just for a couple of MONTHS. So no worries about our house. And instead of thinking of the rest of the world, I started thinking about the good ole U.S. of A. I mean, it's a big big place! There is so much of our fair country that I have not seen.

And so! Out of the air I fixated on this certain U.S. city which I have never been to but have heard nice things about. What I heard and from whom, I don't even recall, which makes the whole thing even funnier. I just had this romanticized idea that it was...nice. I put it to this couple we met at MV, who was from a surrounding area. They confirmed that this city was indeed very nice. We came home and researched some more, bought some books, asked other people. All had positive, even effusive things to say. I went on craigslist for housing, emailed about a certain place, got a prompt answer, negotiated, questioned, emailed some more, and guess what! We have keys! Keys to a loft in this certain U.S. city which we will be leaving for in a week, for TWO MONTHS! Two weeks from initial conception to roll out! Yeeeeaaaah!

Now, we will still be working, lest you think we are independently weathly and can afford to lounge around for two whole months. If we were independently wealthy believe me I would not be telling you about it, because I'd be too busy doing what really wealthy people do, which is to not keep a blog. About knitting.

But what we do have is a wealth of flexibility, at the moment, and I am determined, VERY DETERMINED, to use it to its full advantage. So I call this a business trip. A working vacation. Long enough to get much more than just a feel for the city, but short enough not to feel completely uprooted.

OK, so where are we going? Well I'm not telling you. Yet. I'm going to hold a contest and have you guess. For prizes! I was going to post the contest right after announcing our plans, but I have just written a really boring novel so now I will post details about the contest and the prizes in a separate post. Stay tuned...

Comments [4]
Filed Under: Life | Travel

Being harassed by stupid people really sucks

A couple of years ago we started getting phone calls from strangers looking for "Duck." Though they were not telemarketers, they called every single day, and though they were looking for some same-named "Duck," they were looking for the one that owned a automotive/mechanic business in a nearby town, and not the one who is a software developer geek and who is only automotive in the sense that he owns a car and can drive it.

These people would not stop calling, even though we told them every time that, yes there is a "Duck" here, however he is not the Duck are you looking for. We don't have a car business. Please check your information. Again. And stop calling.

But they didn't. Obviously they had major beef with this Duck the Mechanic, because soon after we started getting voicemails from some lawyer, saying if we didn't respond to the "charges" being "brought,", then "action" will be "taken."

Well naturally we were alarmed at first, but that quickly gave way to extreme annoyance, because it became obvious that even though these people had some sort of dealing with Duck the Mechanic and his Automotive Business, they had no business address nor business phone number contact whatsoever, only a name to go on so surely we shall find the business owner using this here trusty RESIDENTIAL phonebook.

We called this lawyer back, always getting a voicemail, and explained for the umpteenth time that they have the wrong person.

There was no acknowledgement from the lawyer of this fact. We wouldn't hear anything for a few weeks. But then invariably he'd call back again, with the same message. And we'd call back, with the same message.

It was already far beyond ridiculous that we couldn't get a hold of this person on the phone or that after all this he didn't seem to realize that MAYBE using just a name from the residential section of the phone book is not exactly reliable, because there is such a thing in this great big world of ours as two people with the same name.

I mean, use a private investigator! A protractor! A freaking telescope, whatever! Anything's more reliable than just a phone book! They just latched onto this person my Duck and were intent on nailing him, regardless of their clear lack of evidence that this is the person they were looking for.

We didn't pursue it anymore because we stopped getting calls...due to the fact that we coincidentally disabled our land line and were using our cell phones exclusively. We haven't thought about the phone calls since.

Until yesterday when a Deputy Sheriff showed up on my front doorstep with a court summons. For Duck. Of the Automotive Business. Yes that's right! Court summons for Duck the Mechanic WHO HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU DOES NOT LIVE AT THIS GODDAMNED ADDRESS!!!!

This nearly two years later! For the past three years these idiots have been adamant in pursuing the wrong person, ON NAME ALONE, and here I am sweaty in my workout clothes (hooray I worked out yesterday! for the first time in like 30 years!) trying to explain the situation to the big burly sheriff on my front steps who was probably feeling sorry for me because I am clueless that I have married a con man, and it's going to be terrible scene when she finds out.

Why are these people so stupid? What a colossal waste of their time, and ours! Not only is this just a plain nuisance, but we have Plans that cannot be disrupted by going to court for something we didn't do (more on the Plans later).

The sheriff did not hand the court summons to me, as it wasn't for me, but did hand me his business card with his phone number which Duck called a million times yesterday to try to get this annoying matter resolved.

He finally called back today, Duck played his They Have The Wrong Person, Same Name record, gave the whole phone calling history, and to our relief the sheriff said he would write a letter to the attorney, the plaintiffs, the judge, whatever and get the matter settled. Not only will he not attempt to serve him papers, he won't serve any more that he sees in the future addressed to Duck at this location. And best of all, we don't have to do a thing.

Except maybe to find who the plaintiffs are and give them a good kick in the mouth.

Have a good weekend!

P.S. We get a credit report every year, and it's been clean. So no ID theft. Thank the dear sweet goodness.

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Life

Snakes on a *&#(! Plane! Tonight!

See you at the movies BOOya!

Meanwhile, playing at a local basement near you...

"Veebs on a Bender"

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

Mahtha's Vinyud is Mahvelous

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Martha's Vineyard

Looking ahead to more shellfish

Everyone, say goodbye to Rose of England. I've finally decided I could no longer work with cotton thread. And even though the lace looks super complicated on paper, it has been rather a snooze to knit, what with all the repeats that just get more endless as the circumference gets bigger. I might try again with some lace-weight cashmere/silk I have...some day. Some day.

Guess what? It's hot. It's global warming. But just found out that we have not one, but TWO more AC units that came with the house (or the that previous owners just left) that are sitting in the attic. Duck dragged it down all by himself this morning as I lay drooling in bed. Like I had gotten enough sleep and wanted to get up but just could not do it. There were greater powers at work. *The heat lulls my eyelids shut every time I open them and that's when I'd have about 3 to 5 minutes worth of crazy wacky heat-induced dreams that eventually wake me up.

Repeat from * 10 times.

The AC unit died after running for a few minutes. We're too hot to retrieve the second unit from the attic.

Things are looking up though! First, it is going to cool down considerably tomorrow, so we don't need no stinkin' AC, take that. 

Second, we're going to spend the pleasant weekend in Martha's Vineyard, wooooooooo! Woo! Woo woo.

Have you heard about Netflix's Roadshow? That's the impetus for us going - watching Jaws at the beach! Where they filmed it! - and going biking, which we haven't done nearly as much as we should have so far this summer.

Duck has never been to MV. I went once with a friend when I first moved to Boston. We rented bikes, and at one point he skidded off the road and had his face nearly run over by the car behind him. A nice, rich man across the street witnessed the near tragedy and invited us into his beach house so Rob could clean his scrapes.

While he did that, from the living room I took in the disgustingly gorgeous panoramic views of the ocean, and then took off my clothes. I only had a few minutes to seduce the nice, rich man well enough to get at least an invitation to the clambake I was sure he was going to have that night. Because if I lived in Martha's Vineyard and had a house like that, you know I'd be having a motherfucking clambake every single day.

I'd do just about anything for a clambake. A REAL clambake, the one where you dig a ditch in the sand and cook with ocean water and seaweed and all that magic.

But alas. It didn't happen that day.

Maybe I'll have better luck this weekend. A waterfront Sugar Daddy for Duck and me sure would be nice.

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Lace | Rose of England | Life

Crabby

How did it become August already? I hate August. I've been out of school for a hundred years now but everytime August rolls around, I get that pang of Back to School anxiety and imagine the weather is cooling enough to start worrying about the onset of winter. Even though right now it's about 99F degrees and winter wouldn't be so bad. Did I mention the AC unit in the house has broken?

We had a really good, social weekend. We basically ate and drank the entire time, neither which are really good for keeping cool. After we spent an afternoon at a friend's BBQ, my college friend Raj in Providence invited us down to help him with a shellfish situation. He calls up and goes, "Mike [another college friend] overnighted me a dozen crabs! From Baltimore! I can't eat all these by myself! Help!"

I don't think it is an everyday occurance that one guy sends another guy 12 crabs just cuz. It is the sweetest thing ever. And really quirky which I like. 

After that bbq of hotdogs and pulled pork and cupcakes (filled with peanut butter!) in the smothering heat, the LAST THING I wanted to eat were crabs. But I couldn't say no. Because those crustaceans were sent with love.

His place wasn't air conditioned either. By the time we were done eating, his apartment reeked of an oceanside landfill and our faces had melted into our shoes. Seagulls uulated overhead over all the crab guts and broken shells. Oh the humanity. We were sweaty and the salty shellfish smell just stuck to our every salty pore.

But oh they were tasty. All heavy and meaty and sweet and delicious. Those crabs were once full of life, you could tell.

We cooled down afterwards by going to WaterFire. And by "cooled down" I mean "remained uncomfortably warm." Everyone should visit the phenomenon that is WaterFire. It's a funny thing. Someone decided to light the narrow little rivers with a string of pyres, play some world music over the loudspeakers, serve some lemon slush, maybe some wine, and foosh! it's the best thing since sliced bread. They've got a couple of gondolas going on, and masked "nymphs" rowing up and down tossing flowers into the crowd. WaterFire is every weekend in the summer and you'll be surprised the number of people who show up just to watch fire burn.

I guess it's the equivalent of lighting a ton of candles around your bathtub. No one argues that a candlelit bath is romantic. It is. So when you imagine WaterFire, picture a placid river instead of a warm tub, crackling bonfires instead of flickering candles, and bam you've got uber, SUPER-SIZED romance, no? More romance than you can handle so that you invite all the neighbors to join in.

Providence is really pretty. There's the quaint, colonial backdrop of the RISD campus and College Hill on one side, and the quaint metropolis on the other. I never used to think much of the place when I went to school here.

But all it took was a good exfoliant - the kind with microbeads -  a little makeup and some pearls and suddenly she's got all this grown up sophistication that I hardly know who she is anymore. So proud and wistful at the same time...

I wish knitting would keep me entertained these days, but as it turns out I haven't knitted a stitch in a whole week. My mom called yesterday, and asked if I wanted her sewing machine, as she is upgrading. A sign perhaps?

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Providence

How to make a Sidecar

Because it's just too damn hot to make with the knitting.

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Cocktails | Life

Buy me some Koigu and D-P-N's...

The scene from last night:

I knitted for the first time at Fenway! I'm bashful about a lot of things but for some reason I'm not bashful about knitting in public. (I do draw the line at taking pictures of myself knitting in public though, especially at a jam-packed Red Sox game. How cooky would that have looked?)

I was knitting the mate to this:

YES it is the Pomatomus again and again and again, but now in anklet form. I bought the yarn while in Lenox a few weekends ago, and yes I said I wanted to take a break from the multicolored but I just could not say no to this purple and gold-flecked Mardi Gras colorway. I knit this anklet while on the train to and from Philly, and while sitting out waiting for the fireworks. Love the quick knits. This will be a Christmas gift.

So pleased to be starting the Christmas gifts early. Might as well put my sock craze to good use. Everyone's getting a pair!

It occurred to me while at the game, staring at the Red Sox logo on the wall, that I should knit that. Red socks with the white toes and heels (pointed toes and gusset heels, see!). There are plenty of fans in the family who I think would get a kick out of Boston Red Socks - including my cousin in Taipei who is the BIGGEST Sox fan you'll ever meet. As is his new baby. Just not by choice at this point. Poor thing.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life | Socks | Pomatomus

Philly recap

Did you know Benjamin Franklin is one of our nation's Founding Fathers?

Of course you did, but if you were somehow able to get away from that fact in school, Philly is here to remind you. Over and over.

But I bet you didn't know that he invented the glass harmonica? (I didn't know such a thing even existed)

And, the urinary CATHETER? (Shudder)

Me, I'm just happy to be able to knit a sock toe-up and cuff-down, and here he is being all nation-founding and glass-blowing and musical and medical and electrical within the same week. Show-off.

But clearly Philly loves him. For he is everywhere.

I like Philly. It is so diverse and informative, and their City Hall looks like the Hotel de Ville in Paris. It doesn't compare to Boston's City Hall, the ugliness of which is so obvious to anyone with vision that babies throw up when they see it.

Left: Philly's City Hall
Right: Boston's Eyesore

Here is but a small snippet of what I did and saw last week.

1. Newly minted treasonists all hot and stuffy on this July 4th. Yes on July 4th 2006, Chrusty (my high school BFF (not real name)) and I did July 4th appropriate activities like visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, drinking ale, and listening to Lionel Richie and Fantasia perform live before the fireworks. It was fun! I love freedom!

2. Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in America. I compare this to Acorn Street in Boston's Beacon Hill. I did a lot of comparisons and analogies between Philly and Boston. Like, "Isn't it interesting that Ben Franklin was born in Boston but died in Philly, and now I live in Boston and you live in Philly?" etc. etc.

Chrusty and I then did a lot of Philly vs. Atlanta and Boston vs. Atlanta comparisons. After points were made on both sides, the conclusion was always "Yeah Atlanta blows, can't believe we grew up there" and we'd give each other self-satisfied props for living in such cute cities now.

3. The Liberty Bell. There are some funny shots of Chrusty and me taking self-portraits in front of the bell, and no matter how we positioned ourselves, each time our heads got perfectly in the way as to obscure the bell completely. I think we spent more time trying to take pictures, laughing at the results, taking more pictures, laughing some more, than we actually did admiring the bell.

It's got a huge crack in it anyway.

4. Assembly Room in Independence Hall. Some really important stuff happened here.

5. The Big Colon on display in the Mütter Museum, which showcases shelves upon shelves of medical "anomolies," or possibly "X-Men." In the case of The Big Colon, I would say "big" is a bit of an understatement. Colossal doesn't even do it justice. You could see this thing from space. It is horrifying.

You might think that this giant colon belonged to a proportionally giant man, so maybe life for this dude wasn't so bad, but instead it belonged to a wretched average-sized, skinny man who could never find a proper-fitting leotard. His colon just kept growing and growing...I sort of wish that had happened to my chest. When he finally expired, doctors extricated 40 (that's forty) lbs of poo from his colon. Luckily, that part was not available for display.

There were many equally if not more horrifying things on display at this museum, like babies in jars in various stages of malformation and mutation. My favorite (not an appropriate word, but can't think of one) anamoly is of a skeleton belonging to this poor chap who had a mutation that caused bone to grow in places of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. BONE. In place of MUSCLE. And you could SEE it.

If you visit this museum, bring a friend. And maybe a sick bag.

Other things I learned in Philadelphia:

• It is large.
• There are a lot of abandoned rowhouses/buildings in what I would consider prime real estate location, like near all the points of interest in the Old City. I don't get it.
• But they understand mojitos. Chrusty took me to this Cuban restaurant where they make their mojitos with pressed sugarcane.
• They understand mussels. Chrusty took me to a Belgian pub. We had a pot of plump juicy mussels in this Dijon, garlicky, lemony broth. Mmmm.
• They understand gelato. Chrusty took me here and I got the Lime and Cilantro sorbet. You are either in the camp that believes cilantro tastes like soap, or that it doesn't, and prior to this gelato I believed cilantro tastes good with everything. My hypothesis is now fact! And YAY! They have an online store!
• How to grill a pizza. Chrusty and I cooked dinner one night and she taught me how to make pizza dough and then grill it. I've made it twice now since I've been home.
• Chrusty is all grown up. Chrusty's one of those friends who you may not see or even hear from on a regular basis but when you do, it's as if you saw her yesterday. We've changed so little since high school that we're able to make each other laugh with the same antics, and yet we've changed so much that most of the usual or not-so-usual insecurities of high school have evaporated -- and now therefore, Chrusty is all fine with engaging in PDAs with her new boyfriend that I had to shield my eyes in case they caught fire from the blush that was rising from my cheeks. Chrusty, kissing a boy! In front of me! And other people! It's a big deal.

Now I wish Chrusty good luck and good research when she leaves for Africa next month. If I don't see you in a year, congrats on your doctorate! And see you at your wedding!

P.S. I did buy yarn while in Philly. It is for socks. Big surprise there.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Philly

Addictions

Since I have no new knitting news of interest to report, I'd like to share with you, on this 4th of July weekend, the other addiction that I have to attend to on a daily basis.

Mojitos. BRING IT.

I make my mojitos like the way one might make a parfait, or a chocolate sundae: in layers.

1. First, squeeze a lime. My metric is usually one lime per drink, but sometimes I'll juice two. When I'm feeling very daring, or when I have run out of limes, I will squeeze a lemon instead. Sometimes, like last night, I might even squeeze a lime AND a lemon. I NEVER use anything that comes out of a bottle or that plastic lime thing.
2. Have glasses ready. I usually use squat scotch glasses as this keeps the alcohol-level-per-serving in check. Taller glasses are reserved for special days.
   Add a heaping tablespoon of bar sugar into your glass - the more sugar the better - then add lime juice. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
   Then tear the leaves from 2-3 sprigs of mint - the more mint the better - and muddle them in the lime juice to release the minty essence. I use the handle of knife for muddling.
3. Now fill your glass with crushed ice. Regular ice is fine, but I find my drink is more refreshing somehow with crushed ice.
4. Now add rum. I usually eyeball it, but you may discover later when you've woken up with pounding eyeballs that eyeballing is a dangerous technique. What you want is about 1.5 to 2 shots of rum. And only light rum will do. I use Bacardi.
5. Optional: Now add a splash of whiskey. I use Jameson. Just a splash or so. This is my own twist on the drink, discovered when I was just short of rum for a full drink, so I topped the glass with whiskey instead. It turned out pretty good.
6. After the alcohol's in place, top off with a splash of club soda, stir lightly, and garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy! 
   
   It should only be enjoyed once per evening. This drink is pretty potent, the way I make it.

We are heading to western Mass. for 4th July weekend, and of course the questions I always have to ask before we go to western Mass is 1) do I need to make a stop at WEBS? and 2) do I need to make a stop at Col0rful Stitches? In other words, Do I need more yarn?

I think the answer to that is NO, but then I think of my upcoming trip to Philly, and I'm swishing my tail...Know how my high school bff invited me to the lake in NH a few weeks ago, and I couldn't get there because I left my wallet on a subway (I did get it back finally)? Well to make up for that I'm going to spend 4th of July with her in Philadelphia, where she's been studying for her anthropology doctorate. She goes to Africa next month for a year or so for research towards her dissertation. Here is an excerpt of her proposal:

I take as a case study a rural district in central Mozambique where Pentecostal/Charismatic African Independent healing churches and female spirit mediums are both undergoing rapid growth. It examines the ways in which language is used as a critical means through which healing is effected in the ceremonies of spirit mediums and of healing churches.

I'm like, Whuh.

I leave Monday via Amtrak. Taking the train will be fun, and with 6 whole hours at my disposal, what will I knit? Rose of England is too unwieldy, I still can't garner interest to knit my mom's sweater (sorry Mom), so the only choice I have is to knit socks. Sigh. Such a burden. Really it's not such a bad thing since I'm planning to gift them for Christmas, but the problem is which sock yarn do I bring? I have three skeins of Regia self-striping which I don't feel like using right now because the wool is itchier and hot than the merino variety. So I have a skein of Koigu multicolored, but I'm kind of not into the multicolored at the moment...

Long story short, do I get more solid or semi-solid sock yarn, even though I so don't need them? I know as soon as I step in WEBS or Col0rful Stitches I won't be able to control myself. But I want sock yarn. But I have some already. But I want others. Damn this horrible sock addiction.

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Cocktails | Life

I played hooky today

Here is the progress so far with Rose of England. Riveting, isn't it? I'm only this far into the pattern:

Mired in row after row of p3tog's and m3's, with row after row of ever-increasing stitches. Making the rose petals will break up the monotony, but after that, more stitch pattern repeats for a loooong time.

That dropped stitch I made last week - did a bad job picking it up. The mangled parts are noticeable even to the untrained eye. OH WELL. Just can't seem to garner enough perfectionism to care. Too lazy.

I was almost too lazy to make this consecutive-day post. I just got back from playing hooky all day long. (For the record, I do work. But not very hard.) First I went to the library in the North End and picked up Knitting Vintage Socks. Then I hopped over to Filene's Basement - I liked to call it Feline's Basement - to buy a replacement RedSox cap. I was going to get the green cap with the clover stitched on the back to commemorate me being newly Irish and all, but damn it was really really green. The Asians don't pull off green so well.

After Filene's, I made a quick stop at Windsor Buttons to kill some time and not buy any yarn, then rounded the corner to meet my friend Kitty (who had just quit her job and has 2 weeks before her new job starts) at the theatre for a matinee. And it wasn't even noon yet! The last time I saw a movie that early was...never! Yes, we were two grown women out to see Cars before the sun was high.

After the movies we had sushi at the Corner Mall Food Court in Downtown Xing. A little sushi stand across from Dunkin and Sbarro in a ghetto mall seems a horrible, illogical place to have raw fish, but really the fish is no joke: They have incredible, fresh sushi.

After lunch we walked the entire (nearly) length of Boston, from Downtown to Fenway, but not before stopping once for lemon slush at the corner of the Public Gardens. It was hot out there.

It was at this time that we were approached by some intern working for the Metro morning commuter paper. She was working on the "What Do You Think?" opinion section and wanted to ask us the question of the day. It went something like, What is your opinion on Vermont's campaign financing law? a topic that I am very, very, extremely not opinionated about. I pulled something out of the air (it doesn't matter since they distill what you say into like, 10 words or less), got my picture taken, and will be in tomorrow's paper. Ha!

But please don't look for me, fellow Bostonians. It was hot and windy and my hair was plastered all over my face and my posture was all rickity; I think I was standing pigeon-toed with my butt sticking out.

We ducked into a few stores along Newbury before catching a breather at a bar near Fenway, and had a beer. By this time it was 6pm, we parted ways, I went home and made myself a mojito.

Quite a productive day, I'd say.

It sure is good to be self-employed, especially in the middle of summer :)

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Lace | Life

Sharing more than is necessary

A true conversation.

Mom: So you are thinking you can have a baby right?

Me: I guess.

Mom: So when do you think you'll have the baby?

Me: Errrrrr...

Mom: BeFORE or AFter you move to Taiwan?

Me: Too many...hypothetical questions...Cannot...compute...

Mom: Please you should have a girl. A girl! She will be so cute! Hee hee!

Me: As if I have control over any of that.

Mom: Oh you do! You can control it. Naturally.

Me: What.

Later, recounting the conversation with Duck

Me: So my mom was going on (as your mom has) about us having a girl. We must have a girl. And I said, I can't control that. And she said, Yes you can.

Duck: WHAT

Me: That's what I said.

Duck: What's the secret. SO I WON'T EVER DO IT.

Me: So your boys are either X or Y right? Apparently, Y boys live for only 24 hours, while X boys live for 72 (or something).

Duck: I see where you're going with this. You have to store it in your mouth.

Me: So if you TIME it so that we "get together" (her words) 24 hours before you (as in me) germinate, most the Y's will have died and you'll have girl.

Duck: Wow.

Me: Dude, technically I don't know how babies are made in the first place, since she never told me, so this is all very advanced and potentially confusing information.

Duck: Tell her you need explicit instruction.

Me: "Mom, what does it mean to 'get together'?"

Duck: "Hey is the sp3rm supposed to be in my nose? Boy or girl if it goes in my nose?"

Me: HAHAHA yeah! "If it goes in my butt, it'll be a boy, right?"

***

Sorry, I had to share. My mom cracks me up. Ever since I told her I was not violently opposed to the idea of having children (as I once was), she took that to mean I will be having ALL of the children, and suddenly we're having conversations that not so long ago she would have rather drowned herself over than partake. She went from, You Will Never Know What Sex Is to How to Get the Sex You Want. She sure did sail right over the basics. And I wanted to call her on it, oooo how much I wanted to call her on it.

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Life

Hard not to bury face in them

I feel like a bride. It is June afterall, and how amazing are these peonies? I saved them this morning from a watery grave, as all blooms were bowed to the wet soggy ground from the weight of their own heads and a day and night's steady rain. They smell heavenly. So much pretty, pink goodness...

"Yes, you are correct. Few can handle my pink little nose.
It is so pink. So little. So devastating."

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

There were lobsters

We're back from Maine, tanned, relaxed, and full of shellfish. It's amazing how a trip - no matter if it is a mere hour's worth of driving - tricks your brain into thinking you're far away from home, and so how cleaner the air, how bluer the Atlantic, how colder the beer, how tastier the food, so that you must order one lobster at every single meal and not feel even slightly guilty for the indulgence. Vacations put this weird happy smog in your head that makes you think you're full of cash and enough digestive juices to break down the bite after biteful of sweet lobster flesh. I mean lobsters can be had just as easily in Boston, but only on vacation would I ever consider having it for THREE MEALS IN A ROW. It seemed like such a good idea. But though you might not feel that twinge of irresponsibility, your colon will. Your poor, twisted colon will.

I could go down this road further but I think I'll just stop right there.

We totally lucked out on the weather this weekend. You never know what you might get at the end of May in New England, even if summer is technically only a few weeks away. It was supposed to rain on Saturday, the day we set out, but luckily weathermen are idiots and I bet my cats could forecast the weather just as well by reading the patterns they make in their litterbox. After Kitty and Tomcat arrived in Boston, we hustled to Ogunquit and made it there in just over an hour. We checked into the "resort" (really a timeshare of condos) that turned out to be thoughtfully stocked with a huge lobster pot in the kitchen, and was only a 1 minute walk to the action. We walked down the driveway way and across the street, and before we knew it we were looking at ocean.

Later that night we had our dinner out Arrows. FaaAAAaancy. It was dark by the time we got there, otherwise I'd be showing you pictures of me trying to eat the wisteria that were blooming deliciously over the entrance of the farm-house-turned-restaurant. We had a table overlooking the large backyard garden and even in the dark I could make out the bushels of lilacs lining the yard. Wisteria and lilacs drive me WILD. Frothing-at-the-mouth kind of wild. I missed lilac season in Boston when I was down South, but Maine is just far up north enough to be 2 weeks behind schedule, so there were lots of lilacs still in bloom.

The food at Arrows was easily the most expensive I've ever had, anywhere in the world, and logically you would then think it was the best food I've ever had anywhere. It was great food, but I can't say if, considering the price, it was the BEST I've ever had. If you were to graph the price of an entree against its tastiness, I think at the $26 mark, the line on the graph would just plateau. After $26, you could put one more ingredient or one million more ingredients into the entree, and it would probably be just as tasty as if you hadn't at all. Know what I mean? And the starting price for each entree were way over $26...

This was my dish:
Soy lacquered Tai (snapper-like fish) with Thai eggplant, baby bamboo in a grilled shiitake mushroom sauce with a hot and sour lobster broth and daikon dumplings. Accompanying the broth was a quarter-sized dollop of sambal which the waitress told me was made from "like, 50 different spices." The dish was delicious but I'd bet that 3/4 of the price was in that small bowl of broth and that tiny plop of sambal, not the fish.

It is however the little accents like that that I end up remembering most about a dish. Duck and I had dinner once at No.9 Park in Boston two years ago (very highbrow), and the ONLY thing I remember about our entire meal was this shot of tarragon frappe that accompanied my dessert. It was strange and amazing and I can still taste it. The lobster broth and sambal were small but wonderful, so I'll probably be thinking about them long after the main fish.

Sunday was a glooooorious sunny day. A perfect day for long, ankle twisting walks along the rocky beach, a yummy lunch of lobster roll and rum punch by the ocean, then a Booze Cruise along the coast with more rum punch. While we were waiting for our cruise to begin we found out that President Bush the Senior had lunch at the restaurant across the one where we were and we probably just missed seeing him by a few minutes.

The boat ride was nice until I started to feel queasy with 1 hour and 28 minutes to go. The cruise was 1 1/2 hour long.

By this time we had long abandoned our plans of cooking lobsters ourselves. Really, who wants to cook while on vacation? So we didn't. More lobsters for dinner at another oceanside restaurant. Kitty and Tomcat had theirs baked and stuffed, I had mine boiled over a bed of steamers and mussels - and to start with, a really thick and hearty bowl of clam chowder - and Duck was the odd bird out with his bowl of scallops swimming in this bacon and bleu cheese sauce. Oh. My. By the end of this meal we were all clutching our sides crying. Why Lobster why can I not say No to you?

Lobster Four Ways: in a roll, boiled with drawn butter, bisected and stuffed with breadcrumbs and more lobster, as beer

We ended the night with a game of Trivial Pursuit. Boys vs Girls. Obviously the girls won, decidedly. Look at our huge brains, enhanced by lobster tail. 

Monday morning Duck made French toast for breakfast. We were all crazed for something uncooked and crunchy. Nonetheless, after Kitty and Tomcat had to leave to catch their train back home, I got another hankering for a lobster roll. After this last indulgence did I finally learned my lesson. That night Duck and I went to the grocery store, bought two ears of corn, boiled them and ate them plain. We couldn't even handle a pat of butter. For dessert, grapefruit. So nice on the digestive system!

The Bush Compound in Kennebunkport

Duck and I stayed for a couple more days. We took a drive to nearby Kennebunkport and without meaning to, meandered by the Bush Compound. It's huge and sprawling and stands on its own peninsula. The Texas flag waves from out front, right next to the Saudi flag. Ha ha. 

I took a couple of pictures from across the water and when I got back into the car, Duck told me that while we were snapping photos and idling around, each of us were in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle. Do you think?! I said. SO COOL. I suppose that makes sense - but for an ex-President? Oh so ex-President but father of very unpopular, could-really-do-without-him, current President. Yes it does seem plausible. I suppose instead of pulling out a camera I could have pulled out a missile launcher from my purse. Luckily for me I left it at the hotel. I wonder what I look like through a scope?

Perkins Cove at night

Knitting content coming...some day!

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Ogunquit

Ogunquit or Bust

Is it the weekend yet? So close we're so close! For Memorial Day Weekend we're going to Ogunquit ME, and my sweet Kitty and her boyfriend will be joining us from NYC.

Do you know how huge this is? Do you know how many vacations Kitty and I have planned together over the years that ultimately never happened? How many tears I've wept? And do you know how many times it was her fault? (All of them.) I should really start calling her Kitty McFlakesters.

I had put money down that she would back out of this trip (like she did with our most recently defunct plans for Napa Valley this past spring), but to my amazement she has done the complete opposite and already purchased train tickets to Boston. But that's not even the best part! The best part is she put together a Powerpoint presentation of things we'll do. Powerpoint! There were all sorts of matrices and grids and charts. Clearly the girl needs more free time on her hands like I need more sock yarn.

To kick things off, we're having dinner at Arrows the first night. The 2001 issue of Gourmet mag rates it #25 on its list of best restaurants in America. La! But after that we'll be cooking in - the place we're staying has a full kitchen - trying some things we've never cooked before...

Kitty: We will COOK like little MONKEYS.

Me: Maybe I'll bring a big big pot in case. To put live LOBSTERS in.

Kitty: I've never cooked a lobster Cat. I'm scared.

Me: Neither have I!! So we need to look up how before we go. Mm...I may not be able to do it. So cruel. My mom boiled live crabs while I was home and it was sad. Delicious, but sad.

Kitty: I was at the fish store last sunday and there was a girl who worked there who was laughing about a lobster that she poked in the back of the head the way you're supposed to to kill it and it kept MOVING for like HALF an HOUR. She was like, Ha ha ha what a crazy lobster.

Me: Maybe we'll just do clams.

Kitty: Mussels and shimp and clams.

Me: If we can't cook the lobsters though, I'm having trouble picturing the guys being able to. We're all wussies.

Kitty: I think Tomcat would do it. I'll ask him.

Me: I picture us dropping the lobsters and screaming.

Kitty: And them grabbing our faces with their claws (bring the OLD BAY). Latching onto our arms and lips.

Me: ooo la this is going to be GREAT.

Kitty: By the way I can't eat really big shrimp.

Me: Hahah what?

Kitty: Because they're too BUG like.

Me: Hahaha WTF.

Kitty: The BIG ONES.

Me: You're an idiot.

Kitty: You bite into their BIG BUGGY flesh.

Me: BUGGY FLESH you are so stupid.

Please don't rain.

Comments [5]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Ogunquit

Happy fun time

We're having a jolly time here in the South. After a weekend with the parents, Duck and I headed to Savannah for a couple of days, then to Jekyll Island, then to Okefenokee Swamp, and then we got tired of driving around and headed back to Atlanta a few days early. I meant to update here more regularly but am trying to make headway in my very neglected photo album. So far I've only pics up of our trip to Jekyll - take a peek.

This past Friday for Cinqo de Mayo we headed with my high school peeps to some bar in Buckhead for some Mexican food, but all they were serving were drinks. Margaritas all night + no food all night = Tim puking out the car window on the way home. Ha ha ha! This is funny really only to me because in all the years of partying, I have never ever once seen him lose equilibrium even slightly, while he has seen me more than I would like to admit. And always with a gleeful, self-satisfied glint in his eyes. So yes I was rather enjoying myself watching him sick out the front seat, even though the mess came back and splattered my side of the window. I have pictures of this too but you probably don't want to see it.

Happy Cinqo de Mayo!

The night ended with a late late dinner at Waffle House, a greasy sort of joint that you'd only voluntarily step foot in if you were 1) a truck driver, 2) really stoned, 3) really drunk. Hashbrowns smothered in cheese at 1 in the morning never tasted so good.

Ah yes, we are all in - or approaching - our 30's. The fun never ends.

There has been some knitting. Some. Mostly the only person getting any quality play time with yarn is the cat. Mouse loves to play with yarn. And rabbits too. She brought one home the other day, much to my mother's displeasure. She's really sprightly for a middle-aged cat.

"Did you know I crochet too? Claws make for great hooks. As do incisors."

Comments [3]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Atlanta

Seafood

Our first two days in Atl has so far predominately featured marine life, both the living...

Scenes from the GA Aquarium: School of sting rays, a leafy sea dragon from outerspace, and a whale shark (a fellow Taiwanese!)

...and the not so much...

Cajun-boiled blue crab, salad with mango dressing, linguini with little neck clams and basil, and strawberry shortcake (my contribution, along with the mojitos)

I will eat anything and everything my mom cooks up and ask for thirds. She's probably an odd bird in the world of Asian mothers in that she does not cook very much Chinese cuisine. I have however commissioned her to make five-spice beef noodle soup. But then also her signature chocolate profiteroles for dessert ;)

Tomorrow we're off to Savannah!

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | Atlanta

I wish I could talk about something other than socks

I've started another pair of socks using the other skein of Sundara Yarn I have, in colorway Troubador. Again the colors are super saturated and super shiny, like silk almost. How'd she do that?

And yes I'm on a sock-knitting rampage ;)

Well it appears that this skein of yarn is much less variegated than the one I used for the Spring Anklets (colorway Fern). In fact the color changes aren't quite so random and are more distinct, so much so that I was getting quasi-striping in the toes.

Striping on the sole

Then as I got to the foot, massive external bleeding of the color blue. Gah! I suppose this is what you sock experts out there call pooling?

My initial start of the sock had the blue pooling precisely on needle #1 and only one needle #1, every single round. Couldn't have done that if I had tried. 

I ripped it out and tried again, this time casting on at a spot several inches further in, to maybe break up the pooling or at least to have the pooling be distributed on two needles like an instep and a sole. This time I got a diagonally traveling blob of blue, pictured above. Kind of cool.

The original stitch pattern I was going to use to with the variegation didn't work with Troubador, so I switched to the Pomatomus pattern. It looks funky no?

We're flying South tonight. I'll be in Atlanta for nearly three weeks. It's been nearly a decade since I've been home that long. (Oh god really is that true? I'm so old.) But I'm going home with a new attitude, my friends. I'm going to treat my hometown as a tourist attraction. Me the tourist, Atlanta and environs the destination. In reality I don't know anyone who would ever voluntarily pick Atlanta as a vacation spot - it's so corporate and new and flat despite all the Coca-Cola carbonation - but I'm going to overlook that sad fact for this trip. The goal is to see/learn/do/eat/appreciate things I never did before.  

I will have to find some yarn stores too.

My mom is a knitter and a fantastic seamstress. Perhaps I'm ready for her to teach me how to sew as well...I want to make a needle case, especially with all the DPN's I've aquired lately. Hm.

Nah, on second thought, I just now searched deep within my soul and am not yet truly ready to learn how to sew. I'll just commission one from her, heh.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Socks

Mama's got a brand new toy

Koigu yarn, all wound up

So I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never. The winder is to a knitter like the Kitchen Aid is to the baker. Why did I wait so long to get one why?

Spring is in the air you guys. I can almost smell it, I can almost taste it. I was just out on the town (buying this winder and having sushi for lunch, yum) and there are daffodils in places where there was just dirt, and pink magnolias on once barren trees, and in my own backyard, the fluffy heads of peonies making a showing. Woooooooo. I am in a grand mood at the prospect of nice weather, that it has prompted me to devise a What I Will Do This Spring/Summer List, 2006:

• Go to at least 5 Red Sox games.
  I'm totally into baseball this season, don't ask me why. I don't usually start following or caring in earnest until around August, but this year I've already watched/listened to all six games so far.
• Have a clambake.
  Or at least, boil own lobster in kitchen.
• More weekdays lounging at Singing Beach.
• Knit a three-quarter sleeved cardigan using Mirto yarn, in a chevron pattern.
  I've been thinking about this one a lot. I want to use Mirto yarn again very badly.
• Go biking on Carriage Road in Acadia National Park, Maine
• Go sea kayaking.
• Go strawberry-picking.
• Bake a strawberry banana cake.
• Attend at least one Tanglewood concert.
• Plant more mint for mint juleps and mojitos.
• Throw at least two barbeques.
• Eat more peaches.

Speaking of peaches, I'm headed to Georgia for an extended stay at my parents' at the end of the month. They are (possibly) putting the house on the market by the end of the year, and I thought it would be nice to hang out in my hometown for more than a couple of days like I usually do. You know, just relax, cook, knit and sew (?!?) with my mom, garden with my dad, go to a Braves game with my high school friends...And I'll still be able to work from my parents' house. While there we're going to make sidetrips to Savannah and the GA islands. I haven't decided which. Mmmm, Spanish moss...bumblebees...azaleas...magnolias...warm southern rays...

Comments [5]
Filed Under: General Knitting | Life

Love Is...

"I will be your parachute Bunny. I will be your parachute."

Love is an honest cigar, or a respectful glass of wine, according to Kitty and Cat

(talking about the Statue of Liberty)
Kitty: Tomcat took me on a date there when we first started dating
Me: Aaw
Kitty: Still the best date ever
Me: Duck took me to the site of the Boston Massacre
Kitty: Hahaha, and you loved it
Me: I knew then. I knew right then...
Kitty: Yeah just like I knew when Tomcat said my hands were like "living silk" ["soft"]
Me: And I was fortunate enough to have witnessed that first flush of true love
Kitty: He was hilarious in the beginning. That's worn off. Now he's like, "Oh you're not coming home til Friday? Whatever."
Me: There is still love though is there not? I'm laughing. Should I not be?
Kitty: There's so much love don't worry. It's just not first month love. It's better, more mature. Like a fine wine. Or a cigar.
Me: Right, and there is RESPECT and HONESTY.
Kitty: RIGHT. Also there is division of labor and finances, which is nice.
Me: For what is white-hot PASSION compared to MUTUAL RESPECT and ADMIRATION?
Kitty: I don't think I could take the white hot passion of a new relationship any more. I'm too old. And my right knee is bad.
Me: Yes the right knee is critical.
Kitty: Yeah the left knee can't take all the weight.
Me: I hate knees in general.
Kitty: Really?
Me: They spook me...blah blah blah

THE END.

As a kid, watching Bugs Bunny cartoons always had me craving carrots. Now as an adult, watching Masterpiece Theatre has me craving scones. Ah yes I've come a long way.

So this morning I got up early and made scones for the first time, sprinkled throughout lightly with cinnamon and on top with lemon zest. Then I made a big cup of cappuccino, extra froth. When the scones were done, 15 minutes in the oven, I sliced one in half and spread a thick layer of CONFITURE DE FRAISE on both sides. Then I took a bite and went, MmmmmMMMmmmmMMMmmmmmm, I love you scone.

Scones brought to you by:
1. Bleak House (Dana Scully is EXCELLENT in a corset)
2. The Six Wives of Henry VIII
3. The Black Adder
4. Mrs. Brown and
5. Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Nowhere in any of these shows/movies is there a character eating scones. But they are in England, so as far as my brain and stomach are concerned, the association is close enough.

I have to give a shout-out to Masterpiece Theatre, by the way. Have any of you in the States seen Bleak House? Scully is so good in this role that I actually forget she was once probed by aliens, what with all her swishing taffeta gowns and her perfect English accent. But the best part is finding out that Charles Dickens' writing is really on par with Days of Our Lives, rather than knee-crushing torture.

I had this 9th grade English teacher who I loved but had this horrible habit of assigning us heavy-handed works of literature that no 14 year-old had any business reading, much less understanding. While classmates in other classes were enjoying Pet the Rabbit and Goodnight Moon, we we were saddled with All the King's Men, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Of Human Bondage (oh GOD), and David Copperfield. By the end of the semester my entire English class was suicidal.

I haven't gotten near a Charles Dickens book since. In bookstores I sort of skirt by the "D" section in a more hurried pace. But now thanks to the passage of time, which heals all wounds, and Masterpiece Theatre, I thought I'd take a stab at this 800-paged Bleak House, and capital! I am enjoying it very much. I love his writing and, who knew, he's FUNNY.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life

There's a little bit of knitting content in this one

East Meets West

For dinner last night I make shrimp spring rolls (with my own peanut butter-hoisin-rice-wine-chili dipping sauce!), and he makes chocolate chip cookies.

Prey Meets Predator

In the middle of a lively game of cat and cat

The boys get frisky after one finishes his business in the litterbox. Cat gives away his whereabouts by noisily scratching the box, alerting the other cat to quickly take low position behind the doorway or the scratching post. Cat exits litterbox, and is immediately aware that he is being stalked. He waits, sniffs the air, pupils dialating a little, and finally puts one tentative paw forward. That's when cat behind doorway or scratching post reveals himself with a savage spring and BOING! Eight paws go thundering across the room!

Conehead Meets Domehead

Look! Knitting! So grumperina laid the smackdown last week when she posted the nipply conehead properties of the shining star hat, mine in particular, and in so doing, exposed my knitting slackness for all to see. I knew something was iffy about the pattern but chose to let it be. I am not a perfectionist, at all. Ever. Never. But thank goodness someone is. Better her than me to improve upon the pattern. I made another shining star sans nipple and it is sooooo much better. Much more like a skull cap, which I like.

During this process I've come to the decision that I don't like cashmerino anymore. While it is very soft and luxurious, it's also very limp and saggy, and doesn't hold its shape. You should see my bolero aubergine and how sad and lifeless it is. I blame the microfiber component for that. The new creme hat I made using 100% wool, and while the size and gauge is the same, the cashmerino version fits way too big. It just stretches and stretches.

Rabbit Meets the End of the Rainbow
Happy Chinese New Year again! I was born in the year of the Rabbit. I am a LUCKY rabbit who eats CLOVERS all day and...plays with LEPRECHAUNS. I just received news from the Irish Consulate that my application for citizenship has been approved - woot - and now all I have to do is send them exactly 126.97 Euros, drawn from an Irish bank. What. The lady at the consulate said, "Just get a friend in Ireland to do it for you." Ha ha what friend? 

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life | Shining Star

Pinky's getting better, or do you care anymore?

View from igloo window

On Saturday we went on a hike through the woods in 60F weather, and even got warmed up enough to go in short sleeves. In JANUARY. Now, there's I dunno, 5 feet of snow on the ground. Boston weather is indecisive like that.

Well, it is so nice to know that they are complete strangers out in the world who care about another stranger's welfare. It is week 2 of the Swollen Pinky Saga, and even though it's still plump, it doesn't hurt or throb anymore, enough that I have managed to get a dozen rows or so of knitting the last couple of evenings.

Here's the situation at our house, as some of you have asked, and given the kind of advice (very thoughtful advice, btw) I've gotten as to how to keep warm, I've realized I've been kinda lazy with the details:

• Our house has about 2000 sq ft of living space.
• I occupy 150 sq ft of it during the day.
• There is only one thermostat for the entire house.
• I do have a space heater for the office, but it sucks. Bought a new one. Much better. 
• I wear 3 layers of clothing and a hat everyday.
• This is the first winter I've worked from home consistently. Hence this is really the first time warmth or lack of warmth has become an issue.
• The windows are new. (But I can tell wind is seeping through the front and side doors. Must replace)
• We used the plastic thingy for them last year and noticed no difference. 
• Our first winter in this house in 2001 led us discover that this house had NO INSULATION. At all. The floorboards were ICE. It's now insulated. (A house in New England without insulation?? WTF?)
• Oil prices back then were about $1.15 per gallon.
• Right now it is $2.50 per gallon.
• I just remembered that part of the heating bill is, and has been, tax deductible. You know, on account of this being a place of business and whatnot. I've known this but it has only now just occured to me. GOD I'm an idiot. TIME TO CRANK THAT SHIT UP.

My parents are despairing that I should have what they call a "poor, old woman's" condition. Here's a conversion between mom and me, spoken in our usual mix of Mandarenglish. Did I just invent a new word?

MOM: Oh I am so sad, that you have this problem!
ME: It's not a big deal.
MOM: But it's like you're too poor to afford heat! 
ME: No I'm saving the environment.
MOM: What about yourself? I cannot imagine my own daughter do damage to herself just because she won't turn on heat!
ME: thinking: she has a point. Well it's just not efficient.
MOM: Maybe you need to have the heating system redone. I will buy you some long underwear.
ME: OK
MOM: Tell Ya-Tze ("Duck" in mandarin) that he can turn up the heat a little. Pleeeeeease?
ME: It wasn't really his decision. I'm the one who stays at home all day.
MOM: Well, then tell him he needs to get more flaffy and sit on you to incubate.
ME: HAHAHA!
MOM: HA! HA!

In lieu of having Duck incubate me, I have this new space heater and it kicks ass. I've only had it on a couple hours this morning and the office is still nice and toasty. I have no idea why I suffered with that shitty one for so long. You had to be 1 millimeter away from it to feel any heat, and none of it lingered once turned off. I'm stupid. It clearly sucked.

This space heater is cat and whale approved

I also bought a pair of sheepskin moccasins and oh my god. I cannot believe I have lived in New England for what?! 12 years now! and have never discovered the miracle that is sheep fur. All those winters tromping through the snow without the benefit of sheep? Why do I still have toes? Do they make sheepskin bodysuits?

In other good news...My feline sidekick Kitty is in town today from NYC. We're going to Hamersley's Bistro in the South End for dinner. Their winter menu includes cassoulet. I LOVE KITTY AND I LOVE CASSOULET.

Hopefully more knitting content to come. Thanks for all of your concerns and advice! I'm almost healed!

Comments [15]
Filed Under: Life | WTF

Post-Christmas Wrap Up

 

I hope everyone had a fine holiday or is continuing to have a fine holiday. The catch phrase this season seems to be Happy Chriskwanzukah, which would kind of cute if it didn't give those who keep saying it so much trouble saying it. They're like, "Happy Chris -- wait. Happy Kwanzachris -- wait that's not right. Happy Chrishanuk-- "

I'm on a Shining Star hat hiatus. Five total were made, including a pretty ok that bi-colored version. I gave it to my sister-in-law. There's a weird nub at the top, but I found it was like that in all of my hats more or less, just more pronounced in this one.

Unlike last time I didn't doublestrand, and I made the star blue and the rest of it white. I ended up doing fairisle but twisted the different colored yarns around each other when I had to carry a color more than 3 stitches. It looks cool but damn it was a pain.

The Ugg booties were for my nephew. He's still too small to wear it and who knows if these things are even wearable in the first place. They're cute to look at though, and super fast to make.

Ah I'm happy to be done with the Christmas knitting. Or, I'm happy to be knitting for me and me alone. Me always appreciates what me makes.

We made a stop at WEBS after Christmas day so I could redeem my gift certificate, and it was a raving mad house. I immediately wanted to leave, yarn sale or not. They were having their blowout sale, and there were 3 lines snaking to the back of the store of people and their huge bins of yarn.

I only got a couple of things. I'll do a show and tell later.

Til then I reset my attentions back to Electra - she's nearly finished. Then I'll have to decide whether I want to continue with Kooch or move onto Something Else. Right now a whole lot of Something Elses are calling to me...

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Life | Shining Star

NYC

Despite the fact I hated to turn 1000, I had the BEST freaking birthday ever in NYC. I love you NYC! Thank you MTA for not striking until the morning we left!

Sunday:
Got into town after the easiest 3.5 hour drive.

Drinks at Pegu (holy crap yum and holy crap it's expensive) with college friends, then walked over for dinner at 24 Prince, a new joint that opened a few months ago specializing in "comfort food" with a "twist." The place was packed. For the price and location the food was great.

For old times sake, Nick reunited me with a flaming shot of Sambuca at the end of the meal. As freshmen in college we used to drink Sambuca like water. Like thick, viscous, licorice water. WHY? Because it was there. We have never had it since. It is still as disgusting as ever.

Monday:
Happy birthday to meeeee.

First stop, Kinokuniya, across from the Rockefeller. The tree looked pretty sad, people. All branches all wilted and cold. Sadly I didn't find any knitting books of interest. I did come away with a book of 1000 stitches and patterns, so not all was lost.

Then we walked across the street to the Top of the Rock. We decided this visit to the city would include cheesy touristy activities. It was a lovely view from the top.

Afterwards, we walked a few blocks to the Buttercup Bake Shop, spinoff of the Magnolia Bakery, and had ourselves a few cupcakes.

And then, the highlight of the entire bloody weekend, a surprise stop at Tiffany & Co.! Little blue box, be mine! Look at me, I'm Holly Golightly, tra la la la la la!

We were there for a whole of 10 minutes. It was the most fun 10 minutes I've ever had. Ever. 

5 minutes was spent navigating the huge crowd. Another 2 minutes it took locating my object of desire (which has been imprinted in my mind's eye for the last four years at least), then 10 seconds allotted for thoughtful consideration of whether or not I really needed the object once found (yes), and then the remaining 2 min 50 seconds to purchase and patiently watch it boxed (oh that eggshell blue!) and ribboned (red for Christmas!).

Afterwards we skipped out the door and down 5th Ave and I was as high as a kite.

Then we had a fantastic French dinner at Gascogne, with my new bling settled around my neck. The cassoulet was mmmmmm. After a few bites, your lips are coated with a film of fat that gets thicker and thicker with each bite.

Everything was perfect.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Travel | NYC

Because using DPNs just isn't challenging enough by itself. Also, I'm old.

After making 3 Shining Star hats, I decided I needed to UP the ANTE and make my knitting life interesting again, which would also provide writing fodder for this blog. I thought, wouldn't it be cute if the star pattern was its own color? Then I thought, wouldn't it be cute if the star were white, and the rest of the hat were a light blue, so that it looked like a snowflake against the sky? Then I thought, the gauge for the existing yarn I have for this white and sky blue yarn is too small, so wouldn't it work just as well if I doublestranded?

2 colors, 4 strands of yarn, 5 double-pointed needles, 1 circular needle (that I'm using as a dpn to give me a total of 6) and I have this:

It's a fiasco. I carried yarn across as many as 10 stitches because I didn't want to do intarsia and have pumpkin innards, but any way you cut it, there will be pumpkin innards and fairisle on this pattern doesn't work. I still think a star in its own color would have been so money, but the effort to achieve it isn't quite worth it. Granted, I didn't make the process any easier by doublestranding.

So sad. I spent a whole afternoon on this.

Know what else is sad? That it's less than 2 weeks til Christmas and we are sans tree. We've always had a tree, except for last year but that was because we weren't around for most of the month. I have not at all been in the holiday spirit. I know I must say this every single year, but this Christmas seemed to have leapt upon us like a duck on a junebug, and even though my body is swathed in 5 layers of clothing, my mind is still running around in a tanktop.

HA HA! Now do you also see why I haven't been writing regularly?! Such prose. Ha. Heh. Ugh. Sob.

Also it's a week until my birthday. I am turning 1000 years old. Again every birthday I say I am turning 1000 years old but this time I really mean it. My parents have even acknowledged that now that they have a decrepit sort of daughter, it must make them Keepers of the Crypt, and this too makes them sad. We are all sad for my birthday.

Duck and I are going to NYC to celebrate. I hope to drink and eat away the birthday blahs. My BFF whom I call Kitty (she has a food blog) made reservations at 24 Prince, and we will have pumpkin-spice and cinnamon martinis over at Public. I will choke my sobs with cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery and hide my runny nose behind Japanese craft books at Kinokuniya, and the next day, drown my sorrows in a fatty vat of cassoulet at Gascogne.

Mmm. I love cassoulet. Mmm, rendered duck fat. Turning 1000 doesn't sound half bad.

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Life | Shining Star

Freakshow

Currently outside there is a blizzard. And thunder. And lightening. It's the nuttiest thing I've ever seen.

Comments [5]
Filed Under: Life

Thanksgiving Dinner

Comments [0]
Filed Under: Life

Progress Report

Paperwhites

Growing nice and fast, but the flower buds themselves look to be less than robust, due to GROSS NEGLIGENCE in replenishing its water supply in a timely manner. I give you a C.

Aimee

Seaming is all done, with just a few loose ends to weave in. The stripes on the arms match up nicely with the stripes on the body. Nice work, with a suprising display of meticulousness. I like surprises. But wait, there is a snag smack dab front and center, due OBVIOUSLY to reckless use of the hanger while trying to set up photo shoot. Don't think I didn't notice. Because I did. It's RIGHT THERE. Hello, which is more important, getting the shot of subject or the subject itself? A little more consideration and respect next time. B+.

Thanksgiving dinner

You're giving your first Thanksgiving dinner, and instead of a turkey you decide on a "free range natural young capon."  So it will be a humane and hormone-free Thanksgiving. How ecologically responsible or whatever. But what the hell is a capon?* In any case, I give you an A for preparedness.

Christmas Knits
No pictures available at this time, please check back at a later date.

Girl I know you haven't started.  F-. It's so bad I might have to give you another. F- again!

*Capon: a castrated rooster
I'm a little behind on my bird lingo, but the weekend shopping at Whole Foods brought me to my very first encounter with a capon. KAY-pon. I was just looking for a plain ole chicken, a nice organic free-range chicken, but before me lay a vast sea of turkey, duck, goose, cornish hen, quail...and this capon. 

WHERE'S the CHICKEN. I want CHICKEN.

According to the guy behind the meat counter, castrated roosters taste better than the lady hens' white meat, and are more tender and succulent. Oh REALLY? says I. Well, let me brine the bejeezus out of this mofo regardless, and then I'll get back to you.  Not that I have any other option. Capon it is.

WHO would have guessed that genital mutilation had a place in the Whole Foods philosophy? I suppose I am just naive. I suppose there are worse things in the world. But like, if you were a chicken, would you rather be running all around in a field, but castrated, or caged with your nuts intact?

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Life | Aimee

Objects in store may look cleaner than they actually are

To escape the coldness of the house (because we're too cheap to turn on the heat during the day), I headed to some coffee shop downtown to work. After walking up and down Newbury St for WAY too long, looking for that perfect spot, I reluctantly settled on the Starbucks on Boylston St. It was the only place that had electrical outlets.

That particular Starbucks however is one of the nastier places on earth. Floors are sticky, tables are sticky, the store smells of yogurt. And 99.9% of the patrons there haven't even bought coffee, but doing random coffeeless activities like napping, eating sandwiches they brought from home, nursing their babies.

I'm not a hypochondriac but all I could think about while sitting there were the heaps of molded crumbs trapped between the sofa cushions, petri dishes, curdled milk, amoebas, drool, and the bird flu. I didn't go to Starbucks necessarily for coffee but I bought coffee, and now I'll never go there again because you can get dysentery from sitting on their single-celled-organism-soaked couches.

Next door to this Starbucks is my favorite germ-free hangout spot, Anthropologie. I found that cardigan I talked about from my previous post, and boy. In person, that cardigan is no natural beauty. In fact, that cardigan was downright GROSS. The material (acrylic and wool combo) was both scratchy and waxy to the touch, like your cheap high school graduation gown that came with a warning label not to wear in the rain because it might disintegrate. Also it was just shoddily made. I don't know how they got it to hang so nicely on that form for the picture, because it was not hanging at all right on an actual body. $78! We could make something so much better.

I did get that little red cardigan though, which I've had my eye on for awhile. It was on sale. Woo. Constructed like the Debbie Bliss bolero, but with cute crochet scallops for the sleeves. It's something I could easily duplicate. If I had an empty project queue.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

Much about Marblehead. Little about knitting.

Old Burial Hill, Marblehead

Yesterday Duck and I took our bikes to Marblehead MA, a yachting town (rich!) 15 miles north of Boston (short drive away!) that was settled a decade after the Pilgrims landed (colonial chic!). I love Marblehead. It was supposed to be sunny and mild but as it turned out, a persistent fog that looked to be breaking up in the morning grew thicker as the day wore on.

At Fort Sewall looking over the ocean.
The day started sunny and bright.

No sweat though. I was able to get fabulous, misty pictures from the Old Burial Hill, which by the way, is my favorite colonial burying ground in New England, and being a fan of old graveyards, I've visited many. On a clear day from the top of the hill you can see the harbor, clogged with sailboats during the summer. I love the style of the tombstones, the skull and bones engravings, the font of the engravings, and the stories they tell.

I always seek out the family plot and the telltale, short footstones lined up in a row that say: children buried here. You can always find the couple who have buried 5 children, all under the age of 6, in a span of 10 years. Or the couple who had a daughter they named Elizabeth Foster who died at 1 years of age, had another Elizabeth a few years later, only to have her die at 1 years old as well. They share a tombstone, the engraving's the same - just different dates. Raising a New England family in the 1600-1700's: hard.

I have a million photos of the burial ground but none of the beautiful colonial houses clustered in this town (too busy biking and coveting). Marblehead is one of those towns that make me writhe with envy. It's so full of quaint that it fills me full of loathing. As soon as I'm a billionaire, I too shall have a 17th century house overlooking the water and my yacht.

After riding around the village for a bit, we stopped by an oceanfront dive called the Barnacle for lunch. We had seats with a view, but the view yesterday was only fog, fog and look, more fog. The food was surprisingly EXCELLENT. Baked scallops and fish and chips. So soft and buttery, mmmm I'm still thinking about it. More please. I nearly ordered the lobster roll but balked at the price - you never know what you'll get with lobster - but next weekend when we go I'll order it. Heh.

It doesn't sound like it, I AM knitting. If you've been keeping up, you know I have 3 items in the queue: Kooch, Aimee and Electra. Lookithat, all Rowan knits! Well, Kooch hasn't gone anywhere since the last time I talked about it, I've finished the front and back for Aimee, and the back of Electra. I'd like a finished product by Thanksgiving, and decided Aimee would be it. So that's the plan.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

Totally kawaii

Knitting Patterns 300
ISBN 4-529-02071-1

I asked my mom during her recent trip to Taipei if she could bring back for me any "Japanese knitting books".  I'm currently on a anything-Japanese craze. The above is what she returned with. A book of 300 mouth-watering stitch patterns, kawaii!!!! with an illustrated section in the back that explains each stitch used in the book. I can't read Japanese but I don't need to. As with all Japanese books the illustrations are simple and clear, easy on the eye, and just fun to look at. 

I flipped through the book slowly, savoring each delicious page and then when it was over, I was like, "More? Are there more? Did you get me more?" And she said there was so much Japanese craft books at the mall bookstore she didn't know what I would want. DUH ALL OF THEM. I mean sure you've never seen me sew, but I want all the sewing books, so I can think I'll make a lifetime supply of cute aprons and tea cozies and hand puppets and totebags. Mostly I just want to look at the pretty pictures.  

The times I've gone to Taipei I didn't think to look for Japanese craft books, but apparently one of the malls (SOGO, fyi) has an entire floor dedicated to nothing but. Sob. I want them all, I want them all now.

I have two balls of KSH in Dewberry - the free gift for joining Rowan International (yay!) - and I'm thinking of making a scarf or shawl in one of those patterns in the picture. There are just so many possibilities really, I don't know where to begin.

Hey hey! It's that time of year for...

...paperwhites! Aside from leaf-peeping, forcing paperwhite bulbs is my favorite fall activity. I have several bags of these, and just after a few days of securing a group in a shallow bowl of rocks and seaglass and water, these little babies have started to sprout roots. See? Once the roots take hold they start growing rapidly. Easy as pie. I plan on forcing another set in a few weeks so that I'll have an entire season of flowering paperwhites. They smell absolutely amazing.

Comments [17]
Filed Under: Japanese knits | Life

Thanks for playing!

I love the internet. But feel sheepish now for that silly previous post of mine. Thanks for leaving your opinions though! I listened to the masses and went with the sash. I also didn't listen and wore Butterfly too, ha. Tucked in. I know, the horror! The whole point of being for Butterfly is that hem. The thing with that sequined tank top though is that it's basically a gussied up wifebeater, and once I brought it home I decided no way could I go to a wedding wearing underwear. Knowing me I'd probably spill red wine all over the front during the reception, fall on my face, and look like the perfect toothless drunk. So I wore that to the previous night's rehearsal dinner instead which was definitely more of a sequined, wifebeaterly type of hoedown.

Are you still reading?

I'm scared of the internet. Check this out. Someone took the pictures of me in my bolero, blew them up bigger, posted it on their site and then typed stuff in what I think is Turkish. There is something being said in Turkish about the bolero on the internet. And maybe how horrible it is.

Waaah why? What's she saying?

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Bolero | Life

Help a girl out.

Indulge me for about 5 minutes more on this issue of the wedding dress. I decided that the red polka dotted dress isn't the way to go. Yes too red, too summery, too tea-time at the Ritz and not evening city wedding in autumn.  SO. I hit the mall again with my mother and after finding nothing at the big name department stores, I came up with something pretty decent at Anthropologie. Anthro always comes through.

The woman on fitting room duty told my mom that that skirt reminds her of s3x & the city. I'm pretty sure my mom has never heard of that show, so in her mind some stranger just told her that the dress her daughter is wearing reminds her of secks. I was laughing in the fitting room.

  

Exhibit A               Exhibit B

But which outfit? Exhibit A is the flouncy brown skirt with its lovely coral silk sash, with a sequined tank top. Exhibit B is the skirt without the sash, paired with - look! - Butterfly.  Mom and Duck have already put their vote in, but I can't decide. I love that sash, but can't wear it with Butterfly. Also it might be too party party. Decisions decisions.

Help. Which do you prefer?

Comments [26]
Filed Under: Life | Butterfly

The world's ugliest sleeve cap

Help...me...*twitch twitch*

This weekend I finished and blocked one half of what will become the world's ugliest pair of sleeves. Thanks to the wretched instructions for the Debbie Bliss bolero. Or, is it my fault? I don't know dude. I've never knit an adult sweater from DB, and this is the first time I looked at a sleeve cap and wanted to throw up.  I even did the sloped bind off technique. Imagine if I hadn't. Wow. That is the ugliest sleeve cap I have ever seen.

Hopefully it will seam up alright.

Not much else on the knitting front. This week has been busy busy. Friday was my last day at the job so I've been busy with wrapping up and knowledge transferring and all that good stuff. It's been a good gig, one that originally was slated for 6 weeks but turned into 14 months.

It's amazing how much time goes by when you're not paying attention. Suddenly I was all, "I've been here over a year, and still don't have my own desk or know your name. Or yours. Or...yours." Such is the life of a contractor. I kept getting booted around for new, legitimate hires. I kept thinking, I'm only here temporarily, no use in introducing yourself, then meanwhile a year goes by and you still have no idea who anyone is or what they do.

Outside of my core group I did make one fabulous friend. And she has a fabulous name. Kitty! Kitty and Cat! Kitty Cat! We understand each other. We go drinking in bars and gossip/make fun/complain about people in the office and forget the time and spill wine all over ourselves and have our husbands come pick us up and say, "You smell like a homeless man." Oh wait that was just me. She's hilarious, and we've promised to keep the weekly, bi-weekly Cats' Night Out thing going.

But anyway, I decided to take another contracting gig that came along with another former co-worker, and I start some time this week, or possibly next. Whenever all the legal contract mumbo jumbo goes through.

So what am I going to do with the couple of free days that I have? DUH. I'm going to KNIT. NON-STOP.

And ride! We went biking again this weekend. I didn't have time to find a new seat (thanks for all your advice!) but I wore a pair of Duck's biking shorts, under cropped pants, to tie me over. A couple of times I sneaked a peak at my reflection as we rode by a storefront window, and gee! Who's that cat with the bubblicious JLo ass? Meerow! We stopped per usual in Lexington center, I ducked into Wild 'n Wooly (hooray! I can bike to the yarn store!), we had some ice cream, etc etc, then rode a little farther out before coming home. La la la!

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Debbie Bliss | Bolero | Life

Biking goes horribly wrong

Pardon me while carry on with this newfound activity called EXERCISE as if I'm the first human being to do it. My stint on the bike is over. Temporarily. Right now is a time of healing. So while the last few nights I've slept like a boulder at the bottom of a lake, all in all I have had no muscle aches or pains. I thought waking up the next morning I'd feel like a limp rag soaked in lactic acid. But, no. Strange. Very strange.

So what's the deal? Well. There is another element I had not at all prepared for. I can tell you this because we are all best friends here: a certain AREA has been battered, sorely battered and bruised beyond recognition. Clue: this certain AREA shares the same name, in some circles, as a certain COAT that I will be knitting from Rowan 38. Duck had his delicate egg wrapped in a basket of soft yet protective foam. But mine was right out there in the frontline of battle, casually covered in tissue paper, also known as unbefitting thin cotton shorts. So unprepared for the aftermath! You'd think FEMA ran the show down there. Can I blame Bush for this too? Ha ha ha I alone shall laugh at my pun.

For this reason only I cannot bike for a few more days. Just the thought is bringing tears to my eyes. Look! I'm crying!

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Life

Gone biking

No knitting news for the weekend. I bought a used bike and we've been hitting the trails, biking from our house to Lexington and back. That's about 20 miles, maybe. Big whoop, you say. This is a big deal for me because I am the world's largest slug. Albeit a slug with good intentions. I've been wanting to exercise more, but Orangina and Butterfly and Aimee and Co. can't up and knit themselves now can they?

Lately though I've just been feeling gross and old from lack of exertion, and fed up with my own laziness. So Saturday we went bike shopping. First store off the Minuteman Trail, and I had my bike 10 minutes later. We drove it back home, changed, and hit the road back to the trails on bikes. The sun was out, the breeze was cool, and air was fresh. It felt really, really great.

Even though I'm unable to walk or sit properly today. Prognosis for tomorrow looks to be worse.

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Life

Mint juleps and other things

Another reason to love summer besides ice cream is summer cocktails. We're big boozers here, and during the summer, the mint out back is flourishing (mint is scary aggressive like a weed, but a weed we're happy to have around). So in addition to the requisite glass of wine or pale ale at dinner, our livers are working overtime to break down the vast amounts of mojitos and mint juleps we're knocking back. Yeah!

The mighty mint julep

Growing up in the South I had always thought mint juleps, along with Coca-Cola, as one of them Refreshing Southern Drinks for Civilized Ladies, Particularly Those from the Civil War Era Who Wore Petticoats and Owned Slaves. I thought it was some special kind of lemonade. Excluding the slave part, everything about a mint julep screamed Southern gentility and charm.

That was until I actually had one. We were 19 and my friend and I drove to Louisiana JUST after they increased the drinking age from 18 to 21, but that didn't stop us from trying to get ourselves into any bar in the French Quarter. Eventually the popular Pat O' A Brien?slet us in without checking our ID's (suckers!). I ordered a mint julep and ah yes when it came, in a tall hurricane glass, stuffed with mint and icy condensation beading along the side, it looked delicious and refreshing and exactly how I had pictured a mint julep to be. I took a big long swig, and gagged. Coughed, choked, eyes watering, nearly died. Southern ladies drank THIS?! That liquid swirling like an oil slick in between the sprigs of mint was 110% straight up bourbon. In a decidedly non-genteel and suddenly vulgar HURRICANE glass. I kept at it anyway, hoping the more I drank the more I'd like it, when really the more I drank, the more my vision blurred, the more I felt like I had been conned. Mint julep, you were supposed to be dainty.

The back of Allegra. Underneath is my first attempt at the back, in the petite size that's still too large.

Back to knitting. I've finished the back of Allegra and am in the middle of the front. Pictures of the front to come. It's a very interesting construction. I had to read the instructions a million times to understand it. I like having a preview of the outcome in my head before I actually do it, but it turns out if I had just followed the instructions as written it would have all fallen into place.

The back piece has a little hole smack dab in the middle, of course. It was an errant yarn-over. I noticed it maybe only 5 rows after the hole was made, but did I rip back to do it over? No. Am I stupid? Yes. This hole is going to be SO noticeable when the piece is on and stretched. I will figure out a way to sew the hole shut later.

This weekend we were in western Mass for a birthday party. We stopped at WEBS, the most glorious discount yarn store on the East Coast, and ladies and gentlemen, I came out of there EMPTY HANDED.  I had loaded up my basket with some DB Cashmerino and Classic Elite Lush (it's not even on their website yet), but had nothing specific in mind for any of them. So, after wandering around asking myself Do I want or do I need? I put them all back.

Now matter how reluctant I was to walk out of there with nothing, at the end of the day I dislike stashing. It's a pretty recent discovery. I find myself getting stressed out about yarn that's just sitting there, continuing to be a yarn ball and not a sweater. And I know myself. Unless I will cast on within 5 minutes of bringing the yarn home, chances are, I won't use it. Chances are, I won't love it anymore. Then it becomes backup, or something you feel you need to get rid of, and I want to treat my yarn much more nicely than that.

It's weird the things that drive me nuts (yarn stash) and the things that don't (extra YO hole in sweater). I think most people are the exact opposite.

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Allegra | General Knitting | Life

I enjoy making knitwear, making fun of my cat, and making ice cream

So if cats are missing the sweet tooth gene, why then is my cat's ass so big?

I dare you to find a larger cat bottom than this.

Hee hee I'm always picking on Veebs. Of course he doesn't eat sweets. It's only good ole fashioned Cat Chow that makes him so shapely. And I like him shapely. He's great to cuddle to, to sling around your shoulder, your arm supporting that great big butt as his great voluptuous excess spills over, and he's purring purring purring like a gigantic bumblebee.

But speaking of sweets, this is what we got going on here at Chez Kitty McKnitty. Homemade ice cream!

We've had this ice cream maker for the last 3 summers and this weekend was the first time we used it. Idiots! We made strawberry ice cream and oh my god is it good. All day long I think about strawberry ice cream and how soon it will be til I get to eat some. And on a hot hot day like today it is even more exciting.

So not much going on with the whole knitting thing. The past weekend found me in a RARE mood to clean up the jungle that is our yard, so I ran with it and removed the dead shrubs, de-weeded, even varnished the deck. But yep I think that'll be it. When I'm in the yard again it's to sit in a lounge chair with a knitting project on my lap.

I was so into gardening last year, and now I barely care. Such a shame. I wonder if this time next year I'll feel the same way about knitting? I hope not. As Duck has pointed out, knitting has been my longest running obsession ever.

Comments [5]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

Back to Allegra

The pros about being a contractor are many: flexible hours, better pay, no office politics, no pressure of having to be on some "career track." The cons about being a contractor are too few to mention. I'm even ok with paying health care out-of-pocket.

But there is one con that has me a little sore. I didn't get to partake in the company summer outing which went something like this: catered seafood lunch; yachting in Newport, RI; clambake dinner; dj and dancing; hotel rooms for that one too many drink. I am shocked at the extravagance during a non-dotcom era that resembles more like a millionaire daughter's wedding than a corporate outing. Goddamn. I've always wanted to do a clambake!!! And I love sailing! I love Newport! And I love love love to drink free booze!

Also since I missed the outing I missed the announcement that went out telling everyone to stay at home the next day (today), so when I came into the office this morning I was all, "Bueller....Bueller...Bueller...?" Sigh. There is no love for the contractor.

With my sudden free time today I finished Harry Potter.

Blossom's OSW came in the mail yesterday. It was too small for her, she offered to give it away, and I kindly accepted the offer. I too however found that it was too small for me.

But it wasn't too small for a certain fiery-haired beauty...

And I'm breaking my No Knitting For Me, Only Knitting for You vow. I'm disappointed in myself but hardly surprised. I did start on a few baby pieces and they seem to be going pretty quickly, and since it's still blazing hot outside I thought, I could totally squeeze in one more summer piece before the season's over.

So Allegra, I'm comin' back for you and this time I mean to finish you up and finish you up good.

Comparing the width of Allegra to the width of my favorite perfect-fit tank. Look at that!

I started this back in May and have been starting/stalling on it ever since, because I had more than an inkling that it was going to be monster big on me, despite knitting it in the smallest size. But I was loathe to make any sizing adjustments. The pattern motif is too involved and I was too lazy to re-plot. So what does one do when one cannot make one's mind up? Keep on knitting, just keep on knitting! Yes it's too big but if you just Keep On Knitting the piece will magically shrink or you will magically grow to magically fit you perfectly!

Anyway I made my adjustments to the back and cut the width back by more than 3 inches. The adjustments to the front is going to be so so gross, but I'll think about it when I get there. The goal is to finish this within the month. And THEN I will concentrate on baby stuff only, yes. I will.

"I hate you."

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Allegra | Cats | Life

The weekend was good

This weekend was a hot and muggy one. I continued knitting Celia, while listening to the Red Sox/Yankee game on the radio, while reading Harry Potter. Two years ago, the doorbell rang at 6:30am in the morning, and a grumpy USPS guy hand handed over Book Five and said, "Here's your book," while his face said, "Goddamn you freaks." Remembering that, this Saturday morning I woke up at 5am and flitted in and out of sleep with my ears half opened, listening for the sound of the delivery truck. It came at 7:15 am and BOING! Duck and I were at the front door half-dressed in a split second.

I am loving this book so far. It's not a surprise, but I think her writing style has changed. It's more sophisticated, the flow reads like watching a movie. And our little wizards are cursing and flipping each other the bird. They're all grows up! I for one am waiting for the Ron/Hermione make-out scene.

This weekend I also tried to play Buckaroo with my cat Veebs. Of course I used yarn: Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran in this VERY DELICIOUS shade of teal. It's destined to become a cable jacket from a Debbie Bliss baby book...I hope...if I don't use it for myself...because I'm selfish.

It was like playing yarn jenga.

Veebs wasn't a very cooperative Buckaroo team player. Kept waking up or breathing too heavily.

Comments [4]
Filed Under: Cats | Life

A couple of shoutouts to...

...Carolyn who sent over 6 skeins of Rowan linen drape for free. Free! Thank you Carolyn! This is what one skein has produced so far:

Another from Adrienne V. Spring 05, this one I call 'Celia,' the name of the original yarn to use. It is 100% silk. I dislike silk. It gives off that tell-tale stink, is expensive, doesn't drape well on sticks like me, and comes out of a bug's anus. I had been thinking of using Cotton Fleece again for this and then Linen Drape came along, et voila.

...Allegra, for abandoning you yet again.

...Jeannine, an old buddy from college whom I haven't seen since graduation day. Actually I think the last place we saw each other was at the ice cream shop on Hope St (?) the day before graduation and you said very sternly to me, "Shh! Say no goodbyes!" and well, we didn't. Now Jeannine is in Amsterdam and I am in Boston. We email occassionally and tried to meet up when I was in the area last November (unsuccessful). Long gap of silence until yesterday when I get an email saying she found this site while surfing other knitting blogs, hee hee. So hello Jeannine, I miss you, send brownies.

...London. Love you, London. Hate you, Bush. At the end of the day I blame everything on him.

Comments [7]
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Celia | Life

b-l-e-h

We had a torrential downpour today. When it rains, the city and everything in it malfunctions. Here's a chronological list of things that broke down today:

My hair
The Orange line train going inbound
The straps on my right sandal
My umbrella
My mood
The Orange line train going outbound
The bell on the bus
The bus

Another thing that's broken is this site syndication. Bloglines isn't picking up anything new from this month, I don't think. Whatever. If there are any subscribers out there could you tell me what you see as the latest entry? Not that I can fix it but, I'm curious.

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Filed Under: Life

Sleepy

There's the kind of sleepy you get from lack of sleep. From too much sleep. From too much pot. From too much sun. From too much cough syrup. The worst kind of sleepiness though, is the kind induced from sheer boredom. So ruthless and savage this boredom is. And I'll leave out the details as to how one can be busy yet bored at the same time. It's too depressing. Thank god it's Friday, I say. THANK GOD.

Well, only a couple of more days left until Summer, so I think it's safe to say that this year, Spring never came. I've been daydreaming what life would be like in the Southwest, like Arizona or New Mexico or Southern California. Who cares about foliage in the fall or powder in winter when you're wearing a coat and scarf until mid-June?? All overrated. Enough of the hibernation already and let's get on with it.

I would never ever get tired of the sun, even though a few friends in San Diego complain that all the "nice weather" "day after cloudless day" gets kind of "boring" after awhile. Oooo idiots.

So I post these pictures in memory of the Spring That Never Came.

Tomorrow we make an attempt at summer-time fun with a trip to the ocean. If it's warm enough, there will be no knitting. Has anyone ever knitted while sunning at the beach? I don't imagine the Coral Tank will be very nice covered in sand, sweat and sunscreen. I am so desperate for good summer weather that I would choose sunning over knitting right now.

I will now make lemon squares.

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Filed Under: Life

This is crap

After a week of glorious 90 degree weather, all humid and sticky like it should be, it's all gone, all gone. 50 degrees right now. Grrrrrrrrrr. The positive thing to come out of this bullsheet weather is that I've whipped out AJ yet again. And speaking of AJ I've been commissioned by a friend to make one for her. Hooray!

Nothing much going on the knitting front. I haven't had much time. This weekend we're going to a friend's house on the Cape, and since it's supposed to be freezing still by then, perhaps I can get some knitting in.

Blah blah nothing interesting to say blah blah blah.

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Filed Under: Life

Dianne is damp. Still.

Putting Dianne under 30 lbs of books was a bad idea. So was soaking her thoroughly in a waterbath. That was three days ago. A spin in the dryer seems to make Dianne even wetter. I was actually feeling good about the finished piece before the flattening trauma. Now not so much. All that manhandling has stretched her some more. She's too big, too flappy in the breeze and too limp and boohoo I am too sad. Maybe I will give her away.

I have a hangover.

By the way, I have been getting a lot of mileage out of AJ. In fact I wore AJ twice this week to the office, paired with even the same shirt underneath and the same pants. I was able to get away with such a fashion faux pas because since Tuesday I have seen and spoken to exactly no one (okay maybe I spoke to one person. Two at the most). How is this possible you ask? First, many people were away on conferences. I think. Second, I have this weird corner office in the way back of the floor that gets little traffic and even if there was traffic, the wall directly in front prevents anyone from seeing the office's occupant. If there is one. If a consultant sits in an office and no one knows she's there working, then has she gotten anything done?

And so I wore AJ over and over. AJ's been in the wash too, and although the color faded somewhat, she's holding up extremely well.

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Filed Under: Adrienne V | Life

Verdict on Vegas

I could have spent 5 hours in Vegas and seen all I needed to see. Vegas is not the place to go to if you don't care two flips about gambling. Sounds obvious. I was hoping the people watching and the hotel hoping would be enough. And my god was it HOT. I know I was looking forward to the heat, but an entire week of triple-digit highs was hard to keep up with. If you didn't sweat outdoors, you did as soon as you entered an air-conditioned casino - but at that point it was more like you were condensing rapidly. You know it's out of control when the meteorologist calls a high of 99F a "cool down." 

"O" was amazing as expected. So was the brunch buffet at the new Wynn. They had congee, and Thai lychees.

  

Left: South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Right: Red sand at Zion.

The best part was the drive to the Grand Canyon and Zion. I didn't plan well for this trip at all, so we didn't have time for hikes, which would have been perfect because the temps there were a good 20 degrees cooler. We drove from Vegas to the South Rim, stopping at Hoover Dam along the way, quick detour along Route 66, and made it to the Canyon in time for sunset.

Zion in fact was a last minute "detour" - I hadn't realized how close it was. Instead of driving back to Vegas we drove East around the GC, through Navajo Country, through the Painted Desert, and into Utah. It was a beautiful drive. Had I planned this through we would have spent less time in Vegas and more time at the national parks.

Duck had a mild case of food poisoning from a suspect hamburger at a restaurant in the Canyon and puked on the side of the highway in Utah. First time that stretch of dry dry desert had seen any precipitation in weeks.

As far as knitting goes, I brought with me the other Adrienne V project, and did a few inches. Lots of cables and yo's to keep things interesting. Pics later. As far as Dianne goes, I will have her finished TODAY, fingers crossed.

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Filed Under: Life | Travel | Las Vegas

Vegas

We're off to Vegas today for a week, where it's going to be hovering over 100 degrees the entire time. I. Can't. Wait. I say this now as we're mired in yet another crappy week of fall-like weather up here. 50 degrees at the end of May, I'm so sick of it!  I can't wait to complain about the heat, sweat like a pig, eat ice cream all day, slather on sunblock, wear shorts. Anyway we have no day-to-day plans in Vegas aside from seeing O at the Bellagio aw yeeeahhh and a side trip to the Grand Canyon.

Haven't been knitting much. Some high school buddies were in town so I've been entertaining. The back of Dianne is nearly finished but I have yet to make it to the armhole. I just can't seem to get there, and I'm on the 5th and last skein.

So see you next week!

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Filed Under: Life | Travel | Las Vegas

A Book Meme

I've just been tagged by Adele, or She Who Knits 1000 Projects At Once. This meme is my first ever. It's about books. I like books.

Total number of books in your house ...
For an avid reader, not that many. Well I take that back, there are a couple of factors. First, there's not enough time in the day for me to be an avid reader -- hello, have you noticed how time-consuming knitting is?? -- but for someone who really enjoys reading, there still aren't so many books in the house. Less than 100 definitely. Second, I love browsing through the bookstore, but love checking out library books more. In fact I just went and checked out the America textbook by Jon Stewart, read the foreword by T. Jefferson and already it's the funniest thing I've ever laid my eyes on. Anyway, I have this horrible habit of not finishing what I start. The library cures me of the guilt of having spent $15 on something I might not finish.

The books I do own are mostly classics, especially those involving spirited English girls, instant classics like Harry Potter, non-fiction (plenty on Elizabeth I, various European monarchs, and geek computer crap), and a large stash of travel books.

The last book you bought was …
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman
Haven't started yet.

The last book you read was …
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Everyone now and then I need a real feel-good kind of a read.

5 (or 6) Books You Often Read or That Mean A Lot to You …
These are books that I not only often read, but books that have made me weep:

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The South shall rise again! Great writing, great storytelling. When Melanie on her deathbed tells Scarlett to "be kind to Rhett, he loves you so," I get all choked up. Trivia: This book is the only one I know of that's won the Pulitzer and whose movie won the Oscar.

Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
So beautifully written. So bloody sad.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by What's Her Face
Towards the end of the book, with Sirius dead and Harry pissed and confused, Dumbledore tells him that contrary to all well-laid plans, he ended up caring more for Harry's happiness than for his knowing the truth. The chapter closes with a tear trickling down his long wizardy beard. It's tough seeing a grown man cry.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
When Matthew tells Anne that he's glad the orphanage didn't send a boy, I start blinking uncontrollably. Great series. All her books are.

Emma and Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
None of these made me cry per se, but they're my Most Favorite Books of All Time. Wit never gets boring.

And there you have it.

I will next tag Blossom (fellow Taiwanese from the South!), and Carolyn (fellow Bostonian!)

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Filed Under: Life

We now return to our regularly programmed skedjoo

It's unbelievable what changes while 10 days away from New England in the middle of April. Suddenly now there is what appears to be FOLIAGE. I'm seeing things that are green, yellow, and PINK. All my daffodils are in bloom. The hyacinths are at peak. The tulips are ready to party. And the peonies! Just before I left for Taipei I was searching in vain for their little pokey heads in the dirt, and now they've seemingly bypassed the Pokey Heads stage and headed straight into Twelve Whole Inches of Fluffy Leaves with Even a Few Buds Included stage!

All the perennials planted Spring '04 - ah yes that magical season of unsurpassed gardening frenzy because I wasn't working - are coming back as well. I know it's their job, but I'm still surprised.

Back to knitting talk. I finished the left side of AJ. I will say again: the instructions for this piece are f'ed up. I continue only because I really love this cardigan, and because every knitter and their dog on this planet has managed to complete this piece well enough to wear it in public. And so will I damnit. 

So first the good news: the mystery that is the front bands has been revealed - they're knitted at each shoulder of the front pieces. You bind off about half of the stitches for the shoulder, and then continue knitting the other half for some inches which will then constitute "front bands."  Ahhhh.

Now the bad news: With the front pieces joined together by the front bands, the piece will resemble a halter top. So the front bands then are really back bands, wrapping behind your neck. In the back. Not the front. The back. Back bands. BACK bands you fools. That yes, are knitting from the front. If You Pattern Writers had just mentioned this very quickly somewhere in the footnote of the pattern I wouldn't be so upset.

More bad news: What REALLY bugs me is that for the front/back bands, the pattern says to cast on an extra stitch "anew" at the edge. Anew is too quaint a word for a task so clugey. Unless I misinterpret, anew requires dropping/snipping the old yarn and attaching a new ball for the sake of ONE cast-on. Why not just do a simple increase? Or, why not bind off a stitch less? Or, why not account for the extra stitch in pattern? Or better yet, why don't we just not do it?

I need to find me an AJ support group.

I'm hoping that like the front band mystery itself, when finished this extra stitch tumor will reveal itself to be useful if not totally mandatory. For now I'm a little put off by the whole thing and have taken a break from AJ, and started AV.

Adrienne V that is, Shaped Top #6 from Spring 2005. I'm going to give it a less clinical name and call it...Dianna. After the name of the yarn. This name will work if I knit in this yarn this one time in my life only.

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Filed Under: Adrienne V | Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket

So. Tie. Yurd.

Every day is a packed blur that I can't even remember what I did this morning aside from having a very hard time pulling myself out of bed. This trip has been the first time that I/we haven't tagged along with my mother here and there like illiterate ducklings. We're still illiterate but can finally find our way around unsupervised, and at least have some sense of direction --I asked Mom once whether grandma's house or auntie's house is eastern Taipei, western, southern...? and she had utterly no idea. She can't find her way out of a paper bag, even the same paper bag she's lived in for 30 years.

The funeral was yesterday. My uncle, the new patriarch of the family, delivered a lovely speech after Mass that we were all in tears. After the burial the entire family had lunch together at a nearby restaurant. About 50 of us in somber black attire streamed in on a wedding banquet being held at the same time. I'm sure they loved that.

It turned out that knitting store I visited the other day with the hideous prices was Filatura di Crosa. Just so you know.

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Filed Under: Life | Travel | Taipei

Knitting little, eating lots

While I continue to make minimal progress on the Apricot Jacket (henceforth AJ), I am making huge progress on the eating.

Last night my cousin Paul took us out for a Japanese bbq dinner. We cooked thin strips of sirloin, pork, fish, clams, vegetables on small grills perched atop a ceramic pot of coals. By far the most expensive meal we've had here, but who cares because we didn't pay, heh. Oh on the way there we walked by Chiang Kai Chek's great-grandson walking his dog. Ooo the closest I've ever gotten to a dictator sighting!

Advertisement: Getting around Taipei is a breeze with mass transit. This "easycard" transit pass is one of several issued with my uncle's name printed on the front. He's apparently famous around here. I saw him on the news the other day, after having just seen him in his pj's.

Today after buying our usual pastries from the shop next door, we headed to, um, Starbucks to eat them over coffee. I know, I know. This city is littered with all sorts of cafes fitted into every nook and cranny imaginable and we picked Starbucks. The problem was that the nook and cranny cafes we've visited were serving up exotic coffees doused with weird syrup or powdered milk (??) or ten feet of foam that there was no coffee flavor to be had. Apparently it's too little to ask for a simple cup of no-frills coffee, because everytime I do I'm barraged with 20 Questions - do you want froth, do you want bubbles, we can add chocolate syrup, do you want sprinkles, only $5 extra for blah blah blah and flah flah flah...Gah!

I also decided to refuse patronizing coffee shops with blatant Starbucks-rip-off logos. And man are there plenty of those. It drives me absolutely crazy. This city comes up with the most creative concoctions of eats like shaved ice drenched in cream and fruit, or topioca balls swimming in tea, or meat sausage nestled in another sausage of rice, and they can't for the LIFE of them come up with their own damn marketing campaign.

Today we went with my cousins to Danshui, a small harbor I guess with a boardwalk of various street food. We spent the whole afternoon eating this and that. Then we came back to the city and had shaved ice, and picked up a couple of scallion pancakes on the way home.

Duck with green-tea flavored gelatinous goo sprinkled with sesame, and (can't see it well here) cannibalistic Chinese sausage within a rice sausage.

Strawberry and mango shaved ice.

Thanks Blossom for the yarn shop tip - what color line is the MRT stop on? Hopefully I'll find the time between the eating and the family stuff to make the trip. I left the States in such a hurry that I didn't even bring appropriate funeral attire. Truthfully I just don't have anything appropriate. Why is everything sleeveless? And suddenly so frilly and so colorful? No doubt my Grandfather would frown in disapproval.

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Filed Under: Life | Travel | Taipei

La la la, can't think of a title

Errrrgh! I want to throttle the instructions for the Apricot Jacket. I don't know what's up, but this is the fourth Rebecca pattern I've followed and having by far the most trouble with it. The textual instructions are pretty much useless. I should instead carry the back piece with me and use that as a visual guide - the front is really just the back in two parts - but it's too bulky carrying that all over the city. I've started and restarted the pattern for the front panel so many times that the yarn has started to become frayed.

Also the finishing instructions say to sew "front bands" together and to the neck edge. Uh, what bands...?

My mom and I visited a yarn store yesterday, giving ourselves plenty of time to browse/buy before a dinner engagement later in the evening. It turned out we browsed for all of 2 minutes. The prices ranged from $700 NT to $2000 NT ($20 to $60 USD) per ball. I think we must have asked the owner about one hundred times if the prices was per unit or per bag. FOURTY DOLLARS FOR A SINGLE BALL OF WOOL. They were mostly Anny Blatts and Bouton d'Or and other French imports. What's the big hooha? I don't get how anybody, no matter how irresponsible with money, could stand paying $400 to knit a plain ole wool sweater.

So yesterday Duck and I spent part of the day at Taipei 101. I wanted to go up on the observatory deck but it's been cloudy and foggy and unseasonably cold. We spent the morning eating pastries til we turned green, then walked around, then had lunch, then had dessert. For dinner we ate sushi again (an obscene amount that I think I'm actually scared of sushi now), then spent some time with my grandmother playing mah-jong.

We're staying with my cousin at what I like to call the Kennedy Compound: Uncle and Aunt #1 along with my cousin Paul and wife live on floor 2. Other cousin Francis and wife with 2 kids live on floor 3. Grandmother and Uncle #2 live on floor 6. We're staying with Francis. The kids (aged 1 and 3) stare at Duck like he's from outer space. Yaya, the eldest, won't call him when she sees him, but she apparently talks about Uncle Duck all the time when we're out. She's warming up though. Today she was willing to get close enough to take a picture with Uncle Duck!

I appreciate the kind comments left in the previous post! Til next time...

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Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket | Travel | Taipei

Postcard from Taipei

Here's what I got going on with the Apricot Jacket. I gotta say, the instructions for this are really confusing. Glad I didn't start off with this as my first sweater project. I would've given up on knitting altogether.

Bunny feet on Jacket

I'm knitting this on size 6/4.25mm needles to obtain a much smaller gauge. I like 'em tight. I've also shortened the length 4 cm and plan on doing the same for the sleeves.

So I am here unexpectedly again in Taipei. When the Pope passed away last Saturday, he took my grandfather with him, mercifully ending years and years of suffering a slow and painful death. None of us can be too sad about him finally being at peace. It was so hard for me to see him so broken and bed-ridden and tied with a mess of feeding tubes and whatever else. He spent over 10 years like that, never speaking and wholly unable to do anything on his own, but breathe, sleep, and blink. Several times he was on the brink, and each time he was pulled back in.

Duck and I set up a living will a couple of years ago to ensure we'd never have our low threshold of pain tested in such a way. If either of us so much as develops a chronic rash, that's it dude. You have my leave to pull the plug.

I love Taipei but need to stop coming here for the purpose of mourning. Fourth time in as many years, third time since Jan 2004. However it's always great seeing family again, and of course it's great to do ALL THE EATING.

So we're here about a week. Brought the Apricot Jacket but doubt I'll find any time to knit. Also I left some knitting materials on the plane - a small bag of crochet hooks, stitch markers, a beloved tape measure and grrrrrr.

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Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket | Travel | Taipei

A case of the Tuesdays...

For me all hell breaks loose when it rains. Despite being underneath the umbrella my lunch bag became damp enough to rip and thus I had to hold contents of bag (my lunch in various containers) tenuously in my arms while walking to the train. On board the crowded train it was standing room only, my umbrella refused to close, popping open and spraying fellow commuters like a wet dog shaking off its coat. While wrestling with the umbrella to get it closed, the contents of ripped lunch bag clamped in my armpit popped out, and after I retrieving lunch containers from dirty, wet, gritty train floor and finally getting the umbrella shut, my trousers and shirt front were completely blotched in rain water. I looked like I had just given a Saint Bernard his bath. I'll take snow anyday over rain. I hate the rain.

Yesterday on way to grab lunch I stopped at Newbury Yarns for more debbie bliss merino chunky #18, the lights were out and there was an "Be back soon!" post-it taped to the door. What is this, Europe?! America doesn't dooooo lunchtime siestas. I hung around for as long as I could, ducking into Bliss (uh oh saw a tote on sale that I'd been eyeing since the Fall), Fresh, various other boutiques and 30 minuters later the store was still closed. Grrrrrr. I went back a couple of hours later, and wouldn't you know it, she didn't have the yarn! Gave me the "Yeah yeah I have it" brush-off when I tried to give her the dyelot over the phone, and now when I'm in the store she's all, "You should have given me the color number!" Then she proceeded to chastise me for buying it online and it's like Lady, work with me. You don't have the yarn, what am I supposed to do.

After work I visited Woolcott in Harvard Sq. for the GGH Soft Kid. I swear everytime I walk into a yarn store I invariably find myself involved in a very stressful game of Jenga. There has got to be a better way to stock yarn aside from cubbie holes. How about netting? You can see and rummage through it without fear of Every Single Goddamn Ball of Yarn Falling Out.

Luckily in this case Soft Kid was stocked at the very bottom cubbie hole. I came away with 5 skeins in HOT FUSHIA for the Rebecca 29 Minicardi, and now I'm not so sure about the color. It is so HOT, so FUSHIA. Not only am I unsure about the color, I am unsure about the yarn. I tried knitting a row and god. I'm knitting with cobwebs. I'm knitting with unhealthy, weak frizzy hair. Hard to hold, hard to see, breaks easily. Rebecca 29 is coming in the mail today, I'll give it a go and see how one skein turns out...

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Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi

It's a good thing

I thank God for this Friday in particular over all other Fridays because

• I just found out the office is closed on Monday.
• There are 3 NetFlix movies in the queue:
  Season 2 of Coupling (original British version, not flaccid American remake)
  Vanity Fair and
  Eternal Sunshine of the Blah blah blah
• The office is closed on Monday.
• The office is closed on Monday.
• The office is closed. On Monday.

I see a finished sweater in my future.

The price of the Kobe steaks last night were a good 10% higher than last time. I'm not surprised. How many barrels of oil does it take process a 10oz steak, and then fly it over from Japan all the way to the East coast? However much, the kobe was worth it, it's worth aaaaaall of it.

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Filed Under: Life

Happy Birthday to my golden goose

To properly celebrate D's coming into this world, we will eat steak. We will be all kinds of irresponsible while we do it. I don't know if you're allowed to bitch about SUVs out of one side if your mouth, and then eat steak with the other. But I'll do it anyways, because there are always exceptions aren't there, especially when talking about a marblized, beer-mashed, succulent Kobe steak.

So today on the way to work I walked by a Porsche SUV idling in the parking lot. I resisted the urge to smear ripe feces all over it, which I had at the ready for just this occasion.

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Filed Under: Life