Post-Holiday Catching Up

Our vacation went quickly and nicely, with my sister and niece, plus my own two little cherubs, spending random hours together. We talked story, slept in, ate all the things (I love, love, love what local kine foods they have at Zippy's), and enjoyed our holiday.

I finished one of my vacation projects, spinning up 4-ounces of a luscious Greenwood Fiberworks BFL and silk roving, using my new Bosworth Moosie. This fiber is fabulous, drafted easily and flowed like water onto the spindle.

The roving I chose was dyed in even horizontal stripes, so I decided to do some fractal spinning. I divided the roving in half lengthwise, spun up the first half, then divided the remaining half again lengthwise. After I spun up half of that, I divided the remaining fiber in half once more. The last two strips were pretty thin, so I didn't split it further.

Sometimes when I spin, there are bits of fluff which cause nepps in the singles. Not so with this roving! I had absolutely no waste whatsoever! And it had divided pretty darn equally, so that I only had a couple of yards left on the original cop. I simply Andean plied it and added it to the ply ball.

As you can see in the photo above, the result is a lovely, shimmering ball of pliable goodness. I've been plying it together since my return home, admiring how the colors shift and meld along the singles. Though I thought I'd use this for socks, I may knit up a shawl instead, especially as I expect to get a lot of sport-weight yardage.

Most Expensive Graduation Ever!

My niece graduates from high school, and everyone in the family is heading over to celebrate.

This is my first trip away as a dog owner, and my goodness, it costs a lot to board a dog! The cost of the week for her to run around and lose what manners she has is half the price of my plane fare. O.o

She'll have tons of fun, though, and so will I. I've packed some spinning, a pair of socks to knit, and my shawl-in-progress. It took me longer to choose projects than to choose my clothes.

For spinning, I'm going to start a fractal spinning project using my Bosworth Moosie and a gorgeous braid of Greenwood Fiberworks BFL and Silk in "Skyfall."

The socks I'm finishing are my second pair of my own Aqueduct Socks pattern, which I've picked up and set down a million times as I'm not knitting them two-at-a-time Magic Loop, but singly on DPNs. This was to enable me to write out clear DPN instructions for the pattern, and also to try out my new Knitter's Pride Cubics needles. Really comfy, and I've always liked square needles as they're easier on my hands. And, for the price, the set was a decent deal.

And then today, I found a couple of 9-inch circular Kollage Square needles at Tuesday Morning. I've never used these, but Veronica bought one when we took our epic road trip to Yarnmarket a couple years back, and she's still using hers (which I believe are Hiya-Hiya). Plus, at half-off, it seemed like an opportune moment to scoop up the sizes 2 and 3 that were left and take them on holiday. Circs are always easier to deal with on a plane, right? :)

My shawl is growing right along. :) I'm going to post this, then finish winding the skein for the border lace. I'm not at that yet, but I will be after flying umpteen million miles tomorrow!

Hello, Kitty

This is the story of a dog without a name. Someone noticed her tied to a box in her yard, with a few scraps of dried-out bread nearby. She asked the owner if she could have the dog, and was told yes.

She went into a foster home, where they named her "Angel," but she didn't answer to that name, or anything else. She picked up enough weight in one week there to cover her ribs, though, and she started perking up.

Meanwhile, in Hampden Place, I followed all the adoptable dogs Donna posted on her Facebook page. Some were soooo cute! And others just seemed like too much effort if I wanted an actual dog. Working long hours and such, I needed to ensure any dog I got would be low maintenance and low energy. Kinda like me. :D

Did I really want a dog? Did I? I waffled for a bit, but then decided that adopting a rescue would be good for me, as well as for the dog. I am still depressed, and I need something to lift me out of myself, to force me to wake up on time and do things on a schedule. Cats are pretty time-agnostic. But a dog... a dog needs a human to care for it. Dogs are so dependent upon us! The more I thought about it, the more I realized a dog would help me more than therapy or perhaps even medication. All I need was the right dog.

And then, I met her. Donna told me if I wanted a dog to look at several before making a choice, but my heart melted completely for this poor, neglected scrap. She's a year-old (approximately) and has already had a litter of puppies. Where her pups went, who can say? I wouldn't be surprised if they died due to their mom's malnutrition.

Despite the rough life she led, she's a very sweet girl. Since she wasn't answering to Angel, I chirruped at her, "Kitty!" and she turned her head to look at me. Thus, I have a dog named Kitty, which confused the little boy down the street, and draws smiles from adults who think I'm crazy.

Well, I am. I've already spent about a thousand dollars on her gear and goods. She's gone from nothing but bread to Dog Chow to now the most expensive dog food in the world. :D She's got a lovely crate in which to repose (though she prefers the leather rug in the front room). She's started wagging her tail when she sees me, falling over herself to lick my hands and legs, little doggie kisses of gratitude for buying her kibbles, toys (that she doesn't know what to do with yet), obedience lessons, and soon, a spay!

The cats at Hampden Place are confused by the new arrival, who at 33 pounds, is three times as large as they are. But Kitty is patient and shy, and she lets them sniff her and run away. And she's learned that Melody is not to be approached lightly as she will swipe anything she's unsure of with the flying fickle paw of fate.

The nice thing about Kitty is how mellow she is, despite being so abused. She sleeps quite a bit (other than her first night, when she paced frantically; and then there was that run three blocks away to the Avenue while I ran desperately after her clutching her leash). A downside is she's not interested in learning how to sit or pay attention to me, but advice from the dog-lovers I know indicates she just needs time to realize she's safe with me, and no one will hit her, or starve her, or leave her tied to a box for days.

I already love her so much, and am so thankful she's kept me thinking about what she needs, pulling me more out of the nothingness which enveloped me for so long. We're rescuing each other, and I like that.

Not dead. Not yet, anyway. :)

I'm not sure why I stopped posting, but I'll blame games, spinning, knitting, and illness for my absence.

And when I have more time, I will fully explain all my obsessions!

Honest!

Especially spinning. :) It's my latest hotness. I lubs it.

Six Cats

I'm going to get out my camera sometime this weekend to document them. Four cats currently live in my basement, while Mittens and Melody roam around upstairs.

The basement cats belong to Anna, my new roommate. She and I work together, she knits (yay!), and we're both crazy cat ladies. Although, Anna is twice the cat lady I am, given she has twice the cats.

Melody is not very pleased with the new inhabitants. Mittens goes up to the basement door to converse with them, but when we've opened the door to allow co-mingling, he is less forthcoming. Melody growls at them under her breath. She's apparently scarred after living with Scooter, who tormented her the entire time Dan and I lived together. =\

In any case, everyone will have to get along because this arrangement allows Anna and I to both save money, and maybe even turn on the heat once in a while. The price of my heating oil is more than a dollar higher per gallon than it was last winter, when it cost around $1,000 to heat the house. Aiee!

You can see why it's good that Anna can knit. She will want to cover herself with blankets, hats, and gloves to keep from freezing. Indeed, she may move into the basement herself as it is generally the warmest room in the house in winter.

A Good Little Witch

Kevin and Candyce wanted to adopt a baby girl. They filled out forms, they had inspections, they childproofed the house. And not too long ago, they got the call that a beautiful little newborn girl was potentially their forever child.

Her name's Sabrina. In my excitement when Candyce called to tell me, all I could remember was that the name they were planning to use started with S and was a famous fictional witch. :D I kept saying, "Samantha?" Hahaha! :)

I'm so excited for them!

Also so sad because by the time I can get out to meet her in person, Sabrina will likely be at the "I'm afraid of strangers" stage and so I won't get to cuddle her and kiss the top of her head. But we shall see!

Meanwhile, I knit a little dress for her. Other little tiny clothes to follow. Very exciting time and I can't believe how wonderful this is for my bestest friend and my Other Husband!

Strawberry Fields Forever!

Veronica and I got up early. That's not so unusual, except that it's Saturday. Our goal: strawberries!

As you might guess from the photo, we were successful. We drove up to Brown's Orchards and picked our own. It's been close to 30 years since I last picked strawberries, though I'm not sure why. We were pretty early, but there were already quite a few people in line to pay for what they'd gathered, or out in the fields.

I wish I'd brought my camera. When we finished picking, Veronica and I sat in the sun beside peach trees laden with tiny, fuzzy fruit. The skies were clear, and the hills spread out before us, farmland tucked up between them. The day was absolutely perfect for being outside and doing something fun with a friend!

After an exciting ride in the field van, we paid for our berries (and learned that there were three women named Tracy there today; I so rarely ever encounter any others), then headed to the Brown's store to get some lunch before heading home.

My goal is to make a little bit of strawberry freezer jam with some of my berries. I cleaned up half of them, froze those on sheet pans, and will cook them down later. And, of course, I had to have some immediately, too! Following Veronica's suggestion, I made a shortcake of one of my favorite Brown's cookies, whipped some cream, and voila! Dessert!

I took a nap after eating it. :) What a happy day!

On Being an Owl

Some friends of mine are going through a rough patch. I don't know what I should do to help them, or if I should do anything more than listen, sympathize, offer hugs.

My reading came out sideways! Well... okay, the photo is sideways and I don't know how to fix that. Anyway...

I like that the outcome card is Page of Pentacles. She's grounded, yet surrounded by the lightness that grows from the pearl in her hand. And, of course, I love the owl perched nearby. This is clearly me. :)

This is a new deck for me, the Shadowscapes deck. The imagery is gorgeous, and the book that came with it is a lyrical joy to read. I bought this when Candyce and I went to the East West Bookstore in Seattle.

How I miss living there. I miss the city, my friends there, the weather... and yet, I love the East Coast, too.

In any event, I am a rock. And an Owl. My purpose is to be there for my friends, to hold up a light for them when they're feeling the need to talk about their troubles, to hold them when they cry, to hoot softly and nibble their ears.

Well. Most of that stuff anyway. :)

A Little Snow, A Long Scarf

It snowed last night! No photos, but trust me, it's quite lovely to see the city street scene outside. Maybe 2, 3 inches total, so nothing at all like last year, but still pretty.

I'm propped up in bed (yay, real bed with headboard!), sipping tea, glancing out the window, and stealing wifi. My back is giving me some twinges and I'm not looking forward to taking the World's Tiniest Snow Shovel to the pavement before heading out to work.

Meanwhile, please enjoy a glance at what I finished yesterday: a scarf for my friend Jose! It's Knit Pick's Moguls Scarf pattern, in a luscious Malabrigo merino worsted. Nom nom nom!

He's such a knit-worthy guy, peppering his emails to me with exclamation points over how excited he is to see this scarf :D I'm currently using the remaining yarn to knit him a hat, too, because I love his enthusiasm! See, even I am moved to exclamation marks!

Last time I knit him a scarf, he bought me yarn to repay me for the time it took. This time, he sent me a Blu-Ray of Legend of the Guardians, which I know I'll love because it's full of owls :)

The Adorable Neti

I love my little Neti pot. It looks like this one:



I bought it after catching an episode of Martha wherein she has someone demonstrate it live. Looks hilarious! But I always wanted to try one, and this video definitely encouraged me to give it a go.

Let me tell you what: whenever I don't use it at the first signs of impending colds/allergy attacks, they knock me down for several days. Since I've started using the thing, I'm usually back on my feet in a day. Mind you, I still feel somewhat meh, and I might sound horrible, but I feel better.

Any time I mention it and my listener says, "Oh, but I do use my Neti pot!" and they're sick for days, I get the feeling that perhaps they are using it as a paperweight.

Yesterday, I commented to my co-worker Eric that they may be addictive. I've caught the local plague, and have been using the Neti pot every morning. I don't think you're supposed to use it multiple times a day, but boy, I sure want to!

If you've never used one, seriously, it's the best thing since brushing teeth in terms of hygiene!

Going to the Rally! Vroom! Vroom!

Anna had mentioned this a while ago, probably when it was first announced. I'm excited to go since I actually live close enough that it's do-able. Yay!

Veronica and her husband Jon will be coming over about 10:30, then we'll head out to find Silver Spring metro station. I hope we find it; every other time I've ever gone to Silver Spring, I get lost despite Gypsy the GPS. This is because Silver Spring is a mystery spot on the East Coast. It just doesn't play up this aspect of its personality.

As a typical knitter, when Veronica asked what I am going to take, I immediately mentioned a sock project in progress. Heh! I am, however, also taking some water, apple cider bread, and some satsumas.

One never knows when a good satsuma could come in handy.

Rhinebeck on a Whim and a Budget

Technically, the New York Sheep and Wool festival, but everyone calls it Rhinebeck, after the town in which the fairgrounds are situated. Last Monday, Kate asked me if I would be interested in going up to New York with her, and after doing some budget crunching, I agreed.

We drove up late Friday night (I'd had a prior party to attend) and arrived in Hastings at 2AM. Exhausted, yet full of excitement, we passed out cold at Kate's mother-in-law's condo on the Hudson River.

Lili, Kate and Becca's adorable little cherub, came with us. She perkily arose at the crack of dawn, and so Kate and I very groggily prepared for our day with the sheep and the wool, with an emphasis on wool.

It was glorious. The day was bright and mostly clear. Predicted rain did not happen, and so though there was quite a lot of wind, we remained dry as we traipsed from barn to barn. Once Lili became disinterested in wool, Kate took her off to do stuff and I wandered along alone in the crowd, happily browsing for myself, and doing some sock yarn shopping for Anna.

As I do with gambling, I set myself a $40 limit for yarn buying, and stuck to it. Anna had given me some money and a request to find her more sock yarns. And so, at the end of day, not long before the closing announcements went out over the loudspeakers, I had done all the shopping I could, and we set off for our home base in Hastings.

We drove through Sleepy Hollow, which was filled with folks wandering around, looking for horsemen or at least haunted houses. We saw so many gorgeous houses, beautiful landscapes, and wonderful little shops all around the area. It seemed that every other moment, we were laughing at something, and promising ourselves that we would come back up sometime with Becca and just hang out.

Today, we wandered around Hastings in the morning, stopping at a soda fountain in a drug shop for a treat. I had my very first egg cream, which has neither egg nor cream, but is nicely chocolatey and refreshing.

And then, we drove home, nibbling on junk food and giggling like schoolgirls. Best weekend adventure in a long time, and such a nice getaway! And I have the yarns to prove it!

Suddenly, Autumn

Last week, it was warm enough to wear short sleeves. Suddenly, mystically, beautifully, it became autumn. All my windows are closed in Hampden Place, and it's still lovely cool inside.

And I have a cold. =\ My sinuses hate me.

I have new fuzzy house shoes. They are not slippers, but mocassin-style fleece-lined little shoes. The only downside is that they feel so much like regular shoes that I've had to turn around and come back into the house to put on real shoes a couple of times.

Did I mention how I locked myself out of the house for the first time? It was the Saturday morning I dashed out to pick up Veronica so we could head to Feederbrook Farms. Slightly before 9AM, and as I pulled the door shut behind me, I realized that I was holding the spare car key and not my usual keys. Why do these realizations never strike before one has pulled a locked door firmly to?

In any event, Christina and I had exchanged house keys when I moved to Hampden, and so later that evening after my day of sheepitude, I simply went to her place to pick up the spare, and let myself into my place. Disaster averted! Yay for Christina, whose idea it was to exchange keys lo those many moons ago!

As a result of my cold, I haven't felt like concentrating on charts, so I set aside the Owl Socks until I can knit without snuffling. I'm adding in a variation I saw on Ravelry, which not only adds stitches around (which I need) but also adds length (which I want). Very exciting! I had just gotten in the first row of the colorwork when I set it aside, and will be very happy to stop coughing and sniffling so that I can continue!

Also set aside the Leafy Fingerless Gloves whose thumb gussets look like ass. I plan to rip back that part only and re-knit it on dpns, but don't feel much like doing that at the moment, either. Kate stopped knitting on hers, too, for reasons I can't remember. She's not big on knitting through the back loop, which is what this entire glove is, so that might be part of it. She is, however, making a Swallowtail Shawl in the meanwhile, so go, Kate!

Since I can't not knit, I started up something completely different. Last week, Veronica had a cute little shawl curled up around her throat, and when she explained that it's Simple, I decided I wanted to make one. This is because, prior to seeing her, I had blocked out my Citron shawl and was immediately possessed with the desire to knit another... even though I had said I would never do so. Now, upon seeing Veronica's shawl, I had an alternative to bajillions of ruffle stitches! Yay!

Mine is in laceweight JaggerSpun Zephyr (wool/silk blend); I'm calling this my Jagermeister shawl ;) Holding the yarn doubled, though, as I wasn't feeling up to an itty bitty laceweight project. It's coming along nicely. Mostly, I like that the stitch pattern is whatever you want. My variation has rows of yarn overs and knit-two-togethers. Veronica did her completely differently, without any yarn overs at all. I think that's what I like about knitting. Two people can make the same project, and they can both be entirely different but still beautiful.

Like little snowflakes. =)

Moving Right Along

I think I have developed a cold. Snuffling, sneezy, and chilly. Need to knit a pair of socks with toes that I can wear with my slippers as I shuffle down into the basement to do laundry.

Last weekend was busy. I'd taken my bereavement leave and spent the time knitting, cleaning, thinking, and recovering from OSM's death. On Saturday afternoon, Candyce flew in from Seattle to give me a hug.

Have I mentioned before that I adore Candyce? If not (but I'm sure that I have), I mention it. We drove around DC for a while before turning on the GPS and heading back to Baltimore, where she got to see Hampden Place. Yay!

Before OSM's passing, I'd planned a Sunday brunch as my local yarn shop, Lovelyarns, was having a trunk show. It's about 3 blocks from where I live, so I'd invited over my knitting peeps. After OSM died, I didn't want to cancel my event. In some ways, I needed more than ever to have friendly, happy people in my home. So, knitting peeps came. They got to meet Candyce, which made me so happy to have her meet my new friends.

And then, we walked down to the shop, and Candyce and I had to turn around almost immediately so that I could take her to the airport for her flight home.

Shortest trip ever, but so worth it for the hugs.

Also made me miss being in Seattle, hearing all about how my Seattle friends are going about doing cool things together. I've read about their doings on Facebook (a blessing and a curse of modern living), but seeing Candyce and hearing about what they've been doing makes it even more real. Their lives are going on without me. Aiee!

And my life goes on without them. Or more like, with and without, since we have the type of friendship wherein it's not necessary to live in one another's pockets. Every bit of time we get together is precious.

In knitting news, been working on two socks simultaneously. One pair is another pair of Monkey socks, which I started after seeing Kate knitting hers. Kate, Anna, and I all started a knit-along, making Monkeys two-at-a-time. Heh! Anna is so brave. This is her first pair of socks, and her first two-at-a-time, too. When she went to the trunk show, she bought a ton of sock yarns. I think I have converted her. Muahahahaha!

I decided this time to try the Strong heel, which has no pick-up stitches. Couldn't figure it out on my own; lots of references to how simple it is, but I need real instruction. :) Finally found it via something called Fiber Camp Boston. Dude! What a fabulous concept! Both the camp and the heel. Looks very nice, especially with stripes. Will probably do this heel more often, now that I understand it.

The other pair of socks I'm making is Broadripple. I love how the top of the sock becomes almost crenelated due to the stitch pattern.

If my stolen wifi weren't so wonky, I'd include photos with this post. Maybe later.

Days of Remembrance

While initially I was going to put off taking bereavement leave from work until my sister and I had figured out what to do with OSM, on Wednesday I was pretty much tied up with filling out various forms relative to the cremation. That ate up part of my morning, which I had intended to use to revamp and test some stuff for an internal play-through.

Mind went to mush. Paul asked me if I wanted to treat one of my revisions with plan A or plan B, and I couldn't make up my mind, instead dissolving into tears.

And so, bereavement leave. In most cases, folks probably use the time to actually attend funerals or whatnot. Barb and I are having OSM cremated and will eventually scatter the ashes somewhere in Hawaii.

Kurt, bless his soul, offered to meet my sister next month when he's up in LA, take OSM, and then do the scattering for us seeing as neither my sister nor I live in Hawaii any longer. But at this point, I don't know when we will do this. I cannot afford to go right now; Barb is still unemployed, and will not go unless her daughter can go, too (and I cannot afford to fly three of us), so OSM will reside in a closet in San Diego while we figure this out.

I'm a lot more upset than I thought I would be. I was never close with my mother, ever. I'm still not big on family, other than my little cherubs. And even so, they live on the opposite coast, and have lived primarily with their father, so I am not as close with them as I would like.

When folks tell me wonderful and warm stories about how great their parents are, I'm filled with a sense of loss and regret. I don't have many good things to remember. OSM was difficult, volatile, and often mean-spirited. She promised to embarrass me in front of any boyfriends I might bring home, so as you can imagine, I did not bring very many people over at all.

She broke dozens of long wooden chopsticks over our legs and behinds, making us go get them for her so she could beat us. Most of the time, I dreaded going with her to her friends' homes because she inevitably beat us when we got home for doing, or not doing, something...and the something always seemed to change. It was difficult to know what would set her off. Even now, I am diffident about going to other people's houses, or to parties in general. I suppose that inside me is the little girl who knows she'll do something wrong, and will be punished for it later.

Once, when I was a teenager, she handed me her various meds and demanded that I kill myself with them because I was worthless, and everyone would be better off if I were dead.

But, she did have a very, very rough life and I'm sure she did the best that she could given her circumstances. She put me and Barb through private schools at considerable cost in time and effort on her part, especially since our dad had abandoned our family before I even started kindergarten. She worked jobs that allowed her to be home when we came in from school, until I reached high school and she could leave me home alone. She made all my prom gowns by hand, to my particular specifications. She was gifted with the ability to see something ready-made and could figure out how to recreate it later, whether it was knit, crochet, sewn, or cooked.

As she got older and the dementia set in, OSM (short for Our Sainted Mother, which Barb and I took to calling her around then) became a different person entirely. She was pleasant and friendly. While I was still wary of her, I didn't have to fear the sudden and violent temper that she'd exhibited while we were young.

Then again, aren't all children likely to see their parents in a completely new and different light, once they grow up? Maybe she always was someone else, someone I never knew.

OSM

You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us
~Sappho

My mom died last night, not unexpectedly, but I am still somewhat in shock, and not without some anger.

She had a long and difficult life. I hope she's at peace finally.

Stolen Moments

I am using unsecured wifi. There are three different connections around Hampden Place, and I've used them all.

In the kitchen, it's Neighbor Belkin. He only keeps his wifi on in the morning, with occasional, random evenings. Upstairs, I can choose between Neighbor Linksys and Neighbor Netgear.

Howdy, Neighbors! Thanks for being so understanding as I download games via Steam! I'm trying to keep my usage to the middle of the night to not slow down their own use, but I'm imagining that Neighbors Linksys and Netgear don't actually do much but check their emails and maybe play Farmville or something.

I wonder how far away these folks actually live from me. All of the signals are "Poor," although every so often Neighbor Linksys pops up as "Low." Currently observing Fallout 3 downloading on my poor connection. I have about four more hours left. Or six. Or three. It changes every time I check. Mysterious!

Anna and I hung out last night. She graciously helped me wrap and schlep glass blocks from the apartment over to Hampden Place. We walked down to the Ave and had dinner at a little Italian place, cruised a couple of shops, and I bought a print to hang in my bedroom. This possibly means no yarn for me at today's outing, but I really liked the image; she's going to preside over my bedroom eventually. For now, she's on a bookshelf in the living room, getting to know me.

Later today, going to PA with Kate and several of the Wednesday knitters to Sweitzer's Country Store for her sale event. We are following that up with afternoon tea at Serenity Station. And to further my caloric demise, will then go to Brown's to get cookies as big as my head. Yay!

One More Week!

Nothing like procrastinating, I tell ya! Wheeee!

One more week of renting the old apartment. I spend most of the day there, scrubbing floors and putting cute little vacuum stripes onto the bedroom floor. There's still some stuff there I need to pick up, and then vacuum up the living room, but then I'll be done with it.

The forecast today was for thunderstorms, but I sure didn't experience any. I spent some time with my coffee and a new sock project, hanging out in the front parlor. The chair Jeannie gave me is comfy and cozy, perfect for knitting while watching traffic go by. I installed a door sweep on the front door to keep critters and stuff out. Then I came upstairs to put together a nightstand I bought last month. It's been in pieces all over my bedroom since it's been too hot upstairs to work on it.

So hot upstairs, in fact, that it asploded the battery in my wall clock. =\ Ow!

Not having bits of wood all over the floor any longer does make the bedroom open up more. I have lovely original pine flooring in here, as is the case throughout most of the house.

As the weather starts to cool, my fretting turns to heating Hampden Place. All I've heard is how expensive it will be since I have an oil heater. That makes me very sad, as I don't know what to anticipate, and am not looking forward to bills of over $300 a month to heat the place.

Clearly need to knit more hats and wraps. But first, more socks!

New project is actually a repeat of my first sock project: Twitterpated! It's well-written, quick to memorize and knit, and is just flying off the needles two-at-a-time! I cast on late Friday night, and even though I was busy nearly all day Saturday, I got far enough along that tonight I was able to turn both heels and move on to the gussets. Whee! I love this pattern =)

Finally!

Behold! I finally finished my Citron shawl. I started it in April from the laceweight Zauberball I bought when our knitting group went on a field trip to Sweitzer's in Pennsylvania.

And I finished my Mad Color Weave socks, which I also started back in April. House-hunting and moving took all my energy. It's nice to finally feel like sitting down to do some actual, factual knitting.

Still have a few things to wrap up at the old apartment, then I'll be completely in Hampden Place. That'll give me more time...to knit! Yay!

Yesterday, Ellie and Jim had a little get-together at their house. I played Rockband 2 for the first time since I left Seattle (and I still suck at it), plus a couple of other games. I miss game nights. =\

Chandra, one of the Wednesday knitters, is in town this weekend, and so a few of us got together this afternoon at Judy's house. Another lovely day of socializing with friends.

And that's what I like best about living in Maryland: friends. Yes, I still miss Candyce, and my little cherubs, but I have friends here, too. Huzzah for friends!

Days in the Big City

Nice thing about the East Coast is how close everything is, in relative terms. Hence, when my high school friend Kurt let me know late on Friday that he'd be in DC, I arranged to take Monday off so that I could drive down there and spend a couple of days playing tourist with him.

We had a great time getting caught up on each other's news, as well as wandering around the Mall so that I could see all the memorials that I'd never actually been close to before. The only monument we didn't get to was the Jefferson Memorial, and that's mostly because it was swelteringly hot and I was developing blisters from all the walking.

And once again, everywhere I went, I was gleefully reliving moments from Fallout 3. Muahahaha!

Kurt remembers peculiar details of stuff that happened to us back in the day. For example, we were at the Viet Nam vets' memorial area, and one of the statues depicts a soldier holding an M-60, which sparked a memory for him. While I don't remember the episode, Kurt mentioned that while we were at a JROTC Spring Camp one year, he and I were in the same group firing M-60s, and that I'd apparently tried to load the ammo into it incorrectly. When he told me it was backwards, I took the ammo out (he says), and jabbed it into his hand, telling him to load it himself. Or something to that effect.

Which, I am sad to say, does lend credence to his account, as it is exactly the sort of thing I'd do. =\

I'm uploading photos from the weekend on Flickr now. Need to edit them a bit, as there are something like 50 shots of the ground as I attempted to get a good photo of a cute squirrel, and stuff like that. I'd include photos in this post, but apparently the interface has changes on blogger, and I'm too tired to wrassle with it tonight.

I was really sorry when our holiday ended so quickly. Kurt flew back to Hawaii today, and I went to work as usual. The cats were happy to see me when I got home tonight, and I'd missed them, too. Still, it was a nice get-away, so close to home, and yet so far away!