Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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Sorry for all the rock photos — testing out a new banner image and modified design!
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Anniversary!
Well, now that today’s workday is over I have officially been at my job for 6 years! It seems like 3 Nov 2003 was an awfully long time ago, and I guess it was. Looking back it is hard to comprehend all I have done, learned, affected, and continue to work on.
Some things I have had the opportunity to do in the past 6 years:
- Take a 3 week course in Miami on Biodiversity of Tropical Plants
- Participate in workshops on: Southeast Asian plant family identification, identifying diatoms, identifying lichens
- Go to Eagle Hill in Maine to take courses for professional development on Slime Molds (Myxomycetes), Bryophytes (twice!), and Hypogeous Fungi (truffles and stuff)
- Refresh my Latin and learn some German
- Take a mycology course
- Listen to countless fantastic speakers
- Go to a large Botany conference in Chicago
- Become a member of the IPM-WG and go to the working group meeting 2 times
- Work with wonderful, intelligent, compassionate and friendly people
- Learn a lot about databases and how to test them
- Give tours to all different people of all different ages
- Help with research projects
I can’t even begin to estimate how many specimen I have filed, and I could probably get estimates on the number of things I have sent on loan or databased but I think I would rather not know. I’ve corresponded with people all over the world and I’ve helped people translate English into Latin for publications. I have found things thought to be lost, and I have probably “lost” some other things. I’ve made my own field collections with my own collecting permit (and still need to finish the identifications!), I’ve gone on walks, and I even attended several forays (for bryophytes and for fungi). I have made many friends in many places who study many things.
I have not finished everything the previous person had not finished. I have not managed to knock the ever-growing piles of things to do down to a tiny pile, I have not finished every project I have started, but I also have not been miserable. Not once! Stressed and overwhelmed at times, but still happy with my job. I have watched at least 9 co-workers move on to other jobs, graduate studies, and places… not including graduate students and post-docs whom have also left.
And after these 6 great years I wonder what I will do in year 7. Will this be my final year? Is it time to move on to graduate school or some other place? Will I accomplish something great, take on some amazing project, complete some of the things I have been trying to finish for almost as long as I have been here?! I have no idea, and THAT is pretty exciting.
So here’s to you, job I love and that I have gown and changed with! Thank you for the past 6 great years and uncountable opportunities! Tonight I’ll raise a beer, some knitting needles, and perhaps even a field guide to you… and I’ll be back in the morning to see what is in store next!
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Wicked Cool →
Sliding scale to see the size of things. From a coffee bean down to a Carbon Atom. Excellent!
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Big trouble in cable city
So I’m working on knitting a present for a couple of friends of mine who got married. (Technically I have the whole first year so who cares if I cast on after the wedding!) It’s a mod of a complicated Starmore sweater into a lovely afghan. A few cables, a bit of simple lace, and viola!
So the thing about cables is that though they are simple in theory, there are some problems that can arrise, especially if one is lazy and does not actually use someting to underline their working row on all the charts.
Here is the panel in question:
Can you see the problem? How about now?
So this is what it is supposed to look like:
and this is what I have:
and if you look back to the first picture you might notice I have knit quite a bit since then. A whole additional repeat from where that mistake is. About 23 rows. 23 ROWS! And now I see that I have 3 options:
- Leave it, say that hand knit things have mistakes, and never look back!
- Drop back just those 5 stitches and see if I can figure out how to fix it and reknit everything along the way with just the cable needle, crochet hook, and my wits.
- Frog back 23 rows and fix the mistake and then reknit 23 rows.
As I see it 1 is straight out. I refuse to succumb to my own stupidity and laziness at forgetting a cable cross. Number 2 is terrifying and yet if it works is the least amount of work. I just haven’t yet figured out how exactly it would work, though I can usually figure out how to grab stitches as knits and purls, not usually 5 in a row with cables. The final option will work if the second option fails. (So long as I don’t drop other things along the way. I am suddenly considering lifelines for every pattern repeat.) However the idea of reknitting that many rows is inconceivable very hard. The backside rows speed along, but the front-side rows, when I am in a good rhythm and everything is moving perfectly probably take me no less than 10 minutes, which means if I was only doing front rows perfectly then it would take me about 2 hours of perfect knitting to redo all that work.
I think morning is a better time to tackle this, perhaps even afternoon after coffee and a lot of thinking. I may even have to phone a friend for some help, if only moral support! (Chocolate and wine may be on hand for the post results in case of both good or bad. Or beer, beer alyways helps… right? Maybe I should have one of those now.)
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Saturday is...
Chocolate for Breakfast Day!
That’s right, back in probably late August I decided that Saturday should be chocolate for breakfast day. It started on a particulary difficult Saturday where I felt I needed a boost, and then I decided that EVERY Saturday should start this way.
I’ve stuck to it! (out of enjoyment and not obligation) It’s not necessarily that my entire breakfast is chocolate. Perhaps a mocha (hot or iced), a scone with some chocolate, pancakes with some chocolate, and usually this is accompanied by non-chocolate themed food. (Though not always! Mmmm chocolate croissant and mocha!) Sometimes I go out to achieve this, sometimes it is as home. Sometimes it is true breakfast, and sometimes it is more of a second breakfast. Either way, there is chocolate and it makes Saturday great. Even my handsome man agrees!
So, give it a try! Saturday is Chocolate for Breakfast Day!
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Whip It
I loved the movie. Good music, hip/alternative roller derby vibe, touching moments between friends and family, and lots of female actors in their 30’s having fun and looking awesome, and a really kick-ass food fight. Not too melodramatic, angsty, or sappy.
Though he didn’t come see it, my fella might be right… “It’s like a chick flick for tough chicks.”
Now I just need to go watch some actually Roller Derby…
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Race Results
On Saturday (26th of September) was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in Boston. I was on a team that called themselves the blue-footed boobies. It was my first 5k and my first big fundraiser and I feel great about both!
My fundraising amount: $925 (because my friends and family are awesome)
My 5k time: 29.15!! (I’m allowed to be excited for that time, it’s my first race since high school!)
Now I just have to keep up with all this running in amongst all the ultimate and knitting! (New found love of audio books is making the latter really even more awesome!)
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Muted Garter Love
I’ve got this lovely bit of yarn on my needles… all garter stitch with tones blending and changing. The yarn is Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe (Rav. Link), which is always fantastic to work with. (Note: I have not met a Koigu yarn I did not love madly.)
I’m hoping the finished object turns out just right.
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Beer differences
Things beer may make seem different (or actually be different)
- Role playing (especially if you are new/nervous)
- Knitting tension
That is all I am currently testing. Results to follow.
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Spit Happens
I successfully spit felted to skeins of yarn together last Sunday! The colors of the 2 skeins even matched up (which it variegated yarn is asking a bit). I unwound the ends a bit, mushed them together, used some liiquid (moisture from the outside of my cup of iced chai) and after some rubbing and twisting: voila! 1 uberlong bit of yarn with no knots!
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One look from you, I drift away. I pray that you are here to stay. […] I live my life, to be with you. No one can do the things you do. […] I’m glad to give my love to you. I know you feel the way I do. Anything you want, you got it. Anything you need, you got it. Anything at all, you got it. Baby!
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Fall Aspirations
So the temperature has dropped and it is cool and gray and rainy outside. This weather is perfect for knitting and drinking copious amounts of tea! (note to self: find more decaf black tea, preferably lady gray.) The tricky thing becomes sticking with something long enough to finish it!
Right now I am working on (or about to start):
- An afghan in Sheep Shop One wool in beautiful blues using cables from Alice Starmore’s St. Brigid. I cast on after the wedding it is a gift for so I really better stick with that!
- A lace mobius cowl in Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino in Devon (a beautiful mix of greens that are very spring like). Meant to do this earlier, but after having made the same pattern (Prickle) for a swap gift I know I can do the whole thing in 12 or so hours of knitting.
- BSJ! That’s right, I’m about the start the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket. The yarn: Koigu Kertsi Merino Crepe! Excitement level very high. Too bad I need to gauge swatch still. :(
- Pirate/skull hats! Some of my favorite people have moved to Durham and the boys have requested hats, pirate hats. So they’ll get matching hats, one with blue details and the other with red (as requested). It’ll take longer to get cold there, but I still better get started on those… which means going and buying yarn. :)
- Owed hats: 1 for my knitting buddy and pastery expert and 1 for my nerdy love. I already did 1/2 for my buddy, however ran into a problem and since it’s lace and the pattern is flat and I’m doing it in the round I’ve ignored it for probably at least 6 months! For the cutie I actually knit the hat once… to big around and not long enough. Superfast knit if I get my act in gear.
I think that’s a big enough list for now. Should allow lots of options for difficulty, attention, techniques and fiber. :) However I also would like another fall scarf for myself, preferably something that looks smashing with my new brown herringbone blazer/fall coat.
I better get of my computer and pick up my needles!
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Wait a Minute!
So tomorrow is September 1… how did that happen?! Where did the summer go?! We got 3 weeks of summer weather in August and that’s it!
August was a pretty packed month: I went to “Nerd Camp” for a week to learn about hypogeous fungi (and even collected some species that need to be described), the cutie and I went to Philly and he sucessfully defended his dissertation and we got to spend time with great people, my friend from high school got married and it was beautiful and fun, I got sick and knocked on my tuchis for a week… well that was pretty much August. Some work and helping friends from work move and a trip to the South End and even a movie got snuck in there too. Whew, maybe I’m ready for a new month.
September always feels like a new beginning… which we can probably attribute to school years. Having attended 17 years of school (kindergarden-college) it’s pretty much hardwired, and then throw in working at a university and taking the occasional class, my brain is positive September marks the beginning of things. So I think this September I am really going to embrace it!
This September will be the beginning of getting myself back in order! This hopefully will include:
- Cooking more! (Healthy things!)
- More time on the porch and listening to music
- Leaving less clutter and mess everywhere at home!
- Running more (with 2 nights of frisbee a week and signing up for 3 races I better)
- Scheduling things I want to get done and doing them (like grocery shopping and working on my collections)
- Making time to relax, be me, and do my own thing (knitting, reading, drinking tea, dancing in the livingroom, bike rides, hikes, looking for fungi, and even some yoga!)
- Have people over more!
So here’s to September and new beginnings! Let’s hope it has some good beach days in it so we can still have some summer left!
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Planning
Some of you who know me may realize that while I am up for spontaneous fun and adventure, I like planning. I think it’s the act or organization, making lists, making piles, plotting courses, etc. If I didn’t like those things I would probably be less good at my job and I probably would not have done as many cool things on vacation in Seattle and San Francisco in the past.
So what am I planning now? Well there is the upcoming and forementioned trip to Maine, which requires good amounts of gathering of various nerdy equipment (and also material to explain and exemplify herbarium practices); a wedding present to make and give to my friends (well after their wedding next month it seems) that has me plotting with cables and with lace; what to make for a ravelry swap partner that lives way off in Canada (yarn to be purchased soon); and a running training schedule!
So the knitting things all seem reasonable and logical and unsurprising. (I spent a good portion of yesterday with graph paper and reference books!) The trip to Maine also seems like a good thing to plan. Showing up at a field station without your favorite reference books or flashlight or collecting gear (or Pooh Bear) would make for a difficult week! And well, of course I want to be organized and prepared to help figure out how the collections there could be handeled and grown, that takes a lot of thinking and energy! But running… that doesn’t seem so plannable, or does it.
A group of friends at work and I are going to participate in the Susan G. Komen 5K run in Massachusetts on September 26th. People will be running, joging, walking, pushing strollers, etc all to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research in Massachusetts. In addition to feeling like it was a good time to step up and raise some money, I felt like it was good time to step up my running game, so I joined a team. While there is no real onus by the team to run, and our training is fun, I have decided to go for it. 5K is a mere 3.1 miles, and I hope to really give it my all. Hence the planning. I have a decent schedule for the 8 weeks before the race and I hope to get my time in at 27 minutes at the highest. Right now I can do it in about 31-33 minutes so that seems reasonable. BUT this is planning that now leads into longer term planning…
I am giong to sign up and run my first ever 1/2 marathon in November! The Harvard Pilgrim Maine Coast Half Marathon in York ME! Whew! I’m excited/terrified, but now I have plenty of time to plan. Anyone want to join me?
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