Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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BSJ Extravaganza
So, my Spring has been kinda busy. Like crazy busy.
Last month the fella and I went skiing with a good friend of ours. We drove up to Sunday River where the plan was for the 2 guys to go downhill and for me to cross country ski or skate or sit in the lodge by the fire and drink tea (or something stronger) and read/knit and perhaps even nap.
Turns out a couple things happened.
- Skating rink was closed (which we found out as we were leaving)
- I felt uncomfortable x-country skiing by myself when I don’t really know what I’m doing
- I got caught up in the skiing excitement
So after having downhill skied once, approximately 16 years before, this happened
I took a lesson while the boys went and skied. Our friend is a crazy good skier and my guy has skied only a little so they stuck together and didn’t do anything crazy so no one (my charming man) got hurt. Eventually we all got to ski together! (Technically is was more/harder than I should have done, but I lived with no real injuries, so we’ll call it a win!)
The fella is in blue just past me in the foreground. The gentleman in red is the Dad of our friend, who convinced me that going up the big lift was a good idea, skis like a speed demon, and is wearing the world’s cutest penguin hat. He also makes a delicious Manhattan.
Once recovered from all the fun, and soreness, I got to work on the next BSJ in my queue. My cousins were holing a fundraiser event for the hospice that helped their Mom last year as the cancer became too much. It allowed my Aunt to spend as much time with family as possible and be comfortable. I said I would donate a handknit baby sweater for the raffle. Schoolhouse Press was kind enough to allow me to knit the Baby Surprise Jacket for it since it was for charity and away I went.
About 2.5 weeks later, in Cascade 220 Heritage Paints, the result was this
While everyone who saw it thought it was great, I was not in love. Not my favorite yarn to work with, colors weren’t my thing, but I knew I was just feeling cranky and that it would be great as a gender neutral garment. Then I found the buttons…
Instant sweater love! I purchased everything at the new knitting and sewing store in Cambridge called Gather Here. The buttons are vintage and washable.
It went to a good home and helped raise some money, and in the end I loved it.
Then, I just got a picture from a good friend who had her baby boy with the picture of the sweater I made. The one in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Turtle Rodeo that I found the perfect buttons for.
And now I need to wind some yarn and cast on for another BSJ I offered to make for a friend at work who is a new Aunt and very excited. Fist one I’ll be making for a girl, and the colors she picked are great. Once I get started I’ll show it off.
For now I better go start my day and try to work on my homework some more. Learning web development has its easy moment and its hard ones, and I’m finding out Javascript assignment to be hard. Working with other people’s code… meh.
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Happy Notes
- I had a little chrisis with my Juneberry, but I was able to frog back and fix it sucessfully. Qiviuk is fantastic to work with.
- Spring is really here in Our Fair City and in addition to crocuses and those mini-irises I can’t remember the name for I saw some Robins doing their thing. Birds are often right about Spring.
- After a 16 year hiatus I have been downhill skiing again. Yesterday. Not sure I would say I like it more than cross country, but my lesson was very good and I had a great time with the fella and our friend. There will be pictures (note: 16 yeas ago I did a 1 day trip with a 1 hour lesson)
- Ooofa am I sore and tired this morning. Tea, knitting, and perhaps some skating are on the agenda. Alternatively, using the hot tub and taking a nap.
How are you?
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The Next Decade
I am a week and 2 days into experiencing a whole new decade of my life. My 30’s. I’m wicked psyched!
To herald in this momentous occasion Vogue Knitting Online Live was held in my honor. (This is a bit of an exaggeration baldfaced lie, but it did help convince me to go to NYC for my big day.) I originally planned on signing up for a shetland colorwork with Jared Flood of BrooklynTweed fame and hearing the lecture from Franklin Habit of The Panopticon fame on antique lace. My procrastination decided that these, and the other courses I was interested in were actually full and I should take advantage of the big city with my fella instead.
Ultimately, the goal of the big weekend was for my wonderful fella and I to go skating at Rockefeller Center on my actual birthday. I did some searching and booked an incredible (and affordable) hotel in NYC
It’s that glass building there, and note how there’s one floor with balconies… the 11th floor actually. If you’re familiar with the architecture you may see that this hotel is very close to the desired skating locale, which is also my favorite group of architecture in the city. Here’s our view:
Daytime views from… our BALCONY!
And some night time views as well
As you can see, we were right in the thick of all the excitement.
I did go to the VKLive event and caught a fashion show of some Vogue patterns
It was fun and interesting, and though they didn’t have all the kinks worked out I think we all had a great time. I also managed to pick up a shawl’s amount of Qiviuk/Wool/Silk yarn that I talk about here. Finally, at the encouraging and gifting of the fella I also picked up a set of Blackthorn DPN’s in size 1. Blackthorn needles are made of Carbon Fiber (like the outside of the stealth jet, among other things) and it turns out are hand crafted for each needle. They are a real splurge, but it is about as nerdy knitting as you can get, which suits me quite well.
The highlight of the whole weekend was at about 2.30 when we went skating at Rockefeller Center. It was perfect! It was cold, but sheltered from the wind, it wasn’t too crowded, and we skated hand-in-hand for virtually the entire time (which was an hour!)!!
The full shot: Me, on skates, in front of Prometheus (who is really a wee bit creepy).
We skated and skated and laughed and skated. Eventually we were getting tired and the ice was cut up enough that with my pending exhaustion I was likely to fall we called it enough. An hour at Rockefeller was perfect though.
We look miserable, don’t we… (handknit items featured: Flora Hat, Citron Shawl, Trilsea’n Mitts, and 75 yard mitts. There should have been a hat for the man, but the hat and I are still arguing.)
We retired to la Maison du Chocolate around the corner and sat at the bar sipping magnificent cocoa. (Perhaps better than Burdicks. I said it, I meant it. Deal with it.)
We finished up the day with a lovely Spanish dinner and seeing Avenue Q (both with and courtesy of my Aunt & Uncle who live in the area). It was such great food and fun. Our hotel was so close to all the things we were doing we walked to get everywhere. Overall it might have been the perfect weekend/birthday.
Now I just have to hope I make sure to have the rest of my 30’s live up to that standard of fun and happiness and adventure (and knitting)!
A last parting shot of 1. Zeus modeled after Blake’s image (up top), 2. Prometheus looking like he wants to steal my hat, and 3. me, pretty darn pleased with herself. (I know there’s lots of me in this post, but it is my blog and I do only turn 30 once… I think, right?!)
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Rhinebeck 2010
Saturday and Sunday 16-17 October 2010 was the NY Sheep & Wool festival in lovely Rhinebeck NY. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, go check their website. Rhinebeck the town is a lovely NY town, just south of Red Hook on the Hudson River. It is nestled in the Catskill Mountains to the east of Catskill park area. If you have not been to that area I would recommend planning a trip in the summer or early fall and take advantage or hiking, camping, lake-swimming and boating. I recommend North Lake and Katerskill Falls area. To the North and East of Rhinebeck is also Lake Taconic, which I highly recommend. (Note: Childhood summer vacation bias in effect.)
In order to go to Rhinebeck I signed up for a 1 day bus trip from Webs in Northampton, MA. The bus was scheduled to leave at 7am sharp, and my wonderful sister let me stay with her AND got up early to drop me off! We got up early enough to have breakfast together first. (She just might win best younger sister ever award… which the prize for is a knit hat with a beard attached.)
When I got to Webs there was no bus yet, but there were people ready for their Rhinebeck adventure inside and outside the store. The most of us were inside in the warm near the Atkins Farm cider donuts!
We all piled on to the buses in an orderly and polite manner when they arrived and chatted with each other and knit for the time it took us to get there. Over 2 hours of excitement building with a raffle along the way.
The fair itself was huge and overwhelming. On the grounds a woman from the bus and I were trying to get our bearings and ended up wandering together. It was lovely. I think both of us missed some things we would have done, but the company for both of our first times there was worth it.
The weather alternated from cloudy to sunny, which had the temperature fluctuating a bit. It was brisk but not cold, but it was definitely windy. People were everywhere, at stalls, at tents, between stalls and tents, on the paths and in line for food and bathrooms.
Most people were polite though, even when they were dying to get to yarn or fiber they had to have. Since I was on a tight budget and not getting anything to do with spinning or dyeing I was able to appreciate many stalls but wander by. Having never been to any sort of sheep and wool festival I did linger by some of the fuzzy friends.
Icelandic Sheep… adorable and petite!
Can’t remember who these spotted ones were, but they were adorable and the colors in their horns is fantastic.
As the day progressed there were more and more people. By this point we both started to feel a bit exhausted. (It was either 11.30 when we got lunch or 2.30 when we wanted a nap.)
It was worth rejuvinating, taking a deep breath and continuing on. It let us see beautiful handmade items in addition to drool-worthy yarns and amazingly soft fiber to touch.
It also let me discover what was actually the background noise to the whole fair. A loud, irregular POP POP POP.
There were a series of coal powered engines that had been used in the area historically. They were being run and their uses being demonstrated. A rock crusher, several items for making cedar shingles, and a water pump. POP POP POP! Coal Power!
I finished up the day by watching the frisbee dogs (missed shepherding dogs). They were fantastic. I think the trainers had the hardest time throwing in the wind, which of course made catching harder for the dogs.
I wish I had spend more time there, had seen the shepherding dogs, caught some of the ewe auction and taken more pictures. Especially pictures of knitters decked out in sheep and wool regalia and the beautiful fall trees.
Next year I’ll do more, when I actually go out for the weekend and go hiking as well. (I also better knit up a lot of what I have so I can make room in the cedar chest for some yarn from small places you only get at an event like this!)
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Visiting an Old Friend
The road to the NY Sheep & Wool festival in Rhinebeck was paved with visiting old haunts. I used going as an excuse to also head out the the area of my undergraduate school and where my sister lives.
So, on the cool and cloudy Friday before Rhinebeck I spend a bit of time visiting the Durfee Conservatory.
The conservatory was first built in 1867 as part of the fist land grant college in the Unites States, Mass Aggie (Massachusetts Agricultural College). It was built in a beautiful Victorian fashion and had a place to hitch your horse out front when you visited. In addition to being important for education at the school, it was a well loved escape for students and locals. It is believed that Amherst local Emily Dickinson used to visit the greenhouse.
The greenhouse today is not the original one, but it does have some of the original plants. While not being as elegant a building as the original, it does have some more modern conveniences.
As an undergraduate I spent my Senior year working in the greenhouse part time and it was wonderful to go back and see the things that are still the same and the things that have changed and finally been updated. If you are out in that area I would strongly suggest a visit. Then you can see some things like these:
The small, innocent looking flowers of the Sweet Olive (Osmanthus) which fill the first house with one of the best scents in the whole world.
The rain forest room. Warm, smelling of damp soil and green, it is filled with a myriad of fun things to find. A pond with fish, fig tree, palm trees, bananas, papyrus, monstera, tropical fruit, ginger, and many other things that flower at different times or have wonderful leaves.
New Theobroma pods and flowers (Chocolate)
Flowers on the starfruit tree (Averrhoa) which are in the same family as the small herbaceous Oxalis plants we plant up here.
The bamboo grove for quiet contemplation.
There are many non-tropicals to see in the other rooms as well.
The sensitive plant that closes up with a touch (Mimosa pudica)
And a whole room of arid plants that are now in happy new tables and places that give them room and a better way to be appreciated.
So that is a brief tour of Durfee. Next up, Rhinebeck. (For which I have less pictures and the pictures are not quite so exciting.)
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Recap and Catch-up
One week ago I ran the BAA 1/2 marathon, and this is evidence that I even finished it! It was long with many hills, but those hills were lined with cheering spectators. Sometimes it feels like the farther back in the pack you are the more they cheer… which is why I am sure I end up in the back of the pack.
If you live in the Boston area and have needed to go to JP for anything you have probably been on the Arborway and Riverway. If you’re not used to driving on them and there’s traffic you might also exclaim out lout about the speeds people travel, the narrowness of the lanes and all the curves. What you might not notice is all the hills. We noticed those on foot. We also noticed how awesome it was to be able to run in the middle of the road.
The end of the race was hard because there were yet more hills but we knew we were almost done as we entered the zoo. We ran right past a large peacock as we entered the park, who by the time I got there seemed barely curious by the heavy breathing, fast(ish) moving people going by. We ran down the little paths they had marked out and we could hear the lions roaring. We didn’t get close enough to see them, but I think they could smell us.
There were no unicorns in the zoo, but a lot of unicorns ran through the zoo. About 5,000 unicorns actually. It was pretty cool.
I followed that all up with a nasty cold, a week home sick, a bus to UMass and then a bus to the NY Seep & Wool in Rhinebeck NY. I’ll have more to report about each of those when my mind recovers a bit. Totally crazy!
I will show you the fingereless mitts I started (and am going to frog) as well as my in progress hat. The fingerless mitts… I love the pattern, I love the yarn, I do not love them together.
The colors went from striking to muddied. I think it needs to be used on a larger object. Also, the braided cables don’t really stand out. Perhaps it needs something not variegated after all.
My hat is coming along nicely. Stranding is going ok. My tension is not perfectly even, but it is certainly ok. I have no idea if the size is going to be right. I should be able to try it on fairly soon.
Then maybe I can start on a sweater with my new yarn!
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Vacation
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
I. 1. a. Freedom, release, or rest from some occupation, business, or activity. b. Without const. Freedom or respite from work, etc.; time of rest or leisure.
That’s the plan! The fella and I are going on vacation with about 8 of our friends. We’re headed to a house in VT where a friend is oh-so-graciously hosting us with a lake view and people will arrive over the course of the week.
My plan: drinking coffee on the deck, reading Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh in latin), knitting (bringing 2 projects! The afghan and new socks!), hiking (I may have some field guides and a couple hand lenses), kayaking, swimming, and playing lots of games.
Things I will not be doing: Thinking about program documentation for the wiki at work, thinking about databasing, thinking about filing or loans, thinking about the backlog of work that just keeps growing, and worrying about how to actually get effective IPM monitoring going.
It’s a good time for vacation! I hope everyone else has a good one this summer too!
