Singing Larynxes

This view down four singing throats is incredible from both anatomical and musical perspectives. They look like friendly little alien faces, don't they? Cute tune, too.

Got Horses?

My friend and photographer extraordinaire Annaliese Moyer has just established a new website: Equigraphics. Beautiful equine portraits and some other critters too. :)

Pattern Stash Contest / Giveaway

UPDATE: PEOPLE! Please leave me a way to contact you! About 50% of you have given me wonderful patterns but no way to say thanks!

SECOND UPDATE: At the end of the contest I'll be publishing a free pattern of my own - my third one. Keep spreading the love! :)

Before The Crash, I had a truly massive pattern collection. For 9 years I have been snatching up every free pattern that even mildly intrigued me, and paid for a few more (Oh Rogue, I can’t believe I never got to you!). I had hundreds (probably thousands, actually) of them carefully categorized and tagged so I could find just the perfect thing for a given yarn, giftee, or garment need. The irony here is that I almost never follow patterns… but they are oh-so-useful for inspiration to produce my own creations!

Now that comforting safety net is gone. Thanks to Jess & Casey I still have Ravelry’s pattern search (I'm Needlegrrl there, too), but it’s not set up the same way, and … well… it’s not the same.

Here’s where you come in. Help me rebuild my stash! Send me your favorite essential / must make / most unique / “best kept secret” pattern. Please note: I am NOT asking anyone to break copyrights. I’m only looking for free stuff or notes you’ve written, please. Patterns worthy of being purchased for stash can be nominated as well, but remember that I’m a notorious cheapskate. You may email a PDF or Word doc directly to me (laughinglagomorph at gmail), or post a link. I’ll pick one winner on merit (the one that makes me say “woo!” out loud) and one by random number generator.

Hints:

1) I’m not generally into the basic beginner patterns. I like complex lace & cables & weird challenges. That said, sometimes a good simple recipe is awesome. They’re so easy to pervert. :)
2) Crochet edgings are fine, but beyond that, please stick to knitting.
3) Socks, mittens, hats, shawls, sweaters, toys… it’s all good.
4) Garments appropriate to a curvy stumpy girl are helpful. I’m 4’10” and fat. I’m losing weight, but I’ll never gain height, and even at my ideal size I’m very hourglassy. So no long skinny coats, k? And not so much with the super-bulky yarn.
5) Garments appropriate to a tall, athletic Scotsman with excellent legs are also appreciated.

Winners will get something tasty from my stash! The Merit Prize chooses first, then the Random winner. If you hate all of these glorious options I can spin you something or go stash diving again. But what's not to like? Claudia Hand Painted (the purple mash-up), Panda Silk DK in Berry Smoothie, Fortissima Socka in a wonderful olive green, and C*EYE*BER Fiber in Glacier. This last one was Swag from the Alaskan Sea Socks cruise in 2008.

Contest ends Nov 30th!

Computer Disaster (Doubled)

My trusty old Mac melted down after 4+ years of service. The bad news is that it went suddenly - a massive stroke - and I hadn’t backed it up. I’ve lost everything. All my photos, all my marketing materials for the clinic, and all my knitting patterns (I had a huge collection, meticulously organized, including the three I was writing for publication).

Back up your hard drive!!!

Yes, I know about data recovery services and will try one, but the Genius at the Mac store wasn’t hopeful.

The bit that really stinks is that Matt’s went 3 days ago. He had some warning and saved all his stuff… I was literally bugging him to copy mine when it failed. We had Figgy at the vet’s, too, so it’s been an expensive week. sigh

Good news: The cat butt seems to have returned to normal function.

Whoops

Forgot to give you this one, so you can get the full effect of us as a pair:

Vaguely Medieval Dwarf & Archer

Okay, so you know Matt calls me Dwarf. I mean, most people think that's my real name around here. :) I started with a knit helmet with an attached beard. There was a felting disaster (knitting details on Ravelry) so last-minute desperation led us to insert bits of an old pirate hat as quarter panels. I love it - better than the original. :) My knit Mithral vest isn't showing up properly in these pics but it's a dove grey with sparkly bits. It came out really well. Matt made the the tunic. Add some knit gauntlets, my felted colonial bag, and a loot bag on the belt... voila! I'm one feisty battle Dwarf.

Matt turned heads (as usual) in his archer outfit. He sewed a quiver from pleather originally purchased to make wings for Elphaba's flying monkey. I dyed the dowels, and he fletched the arrow ends. Is there nothing this man can't do? Thanks to Loveduck Leather for the hat.

Danae was a superhot Succubus. Yowza! On her shoulder perched a movable puppet.

We went to the Henri David Halloween Ball. You know those scenes in movies and TV when the characters go to huge parties and everyone is wearing fantastically detailed costumes? I was always jealous. I wanted to go to that party! Last night I did - we were surrounded by original, beautifully done outfits. I loved that they played great music at non-earsplitting levels. On the central stage were male go-go dancers, chosen more for their quantity of muscle than their dancing ability. It was just SO much fun!! There are about 50 pics here on Flickr, but I have to share my favorite costume (a Faberge Egg and his Czar) and my favorite picture: Wolverine snapping a photo of a man at a portable urinal.

Happy Halloween!

My favorite holiday!! Okay, I know you were expecting Elphaba, but two weeks ago we shifted gears. Matt and I love doing paired costumes that play in our height differential (remember Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompa? That was the best!), so this year we're doing a Lord-of-the-Rings-esque archer and dwarf. Our living room has been a flying frenzy of fabric, paint, feathers, and clay. Full pics and details coming soon... Here's a hint: Female dwarves have beards, too!

In the meantime, have a spooky day!

Really?

Work has been slow this week, so I've been home knitting on my Halloween costume and watching a lot of TV and movies. Things I've "learned" include:

1) If you get shot, just take out the bullet and you're fine. Heck, you can break out of the hospital as soon as you regain consciousness and fight bad guys hand-to-hand! Blood loss and infection don't matter, let alone damage to muscles, bones, nerves, and internal organs.

2) If you've overdosed on sleeping meds hours ago, and you're found sprawled out and un-wakeable, all you need is your buddy to induce vomiting. No matter that the pills dissolved long ago and are clearly currently working... you'll be fine in minutes!

3) Genes can change from dominant to recessive as they pass from parent to child. Isn't that clever?

Upcoming book?

I've been thinking about writing a book. It's been percolating in my head for years, actually, but now I'm getting fired up to make it happen. It would contain basic information on how acupuncture works, and how you can use acupressure at home to help yourself and your family. I have a few questions about the content and format, so I'd really appreciate it if you took this 2-minute poll - even if you aren't interested in the book - I need to know that, too!

Your answers will reach me anonymously.

(Sorry about the enormous logo - I can't figure out how to shrink it with the survey software.)

If you don't currently receive my clinic newsletter (monthly email) and would like to, sign up here. Archives of previous issues are here.

Rain Trumps Candles

The Paoli Illumination, scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) has been cancelled due to rain. :(

Facelift

Ok, so I finally got sick enough of the pink to overhaul the blog. I even updated my links over there to the right. Yay!

A Few Knitting WINS

One of the “Black Mix” bags I got from the Sheep Shed was black and white swirled together like a soft-serve cone. I separated them as best I could, but there were some strips of roving that were so blended they weren’t worth the effort to separate fiber by fiber. Those went into bag #3. Which I felt strangely drawn to spin immediately. And the whole time I was spinning, I felt intensely compelled to make mittens.

I didn’t think I had enough. I was pondering doing a Fair Isle or striped section with either black or white. In fact, I was so sure I wouldn’t have enough that I nearly didn’t start them. See the ball “left over?” It weighs more than the completed mittens do. I’ve been knitting and spinning since 2001 and I still have no clue how to eyeball how much I will need for a project. sigh

Good news: The mittens came out perfectly the first time, great fit, no 28 revisions necessary. I was considering dyeing them but I believe I like them as is.

Disasters from previous post: The witch socks just got finished off at mid-calf height and I've been wearing them a lot. Very comfy and look great with pants. The cabled socks have been rescued by inserting a few more cables. They're nearly done.

And my latest triumph: A pointy felted hat for my Halloween costume (Elphaba). I just need to firm up the brim a bit.

Parking Wars

Since Matt's most recent appearance on TV, the fan mail has finally died down to mere dozens a day. With his latest blockbuster, however, I expect we'll need to rehire that professional letter-answering firm again.

You can see it yourself on A&E, Parking Wars episode 42, part 2. Funny thing, though, they edited out the part where he showed up before the meter had run out - thus his confused expression when she said he got a ticket. She had started writing him up assuming he wouldn't get back in time. If you listen closely you can hear her explaining they need the car make so they can rescind the ticket. Also, he was wearing a black Utilikilt, no matter what the caption says.

That's our friend Jari in the back. She was trying to hide but her smile is simply unstoppable.

Instant Attitude Correction

If I had still been grumpy when I woke up this morning (which I wasn't - I'm lucky that way and generally don't retain my bad moods for long) the sight outside my front window would have turned me around.

I'm madly in love with "golden hour" light, especially when shining through my dogwood trees while they're waving the big "Fall is coming!" flag.

Come on, October! :)

FRUSTRATION!

Not one but TWO knitting projects have come to a screaming halt. And I do mean screaming.

My incredible witchy socks, which performed so well for me in the foot and heel shaping, have decided to look like crap in the broomstick area. I was trying to insert a lace design up the back of the calf (shaft starting just after the heel, with the whisk section at the calf) but it just isn't coming out well. Plus I'm running out of yarn. Plus the yarn itself has some issues (knots and weird ply-flyaways and thick felted sections) so I think I'll start these over with different yarn. But not this week.

Last night the cabled red socks also decided to laugh in my face. I needed to add some increases to counter the cinching effect of cables all around once I got past the heel, but that meant the yarn pooled in a nasty way. I understand that's all Greek if you don't speak knitter. Translation: I had to make a structural change, which created an aesthetic problem. Further translation: They now suck.

This is the problem with designing your own projects, which is better than simply copying what other people have already done. Even though that means they've already worked out all the problems I seem bound and determined to discover. *sigh*

Paoli Illumination

Want another chance to see me in a ridiculously unflattering costume?

Saturday, Oct 17th, from 7-9pm, is the annual Paoli Battlefield Illumination. There will be continuous guided candlelight tours, going from scene to scene. You'll learn about the Paoli Massacre from first-person interpreters telling the stories of the nighttime battle. 300 luminaries will represent the casualties of this American Revolutionary War battle. $5 per person or $20 for a family of 4 or more.

The Paoli Battlefield is located at First & Wayne Aves, next to the Paoli Memorial Grounds in Malvern.

Reading Roundup

Here are a few more great books I've read lately:

The Thirteenth Tale: Lyrical and involving. I didn't care for the twist at the end but I'm sure others loved it. Not my usual sort of book but really lovely writing.

Under and Alone: True story of an ATF agent who went undercover with the Mongols. In case you're unfamiliar, they are a motorcycle gang that makes the Hell's Angels look like yuppies. A very honest account of how living as a patched-in biker changed him.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: I nearly didn't get this one, due to a review that said it was exactly like the movie (which was good, but not earthshaking). While it's true that the events are the same, the read is a completely different experience. It seems clear that years of research went into the project, but his knowledge leaks out in a hundred tiny ring-of-truth period details. The history illuminates rather than glares. Hansen's writing has a cadence that really brings you into his moment. This book is a freaking time machine. I'm halfway done and already dreading the end - I don't want it to be over. Sample paragraph:

Jesse, on the other hand, was the soul of friendliness and commerce, acknowledging each of Bob's remarks, letting the boy ingratiate himself, rewarding him with trivial tasks that Bob executed with zeal. Then he asked Bob to strike a match as he read the dial of a pocket watch in a gold hunting case, stolen from a judge near Mammoth Cave. The clock instructed him and he retreated into the dark and after some minutes returned with a kerosene lantern and with a burlap grain sack over his arm like a waiter's towel. "You can stick with me, but don't heel. I don't want to bust into you every time I have the notion to change direction."

Bob muttered, "I'm not a moron, for Heaven's sake," but kept his head down - one might have thought his boots had ears.

Living History

Last Saturday was the colonial thing at the Plank House. It was a great day, but I was too busy explaining the sheep-to-clothing process to run around and get pics of everyone else (sorry, I'm a rotten Blogger). There was a girl making lace at an unbelievable rate of speed. Unbelievable because she was flipping her tiny thread bobbins through a complex memorized pattern like a cracked-out hummingbird, yet she says the final product grows by an inch an hour. Ug. There was also a candle maker, quill maker, blacksmith, lap-loom weaver, and lots of others, including those explaining the buildings and clothing. My costume-maker Delores introduced a little modern technology: She had clothes for people to change into, took their digital pics, and printed them out on the spot. The kids were (mostly) really adorable. I should have had her do mine, but suddenly we were slammed and then suddenly we were packing up for the day and I had a sunburned strip on the back of my neck.

Ok, I'll admit it - part of my camera avoidance may have hinged on the clothing. Multiple layers of stiff, heavy fabrics turned my already abundant figure into something resembling a pregnant mammoth. My waist wasn't just hidden - it was lurking in a cave in Afghanistan somewhere. I drew the line at the white apron that was supposed to go over all of that, and I noticed I wasn't the only one.

I started with a pile of raw, dirty fleece, explained the washing process to get to the pretty white fleece, then the carding. The Coopsworth locks turned out to be super rough when spun, so I used that as my table demo. I carded out a handful of locks into a fluffy mass, then handed some to each person. "This is sort of fun, but you can't really make clothing out of it. See how it comes apart? Now put a little twist in it...(Here I showed them how to twirl it into a few inches of yarn, with varying degrees of success)... and see how strong it is?" A few yanks on the ends and their eyes would light up. "That was pretty awkward doing it with your fingers, though, right? We need a more efficient way to do that." Ideally I would have had a spindle, but I can't use one so I just talked about it. And then I'd show them the wheel (my Kromski Minstrel), and my balls of yarn and knitted house socks I made for Matt. Then I'd get them to look at their own clothes and see the tiny knit stitch duplicated in their t-shirts.

If they were hankering for more I got into plying, knitting, weaving, and felting. It was mostly grownups who were interested in all of that. Men wanted to figure out the engineering of the energy transfer with the wheel, while women wondered how long it took to do everything. I used my bag as an example (2 evenings to spin, 3 days to knit), freely admitting that I had skipped the long and nasty process of scouring the wool by buying it cleaned and combed, and the day of boiling and stick-poking by chucking it in the washing machine.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Not too many glazed-over eyes. I let some kids guide in a pre-drafted strip of wool while I worked the pedals, then gave them the yarn they made. I even recruited another knitter to the Wonderful World of Spinning - she's coming over tomorrow to learn. :)

Purse Abundance!

1) I found a vinyl laptop bag that was $20 but looks surprisingly like nice leather. So now my precious Mac will be safe going to and from work.

2) I've been hunting everywhere for a medium sized, lightweight bag that stuff won't fall out of. Seems pretty basic to me, but the "in" thing now is either Big Enough to Carry your Car or Too Teeny for Anything But Your Phone. Plus I love leather but it's heavy, especially with all the extra staps and buckles everyone feels compelled to add now. I have tons of totes, but bad thing happen when you throw them willy-nilly into the back seat. Ask me how I know.

I tried Etsy (awful print fabrics) and lots of stores and finally gave up when Holly told me about Laura Bee. I picked out what I wanted - OMG! YARN FABRIC - in an oxblood Naugahyde (yeah, I know, but it works, trust me!) and convertible straps that can either go across the body or over one shoulder. I loved it, but it was pricey she was backed up and I had to wait 6 weeks to get it.

3) So I cancelled my order the next day and Matt started to make me - yes MAKE ME - the cutest purse ever, with a inside lined zipper pocket, the cell phone pocket. I picked the fabric (which didn't photograph well, but the color is better, keep trusting me) and made some of the piping. Heather did the initial sewing. But he did everything else - the design, the handles, the crazy complex top part that was patterned after my favorite bedraggled bag. It's awesome.

The carrot bag was already well underway when I heard back from Laura Bee, that custom orders are non-refundable (I was hoping that since she hadn't started it yet they'd let me off the hook, but nope). It came more quickly than anticipated, so now I have two cool purses!

1491

I just finished reading 1491. Holy cow. If you are at all interested in history, or the interaction of cultures, or human effects on the natural world, you should read this book. It starts off pretty dry, but stick with it. About a third through it hits pure gold (pun intended).

In short, the true story is a world apart from the image we were taught in school. In both North and South America, the populations were denser than previously thought, and built extravagant architectural systems. They had a much more comprehensive agricultural impact than I would have imagined, too. I don't want to give too much away, but the lasting effects of those Amazon farmers are pretty impressive.

And tucked back in Appendix B, I found something that made my Fiber Artist soul sing: The Inkas (Incas) left behind knotted strings called khipu. For a long time they were considered a sort of abacus, but second look has revealed them to be a form of written record! They used fiber (cotton or alpaca), color coding, and different types of S and Z plying to transmit data. William Conklin says "90 percent of the information was put into the string before the knot was made." Then there's the knot itself, tied going either up or down the string, and the type of knot... wow. They are still working on the translations. I think it's going to take a while. :)

5 years of fun

To celebrate 5 rolicking years of marriage, Matt & I went north to an adorable isolated B&B with a hot tub and a fascinating assortment of wildlife.
Knoebel's, established 1926, is an old-fashioned amusement park with wooden roller coasters. Friday there was was cool and rainy. Absolutely perfect, although a dino chased Matt for his chocolate mint fudge. Click on that skyride pic.




On Saturday we visited the Pioneer Tunnels, a hokey but informative tour of a coal mine, including a ride on old mine cars and a steam train. I always knew in a vague sort of way that coalmining was a rotten job, but wow... Let's just say that I'm even more grateful to be an acupuncturist now. We didn't actually get to ride the steam train, since it threw a seal just minutes before we were supposed to get on and they substituted an electric engine.

Centralia is a nearby town that no longer exists, because there's been an underground coal fire burning since 1962. The government offered relocation packages and even rescinded their zipcode. There are still 6 people living there who refused to move. Video here of steam rising from the ground.

Today we took the long way home along the Susquehanna River and hit a few antique dealers. I found a terrific milk bottle, just starting to turn purple, for $5. It'll look great in my art room holding the few straight knitting needles I keep for teaching.

We had lots of yummy food, Matt saved a baby bunny from a semi-feral cat, and we stumbled on a friendly gay bar out in the middle of nowhere. Northern Central PA turns out to be beautifully lush and green. The people are sweet. The roads are smooth. Everyone takes excellent care of their lawns and cars. It was much more civilized than the Main Line, in some ways, and certainly prettier. :)

Seattle

Part two of the PacNW Tour: On Sunday I rode up to Seattle with Emma (Dragonfibers), Shannon (Sobeknofret), and Christi (Turtlegirl). That was fun although we were all a little loopy from exhaustion and wool fumes.

The next few days involved some attempted purse making (pics if it ever gets finished), but mostly aggressive lying around at Heather's place. We had a beautiful picnic at Gasworks park (more pics here) and were joined by a surprise guest - Shawn, who was a classmate at OCOM and a witness at our wedding.

I spent one night with Holly (orange hair) which meant taking the ferry to Poulsbo. Click to embiggen - you can see one of the seagulls that love to follow the boats. She and her sweetheart have a little farm out there. Llamas and ducks and cats, oh my! We made megachunky cookies for her shop, Monster Art and Clothing, which is chock-full of locally made, well, art and clothing. Really fun unique stuff. In the pic of the two of us, I'm wearing a prototype "wolf" hat she made on custom request.

Through the whole trip (starting on the flight out to Portland, actually) I worked on my witchy socks. Here they are so far... You can see just the hint of a lace pattern starting on the back. I'll publish the pattern when done.

In other leg news, Matt collided with a bench in the EMP's Jim Henson exhibit. At first we thought it was just surface damage but now it looks like separated the periosteum or even fractured the tibia. He gets an x-ray tomorrow.

Sock Summit & Portland

Portland, Portland... how I love thee... let me count the ways...

It was so great to see the kids again. I forgot my camera was working again (thank you Camera Fairy!) until after we parted ways so no new pics of them, but they are gorgeous and scarily grown-up (13 and 16)! :)

We ate at Burgerville. We looked at houses (Craftsman!!). We reveled in ambient temperatures compatible with human life. We saw our friends Stephen and Nicole, and they introduced us to Rock Band.

This is a game I did not want to play. I thought it would be stupid and auditorally painful. Instead, it was an awesome adrenaline rush and really really really fun! It actually made me think about taking up the guitar again, until reality resurfaced and I remembered I was "playing" a guitar-shaped Simon Says, not an actual instrument. The funny thing is that I screwed up on the easy parts but kicked butt on the trickier high-speed bits (well, on the Easy setting). I loved doing vocals on "Spiderwebs," too, but afterwards Stephen handed me the guitar back and told Danae "You should keep singing. It's really hard to find good singers." Hmm. Message received.

I had to check out Yarnia! They have racks of cones - you pick the combination you want, and they wind them together for you into a custom yarn. I made "Money," something Rach and I were thinking about dying but we couldn't find bare sock yarn with glitz in it. I blended sage, forest, and black wool, with just a hint of green glittery nylon. 450 yards for $8! It's pictured here along with some delightfully squishy Madelinetosh yarn. 2008 was all about the autumn shades - 2009 seems to be the Year of Green. I've been trying to upload a video but Blogger is being cranky, so it's here on Flickr instead.


at the Sock Summit, I continued my calling as Bodyworker to the Knitting Stars. Hanging out with Amy, Heather, Charlene, Tess, Jasmin, Gigi, and tons more wonderful people was just the cat's meow. I took a class on vertically stranded colorwork (design ideas are exploding in my skull) and learned more about what Knitty wants. I am submitting at least one pattern: Lips sealed and fingers crossed for now...

Other snapshots of the hectic fun: Brian knitting 7 pairs of socks at one time on one ginormous needle. Rachel and AJ at the Ravelry party (AJ is a skater chick and has a superawesome new tattoo, but I didn't get to spend enough time with her). Rachel and me at the Rav party, after dark, taken by Wondermike. Replica of a 1500 year old Egyptian sock. I'm not going to bore you with tons of pics from the Sock Museum but looking at how things like heel construction changed through time was really cool.

First, a word about our sponsors...

This was the Woodstock of knitting.

It may be hard for non-fiber addicts to understand, but it was massive (see the Tsock Tsarina's blog for a great representation of the nutter hilarity that imbued the long weekend). We took over the Oregon Convention Center and multiple hotels. We had the Grand Dames of knitting - major celebs, each one - teaching us classes. We had a museum of sock history stretching back 2000 years. We had a marketplace filled with hundreds - yes, hundreds - of vendors, many of them independent business owners. Oh, the handpaints! Four days of shared knowledge. Thousands of attendees. Literally tons of yarn. *swoon*

Ok, here's what's cool about the Luminary Panel. These are not women famous for looking hot, or mouthing someone else's lines. These are women who rescued creative, intelligent designs and skilled handwork. For millenia, people had to make their own clothes. Most were too short on time and resources to do much beyond the basics. Generally, only nobility and the very wealthy had decorative garments, but everyone knew how to produce the basics. After the industrial revolution, everything changed. Machines did it all. In the ever-increasingly technological age, people lost the ability to make something with their hands.

Our heroines - Barbara Walker, Elizabeth Zimmermann, etc - they brought back the ancient techniques, improved them, and turned them into therapy, into intellectual challenges, into personal expression. And they did this in a time when women were not supposed to run their own businesses, and they did it with a wicked sense of humor (Yes, Lucy Neatby is carrying a chicken purse).

Thanks, gals. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, brain, and fingers.

I still miss her

It's been a year since Blackberry left us. I still miss her terribly. Our lousy landlord won't let us get another rabbit... just another reason to be excited to go home in March.

Sometimes one of Matt's giant black shoes will be lurking under the glass coffee table and just for a second it looks like Blackberry is meatloafing there. It breaks my heart. Figgy is obnoxiously bored and pesters the other cattle. She's left a huge hole here for such a small rabbit.

Socks for ME!

I just finished the cutest little socks! I started with Brenda Dayne's Pembrokeshire Pathways, but instead of a wool knee-sock I wanted a lightweight summer fling so I used Panda Silk. Did a different heel and toe, just because I'm ornery like that. More pics and info on my Ravelry page.

Due to popular demand: The shoes are White Mountain brand, Mohawk style. I got them at DSW last week. :)

This is so exciting - both of my haikus were selected for the Spin-Off 2010 calendar! I'll be featured in August and November.

Fibery update:
Matt's kilt hose are done and he loves them! I can't show them yet since I think I want to submit them to Knitty. But they are ultra-cool if I do say so myself.

I'm currently trying to finish not one but 2 new pairs of socks to wear for the Sock Summit. Good thing I have small feet!

Why didn't I get involved sooner?

Battlefield Illumination, Saturday October 10, 2009 7 PM

"Three hundred luminaries will be set up at the battlefield representing the number of American soldiers killed, missing and wounded during the Battle of Paoli. Along the lighted pathway visitors will be able to observe seven vignettes telling the story of the battle from the military and civilian points of view. These accounts are based on Tom McGuire's book "The Battle of Paoli." Tour guides dressed in period garb will lead visitors on a 45 minute tour of the battlefield."

I'm going to be a tour guide - I even get a few lines to say as I lead the groups from station to station!

Back in Time

I was recruited to be the demo spinner at the Historic Goshenville Miltown-Hickman Plank House! It's only a one-day event but I'm super excited! I'm plotting my table of explanatory props and a basketful of natural yarn to show off (they said I could sell some, so I'll be ready for visiting knitters / crocheters). I'll hide my blue hair under a bonnet, take the paint off my toenails, and *bam* I'm ready to go. They're even feeding us volunteers with accurate colonial food made on site. This weekend I'm meeting with my hook-up, Delores, for a costume fitting.

It's Saturday, Sept 19th from 11-5 at the Plank House, 352 & E Boot Rd in West Chester. There will be lots of other demos and fun historical geekery including a functioning forge. Come play!

Tucson Piggies

Matt is visiting his parents and snapped these out the kitchen window. They have an amazing place on the side of a mountain, and are surrounded by wildlife. Having St. Francis hand out some pig chow doesn't hurt. As always, click to embiggen.

And the rocket's red glare...

Pyrotechnics by Matt, photos by Jari.

Gettysburg, yet again

Me, Matt, friends Derek & Jari, their kids Jared & Jalane, and my Mom all converged for a fun day. The new Cyclorama exhibit is terrific! Crazy rainstorms evolved into dramatic skies.

Knitting words together

I whipped up the following haikus for a Spin-Off contest:

Feel the Summer sun
Slipping soft through my fingers
Becoming Fall warmth

And for the lighter side :) ...

Wild fuzzy mohair
Blends with silk, just a touch of
accidental cat

These follow a spur-of-the-moment response to Franklin's limerick post:

There once was a knitter named Sharon
Used a hat to hold down the hair on
The top of her head
When she got out of bed
She knit them of wool and of Orlon.

Well... except that I wouldn't really use Orlon. But hey, I needed a rhyme and completed the whole thing in about 10 seconds.

What have I been up to?

Well... Working, a LOT. I get home about 7:30 most nights and my newsletters seem to be a huge hit. Which is awesome. And reading. About elephants, and more elephants*, and various British monarchs of yore, and fairy tales, and ...

We've been hitting art museums, and I'm finding myself discovering new favorites and swooning in front of masterpieces I've seen a hundred times in books and on TV. I know it's been said ad nauseum but they are so different in person.

I've been antiquing with Matt, where we found a great bunny print that's an old Purina Rabbit Chow ad. He found an old glass bottle. I discovered a silver artist I like.

The cats and kids are doing well. Mom has had a rough time. She's dealing with missing Dad, getting laid off, and her dog's cancer. Send her some love, please.

Oh! Matt ordered me a WooLee Winder! Here's my rave on Ravelry. So yes, I've been spinning, too. The "misty forest" colorway I did with Rachel last month came out a lovely soft grey.

* Elephants are incredibly smart, social, and playful. There are two sanctuaries for them in the US where they simply get to be elephants. I've talked about this issue before here. Poor depressed & anxious Bamboo is still at the Woodland Park Zoo, despite the Tennessee sanctuary's offer to take her on their dime.

A Weekend of Color

It was an eventful, artistic weekend. I went to NY to visit Rachel, dye goddess extraordinaire. We turned 2 lbs of pure white merino and nearly a pound of silk into a riot of color. It's amazing what you can do with only 10 colors! The purplish silk was an overdye job - the rest was from scratch. The other silk (so hard to photograph!) came out a perfect Monet-inspired watery blend of blues and greens. I'm planning a lace shawl for that. The rest is still a mystery.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matt added a little panache to his already-perfect left thigh. He gently modified this ancient Lascaux cave painting about a year ago and has been waiting for the right artist. Finally! It's perfect for him, with his history of archeology, history, and art.

Now I'm working on my design... designs... hmmm. A binkying black bunny is a must, probably on the scapula. And I'd like an SPQR, but I'm not sure about where to put that one. Matt says lower back, and I actually like that, but it would clash with the rabbit. I could combine the two concepts with a reworked Roman mosaic, but they are two very different things to me.

New Books!

The girls at The Spirit of Yoga were so sweet last month. I don't know if it was the stress of losing Dad or a celebration of my birthday, but they gifted me with some credit at Barnes & Noble! With my long history of cheapskatism, I tend to source my reading materials at Paperbackswap.com, thrift stores, and lending libraries. I walked in there feeling like I held Wonka's Golden Ticket... such an abundance of choices!!

Matt grabbed a Hemmings Motor News. I nearly got a picturebook of Michelangelo's work (I SO love his Libyan Sibyl) but wound up with the Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, #6 in the Outlander series, and Battles of the Crusades. That last one should be helpful in putting together a story I've been writing in my head for a year or so, about a soldier in the Crusades. I had been thinking of it in prose form, but last night I dreamt the opening scene. Now it's a screenplay. :)

On a completely unrelated note, Want to see something impressive that'll make you giggle?

Can we get some 02 over here, too?

Matt's got a nasty pneumonia, and we spent last night at the ER. He'll survive. In fact, he was home today goofing off, watching movies with titles like "Godzilla Vs. Destroyah" and "Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell." I almost wished I were sick too so I could hang out with him... but between the horrible wracking cough and the painful flicks I'd be forced to watch, in the end I was glad to be at work.

Oh and by the way...

I lost my phone. My new one looks like a Star Trek phaser or a huge slick black cockroach, depending on your perspective. It doesn't know anybody's numbers and needs to be educated. Can you please call or text me, identifying yourself? Email works, too.

Fun News / Sad News

Matt & I flew down to Tucson for his mother's surprise 80th birthday party. I love his family, and it was great to see them, including some new ones who had shown up for the big event. I finally met cousin Sabrina, a charmingly quirky girl who not only speaks Knitter (yes, she's on Ravelry!) but is returning to her home of Portland, OR this month! Now I'm even more eager to get back. Mom was indeed surprised - her expression when she saw us through the front door glass went Stunned... Confused... Elated!

She was thrilled to have us there, but even more astonished when we arrived at the country club for dinner and BAM there was nearly her entire extended family, past business partners, old neighbors from decades ago, etc. Even her brother was there, after her daughters told her he couldn't make it. My sisters Mary & Nancy did an incredible job with the flowers, cake, etc. Brother Greg showed some serious talent editing together a century's worth of photos and music. We all stood up and gave Mom our stories and best wishes. I told the story of putting needles in her bum 5 minutes after meeting her the first time (she was hurting from a hip replacement) as an example of her openness. Some people teased her about her early cooking misadventures, while other spun tales of her incredible brain (she worked with some of the best minds in Nuclear Physics, but her beautiful knit Christmas stockings somehow went unmentioned).

The down side: All the excitement of planning the secret shebang took a toll on Matt's Dad. He had a heart attack and missed the party. That was a real disappointment, but between dinner and the slideshow we got him on the phone and passed him around so he got to speak to nearly everyone from his hospital bed. We visited him Sunday before we flew back out and looked better (pink and smiling). Amazing what O2 can do.
He should be getting a cath today. Updates when I have them.

Dad

Brilliant. Cranky. Telecommunications engineer, and a team writer of ISDN, the original Internet protocol (I'm probably using the wrong terms here, but he wrote what made the WWW work). Lover of Thai food. Husband of my Mom for over 40 years. He was sometimes abrasive, but we always knew we were loved. Cleaning out his desk I found pictures of my sister and me all over. And notes... "Tell Sharon - WWI airplane exhibit at Long Beach airport." He was proud of my flying and other adventures.

On Valentine's night he took my Mom out for a romantic dinner. Then the chest pain got worse and she finally convinced him to go to the hospital. He was told years ago that without a stint / bypass he would die, and he made his decision. Hadn't seen a doctor in two years. He coded and passed 15 minutes after their arrival. He got his way: No surgery, no ICU torture.

You did good, Dad!

Life is Good in the Pants

Two of my online knitting friends became real life knitting friends last Sunday. Rachel (the one I'm hugging) and Amy met me at Reading Market. We had savory crepes for breakfast (mine was tasty turkey breast with pesto, broccoli, and spinach), walked around the market and the city, visited Rosie's and Loop, had more crepes (blanc fromage & honey) and tea in a lovely little cafe, and generally knit and talked and laughed ourselves silly. All three of us grabbed a skein of "goblin" sock yarn. Very curious to see how those come out. We saw a pig bunny, and a shop window done for Valentine's Day with giant golden fish sporting false eyelashes and lipstick! Our dark walk back to the train station was enhanced by snow flurries. The flakes were suspended dramatically in the air by various spotlights meant to color the ornate architecture. Bonus: My pedometer said 13,500 steps by the time I made it home. So, yes, perfect day. :)

Cold & Comfort

My camera has indeed suffered the January curse, but my cell phone grabbed these: Beautiful ice patterns on Wensleydale this morning, and Matt using the Plushinator as a pillow. Both were fast asleep and smiling (FatBoy smiles by sticking his tongue out the tiniest bit).

Aw, crap.

Our January isn't over. Gromit required new sparkplugs, ignition wires, and ignition coil. Total cost: $1100-some. Sigh.

Here's a little video to keep you from being too blue.

Bush-Whacked

Here's an article that everyone should read in light of the inauguration. And yet more reasons why elephants are ultra-cool. As if you needed more! Someday I'll have one of those in my office. Um, a painting, not a pachyderm.

Knitters are mathy, too! Three pages of sciencey goodness.

January Goals & 4th Annual Breakdown

First the good news... my goals for 2008 were mostly met. I made a beaded lace shawl, fingerless gloves, and a beret. I learned entrelac, Continental knitting, and Fair Isle colorwork. I failed to make a zillion socks or lose weight, so those are back on the block for 2009. I was greatly restrained, SeaSocks aside, and my yarn stash has decreased. I DID get my clinic going: I'm very happy with the growth in my practice and expect 2009 to be a profitable year. It's so awesome to make money by helping people. Seriously - Does it get any better?

Now the bad news. We have not escaped the Annual January Breakdown. So far we've lost Matt's iPod (went for a swim in the sink), the space heater (ai yi yi it's cold in the bedroom!). My phone, camera, and computer are all acting suspiciously, but I've got my fingers crossed. The real killer is the plasma TV. This 10 year old dinosaur was an uber-generous gift from Matt's brother Greg. Who, by the way, is a dead ringer for Lou Gehrig. Anyway, this TV has been on every night, showing us ancient history and goofy British comedy and shoot 'em up action. It's still working, after a 5 minute warm-up, but the right side is fuzzy. I think it's had a stroke. We are just crossing our fingers that it lasts until Matt can moonlight his way to some extra cash. He's just passed the Step 3 boards, which makes him an Official Grownup Doctor so as soon as the paperwork comes through he'll be able to take on even more hours (*groan*). Of course with more people coming to me for acupuncture that will help, too. :)

Holiday Roundup

For Thanksgiving we went to Maine. Nancy (Matt's sis) & Andre throw legendary celebrations and this one was no exception. I forgot my camera, so here are some terrible phone pics. There's Matt & Nancy, and her three gorgeous kids, Hunter, Juliana, & Ben all wearing holiday cracker crowns.

For Christmas we were hoping to see his kids in Oregon, but the crazy airline prices put the kibosh on *that* fantasy. He's going out this month to get some quality time instead. We didn't even make it to NYC, thanks to Mr. Peach's little excursion to the vet. An acute infection sent him into respiratory failure. He needed two days in oxygen. it was insanely expensive but I guess that's why God invented credit cards. It's so good to have him back home and doing fine now. It would have broken my heart to lose him.

Our prezzies were all hand-made this year. I spun and knit up hats, scarves, and mittens. The one project I failed to finish was Matt's kilt hose. I'm still working on them, but when you see the pics you'll understand (think tiny yarn, complicated cables, and giant legs). The red scarf there is 100% mohair spun from locks. It seriously feels like heaven... in fact I heard that it was instantly subjected to egregious sexual advances by a cat immediately after being opened. In Danae's case, a fellow knitter, I stopped at the spinning phase and made her 2 skeins of lace yarn.

Matt outdid himself with the silverwork, turning out a stunning yarn ring for me, and molecule necklaces for all the women in his life. He crafted dopamines & seratonins, the neurotransmitters of happiness, and a one-off melatonin for sister Mary the sleep doctor. Pics of all these are coming... we're going to set up an online shop soon.

Amazing stuff!

I've been too busy to blog, but I promise some catch-up posts soon. In the meantime, here are some wonderful things to see and do and be scared of.

My new favorite blog to read: Woolgathering.

A Night at the Theatre

I've been remiss on not blogging about Poe Evermore at the Mount Hope Winery. You go from room to room and see a different Poe story enacted or poem read at each stage. It was our second year and we loved it!

Last night Andy took me out to Iron Age's production of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. They had an interesting approach with the characters - Most of the actors played multiple parts to emphasize the multiplicity of the mind. The acting was great, the staging spectacular... all and all very impressive for a tiny community theatre. Andy's friend Steve McLean did the majority of the Hyde heavy lifting.

When you need a good laugh...

Try the Cake Wrecks (professionally made errors and artistic disasters, and also some spectacular gorgeous edible sculptures) or Fail blogs. Nothing cheers you up like laughing at someone else's colossal mistake, no? This video made me cry from laughing.

Yes!

Rather than add yet another ETA to yesterday's post, here's a new slice of beauty:

An anonymous black man on the “L” in Chicago put his own spin on it when he announced to a car full of strangers: “Rosa Parks sat down. Martin Luther King marched. Barack Obama ran. And my grandchildren will fly.”

History, today!

"This is your victory!" President Obama told us, and he is absolutely right. I am so proud of this country... so proud that people overcame those ridiculous lies and their racist fears to choose a man who stands for hope rather than fear. I literally felt that heart-swelling sensation in my chest. Still do! Yes, I cried when it was announced last night. It was a Great Day, and I'll always remember it.

ETA: A great little blogpost by Christopher Buckley

ETA: Tragically, it was not all good news today. California's Proposition 8 was approved, depriving same-sex couples of the rights that hetero couples enjoy. I can't understand this. The conservative argument against these loving, long-term relationships are based on religious dogma. Aren't we supposed to have a separation of Church and State? How are personal lives any business of the government? There's bad news from FL, AR, and AZ, too.

Autumn Cowl

I love cowls - all the warmth of a scarf, but hands-free and no chance of catching it in the car door. And no need to take it off before cleaning the litterbox.

This one was a quick knit, just random rows of different stitches.

Halloween 2008

Last night was pretty low-key. Debbie is visiting from Phoenix, so we went for a nice dinner. Somehow I didn't get around to decorating the house this year, but Mother Nature took care of that for me. This is our back yard! We had a fantastic picnic out there today and fell asleep looking up at the leaves.

Tonight, we join Danae at the Mount Hope Winery for their Poe presentation. We went last year and it was fantastic.

Also, some bold squirrel or bunny enjoyed our front step pumpkin.

Acrochordon Removal

I got to do some surgery! Matt had a big ole skin tag he wanted removed. A little lidocaine, a flick of a scalpel, and it was gone. So fun!

Obviously there was more involved, but I had a doctor right there to explain every step. He proclaimed my knifework "excellent" and doesn't think there will be a scar. Looks like all that needle-handling has paid off. :)

Portraits of Obama

Callie Shell has been taking photographs of Barack Obama for years. There are some really beautiful shots here, of his family, of the quiet moments between the flashbulbs and confetti. Keep clicking "show more images" - they just get better and better.

Wrapping Matt in Moss

For the Boy's birthday, he scored a handmade scarf. The official name is "Pointed Moss" because, well, it's moss stitch and the ends are pointy. But the nickname is "The I Must Love You Scarf" because not only did I give up my luscious Camelspin (silk & camelhair blend, in a subtle chocolate / pewter / ebony colorway), but I worked 6 trillion seed stitches on microscopic needles. Having seen his face afterwards, though, it was totally worth it. Next… the “OMG I Must REALLY Love You Kilt Hose.”

I wrote up the pattern: Email me for the PDF if you want it.

Rockin' Tunes

Matt and I were hanging out tonight, doing our usual movie while surfing / knitting thing. He stopped the Scrubs DVD to play some iTunes music for me: Halloween Classics (Naxos Rights International) is a collection of terrific classical tunes by all the big Philharmonics. When "Hall of the Mountain King" played, I was reminded of a recent "Mad Men" episode and asked Matt to find me an all-piano version. We stumbled across The Brian Setzer's Orchestra album, Wolfgang's Big Night Out. This entire set just blew my socks off... it's like hearing the Glenn Miller Band, reincarnated and shakin' up the joint. Sheer beauty.

Note: I can't find the Halloween CD online but obviously it's on iTunes... go digging!

Three Boys in a Tree

The Delaware Beaches

Patient-turned-friend Andy (channeling Liz Taylor) invited me and some other girlfriends down to her week-long beach rental last month. Peggy (blue windbreaker) and Susan (white hoodie) became instant friends. We were up all night watching the VP debate, talking politics and men and laughing our butts off. Also, there might have been some chocolate-dipped potato chips involved. And maybe smores. But I'll never tell.

I could only get away for 3 days, but WOW did we pack a lot in. The house itself was in Lewes, right on the water. The entire area is peppered with adorable Victorian houses in a all sorts of fun colors. There's a cute little shopping district there, and some great seafood restaurants of course. We ferried over to Cape May, NJ and did more shopping. We did Rehoboth Beach, too. I was highly restrained, and purchased no shoes at all. A small quantity of fudge did come home with me, but I was clever enough to giftwrap it for Matt so I had help eating it when I returned to him.

All in all, a much-needed break and quality girl-time. As I told Matt, it was like Sex and the City, only with real women I actually wanted to spend time with. :) Thanks, Andy!

Walking Amongst the Dead

Then Danae's tour continued on to Laurel Hill cemetery. You know those photos of old gravesites with ornate sculptures of angels and animals? A lot of them come from here. I'm not happy with most of the pics I took, but here are a few, including a shot of our lovely hostess.

An interesting headstone caught my attention as we drove around one corner... the name on it was "Adrianne Balboa." I wonder if that's where her name came from?

Bartram's Garden

Our friend Danae, a great source for local historical sites, took us to see America's oldest botanical garden. John Bartram collected plants from all over the world and built a fantastic horticultural experience. The flora here was so different from that of Europe that he and friend Linnaeus had to build a new cataloging system (remember him from Bio class?). Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin all hung out here and took tea.

Much of it is overgrown, but the parts still intact are beautiful. The architecture is pretty cool, too.

Middle Earth invades the living room

We love our movies, but most of our in-home entertainment comes from watching the critters tear through the house. Adding a vertical dimension to their play quadruples the fun: They rocket straight up, all wild-eyed and bushytailed, then shoot back down and disappear behind the couch. The problem is that, for a major piece of furniture, most cat towers are butt-ugly. Except for those amazing tree sculptures. We've always wanted to get one, but haven't been able to find $600-1000 (!) in the couch cushions to devote to our furkids.

Matt got fired up and hit Home Depot again. He's a superb engineer! Giant concrete forms, plywood, carpeting and a billion brackets later, here we are. The tree is impressively stable: No tremors even with violent feline shenanigans. I Sharpie'd the staples to disguise them as natural bark variations. There are 4 hidey holes and 6 platforms, and an inside passage (that was my idea - the rest was all Matt). The top half of the big tree is hollow and has spiraling steps inside, so the boys can actually pop out onto the canopy as an alternative to leaping from level to level. Only Figgy, with his full complement of claws, can simply walk up the outside.

It's not uncommon for multilevel battles to take place, either for sport or to claim a prime spot. The left-side stump is Peachy's favorite sleeping site, but if he's aching he uses a cave, which traps some heat for a toasty nap. Fatboy hasn't made it to the canopy yet, but he loves the bigger "shelves" for snoozing.

We still need to cover the inside surfaces, but I wanted to get pics now before they're too dark to photograph properly.

Total cost: $150

This Old Car: DIY Auto-style

We spent the weekend working on paint. Specifically, sanding down orange peel to a dull flat surface, then polishing the glow back on. This requires many, many, many gradations of sandpaper, rubbing compound, polishing compound, wax, second coat of wax... you get the idea. My arms feel enormous and are toasted like a s'more... I can barely lift my laptop! The right side is completely done now. The left ... Next weekend!

Done professionally, this job would have cost up to $1500. Our cost: about 200 smackers.

Preston's interior: Compare his stately new grey carpets and microfiber console to the old garish red. We finally got tired of the scarlet fuzz everywhere from the rugs disintegrating, and this is a vast improvement over the "pimped out" look. We used carpet from the Homo Depot and leftover material from the headliner project. Total cost: $50.

Taste of Britain

Matt, Denise, Gwyn and I took Preston out to collect Shaun from the car vet (Thanks Trevor!) and spent the day at the Taste of Britain car show. Preston has a lovely new interior, which I got terrible pics of so you'll have to wait. We did that ourselves last weekend. Which means Matt did it, except for me cutting carpet, screwing and unscrewing panels, and holding stuff while he sweated and cursed.

Shaun is running beautifully now, despite a rather alarming Windex-bottle-sized spray of diesel under the bonnet. It's a wonder we made it home without running out of fuel or bursting into flames. I think his new fuel pump isn't seated properly. We'll do some diagnostic work tonight.

Gwyn spotted the "food entry/exit" opportunity and snapped pics of a lot of car butts. She'd never been to a show before and was properly entranced.

Denise rode with me and captured the oh-so-pretty Amish countryside as we passed (barely) the horse-drawn buggys.

The wake of the storm

After the girls left, with all that traveling (including lots of little local trips to show them the Philly area and Baltimore), and still missing Blackberry*, we really needed some down time. For me, that meant more lace knitting. Here's what makes Matt happy:

*The cats are going nuts. She maintained the peace when Fig played too rough - now he's a roiling bundle of raging CoonCow. We really need another bossy bunny, but the landlord won't let us get a replacement rabbit. Not that anyone could replace her ... but we need a 24/7 police force here!

On to Maine!

Next we took the girls up to Maine for the annual Rose Family Reunion. This featured incredible cooking (by Matt's sister Nancy and her Andre) and tons of tiny children and pets running rampant.

We toured the tall ship Friendship. I was remiss in my picture-taking (it's hard to hold a camera while cracking a open a lobster) but at least I got Yanna (short for Juliana, Nancy's gorgeous daughter) and Mom.

We also played around with a metal detector and found some old blacksmith nails in the yard. Unfortunately the real motherlode - the colonial trash heap - was back in the woods behind a deer fence and we couldn't get at it. Next trip?

RoadTrip Beyond Ridiculous

The girls (Maddie, 15, and Gillian, 12) came to visit from Oregon and holy cow have they grown up. Both have teenager bodies now instead of being the stick kids I saw last. Gillie in particular has really changed. Both girls have a distinctive clothing style that makes me wish I were cooler. Oh well, at least I have my blue hair. We celebrated by throwing them in the back of the taxi and driving all over the country.

First, though, we had an awesome sleepover party with Denise and Pheobe involving Cherry Slush, chocolate cake, and pulled pork. G (right) & P served grog in the pirate room.

Then, off to Gettysburg. I took this pic of Matt and Gillie from behind (aka Lopey) because of the contrast with this one.

Blackberry is gone

She died today. I'm just heartbroken. Rabbit GI systems are sensitive and hers was no exception. I can't begin to imagine the house without her... she was the bossy bunny glue that kept us all in line. She saved my life 6 years ago, when I was in so much pain with no hope of recovery (stupid doctors!) and she kept me laughing when all I wanted to do was cry.

She taught me that bunnies are intelligent and playful. She also taught me that you may have to learn another language to talk to someone - just because they're different doesn't mean they have nothing to say.

I know she had a superb life (three obedient cats and staff to clean her litterbox frequently) filled with binkies and general happiness. Her death was not painful. And I love that she was getting more touchable, to the point that she would jump on the couch when I was knitting and demand a massage. :) I’ll miss her so much. Already do.

We buried her at Valley Forge in a gorgeous wooded area with deer and lots of bunnies. She likes lots of room to run.

Va Beach, and unbeaching the whale

My motivation is in high gear right now. I love everything about my life except for my weight, and that is coming off. As we all know but don't want to admit, there's no magic pill... it's all about consistently eating less and moving more. Which I have been doing. As a result, my clothes are getting looser. Yay!!

Last weekend Matt & I met my parents at their Virginia Beach timeshare. They have a cute 7th floor, 2-room suite with a balcony overlooking the ocean. We had a great time scarfing down seafood, walking on the beach, and creating Diet Coke geysers. We had such a blast that even the Man on the Moon was smiling.

I don't know what the heck my hair was thinking in that group shot.

Coming home: A perfect example of why I left Virginia. Note the close-shaved head with rattail, belligerent expression, wrist-on-wheel driving technique, homemade tats, multicolored POS American car. Behind him, one thing I do miss about the South: Waffle House! We didn't stop, though. See first paragraph. :)

Summer Reading

With all my patients "down the shore" as they say here, I've had plenty of time to catch up on my reading. I seem to be focusing between 1750 and 1900, but it's not intentional. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

1776: Historical documentary of this critical year. Also mentioned here.

Slammerkin: A slammerkin was a loose dress: It was also slang for a loose woman. An 18th century London girl turns to prostitution. Not for the naive, unless they're willing to be educated. An appreciation for fashion "threads" through the story.

Widow of the South: I picked this up from the Trade-A-Book pile at work when I had two minutes to kill. I was immediately sucked into the story and had to borrow it. Beautifully written!

One of those meme things.

Terri tagged me!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
In 1998, I was struggling to make my first marriage work. Jon was a sweet guy but we were utterly unsuited for each other. He's a prototypical Taurus: Earthy, short-sighted, workaholic, loyal... at least he was. Then he kind of went nuts (PTSD from his time in the Army), started doing drugs and cheating on me. Anyway, in a last-ditch attempt to save us, I followed him from my awesome life and job at a women's gym in VA to Pheonix, AZ so he could attend motorcycle mechanic school. Two months later it was splitsville. I hated it there, but I met my amazing friends Tracy & Lisa, and my sublimely perfect-for-me husband Matt there. So THANKS, Jon!
I was working full-time as a certified personal trainer, and also attending school for my medical pre-requisites. With straight As, baby, despite my crazy schedule and divorce. And I climbed a mountain (Squaw Peak) every morning for a workout. Geez. What happened to HER?

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order?
Convince the Department of Motor Vehicles that Preston is a 1982, not '80 as his registration states.
Send broken camera back to eBay seller.
Get some exercise (daily).
Start sock project for this weekend's roadtrip.
Hold Killer Rabbit while feeding her treats (daily) in an attempt to train her to be a SnuggleBun.
Establish PayPal account for the Rose Family Clinic.
That's 6 - I'm a busy girl!
3. Snacks I enjoy:
I love licorice (avoiding it and other treats since I am losing weight and happy about that). Recent fave: 30 calorie popsicles!
4. Places I’ve lived:
Multiple places in NY, VA, AZ, OR, WA, and FL. Single residences in NJ, GA, and IA. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh - DUH! PA!
5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Beyond the obvious (set up my family and loved ones, etc):
Fund an elephant refuge,
Run a national campaign to increase awareness of OMM
Travel a LOT
Have a personal chef
Have a personal mechanic and a garage full of toys a la Jay Leno.
6. What are some jobs you’ve had:
Pizza maker, retail (software, jewelry, Nature's Gifts), professional outside sales, personal trainer, Domme, office manager, knitting instructor, and now acupuncturist.
7. Peeps I want to know more about:
I don't tag people... But if you are willing to play, consider [your name] here.

No Rover, No Rover, Send Clover Right Over...

Still no sign of Shaun. The mechanic's been too busy to play with him. Grrr.

Denise fell madly in love with Clover and asked if she could have her. I wanted to say no, but Blackberry has been considerably less affectionate. I thought they were going to bond well but the tiny killer rabbit kept biting Clover's butt through the cage. Clearly it was going to be a long ordeal towards uncaged friendship with no guarantees of success.

Denise is perfect for her - sweet, maternal, playful, and generally wonderful. We brought her over last night, and WOW is that one happy bunny! Somehow she just knew she was Home. She instantly stretched out, feet sprawled and tail relaxed (bunny-speak for "I'm secure and content"). All evening long she was binkying, flopping, and generally amusing us with her joyful antics.

Lost: $200 (her previous owner kindly shared the vet bill with me), a skein of silk yarn, and lots of work.

Gained: The incredible experience of knowing we saved a life, and turned a lonely neglected bunny into a supremely gleeful one.

What an awesome deal! If only people were so easy to rescue, huh?

What a difference 30 seconds makes!

Last night Matt & I went out on a date. I was working late, so we met at the theater near my clinic. Hancock is great! Funny and surprisingly touching. I love Will Smith, and Charlize, well, let's just say she's holding up her end of the marquee.

Anyway, coming home we took different paths. I was maybe going a little faster than usual... just a tad.... 80 doesn't seem outrageous when you're trying to beat your husband home to prove your route is quicker, does it? As I pulled off 202 onto the exit ramp, I heard a strange hollow screaming. Turned off the radio... no ... that's my car!

I was slowing down anyway (there's a stop sign at the end of the ramp), but I started to pull off to the side when SCREECCH!!! The wheels locked up and I skidded to a halt. The drive train was completely frozen. I couldn't even push it forward. Fortunately a Good Samaritan helped me push Gromit backwards off the ramp to get out of traffic. Then I had a 3 hour wait for a tow truck that could deal with nonturning wheels. Thus my post-date snuggle was preempted for a night of waving cars past and slapping at bugs, but at least I got an all-over check for ticks when I finally got home.

Gromit is now sitting at AAMCO, who rebuilt his tranny in March. Obviously something failed there, and they'd BETTER pay for it. Just a little earlier and I could easily have been killed on the highway. Yikes. As Gwyn said, who would finish my lace?

PS- Yes, I'm knitting! I've been monogamous with the Swan Lake stole - two pointy ends, with beads - so you'll have to be patient if you want to see an FO.

OMG! There's nothing left!

Of Clover OR my wallet! $407 later, here's the "after" pic. The muttonchops are a riot. Don't you think they make her look like Wilford Brimley? Maybe they were afraid to do her face after 2.5 hours. Note Peachy's patented stop-drop-and-roll technique for making friends.

Lucky 4-pawed Clover

Ravelry's Catsnrabbits is the winner! I feel rather silly, actually, since Blackberry was named from Watership Down*, and when we got Hazel we immediately went to the same source. It was a disaster. Hazel and Blackberry were each convinced that THEY were Supreme Ruler and the other should DIE! The bites were vicious... fur literally flew. Hazel had to go. :(

Fortunately, Blackberry and the new girl seem considerably less interested in each other. We've set up multiple caged exposures, with treats to distract, and they've been fine. No grunting, no lunging, and only a few thumps the first time. YAY!!! I have hopes that soon they'll be friends. Fatcat is certainly fond of her.

But I digress! A yarny prize (with extras) is on its silky way to Miss Catsnrabbits (who is also named Sharon and lives close by). She pointed out that Watership Down contained an Angora doe who was rescued from a hutch! Her name is Clover.

Runners-up were Peppercorn and Anise. Love them both, but Clover was just too perfect.

Speaking of, she's at the vet's now getting shaved. They were concerned about her being so underweight (5.25 lbs instead of 7-9) but now that she'll be able to eat properly she should recover nicely.

Breaking news: The vet just called. They spent an hour shaving her, but she's stressed out and they want to stop for now. Poor bunny will have to stay overnight and get trimmed in stages. The fur is matted so tightly next to her skin that it's a real hassle to get at without cutting her. I'm glad they're being so careful - also glad that I got my stimulus check yesterday!

But I'm really grateful that Nancy happened to be moving and decided to rehome her. Poor girl could have overheated or starved to death. She's lucky indeed.

* Watership Down is, like Animal Farm, really about humans. I love it for the exploration of what happens when disaster strikes a community. Some panic, some act, some crumble, some become leaders or despots. Mr. Adams didn't really know rabbits, though. He claims they have no sense of humor. In his stories, the only laughing bunnies are insane. In reality, they have a riotous, teasing character. I suspect he only experienced them as prisoners in hutches, not whole happy beings. And the females in his stories exist primarily as baby factories. If you can ignore those problems, though, it's a great book.

Darn it, we're keeping her!

The heck with foster... She's hopped her way into my heart. And Matt's too. He's dubbed her Better Bun. Cute as that is, we need a real name for her. I like Abigail but he wants something different. Here are two more videos of her in action to assist you.
She's very active & curious, but laid-back. She's been great with the cats and even during the brief caged intro to Blackberry (other bunny). She uses her litterbox perfectly (thank you thank you thank you). She looks fake, as most Angoras do. The way her ears rotate and snap into position, particularly, makes us think of an animated remote-control rabbit (this led to the suggestion of Rachel, after the gyndroid in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in which people keep robotic pets. It was made into the movie Blade Runner).

We have a sort of accidental "fruit salad" theme going with Blackberry, Peachy, and Fig. Our cars are named for Wallace & Gromit characters.

Right now she's horribly matted - her mouth was actually felted partially closed, which may explain why she's a bit underweight. After a few trimming attempts we've decided to take her to the vet for a thorough shaving & checkup (worms, teeth, etc).

The person who comes up with her name will get some delish yarn from my stash. I'll accommodate your tastes in fiber and color as best I can. You might even get some of my handspun. I'm working on a varigated gray angora/silk/merino blend from DragonFibers right now, which is quite appropriate! Non-knitters, I'll make something for you. :)

Yes, Matt said "She tasted my arm." They were little licky bunny kisses.

4th of July, 2008

Fireworks (more pics here) with Gwyn (brunette), Denise (blond), and Pheobe (tiny one). The highlight was the watermelon sorbet with chocolate seeds and a lime rind. Yowza!

In other iced sweet news, I was enjoying a popsicle, and the handle asked "What do you give a snake with allergies." Before I ate down to the answer, Matt, Gwyn & I generated the following responses:

"Vick's Viper Rub?"
"I don't know, is she still covered by COBRA?"
"Or some sort of sliding scale!"
"Maybe it's not really allergies, maybe he's got ereptile dysfunction."
"Did it aspirate something?"

The official answer: anti-HISS-tamines.

Rescue Bun aka What's Hop, Doc?

ETA: She's litterbox trained!
This rabbit needed rescue - what could I do? She's a 4 year old spayed female, very healthy and happy at first blush. She desperately needs a trim - most of that fluff is matted - but I think she'll be just fine.
Her name was Madeline, which we need to change because we already have one (Matt's older daughter). Since we acquired her on the 4th, in Philly, I'm thinking something Revolution-oriented. Betsy is too obvious. Suggestions? At the mo, leaders are Abigail (for Mrs. Adams) or Philly's own Esther Reed. She organized a group of shirt-making women to clothe freezing soldiers. Plus then we'd have an Esther Bunny (ha ha).

By the way - This rescue was intended as a FOSTER - so if you can take her or know someone who can, please do so before I fall too far in love. We probably don't need 5 pets.

Sparklies, part deux

Girlie joined us for this one. :)

Matt, a former advanced weapons designer, noted today that he "like[s] explosives designed not to destroy humanity, but rather make it go woooo!"

History, in perspective

You all know I'm a total history dork. It's not dry facts to me - it's life. When we climbed around on the USS Constellation, I was feeling the heaving waves, hearing the screams and shouts and booming cannon of a pitched battle at sea. Likewise, in Colonial Williamsburg I tried to imagine living in a fledgling colony. It was a comparatively well-to-do city by the time of the American Revolution. I'm guessing that it was a hard but generally good life... unless (of course) you were enslaved.

I just finished reading 1776 and loved getting to know General George Washington as a man. The more famous paintings of our Founding Fathers were done late in their lives, but forget the aged, severe geezers we know from school. Mssrs. Washington, Jefferson, Adams, etc were virile young men during the rabble-rousing that led to the birth of America. Take a peek at George in 1774 as captured by Charles Wilson Peale. By all accounts, our first Commander-in-Chief was superbly athletic, charming, and cut a dashing figure at horse. "Founding Father," yeah... more like "Who's your Daddy?!"

Sparklers!

We just went outside and played with the fireflies. They were everywhere... in the grass, in the trees, on the roofs... we made some blinks of our own. :)

Me, Bluinated

Summer haircut, and my first-ever color!

Celtic Fling Thing

Yesterday Matt, Denise, Phoebe & I went to the Pennsylvania Rennaisance Faire. Pheobe was a very cheerful child - I got some great smile pics, but I love this one because it's funny.

It was their Celtic Fling weekend. That means all the usual jousting, pickles on a stick, silver jewelry, and Wiccan- and pirate-themed ceramic mugs, plus the added bonus of men and boys in all sorts of kilt-like objects. Most of them were not actual tartan kilts, or even Utilikilts... they included hijacked sister's skirts, cheapokilts (they just don't hang or move properly, due to inferior fabric and design - to the educated eye they're pretty funny), and of course swathes of plaid material simply wrapped around the hips.

The Fling also included a dance meet. Originally this was a sport based on traditional Celtic dancing, but it now involves the bizarre costuming of young girls in freakishly bright dresses and Lil Orphan Annie curls.

The birds of prey were amazing. I was utterly captivated by the falcons (notice how everyone's focused on what's in the Lure bag!) and the owl was gorgeous, too.

More Space-&-Time Travel

This time our destination was Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement. The wig with feathers is to repel water in the rain - how cool is that? We saw an unbelievable concert by Dean Shostak featuring the glass armonica, my favorite instrument. Actually now I may have a new favorite: The Grand Armonica. He also played some new instruments that he and his friends developed, like oh, a glass violin!! And glass handbells!!! And some freaky sculptural noise makers that we all got to play with.

The Governor's Palace copied its look from Hampton Court, as you can see. The firing mechanisms were all removed from the guns, though!

The Colonial Parkway between the two cities is essentially a gorgeous exposed aggregate driveway. It's twice the distance of the straight highway, but guess which route Matt chose?

Baltimore and back

Last Wednesday Matt wanted a roadtrip. We zoomed down to Baltimore, saw the USS Torsk (submarine, 1945) and the USS Constellation (last sail-onlt ship built by the Navy, 1854), had a delish sushi lunch, and got home in time for my 4:30 appointment.

Catching Up

Seems like every time I've had a second, Blogger has been feeling ill. Let's try this again:

1) Matt graduated from his internship and is now officially a resident. This means he does call from home now, instead of working 36 hr shifts, so he might actually stay awake for our dates! He and Amy (the other intern in the pic) have been gone all week on a medical mission to Honduras. It was organized by a church and the religious stuff is pretty heavy-handed (his technique to avoid surgery with a little boy was labeled "divine intervention") but they did great work there. I get him back tonight!

2) I'm really feeling like a sole proprietor these days. The calls are coming in and the book is filling up. I even bought Yellow Pages advertising (my clients say they use it - who knew? I haven't opened one in nearly 10 years).

3) We went to Longwood Gardens. Impressive... how I imagine Versailles, both indoors and out.

4) We went to a car show on Memorial Day in Gettysburg. You declared your allegiance with either the North or the South and parked in the appropriate lot. Seriously, those people are still fighting the war! The hot rods were killer: Check out the bowling trophy & bottle opener on the RatRod, and the flames that begin inside the engine compartment on the sleek one.

5) Blackberry's been getting superfriendly. If we're on the phone and I say "I gotta go, my bunny is demanding a massage," it's not a euphemism for anything. :)

Obama clinches the nomination!

Yes! I'm so excited. I didn't think he'd be able to beat Hillary's money. I sure hope we can whip McCain too. Wanna help?

And now... a mailing list!

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Must See Videos

We interrupt this blog to bring you two videos by Basement Jaxx, a London band with some seriously genius visual taste (or access to them).

SeaSocks, summed up

I've just spent the evening going through the 1000 pictures I took over the past two weeks. Don't worry, I won't make you look at all of them. Here are a representative sample: More to come! That's me second from the left in the Zipline Gals shot.

Car content

Matt & I went to a show - will look up the name when I'm less fried - our favorite was the bronzy-red Cadillac (top three pics). The fins were moved inside... it was unique and truly beautiful.

Neither it nor Preston won any prizes. In fact none of our favorites received official recognition: The awards all went to local guys driving 70's muscle cars. It was a cute little show, though, and they're certainly entitled to their own taste.

More knitting content - Barack Ollama

This is a graduation prezzie (from internship to residency) for my amazing husband. I made Ima Llama for our 1st Anniversary and he loved her. This one is a half black, half white (get it?) homage to our (hopefully) next president. His necklace reads “B. Ollama.”

It’s unusual for me to make the same thing twice but with all the joking about Ollama around here it seemed inevitable.

Oh, and here's a sweater I made for the cruise, which leaves FRIDAY!!!!

Knitting content

There's no point in an amateur like me blogging about Maryland Sheep & Wool. I'll take the Inego approach and sum up rather than explain: Tons of friends. Truckloads of yarn and fiber that wanted to come home with me. Adorable kids and lambs and bunnies. Outrageous foods. Products ranging from sublime to obscene. Slow bus. Great day. :)

A Delaware discovery

Today Matt & I went cruising around randomly and stumbled upon the Hagley in Wilmington, DE. This is where the DuPont family first built their gunpowder factory in 1802. Inside is a collection of highly detailed dioramas, with real gears and water pushing stuff around. The second floor is a beautiful display of wartime factory posters. The top story discusses DuPont's evolution into a chemical firm.I'm sure when active it was a noisy, filthy, hellish place, but now it's a lush green park with a fascinating history. Right along the Brandywine River (their power source) are the ruins of the old buildings and demonstrations of the simple machines used there. The workshop is still active, complete with drive line across the ceiling. They make gunpowder daily and test it (we happened to catch the test - it was a good batch!).

Overall: Highly recommended!

Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras, so these are from Matt's iPhone. I guess we'll just have to go back! Lots more pics here.

Must... return.... to Portland!

Custom-blended yarn by the pound!

Need I say more?

Just voted!

The PA Primary is today. We walked over to the elementary school and cast our votes for Ollama. Matt really hopes he chooses Al Packer* for a running mate. I snapped some evidence of spring on the way back. Actually, except for the ultra-determined road weed, they were all taken in our yard.

*Not a real person. Sorry.

Halp! I'm knitting as fast as I can!

I leave for Sea Socks and the associated Seattle frolicking in a few short weeks... my excitement falls short of urinary accidents, but only by picometers. However! Somehow before I leave I have to finish:

1) Mohair "Glacier Sweater"
2) Felted slippers for contest
3) Matt's graduation-from-internship prezzie (it'll happen while I'm gone, sadly, I just found out!)
4) Darn it, I wanna make a market bag for MDS&W and my general travelings. I have the perfect natural cotton for it.

Somehow I don't think it will ALL get done... but I'm going to try, so if you see me online tell me to go mind my knitting. Please?

Girlie Made a Gay Man Sweat!

NOTE: Both Heathercentric posts have evolved to contain more fun!

Finally! Today was the day we'd been waiting for. It was the Big Event that finally made Heather come visit: Franklin's photo shoot for the 1000 Knitters Project, a collective portrait of our community. Mr. Habit is a hysterical writer and cartoonist. He spins (sorry) lurid tales of Delores, a smoking, hard-drinking, promiscuous sheep, and Harry, a shy ball of sock yarn. Photography is just one of his many talents. This one was at Wool Gathering, a cute shop in Kennett Square. I ran into some blog readers, Sandi (who's come to my Fiber Nights), and even a client! Click on the outside pic to see the sheep purse.

I showed off my red mohair shawl. I had to wear my sheep sneakers, too, although of course they weren't in the pic. See how long that scarf is? He's up to the low 500s now. Heather sported her Mmmmmalabrigo scarf. It's actually still on the needles, behind her back. Shhhh, don't tell!

Girlie is of course not a knitter, but she sat and chatted with Franklin about her tats when he asked. She showed him the rest of Hello Kitty and was rewarded with a dropped jaw and a glistening brow. Then she broke out her her hook as an act of civil disobedience for the Crochet Liberation Front.

Afterwards the three of us continued on to Amish country: Intercourse and Bird in Hand. The scents were, um, fertile. We saw lots of incredible old buildings, folks traveling by horse & buggy, and even more traveling by motorcycle. The no-helmet thing is always a Darwinian shock. Lots of gorgeous quilts and quite a few hideous ones, including machine-made copies for stupid tourists. How can you not see the difference?

In one of the junk shops, which was packed to the faux rafters with little wooden signs saying things like "Kiss the cook," we spotted a pentagram-shaped votive candle holder that was mounted upside down. Girlie explained to the owner that some of her customers might construe that as satanic. In the process, she identified herself as pagan. The woman actually thought she meant she was in a biker gang and had never heard the original use of the word. Heather and I exchanged wide-eyed stares and somehow managed to help her remount it (from the provided iron loop) right side up and get out of the store without laughing in her confused face.

We also found a wool & weaving shop where they did their own dyeing. Great colors, but the base wool was rough as unshaven legs.

Of course on the way home we hit Rita's. Root beer gelati...mmmmmm!

Another great day, zooming around randomly, following our noses. Wonder what'll happen tomorrow?

Fred, that last one's for you.

We almost saw Obama

Heather, my superawesome friend from Seattle (she appears many times in the earlier episodes of this blog) came to visit. She arrived Thursday and we (Matt and I) swept her off to South Street for a cheesesteak at Jim's and a brief foray to Rosie's. Then Friday, Heather & I railed into Center City and explored the historical district. We intended to see our next President speak, but upon hearing that 15,000 others would probably be in line ahead of us, we opted out. Betsy Ross house (the flute player was hot), the Liberty Bell, Reading Market, Chinatown... we did it all.

We spent a rolicking half hour with a hand spindler, Ruth, chatting about fiber arts and Scottish history. She had the most adorable puppets made of her handspun. Her extensive fuzzy flock included a rabbit, a sheep, and even the Nessie, who sported fringed eyelids and a tartan kilt. We chatted with another lady who was wheel-spinning linen at the Betsy Ross house. She said we could have her job when we pried it out of her cold, dead hands.

We even hit East Market for some clothes. Yay for fun stuff in bigger sizes! Then Friendly's for dinner (she's never spent time on this coast so I wanted her to taste all the local color). More tomorrow...

Girlie Tastes the Peach

What can I say? Fred's a madman.