I'm Not Dead Yet

If you're a Monty Python fan, you know the bring out your dead scene. It's been a bit busy, and frankly I'm not sure how I'll get what I need to get done in the next week done - if you know what I mean. Last weekend I had a fun slumber party over at Cece's to celebrate her birthday and hang out with the old knitting gang since Lauri was visiting from California. I unfortunately found out that there were more people reading this than I realized. It's very deceptive when you have few comments and is no resulting in a little stage fright I have to admit - I'll get over it, so no worries. Amanda had brought a home-made ice cream cake (my first - who knew you could make one of those from scratch - makes sense) and Cece's mom made a ridiculous to-die-for blueberry pie. We had a great feast and gift openings and of course knitting. I got a lot of knitting done, and between that and the commute knitting, I've finished almost all my projects on the needles (when I say finish, I mean of course just the knitting part - tons to block and make-up). Of course, the one knitting project not done yet was Cece's gift. It refused to get done before her birthday, just reinforcing that me and knitting deadlines are not meant to be.

Work has been going well, although still crazy as we go through these growing pains. But am in a much better place than before, have a plan and am not as emotionally drained by it all. Still trying to not work the long hours.

It's been nice not having as many roadtrips now as fall settles in. It got a bit crazy this summer. I've started driving to pick up my weekly food share, simply because it's gotten heavy. Can you imagine me biking with a watermelon and pumpkin, not to mention all the squaches? I tried it once and it was scary. Actually, this week, when I picked up the food, I was determined to make only one trip - but we had the box, and a pumpking and some extra leeks and extra tomatoes and a pint (or was it a quart) of delicious orange cherry tomatoes and spagatti squash. Well, I had them all piled up and was slowing making my way out when of course the pint of cherry tomatoes tips out, spilling them all over the drive. I scrambled to pick them up and no harm done, but of course this was one of the few times there were other people picking up their share at the same time.

Well, this weekend, starting friday night I'm meating with a friend to see about teaching a course on the side. Then I'm heading off to the Big E on Saturday. It's a local fair... on steroids. It represents all the states in New England and has the food stands and crafts and 4H livestock and who knows what else. To be honest, I am only going to buy this heavenly REAL maple syrup cotton candy. A friend brought a bag back for me last year and I was floating (and not just from the sugar high) for weeks. It's like the maple syrup candies but in a fluffier form. And apparently not too expensive - although there is a $15 door cover for the fair. That's why I invited dad to come along :) It's in Springfield MA (center of the state) so will head up to VT after for a short visit with Dad and Barbro, and then have a dinner party Sunday night that is at a coworkers country house on the way back to Boston (it's an underground house and apparently a little chaotic as multiple construction projects are going on). There will be tons of kids, so I'm excited, but realize that all said and done, Monday will be my day to recoup from the crazy weekend. And next week is really busy. Hence why I'm a bit worried and why you might not hear from me for awhile.

Knitting Updates - More Simply Marilyn

I first just wrote this and it was too random and didn't really seem to say much, so am not switching to list form - got to love lists. Warning - number one is long.



1. Blog Community: Wow, I just thought I'd do a quick google to find the Interweaves image for the Simply Marilyn sweater and stumbled upon people's blogs about their adjustments for the sweater. I really need to learn that there is a community out there that I should use especially as research before starting a popular sweater.



2. Simply Marilyn: Well back in October last year I finished the Simply Marilyn sweater - free pattern here. I didn't use the expensive cashmerino yarn called for, but had a good substitution wool yarn. I plugged along, it was a fast knit and in the end I got a teaser sweater. I call it a teaser sweater because it was almost great. It was too short both in the arms and torso for me. It was a bit bulkier than I would have liked. But otherwise turned out to be a very distinctive, beautiful sweater. However, with those "minor" issues it wouldn't really get worn and sit in the back of the closet - hense a tease.







It's now September, almost a year, and enough time has gone by to unravel all the hard work. As mentioned earlier I carefully measured and made comments on the instructions before undoing the work. The sleeves I only had to undo back a quarter of the way to allow for elongation in the correct area. The front and back had to be undone in their entirity. Well, working on the front, I decided to cast on 8 less stitches (called for 68 - CO 60). And I've been working on the shaping for the waist.






Funny thing, looking at other people's comments: from fig and plum to stacy's there is no mention of need for elongation so think that might just be me. They did comment on the bulkiness and lack of fitting for the shape. I am a bit waifish like the model so don't think I need to do as much as they are. Although I'm starting to wonder if I should have reduced the size for the sleeves as well. Those are quick so will just wait and see.







Anyways, I'm almost done the front - cranked most of it out last night while trying to get sleepy for bed. Done the sleeves, and am not doing the neck until I've stitched up everything to make sure it fits. So really only have the back to do. Good progress - that's whats so nice - it's so simple. The bad news - I don't have circular needles in the right size so have been knitting on the old fashioned straight sticks.



3. Circle Needle Convert: What with the weight of the sweater and the new way of holding things my hand cramped up a bit. I guess I'm a bit of a convert now on circulars - never understood originally. Also I'm dying to bring the project on the road but the straight needles require too much elbow room which I just don't have on the bus/subway.



4. Ravelry Prep: I'm starting to get the yarn in order so as to process it for photographing in preperation for joing ravelry. Frankly, I'm more interested in accessing all the info on there than showcasing my work. But as friends have started documenting their stash and completed projects, I've caught the bug and am excited about it - plus it's organizing, how can you not love that. Granted, all I've done so far is wind some balls of yarn on the winder. Gotta start somewhere.



5. PeaPod Sweater: Still working on yet another Pea Pod sweater for a friends baby - the largest size. It's a good travel project and frankly I seem to only knit it at staff meetings so it's been slow going.



6. UFOs: I've tried to finish up random projects. Not much exciting knitting news to report. I've staved off starting any new projects until these are done. I am stuck on two projects though. One is the orange cardigan from this sweater - need to learn how to knit in a different die lot of yarn. The second sweater I recently discovered and wondered why I hadn't finished it - I ran out of yarn. So need to make an expedition to find something that matches - doesn't have to be exact.



Don't know why I wanted to blog about all of this right now, as I don't usually report on knitting until I've finished something and even then it's a hit or a miss. Anyways, that's the report.

List Catch Up

Ok now it's so long that I've forgotten half the things I wanted to jott down to remember forever and ever. So before the other half have gone, here goes - keeping it short and sweet (well at least trying).



1. Cousins from CT came to visit one weekend in August. I wasn't exactly clear if it was Tyler and Catherine only or if Barry was coming too. I also wasn't exactly clear if they were coming up friday night or on saturday. I was clear that due to the schedule during the week, I had to go grocery shopping on Tuesday and stay up late on Wednesday to clean. In actuallaity, I got the shopping done but the bed won out over cleaning (it always does, especially when tired). So was quickly cleaning friday morning before work (a bit late in as I really haven't cleaned for awhile). And then of course I get the call that they aren't coming until saturday, so instead of finishing I just take a break and put off everything until the last minute. I'm running around saturday morning mopping and vaccuuming and basically doing a spring cleaning. Except I didn't touch the loft area, betting Barry wasn't coming. They arrived - all three, and I had to do a bit more cleaning in the loft area. Moral of the story, I resolved to keep the house a bit cleaner so that this didn't happen again (fast forward several weeks, and although not quite as disasterous, it's on the road back to pre-visitors - no lesson learned).



2. Besides cleaning, we went letter boxing - I'm horrible at entertaining - rather be entertained than figure out what to do. We biked up to the local park and followed the clues. I started my own stamp collecting book. Funny thing was I couldn't find a stamp. I thought I had one of an ant, but nowhere to be found as we were running out the door. Barry suggests I use "one of those". I completely forgot a plaque of architectural stamps a friend gave me from antiquing. If you're interested, check out: www.letterboxing.org. I want to do some near work but most of them have dissappeared. Overall nice and relaxing weekend, just hung out and chilled before they left for camping in Maine.



3. I got to babysit one night. A coworker and his wife were celebrating their anniversary. Jack and I had a great time. They live in this itty bitty apartment in Harvard Square area. I don't know how they do it - must stay neat at all times. After they gave me the run down of all the nighttime ritual stuff they headed off. And it was just me and Jack. Mind you we've played together and hung out before when he's come into visit at work or at other social events. But I was struck after mom and dad left that I was left with this boy who doesn't talk. That didn't stop me from talking though and we had a grand old time playing made up games and splashing in the bath and reading. Granted I did have a pang of "when is it going to be my turn". I wanted to be celebrating the anniversary and having the kid to play with. But sometime. Maybe not exactly that, but something. Patience is a virtue right? That or else I make it happen one way or another.



4. Had dinner with a friend from India that I had met while visiting Nick (she's his friend too) - Swethaa. She is just starting law school at Harvard. It was great to catch up with her and meet her new fiance Jay. I had been working late and was able to meet up with them for dinner - Indian in Harvard Square area. They were kind and kept the spices mild - still a bit hot for me. I remember a funny thing when visiting India is our constant trouble of dinner. We would be famished and ready to eat by 6 pm or so, but most places wouldn't even open until 7 and it didn't get busy until 10 or so. We were always in the restaurants with foreigners as they eat so "early".



5. Last night I had one of my last town committee meetings. I'm on the building committee - we act as the owner and represent the town when building schools and fire stations and what not. I was brought on I think in part because of my environmental background. Except we were working on the tail end of projects so I wasn't really able to do much and now they're about to be closed out. And the town didn't pass the reforendum needed to start the next school renovation project, so we will be on hiatus for awhile. Anyways, it's been really fun - twice a month meeting with this group who are full of local characters - nice thick accents, people who grew up in the town or the next one over. I really enjoyed it as I felt more connected with the community. I wish I could have done more. My major feat was getting them to use low VOC paint for the fire station. Which is such a small small thing in my daily work, but somewhat big for this project - the chief mentioned last night that hte firefighters really appreciated it. Anyways, I'll miss it. ONly one or two meetings left.



6. Speaking of neighborhoods, I noticed another blind person last night on my way to pick up my produce. There's a fellow that I'll see at my bus stop in the mornings. And there was this lady last night crossing my intersection. And funny thing, this morning, there was another fellow on the bus with his dog. Very strange to see so many - at least for me.



7. Speaking of the bus this morning, there was a very annoying person on her cell phone behind me talking fairly loudly. It was annoying. That bad part of it all, as I sat there and knit trying to listen to my podcasts, was that she was also knitting. Very poor representation I think. But I guess I'm reminded that there are all kinds.



8. Can't think of anything else, other then I got to test drive another car thanks to Zipcar. I was impressed too, it was a Nissan Altima. Nothing much to speak about on the outside - form is bland, but inside was nice and luxurious (at least for my standards), and it handeled really nicely. I'm sorry to say, nicer than Sam, my Volvo I favor from Zipcar. Very tight suspenssion and sharp breaks. Also, it had less blind spots. The volvo seemed to have very bulky back corners and small rear window, leaving a lot of the road unviewable.



And that folks is all that this little brain can remember for now.