Hey, where have you been?

It's been a very long time since I posted anything, and it's been a very, very busy five months.

The kitchen is 90% complete. Only a few tiles and the floor are to be finished. Finally! And we love it. 

From left, Kent (aka DH), Peanut (aka Samantha), and Kat (no aka). The photo is a little dark but check out those GORGEOUS cabinets (mahogany-stained hickory) and beautiful backsplash. Highly recommend Costco for kitchen cabinets. 

'Tis the spring/summer concert season for the Tidewater Concert Band, and we've had many gigs recently. Musically things tend to quiet down after Independence Day then pick up again around Labor Day. I'm struggling to get that Stars & Stripes piccolo solo under my fingers but it is hard. I'm not the principle piccolo but we wanted to have at least two piccs playing - for fun, you know? So, earplugs firmly in place. I continue to work. 

Did I mention I got another floor loom? La-la-la-loving it...I know I romanticize the idea of refinishing and reselling old looms but I'm sure the reality is much different. I did have fun with the first one, though.

Speaking of WORK, that ugly word, I am once again managing a software project. Ah, the glamorous life of a m******f******s***f***** business analyst. Nah, I'm kidding, it's not so bad. I am doing another project, a web app again, quite a major addition to a web reporting application that I already manage and previously implemented. It is very challenging to have two developers in one country, 10 hours ahead, and one developer in another country, two hours behind, and none in my own country. The phrase "never the twain shall meet" comes to mind. It isn't anywhere near as awful as The Project From Hell three years ago. Four years ago? Time flies. We are scheduled to "go live" next Wednesday, and we are only a week behind schedule. I would not call it an Agile project, although it started out that way, but it was definitely a rushed project. 

The last day of school was today. DH brought all his stuff home. Three bins. The foyer is again a disaster area with things to be donated and/or loaned, a large stroller and a pink Disney walker (Peanut's), a Bow-flex (anyone? Bueller?), my gig bag and music stand, and the stuff that actually lives in the foyer - salmon sofa, key table, green throw rug. 

Kat and the Peanut are staying with us for a short time. It's a little stressful having a ten-month old in the house, but also quite wonderful having them both here. They are a delight and I get to play gramma to a sweet dimpled little girl whose first words seem to be "doggie." Maggie Doggie has made sure Peanut feels welcome and has allowed herself to be used as a pillow. Tasha Doggie is gentle with her, and Sarah Doggie has kept her distance and let Peanut come to her. DH and I are both charmed, and Momma Kat is getting on her feet again.

DH has officially started his summer gig with the Google CAPE program and there is a great deal of travel occurring over the next couple of months. 

Primo (aka Nick) is still at BB and living in Ghent. Secundo (Patrick) is working, and rescuing stray baby birds, turtles, and tarantulas in Kansas. He's not a dog person, but that apple didn't roll too far away from the tree. 

Much package mailing to do and weaving photos to post. 

All is well.  

What was lost...ain't lost no more...and other stuff

Is it the most important part of my life? No. My family gets the honor of being most important. But let's face it: my technology is such an integral part of how I communicate and interact with family and friends and the rest of the world. USAir called a little over a week after we returned and said "we have your iPad!" It arrived home three days later and was promptly snuggled up on the Dexter wrap, having it's battery charged. I like my new laptop, too, but I have to get accustomed to the keyboard which is considerably different from my previous one.

 ...basically, it's getting an energy massage. 

I included some of my latest yarn and little chachki's from our recent trip to Seattle. The yarn is three of eight skeins purchased at Linda's Knit 'n Stitch. As a newly minted weaver, I thought that these three ribbon yarn colors would look really neat in a woven object. Another skein is black alpaca for the sock yarn blankie, and four skeins of Araucania Ruca Multi, which I've started working with and AM NOT liking. More on that later.

The chachki's are Seattle icons: the Space Needle and a Washington State Ferry (on the far right). I already had the smallest on the far left from a previous trip. Seattle isn't really my hometown: I grew up across the water, a mere ferry ride away. But having lived in Seattle for many years, and spent many years traveling to and fro for work, pleasure, and education, I feel like it is. I love the city. I wish we could afford to live downtown in one of those awesome highrise buildings with the dog park on top of the building. We fantasized about that during the entire three weeks out there. And about living in my parents house because my mom has the most beautiful back yard. We had fresh, warm, just-plucked-off-the-plant every other day - walk out to the patio and there they are. Mom pinched off fresh mint to brew with the iced tea. Don't worry, Mom, I promise it won't really happen! But we've never made any secret of the fact that we really do want to move back to the west coast. It's easy to consider Seattle when the weather is gorgeous, like it was on this trip. It's much harder to consider it when the gray rainy days roll around.

Under the circumstances, it was really a lovely trip. Mom and Michael are wonderful and funny and generous and caring. Uncle Stan was, well, himself. We kind of had fun going through grandma's clothing and jewelry "omg, what the heck is that?!" "she wore this? Ewww." The women's shelters received a clothing bounty and the breast cancer society got a ferry boat load of wigs.

Mom has written volumes (almost volumes) about the odyssey of resolving Gramma's possessions, and I'm content to let her have that voice. I'm happy I was able to help because it also meant we spent a great deal of time together, just us. It's so easy to take for granted that my mother is a lovely woman.

More photos from the trip...

We love Angry Birds.

Mom is the one who got me playing this game. I returned the favor with an Angry Birds squeeze toy. We squeezed it every time we walked by, and the nieces loved it.

Jamming

Michael is really, really good. What a treat to listen to him play.


Seattle

Beneroya Hall, another reason to love Seattle. Husband included for scale.

Electronic Delays

 (this doesn't make any sense unless you know that my family name is Delay)


Kingston

Okay, yes there is more to Kingston than this clock, but there was just something about it that struck my fancy.


July 4th

Crock-pot baked beans, hot dogs, potato salad, beer, strawberry shortcake. Best July 4th ever.

Gig Harbor

 

Gig Harbor is a very touristy sort of place, but the views are spectacular, and the air is clean, and the restaurant was terrific.

Poulsbo

Left to Right: Chris, Zuzu, Mom, Ali, Me, enjoying one of Poulsbo's finest: goodies from Sluy's bakery. They still have the best ever maple bars, no one else's comes close.For me, maple bars and Sluy's are to Poulsbo what Krispy Kreme is to the South, but without the "Hot Now" signage.

Yoga in the back yard.

One must stay in shape, mustn't one? And when the weather is as beautiful as it was, you just have to do outdoor yoga.

Mt. Rainier

We watched Rainier be gorgeous during nearly the entire return trip to Sea-Tac Airport.

Cheers!

For Gramma, From Scotland with Love

 Gramma thought George was so nice. He was. Unfortunately, his Scottish brogue was strong at times. From the back seat I heard a great deal of "what did he say?" from her. Mom did most of the translating.

 Okay, yes, she HATED the walker but she dolled herself up just the same. You just never knew who you would meet!

 One of the drizzely hours. Our energy was on the wane. By now she'd mostly ditched the walker for a wonderfully carved cane that we found on Skye.

One of my favorite pictures.

And then...poof!...there was Christmas

It really really snuck up on me this year. I mean in a way that it has never snuck up on me.

I probably say that every year, come to think of it.

Two Wednesdays ago I said "holy shit, Christmas is a week and a half away. Holy shit!"

Cards: Done, sent.
Gifts: uhm...got some for DH
Shipping: shipping? what shipping?

This is the first Christmas where Patrick isn't here to put up the tree, so I put up two mini-trees side by side on the console behind the sofa. I just couldn't bring myself to do the big one. Could just be laziness. 9 feet of majestic Monterey Spruce, a beautiful thing when it's up. Not as beautiful sitting in it's box in the dining room. It's in a box in the dining room. For the last four or so years, though, it has been Patrick's family duty to bring the tree up from the basement and assemble it. I informed him that he will have to resume this task for all subsequent Christmases. He didn't fight it. Smart kid.

Got fleece?

Ain't it purty? This is all from one sheep - or one type of sheep, Gotland, and the three pounds of gorgeous locks that DH gave me still have a bit of lanolin in them. Tigger's don't like "spinning in the grease," so I have some washing to do, which I started tonight. This group was part of round two. I only have a little colander so I can only do a little at a time. The first round was almost a disaster when I didn't separate the locks. Whadda mess. This time I separated BEFORE soaking and I didn't have to spend 20 minutes afterward teasing them apart. Aren't those colors something? It's even better in person, but this is tedious work to bring them into spinnable format. Soak, soak, rinse, rinse, dry.

Here's the drying stage, tucked into the shower in the spare bathroom. Finally, a use!

I just can't get over the colors and the luster. I don't know whether to separate them or spin 'em all together. I'll need suggestions.

No, I haven't spent my entire vacation spinning and working with fiber.

I trotted out the tools and made earrings and a pendant for Kat using freshwater pearls she had from a broken bracelet. I finished those tonight and thank goodness had a chain for that pendant. I see from this picture I could have done a better job of polishing that pie shape. Too late now! Dime included for scale :)

DH also gave me a share from Juniper Moon Fiber Farm. Funny thing about that...I had purchased a share for myself back in October! So now I have two shares.

Moving right along. We have a new tradition: open all the holiday cards on Christmas Day. Yay, that's actually a lot of fun...watching them stack up then opening them all and looking at photos that family and friends have included...then I hung them on the mantel with the stockings.

The guitar necks are from Rock Band, which we all played Christmas Eve. I played drums. It was hysterical, especially because we didn't have the drum sticks so I used wooden mixing spoons. I'm sure that was a sight. By the way, I suck at drums on Rock Band. So, don't rely on my musicianship to translate. I've got rhythm but you wouldn't know it.

Ok, that's a wrap. Oh. And, go out and rent Inglourious Basterds. If you like Quentin Tarantino, it's a major hoot. It almost resembles a Coen brother's movie. But...not.

Two Travels Behind

The birth of the triplets disrupted the review I had started of photographs from our recent vacation to Callaway Gardens and mine and Kent's jaunt out to Lynchburg. It's been a very busy two weeks. Here are a couple of shots from both those vacations with the promise of more to come here and in Flickr.

Leslie

Kent

Taylor loved the marshmallow roast

Jane, watching beach games

Did you know that Callaway Gardens is the shooting location for southern segments of The Victory Garden?

First Bottles Outside the Nursery

Nurse & Gabby

Nick & Grace

Gramma Erin & Grace.

Both girls drank up over a full ounce, a good showing. I got a little spit up on my shoulder. I'll never wash that shirt again.

Some of the details

Grace, 3o minutes old.


Dying for details, are you?

The babes were born shortly after midnight on the 28th, and they were all a little over 5 lbs. Amazing for triplets. Nicole was about 34 weeks, I think. I was joking in a staff meeting yesterday that unless she spontaneously went into labor that she had scheduled a c-section for August 3rd. Damned if she spontaneously went into labor, though she didn't realize she was in labor until the contractions were very close together. We all theorize that she must have a high tolerance for pain. She barely had enough time to call Nick. Nick called me, and we arrived about 45 minutes before the trips were delivered. Nicole's mother is on staff at the hospital, and her aunt is a maternity nurse, so there was a lot of traffic when they were born, and Aunt Dawn managed to get the babies lined up in front of the nursery window for all the post-delivery business they do. I didn't get to see all that when I had the boys so this was fun.

We went home around 3am, and Nick crashed on our couch so he could go to work early. Nicole's sister stayed with Nicole last night at the hospital. Kent hustled me out of the house early to visit Nicole and the babies. Jacob is in what they call Level 2 nursery picking up extra oxygen because his saturation levels are little low. The girls are in good shape, and Kent and I were there for the first out-of-nursery feeding, that was so fun!

They'll be in the hospital for the rest of the week, go home Friday. I want to do more but I don't know what, and she hasn't asked for anything. Her family is very large and she has a lot of support. I guess we'll see how things pan out.

One day at a time!

Say Hello to Gabrielle, Jacob, and Grace

Gabrielle, Jacob, and Grace, about 30 minutes old. July 28th, 2009.
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/november19/sets/72157621749945185/

Triplet Watch 7/7/09

Nicole is carrying as if she is 42 weeks. In reality she's 31 weeks. Doctor says "any day now" and gave her her first steroid shots to help develop the babies' lungs. That's all I know for now. Here's her at 28 weeks, posing for the camera at her June 14th baby shower. Nothing there to scale, but she's only 5'1".

Tre Bambini

This is what Tasha does when she wants something. Will you look at that sad little face? "Erin, I'm a starving little dog! When will you ever feed me?"

Well, Mom's been wondering when I was going to "put pen to paper" on this topic. Kent and I are expectant grandparents of triplets!!!!!!!! Oh, you want proof you say? well, check this out:

Count 'em: Baby A (Boy), Baby B (Girl), and Baby C (Girl). I think that's how it worked out.

Nicole is five months preggers and is as big as a house (must have picture, that front porch is really something) and carrying like she's going to deliver any day. Nick says it's all baby weight, except for that front porch I mentioned.

I'm the Knittin' Grammy (much better than Gramma and I need to distinguish myself - Nicole's mother can be Gramma). For my part, I've bought baby clothes for a boy and two girls, knit three preemie beanies, and am working on a little sweater for when someone gets to about 6 months. Everything was always way too big for either of the boys when they were little, and they were kinda little when they were little. The sweater looks ginormous compared to what I THINK should be the right size, but I'm just going with it. Blankies? No, I'm not knitting any blankies. Not yet anyway. Heck, I'd have to knit three. That's a lot of blankies. No, I'm interested in sticking with quick projects.

Yeah, yeah, I know the arguments. "Well, knitting a blankie is fast, it can just be garter stitch with a border. You can crank it right out." How boring is that? It just isn't for those of us with a short attention span. I can be fairly tenacious with more complex items. They are interesting. They hold my attention. If you go out to Ravelry and look me up (erinkristi, but I guess you have to have an account to do that...Flickr has a Knits folder that has all the photos I post to Ravelry), and look at my projects, you'll see this lovely black sweater in stockinette. Gorgeous, yummy Jaeger Extra Fine Merino...it's a UFO.

For the uninitiated, non-knitting readers: UFO is, in knitting parlance "UnFinished Object." It's surprisingly apt.

Anyway, the purple and white striped sweater could work for any of them, but it's going to scream "girlie" after I add the pink and yellow doo-dads. After the sweater are some booties, then another sweater, then more little sockies, then another sweater. The bambini will probably birth sometime during the latter part of the second sweater (at least I didn't call it a "sweatie") or the beginning of the second set of socks.

This weekend I'm buying diapers at Costco.

I don't know when Nicole's baby shower is. Lester (one of Nick's friends) told Nick that Nick will have to be "Nicole's bitch" during the baby shower. I told Nick I thought Lester was pulling his leg. Lester is a sweet guy, and at the top of our list of Nick's Friends We Really Like. Lester has a bit of a sense of humor, and it's quite possible that he's pulling Nick's leg right out of it's socket. But then, it's been a very long time since I've been involved in any baby showers, so maybe that's the way it is these days. The Funky Stork has a cute article about having a celebration for the expectant dad. Actually, it's a cool site and all about the Dad part of having a baby. Their logo is especially slick, and the whole place is very Manly Man. They don't mention a thing about the dad being the mom's bitch during the shower ;)

I tagged this as photography, too, because I hate how my photos of yarn and projects turned out! ugh! Did I forget all my skills? Does my lighting suck? Well, the lighting clearly does suck, and I tried to fix it using a low-end image editing tool (stoooopid). It's not the fault of the image editing tool. IrfanView, which is my absolute favorite quick image editing tool for tasks that don't require Photoshop, doesn't do the kind of heavy lifting that these photos required. I use IrfanView for cropping, sizing, lite editing, and viewing all manner of weird image formats because it's very fast. Small application footprint. BUT: don't give it images whose white balance so screwed up that new images are required. I think that's where we are with these. Shame, too, because I spent quality time on that activity. There are few things on which I'm willing to perform this level of rework. My photography of my yarn. No, I just can't let it go. This is a problem of Erin versus The Flash. I will win.

FSW Flute Convention

Was it everything it was cracked up to be? For one day, sure. Did I mention that Susan cheerfully drove Amy and me to DC and back, and that Kent and David dropped us off and picked us up at her house in Williamsburg, respectively? Did I mention that Mary allowed the three of us to bunk in her room Friday night? Amy and I, variable that we are, were thinking eh, maybe we'd stay through Sunday. Or maybe i'd stay through Sunday and Amy would go back Saturday night with Susan. Or maybe we'd both go back on Saturday. In the end, we figured we'd seen all there was, attended the clinics we were most interested in, and decided that an extra weekend day was worth hitting the road Saturday night. So, we came back with Susan. We relied on so many people for this! Susan, David, Kent, Mary. Big kudos to them all for their helping hand.

In other news, I officially report to a new manager in a different team. Haven't met the new manager yet, but I have plenty on my plate because me and my duties moved, lock stock and barrel, over to a new team that specializes the stuff that I do. Analytics, trending, etc. More on this as it develops.

Nick is NOT moving to Maryland in March. Erica is moving to Norfolk in May.

And so begins..

...the kitchen remodel of 2007-2008.

Thinking optimistically that we'd tackle a piece at a time, we think we'll first do the eight-foot wall with the range.

We went range shopping today.

K is checking out the "prosumer" ranges at East Coast Appliance. Far left is a new Electrolux 36" dual fuel range. Very, very nice. The other is a 48" Viking with built in grill. Also very nice. The Viking really sings to us but it's way too wide. On that wall we can really only accommodate a 36" range. I spent time tonight mapping the kitchen on grid paper.

We'll probably go with the Electrolux unless we decide to not piecemeal this. If we wait then we might splurge on the Viking. That Viking, by the way, is a scratch/dent model. The scratches are on the sides and back which no one will ever see. Shopping for ranges can be fun. They can also be a pain in the neck. We kept refining our requirements. That part wasn't fun.

In other news, Christmas knitting is coming along splendidly. I can't say anymore or I'd give it all away! I join a flute choir in November after my flute comes back from the shop. They aren't rehearsing this Wednesday so the next get together is Nov 7. Cool. It's like riding a bike. K is pleased. I'm pleased. I was stunned to realize that I've had this flute for twenty years and that in those twenty years I've never once had it really thoroughly overhauled. There are bent springs, the pads need replacing, and it needs a new head cork. I'm so excited to play it now that my arthritis is under control. My chops, though, are sadly out of condition.

Bat Boy The Musical is limping along and still scheduled to open mid-November. K is very frustrated by the whole thing. Actors not showing up for rehearsal or dropping out, director who isn't actually trained in theater (he's a psych major). K was cast in a terrific part but didn't at first feel he could sing it; there are some high notes for a baritone. He's coming along, though, and is more optimistic. The show strikes me as similar to Angry Housewives.

Today was the Head Of The Lafayette (HOTL) race. Patrick cox'd for the women's open masters fours (four rowers) race, and they won first place!! I'm so proud of him! He's been coxing with the Hampton Roads Rowing Club women's team for a couple of years now. The ladies adore him. He also sat in with the Maury High junior varsity men's fours because they were short one man, and they landed sixth in their category. I don't know how many boats there were...but the Maury JV men have never been that great. Nonetheless, Patrick had a marvelous time. The fun thing about HOTL is that it's an open race, not a high school only race, so they have colleges, high schools, and independent rowing clubs are going head to head. It's always the Sunday before Halloween and teams often dress up. There is always a good turn out. I love being able to walk up the block with my chair and watch. The course's big stretch runs right in front of the neighborhood :) The weather was perfect: just a little chilly, with a beautiful blue sky.

I Didn't Knit This

But I sure wish I had. It's soooo beautiful, and that yellow/gold is really fetching. The photo design and knitting is work by Anne Hansen of Knitspot.com. I was thinking "what a great gift for someone for Christmas!" Yeah, Christmas 2008, I think, because it takes me a long time to knit lace. Socks, though, I'm digging socks for sure. Three pairs so far, and the last pair, the ones I wrote about, were really satisfying to knit. I have three projects lined up right now: a beautiful wildly colored scarf in a mohair/silk blend, a pair of yummy thick socks, and another beret. The socks and the beret are quick but that scarf is going to take some time mostly because the two most common colors in it are out-of-stock and back-ordered in every online knitting shop I visit! I guess the thousands of us who receive the Knitting Daily newsletter all had the same idea: "wow, gorgeous, must knit now, must order yarn." It uses eleven different blocks of color in various configurations.

Moving right along. Erica proposed to Nick, who said yes, and so they are getting married...in a couple of years. Their plan is for Nick to pay off a couple of bills and move to Maryland in early 2008. Which means I now I have an even better excuse to visit Maryland, a state I really like. I'd love to move to Baltimore but that's just not in the cards at this point. Patrick, on the other hand, is in New Jersey doing some engine repair training for the Army. This will provide him with another skill set and more reservist options. Apparently Fort Eustis doesn't have much call for large equipment operators. His MOS (military occupation something or other) was merged with another MOS so he also has to expand his skills to fit the new MOS. Nonetheless, they are both gainfully employed, they've learned painful lessons about credit cards and money, and will hopefully both be in college between now and 2012.

Rehearsals for Bat Boy, the Musical (as in Bat Boy from Weekly World News) began early last week. Kent is playing the role of Parker, Bat Boy's father-figure. Parker is not a nice person but he has a couple of songs. The show opens sometime in November, I think.

That's the news for now. Summers are pretty slow but fall and winter are shaping up nicely! Just for fun, have a pink caddy (picture

Nick & Erica

A nice picture of Nicholas and his girlfriend Erica.

iHubby wants a name change

I've been referring to the Love of my Life as iHubby. Turns out he ain't so crazy about that. So, we need a new name for him. I was thinking of The Teacher but I'm looking for ideas. He's probably reading this sentence and thinking "hey, 'Love of My Life' works for me - LOML."

Yeah, it's this weird sense of trying to maintain some sense of anonymity in a very non-anonymous world. It makes me happy whether it works or not.

Socks, socks, and more socks

When last we visited, I was bemoaning what has become known as The Pink Sock. Singular because there may not be a mate. After the snapping-the-DPN incident, I backed away from The Pink Sock and waited impatiently for my metal DPNs to come in. They have and my store messed up the order. I asked for #1 and #0, but I got #2 and #1. I can live with this and I still want the #0 but it can wait a wee bit. So. I've picked a new sock pattern, swatched, got gauge, and started in on it. The ribbing at the top is done, now I've started on the leg. This is a very simple sock for two important reasons.

1. The yarn is a stripey pattern
2. see important reason number one.

So. 2x2 ribbing takes a very long time, and I've decided that I don't like doing ribbing so much. But as long as the ribbing isn't more than an inch I can live with it.

What else is going on in Collinsland?

Kent: is totally preoccupied with FIRST Robotics and the upcoming March regional competition. Eats it, sleeps it, breaths it. He's also teaching after-school middle-schoolers how to build web pages, and he loves it.

Patrick: is applying for jobs all over the area, has drill once every six to nine weeks, hangs out at the boat house erging, and is impatiently waiting for the weather to warm up so he can get out on the water.

Nick: has decided that living out of his car is not the end of the world. I disagree and wish he would make different choices.

Maggie Dog: tolerates her little sister, Tasha Dog, and still barks annoyingly at the mailman even though its the same one we've had for the eleven years we've lived in this neighborhood.

Tasha Dog: annoys the snot out of her big sister, Maggie Dog, and only barks annoyingly when Maggie Dog does.

Erin: besides knitting when time allows and surfing knitting blogs and discovering new patterns (moments to do any of this are all too rare), spends a lot of time reading environmental science and biology but not by choice. I have a B in env sci, and a C in biology because I missed turning in the very first paper because I thought it was due on Sunday instead of Saturday.

The Week After

Nick joined us Christmas Day. Yay! I was very happy and feel a great weight of worry has been lifted from my shoulders. Any more said at this point would be overkill so I'll leave it at that for now. He tells me his email address DOES work but he hadn't checked it in a while so it'd been disabled. He tells me he's re-enabled it.

The Christmas Stocking is coming along like gang-busters. The pattern numbering was off by 25 from the numbering listed in the instructions. I just had to figure out where. My math stinks, so this wasn't as easy as it sounds. After that got sorted out I read through the instructions (mind if I start calling this a recipe?) three or four times. And then another three or four times. Remember, this is my first exploration into socks (cue music from Journey to the Center of the Earth).

Most sock recipes call for doing the heel before the rest of the foot, from what I can tell. I finally figured out that this recipe calls for marking the heel with scrap yarn, knitting the rest of the foot to the toe, then going back to the scrap yarn, picking up stitches and separating the scrap from the rest of the foot and then knitting into the gusset. Humnph. Here goes nothin.' I'm about five rows away from the toe, then it's back up to the heel.

iHubby: Wow, that's really long.
Me: This part here? It's the foot.
iHubby: Oh.
Me: See, you have to knit to here, then do this, then go back here.
iHubby: Oh. (starting to glaze over - but he's so wonderful that he pretends he's not)
Me: And look inside, this is the way intarsia is supposed to look in reverse.
iHubby: You mean not like the spastic spaghetti where you did the, uhm, "reindeer"?
Me: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then I asked him if he wanted his name on it. "You can do that?" asks my beloved. "Yes," I answer, and suddenly I'm the Knitting Queen of the World. It's good to be the Queen.

Really really: pictures soon.

Flaming Sticks

12/12/06
That's the name Hubby dubbed my knitting needles: Flaming Sticks. Stealth Project #3 is too big - way way out of gauge. I forgot to downsize the pattern when I upsized the needles. Maybe THAT will become a purse, too. I'm about three hours away from completion so I guess we'll see how badly oversized it really is.

Those three hours will be today because I'm home with a sinus infection, this season's first, and I'm going to try to to see the doctor and get much needed antibiotics. I can take Tylenol Sinus until the cows come home but the infection won't go away without the really good drugs. Since this is such a perennial thing maybe she'll just call it in to the pharmacy (hoping, hoping). Today is the team luncheon, too, which I also really want to attend.

12/23/06
Gooood antibiotics took care of that sinus infection. Then I sprained my hand. My hand caught on something and my middle finger (Mom, remember the one that I broke in middle school?) was pulled to far back. So far back I thought I'd broken it again, which after x-rays turned out not to be the case. Nonetheless, the pain was pretty substantial, and now most of the swelling has gone down, and there's a lump in the middle of my right palm. That really put the kibosh on a lot. So did the loss of my Christmas mojo. It disappeared. I think I got it back two days ago but up until then I was thinking I'd just skip the holiday this year.

So, Family-Who-Are-Reading-This, I (we) have gifts that I want to send but they'll be late. Sorry! Like the good little corporate manager that I am, though, I'm already thinking of ways to mitigate the likelihood of it happening again next year. It might involve visiting someone for the holidays. Or starting Christmas early, ha ha!

I have continued to knit, albeit slowly (it's been easier to knit than to mouse and type). All the stealth projects are completed. I've started working on a Christmas Stocking as my entry into the sock world. I've been told that knitting a stocking is a good way to learn; you use the same techniques but on larger needles and yarn. I've also found some nice patterns, so right now I'm swatching for gauge (knitting a 5" square piece using the recommended needles and yarn and stitch to see if my stitches/rows per inch are accurate for the piece). Since it'll be going on someones mantel, gauge isn't as critical, but it's good practice, especially given that two of the stealth projects came out in woefully wrong sizes!

I'll be dropping a note to Nick via his car windshield to invite him over for Christmas Day. He didn't respond to my last note so I don't know if he'll respond to this one. That's ok. He'll do whatever it is he's going to do, and eventually he'll bring us back into his life when he's ready. If he's anything like me (and he's alot like me) that might take several years.

Back & Forth, Knit & Purl

Yes, it's been a while. When things start getting rough, I stop blogging. Mom would say I should blog more when things are rough, which may be true...but not my native habit.

Round after my last post I retaught myself to knit. What insane bee was caught in my bonnet? I don't know but I'm glad I did it. More on that later.

The thing is, that last post was about a week and a half after Nick up and disappeared again. Sort of. He stopped going to work. He stopped coming home. That was bad, and we got calls from his boss for several days until Bill was convinced we didn't know where Nick was. Which we didn't, but I think at first Bill may have thought we were protecting Nick from him. Then Bill called to say that a car had been stolen from the lot and that Nick had "deleted the key from the key vault," whatever that means. That didn't look too good. We haven't heard anything about that since, so he may have been bluffing to see if we'd cough up Nick. Since we couldn't, we didn't. For a few days we thought he might actually be missing...but we kept seeing traces that he'd been visiting while we were at work. Things left out, doors left unlocked, a soda can lying around where none had been previously. Ok, he's staying at the Redgate Nick's, we thought. ("Redgate Nick" is the name for his his friend Nick who lived on Redgate Ave, and that was our way of distinguishing one Nick from the other in conversation). I drove by Redgate Nick's place, now living with a couple other friends in our neighborhood, and there was Nicholas' car, his little black Nissan Sentra 200SX.

I tried (once) to reach out. I left a note (sealed in a ziplock baggy to ward off the damp) on his car window, which he got (I drove by several times to see if he'd plucked it off the windshield), but which he may or may not have read. He's doing everything he can to stay out of touch and at this point I'm just going to respect that. The other night, though, and I thought this was kind of funny, we found little hairs in the bathroom sink. He'd come by to shave and, as usual, didn't rinse the sink. I laughed. Three weeks ago I'd have had an emotional meltdown over the little incident, and would have been very blue for the following two days. This is, I think, where the knitting comes in to play.

When Shanon and I ventured to Charlottesville we sent into a yarn store. I was enchanted and curious. So, about Nov 10 or so, I was at Michael's Arts & Crafts store getting supplies for Christmas gifts. I found myself in the knitting aisle and stood there for a long time, looking at the yarns, the needles, and fiddling with some of the books, and I went for it. Picked (what I thought was) a simple pattern from a $3 booklet, got the needles and the yarn and a little bag of "gotta have" tools (stitch gauge, pins, measuring tape, needle caps, etc.) and went home and tried to figure it out. Between the instructions in the booklet, the videos on http://www.knittinghelp.com, and my own smarts, I managed to figure this out enough to make something. I can't say what it is because it's a gift but I'll post a pic after Christmas.

This simple object was knitted in the round and felted. Call me ambitious, devil-may-care, stupid. The first version of the object failed to meet my expectations. So I tried again, this time being very careful to cast on the correct number of stitches!!! But I learned many lessons from this first foray:

• Felting is fun!!
• Felting hides a multitide of sins, such as suspect seaming and boo-boos when binding off.
  
• Felting shrinks pretty well vertically (stitches running up/down) but not much horizontally (side-to-side at the row level).
• Wool yarn bleeds. Just ask my bras, which I threw into the wash with this little fuschia thing.
• Knitting in the round is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. In fact, it's pretty easy, although the needles are shorter and I like them a little longer.
• I'm prone to dropping stitches.
• I can watches a marathon of CSI or Law and Order SVU for hours when I'm knitting.
• It's incredibly relaxing, and meditative (when not watching tv).

And, most importantly, it helped me get through the last few weeks, including Thanksgiving, with Nick MIA and Patrick still in Fort Leonard Wood.

I've since made a hat which is waaaay too small for anyone but Alison's baby doll. It also fits my model skull. Now I'm knitting three other things which I can't discuss because they, too, will likely be Christmas gifts if I can get them finished in time to avoid overnight Fed-Exing! I have a bunch of projects, small ones, lined up for the next year. I'm abuzz with ideas and want to knit every pattern I see! No, this isn't eclipsing photography. I can't take photos all day long, every day. But knitting fills the gaps and then some. haha!

Patrick's Letter, August 9, 2006

Hey.
I think I'll use a red pen today. So Nick's birthday is in seven days. I think I'll slip something in this letter. A check for $150...because I have it to give away.

Well we started BRM on Monday...and we qualify with our rifles on Tuesday. Good stuff. I sent graduation info to you and Ashley, spread the word to everyone else. I'll tell Jordon the 411.

Let's see...I have been chosen to assume the responsibility among 3 other people to memorize basic army knowledge, such as navigation, medical, the uniform...the whole nine yards...to acquire prestigious awards that go to only one platoon. So...pretty much, me and three other people in my platoon are representing the whole platoon.
(ok, I have no idea what he just said here...Nick says it basically translates as Patrick and three other soldiers represent the platoon at a contest with other platoons and the game is to have more knowledge about the regulations and army basics than the other platoon representatives.)

Let the light shine.

Love,
Patrick