(mis)adventures of spindlerose

9. Seattle Weekend

The weekend started poorly. I arrived at National Airport about 90 minutes before my flight and discovered that US Airways had cancelled my ticket. I checked in on-line Thursday afternoon, but Friday I had no valid ticket. After several phone calls and a 45 minute wait, I had a ticket again and a crummy middle seat for the Philadelphia to Seattle flight. In Philadelphia, we sat on the ground in a massive queue of planes trying take off into the crowded Northeast US airspace. We finally took off 2-1/2 hours late and made it to Seattle at about 11:45 instead of 9:00.

As I said last week, I was more excited about spending the weekend with Paul than I was about Sock Camp. We've been friends since middle school. He was my first crush and first boyfriend. We were debate partners and orchestra stand-mates. He stood up in my wedding. Even though we haven't seen each other for 6 or 7 years, we caught up on the essentials in just a few minutes. As you can see, we've both changed a bit in the last 20 years (top: French IV class, spring 1988, bottom: last night). We had a fabulous time seeing Seattle, eating, cooking, sharing photos of our lives, and catching up.

Saturday, we joined 55,000 people at Safeco Field for Seeds of Compassion. His Holiness the Dali Lama was humble, insightful, and surprisingly funny. After the event, we enjoyed the sunshine and walked to downtown where we visited the public library and Pike's Place Market. Yum—snacks of squeaky cheese curds and Chinese buns, wild salmon for dinner and a glorious bunch of tulips for the table. I shared a picture of the Koolhaus hat I knit in December as part of explaining my glee at seeing the building that inspired a popular knitting project.

Sunday, Paul took me on a driving tour of his favorite Seattle places. We saw the University of Washington, the Fremont Troll, the arboretum, the 501st Legion in Gasworks Park, the Sip Canal Locks, boats, and rain. Paul cooked Saturday's wild salmon for dinner. Before dinner, we ate fabulous cheese and drank champagne.

After dinner we drove to St. Mark’s Cathedral for Compline. The service was a lovely contemplative end to a great weekend. After the service we took in a few more sights—the view from Queen Anne Hill and the Frank Ghery building at Seattle Center. Then we talked much to late since we had to wake up early this morning for Paul to go to work and me to catch the seaplane to Camp.

Edited April 15, 2008 to fix a few place names.

2. The Last Socks of 2007 and the First Socks of 2008

I'm once again struggling with blog procrastination. Travel and late meetings are good reasons for not posting; uncovering the fruit fly breeding ground in my kitchen and the complete chaos in my digital photo storage are just excuses for blog avoidance. Once I don't post for a while, I find it incredibly difficult to post again. Stop laughing Dad. Right now, I've got notes for a handful of posts scribbled out either on paper or as drafts in TypePad, no travel planned for the next two weeks, and a husband who will be stuck at the office for the rest of the month. Expect every other day posts for the rest of January. Feel free to nudge me if I fall off of that schedule.

There were no posts last week because I was in California for a sales team meeting. Those meetings always include team dinners—late nights with too much wine—and early mornings. When I'm on the West Coast for meetings, the only time I have to respond to email is before our meetings start at 8:30 or 9:00. Waking up really early and working from 6:00 to 8:00 am reduces the inbox backlog and helps me avoid jet lag after the trip, but 10:00 pm bedtimes, 5:00 am wakeup calls, and coast to coast travel take a toll. I finally felt human late Saturday afternoon. I searched for the notebook in which I had scribbled out notes for a few posts but couldn't find it anywhere. I finally found it on my desk when I arrived at the office this morning.

One thing that those California meetings are good for is sock production. In November, I knit most of a pair during my last California adventure. I almost finished that pair—the Provençal Socks—while I was on my holiday trip to Wisconsin. I declared this pair finished on December 27 even though I had one hem to stitch down. Last week, I finished my first pair of 2008. Two cross country flights, 3 days of training, a sick day, and the NFL playoffs create a lot of knitting time. Knitting short socks helps, too.

Provençal Socks
Pattern: The toe up sock pattern in my head.
Yarn: Regia Jaquard, discontinued color 5270 Provence.
Notions: 2.25 mm short Clover Bamboo dpns.
Time: November 11 to December 27, 2007.
Comments: This is my last short row heel. I know I've said that before, and I'm sure I'll finish the lingering incomplete pairs with short row heels, but after that no more for my own socks. Flap and gusset heels "pop" onto my foot so much better.

CJ's Socks
Pattern: Cast on 60 stitches, work K2P2 ribbing for 15 or 20 rows, make a heel flap, turn the heel, decrease back to 60 stitches, knit until long enough, do 4 point decreases for the toe with 2 rows between each decrease for the first half, then 1 row between for the rest. Kitchener when there are 24 stitches left. Or something like that. I've got more complete notes in Ravelry so I can make more socks for her.
Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta Jaquard color 505 (I think).
Notions: 2.25 mm short Clover Bamboo dpns.
Time: January 6 to 13, 2008.
Comments: I'm sure I'll be making more socks for CJ. Her feet are as wide as mine, but even smaller. Here are her comments on receiving custom knit socks.

Thanks to Sandy and Norma for the idea to number my 2008 posts so I can keep track of my progress to 200.

Where am I? Wednesday

It's time for a new feature here. Since I am so frequently far from my happy place on Wednesdays, I will share a glimpse of where I am on those days I miss Late Night.

Bermuda tourists

or dolphins, sheep, and some history.

It rained all day. D and I decided to play tourist anyway and took the bus to the Royal Naval Dockyards so we could visit the Bermuda Maritime Museum. It rained in the morning while I was at breakfast, in the late morning while D was in the shower, while we were on the bus, while we ate lunch at the Frog and Onion Pub, while we were on the ferry returning to Hamilton, and after we settled in for an evening of college football watching. It did not rain on us while we walked to and from town or while we explored the outside parts of the museum.

The highlight of the day for D was sitting in a courtyard while the sun tried to break through the clouds and watching a bunch of dolphins play in their ponds. We caught the end of the scheduled show. D and I had more fun watching the three 5-month-old babies wrestle with each other and play with a chunk of seaweed than we did watching the choreographed tricks by two adult dolphins.

The highlight of the day for me was looking up on the hill toward the Commissioner's House and seeing sheep (click the photo for big and look for black faces along the top of the cliff). Really, there were a bunch of sheep grazing on the cliff. I have no idea how some of them did not fall down into the field below.

NaBloBoMo note: I drafted this after our day of playing tourist, but couldn't post on Saturday because Noel had knocked out our hotel room's internet connection.

I can't decide which is funnier

D and I are spending a long weekend on a sub-tropical island suffering a glancing blow from a hurricane, and the Bermuda Weather Service is running into problems with Windows.

Today I worked, window shopped, and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Cafe Cairo. Tomorrow we may or may not get to enjoy Bermuda, but we will buy rum to take home if the weather clears enough for us to walk back into town before the duty free liquor store closes.

Travel is fun, but this is ridiculous

In the past 7 days, I have been in:

• Meto Boston for a big party
• Alexandria (home)
• Cincinnati including Kentucky because that is where the airport is
• Columbus to teach a seminar
• Alexandria again so I could change out the clean clothes in my suitcase and pass out candy to the neighborhood kids
• Bermuda to visit a few customers

For a change, I still know which end is up. I forgot to pack the camera last night after too much wine and candy, but D is flying out here tomorrow and has promised to pack the camera. If he forgets, I will figure out how to use the iPhone camera for a few shots of this beautiful island.

And so begins NaBloPoMo 2007. As Jasmine said earlier today, the only way to become a better writer (and blogger) is to practice a little bit every day.

My goal is to get to a regular posting schedule. And to document what I create here before I send those creations out into the world. As I look back through the first 10 months of 2007, I realize that I have finished and never blogged or posted to Ravelry most of my projects for this year. And I've given many of them away with little or no documenting. If I start the habit this month, perhaps I will be better next year. It can't hurt to try

Too sunburned to blog

Yesterday, we treated A and D (and ourselves) to a private surfing lesson. We all stood up on our boards and had fun. There is photographic evidence I will share in a few days. I did not use enough sunscreen on the backs of my legs and sitting is a little challenging.

When not surfing, we have spent a lot of time relaxing at the pool, walking along the beach, and shopping for art in Lahaina. There have been very few photo-worthy activities.

Today, I'm planning to stay out of the sun (and off of the backs of my legs) shopping for gifties and souvenirs for family, friends, and swap buddies.

A wedding and a dangerous beach

Yesterday our dear friends got married on the beach. I met A about 10 years ago on KnitU. About 7 years ago, she started dating our friend D. She knit a stunning shawl to wear for her wedding. Tomorrow we are going to check out the local yarn shop--which also sells ukuleles and guitars.

This morning we hiked along the Napali coast. We did not go all the way to the waterfall, "just" the 2 strenuous miles to the beach and back. The views from the trail are breathtaking--there are many photos over at Flickr.

Right now, D is sitting on the sofa in our condo with ice on his knees. I'm feeling pretty good despite all that exercise. I did a bit of yoga and some knitting during our break on the beach. The stretches helped me not get stiff. But now I'm ready for a nap.

A beach picture for Claudia

Solstice Slip at Tunnels Beach, originally uploaded by SpindleRose.

Yesterday, I went to the beach. D stayed at the resort and worked on a court filling due on Monday. I played in the surf, took some pictures, and knit a few rows on Solstice Slip. I gave up on the knitting when the rain showers became more frequent than the sunny spells. There are lots more beach pictures over at Flickr in the Kauai 2007 Set.

Too much travel, not enough knitting

Someday, I will sleep in my own bed for 8 consecutive nights. The my calendar for the next few months is shaping up, that someday may not happen until November. This week it's a new Ohio city every day. Which is OK. I like Ohio—it's green and sunny and not too hot here. The rolling hills make for a pleasant drive by scenery. Unless I have no knitting in hand.

I cleverly packed one sock project for this trip so I would perhaps manage to finish a pair. Yesterday, I finished the first Solstice Slip sock on my morning flight from Washington, DC, to Cleveland. Sometime in the afternoon, two of my Brittany toothpicks snapped. Today, I rode in a car from Cleveland to Columbus with a couple of detours to visit customers along the way. WITH NO KNITTING. At least I could read SheepThrills on my iPhone.

After checking into my home for the night in Columbus, I dragged my co-worker to the Yarn Shop for a new set of size 1 dpns. And a skein of souvenir sock yarn—Araucania Ranco in color 304 which reads primarily blue with hints of purple to me. Before bed tonight, I will to cast on for Jane's Hedgerow Socks so I have something to knit in the car tomorrow.

So much for clever plans. I will be spending enough time in the car and at O'Hare between now and Saturday that I might be able to finish the new socks on this trip. That's all I've got tonight. The camera stayed home this trip. And I need to get some sleep.

Happy trails!

Monkey 2 in Atlanta

My second pair of Monkey socks and I are in Atlanta this week. Yesterday, we enjoyed a nice walk in Centennial Olympic Park after lunch, but it was too hot outside to actually sit down on a park bench and knit while watching children play in the Fountain of Rings. I knit most of the leg on my flight down from DC on Sunday.

And yes, this is my second pair of Monkey socks. I knit my first pair from Fleece Artist Merino Sock in Mermaid in late April and early May. Someday soon I photograph them for the Finished Project gallery.

Out Playing

Rosemary can't come to the blog right now. She and D are on a much needed* vacation. This is the only vacation photo you will see, because the camera battery charger is in her bedroom in Virginia and not in Florida.

Come back next week for Maryland Sheep and Wool photos and the regular knitting and spinning blather.

*My birthday was Thursday. We enjoyed our usual first day at WDW activities: sleep in; eat lunch at The Plaza in the Magic Kingdom; ride Pirates of the Caribbean (for D) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; and (because it was my birthday) enjoy late afternoon sundaes at The Plaza. For a special birthday treat, we ended the day with La Nouba and a very lovely dinner.

Another Wednesday on the road

So I've got nothing except some randomness. Right now, I'm stuck in Huntsville, Alabama, thanks to weather south of Washington, DC.

1. Small airports have much better WiFi than big ones. Huntsville's WiFi is free, National does not have WiFi at all, and Atlanta, Boston, and San Jose all charge to connect. Why is that, I wonder?

2. My new black sandals are super comfy, even after a full day standing at a trade show. I'm not that sure how they'll feel after 3 days sanding on concrete, but one day is manageable.

3. New sandals? you ask. I took advantage of a free day in San Francisco a last weekend to shoe shop at Nordstrom. None of the DC area stores carry my size, but the big San Francisco one does. I bought a black pair and a brown pair to round out my spring and summer shoe wardrobe.

4. Business travel is great for sock knitting production. Last week was a three sock week. I completely knit two socks and knit the cuff of a third during my airplane, hotel, and meeting time last week.

5. Business travel is not so great for knit photography. Hotel rooms have crummy light for good pictures. And all my daylight time when I could try for natural light outside or inside pictures is usually taken up with work.

6. Like others, I am looking forward to spending a couple of days with the sheeps and wools this weekend. My checkbook and credit cards are staying home, though. I have revised my Knit from Stash in 2007 rules to allow no free pass during May. I am trying to reduce the stash to a point that it will squeeze into one closet to make our ongoing house hunt easier.

That's enough randomness from me for today. Time to plug into the iPod, tune it to knitting podcasts, and pull out a second sock.

Boston here we come

D and I will be in Boston next weekend. If you want to get together Friday or Saturday afternoon, let me know. We'll either be staying downtown or with his parents in the burbs. We fly home early Sunday afternoon because I have to get on a plane to Cincinnati (again) Sunday evening.

Must run. Time to leave for yoga class. Longer post this afternoon. I promise.

Delayed flight

What happens when a knitter with an afternoon flight home--already planning one LYS visit on the way to the airport--receives word on her way to that shop that her flight is delayed 90 minutes? She shops longer than originally planned at One More Stitch. Then she has a lovely lunch the coffee shop around the corner from the shop. Finally, she finds another LYS to visit on the way to the airport. And then, to kill the additional 30 minutes of delay, she shops at the airport.

The loot (no cat photo)
Red orange and brown Schaeffer Anne, turquoise Opal, and pastel Skacel Trampoline Stretch. One pound Peet's Major Dickason's Blend coffee since mom and dad drank almost all the coffee in the house while they visited last week, and DC is a Peet's-free zone, Knitting Beyond the Edge, and a new Classic Elite pattern book that I bought for this stunning cabled jacket pattern.

Shop reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to both shops. One More Stitch is in a lovely corner space with tons of natural light in an old-fashioned downtown neighborhood. The old church on the corner and 75-100 year old shop buildings filled with eclectic decorating and crafts reminds me of downtown in my hometown of Wausau, WI, some areas of Newton, MA, and our old home in downtown Natick, MA. The neighborhood is clearly on the upswing as shoppers return downtown from the dreadful generic suburban developments springing up on the fringes of Cincinnati. I should know about those--I visited one for dinner last night. The same chain restaurants, clothing stores, and bookstores as every other suburban outpost in the country. The yarn selection was good--the complete lines of Rowan and Nashau, a huge variety of sock yarns, bits and pieces of hand-dyed goodness from other vendors. And the needlepoint. Wow. I am not a needlepointer, but shops like this could turn me into one.

Knitwits Contemporary Yarn Shop is just over the river from Cincinnati in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. I wandered into their Thursday morning knitting group--still going strong at 1:30, explored the sock yarns--handpainted Wildefoote, and fondled the Alpaca with a Twist offerings. I picked up the new Classic Elite leaflet here. I have not found a shop in the DC area that stocks the full line--and I desperately miss road trips to their Lowell outlet for mill ends and a visit to the American Textile History Museum's spinning wheel collection.

Right now, there are far too many jackets in my knitting future. And I have two to finish. At the top of the list is the Classic Elite pattern I just bought. There are 4 (!) patterns I want to knit in the Winter IK issue--the Cardigan for Arwen heads that list. I should balance all that heavy cabling by knitting lacy Ariann, right? Rogue (remember the Rogue I started her two years ago?) languishes in the wool closet just needing blocking, seaming, and a zipper. Also on the wool closet shelf is the red rib and cabled cardigan I started on our 2002 Thanksgiving road trip to Ohio (Julia's finished version is here). I am certain that there are other jackets and cardigans in my long queue of sweaters to knit that I'm forgetting right now. Luckily for my marriage, I plan to knit most of these beautiful cabled jackets and Ariann from stash yarn. After those are all knit, I will be down to a mere dozen or two sweaters left in stash. The hardest decision for next week is which one should I knit first?

Finally, apologies for the post free day yesterday. I know I promised the caramel recipe. And I will post it soon. My trip to Ohio started at 5:30 yesterday morning. The only meeting on the trip ran from 10:30 until 4:30. Then I napped for a couple of hours. At about 8:00 I wandered out to find dinner and a bookstore--actually I visited the bookstore first so I would have something to read during my dinner. I got back to the hotel at 10:00 and immediately fell asleep. Besides, the caramel post will be much more interesting with photos of the golden goodness to tempt you into making your own. I won't have time to cook up another batch until Saturday.

Back on the Road

My favorite thing to do in new cities is find the local yarn store. Unfortunately, I almost never have time while I'm on the road to do so. This week, I'm in Decatur, Georgia. The LYS is about 2 blocks from my hotel, open until 6 on weeknights, and even had an ad in the hotel's neighborhood directory. Nease's Needlework is a lovely yarn, needlepoint, and counted cross stitch shop. The yarn stock is broad and colorful. The staff is helpful--and gave me several excellent local restaurant suggestions for my lunches and dinners in the area this week.

I enjoyed the sock yarn selection the most (big surprise there--it being Socktober and all) and left with a bit of souvenir yarn--two skeins of Jawool in light green (color 198) and one of blue, green, and purple Sockotta (color 14). You'll have to imagine the purchases for now, because I forgot to pack both the digicam and the cable for downloading photos from my phone. The pink (color 184) Jawoll tempted me, too, but I resisted it. I absolutely cannot buy yarn in any color I am wearing at the time, and yesterday I wore a pink silk sweater. Even though Lucy claims that people do it all the time, I try not to.

My flight down from DC on Monday morning was beautiful. Clouds blanketed the valleys in the western Carolinas. A stream snaking through the hills popped out of the landscape because of the cottony fog above it. In other spots, clouds filled the valleys.

The trees are less green than they were in July when I last made a morning flight to Atlanta. There is more brown undertones and less emerald in early fall than in midsummer. The red clay soil contrasts sharply with any green in the landscape below. It is a very different color than the rich black soil of the upper midwest or the sandy brown of Massachusetts.

Perhaps D and I will manage a visit to these mountains this fall. SAFF is coming up, and we keep discussing (but not taking) weekend excursions to the mountains.

Real Florida, part 1

Or water, gators, and spiders.

Look at the right end of the log

You know that you have been a bad blogger when your fabulous spouse complains about the general lack of posts. Even after he starred in the last one.

I survived conference in Florida. All I can say about it is this: It is much harder to be an employee of the sponsoring company than simply a geek attending a tech conference. I was pretty much "on" full time from my arrival at the hotel Saturday evening until D and I headed out for dinner Thursday night. Overall, the conference was a blast, but I was exhausted by the end of the week.

The mini-vacation D and I planned for the weekend after the show was just about perfect. On Thursday, we joined about 15 other geeks for a canoe trip in Wekiwa Springs State Park. Several geeks, six canoes, a fabulous picnic lunch on the river, a science experiment, and nature made for a perfect end to the conference. In addition to the alligator above, we saw many species of birds, banana spiders, Florida snapping turtles, and ancient fish. The lush vegetation and clear water would have made for an amazing day even if we had not spotted the gator hanging out on the log on our upstream paddle. The empty log on the downstream part of the trip had everyone keeping their hands and feet inside the canoes.

L to R: A small banana spider; the view from the middle of the canoe; amazing underwater Christmas trees; David playing with Diet Coke and Mentos.

Code Orange

I wrote this post yesterday at the airport while waiting for a delayed flight.

I'm on my way to Florida for a geeky conference. I have both of my laptops, a huge stack of presentation handouts, a full box of business cards, and far too much knitting for one event-filled week. I tossed yarn for three pairs of socks and at least one Baby Surprise jacket into my bag with the handouts and obligatory software-company uniform. The handouts, yarn and D's shampoo took up so much room that I ended up with no room for my running shoes. D is flying down to Orlando on Tuesday. I have already sent him the list of stuff I forgot to pack.

Thanks to the new ban on liquids and gels in carry on luggage, I packed knowing I would be checking my rollaboard instead of wrestling it into an overhead bin. I suspect that my good friend Aubrey will do a brisk business in her solid lotion bars as travelers realize just how drying cabin air and airport soaps can be when they do not have a tube of hand lotion on hand. I made a few friends of fellow travelers who saw me using my lotion and were impressed with my savy. Aubrey also makes the most fabulous soaps, scrubs, balms, and lotions. You can catch her at the Stitches Midwest Market today, at craft shows and farmers markets in Oklahoma and Texas, and on line at goodiesunlimited.com.

I'm not sure that I feel any safer, but the TSA will do what it must, I guess. This is air travel in the 21st Century.

Tomorrow, picture of palm trees and my suitcase full of yarn. Lots and lots of palm trees and a frightening amount of yarn given the shortness and busy-ness of this trip.

Happy trails!

Weekend fun

Here's the short take on last weekend. Friday night I flew to Wisconsin. Saturday H, Mom, and I drove to Bayfield. Saturday night we saw Nickel Creek at my favorite summer concert venue. Sunday we helped my aunt and uncle out in their amazing terraced gardens and drove back to Wausau. Monday, we played in Wausau. Then the mini vacation was over, and H and I flew back to the east coat.

I have nothing to show for Friday. I read a fun novel on the flight and did some sock knitting--Unst for the Knitting on the Road Knitalong in navy Socka. On Sunday, I gave up on the start of Unst as too small. An experience much like my aborted Conwy attempt last month. I'm going to start both of them over on bigger (2.5 mm instead of 2.25 mm) needles. It seems that as I get older, I knit my socks tighter. Odd, isn't it.

On the drive from Wausau to Bayfield we went through Phillips so H could see the Wisconsin Concrete Park. The picture at the left is Fred Smith's rendition of Paul Bunyan--a northern legend claimed by Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada. There are also deer, dogs, elk, Clydesdales, and replicas of important monuments constructed of concrete and broken glass in the park.

After a pit stop at my aunt and uncle's log home in the woods, we headed into Bayfield for lunch and window shopping. H, Mom, and I enjoyed lunch at Maggie's. Then we walked along the waterfront past the marina and beautiful sailboats. We window shopped in all the galleries and shops. There's even a yarn shop in Bayfield these days. And it has a bear. No, I mean a BEAR, hanging out at the top of the stairs to welcome shoppers. We ended our shopping with all three of us making purchases at Xanadu--one of my favorite eclectic clothing botiques in the country.

Saturday night we saw an amazing Nickel Creek concert. This was the third and by far the best show I've seen them give in the past 5 years. Musically, they're featuring Shawn more; he played several outstanding guitar solos in the traditional songs and sang a few of his own songs. H and I both wonder how he puts up with Sarah and Chris hamming it up on stage, though. The high point of the show was Chris' performance of the fugue movement from Bach's a minor Sonata for solo violin on mandolin. The entire audience was silent in the face of his musicality and talent.

Sunday we gardened. Mom delivered half a minivan full of perrenials thinned out of her garden. There has been a dreadful drought in northern Wisconsin this year, and my aunt lost many of her plants. We drove back to Wausau. We ate dinner at my second favorite Wausau restaurant.

Monday we gardened in my parents' yard. Mom risked her shrubs by letting H and I loose near them with pruners in hand. The end result of our work was a suitcase full of perennial thinnings for H and two trunkloads of prunings for the yard waste disposal site. We also went for a hike at Dells of the Eau Claire County Park to see the interesting rocks and river rapids. On the way to the airport we stopped for soft serve. Then I flew back to DC and H returned to Boston.

Tomorrow, I fly to Orlando for a week of work-related fun.

Happy trails!