Before I leave

I'm leaving for California today. I am hoping to get lots of work done on my dissertation and see lots of old friends and colleagues. Friday and Saturday I will be attending the philosophy department's annual conference, and on Friday I am also attending a seminar. It will be good to do philosophy socially again. This is the longest trip I have taken back to California since we moved. I won't be home until Sunday, March 2nd. I am going to miss my husband and puppy something terrible, but it will be good practice for this summer when I will be back in Riverside for 5 weeks to teach a class. Since I finished the knitting for M's sweater and don't feel up to fair isle while traveling, I am casting on a pair of spring socks to keep me busy when I am not working on writing about "intrapersonal critical dialogue".

pumpkin spice birthday cake

My dad arrived in Santa Fe on his birthday and so I baked him a cake. This was a nerve racking task as high altitude baking is rather scary, but the pumpkin spice cake turned out fabulous. The cake was dense and moist with a nice flavor and the honey creme cheese frosting was delicious.

California Visitors

My dad and Debbie came to visit us this President's Day weekend and we packed in a whole lot of Santa Fe in their short visit. We had so much fun and were sad to see them go. Fortunately, I will arrive in CA this Friday for a whole week and will get to see them again. Unfortunately, I have a million things to do before I leave.

On Saturday we headed up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin so that Debbie could get her snow fix:



Please note the lovely handknits modeled by both my dad and deb above.
On Sunday we went to the O'Keefe museum and then toured around town:

The next month will be busy for us, with me in California for a whole week at the end of February, Matthew's parents here in March, and then I go back to California for five days before Easter. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but it will be so fun to see friends and family that it will all be worth it. But when will I knit? Stay tuned to find out.

man sweater update

The man sweater has been bound off and tried on by its intended owner. It fits! Now all I need to do is weave in the ends, get a zipper, sew the zipper in, stitch the collar down, and block it. Voila! Husband sweater. I am hoping to finish it before my trip to CA next week, but with my dad and Debbie here this weekend, I'm not sure that goal is attainable, but when I do finish I will be sure to post lots of pictures of my guy in his zippy new duds. 

Happy Corporate Holiday!

No, that's not Rizzo from Grease, that's my funny little valentine sporting a festive bandanna from Grandma Karen. That's about as into the holiday as we get around here.

Ravelry

There is a new revolution for the online knitter. It is called ravelry and it is the brand-spankin-new mothership of all knitting websites. If you knit (or crochet), check it out, get on the waiting list (that's right - waiting list) and prepare for awesomeness. As for me, I feel that any day now my invitation will arrive and then my life will be consumed by the knitternet.

puppypants

Maybe I am biased, but I think my puppy is the cutest, smartest, most awesome puppypants ever. Lately when someone is outside Scarlett has been "standing" up to see who it is. We would discourage this possibly inappropriate behavior if it weren't so ridiculously adorable. Today it was almost 50 degrees in Santa Fe and so we decided to take the pooch for a walk down to the plaza for some ice cream (for me, and one lick for the dog) and coffee (for the doggy daddy). Scarlett was so well behaved and did a wonderful job walking to and from the plaza. She was the picture of perfection while sitting and watching all of the other people and dogs. We are so proud of our little girl, who used to pull on the leash, stop at the slightest sound, and try to the hide in the bushes whenever we tried to take her for a walk. We are very proud parents of a most perfect puppypants.

postal service

I walked over to my local branch of the post office to send some gifts and knitted items, many of which had been waiting to be sent for weeks. I sent a package to my uncle and his new wife to congratulate them on their secret wedding, a very belated birthday gift to my sister, a knitted square for a friends blanket that was supposed to be completed years ago, and some socks for my m-i-l. The socks, are the Thuja socks from knitty, knitted in Artyarns supermerino on size 5 dpns. I absolutely love this pattern and would recommend it to all, but especially to first time sock knitters - it's fast, easy and really fun, oh, and cute! I am also a huge fan of this yarn, it's gorgeous and really springy and yummy. I hope Melissa enjoys her Thujas.
Melissa's purty socks modeled by yours truly. I'm thinking about becoming a professional sock model. What do you think?