California part I

I've been here a week and it's been rather eventful. On Monday the power went out, on Tuesday my class was canceled because there was no air conditioning due to the power failure. Wednesday I was finally able to give a lecture, which went pretty well considering I was purty rusty. Wednesday night I had dinner with friends Catherine and Mandy and then went to knit with my old Riverside Stitch N Bitchers. It was uberfuntastic.
Above: Fun Fur! What is it good for? Funny pictures! Below: Stitchers? or Bitchers?
Thursday, I awoke to, guess what? Another power outage, this time at my dad's house where I am currently staying. I had to pack up and head to R'Side to get ready at friend Mandy's house and spend the day plugging my laptop in at coffee shops. Friday I headed in to Riverside to make up the class I missed and then the whole family went into LA to see a a really good play, Adam Baum and the Jew Movie at the Hayworth theater. My cousin Noah was the assistant director and he gave us a tour of the theater and went for drinks with us afterwards. Saturday was spent working and then out for drinks and dinner with friends Caroline and Frank. Sunday was step-mom Debbie's birthday so the family headed to the beach to celebrate:
I really miss my little family, but luckily I have my family here to keep me company. Fernando is happily filling in for Scarlett in terms of puppy duties.
I am looking forward to going back to Santa Fe to see Matthew and the puppypants on Wednesday for a long weekend of birthday, independence day, and anniversary celebrations.

in the dark

I'm in California. Today was my first day teaching. I started my class promptly at 1 p.m. and I was just about to take attendance when all the power went off. So much for my powerpoint presentation. I struggled through, only to find out that a waterline in an underground steam tunnel full of electrical hooha for half of campus had burst because of an early morning earthquake. The campus shut down, my students couldn't get their books, all was chaos. They say it will all be fixed by 8 a.m. tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I hope this is not some sort of horrible omen.

UPDATE 6.24.08: The power was turned back on, but no air conditioning, so class was postponed.

for ravelers only

Frecklegirl queued Francis Revisited!!!! She wrote in the notes: so cozy! I am such a dork, but I can't tell you how thrilled I am. For non-ravelers Frecklegirl and her husband Casey are the creators of ravelry! Oh, and your queue is just what it sounds like, a list of to be knit patterns.

a river runs through it

I currently live in the parched southwest in the middle of a drought, but I'm a midwestern girl to the core and many of the places close to my heart have been effected by the flooding. I thought I'd share a few photos.Above is a picture of what remains of the Sutliff Bridge in Iowa, a place with many fond memories. When I was in college, just down the road, we used to head to the little store/restaurant/saloon next to the bridge on Sunday mornings for greasy fried food after a rough Saturday night, heathens that we were, we called it church. And now, it's gone. Below is Hwy 1 between Mount Vernon and Iowa City. MV is where I spent 4 years at Cornell College, and I called Iowa City home for two years after that. The home I lived in my second year in IC is located just a couple of blocks from the Iowa River and was located in an evacuation area. Matthew and I drove down this very highway last year on our way back to California after our wedding:
Finally, my home town has faired better, but the mighty Rock River still rose high enough to flood streets and scare residents real good. Below maintenance workers fill sandbags to protect my high school, which is located on the river.
According to Cornell's website the campus has been turned into a red cross center. The campus sits on a very big hill and was never in any danger. Disaster relief workers are staying in the dorms, as are a number of women and children who had to evacuate a Cedar Rapids social services shelter. In all the tragedy, I'm glad that my alma matter is opening its doors to help. I only wish I could do the same.

weekend in review

So we had a very full weekend, it being my last before I head to California for five weeks! It included drinks, knitting, shopping, and a wet dog:
Friday night we went out to la Cantina with friends Frank and Jen. We had many delicious beverages - many.
Above: Frank and Matthew engaged in what is probably an inappropriate conversation. Below: Cheers!Saturday, I headed over to the Santa Fe Baking Company for Worldwide Knit in Public Day with the ladies from looking glass yarns. It was very fun as you can see from the photo below.
Later that day we headed down to the plaza for the Santa Fe Arts and Crafts Show. We had been to the event last year when we were here scoping out places to live, and had seen these great hats for pooches, but as we did not yet have a pooch, we did not buy them. Well this year, we couldn't resist. Before you say anything, they are very practical, they have a special liner and when you dip them in water they act like a big old swamp cooler on the puppy's head. And they're very stylish.
Above: The K9Coolhats "models" Below: Scarlett in her new K9CoolhatSunday Scarlett and I took her daddy to Cochiti Lake for Father's Day. The lake is actually a resevoir created by a dam in the Rio Grande. It was hot as blazes, but we had a good time. Scarlett still isn't exactly sure what she thinks about swimming, but we're sure she'll take to it soon. We called and talked to our own dads and wished them a happy father's day. I hope all the daddies out there had a special day.
Above, Scarlett and her daddy playing in the lake.

FO - Frock Camisole

Pattern: Frock Camisole by Katie Himmelberg
Source: Interweave Spring 2008
Yarn: Gedifra Korella, 4.5 balls
Needles: US5 circular

I finished this twice, and twice I made silly mistakes that caused me grief. First, I had decided to do i-cord straps and to use kitchner stitch to attach the straps to the back, but I didn't like the seam and decided to take it out, but because this yarn is rather craptastic it got caught, I got frustrated, unraveling occurred. The Frock sat in a bag for over two months. Yesterday, I got her out and fixed her up, but then today, after I attached the straps (knit the way the pattern calls for), I had a million ends to weave in because the yarn was knotty. Stupid yarn. Anyways, a knot had occurred right along the front 'seam' and I didn't like the way the two ends made a gap so I started fiddling and the next thing I new I had a big scary hole. After some frustration and much patience I was able to fix the hole pretty well, as in no one but me will every know. Perfectionism got me in all sorts of trouble with this one. It was actually a really easy, fast knit. I'm not sure if I love it. I wish the straps were more 'finished' looking. I may still crabstitch the arm and neck edges to see if that helps, but not right away. It still needs to be blocked, but I'm calling this one done, done enough to wear to Worldwide Knitting in Public Day on Saturday!

from tragedy to triumph (hopefully)

I have only successfully knit something for Matthew once. The "men's cashmere scarf" from lmkg, which I knit in a now discontinued yarn from knitpicks called panache, which was an alpaca, cashmere, silk blend. It's beautiful, he likes it, he wears it, but alas it is the only one.
This is not to say I haven't tried. There was the first hat I knit him, which just didn't work. He wore it a few times, but it was too short, and when I tried to lengthen it it looked weird. It has been retired to a bag, inside a box, in the back of a cupboard. Then there was the second hat, the earflap hat from lmkg. I swear I have no idea how that woman gets gauge half the time. The first time I knit it, it was enormous. Now, I have just finished knitting it a second time, and while better, it could still stand to be a bit more snug, but it will do, and he will wear it, I tell you he will wear it.
Finally, this brings us to the tragedy. The tragedy of the man sweater gone terribly wrong.
I swatched, I measured, I knit. It turned out awful. The men's zipped raglan from lmkg is going to be frogged. I started out with such hopes for the first man sweater, but alas the pattern sucks and nothing can be done. The neck is huge and the armholes are all wrong. The sweater is so ridiculous we both couldn't stop laughing to take a decent picture for posterity. A waste of much time and one custom ordered orange zipper. But there were lessons learned, and I am actually really excited to use the yarn to make him EZ's seamless hybrid sweater. I am modeling it on the gorgeous one Brooklyntweed made. (I totally have a knitter crush on brooklytweed, don't tell anyone) Mine will be rather different: not tweed, but variegated, and not DK, but heavy worsted, but I think it will be pretty, and it's a time tested sweater recipe, so hopefully everything will go well. I'm planning to do the hemmed cuffs using some leftover yarn. I tell you I don't know about sweater curses, but I feel cursed when it comes to knitting for my husband. Let's hope my luck is about to change and I will emerge triumphant at last.

weekend

This weekend we finally made it to the Pecos Wilderness! Here are some pics:
Above: The puppy posing by the sign marking the enterance to the Pecos Wilderness, which is about a quarter mile from the trail head. Below: Me looking out at the awesomeness from the meadow. Honestly, I had never experienced anything like it in my life.
Above: Me with my pack back on, feeling none to happy about leaving the meadow, but that's okay, there was way more purtiness to come. Below: Awesomeness.
Below is a picture of Scarlett checking out some cattle that were grazing in the meadow on our way in, on the way back she would get a much closer look. The stupid cows were actually on the trail. Now call me silly, but I was a little worried about walking through a herd of long horned cattle with an unpredictable dog, after some debate, and coming within three feet of a big bull staring us down in the middle of the trail, we decided to go around them.Finally a video that captures the awesomeness and Scarlett's favorite activity, can you guess what she's doing?


That's right, she's rolling in poop, whatever kind she can find, deer, horse, cow, no matter, the fresher the better. Dogs are gross.

exhausted

We finally made it up to the Pecos Wilderness. I have pictures and video to share, but I am way to tired to post right now. In knitting news - I have way to many wips at present and cannot decide what to knit when. In philosophy news - I only have two weeks until I am going to be teaching Ethics and the Meaning of Life, and tons of preparation still to do - including discovering the meaning of life. Wish me luck, because all I want to do is:
Yes, I know, very flattering shot of our rumps, but it's still pretty cute.

WANTED - Master Destructor

WANTED
Scarlett "Puppypants" Silverstein-Pinix
Wanted For: Theft, Destruction of Private Property, Excessive Cuteness
Description: Redish-Brown Hair, Golden Eyes, ~50lbs
If you see this fugitive report her immediately, do not attempt to approach her as she is extremely dangerous. She has been known to lick her victims nearly to death. Don't be fooled by her seemingly sweet and loving nature, she is a hardened criminal.

WIP - moderne baby blanket

This is a special baby blanket that needs to be finished before Christmas. So far, I really love the crayon, it's soft and squishy, very nice for a baby. The pattern is fun, because of the color changes, but very mindless and relaxing.

FO - baby sweater

Pattern: Child's placket neck pullover from lmkg
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK; Colorway - Moss - 2 skeins plus about 10 yds
Needles: US5

This is for our friends' baby that is due in August. I am hoping it will fit him this winter. The pattern was really easy and straight forward and I think it turned out really cute. The color doesn't really show well in the photo, but it's a nice dark olive green. I like it. The plan is to make a little hat to go with, and add some beads to act as buttons on the placket.