this would have been a photograph

...but I'm a spaz. I heard a shuffling noise in the woods and looked out the window, and a lone wild turkey was meandering across my parents' backyard. I grabbed my camera and headed for the front door, since it looked like it was headed for the front yard via the driveway. Unfortunately, the camera's batteries were dead. I changed them quickly and went out to the front yard, all congratulating myself for saving the day with my speedy battery-action, and turned on the camera and the damn thing was in setup mode and I couldn't remember how to get it into picture-taking mode. The turkey, which had indeed crossed into the front yard, saw me out of the corner of its beady little eye and started "running." Despite how incredibly slowly a wild turkey runs, it was still out of range (by which I mean camouflaged with underbrush) by the time I got the camera sorted. Although actually I could still hear it. You wouldn't think something so slow and defenseless should be so noisy and, well, not extinct yet.

Anyway, there would've been some authentic PA wildlife to accompany my official announcement that two weeks from today, I will be on a plane to Japan. Well, first to Detroit. But then, Japan.

CPHoenix: ashes reconstructed

The Central Park Hoodie is dead. Long live the Phoenix!

When I finished this sweater in February and tried it on, I was crushed to find that through some mysterious quirk of gauge it was both too short and too tight. One or the other might be bearable, or both if it were 100% natural fiber. But I used Woolease, so obviously blocking it larger wasn't a solution. Fortunately for me, rather than rip this yarn from its second sweaterly incarnation, I have a shorter, slimmer sister to whom I owe a sweater (see Skully, Christmas '05).

It's somewhat self-designed, as in, I took someone else's shaping and sizing and modified it heavily. This is based on my old friend, the Hourglass Sweater from LMKG, with embossed twining leaf leace from Vogue Knitting on the sleeves. I added ribbing with baby cables to the hem and just plain ribbing (because baby cables are too fussy to keep making) to the neckline, which if I'm totally honest I think is too big, but I actually really like with a t-shirt, tank, or button-down underneath.

I used the embossed twining vine leaf lace pattern from Vogue Knitting. I also originally wanted to make the raglan lines stand out, but couldn't figure out how to do it; I wanted the appearance of a seam, to make the stockinette body and reverse-stockinette sleeves look like they'd been sewn together from other sweaters. But I like the little purl channel I made instead. Instead of decreasing ssk, k1, k2tg, I did ssk, p1, k2tog. I'll definitely be using that again.

Now to go outside and enjoy the last sunshine before this 20-year storm they're predicting...

Huh? The circus is where?

Finally finished my circus-freak jays.

Pattern: Grumperina's Jaywalkers, of course

Yarn: Regia Something. I've lost the ball band. Whatever this stuff is, though, it's awfully splitty. I won't be using it again. If, uh, I can remember what it is before I buy it.

Mods: Made them shorty-socks because I felt lazy. Only 2 or 3 inches above the heel instead of 7.

Started/Completed: March 2006/April 2007. The longest-running UFO I had. And I finished it! Now I'm going to tackle my Picovoli.

back in PA

...where it is still not spring yet. Right after I took this picture, it started snowing. I squealed with glee.

My drive cross-country was, well, long. I stopped in St. Louis to see my aunt and her family, saw her photos from her honeymoon in Japan, attended my first-ever Boy Scout meeting, and got some Japanese culture tips. I thought I would be able to do the next leg all in one day, and should have been able to, really, but I got up late, lingered over coffee with my aunt, got stuck in traffic outside St. Lou, got a speeding ticket in rural Illinois, and then drove through a violent storm the entire width of Indiana. I had to wait part of it out at a gas station, under the roof, because it was starting to hail and I had my snowboard on the roof and my bike on the back. By the time I passed Columbus, OH, I was done. I checked into a hotel, assisted by two extremely perky ladies named Mary Lou and Mary Kay, like they were hired as a matched set, then dragged myself to Cracker Barrel for a lovely greasy, fattening dinner. The next day I had a nice nostalgia attack as I drove across PA; having gone to college in western PA, I drove I-80 countless times during those 4 years and have a bunch of silly rituals to perform at certain landmarks--singing a song I made up about Dubois, only stopping for gas at Snowshoe, yelling "we're all gonna die!" at the first sight of the cooling towers of the Berwick nuclear power plant, etc. (You have to understand, most of those countless times I was alone, and had to entertain myself somehow.)

So now I'm marking time here until May. I had dinner with my niece and nephew the other day, and tonight my sister Katie is coming up for the weekend, and my parents have threatened to put me to work in the garden if it ever gets warm enough, so I'll have plenty to do. Besides unpacking and repacking everything I brought/sent home as I try to figure out exactly what I can't live without in Japan.

So far, this move has required 14 trips to Goodwill, 5 trips to the post office, 1 oil change, 2 trips to the attitude-laced used book store, 1 argument with a lady at the bank, and 2 edge-of-a-nervous-breakdown phone calls to my mom. Because I can't get anything more done until I can get to Target for more trash bags, and because I live near a major intersection that's always hell at rush hour, I'm taking some time out to do a meme, seen at Gee You Knit. If you're reading, consider yourself tagged.

Directions: If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?
1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool. (no worries here, as I'm extremely uncool.)
7. Don’t skip songs.
My Movie:
1. Opening credits: Serenade #13 in G/Mozart
2. Waking up: Gerbil/Filter
3. First day of school: The Movement of a Hand/Bright Eyes
4. Fight song: My England/Lady Sovereign
5. Breaking up: Ten Minutes/The Get-up Kids
6. Happiness: Mine's Not a High Horse/The Shins (who will be in town April 10th, and I won't be here! Dammit!!)
7. Life’s okay: Bridge Over Troubled Water/Johnny Cash with Fiona Apple
8. Mental breakdown: Candy/Morphine
9. Driving: Voices Carry/Til Tuesday
10. Flashback: Don't Make Me Ill/A.F.I.
11. Getting back together: Silver and Gold/Dolly Parton (yes, really. LOVE her, been to Dollywood.)
12. Wedding song: Once Again/Slick Shoes
13. Birth of first child: Jesus Walking on the Water/Violent Femmes
14. Final battle scene: Go!/Long Shot Hero (my sister's band! what what!)
15. Death scene: The Company Dime/The Get-up Kids
16. Funeral song: Two Crooks/American Steel
17. End credits: The Difference in the Shades/Bright Eyes

It's almost 5:30 now, so I suppose by the time I'm ready to walk out the door, traffic will be bearable. I better stop killing time and actually get things done.

Tuesday randomness

1. One of the hardest things about packing for a big move is deciding which of your short-sleeve v-neck black t-shirts is the definitive short-sleeve v-neck black t-shirt, and which of your many pairs of pajama pants are the only pair you really need.

2. I can't stand when people take your clothes out of the washing machine because they just can't wait the additional minute and a half for you to get there and they're just too lazy to walk down to the other laundry room.

3. I really, really hate the word "gal." To me it's the verbal equivalent of not taking off your hat indoors. I don't suppose that makes sense to anyone else, but whenever I hear that word I see that guy in the cowboy hat from the old Smuckers All-fruit commercial bellowing, "couldya please pass the JELLY?"

tent ROCKS!

As part of my farewell tour of New Mexico, I went hiking at Tent Rocks today with my friend Wendy. Too tired to say anything interesting about it, but I took a lot of photos.

A Very Merry I Quit My Job Day to You!

Japan here I come! Well, my departure date is May 8th, so not yet, actually. But at least I don't ever have to go back there! Well, except for Monday when I go in to sign and fax my last time sheet. But I'm done! I'm finished! I'm unemployed and loving it!

I think I'm going to treat myself to Coldstone and then sit outside and work on my dad's cycling aran--new and improved on smaller needles!

I can't think of a clever title

So I didn't get tagged, but I'm doing this meme anyway, seen at Ramona's: Describe your life in five-year intervals counting backward from 2007. So that means every year ending in 2 or 7.

1982: I was three. We lived in Reisterstown, Maryland; we had a long-haired cat named Fuzzy; my mom was pregnant with my sister Katie. My older sister and the boy down the street cut off my pigtails. I think we were co-flower girls in a wedding. I went to pre-school and learned to swim this year. The parents in my playgroup nicknamed me Bubbling White Sugar, which if you ask me is not much of a nickname since it's longer than my actual name.

1987: I was eight. Fuzzy died when I was seven and we got a new cat, Heather, who was a one-person cat. And I was her person. She slept on my bed every night and came when I called her and even met me at the bus-stop after school. Heather died when I was sixteen and I still get all choked up about her. My teacher this year was Mrs. Gede, who is my favorite teacher ever. She had to teach us a health unit and said that she could choose between teaching us about nutrition or about drugs. She chose drugs, because her teenaged son had been an addict and killed himself. It was pretty heavy stuff to tell third-graders, but I liked that she did it. As a teenager, whenever I misbehaved, I felt like I was letting down Mrs. Gede as well as my parents. So I didn't misbehave much.

1992: I was thirteen. Yuck. I played field hockey and read a lot.

1997: Like Ramona, I had a car with a name. Mine was Frankie the Ford Festiva, named after Frankie Avalon. I took a notoriously bad curve a little too wide one day, hit gravel, overcorrected, and shot across the road and off the other side and into a garage owned by, as luck would have it, my fifth grade math teacher. Frankie was totaled. Because I hit a building.

2002: I was 23 and had lived in New Mexico for one year. I was in grad school and hating it. That summer I spent on an archaeological survey at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert, hottest place in the U.S. I got paid the best hourly rate I've ever gotten to hike and look for artifacts in temperatures upwards of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Needless to say, I was in the best shape of my life. And dammit, I have no pictures!

2007: I'll be 28 next month and I'm leaving for Japan May 8th. I'm sorting through all my belongings trying to figure out what I like enough to ship home to store at my parents, what I love enough to ship to Japan, and what I just don't care about and can give to Goodwill. I have a a 20 x 20 x 12 inch box of yarn and WIPs to be sent to Japan. And I'm still buying stuff--I found my 2006 birthday present from my friends Amy and Shamsi, a gift certificate to Village Wools, and I had to run up there and spend it. I spent wisely though--I got yarn for a Hello Yarn Cycling Aran for my dad and for Grumperina's Shifting Sands scarf for my brother-in-law-to-be. Because the more Christmas gifts I can finish before I go, the less I ultimately have to pay in shipping.

doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?

Well, I don't. In two weeks I'm leaving Albuquerque. It's been five and a half years. I hated it when I first moved here. I wasn't used to such a wide-open, treeless space, it was way too hot, and the eternal sunshine was frustrating. (I know that's weird, but I'd been living in the Great Lakes region, and each rare sunny day is like a holiday to the point that college girls will lay out in bikinis if the temperature rises above 50. So for me the sunshine was less "what a beautiful day!" and more "I can't believe I have to sit inside ALL DAY. What a waste.") Anyway, now I like it. (Well, most of it.) But I've been treading water the last two years or so, knowing that what I moved here (grad school/archaeology) is not the thing for me, and it feels good to have made the decision to move on to something else.

You may be asking yourself, what is that something else? Well, even if you aren't, I'll tell you. I'm moving to Japan for a year. I'm going to teach English and experience a new culture and eat a lot of vegetarian sushi. Before I go, I'll be spending about a month at my parents' house in PA, since I won't be coming home for the holidays. I'm very excited and a little scared. I've never lived in another country (or even been to one, besides Canada and Mexico), I don't speak any Japanese (well, I can count to five), and I'm allergic to fish. Plus, I hate moving. But still, I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway, in the spirit of closure, I give you Six Things I'll miss about New Mexico (in no particular order) (I tried to make it five or ten but six just felt right)
1. Green chile and cheese on everything, fantastic salsa, breakfast burritos... well, all the food really
2. the mountains--besides the hiking and the snowboarding and the amazing views while you're up there, it's so great to look up from a traffic jam and be reminded of the sublime.
3. the dry air. I hate humidity.
4. Albuquerque Stitch n Bitch, although it's not like I ever get a chance to go anymore
5. the relaxed dress code--I swear, dressing professionally is going to be harder than not speaking the native language, I've gotten so used to jeans being acceptable pretty much everywhere.
6. my friends. Good peeps. I hope I have visitors in Japan. (Although I'd rather they finish their dissertations first. Priorities, you know.)

feeling scottish

That's what my dad called it, and we can say that because we are Scottish. Well, part. I'm queasy because I just spent a ridiculous (for me) amount of money. I just ordered a new laptop, or notebook, as the kids are apparently callin' 'em these days, and because I'm going to use it to replace my desktop entirely I dropped a pretty solid chunk of change. I know it's (probably) worth what I'm paying, but I don't have it in my hands yet and can't play with it and haven't even tested the keyboard. So I feel like I basically just threw my money away. Ugh, I hate spending money. My dad's more-sympathetic-than-its-sounds response? "Wait 'til you buy a house."

I'm going to try to stop thinking about it now. The whole time I was clicking around the internet checking out notebooks (look, I can be taught!), I was working on a new project: an entrelac (look, I can be taught!) scarf. I'm really frustrated with the Phoenix (nee Central Park Hoodie) because I apparently stretched it out while measuring and it is at least two inches too short, hem-to-armpit, for me. It's also too tight, and since it's Wool-ease I don't know if I can block it big enough to be comfortable. I'm not a fan of short or tight, and definitely not short AND tight. So while I decide whether I want to try to undo the cast-on edge and knit down, or just give it to my slimmer, shorter little sister, I've started Knitty's Danica for my older sister's birthday. I'm fairly sure she doesn't read this, so I'm safe posting it here. Besides which, this may not be its final incarnation yet. I hate skinny scarves, I prefer fat, wide, almost-a-shawl scarves, so this just isn't enough scarf; I don't like scarves that have a wrong side, so I'm either going to have to line it (ugh) or rip it and knit it as a tube; I may have to buy more yarn, I may turn it into a Clapotis out of sheer laziness, etc.

I really am enjoying the entrelac though, and the Patons SWS I'm using is surprisingly lush and soft for yarn that came from Michaels. And when my laptop gets here, I can fashion it some fun plug-in devices like these. I saw someone on craftster make one out of a $1 bathtub toy from Target and some carefully-applied superglue.

this life one leaf

The ashes of the Central Park Hoodie continue to reassemble themselves. I'm finished with the body up to the armscyes (ahh, stockinette in the round, so boring, so restful) and am now trying to decide what I want to do with the sleeves. I've decided on this embossed twining vine leaf lace from Vogue Knitting. My first swatch attempt was in the round, based on instructions for knitting flat. I tried to mentally switch those odd-row k's to p's and vice versa, but damn, that's a lot to keep straight while Sayid's running around in a wifebeater, flexing and stuff. So I knit a flat swatch first, then once I'd decided I liked the results, I typed out an in-the-round version of the lace pattern. This is really my first lace. Exciting!

Also exciting? Hanging around at home on your day off because you've got a gash in the sidewall of your tire, and you've ordered new tires (online, that is, because it's so much better for the blood pressure than talking to car-parts salesguys--I may be a woman, but I know which tires I want, thanks) but they haven't arrived yet. At least I'll make some headway on the first sleeve. It's perfect porch-sitting, beer-drinking weather.

I'm a skullcatcher, actually

Only in New Mexico can you go shopping for a birthday present for your mom and find an assortment of animal skulls at reasonable prices. I'm not against hunting, being from Pennsylvania which has a massive deer overpopulation problem and all, but that's because the people I know who hunt deer eat deer. Venison sausage is a staple of the PA church brunch. But I can't imagine being a coyote trophy-skull hunter. (I texted my mom and asked if she wanted a coyote or an otter or maybe just a tiny weasel, but she seemed sort of... unexcited about the prospect.)



So I've given up on the Central Park Hoodie. I hate seams, and I was just too frustrated to try to fix the disaster I created when I snipped the wrong yarn trying to undo the bad shoulder seam in poor lighting. So it's becoming an in-the-round bottom-up raglan based on ye olde favorite, the Hourglass Sweater; the body is going to plain but I want to do either a lace panel or a cable panel on the sleeves, which I'm planning to make 3/4 length. I'm calling it the phoenix sweater, because I'm obvious like that. I'm already nearly through the body up to the armscyes because I've been Netflixing my way through Lost: Season 1. I didn't start watching it when it debuted in my usual, "oh God, that's like, so overhyped" fashion, but having seen a few episodes of season 3, I am now a) crazy to know what the hell's going on (not that I'll find much enlightment from watching back seasons, my sister tells me) and b) totally hot for Naveen Andrews, and stockinette in the round is the perfect accompaniment to drooling.

Doooooooooooooooooom.

So today I was determined to get back on the Central Park Hoodie horse. I've finished knitting the fronts, back, and sleeves and had already sewn the shoulder seams, and then procrastinated for four or five months because I hate seaming. So I just spent an hour sewing one of the side seams, because I'm slow like that, and because I was determined to make the neatest seam ever seen by human or animal. And then I realized I had twisted it. The crappy flash-in-mirror picture is the only one I took, but you can see what I mean--see the twist in the front?

I took a few minutes to calm down, and then decided to undo the shoulder seam, since it was shorter and messier. And somehow I snipped the wrong damn yarn and now look.

I am giving up.

I don't have the strength to fix or frog it right now, but I swear, I am never making a seamed sweater again. From now on I'm knitting only in the round. I was so close. So close!!! And now... Dooooooom.

My other project is sucking hardcore right now too--my maximized minisweater is not working out like I hoped it would. It may still be salvageable, since it's just that the shaping isn't working out, probably because my math was wrong. But I don't feel like working on it at all now. I was so close to finishing a project, I don't want to backtrack. I just want to finish something and hold it up and say, "Man, I rock!" But I can't, because I don't. All in all, I'm pretty much completely discouraged right now. Ugh. Maybe I'll take up woodworking.

ew. and also, yay.

Last week I took the week off and spent a lot of time sleeping, snowboarding, and hanging out with the fabulous Auntie Maim, who came to visit. Back at work yesterday, I was sitting at my desk and this guy, who is either funny or creepy, I hadn't decided yet, stuck his head into my office and said, "You're back! I missed your smell."

So now I've decided... creepy.

I didn't do much knitting. In fact, after a really great day at Ski Santa Fe on Friday, Amy and I were sitting around watching Foyle's War, and I picked up my modified minisweater, knit about 10 stitches, and let it drop into my lap. I was that drained. It had snowed on and off all day, but what really took it out of me was the wind. It was ridiculously windy, especially on a couple of exposed trails. But we had a good time and if Shamsi ever uploads the photos, there should be some good ones. Hint. Hint. Ahem. But I'm bringing it to work, because I feel (irrationally) like I haven't finished anything in ages.

Sometimes there are advantages to working for an enormous corporation. For example, did you know that washing your hands can prevent disease? No, really. It has something to do with germs. Bird flu, the coming epidemic that’s going to destroy civilization as we know it, is transmitted via germs. Therefore, if you wash your hands with an alcohol prep pad like the one I received in the mail from my employer yesterday, you can avoid the bird flu and keep our megacorp happy and productive.
Seriously. They mailed us all alcohol wipes. My company is awesome.

In other news, you may have heard Albuquerque got some snow. One night, while it was snowing, I parked under a tree. This is what I found the next morning. (Don't worry, I just backed out slowly and the tree was fine.)



But on the plus side, Sandia Peak opened, and since it’s only 40 minutes from home and I start work at 12:30pm, I got up early on Tuesday and went snowboarding for a couple hours. (It was definitely the better way to start the day than how I started Wednesday. I found a frozen bird on the steps of my work that was unearthed in the shoveling-out that morning.) I started wearing glasses a few months ago and so far this winter I'm on the fence as to how much I need them for snowboarding; I guess if I need them in traffic, I'll need them for tree runs, but I'm dreading the expense of prescription goggles or the discomfort/dorkiness/potential for disaster of wearing my glasses under my goggles, which some people apparently do. For now I'll just squint. Attractive, no?


I haven't been knitting much lately; I'm recovering from my last-minute Christmas frenzy. I knit the toes differently on both pairs of the parental Log Cabin Socks. I can't believe I did that. I frogged back on my mom's shorter sock and extended it, on Christmas Eve, but I left my dad's the way it was, trusting in my mom's assertion that he would never notice. Well, I hope not. But I am working, in stops and starts, on an extended-length Glampyre boobholder/minisweater. (Maxisweater? Ugh... no.) I started it before Christmas, because I'm insane and like to start improvising away from the pattern and trying my WIP on repeatedly right before a major gift deadline, the run-up to which I know I'll spend sitting in airports, possibly weeping with frustration and fatigue. You know, instead of just making sure all the presents are finished and look good and match far enough ahead of time to actually relax.

I saw my best friend from high school, whom I haven't seen or spoken to (unless you count finding each other on myspace) in a couple years, while I was home. She had a gift for me and I did not have a gift for her. I hate when that happens. She crocheted me a sweet lacy hat and scarf (I especially like the hat, it's very Roaring Twenties) that I don't have any pictures of yet. So now I have to make her something. Fortunately for my purposes, she works in upstate New York at a brat camp, where they make the kids sleep outside. Which means they sleep outside. No tent, just a tarp. In upstate New York. All winter. So basically, anything that warms any body part would be a great gift. I'm thinking Fair Isle mittens or Norwegian stockings or something. I've never finished a Fair Isle project that I actually liked and that fit, so this will be a challenge. Any pattern recommendations?

mom's foot, RIP

Farewell, old friend. You'll be missed.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but my mom broke her foot yesterday. She and my dad had driven out from PA to St. Louis the day after Christmas for my dad's best friend's dad's funeral, and then to Chicago to visit her sister, as long as they were in the neighborhood (the entire length of the state of Illinois being a "neighborhood" when you're already that far from home), and on the way my mom tripped over some uneven pavement in a gas station parking lot and skinned her hands and knees. She didn't even realize she had hurt her foot until they got to my aunt's house in Chicago and she tried to get out of the car. So now she has a temporary cast on her foot and is at a Chicago orthopedist's office for a follow-up as I type. My poor mom, who's very independent and dignified and hates asking for help, is hobbling around on crutches nine hundred miles from home. I know my dad's taking good care of her, but I wish I were there to help.

The picture is her Christmas gift, the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays, in Cascade Pastaza. (And her skin isn't actually gray, she's just wearing black pantyhose under the socks.) She refused to let me get a better picture. She was busy with the roast beef she wouldn't let anyone help her cook. Aw, Mom.

Clapotis revisited

Thus begins my Christmas gift round-up. It won't take long, I wised up and only knit three gifts this year. Gift the first: the world-famous Clapotis for my sister Katie. She admired mine, so I subtly, delicately investigated what her color choice for such a piece might be (i.e. I sent her a link to the Andean Silk page at knitpicks and said, "What color do you like best? I mean, if I were to knit you a scarf or something"). She picked olive, which is nice on the screen but gorgeous in person. My only modification was to omit one repeat of the increase section to make it a little narrower. I liked the drape of my Clap post-blocking, although I know Kate Gilbert says not to block it, so I blocked Kate's too. She models it fabulously on one of my parents' notorious vintage plaid couches; it goes with her new ipod.

Can I just take a minute to rave about Andean Silk once again? It feels thicker than it is, if that makes sense, it's so soft, and just look at that drape. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be sumptuous--accurate, but also, a word you don't get to use all that often. And if I had to use only one word to describe the picture below, it would be... spectacular.

Get it? She wears glasses.

people, I love this weather.

I have to scrape off my car. The sidewalk is icy. Albuquerque drivers are insane in the snow. And I'm doing a mental Charleston of joy. I can't help myself, I just love winter. It's visceral. The first little snap in the air in the fall is like an alarm clock. No, wait, I hate alarm clocks. Well, whatever, I'm loving it. The downside is, I have to work. I can't bring myself to call in sick to go snowboarding, because I'm such a goody-goody. Dammit.

Anyway, it's sweater weather, so today I wore my LMKG Hourglass and my fabulous new Scout's Swag panta, color Orchid. Look, pretty!
This is, sadly, the best FO pic I have of the Hourglass. I meant to get someone to take a good one at Thanksgiving, but I forgot my camera, and I'm the only one who ever takes pictures. But I will remember to take it home for Christmas. Although, sadly, it'll be a much smaller crowd--no cousins, no aunts, no nephew. But my sister Katie and I need to get a picture of ourselves in our matching Dinosaur Vice Principal t-shirts, and I want to get pictures of all my Christmas knitting being enjoyed by its recipients. Just in case it's the last time they ever enjoy it. (That sounds like there's going to be a Christmas massacre or something. I don't mean "last time" like they're going to die, I mean they may not wear it if I'm not around. In which case I will have to kill them.)
p.s. peep my bloodshot eyes, yo. They match my panta.

cheeseless vs. cheesefree

Long time, no blog.
So earlier I had a craving for my mom's cheeseball, for which I have the recipe, at which I've never looked. I dusted it off and went to the grocery store, struggled through the crowd of people who apparently all had the same idea--"I'll just stop by the store after work"--got my sharp cheddar, bleu cheese, cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and onion, and brought it all home. Only then did I read further down the recipe, where it says, "let cheese soften outside fridge 1 hr" and "best after setting for 24 hrs." So starting right now, it's 25 hours before I can eat cheeseball! And I bought two varieties of crackers and everything! And I'm exhausted from the grocery store, where I (stupidly) did not buy anything else but cheeseball supplies! I can't go back there! I can't face it again! I just can't!

I've decided to take charge of this situation. Instead of being cheeseless (i.e., a sad, passive victim in a situation beyond my control), I am declaring myself cheesefree (i.e., a take-charge grrrl with a strong sense of her own agency, who doesn't want any damn cheeseball!). I decide my destiny, and for the next 25 hours, I am cheesefree!

In other words, I'm going to order a pizza, and make the cheeseball while I wait for it to get here.

December, yo!

Not only am I close to finishing my mom's first sock, finished with my dad's socks, finished with any sisterly knitting that may or may not have occurred, and any other Christmas shopping necessary, the yuppie water feature at my apartment building is now an icy pond. Winter is here, bitches! (Sorry, but it's my favorite season and I get a little worked up.)

In other news, I'm about to take an oath never to knit flat again and rip out my Central Park Hoodie because I hate seaming so much, I knit a hat on the plane, I love my hourglass sweater, and while taking Thanksgiving family photos, instead of "cheese," my 85-year-old grandmother yelled, "sex!" Awesome.

what's a holiday without a hat?

Christmas has Santa hats, New Year's has party hats, Halloween has... well, all kinds of headgear. Thanksgiving, according to my sister and me, has a Mexican Disneyland feel to it:

(I finished my dad's Christmas socks and started my mom's. Today, the ankle tube; tomorrow, the heelflap; the day after that or possibly next week, the world!)

this year I'm thankful for Cascade Pastaza

because it is so soft and the colors are so rich.
I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and my mom's pecan pie is awaiting me. Oh yeah, and the rest of the dinner, and you know, my family. (The lineup this year, should you care, is two parents, one grandparent, two sisters, one sister's boyfriend, one sister's fiance, one nephew, one aunt, and two cousins, with another aunt and cousin coming the next day.) I'm excited. I love Thanksgiving. Besides the food and the importance of gratitude and (at my house) the inevitable game of Trivial Pursuit ("Ty Cobb! No, Babe Ruth! STUPID SPORTS QUESTIONS!!!"), there's a nice certainty to Thanksgiving. You know how at Christmas there's always a ridiculous public debate about whether it's okay to wish strangers Merry Christmas, since you don't know whether they celebrate it or not but at the same time the intention is not to offend but blah blah whatever I'm so bored of it and I actually celebrate Christmas. (I can't imagine how dull it must be to people who don't.) Well, you can wish anybody Happy Thanksgiving.

(Also, I thought you'd all like to know that while most liquids and gels are restricted to three ounces, you can carry on all the medically-necessary KY Jelly you want. Go nuts.)

panta!

Pattern: Craftster's ubiquitous panta
Yarn: ? Leftover from a scarf I made last year for Christmas, and I can't find the ball band. I know where this yarn was stocked at Village before the move, but I don't remember the name, so I have no idea where it is now.
Picture: blurry, because my hands will not stop shaking today.
In other news, I picked out the bind-off on the neckline of my original LMKG Hourglass Sweater, having decided the neckline wasn't high enough and was going to fall off my shoulders annoyingly all day long (much like the very disappointing second Hourglass Sweater). I knit it up a big higher and bound it off in stockinette, so that it rolls a little bit, because I will be damned if I will sew down another hem. Handsewing. Blargh. It's blocking now. FO pics forthcoming. I think I'm going to wear it on Thanksgiving. Wish me luck not dropping any food on it. (That won't happen, but that's why I used superwash.)

are you sitting down?

Today in news that will shock no one: my love affair with green continues. The color of the yarn (more Cascade Pastaza, for my mom's Christmas socks) is pretty accurate; the color of the mug and the green chile packet is also; the color of my kitchen is totally wack. It is not yellow. My camera works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform.

er... yeah

This is what happens when you brag...
You don't knit for almost two weeks.
You don't blog for almost a month.
You glance at your WIP basket and shudder with guilt.
And still you do nothing.
I broke through the doldrums yesterday at SNB though--I'm halfway through my dad's second Christmas sock (and no, Molly, my parents don't read my blog--at least I don't think so! if you're reading, Dad, look away!--so I can safely post pics), and going to hit the Village tomorrow to pick up yarn for my mom's socks.
(I've noticed lately that I say "hit" a lot. It's funny because I tease my mom for saying "bop," as in, "We're going to bop over to the post office on the way to the grocery store" and sometimes, even worse, that "we're going to do a bop-n-drop," meaning go someplace and drop someone or something off. Well, I totally do the same thing with "hit." When I'm a grandmother, I'll still be using my outdated slang and kids will snicker--"she's going to hit the orthopedic shoe store?")

i am kicking christmas ass

I probably just jinxed myself, but my dad's Log Cabin Socks (from Handknit Holidays) are going so incredibly fast. I started them around midnight on Wednesday and I'm halfway done with the heel flap. Three cheers for bulky weight socks! I'm using the recommended yarn, Cascade Pastaza, which I picked up at Village the other day. (New shop looks fantastic, by the way--light and bright and spacious. I spent about an hour there and could've stayed much, much longer if I didn't have to get back to El Crappo McJobbo.) Pastaza is soft but splitty; the colors are gorgeous and I had a hard time picking out just one. Cascade doesn't name their colors, just number, but I'm calling this color Pale Blue Eyes a la early REM song, which (not entirely coincidentally) are the kind my dad has.


I'm planning on making my mom the same thing, so they'll have a matched set; I have a major crush on some tweedy dark green, so we'll call that Hazel and continue the eye theme. In other news, it's a gorgeous fall day and I'm going to go outside and enjoy it.

since the movies came out, all the jokes have been done

I had a good time at SNB last night. Got there late and starving, so had to wolf down a sandwich before I could get any actual knitting done, but I put a couple of inches on the second sleeve of my CPH, which I have been neglecting to get some Christmas knitting done. Today I'm planning on hitting the new Village Wools on my lunch break--everybody was raving last night about the space, the skylights, etc. So I'm dying to see it.
And just because:

Your results:You are Spider-Man
Spider-Man
90%
Superman
80%
Hulk
80%
Green Lantern
75%
Robin
70%
The Flash
70%
Catwoman
70%
Iron Man
70%
Wonder Woman
68%
Supergirl
58%
Batman
35%
You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have greatpower and responsibility.
Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

48 Things
As seen around Blogland:
1. FIRST NAME? Cari
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Baby Carrie (and for my full name, Ma) from Little House on the Prairie
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Yesterday. Career- (or lack thereof) related.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? When I'm not rushed and get to pay attention to it, I do.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? turkey or roast beef.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so. I talk to myself all the time and I'm always cracking myself up. Plus, I know me pretty well, so I'd understand when I get moody.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I scribble things down occasionally when I think of something I don't want to forget, but I'm not a diarist. (I like that word.)
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup. Appendix too.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? First of all, I hate cereal, like corn-flake, Cheerio-type cereal. I can't even stand people eating it in my presence. Secondly, if oatmeal or cream-of-wheat counts, then yeah, one of those.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Enough, yes. As I'd like to be, no.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Black raspberry, strawberry, or coffee.
14. SHOE SIZE? 9
15. RED OR PINK? Both, together
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm indecisive and sometimes shy. And I say I don't care about what people think, but I kind of do.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My granddad, who smoked a pipe, said "hubba hubba," and taught me to tie sailor knots with my shoelaces, all of which I've forgotten; and my parents and sisters, who I live far away from.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Well, if they do, their crush will call them in seven minutes.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue running shorts, black long-sleeved t-shirt, no shoes. (Trying to psych myself up for the gym.)
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Chocolate cake decorated to look like a cemetery, with shortbread-cookie headstones and little candy skeleton parts sticking up out of the Oreo-crumb ground. My friend Shamsi made it. I wish I'd gotten a picture.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The gurgling of the "water feature" of my yuppie apartment complex outside my open window.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Summer in the woods.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? An automated voice telling me that early voting starts today. Actual person? My mom.
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Shoulders, confidence.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yes indeedy!
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Yuengling.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Snowboarding! Wolf Creek opens next week! (That would make a good chant, if my favorite sport were cheerleading.)
29. EYE COLOR? Blue
30. HAT SIZE? Heh. When I graduated from college, I had to get my head measured for the cap, because I didn't know my hat size, and the lady said, "The caps run large, so most of the girls have been taking small or extra-small.... Ohhh-kay, now you would be a large or an extra-large." So yeah, I've got a big head.
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. I just got glasses though.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Pizza. Good for all moods and just about any occasion.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Both.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter
36. HUGS OR KISSES? That's tough to say, because I hug a lot more people than I kiss, but I like the people I kiss best. This'll take some thinking.
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Strawberry pie or plain cheesecake.
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? ...
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? ...?
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brien, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker, re-reading Back When We Were Grown-ups by Anne Tyler. ...It just struck me, I haven't bought new book in ages.
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? Rosie the Riveter.
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I didn't watch TV last night.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? wind-in-trees, snowboard-on-snow, laughter. Can I get cheesier?
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles, but it's a tough call.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Depends what you mean by "home"... if ABQ, then New England; if PA, then Seattle or San Diego.
46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I'm good at talking people into things.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Baltimore
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Found it on Bev's blog.

random

1. I finished knitting my first Christmas present last night at 2 am. It's all over but the weaving and blocking.
2. A neighborhood strip club (heh) is having a "Nude Halloween Party" featuring a costume contest. [Edit: This is funny to me because there are only so many possible costumes for someone who is nude.
"What are you supposed to be?"
"A baby! What are you supposed to be?"
"Slim Goodbody! Um, with a tan!"]
3. I'm dying for a pumpkin spice latte right now.
4. I really wanted to stop by Village Wools today and pick up some yarn for my next Christmas project but forgot they're closed to move to the new location.
5. It's deliciously crisp outside. I'm busting out the puffy vest.
6. Wolf Creek opens (tentatively, weather-dependently) next Friday! My ecstasy cannot be expressed in words. I love winter!

first in the hearts of his countrymen!

Remember when you were little and saw shapes in clouds?
These clouds I saw on the mountains a few days ago remind me of a powdered wig. Extremely clever viral advertising for that new Marie Antoinette movie? Or a patriotic moment?
Also, this is what I saw when I took out the trash just now. Ahh, October.

I thought that closest balloon was going to land in the next parking lot, but with a burst of flame they went up a little and continued north to Balloon Fiesta Park.

p.s. I'm halfway finished with my first Christmas knitting project. If I knew how to do one of those "pictures after the jump" thingies, and if I thought I could trust Katie not to click on it, I'd show you, but believe me when I say that the color is beyond gorgeous and I like how it's looking so far. Onward!

it's fall!

(...and now I have "It's 5" by Architecture in Helsinki stuck my head. Warning, the link plays music.)

It was chilly enough to wear my new sweater (not handmade, from the Gap, and thanks for pilling already, by the way!) today. This fall I'll be cozy in my new newsboy. Slightly modified from the SNBN pattern, in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran (and thus, because I still haven't learned my damn lesson and checked my damn gauage, a little too big, since the pattern calls for worsted, but maybe I'll just take the mesh out of the brim and call it a rasta cap), and believe it or not, this is the best picture I could take of it. I have a bit of a sore throat and think I may be coming down with something, which is why I didn't come to SNB tonight. I had a glass of OJ instead. Well, half OJ, half whiskey. Whatever works.

ETA: Oh yeah, it used to have a pom-pom. But not anymore. (See what I mean about "best picture"?)

saturday sky

At the Kiwanis Cabin.
Fake yoga at the crest. (I should've taken my backpack off.)
My girls Shamsi and Wendy checking out the view--the red speck on the lower peak is the top of the Sandia Tram.I'm going to go start my Christmas knitting now.

CPH would never do that.

So I'm trucking along on the Central Park Hoodie. I have the back, both front pieces, and one sleeve done so far, and I'm five inches into the second sleeve. If I can keep up this momentum I may be done by... nope, can't. Don't want to jinx it. Anyhoo, here's how it's looking so far. See if you can spot my totally obvious Grey's-watching, McSteamy-induced mistake, which I lazily decided not to frog back and fix. It'll be my badge of dorky fangirl honor.

hollaback!

I can't say how awesome this is. I may have to invent a new word for it. I'll get back to you on that.

It's pronounced like "cup o' tea"

Finally, finally, finally blocked this baby:


(Hopefully tomorrow at SNB I can get someone to take a better action shot. This is the best I can do with the bathroom mirror.)

Pattern: the world-renowned Clapotis
Yarn: Andean Silk, color slate
Mods: none.

squee!

I can't wait to knit with my prize skein from strangelittlemama! Look how pretty!

ETA: WTF, Blogger? The colors look normal and fantastic on my screen until I upload them! ARGHHH!!! Sorry, Carole, I meant to show off your yarn artistry...
Okay, here's Carole's pic:

what I did on my day off.

...and then I went to SnB. Good times! I can't believe I actually got to go two weeks in a row. I got my lovely prize from Carole, which I'm waiting for natural light to take a picture of, and I screwed up multiple times on my Central Park Hoodie but with a yarn needle from Ramona and some scrap yarn from Noelle, I made it work. I gave Noelle a ride home and got to come in and pet the kitty and the doggie, which is a treat since I'm petless, and check out her marvelously organized WIPs and projects-in-queue, which was pretty impressive. Girl's got the pattern and the yarn in a plastic bag, all packed together in a big plastic tote, like one of those "get organized!" articles in Real Simple that make you long to buy lots of big plastic totes and adorable little matchy-match stacking boxes, because then you'll really have your shit together. And I got some of her weeded-out stash to give to a friend who's a beginner knitter because the colors just screamed her name (like this: "SHAMSI!") (Now that she's read that I hope she ends up liking it.), and her gypsy-scarf pattern to go with it.
p.s. My Project Runway Season 2 Disc 2 came from Netflix today and I can't keep my eyes open long enough to watch an episode! At least that gives me something to look forward to after work tomorrow. All day I'll be saying, "How were your orders? Everything okay today?" but thinking "Where the hell is my chiffon?"

"friend mischief" TOTALLY goes with my last name

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

it's so nice to see you back where you belong

[/louis armstrong voice] I finally got to go to SNB this week! Yay! It was a smaller group, but it was nice to catch up with Beth and meet Jody, Molly, Bentley, Morgan and the others. I got out of work ridiculously early (6:30pm!!!!) so I got to hang out as long as I wanted, without thinking about my desk phone going unanswered and getting needled about my long lunch breaks. (Hey boss, if you don't want me to take long lunch breaks, don't say I'm allowed to take long lunch breaks.)

I have so little knitting progress to report. I tried to replicate Katie's eyelet newsboy and undershot the mark; curse my enormous head. So that'll be frogged back a little this week. I went to Village Wools with Shamsi the other day and accidentally bought some purple cashmerino that's becoming a pom-pom beanie. (I was never a purple person before, and now I'm working on two purple projects--the beanie and Tivoli. Remind me not to sit next to Jamie because apparently whatever she has is catching.)
I still have my Tivoli (apparently it's not a Picovoli unless it has the picot edging? Whatevs) and my Central Park Hoodie on the needles. They're both at parts where you need to keep checking the pattern and measuring/counting after every row. I hate those parts. I like the smooth-but-not-boring sailing of a huge section of easily-memorizable pattern. Oh, and I still have my circus-freak jaywalkers going. They're stalled because I've dropped another stitch that I don't feel like fixing. They're sitting on a shelf, not moving. One of the joys of living alone is that you can put something on a shelf, or even on the floor, and it won't move. For months, even. You say, "Sock: sit! Stay!" and it does, and the stitch drops no further.
Speaking of leaving things on the floor, I do have another kind of progress to report. Today I managed to clean two whole rooms in the Apartment of Ever-Increasing Squalor (kitchen and bathroom--smallest rooms, yes, but most important) and do two loads of laundry. I'm a freaking domestic goddess. Worship me, I'm slightly neater than I used to be.

umbrella: the new tiny dog

Noted fashion-monger Ian had his first day of school today:

That brightened my day, after plans changed at work once again preventing me from going to SNB. Dammit! I need to get another job, if only to have my evenings free again.

cari needs to sleep. sleep, cari, sleep!

So I saw this at Nichole's: google "[your name] needs" and see what you come up with. I love stuff like this because my name is such an unusual spelling.
She may not realize the danger Cari could be in, and probably thinks Cari needs privacy more than protection.
Hello life... Cari needs to get one...
Cari needs to furnish her empty dining room with seating for eight to ten people.
Just tell your boss "No! Screw You! Cari needs me and she says you're a butthead!" That'll teach 'em.
Cari needs some band - aids .
NO, Cari needs to find out her past and her destiny!
Cari needs two medallions and a head then she is set.

Fortunately, I already have a head, so that saves me some trouble. Now to track down some medallions, band-aids, my past, and my destiny. Tomorrow, because I'm tired.

what would tim gunn say?

I'd also really enjoy seeing Michael Kors' and Nina Garcia's reactions to the sock monkey dress.