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June 30, 2005
Fourteen
Flower Basket repeats done,
Fourteen Flower Basket repeats.
If a yarn over should happen to fall,
Thirteen Flower Basket repeats done!
That should sum it all up for you. Time spent: two hours (give or take a little) knitting ten rows. Two hours frogging two. Lace is a bitch - especially when you're a bonehead like me. I managed to work my way back and have started the fifteenth repeat (which I think is actually the fourteenth repeat to be honest. When I'm done this repeat section I'll have fifteen baskets.) I went to bed late. But I've already done a purl row this morning. I like to leave it by doing the first row of the next repeat so I can pick it up on a purl row. It's like doing exercises at the piano - get my fingers all limber.
But the shawl is really taking shape. I was noticing all kinds of interesting things about it's construction last night. Now that I'm almost finished, I'm finally SEEING the pattern. Have I mentioned that I love Evelyn Clark? I can't wait to start my sock pal socks. This weekend for sure. Or next week. Depending on the kids.
Speaking of kids, I got all my work done yesterday. The photos are off to the printer and all I have to do today is clean! My bathroom's in desperate need and the kids will need baths, so I've got to do that. Also, I have some errands to run before they get here tomorrow. And I'm on call in case my sister decides she wants company for the ride. Usually I take the train down and ride back up here with her, but she thinks she's okay. So we'll see. Better for me because I've got tons to do before they arrive.
I hope I wasn't being too pedantic yesterday with my photography blatherings. I am a firm believer in "if I can do it, you can do it!" I thought as proof I'd show you some progress I've made over the years. My family gave me a digital camera for my 30th birthday - five and a half years ago. I had been interested in photography as a teenager - my parents gave me darkroom equipment for my bat mitzvah gift. It was never, ever used (and I really wanted the initial ring everybody else was getting.) The camera was a Kodak with 2.5 megapixels and I basically documented the first year of my nephew's life with it. On his first birthday, I upgraded to my Sony DSC-F707 and I was off.
Almost every year we go to La Quinta. One year (I think 2001) while Georgie was playing tennis, I thought, why not take some pictures of the gorgeous flowers they have all over the property. BINGO! I was hooked. Every year we'd go back and I'd spend more and more time taking flower pictures. And every year they'd get better:
April, 2002 - Sony DSC-F707
May, 2003 - Sony DSC-F707
July, 2003 - Canon 10D
Over the years, I've taken (literally) thousands and thousands of pictures. Tens of thousands. With all of my cameras. (In fact, the shutter died on the Canon 10D after two years. They fixed it though.) I believe in practice makes perfect. ;-)
I also thought I'd show you a before and after "developing" job. I like to underexpose my pictures a little so I can lighten them myself. Especially when I'm using a flash - it takes away the harsh flash light quite nicely. Anyway, here's the same lily from above - before and after.
Before
After
The before picture is completely untouched except for resizing for the web.
I like to think I trained my eye to see things in a more pleasing composition. Don't ever be afraid to get close! Macro lenses (and settings) are essential for this, but I think it gives a much better picture. Remember to look at the background - empty space can be your friend, but not when it's cluttered and distracting. Most of all, experiment. There are many, many days when I go out to take pictures and get nothing. There are also days and when I go out, come back in and look, go back, look, go back until I get what I want.
Photographing kids is a whole other animal. Just shoot until you and the kid fall down from exhaustion. Cross your fingers and hope for a good picture. ;-)
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day.
Posted by Cara at 10:11 AM | Comments (19)
June 29, 2005
Nothing. Nada. Nil.
I purled a right side row on FBS yesterday and didn't realize it until I was half way through the lace pattern on the next wrong side row. Sometimes I even amaze myself. So I ripped that and managed to get half way through another repeat. This is taking WAY too long. I actually think I might be getting ~GASP~ bored a little. And for some reason I can't imagine how this is going to block out bigger. 80% Cotton, 20% Wool - is that it? What I see is what I get? C'mon Carrie! Show me your blocked FBS! Inquiring minds want to know!
I'm still cranking out pictures. For a job. People don't realize, but with the digital SLRs out on the market, the pictures DO NOT come out of the camera finished. (As opposed to a P&S where the pictures tend to be overprocessed, so you don't have to!) The cameras are made so that the pictures come out of the box, if you will, needing work. That's why they call it a DIGITAL DARKROOM. Did you know that the "look" Ansel Adams is so famous for came from the darkroom, not the camera? It's all about dodging and burning and tweaking exposures - darkroom, darkroom, darkroom. So I "develop" every picture I take. Most of them not much - just a little brightening here and there - a little sharpening. But with the kids, I go through every picture. I'm a GENIUS at getting out snot, food, little scrapes - if a kid can get it on them - I can get it out. Hell, I'm even working on a father whose kid got chocolate all over his shirt. It's tedious work sometimes, but I like it. It's time consuming though - and I don't have a lot of time. The kids are coming and once they get here, I won't be able to do anything. Nothing. Nada. Nil. (Unless you count giggling and cuddling and playing and crying and not a lot of sleeping...you get the picture!) So the pictures HAVE to be done today. This is all just procrastination.
I'm asked all the time about what kind of camera I use. Currently, I'm using a Canon 20D. Before that a Canon 10D. And before that a Sony DSC-F707 (long since discontinued.) I'd like to think (and I may be deluding myself here) that I could take the pictures I take with a pinhole camera. You know, like it's the eye not the equipment. That's not to say that a good camera can't HELP me get the better picture. For the kid picture taking, my equipment is ESSENTIAL. The fast shutter helps me IMMENSELY. The shutter is like lightening and I can take a lot of pictures at the same time to get EXACTLY the one I want. Also, the camera body doesn't mean as much as the lens on the camera. It's the lens that gets you the picture - the camera body just processes it onto the film (or card, in the case of digital). Well, it's not as simple as that - but I've paid a lot of money for a lens, and A LOT of money for a lens, and the difference is noticeable in every area - picture quality, focus quality, everything. You pay the big bucks for GOOD glass, and it's worth it.
Lesson over for the day. I haven't been out to shoot flowers in a while and I'm missing it. As much as I like the process, being stuck at the computer all day can get a little old, fast. So I leave you with what I'd rather be doing:
Taken with my old Sony DSC-F707, with an added Macro lens.
Posted by Cara at 08:51 AM | Comments (16)
June 28, 2005
A Tisket A Tasket...
A candy apple basket...
I have three more rows to go on the 11th repeat, which will give me twelve baskets on either side of the divide. My goal is sixteen or seventeen. The pattern is very easy, so easy I keep fucking it up - especially on the first two right side rows of the repeat. Something about the k2togs and ssks is freaking out my brain because once I get past those, I'm fine. And now of course it's taking a MUCH longer time to get through a row. Those purl rows are killers. I realized why too. You have like twice as many stitches to knit. On the right side you're always knitting some together and creating yos - on the back you have to purl EVERY SINGLE STITCH. But I'm plugging away. I can see the end and it seems so close.
I've also been slowly knitting on my retro rib socks:
I have to admit, these socks aren't half as fun as my stripey ones. I'm beginning to think I'm a stockinette sock girl - as long as there are funny stripes. But I have been getting loads of compliments on them when I knit in public. People keep thinking it's a sleeve for a kid's knit. When I tell them it's a sock, for me, they look at me like I'm crazy.
Speaking of which, time for more forward progress on my brain. I'm finally admitting to myself I have a touch of OCD - but, of course, without the compulsions that get you a clean, organized house. Just the crazy, wacked out obsessional thoughts! Who knew I could be so lucky!?! Shrink day today, so maybe a meds adjustment is in the works. Although I don't do too well with medications - of any kind. I'm very sensitive. ;-) Oh and Tom Cruise - FUCK YOU.
I got a new toy this weekend. A new phone! I've had my old one for a LONG time. Longer than these things are supposed to last - especially when three babies have chewed through them. But a new toy I have and I've discovered the wonders of RINGTONES!
When Georgie calls from his cell phone: DETROIT ROCK CITY!
When he calls from work: UNDER PRESSURE!
When he calls from home: OUR HOUSE!
When my sister calls: BLISTER IN THE SUN! (or maybe the theme from Days of Our Lives. Hers may change.)
When my bro calls: CALIFORNIA LOVE!
When Joe Random calls: 1 THING!
Georgie wants me to work in Tubular Bells. You know - the theme from The Exorcist? I can't even hear that shit without getting creeped out. Let him put it on his own phone!
I'm having a fantastic time - Georgie and I spent hours (literally - we were at his office) going through ringtones. I'd try to stump him with a polyphonic greatest hits of our lives. No good Bruce tones though. Bummer. Tell me what your favorites are!
Off to do stuff. Thanks for hanging out with me!
Posted by Cara at 10:01 AM | Comments (16)
June 27, 2005
Cheeseheads and Sharpies
I’ve been avoiding blogging about the last few days, not because it was awful or disappointing – but because it was so good, so lovely, so RIGHT, I’m at a loss for words.
Admittedly, Thursday was a bit stressful. I had been designated cruise director, a job I’m not often given, and since I’ve got that debilitating perfectionism problem, well, you guessed it. I wanted everything to be perfect. Doesn’t really leave you a lot of time to enjoy yourself. But I managed. ;-)
Jen and I headed into the big city around 9:30 and met up with Vicki at her hotel. Lauren met us there and when we could pry Vicki off her bed with seventeen thousand pillows, we headed up to Tender Buttons. I think Vicki got a good picture of the place. It’s basically nirvana for buttons. Button Heaven if you will. VERY overwhelming. But somehow Vicki, Jen and I all managed to find the PERFECT buttons for our projects. (Lauren didn’t need any – but she was essential in the choosing.) Here’s what I found for Bohemia:
Lest the picture isn’t revealing enough – these babies are LEATHER. Aren’t they super perfect for the aran delight this sweater will (hopefully) one day become? As perfect as my buttons are, Vicki’s are better. I hope she shows a picture.
After TB, I took Vicki on her first ever subway ride to meet up with the rest of the gals at School Products. Ann, Nancy (go wish her a happy birthday today!), and Cassie joined the rest of us – I didn’t get anything, but a few of us walked away with goodies. Sadly, Jen had to leave us after School Products (hope you’re having a good time basking in the Caribbean Sun Jen!) but the rest of the troops made our way to Habu. Again, I’ll let others tell you about this place, since I’ve already given you my first impression.
With the tantalizing deliciacies of Habu under our belt, (that’s two yarn stores down, no yarn for Cara) we headed off to the Shake Shack for lunch. Vicki’s husband met us there and we stood in line for supposedly THE BEST BURGER in New York. (I’m sticking with the Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien, but it was very good.) Some guy asked me if they were like In-N-Out. No. They aren’t like In-N-Out. Nothing’s like In-N-Out – but that’s a whole other post.
We ate, we knit, we relaxed on what had to be one of the top ten weather days OF ALL TIME. Seriously. Vicki got really lucky considering the gross, disgusting weather we’ve been having. I’m sure she had a taste of it on Saturday, which I think was one of the hottest days in the city. But on Thursday it was clear, no humidity, blue sky beautiful.
Satiated by our burgers, we took the subway down to Seaport, leaving Nancy to go back to work at my old stomping grounds. I knew I recognized her from somewhere! Great to meet you Nancy. Seaport Yarns is crazy. It used to be a consulting firm, but post-9/11, the proprietress decided to follow her heart and open a yarn store – right in the middle of the consulting firm – at least that’s the story I’ve been told. I welcome a correction. (One thing to note is that of the four yarn stores we went to that day, NONE of them were storefronts. Meaning, three were in office buildings and one was in a residential building on the second floor. Gotta love NYC!) Seaport pretty much has everything and anything and I did come away with a purchase, even though I was made fun of mercilessly. (So what if I’ve only finished ONE pair of socks?!? Can you EVER have enough sock yarn?)
While Seaport has A LOT of yarn, I’d have to say their book/pattern selection is second to none. They have everything.
Cassie had to go after Seaport, so Lauren, Ann, Vicki and I headed uptown to the Yarn Connection to meet up with Kathleen, who was joining us for dinner. By that time, we were pretty much spent. The day started at 10:30 (9:30 for me) and I think we were yarn crawled out. The Yarn Connection provided a lovely table, some punchy conversation and a couple balls of yarn for me.
I’m thinking this will be trim for a long sleeve v-neck sweater (Nothin’ But a T-Shirt? The Vogue Tennis Sweater?) I have a bunch of chocolate brown Calmer, so these two balls will be the accent. What do you think?
After YC, we walked around aimlessly because by that time all my planning skills had pooled in my feet with about ten pounds of water weight (can you say swollen tootsies?) We ended up at some tables off to the side of THE New York Public Library building. Yes, the one with Patience and Fortitude. (How apt!?! We knitters should adopt them as our mascots. Anyone ever try to knit lion mane?)
Soon after, Lauren had to catch a train and the remaining four needed something for dinner. I seriously couldn’t think at that point. What should we feed Vicki? Something New York. Something she can’t really get in Wisconsin. Of course! Pizza! And not just any pizza, but John’s Pizza. My fave. (Okay, they have cheese in Wisconsin, but mozzarella? Please!) So Ann, Kathleen, Vicki and I had pizza. And beer. And laughed and teased and laughed. I had a great time all day, but this was the highlight for me. These girls are irreverent and bitchy (in the BEST sense of the word) and funny and loving and just a BLAST! I’m so glad I got to meet ALL of you. Thanks for giving as good as you got.
Suffice it to say, I didn’t get home until after midnight. Apparently Kathleen and Ann got home much later – but hey – that’s what happens when you live on LonGUYland! ;-)
Want to hear about Friday? Read on…
Friday I gave Vicki (and myself) some time to recover. I felt bad that we didn’t get a chance to see any of the prettier yarn stores in the city, so I went in around 2:30 and we headed down to Purl. (I knew Friday was going to be a great day because I immediately found street parking everywhere we went. I parked a total of FOUR times on Friday and never needed a parking lot. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but in New York City? That’s a parking day from the gods. And Vicki even got to witness an awesome parallel park job by moi.)
I really only had a couple of things on my shopping list – and number one was sock yarn and a pattern for my Socka-Pal-2-Za. I hit paydirt at Purl: some beautiful tomato red Koigu and a lovely lace pattern from Evelyn Clark. That woman can do no wrong in my book. I also picked up the Koigu colorway I liked and didn’t get the last time I was at Purl.
What’s even better is these new socks will fit in the Knit Red AND Summer of Lace AND Socka-pal-2-za KALS. I’m such a sheep.
While at Purl, we ran into a bunch of the Drafty Ladies and another out of town blogger. It was nice to meet you Alison! Hope you had a great visit! Cassie so kindly pointed Vicki and I in the direction of The Point, where we were supposed to meet Colleen for some knitting time. Colleen was lovely, as always and I’m so glad we got the chance to meet up with her. Cassie and Anne were fabulous knitting companions as well and I even got to see my potty partner Joy again! Best of all, Vicki found the super special yarn she had been wanting – but I’ll let her tell you about it.
After The Point, I got to take Vicki to an exhibit – and not just any exhibit, but the reason Vicki got to come to New York! Seems she really is Royalty! Her husband has developed his own country – with gorgeous maps and money and a compelling history and brilliant paintings. The exhibit was intensely fascinating, as the idea of micro-nations is something I never knew existed. The amount of detail invested in these “nations” is just amazing. Really, truly amazing. I was honored to be their guest. (And the ULTRA UBER COOLNESS that was there was crazy. I mean, all of nerdy super cool NYC seemed to come out for this exhibit. I was impressed!)
Anyway, it was time to say goodbye to my friends. Vicki – I can’t tell you how happy I was to meet you! Completely genuine in all respects, I’m proud to call you my friend. I’m glad I could make your visit a little easier.
Sappy moment over. I’ve got lots of work to do this week. Two jobs in the hopper, the kids are coming for July 4th weekend, I’m still exorcising demons and Georgie needs a ride to the train. Have a great Monday!
Posted by Cara at 08:41 AM | Comments (16)
June 23, 2005
It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature!
Remember those butter commercials, they were goofy to be sure, but good ol' MN really showed her stuff yesterday.
I watched the most spectacular storm come across the swamp. I'm sure I've mentioned it, but it's worth repeating. I live smack dab in the middle of a swamp. The Meadowlands to be precise. My apartment is situated in my building so that I look right out into swamp land - due west. We get THE most spectacular sunsets you can imagine. I think it has to do with all the chemicals in the air, but whatever it is, every night has the possibility for a technicolor cornicopia. I'm not kidding. G and I often yell to each other from room to room - did you see it? Look out the window? Amazing.
We talk about moving all the time, and if we ever do (which I hope we do eventually) one of the things I will miss the most is watching the weather from my balcony - be it sun or rain or snow. I have the perfect view.
Besides the sunsets, there is nothing I like better than watching a storm roll across the swamp. The dark clouds barrel down and the sky is often a mix of blue and black. Yesterday afternoon was no exception. I absolutely love the clarity in the air that comes with dark clouds. It's hard to describe and I know my camera could never capture it, but there's a glow in the air. The green of the tree leaves is crisper. The billowy grass in the swamp is tinged with gold on the tips, despite the lack of sun.
Yesterday I could see huge bolts of lightning hitting beyond the turnpike. Thick strikes that seemed to last forever. Kids by the pool (by the pool, not in the pool) would yell out, "did you see that? did you see it?" and not two seconds later another bolt would appear a little to the left. A little to the right.
The rains came and the winds picked up and the lighting became fierce! The strikes landed in front of my window, almost literally, in the swamp across the way. The winds were viscious, blowing around pool chairs and deck chairs and I closed the window because I was actually frightened.
The rain descended in torrents and marched across the swamp like ghostly soldiers. The thunder echoed their battle cry. The flag billowing tattered in the parking lot was a stark witness to the war.
I've never been truly scared by a storm since I've lived here. I've seen A LOT of storms blow across the swamp in fourteen years. Yesterday, I hung up on my sister and hid in the bathroom for a few minutes. We have windows facing west in every room of the house. The bathroom is the safest place with no windows.
It passed fairly quickly and I went back to work on my computer. Later on I passed by the windows again and witnessed the redest orb I've ever seen. The sky around the sun glowed like it was, literally, on fire. Here's hoping that sun was a harbinger of a beautiful day with beautiful bloggers and beautiful yarn!
Not from yesterday, but from my balcony nonetheless.
Posted by Cara at 07:54 AM | Comments (16)
June 22, 2005
Hump Day
You know when you wake up with a headache, the day just might suck. Too soon to tell - I have a lot of work today, so hopefully that will keep the demons at bay. Thanks for making me feel like I'm not alone in my craziness.
I've lived with anxiety and panic since I was thirteen for sure, but probably earlier. It's like an addiction - always there - even on the good days. I've learned A LOT about it over the years - it all has to do with control. The last few weeks I've been making some emotional breakthroughs (baby/infertility stuff mostly) and when I get very emotional I have a very nasty habit of hiding it with rationalizations. I'm not sure about you, but feelings CANNOT be rationalized. And when I can't rationalize, I panic. It's as simple or as complex as that. So I've let myself go a little. It's okay - I'm figuring things out. Incredibly hard things, for sure, but stuff that needs to get worked out. I need to be patient with myself and kind to myself and let myself be sad, so I'm working on that too. In the meantime, I've got good friends/family who will listen, a shrink who's kid I've put through college already and the greatest husband/best friend a girl could have. And blog buddies who don't think it's (TOO) crazy to buy 87 different kinds of self-striping sock yarn. Thanks for that, by the way! (My favorite, so far, is the Trekking Crazy Stripes. I LOVE the colors and the feel of the yarn. It's all I can do to not cast on RIGHT THIS MINUTE!)
For all of you who asked about where I got the sock yarn from - I googled Cotton Surf or Trekking Crazy Stripes. The three places I bought from were The Knitter (they were super friendly over the phone), The Knitting Zone and Carodan Farms. Hope that helps! Have fun. (Oh and don't say I didn't warn you!)
Some progress was made yesterday on the FBS. I finished another repeat. My goal is at least one repeat a day. We'll see. I'm at nine repeats now and I want to go to 16 or 17 for the large shawl. Or maybe 15 or 16. I'm surprised at how fast the lace row goes (right side). The purl rows seem to take forever. I'm usually a little faster on the purl side. And I hate strongly dislike the first couple rows of the repeat. I don't like the k2togs or the ssks, so I'm trying to get that first row done on the next repeat. Couldn't do it last night, but that's my goal. It's good to have goals.
Yesterday I was organizing around here a little bit and accidentally deleted two posts. One was the picture of me in the Israeli Army. Don't worry, they're back. Apparently when you delete a post it's deleted from your database, but not from your server. So I was able to cut and past them no problem. The thing I don't have is all your wonderful comments. They're there, on my server, but I'd have to cut and paste them all back in. I might. Not today. But I might. Anyway, be careful out there. When's the last time you backed up all your stuff?
Another one for Norma - go see how her garden grows!
Posted by Cara at 11:44 AM | Comments (12)
June 21, 2005
SOCKASTRIPENANZA!
Admittedly, I've gone a bit crazy the past week or so. In more ways than one. My anxiety has reared its ugly head and I've let myself give in to it - something I've been working on for a long, long time. My shrink always says that my being smart and having an excellent imagination are recipes for torture - and torture myself I do! I'm exceedingly good at making myself feel awful! YEEHAW! (See, Margene, I'm working the yeehaws in every where I can.)
Don't feel sorry for me or extend sympathy - unless of course you yourself make yourself crazy - because then I'd like to hear I'm not the only one. (LOL - I'm only half serious.)
Anyway - the craziness has extended into SOCKS! I know. I've made one pair. And it's not like I haven't been collecting sock yarn for a awhile. But the STRIPES made me NUTS!
Columns left to right:
| Opal Petticoat | Regia Cotton Surf #5413 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #48 |
| Regia Mini Ringel #5217 | Regia Cotton Surf #5411 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #39 |
| Regia Crazy Color #5402 | Regia Cotton Surf #5414 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #35 |
| Mountain Colors Wild Rasberry | Regia Cotton Surf #5412 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #38 |
In my defence, It looks like the Cotton Surf and the Trekking Crazy Stripes are being discontinued. Or, if they're not, they were on sale. Seriously, I don't know which ones I want to knit up first! The Cotton Surf #5411 (The Reds) might be for my Sockapalooza 2 Pal. She likes red, stripes and cotton - perfect, no? But she also likes lace. So I might try to find a nice cotton solid (anyone know of any cotton solid sock yarns?) and make the Go With the Flow socks from IK - or I may just go with some nice Koigu instead of Cotton. But I think Go With the Flow is the pattern. Maybe I'll make the exact socks in the magazine. Can I make my sock pal two pairs?
Knitting saved me this weekend. I don't know how many repeats I've completed on FBS, but I've completed 8 baskets on each side of the divide and am two rows into the nines. Experienced FBSers: Does that mean I've done seven repeats? I don't know how to count this.
The pattern is great. I look at the chart at the beginning of the row and I'm gone. I've had some to rip back a row or two, but for the most part it's going well. I like it - the yarn is good, the color is good, the pattern is good. It rescued me from a panic attack the other day on the train - although it is hard to knit when your hands are shaking. But it was a blessing because I HAD to concentrate. You know, get out of my head and all.
I'm home and feeling a bit better. Georgie calms me down. No matter how crazy and evil my thoughts - he can always do me one better! Gotta love him. I'm off to get my hair done today so I can look pretty for Vicki on Thursday. I'm thinking a yarn crawl that day - so anyone in the NYC area interested, send me an email and we'll map out a plan. We've got the whole ISLAND to cover and a contest prize to buy! (Thanks Jackie for the link!)
Oh and this is for Norma:
Posted by Cara at 10:08 AM | Comments (25)
June 17, 2005
DING ding ding ding ding....
We have a WINNER!
Brown Sheep Cotton Fine (20% WOOL/80% cotton) in Candy Apple RED. (Vicki - where's my button? ETA: Here it is!)
So far so good - I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I can see the little baskets coming along (although they look like leaves to me.) It's on Addis size 6. I only had to cast on three (maybe four) times until I was satisfied. I'm happy with it. I think the red will be good - go great with black - it's a garnet red - leaning way towards the blue purple rather than orange - and I think it will be nice and dramatic for the event.
Summer of Lace here I come!
Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for all the suggestions.
L, C
Posted by Cara at 04:27 PM | Comments (21)
Makin' It!
I'm makin' it
I've got the chance
I'm takin' it
No more, no more
Fakin' it
This time in life
I'm makin' it (oh-oh-oh)
Makin' it
Remember this song?! I heard it this morning, and I remembered ALL the words. No lie. (Well, maybe there were a couple...whatever...ALMOST all the words.) I was dancing around while G was getting ready for work. So much fun. Better yet - who remembers the TV show? No? Maybe because it jumped the shark after the opening theme song? It was about a guy in Joisey who works at an ice cream parlor during the day and dances out all night ala Tony Manero and Saturday Night Fever! The series even had it's own Travolta!
ETA: Makin' It starred David Naughton as Patricia said - who also starred in her favorite movie: An American Werewolf in London. Am I right? ;-)
I TOTALLY remember this show. It was perfect for me because I was nine in 1979 (the whole freaking year - funny how that works out. ;-) ) and seven in 1977 when Saturday Night Fever came out. I wasn't allowed to see SNF (R rating and all) and it just about KILLED me! I was DISCO QUEEN with my baby brother shining the flash light all around my room and lip synching with the Tickle Deodorant bottle as a microphone (tell me you did that too!?!). We used to slip the deodorant bottle out of the plastic case and voila! Instant microphone. My sister and I had THE BEST choreographed dance to Hot Stuff. Ah. Those were the 70s.
Speaking of The Fantasticks - it was, um, slightly LESS than fantastic. I'm thinking it was a really weird interpretation of the show. They set up bleachers on the stage - so we were basically on stage with the actors. There was no orchestra (this we REALLY missed - I mean what's musical theater without an orchestra!?!) only a piano, a harp and something else. The performances were uneven at best (but they did look like they were having fun and trying) and half the time I didn't get what was going on in the show. What's with the old actor and the indian? Completely lost on me. Georgie thought they were a version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - which I agreed with, but not so much. You know you're in bad shape when reading the playbill you find that NOT ONE of the cast members had appeared on Law & Order (in any incarnation.) I mean, c'mon! How can you call yourself an actor if you haven't been on L&O?
And of course the show ended about ten minutes too late for the train we wanted to catch so we had to wait another forty minutes for the next one. We didn't leave Stamford until after 11. And here we were bitching about the show and practically the entire cast was in the next car - about ten rows from us. I felt bad. But really, the whole thing had the feel of high school.
The best part though was that G bought a tub of Swedish Fish while he was waiting with me in the hotel lobby near the theater. When we got to the reception, it was clear he needed to ditch the candy - it really didn't fit in his briefcase and I didn't have room in my bag (those socks don't need a lot of space do they? I took the small bag.) Anyway, he tossed the candy.
Or did he? I found out later that he had dumped half the tub into his suit jacket pocket so we could snack on them during the performance! How SMART is my guy? So all night long I was slipping my hand in his pocket for fishies. YUM!
Another real problem was that I have a lot of trouble sitting so close to G in the dark and keeping my hands to myself. But I had to be on my best behavior last night since it was a work thing. It was tough, but I managed to behave (okay - I was a little bad....)
THANK YOU all so much for your yarn suggestions for FBS. I've made up my mind again and am eagerly awaiting the yarn delivery. I had them fedex it because I'm desperate to start and have to go to Philly this weekend for family obligations (there's that F word again!) I won't be back until Tuesday and I'm not waiting that long to start this thing. I've got a least two train rides that can be put to good use. I'll be back later on with an update - if all works out as planned.
Posted by Cara at 11:38 AM | Comments (7)
June 16, 2005
Drumroll please....
And the winner is...
And Chelsea gets an honorable mention with her follow-up quote - Georgie loved that! Presumed Innocent (who knew it was that easy!) is one of our favorite movies. It's one of those we watch every time it's on. (Funny how Harrison Ford is in a lot of those movies. Go figure!) Georgie can be heard exclaiming "What a colossal blunder!" and "It was dem dat fucked up!" all the time. Seriously. It's right up there with "met-a-mor-PHO-sis" and "Immobiliare" (Extra, EXTRA special prize to anyone who can come up with the first one - you will never get it. The second one you might get - but the first - no way.)
Jackie - send me your snail mail and give me a week or two! Congratulations!
So I basically can identify every Flower Basket Shawl on the Internet - because I've seen them all - twice. I'm still unsure as to which yarn I want to use and after the great dress debacle yesterday (to be fair I wasn't wearing a baseball cap or sweat socks - but I did look like shit. I figured that was enough.)
My problem is I want it to be sturdy - not light and airy. And I want the color to be BRIGHT - not subdued. So I'm leaning towards a cotton - like maybe Cotton Fleece or Cotton Fine - weigh in on this people! Tell me what you know. Teresa used Cotton Fine and said it had - wait let me get the technical term - "loopy thingies" hanging off the twist. Was this an anomaly? Or a feature of the yarn?
[Okay - so I just mentioned cotton to Cassie, and while it was through email, I swear to god her head spun around like a top! Go see her CONTEST. There's still time to be wool-obsessed. Cassie - I love you!]
I'm also thinking about going naked and wrapping myself in an Alchemy Yarns Bamboo FBS. Since I can't find a dress and a shawl made from this stuff will cost as much as a dress. But will it block?
And there's still the Euroflax Linen. Although, honestly, I don't care how soft you people say it gets, it's kitchen string to start and I don't know if I can knit that. I'm a very tactile knitter. If I don't like the yarn - forget it!
I tried, I really tried to cast on with the Zephyr. In the end, I'm figuring I could probably get it to work for me, but that's not the end product I want. I'm not a light, airy kind of person.
Besides killing my self with Zephyr yesterday, I knit nothing. I may try to cast on again for the short row front, or I may just stick with sock knitting today.
I'm going to see The Fantasticks tonight. The way I'm feeling these days, it better be FUCKING fantastic. ;-)
Posted by Cara at 09:01 AM | Comments (22)
June 15, 2005
Serendipity and Disaster!
So Jen and I went dress shopping today (and why didn't anyone tell me how gross I've become! Seriously - you'd think I was bathing suit shopping or something!) but first we stopped in at an LYS I haven't been to in a while, The Stitching Bee. Jen had never been there and I was on the look out for a ball of Cathay - just to play with it. Lo and behold, on the table is a Leaf Lace Shawl, which is almost identical to The Flower Basket Shawl!
I tried it on and was able to gauge what size I'd need. I bought the pattern. Most importantly, another customer came in and the woman working at the store was all set up to teach her how to cast on the shawl! So I got to watch the provisional cast on and set up rows up close and personal. I was so happy - because seriously, I don't think I would've gotten it by reading it alone.
Then I get home and the Zephyr is waiting for me! I (almost) immediately try the cast on. Bad. I think the yarn is way too thin for me - I want this shawl to be thick - the one in the store was made from Euroflax Linen. I think it wasn't soft enough for me - but I loved how it was thick. Do you know what I mean?
I've searched through the Summer of Lace database and I just can't decide. Help me decide. Suggest yarns for me to use. I might try some Koigu I have around the house, but the Euroflax was really nice. They say it softens up - anybody knit with it? I'm dying here people. I want to start this ASAP. All suggestions welcome!
Thank you.
Oh and thank you for all your good wishes. I'm usually pretty okay, but circumstances arise as always. It'll be a long, long time, unfortunately, until everything is healed.
Posted by Cara at 06:29 PM | Comments (9)
It was DEM dat fucked up!
Happy families are all alike; every
unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
For the most part, my family is excellent (I'm talking the family I grew up with, not George - although G-Love is excellent too.) My siblings and I get along better than siblings should be allowed, especially siblings who fought with bats when they were young; I would rather spend time with my sisters and brother than most people. They make me laugh uncontrollably and THEY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING. It's been a tumultuous year for my family. I'm not going to go into it here, but it's been very, very hard. A lot of anger, frustration, tears. But my siblings and I have stuck together through it all and for that I am so grateful. Thank you for taking care of me last night. I don't know what I'd do without you.
Suffice it to say, I've got some puffy ass eyes this morning.
And because I had such a shitty night - I'm giving stuff away!
Yes, it's CONTEST TIME! CONTEST CLOSED! Thanks for playing!
You'll get sheepy cards and flower cards and some yarn to be determined later. And some beautiful handpainted knitting needles from Peace Fleece.
Here's what you have to do - in the comments identify the FILM that the following lines are spoken in - they're all from the same movie. I will pick a random winner from all the correct entries.
"My mommy hurt my head."
"It's going to be so good."
"What a colossal blunder."
"It was dem dat fucked up."
Some clues: The movie is fifteen years old. At least one of the leading actors is dead. Two of the actors in the film appear together on TV. The movie was based on a book.
I will close the contest at midnight tonight. Good luck!
I did manage to finish the sleeve to short-rows last night (I will spare you the photo - it's navy blue and curled up - you can wait for the real deal.) And I cast on for the front, did a couple rows, then ripped it. I'll cast on again today. Basically I was on the third row when I realized I messed up the moss stitch (by the way, what's the difference between moss and seed stitch - can anyone tell me? I think they're the same, but don't know if I'm right or not.) No biggie - I wasn't in the mood for knitting last night anyway. Yes, it's true. It was more like a fetal position, baby blanket under my nose kind of night. You've all had those, right? ;-)
I'm hoping to go shopping today. THE LA/SLO TRIP IS ON!!!! We're leaving for Los Angeles on July 11 - eventually we'll make our way up to San Simeon for the BLACK TIE DINNER AT HEARST CASTLE on Thursday. We may take our time and spend a night or two in Santa Barbara. At least one night. But I will be in LA for a day or two - so where should I go? I'm counting on you Hollyweird knitters to give me the scoop. I'm not sure where we'll be staying yet. Probably either Beverly Hills or Santa Monica. Details to come.
Anyway - so I need a dress. Preferably black, so I can wear my Iris Flower Basket that I'm going to crank out all weekend. It seems halter is the style this season - but I don't like to show my back, so we'll see what I find. Did you know the secret to successful dress shopping is to wear sweat socks and a baseball cap? There's some kind of inverse rule that the sloppier and shittier you look the more luck you have finding a dress. I swear by this. SWEAR. Bought every prom dress, my bat mitzvah dress, my wedding dress in this fashion. Watch out Jen - you've been warned!
Oh and I've been taken to task by some blogging pioneers that came before me. Apparently, when they weren't walking 20 miles in 10 feet of snow on their way to school, they were checking blogs on their own with out the aid of feeds. GASP! And, I'm told, sometimes people didn't read your posts for days. I'm not sure I believe them, but I'm not going to worry about bloglines anymore. ;-) Thanks for the reality check.
Don't forget the CONTEST!
Posted by Cara at 08:47 AM | Comments (33)
June 14, 2005
Which came first?
In the chicken or the egg fashion, I ask: Which came first the desire to write, or the need for readers?
In other words, if a blogger blogs but bloglines doesn't update the feed, does a blogger really blog?
Yesterday I spent a lot of time on my post - it was great fun for me, don't get me wrong. I linked a lot, I relieved past lives, I longed for long hair. But since bloglines didn't update me until around 10:30 last night, I was pretty lonely all day. Which got me thinking (yet again) about the whole blogging thing.
I used to be a writer. Used to be, because I haven't written a story in quite a while - a fact that breaks my heart every day. But since I started the blog, I've been writing again. No, not what's ultimately most important to me (telling stories - fiction) but about myself. And it really doesn't matter because it's still writing. I think about my posts almost the way I would write my stories in my head. I craft them, if you will. I'm getting my groove back. It's coming.
I'd still rather pick up the needles than the pen - but honestly - there is nothing harder in the world, mentally at least, than staring at a blank screen and hoping to fill it with your blood and guts and genius. I'm in a rut.
Do you know what writer's block really is? I teach this to my students all the time, so why not here? A writer has two distinct personalities living in their head (see - we are crazy!). A Generator and an Editor. The generator's the personality that sits there and cranks out the words - the zone head - filling up pages and pages and pages of pure unadulterated Nobel winning genius.
The Editor's the personality that takes one look at all that superiority and says CRAP! CRAPTASTIC CRAP! And starts rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically at the hubris of the generator.
Don't get me wrong. The Editor is an essential partner in the writing process (remember - it's all about the process) but really needs to be kept in a sound-proof box until about the second or third draft. Second draft. Really. Get two under your belt before you want to rip the thing to shreds. There will be that much more to save.
The Generator needs peace and quiet and unconditional love to work the magic. People - I'm all about the love.
So what happens with writer's block is that these two warring factions are together a bit too early - like right out of the starting gate.
Here's an illustration of what happens:
Generator: Okay, so they're at the mall and they see a fortune teller and the fortune teller gets all freaky when the first girl walks by...
Editor: Snort. In a mall? Puleese. You're setting it in a mall? Sweet Valley High, here we come!
Generator: Fine. They're at a fair. Lots of noise in the background. Lots of lights. It's hot. Sweating lemonades. All the sights and sounds and there's a fortune teller...
Editor: Don't forget the freaks! Got to have freaks. C'mon - what's a modern short story without a two headed midget? The New Yorker's going to want first rights!
Generator: Gotcha. I'm worthless. Let's go knit and watch bad TV.
See how fast the Generator folds? Not very strong of character I'm afraid.
Life sucks and then you write.
Anyway, back to my problem. Yesterday I was frustrated. The nice thing about blogging is that I can convince myself that it's JUST LIKE REAL WRITING (which it is - I've just got issues with myself)and I have an instant audience. Well at least I thought I did. It's like my editor self and bloglines are conspiring against any and all writing progress I'm making.
The generator is a muscle that needs to be exercised. We're about one step up from atrophy at this point, but getting better all the time!
Just so you know, I generally update my blog every day Monday thru Friday. I blog in the morning usually so my posts should appear mid-morning. Just so you know. In case you're missing me or something.
I'm not quite sure that this post makes sense in any way. I'm PMS and pissed and tired. My neighbors think it's fun to sit on their balcony and talk really loud at 6AM in a foreign language that I can't understand right off my bedroom window and wake me from sweet dreams. That is when they're not stinking me out of my own bedroom with their homemade delicacies. Seriously. Bloglines better watch out.
Obligatory knitting content: I will finish the short row sleeve tonight and immediately cast on for the front. I don't care about the ends on the back anymore. I'll deal with it later. AND in big, BIG, news - we may be attending this (yes, honey, dinner at Hearst Castle) and if we do it's black tie and I need a new dress and I want to wear FBS. So I have about three weeks to finish it. Think I can do it? Oh Zephyr! God Speed!
I will find out for sure today or tomorrow. You know what that means though - I'm heading out to La La Land. Who's going to entertain me with knitting delights?
Posted by Cara at 08:58 AM | Comments (27)
June 13, 2005
So who needs help more?
Michael Jackson, who has had enough plastic surgery to be defined as a personality disorder, not to mention thinks it's okay to have young boys spend the night in his bed, or shroud his children in public while dangling them over balconies?*
Or the fanatic woman who was releasing one dove for every not guilty verdict?
Or me, who spent all morning writing up this amazing post about an important experience in my life that (almost) no one will read because BLOGLINES DECIDED TO STOP UPDATING MY FEEDS AGAIN!!!!! (Although I'm totally blaming Colleen for this one....;-) )
It's truly a toss-up. Lots of frustration at January One.
*What's the matter with his family? Are they so dependent they can't tell him that what he's doing is dangerous - to himself if nothing else? Or is there something inherently wrong with all of them? A prosecuter who was interviewed by some all day all night news channel said that predators purposefully pick weak victims. To wit, the boy who accused Jackson in this trial was damaged way before Jackson got his hands on him. And he's a perfect victim - his family was so screwed up they'd never be believed in court.
I also believe that this country has literally gone star crazy. Imagine your son in the bed of a grown man - someone not related to you - specifically not the child's father or father figure. Could you find ANY circumstance where that would be appropriate? Something's wrong here. But since O.J. we've known celebrities won't be punished in this country.
I told Georgie this. His first question - what about Martha?
I told him, she's a woman. And it was all about money.
Posted by Cara at 05:52 PM | Comments (8)
Lemmings and Lace
Well, my experience in the city yesterday was decidedly UN-Seinfeldian. (By the way, the Puerto Rican Day parade episode has never been shown on TV after the first airing - it's not even part of the syndication package. Guess it ruffled a few feathers.) Seriously - the whole day couldn't have gone better: super cute kids, great party entertainment (the kids were laughing the whole time), nice employers. The traffic was fine - if I had a job in the city on a Tuesday morning I would've hit more traffic. Thanks for the good lucks. I think they worked.
Without further ado, I offer you boring progress pictures, just like I promised on Friday:
The short row sleeve is coming along nicely. I finished the increases and am about to start the decreases. I love how they say do the increases and knit until you reach 191/2 inches. Guess what? On my last row of increases I'm going to be about 201/2 inches. I realized my row gauge is about two rows over. No biggie, I'm thinking. I like my sleeves a little long anyway. So onto the decreases. Have I woven in any ends? NO! Damn they're killing me!
Not much progress on the sock - although I did rip it a few more times before I was satisfied. I'm still a little hesitant about the purls at the joins - I moved some stitches around on the needles because the ktbls were looking REALLY bad at the joins - but I've tried it on and I can live with it. I'm not sure how to fix it though since I'm pulling the yarn as hard as I can. I swear my hands are completely cramped after only a few pattern repeats. I'm doing the Retro Rib from IK Winter 2004 in Koigu Color #2151. The yarn is definitely more green - think retro aqua Cuban colors. I'm not loving this like I was loving the Purple Socks, but I'm persevering.
Because I have no mind of my own and you can't turn from one blog to another without seeing LACE, I conveniently became obsessed with The Flower Basket Shawl pattern from IK Fall 04. I've never knit lace before, so I immediately turned to the Great Enabler and lace knitter extraordinaire. She, in turn, sent me over here, and she, then, pawned me off over here! (That's Cassie, Margene and Teresa - in case you were wondering! Damn you girls are good at the enabling!) Anyway, once I saw Teresa's Flower Basket Shawl (make sure you look at ALL the pictures!) I was a goner.
Suffice it to say, by Sunday I had ordered two balls of Zephyr Wool Cotton SILK (tussah silk to be specific!) from The Knitter in Iris (and about five different kinds of sock yarn. I went a little crazy with the sock yarn this weekend. I'm a little nuts over the whole striping thing.)
Teresa was so kind - emailing me different yarn amounts and advice. I can only hope my finished project looks half as wonderful as hers.
Oh and I can't discount the help I've received from two other sites! There's an FBS Redux knitalong going on, and through them I found Becky's gorgeous FBSes. She's got three so far, I think. They're amazing. And she took the time to write up this tutorial for lace-impaired people like me! With all that support, how could I not succeed!?! Thank you ladies! I'm eagerly awaiting my yarn. (I even joined this! Craziness, I know!)
I saw two movies this weekend - both made me cry hysterically (think it's time to up the meds?) - but were about as different as different can be. First, on Saturday, I watched Hotel Rwanda. I'm finding it really difficult to say I enjoyed this movie, but I really did. It was incredibly well done. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. The story was extremely well played out and Don Cheadle was amazing. Absolutely HEARTBREAKING. But it made me want to learn more about the region and what happened there. It utterly amazes me - the destruction human beings can carry out.
Then, on Sunday, I watched 50 First Dates. I know, I know, it's like feast or famine (culturally) around here, but I had seen bits and pieces of the movie at my sister's and couldn't understand the end, given Lucy's situation. So it was on cable, I caught it about five minutes in and knit. Man did I cry! How sad is this movie? I guess hopeful too, but I don't know it seemed so sad to me. In the end it's a complete rip off of the existential classic Groundhog Day, but I guess you could say I enjoyed it. Maybe I just needed to cry some more. (Hey Jen - have you seen Groundhog Day? Add it to the list!)
I'm going to leave you with two pictures - one of which is explained in the extended entry.
First, a rose:
If you haven't already, check out the roses Laurie posted today. Gorgeous!
Last, but not least, I was inspired by Lauren's post the other day about her amazing adventures in Israel. It's been five years since she was there. It got me thinking back to my OWN amazing adventures in Israel - and MY GOD! it's been fifteen years since I was there! How come it feels like just yesterday? I scanned a picture of me from the trip - one of my favorite pictures of me ever. I never looked as good as I did then -
Yes, that's me in an army uniform with my long flowing hair - if you'd like to learn more about it, read on....
Wow - you're still here? ;-)
Okay - let's harken back to the summer of 1990. A couple of months before I had broken up with my boyfriend and went home for the weekend. I cried a lot. My dad, unable to deal with my crying, asked if I wanted to take a trip - maybe I wanted to go to Israel with my mother this summer? I said ok through the tears and promptly went home to be with the love of my life. (Yes. Georgie and I have been together for fifteen years. I broke up with the other guy so I could be with him. I was a hussy back then....)
The summer before, my mother had gone to Israel (actually, it was either the first or second year, I can't remember) and volunteered in the Israeli Army as something of a replacement reservist. The organization that sponsors these trips is called Sar-El. Basically you get really cheap airfare in return for three weeks of service - and you can stay on after that as long as you want. When my mother had gone before, she worked in an army hospital near Tel Aviv - in sort of a candy stripper job. All in all, I think she made around five trips with Sar-El.
When we went, we boarded a bus in the dark and drove for a few hours to our new home - smack dab in the middle of the Negev Desert. We were stationed, if you will, on an ammunitions base right outside of Be'er Sheva. We lived on the top of a hill on the base, which was the home of soldiers who were in some kind of disciplinary trouble (read banished) and outside workers. My job consisted of waking up at 7am and heading down the hill to sort old landmines. I had to take them apart (they were all dead) and separate the parts for recycling. Sometimes I sorted through old bullets - again for recycling. My mother worked in the shop painting and occasionally welding. I think she liked the welding better.
We were all issued standard uniforms which we wore every day. We would work in the morning - like 7-12 and then have lunch in the mess hall. Then, sometimes we'd go back to work, but most days we'd go back up to the hill and put our bathing suits on and lay out. I had the best tan ever when I got home. Seriously. The desert winds were wonderful. We'd wash our clothes - even our thick towels - then hang them up and they would be dry in like five seconds. During the day the temperature would get up into the 100s - maybe 114 at the highest? At night, though, it was freezing. We'd wake up to frost. And always I had at least three dead bees in my bed. I never understood that. I never got stung - but they were always there.
The soldiers on the base were pretty funny. The boys were ridiculously gorgeous - I'm a sucker for dark skin and dark eyes - and most of the people on the base were Sephardim. One asked to sleep with me (he was sort of joking) and I told him he'd have to ask my mother. Of course, he was very upset to learn that my mother was standing with me the whole time. Our group leader laughed until he cried. The soldier never looked at me again. I became pretty friendly with the second in command on the base and we were pen pals for a long while. He lost a leg in a motorcycle accident many years later. I don't think I'll ever be able to get on a motorcycle now. We lost touch a a while back.
Sometimes we'd go into town at night - Be'er Sheva had a modern mall and some of the best ice cream I'd ever tasted. I can see the stand when I close my eyes. I wish I could taste the ice cream. One night we went to the movies at the mall - we saw Pretty Woman. Stadium Seating. With Hebrew subtitles. Pretty Funny! One thing that was difficult to get used to - the soldiers always carried their guns. Even when they weren't in uniform. So you'd see UZI toting semi-teenagers walking through the mall. It was surprisingly peaceful though.
On the weekends we were off and allowed to travel around. We usually went up to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem - those are some of my favorite memories. At the time I was in school - a Religious Studies major - and I dragged my nice Jewish mother around to every Church site possible! I was all about the historical Jesus. We even walked the Via Dolorosa. It was the time of the end of the first Intifada, so many of the markets in Arab section of East Jerusalem were closed. We had a soldier with us when we toured with the group.
I remember crying after visiting Yad Vashem. Yes, because of the tragedy, but also because of the guilt I felt loving a non-Jew the way I did. I pined for George the whole time I was there. (Of course, I broke up with him for a weekend when I got back, but that's another epic post - we broke up on Friday and got back together on Monday and have been together ever since. In fact our anniversary is that Monday - August 6.) I've made peace with it - my note in the Wall was about him and I think our union has been blessed - by many gods, for sure.
I remember swimming in Lake Tiberius - the only fresh water in the entire country. I remember the water actually tasted sweet. Floating in the Dead Sea was remarkable and a sure-fire way to stop mosquitoe bites from itching. Basically burned the sting right out! (WARNING: Don't shave your legs before you go into the Dead Sea - and don't let the water get in your eyes! Whatever you do - NOT your EYES!)
My mother and I basically tourned the whole country. We went from Safed to Eilat and everywhere in between. But it was in Be'er Sheva where my true love of the desert was born. We left on July 31, 2000. The next day Sadaam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
I was talking to my sister this morning, and she and I both don't believe my trip was fifteen years ago (which means it was seventeen years since she was in Israel!) I remember it very well - thanks for indulging me.
Have a great day!
Cara
Posted by Cara at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2005
Just a Quickie....
Have you seen this? What an accomplishment! The details are seriously amazing. Go congratulate Anna!
I'm going to be braving this today - I have a birthday party to shoot right off the parade route. I'm leaving two hours early to get there - that should give you an idea of the mayhem. Add to that it's 95FUCKINGdegrees and I'm probably going to have to walk a while amidst throngs. At least the party will be airconditioned!
STAY COOL! (Or warm or whatever you need to be comfortable. I'd do anything for comfortable....)
Posted by Cara at 08:32 AM | Comments (13)
June 10, 2005
I Love Ewe!
DAMN that Margene's good! Sitemeter says I average around 200 visits a day to the blog. Yesterday, I had a whopping 473 visits! About 80% of them from Margene! Thanks grrl! And she works magic too. My feeds should be good to go now. I emailed Bloglines and they reset the feeds. Apparently that's all I needed to do. We'll see how fast this post comes up.
And thanks to all of your comments on the socks. I SO appreciate it! I've got the AC cranking so I can keep them on all day. Crazy, no? Who cares. I made SOCKS!
In other boring knitting news, I FINALLY cast on the sleeve for short rows. I know I've said this a million times, but god I love Rowan Wool Cotton. It's so soft and the stitches are so beautiful. Seriously, if I could only knit with this yarn I would be okay. Better than okay. This is my plan: everyday before I knit on the sleeve I will weave in ends on the short row back. So far I'm good all the way up one side. That leaves the other side and the short rows in the middle. This way, when I cast on for the front, the only ends I'll have are on that said front and I can weave them in while I'm knitting the second sleeve. I have some plans I might implement on the front, too, that should hopefully cut down on ends considerably.
I also cast on for a second pair of socks. Retro Ribs in Koigu. But I don't like how the pattern's looking at the joins so I might rip it (AGAIN) and move a few stitches around after a couple rows. We'll see.
Here's a super dooper boring picture:
I promise to spare you knitting pictures like that one. At least until Monday. ;-)
But, I do have something cute to show you! I'm sure you've all had moments like this. You know, you walk around your house every day and manage NOT to notice things that have been there forever, under your nose, calling out to you "Whohoo! You! Yes, you, over here! See me? I'm a really cute thing to blog about!"
When Jen was here the other day I suddenly turned to a spot in my office THAT I LOOK AT EVERY DAMN DAY and noticed this little guy:
You see, I never realized but my husband is prescient. He bought me this a million years ago - no, really, it has to be over ten, possibly even twelve years old. We were living in the old apartment and he bought it for me for Valentine's Day. It's actually a pin (why I have it pinned to a lamp shade is beyond me, but that's where it's been since the day I got it.) It came attached to a card that said I LOVE EWE! Did he know that one day I would become wool obsessed? When I reminded him of it yesterday, he was thrilled. More super hero powers for him to go along with his superfantastic dish washing. I'm so lucky!
Anyway, it's a monsoon outside. Dark, thunder, torrential rains and yet it's still unbearably hot. Imagine that. So I thought I'd leave you all with some beauty for the weekend - whatever your weather!
Have a good one!
Posted by Cara at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2005
This little piggy
went to the market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy went...
"Wee wee wee" all the way home...
TO JUMP IN HER NEW SOCKS!!!!!
Yarn: Regia Cotton Surf - color no. 5410
Needles: Addi #1s, 16" and 24"
Start to finish 11 days. A pair of socks. I'm so, so proud. I'd like to thank Meredith, because without seeing her superfantastic socks I wouldn't have gotten off my ass to figure out how to use two circulars. Seriously. I took one look at her purple pair and ordered the yarn straight up. I'd also like to thank the kind person who put together these pages: Socks on Two Circulars and Sock Tips. Oh and this video for figuring out kitchener stitch. And, of course, all you people out in blogland who kept talking about socks, socks, socks and I was all like yeah whatever. OH MY GOD! I love them!!!! (And G thinks I'm a genius once again!)
The two circular thing really saved me. Honestly. I tried to do socks on dpns - I got as far as turning the heel and starting the foot then promptly lost a dpn. I will now knit every sock on two circulars. I can't wait to start my next pair! I'm going to do the retro rib from IK in a super cool retro Koigu color. I started to cast on last night but got too tired. Today for sure.
And because I'm feeling so, so happy, I offer you a rose....
When I saw this yesterday, I immediately thought of Claudia.
I'm not sure if the majority of people will read this - Schmucklines hasn't updated my most popular feed since around noon on Tuesday and I've posted about 491 times since then. But I don't care - I MADE A PAIR OF SOCKS!
Posted by Cara at 09:30 AM | Comments (50)
June 08, 2005
Bloglines Schmucklines!
UPDATE: I emailed Bloglines and suprisingly enough they emailed me back very quickly. They say they've reset the feed and it should update soon. They also apologized for any inconvenience. So we'll see. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt for the minute.
Thank you all for reading me! Such validation! ;-)
Bloglines is still not updating my atom feed. Which of course is the one that everyone (well, not everyone - hi index feed readers!) is subscribed to.
This makes me sad.
So maybe you want to switch? (Of course, that would mean you'd have to read this - which you won't if you're subscribed to my atom feed. The internet is vicious.) Anyway, if you want to subscribe to the feed that seems to update right away - you can do it here:
Tomorrow I've got something I'm extra proud of to show you and I don't want anyone to miss it! Who knows though - maybe tomorrow the atom one will be updating right away and the index won't update at all. Just putting it out there.
Oh and JenLa - I'm not cancelling my subscription! I'm actually kind of enjoying the hit or miss of your updates. I check it every time, just in case! ;-)
Posted by Cara at 05:15 PM | Comments (5)
Educating Jen*
Jen came over yesterday. I saved her from 90 degrees in a construction zone. (She's renovating her gorgeous house!) I love Jen - we met about a year ago online and found we lived very close to each other and both loved to knit. It's been bliss every since. I can be myself around her totally (read, I don't feel compelled to clean my house before she comes over - now that's a REAL friend!)
One of the things I'm learning about my dear friend is that she's absolutely clueless about many aspects of pop culture. This isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you. And in fact it makes it very easy when choosing movies to knit by.
For instance, a snippet of yesterday's conversation:
Me (scrolling through ON DEMAND movies): Oooh! Ooh! Here's a funny one. Ever seen Manhattan Murder Mystery? Hysterical.
Jen (looking blank-eyed): Nope. Never seen it.
Me (squinting at her): It's Woody Allen.
Jen (suspiciously concentrating on her knitting - a gorgeous baby cardigan by the way): Uh huh.
Me (utter shock on my face): Have you EVER SEEN a Woody Allen movie?
Jen (looking a little bit scared of me): Umm. No?
Me (shaking my head with pity): Well we can't start with this one. You've got to start with Annie Hall. It would just throw off the whole balance. Definitely Annie Hall.
Brrring. Brrring.
Me: Hey. If you were with someone who had never seen a Woody Allen movie before, you wouldn't start with Manhattan Murder Mystery, would you?
Georgie (choking down his disbelief): No. Annie Hall. It's quintessential Or Hannah and Her Sisters. That's the best one anyway.
Me: What about Crimes and Misdemeanors?
Georgie: I have work to do.
Suffice it to say, we watched Flirting With Disaster. And then, when she was about to leave, we heard that Anne Bancroft died. You guessed it. She's never seen The Graduate. I said to her, so when someone says "Plastics" to you, you don't get it! She says, yeah, no, but I still laugh. Because, you know, "Plastics." That's funny.
It's gonna be a long summer, god love her! We've got a lot to catch up on!
I shouldn't make fun, because Jen was a tremendous sport in helping me photograph my finished Clap-o-TEE!
Look at my girl! She even wore a shirt to match!
She was so good! In my wacked artistic vision I had images of a slowly cascading Clap-o-TEE - so I had her stand on my bed, while I lay on the floor - and gently toss the Clap over my head while I took pictures. Yeah. It didn't work so well. But we laughed a lot! I ended up with these artsy fartsy snaps:
This was a great project. To reiterate, Alchemy Yarns of Transformation, Silk Purse in the Sea of Cortez colorway. I used a little more than six five hanks (I just used a little of the sixth) and extended the pattern by one round of increases (so two more dropped stitches.) I liked both the yarn and the pattern. Something I would definitely knit again.
Thanks, Jen, for a great afternoon! I'm loving the new you. ;-)
(Oh and I hope Oscar's doing better today. Poor guy!)
* Of course, the title is a nod to yet another movie I'm sure Jen's never seen, Educating Rita!
Posted by Cara at 09:12 AM | Comments (17)
June 07, 2005
Wassup?
I know I'm not the only one, so I'm not feeling persecuted or anything, but bloglines isn't updating ALL of my feeds. Only like one. Or two. And not the one everyone reads. What's up with that?
And then you have poor JenLa - who update every time one of them blinks. ;-)
Craziness I tell you. Crazy, crazy.
Posted by Cara at 12:04 PM | Comments (7)
That's What Friends Are For!
It's HOT today, so I invited Jen over for some knitting. She's got no AC and I've got plenty to go around. Couldn't leave her sitting at home sweating on her wool. I've got my new favorite treat to share too!
Nothing else new to report. I did more on the second sock and it's progressing nicely - I'm about to start the heel and the stripes are still matching up to sock no. 1. Today I SWEAR I am casting on the first sleeve of short rows if it KILLS me! I want to get back to this sweater!
Wendy has declared this the Summer of Lace, but I think this is the summer of the knitblogger! I've already heard from a few fun gals that may be popping in for a visit! YAY! I'm particularly happy about the knitorious one, since she lives so far out of my way. (CA may be farther, but I generally get there once a year. Wisconsin? Not so much!) Fun times in the BIG CITY! And my little sis is doing an internship in Baltimore so look for me (and the other sis AND all of the kids) sometime maybe in July!
Katy had a lovely spa day yesterday which reminded me of a conversation I had with my sister this last visit. In the past year or so I've put on about 15-20 pounds. I don't look awful, but I don't feel great, and if I lost even ten pounds I'd be a whole lot happier. We, my sister and I, have decided that the reason I haven't put on 30 or 40 or 50 pounds is because I visit Spa Chez Crazie at least once a month. What? You've never heard of Spa Chez Crazie? Their diet plan is WONDERFUL! You run around like a maniac holding a sixteen pound sleeping baby while two toddlers jump on you like you're a trampoline. They feed you pretty much nothing - but only because they're so busy they forget! You get like no sleep because you stay up too late at night reading about knitting while the chillens are asleep and then they scare the bejeezus out of you by throwing open your bedroom door at 3AM - because they couldn't find you when they opened their eyes! You were there when they fell asleep! Or they come in at 7AM and wake you saying downstairs, downstairs, downstairs until your ears bleed. Throw in an inevitable bout of the runs - and you've got Spa Chez Crazie!
I always get the deluxe package. I come home bruised, battered, exhausted, an ounce or two lighter and LOVED!
Posted by Cara at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)
June 06, 2005
I shaved my legs for THAT?!?
Warning - this one's long!
In the end, the afternoon was redeemed by not one but TWO knitbloggers, but seriously, there were some moments when I was like what the fuck?
Yesterday was the opening of the BBG show - I have two photographs in it. A little background - the organization is the Professional Women Photographers group in NYC - I only just joined. I have never been to a meeting. I know only one person who belongs (I joined on her recommendation). So I'm a nobody where this group is concerned. This show is really my one and only association with them.
That said, everyone else's photographs hung together and my two were hung on completely opposite sides of the room. I mean besides the fact that they were the ONLY TWO matted in black, there's no way you'd know they were by the same artist. Why? I'm guessing because they needed to fill a couple of spaces and had no idea who I was so they chose to split them up. Everyone else's work appeared together.
Okay. They didn't say anything about white mattes or colors. I've always matted my photographs in black. Apparently I didn't get the memo. (I guess they do stand out.) One picture was hung right by the exit. You know. The loser outpost. Fine. No biggie. Someone expressed great interest in it though - so we'll see how that pans out. It would be the best revenge honestly.
I was feeling really awful for a little bit. After killing myself to get there in time (I thought it started at 3 - it started at 1), leaving super early from Philly, rushing to get G from the airport, I was more than a little disappointed when I got there.
So I sent G out to get something to eat and some sun and I sat down and pulled out some knitting. A woman sitting nearby came over to talk to me. She pulled out her own knitting, a scarf on size 19 needles, and asked if I was making a sweater. I said no, a sock and pulled out it's finished mate (more on that later.) She asked if I usually made sweaters. I said yes, I've made a few. She said she hadn't tried one. I told her I liked to challenge myself with my knitting, but that sweaters weren't that hard. She asked me if I had ever knit with fun fur, because it was certainly a challenge.
Confession time. (Remember, I'm sitting there feeling pretty dejected about my skills as a photographer and whether I'm really an artist and feeling disrespected by the committee and such.) I have to tell you, I felt the most overwhelming sense of superiority. FUN FUR?! Challenging? Yeah. Keeping it from bursting into flames IS quite the challenge. It made me feel so GOOD! Isn't that so awful? I'm a terrible person. The woman meant well and I really should've thanked her for helping me out of my funk.
I'm pretty sure I politely said, "No. I've never knit with Fun Fur." I don't think I laughed, but she never said anything else to me.
The day was soon further rescued out of the depths of self-pity by Cassie and her family! Cassie was so sweet to walk the gallery with me and encouragingly nod her head every time I lambasted another photograph (you know that old trick, knock em down as a pick me up.) And her husband generously commented that he liked my black mattes! And her daughter was equally horrified by some out of focus "arty" photos. Thank you Too Much Wool Family!
Then Mrs. Pilkington appeared! I've been wanting to meet Mrs. P forever and she wasn't alone. Mr. P was there along with Cocoa Pebbles - who is in the running for cutest girl alive (she's got some stiff competition from my niece though.) Mrs. P did some much needed reconnaissance on some potential clients and admired my knitting and confirmed my feelings that I was in fact being dissed by the committee. We will definitely be getting together again!
Thank you both for coming. Georgie did offer to rough up the committee chair - but he was dead tired and wasn't in the mood for a fight - no matter what he said. You girls did the trick! Thank you!
Enough already. Are you still here? God you guys are the best.
[ETA: I should be honest - the show is really nice. There are many, many beautiful photographs and if you're in the neighborhood, totally stop by!]
The birthday party was great. My niece had THE MOST FUN EVER! She was smiley and happy and laughing and loved the food, loved her cake, loved her presents. She made it all worth it.
This is all I got, picture-wise. I was too busy helping with the party. I never even took pictures of the baby - who my brother dubbed Chubsicle - he's so fat - but in a good breast-fed chubby cheek healthy kind of way! And he loves to smile. Really he just grins away with his cute dimples and he even sort of laughs. Such a sweetie pie! And nephew #1 was sweet and crazy as ever. Did I tell you that the other day one of his teachers was wearing a sweater (my sister said it was kind of an open, webby type thing) and he asked her if she had knit it? She told him no and he asked, well who knit it for you? Gotta love that boy!
A huge thank you to all the comments on the birthday girl's post - my sister had a good time reading all the comments.
Even with all the party craziness, I managed to finish this:
Check out that TOE!
I immediately (we're talking 1AM) cast on for the second sock. And then ripped it the next day. Cast on, knit, rip, cast on, knit, rip. It's finally coming along.
Right now it looks like the stripes are matching up - we'll see how that goes.
Of course, I'm loving this sock thing. How come you never told me they were so much fun?! ;-) Cassie's got her own fabulous pair up today. Thank god I bought all that sock yarn!
Have a good one. I need to eat ate. A salad. And I totally agree with Carolyn. It's all about the dressing.
Posted by Cara at 01:59 PM | Comments (24)
June 05, 2005
BBG Time Change
I know there were a few of you that might be coming to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to "meet the artists" at tomorrow's photography show. I originally thought it was going to be at 3PM tomorrow (3-5). I've since found out it's actually 1-3PM. I'm hoping to get there by 2PM. I'm taking a train home from Philly in the morning, jumping in the shower then racing to the airport to pick up G. We're going straight to Brooklyn. Hope to see you there!
Thanks. Sorry for the mix-up.
Posted by Cara at 12:26 AM | Comments (4)
June 01, 2005
Birthday Girl!
My favorite girl turns two on Sunday. Saturday's the superfantastic Dora party, so I'm heading down to Philly tomorrow to help with the festivities. My bro's in from Sunny Santa Monica - he's never met Eli, so that will be cool. Oh and don't forget, if you're in Brooklyn on Sunday, I'll be at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens at around 3PM for the show. Have a great one!
Here's the sweetest baby girl - growin' up!
Thanks for indulging me - I just love her so much!
Posted by Cara at 11:59 AM | Comments (36)
Fits and Starts.
Rip, rinse, repeat.
But that's okay. Cause I'm in training. Practice, practice, practice.
The Great Enabler helped me get in touch with my adopted heritage with lunch. (Georgie was really jealous.) And did you think I could walk away empty handed?
DK Cashcotton and Koigu
It was weird - I felt like I hadn't bought yarn in forever. That stuff really IS crack. In Cassie's defense, she talked me out of the other Koigu, which, of course, I can't stop thinking about.
I'm crazy busy today - I have to frame two photographs and get them into the city by 2 - think I can do it? We're about to find out.
Posted by Cara at 09:04 AM | Comments (13)