Spring?

Saturday and Sunday were GLORIOUS! I sat on the front porch, knitting and enjoying the warm temperatures. A little exploration of the yard found bright sunshine, and in a patch of shade, a little leftover snow. And lookie here - the beginnings of spring! Of course on Monday, we had snow and ice. New England weather never ceases to amaze. What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Sewing

Like many crafters, I have more than one craft that I love. Of course I don't love all of them equally, and the relative rankings change based on mood, inspiration, time, etc. (although knitting is almost always at the very top of the list). Lately I've become re-interested in sewing. It started with some newly-published books. Then I saw some really cute things (mostly for kids) in stores (including Etsy) and thought, "I could do that!" My success has been mixed, but I'm having fun re-discovering the craft. I have been fighting with my sewing machine a bit. I finally took it to a great little "sew and vac" place and they were super helpful (thanks Amy!). Turns out I had threaded the machine wrong and that caused the tension to be all wonky. After a quick tutorial (and a suggestion that I take a class to learn more!), I'm back on track. And what a difference a correctly threaded machine makes! Instead of feeling like the machine and I are at odds, it feels all symbiotic, and the machine is humming! I working on some simple pajama pants. I'll post real photos when they are done. And then I'm diving into this great collection: "more than 40 projects and idea for inspired stitching." I can't wait!

Technology

This will be a photo-less post. I've had so many technology issues lately. Do they comes in waves? First it was a loss of wireless service (at home). Still not fixed. Then it was two separate email problems at work (both fixed). Now I can't seem to get Geocities to let me into my book group's website to update it (they haven't responded to my email "help"; I can't seem to find a customer service phone number to call them; so still not fixed).

In the meantime, I've started being more active on Twitter. I do like it a lot! I'm finding new, interesting people to follow all the time.

Podcasts

I like listing to podcasts. I have several favorites: Ready, Set Knit (I'm a guest on the show that airs on 2/14/09!) Cast-On This American Life It's a Purl, Man
I'd like to have more on my "regulars" list. Any suggestions?

Let there be light!

When I left the office Monday night, it was still light out!! It's so nice to imagine warm weather (of which we had a taste this week), and long stretches of being able to leave the office while it's still light out. You can't really tell, but here's the hint of light I saw as I was walking out to my car at 5:45pm.

Of course we still have a lot of dirty piles of snow to contend with. There will have to be a LOT of warm days for all of this to melt - and that's assuming we don't get any more! Ha.

testing ... testing

Can I add video? Did the test work?

Trip to Portland

Last Friday I drove up to Portland, ME, to meet with my colleague, Pam. We got a TON of work done - well worth the 2-hour drive each way!

We had the pleasure of meeting Jil Eaton - knitwear designer extraordinaire - for lunch. Lots of business-y things to discuss - but what a lunch we had! I had a great salad with chicken, blue cheese, and other goodies. Jil had the lamb salad. Pam had the chicken satay special with crispy noodles - wow!!

This is a little local place. I wish we had a local place like that here!

Culture Shock

I'm back from California. What a great trip - I wish I could have stayed longer. I don't know any place that has better food, overall, than CA. Imagine artichokes, once grilled and once baked. Yum. And avocados on everything! I stopped at a little cafe in San Rafael one morning, just looking for a bagel, and here is what I got. It was so delicious. I think I'll buy up a bunch of avocados and have them ready for any breakfast that comes along! (But they never taste as good in MA as they do in CA, do they.) After a day of airline food (which had to be PURCHASED along with everything liquid, including water, that had to be PURCHASED - shame on you, USAirways), California cuisine seemed very far away.
And then I experienced this.
"Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music!" We had a great time, but I had forgotten how commercial these shows can be. From the lobby, to intermission, and then the post-show onslaught - it's no wonder that kids learn to "need" and "want" everything. Of course we indulged. But the music was fun, and it was a joy to see our granddaughter soaking it all in.

Now back to reality.

Weather

What a difference a plane ride makes. What I left behind:
Now the view from my hotel balcony in San Diego this afternoon:
Just for the record, I feel a little guilty ... just a little bit.

Let it snow!

It snowed last night. On top of what was already on the ground (and tables and stairs), I think we got about 4".


Sorry it's so hard to see - this is the only ruler I could find in the house. At least this time the snow is fluffy and easier to push around than the icy mess we had last week. Yesterday we spent over an hour getting most of the remaining ice off the driveway so that it wouldn't be lurking under the snow that was (correctly) predicted for last night. I do love living in New England, but this is already a long winter. Fortunately I leave on Thursday for California! San Diego here I come!! I'll be indoors 90% of the time, working the trade show, but I'm pretty sure I won't have to deal with snow. I'll try to post some photos, from the show as well as from my trip to northern California, which is where I'm going when the trade show ends. In the meantime, I have to go put on some socks - it's cold here!

New Year's Eve

May you have a healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2009! Happy New Year, from my home to yours.

Fourth File

Leslie suggested we all play along with the photo challenge. So, as instructed, here's the fourth photo in my fourth file.
It's a diaper cake that my daughter created for her cousin's baby shower. I helped her put it together - it takes two people to construct because it wants to fall down. It was loads of fun - you roll up diapers (we used disposables) and build the cake from the inside to the outside. Then you just build the layers up from there. We tied it all off with some pretty ribbon. She also added little goodies - most are hard to see except for the stuffed dog on the top.

This photo was taken on the kitchen counter at the "beach house" on what appears to be a beautiful day in June. I sure wish we had that weather today - this morning I returned from 5 days in Houston to a foot of snow!

Really

I stopped by Home Depot on my way to work and this was the scene in the parking lot.

That's a lot of trucks!

Many families have been without power since the New England ice storm on Thursday, including my daughter and her family. They have been staying with us since Friday afternoon, but are hoping to have power back sometime today so that they can go home. At least today's forecast is for warm weather; Saturday was really cold. The power outage has disrupted their holiday plans - they were going to put up their tree this past weekend, decorate the porch - but instead they hung out in the condo. At least we live close enough to help. I feel sorry for the families that have to stay in a shelter.

What do you think?

I changed my template and added a header. Do you like it? Thanks to Leslie for the great photo!

Am I crazy?

I decided, on Monday, that I should knit a scarf for my mother. I'm flying down there on the 17th for a few days. Do you think it will be done by then? I'd love to have it done before I go - then I could block it here - but if I can't get it done by the 17th, maybe I can knit on the plane? It's moving right along (although I must admit my left shoulder is sore - from too much knitting time??).

I must be crazy.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sugar!

Yesterday was C's third birthday. I can't believe it. She is looking SOOOO grown up. So thank you, Sugar, for being such a great little person, and being such a special part of our lives. We love you!

P.S. Nice earrings!

Wow

I love Brooklyn Tweed's design aesthetic. He's outdone himself this time.

Gorgeous. And I can think of tons of beautiful yarns that would be great for this project. If only I had more time.

Do you see what I see?

There is a tall smokestack in my town, and every year they drape it with lights to mimic a Christmas tree. This is the view from my office window. I was delighted Monday night when I noticed that it was there - really makes it feel like the holidays are just around the corner. I hope you are seeing and enjoying the holiday lights in your neck of the woods.

P.S. C loved her new Advent Calendar. She got to pick two surprises last night (a fancy crayon-like drawing device and some JellyBellies). I wish I could remember what today's surprise will be!

Advent Calendar

My daughter thought C would like an Advent Calendar this year. About a day later, I saw this and knew I wanted to make one instead of buying one, especially since the bought version would probably be filled entirely with candy. So I purchased all the materials and set to work. The embroidered numbers were done on the way back from Thanksgiving at my brother's house. And my new workspace was perfect for laying out the squares of felt. Purl Soho made a slight error in my order, so I only had one of the two red shades they recommended. I had to do a little rearranging of the colors, but I think it turned out well. (I photographed it lying on the floor so it's not the greatest picture.)


Yesterday I went looking for 24 little things to go into the pockets - the pockets are only about 2.5" square, so each day's surprise has to be small! I mixed in some candy along the way, but most days are little goodies like post-it tags, a couple of ornaments, hair do-dads, and some little jewelry items. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Oh - I split it in two pieces (unlike the original which was one long panel) so that it can be hung out of the reach of inquiring little hands. Each panel is 12" square, and there are four of them, so the original design was quite long from top to bottom. By making it in two pieces, it can be hung at normal picture-hanging height. I also got some tension-mounted curtain rods, so H can hang each panel in a window if she wants.


I can't deliver it until tomorrow night, but I can't wait to see the reactions! Can you guess what December 20th's goodie is?

Subways, Trains, and Automobiles

I went to New York City earlier this week. Did you know that 2009 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Natural Fibers? Very exciting concept! There is a small group putting together some plans for how to celebrate the "Year", and I was invited to participate. Most other participants are involved in the breeding of animals or production of fibers. I wore my TNNA Board Member hat (and marketing committee hat). It was an interesting conversation. It turns out that cotton has the biggest natural fiber production worldwide, and numerous activities are being organized around cotton. But these folks wanted animal-based fibers (wool, alpaca, silk, etc.) to be the focus, so that's what they are doing. "Keep the Fleece" is the moniker they will use. Watch for loads of ideas coming out this group in the coming months.

Anyway, I drove to Connecticut and stayed with my brother and sister-in-law for a night, then did the Connecticut-to-New York commute into the city on Wednesday. The meeting was in Soho, in the afternoon, so after the subway ride down, I had mini-meetings with a few business partners in the morning. It was a good use of my time in the city. After the UN-IYNF meeting, I did the back-to-CT commute (subway and train), dinner with relatives, spent the night, the drove back home - well actually I drove straight to work - on Thursday morning. What a whirlwind! But it was fun to do something different for a change.