Monday, September 17, 2007

Long Weekend

I spent the weekend at my sister's in Pennsylvania, so we could both attend Knitters' Day Out, a great little one-day festival (also in Pennsylvania.) It's held at a small college and the day was really lovely with a few minor glitches.

High points - the hand-dyed laceweight yarn in blues and purples - we each got 1400 yards which should be enough for something! - the Lantern Moon totebag, of woven bamboo in teal and black - the Entrelac class where I actually feel I can now do simple entrelac - picking up registration materials with my sister and only having to spell our name once.

Low points - my sister's teacher for one class didn't show up and the substitute's philosophy was totally different - the iced tea at lunch was Raspberry! and Sweet! - my Platypus water bottle leaked in my knitting bag - no paper towels in the bathroom to mop up my knitting bag.

Other great things about the weekend - I saw my father and sister for the first time since my mother's death in April, and it was nice to see them comfortable together. My sister's cats were all adorable. I taught a private lesson in toe-up sock knitting and left my sister with a sock in progress.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Too Much Stuff

Friends have heard me talk about The Midden where everything hides. Well, the truth is that this house was a warren of middens. With the possibility of Viv coming home soon with a walker, it was desperation time. Fortunately a wonderful friend from Vermont came down for a long weekend to lend her energy and muscle to the project, and so far we've done about 2/3 of the necessary work. This is not all the work that needs to be done but it will be enough to create walkable space. About 40 large garbage bags of STUFF have gone out so far...and I can see floor all over in the bedroom and partway down the hall (the other part is what we'll work on tomorrow before she has to leave.) Here's to good friends and lots of heavy-duty garbage bags! Best find - little earrings like books; square glass beads; 1978 passport..

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Two Happy Dances

The first happy dance is for the Little House Blueberries http://www.littlehouseneedleworks.com/threadpacks.html which I finished today! Hooray! These are such nice little pieces to stitch, and a fun way to collect some Crescent Colours threads. My immediate reaction was to look for the other pieces I'd purchased, and I actually found them in the bag from the shop where I'd got them. I had to decide between Peaches, Watermelon, and Cherries and Peaches won. I got a good start, a center branch and a single peach. I had cleverly put the rest of the fabric that I used for Blueberries (Silkweaver's Sand evenweave) into the bag with the other patterns, so I cut the rest of it up and put a piece in each pattern zippy bag.

The second happy dance is for my partner who's been in the hospital for a month, recovering from a staph infection and pain problems. Today she was able to get herself out of bed, put on her own shoes, walk to the bathroom and back, and watch part of the baseball game with me from a chair instead of the bed!

Monday, June 11, 2007

May tagged me for the Eight Things meme:

The rules of the Meme are:
Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

1. I was married for 12 years to an electrical engineer at a Silicon Valley company. This may be a surprise to friends who only know me as a happily partnered lesbian - it was quite a journey!

2. I love music yet hardly ever listen to it. I don't know if it's because I love performing music more than just listening to it - or if it's because I just don't think about putting on a CD. Hmmm...

3. To tie in with number 2, I used to sing in small opera company productions. Roles - Luther's Wife (and chorus) in Tales of Hoffmann; Chorus (and one of the gypsy fortune-tellers) in Traviata; Chorus (and offstage giggle) in Pirates of Penzance; etc.

4. I studied ballet for 6 years and modern dance for 12.

5. My favorite music for road trips - 1950s car songs and country! I love to find country music stations away from New York - which has none.

6. I sewed lots of my own clothes in high school.

7. I studied French cooking at a winery with a French chef. I still have the recipes but since my partner is allergic to dairy and eggs, there aren't many of them I can make for us.

8. I listen to audiobooks as I go to sleep. It's like having someone read to me as I drift off. I can only do this with books that I've already read so that I'm not missing plot points.

Re tagging more people - May and Cynthia have tagged everyone I would have tagged. Sorry!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Addendum

I talked to DS today. The movers who were supposed to arrive at her house in PA in the late afternoon - 3, 4, 5, something like that - they told me they'd leave about 10 am or so - didn't get there till 9 pm and didn't finish till midnight.

I really wonder what clock they're using - and what they were up to for all those hours!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A Moving Experience

Yesterday my sweetie and I went up to Connecticut to help with Daddy's move out of the assisted living apartment (he's moving in with my sister in Pennsylvania, which is so great!) Viv had the idea of going up to help DS (Dear Sister) get away earlier on that long drive. The movers were originally supposed to be there between 10-12, and then said 9. We waited. We waited. DS made phone calls. We waited. We had lunch. They finally called from Danbury at about 2:30 or so. DS and Daddy met them at the storage unit for the first part of the moving at about 3:30.

When they arrived at the apartment, they had no boxes to pack the books, despite the dispatcher saying he'd send them with 150 boxes. So they had to go out and get boxes. The maintenance supervisor at the apartment was worried that they wouldn't find anyplace open. At about 5 they finally reappeared with bundles of boxes (marked U-Haul) and rolls of tape, and the boxing commenced.

They asked how long the building would be open - we told them 10, they said they wouldn't be done by then. My heart sank. After we showed them that all the drawers of all the furniture were empty, and that there were really only the books to pack, things seemed a little better. DS and Daddy decided to leave. Hugs, kisses, etc. I decided to go to the grocery store for some snacks and water for the wait for Viv and me. When I got outside, DS was on the phone with Viv. The movers were saying that they thought the distance between the door and the truck was too great, they'd have to charge more, and DS should talk to their boss. Well, their boss was unavailable. She'd been phoning all day and no one was answering and his voicemail was full. Just MOVE IT we communicated.

I got to the grocery, shopped, came back and all the boxes were done. Then they started stacking the furniture. They put things on a dolly, then they had to go through the locked door to the Alzheimers Wing, entering a code each time. The alarm went off a couple of times because the door was open too long, but we figured out how to turn it off (no one came to see what was happening.)

If this is a long post, well, it was a long day. At 9:30 they had got the final bits out into the hall by the elevator and we decided we could leave. I drove back to Brooklyn, ended with a perfect double-parking experience, and so to bed. When? Midnight.

Crafting tie-in - I did a little knitting while we waited, also looked at the Stitches East brochure with my sister, and finished several barrettes!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Brief Report

My sister and I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday. This was our second visit and we changed a few things from last time. We arrived at 8:45 instead of 11:30 - this was a great idea. We will do this again! My sister also got the show book ahead of time and we marked the vendors we especially wanted to visit. I arranged them in order by building and booth number and we were all set.

I will say that this year I noticed more porta-potties as well as more restrooms (I know there couldn't have been more restrooms, but last year it was so crowded that we couldn't see them!) One set of porta-potties also had a porta-sink outside it; you pumped the water with a little foot pump. It was nice to be able to shop with clean hands! We also noticed a porta-ATM under its own little blue tarp.

Early as we were, the line for the show products (t-shirts, bags, etc.) was already really long. Everytime we came out of a barn, we checked it, and it never got shorter, only longer. I didn't need the t-shirt that much...

We found loads of beautiful yarn, we visited all the vendors on our list and discovered some new ones which is always fun. We also got beads for stitch markers, and I got a beautiful shawl pin. Best of all, we weren't completely exhausted by the crowds and the heat this year.

I've already started a sock with the Panda Cotton that I got at the Carodan Farms booth!