What Monsoon Season Means to Me

Sent from Heather's Centro

This makes more sense when you know that Tucson has sun 360 days of the year--enough to maketh you mad.  Maaaaaad I say.

This is looking north at the Santa Catalina mountains, to the east (right) where you see the dark grey clouds begin...those bad boys...yeah, those wrap all the way around behind me. And they're big. And heavy. And full of water...which dumped on my head about an hour after I took this.

The temp went from 104 to 68 in an hour.  The night was lovely. I opened the windows. Yes, it's humid when it rains. No, when it's 68 I'm not going to complain (though I could...I'm sure I could...). The smell of the rain in the desert is like unto nothing else...I need to see if Juno's found it in a bottle yet...

Geeky Heather

DSC_0221
Originally uploaded by jenniethepotter

Pic thanks to Jennie the Potter when we were in Juneau. I secretly (or not so secretly) think this is what my DH thinks of when he thinks of me on a good day.
Goofy smile...if possible, doing the Rainbird Dance (which is, in effect, pretending to be a rainbird sprinkler...in the middle of Christopher Street...in the middle of the day...if you can get to NY).
So this goes out to him.

Why This Should Make Me Weep

Will just have to remain "one of those things"...

But I have a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes right now. Thanks to Lynn for sending this on.

If you go to the YouTube page you can watch it in HD (look below the video on the right for the link to get the HD)--it's MUCH more impactful that way...yarg, is that even a word?

Up 'N At Em'

Or at least up.

Dogs got me up at 6:22am which I think is a perfectly respectable doggie time. Strange morning here...dark clouds...which is odd in the summer especially this early. Usually there's a cloud buildup over Mexico and (when the Monsoons are in full swing) you get dumped on around 3pm.

The pool is turning green, but it's about to be drained and repaired so I guess I won't spend a chunk of change on algecide...Citricidal however, that stuff is my friend. Helped in the post-Salmonella malaise.

Ah, yes, much better now, thank you.

I've got about seventy irons in the fire, most of which will eventually show up here, but in the meantime, let me send you to the Daily Chum where you can see my roomie's spectacular scarf--the one she was working on when I met her.

And now, I must go feed kids and roll around with doggies.

Annoyances

There have been annoyances lately...like today, the President said (roughly) that anyone who's being responsible would vote to drill in Anwar.

Okay...parsing the whole thing would take too much of my time and effort (and it's hot---dry, sure, 107°, that too) but let's just focus on one little part.

That whole responsible thing.

I think we've gotten needlessly Libertarian here...and I'm not against Libertarianism...not if you live in a completely homogenous society of say...fifty people. Then I think it's bloody brilliant and I'm all for it.

No, I mean this whole "I get to define responsibility the way I want to" thing...

REAL responsibility?

Well, that means you accept your part of the problem (you're in cahoots with Big Oil)

and you are willing and able to propose a solution (getting out from under the thumb of Big Oil and get realistic about the whole "renewable resources" vs "nonrenewable resources" thing).

If we start there, then the next reasonable argument goes something like this: 

Because we've been beholden to the interests of a bunch of gynormous corporate entities for too long and in the process we've made certain that the little guy--the small businessman or businesswoman...the entrepreneurial sprirt upon which this country was founded, if you will--we've made certain that the good people of America simply cannot get a break (because all the breaks are going to the big companies in the form of giant tax breaks, etc etc) because of all of this, I have decided to change business as usual. 

We will now put out a request for bids on the following:

• government contracts for the best retro-fit of a gasoline-powered automotive engine to a viable alternative fuel source;
• government contracts for the best retro-fit of a home from oil to solar or wind;
  
• government contracts for the best retro-fit of a home from gas to solar or wind;
  
• government contracts for the best retro-fit of an in-home water system from complete potable water to grey water for toilets and home-created grey-water for irrigation; 
  
• government contracts for the best retro-fit of a fast food chain to provide recycled bio-fuel (no using NEW corn for fuel...that's just silly--and maybe the fast food chains will use cleaner oil for cooking in if they can make a little money off of the waste product);
  
• government contracts for the best retro-fit of a manufacturing plant from a non-renewable energy source to a renewable one;
  
• and, finally, 70% one-time tax breaks to any corporation who can (a) demonstrate,  and (b) distribute the means by which any and all unwanted waste/byproducts can be reused by another company/manufacturer for a profitable purpose.

From what I understand, (necessity being the mother of invention and all) we'd see a return on those bullet points faster than we'd see a return on Anwar...not to mention the fact that Responsible Folks say the oil companies have PLENTY of offshore drilling rights they haven't exploited b/c it's STILL too expensive to do so...at $4.50 a gallon, it's STILL too expensive.

Please.

When Holly and Dawn (see upcoming Chum) can reuse Pendleton fabric to make AWESOME couture, you're trying to tell me there's NO WAY we can reuse our company byproducts SOMEhow? If Soysilk (love it!) can be made from leftovers after Tofu has been created...there HAS to be some use for EVERYthing, right?

And I know what the naysayers are saying--if everything goes Solar or Wind or whatever, then the large power utilities go under and that's an even worse economic nail in our collective coffin. 

I agree. I think they should be the ones bidding. And I think part of their contracts should include upkeep, repair, and replacement. I think there's a TON of money to be had on nothing more than yearly inspections...and power plants should ALWAYS be a backup system...

I'm just sayin'...Anwar is not the only solution. There are other--more responsible ways...

I'm putting the soapbox away now. Thanks for indulging me.

Dog Buddies

Squirrel hunting is FUN!
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Birthday fun

He turns eight and suddenly you cant recognize him!
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Huey!

I saw this 23 years ago and was blown away. 

Nothing but spectacular singing.

Love

It.

Birthday boy!

Thing one is EIGHT!
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Amber

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UPDATE!

Rosie Is Found!

She--once again--went back to her old 'hood. It took her A LOT longer this time, probably due to the 100°+ heat, but she's fine.

We pick her up in the morning.

So: 1 skink, 2 small fish tanks, 2 large-ish dogs, 2 small-ish boys.

Not the package we expected, but there you are!

New Cloud

Back from NYC.

It was lousy weather.

I miss my friends.

NYC smells when it's hot and humid.

I don't miss that.

I miss the Black Cow.

I miss Vera.

It was good to see family.

I prefer to travel with children AND husband.

Our dog ran away.

Again.

Some lousy kid from the neighborhood left our gate open and the housesitter didn't check when she let Rosie out to do her business and...no more Rosie.

I spent yesterday hanging signs and checking shelters.

Ugh.

So, we'd been talking about getting a dog buddie for Rosie (b/c clearly Rosie needs one) and found one today. I hope Rosie comes back so they can play together. Amber is the newbie. 9mos old and very very fun.

Off to sleep--the Lag has me in it's clutches.

Because, Seriously....

I now know I'm not the only one to have knitted Kevlar!

And where have I been, you ask?

Retuning my routine. Adding a dog to said routine. Changing said routine to better match the needs of our family.

But what does that mean in English?

PANIC!

Blind effing panic.

I am SO NOT GOOD at changing routines. It's almost (almost I said) comical how lousy I am at this. Travel—that I can do. There's no expectation of routine, and generally one emerges regardless. But home...ah, well... here's what an ideal day a day that could be replicated would look like.

Up between 8am and 9am (my Sister cited this as the appropriate time for our body clocks and she's right).  Breakfast and read the paper.To be honest, even if I had the time, I wouldn't. But it's a nice idea, no?

Get to work doing something involving the computer and/or paper (writing, answering letters, etc)--immediately. Somehow if I don't start right away, all hell breaks loose and it never gets done--or it's relegated to rushing and that's no good for anyone.

Workout/have lunch/shower (not in that order--and let's be honest about the workout thing, shall we?).

Work (read: at the computer...).

Get kids (you'll notice they didn't show up until now--I'm not so good at getting back home after taking them to school in the morning. Things Happen, as we say.).

Lay around knitting.

Be served a home-cooked meal...or something... Okay, but I just finished typing how stalker-ish it was to have the serving guys on the boat know our names...maybe I wouldn't like that. Maybe if I could Get Something Done every day, I'd enjoy the cooking thing more? Who knows. Either way, start making dinner at the same time every night. Eat. 

Routine. 

I like that.

Sit around reading, watching movies, drinking Scotch, knitting, going out to a show...not by myself, mind you. Some Husbands thought they and the kids were left out of all of this. No no no. As long as the Scotch and knitting are included, all are welcome aboard!

Sleep around midnight.

Repeat.

You'll notice how completely, unbelievably, pathetically unrealistic this is. I know that. I acknowledge that. I'm just sayin...

I don't know that I'd like it any more, but it's a routine. After last week (which was all about emergent, not even urgent got through)  my constitution is screaming for a routine. If I don't start firing on the work thing pronto in the morning, I'm all fatootsed. But.

C'est la guerre, right? It ain't gonna happen.

And honestly, if it did...I'd probably be bored off my tuches.

Surprise!

Thing Two with Rosie!
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For those of you who don't know Thing Two personally, the surprise is both the dog and the fact that he likes said dog! Not surprising with the ear surgery, he's been a bit off when it comes to jumpy doggies.

Rosie, is not jumpy. She's a wonderdog.

For presentations Friday. . .

Young Moses
HeatherViaPhone

Blocking the henley. . .

Linen silk blend. LOVE that!
HeatherViaPhone

Update: I've worn this. I've nearly worn this out. I had to put it away somewhere so I could avoid putting a hole in it during it's first month.

I Love This Shirt.

Better Than Yarn: I'm baaaa-ack!

Better Than Yarn: I'm baaaa-ack!

I agree.

With all of it. (And did most of it.)

Sea Socks Pics

So, I'm back.

Here're my Flickr pics. Someone tell me how I can download pics from other Flickr Folk's sites, K?

Great bumper sticker

Ha ha waaa
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Welcome to LA

Please coordinate your clothes!*
HeatherViaPhone

I swear to you, every ounce of Khaki green on this man was coordinated and a dead-on match.

Life's too hard to do this every day, right? Or am I just hopeless and poor?

Glacier--still two miles or so away...still big

As I once wrote in my kayak journal. . .

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ICEBERG!

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Juneau, it's a really pretty town

More Juneau
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Waaaay back off to the right, you can barely see the cables for the gondola...up to the tippy top of the mountains.

There were also stairs.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha

Vandling on the Pahd

Jennie in Juneau with river
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As I Once Wrote in my Kayak Journal...

Beer is good, but sleep is better.

Godspeed, my goofy Pod o' Knitters.

Our Stateroom

On board!
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Preeeety

Juneau
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Early on before the waves and icy wind o'er powered us

Our wake.
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Always Studying...

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Alaska!

Morning in Alaska.
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Day 4: ALASKA!

Sunday May 11, 2008
O studious me.

Miss scarlet in the LIBRARY with the knitting
HeatherViaPhone

Because there IS A LIBRARY on board. How is it referred to on the maps?

"Words"

I kid you not.

Breakfast was early, and Dawn and I went up to the Constellation room to have a wide, unadulterated view of the smooth waters as we approached Ketchikan. Very little in Tucson had prepared me for the stupendous beauty that is Alaska. All I thought was, "I wish Andrew and the boys were here, because They Would Love It."

And Juneau was even better.

But I preempt myself.

Everything appeared to be on target for Ketchikan, until:

• unpleasant information oozed about SeaSocks travelers being expected to take care of high-maintenance roomies because they were "nice" and wouldn't complain. Kind of ignoring the whole "I just paid a ton for a vacation" aspect of the trip...
• things got nutty figuring out how to get off the boat, and nuttier yet for Jennie-the-Potter and Mom Lucinda (perhaps, honestly, the nicest people anyone could ever hope to meet...ever) since Jennie's mom tragically broke her fibula (the leg at the back of your calf—ouch!) a week before the cruise...thanks to Dawn, my stupendous roomie, she had a three-wheeled scooter (which we all commandeered at some point during the cruise) which was great for getting around...as long as there were ramps.
• The "ramp" to Ketchikan was actually tweaked (and slippery) stairs.
• It was beautiful when we docked, and it was spitting down icy rain when we actually got off.

We were undeterred, however, and bravely beat a bee-line en-masse to the first yarn store.

The yarn, the earrings, the notions...it was all just gorgeous (the view didn't hurt either) at the little yarn store upstairs at the Salmon Landing. Our Pod moved, amoeba-like, all over Ketchikan, adding, subtracting, and re-adding limbs as we moved. Lunch was hard to find, made harder by the fact that YOU CAN SMOKE IN RESTAURANTS in Alaska...I thought Arizona was the Libertarian-don't-tell-me-who-I-can-or-can't-kill holdout! Who knew?!

As we discovered cute and cool thing after cute and cool thing, eventually Dawn, Lucinda, and I wound up back at the Salmon Landing at a ridiculously overpriced but better than I could have dreamt fish counter. Halibut was fresh so Lucinda and I shared a Halibut plate.

Like unto Manna.

Seriously.

Back to the boat for dinner...and our knitting theme of the night--Knitty Knits. Unfortunately, again, no actual plans made for where, when, or how to have this happen. Lucky for the SeaSoxers, our Pod moved the lot of us—eventually—to the back of the boat, the back of the Cafe. Our bemused wait staff was able to turn up the lights a bit for us, bring us water (and some nights we got cookies!). The pics of the hoardes with Clapotis on—that is a high point of the night for me. It was effing FREEZING, but that blasted shawl/scarf really worked. And it was extraordinary to get the chance to see SO MANY different ones made of so many different types of yarn. Some were really simply scarves, some were huge, heavy shawls. Really spoke to yarn choice. Good lesson.

So, knitting, then to bed. End of Day 4.

Day 3: Whaddayamean this tub could sink?!

Saturday, May 10

First: Eat.
Second: Pass muster.

Dawn passes muster
HeatherViaPhone

Why?

Because the ship was already lurching and while—so far—I wasn't sea sick...to quote every George Lucas film, "I had a bad feeling about this..."

In our little check-in room we got our registration materials and our (surprise!) wonderful SeaSocks'08 bag. I had no idea we'd get that, and was overwhelmed. What a lot of work to put together.

Sadly, the stitch markers I raced to finish—shredding fingers on the way—were nowhere to be seen. I figured they'd show up sooner or later.

Dawn and I had an easy time sticking together (it helps that she's the coolest person on the planet) so meals in our ever-expanding Pod were really quite lovely and easy-going. That was one of the best parts—the amorphous nature of the groupings. The people I was able to meet were all extraordinary and little rays of light in an otherwise uniform boatscape.

Except for the art. Someone must have taken photos of the art—it was...unique and it rotated. My fave part of the tub.

Post-lunch I was hit by a wave of exhaustion and I think Brenda and Dawn smiled at the side of my head as I dozed off. I left Amy's (brilliant) class for the last forty minutes of swatch-time so I could catch a short nap before Brenda's talk. It worked and I perked up.

By this time we were in open ocean and the waves were...um...forcefully making themselves known to our ship. Captain Demitrius was fearless, but that didn't stop people from passing out—literally and seriously. Our first formal night was met with the injunction for "ladies to not wear heels to dinner"—an injunction I ignored...and a dinner I couldn't eat. Though it looked lovely.

The dinners, I have to tell you, are surreal on a ship. The waiters—all of them—have been given your name and picture, so you're greeted by name.

Stalker-like.

V odd.

Again, bummer I couldn't eat. Not that I felt sick. Just that I knew it would be dangerous to do so.

Post-dinner knitting was...curious. We were told to go to Michael's Club. But no one was there. They weren't expecting us. We echo-located our pod and had a little drink (Blini anyone?) and...Dawn and I passed out.

Day 2: On Board!

Friday, May 9, 2008
Up, phoning, showering, dressing, comparing lack of departure-time information and messages, bellhopping, elevatoring up and down express and local elevators and finally heading downstairs to try to find (a) food and (b) sock knitters.

We DID manage to find Brenda some shoes so she’d be able to eat with the rest of the pack on Formal Nights. It was fabulously successful, and made possible by Jasmine’s careful and patient watching-of-the-bags. When the bus arrived, we made our way outside to find our bags that our bellmen had faithfully stowed out on the curb. The bus guy started stashing the luggage and it became instantly apparent that (a) the luggage was not going to fit on the bus and (b) we all might not fit on the bus.

But, you know, whatever.

My bags and Brenda and Tonia’s bags made it onto the bus, so we went too. But at least seven folks were left behind. The impression I got was that we’d get dropped off with our luggage at the terminal, the bus would go back and get the remaining folks and luggage, then we’d all wind up at the terminal to check in, get back on the bus, and go on the Yarn Crawl.

But, you know, whatever.

We got to the terminal, sure. 

Got off and got into the line to check in, sure. 

Checked in (freeeeezing in there) and got a ticket for a box lunch, four bottles of water, and a cookie (available after 4pm, damnit). 

Then we waited. 

Soon we got back on the bus…with our luggage. Rumor had it that the longshoremen wouldn’t offload the luggage. Something about lunch maybe, but we were never really sure what happened. What we did know was that we went to a different terminal and we left our luggage on the sidewalk there (you know, whatever). THEN we went back to pick up the remainders who—as you can imagine—were none-to-happy with the lack of information and the extensive time spent in that state outside, with their luggage, in the cold, in front of the Sheraton...with no one answering their phone calls.

After we loaded the unhappy folks, we took their luggage and them to the terminals (the rest of us pretty much sat on the bus, knitting a bit). A chunk of the crawl chose to venture off on their own and visit yarn stores by cab. Both groups ultimately had great times, but I have to admit that not being a competitive shopper, the crawl was lovely in that we saw some beautiful stores and neighborhoods, but I don’t have the stomach for body-checking knitters into the boards for some KidSilk Haze—not that it's not beautiful...just that I'm not that kinda knitter.

After the first shop (Tricoter) and finding Brenda some OPI in “I’m Not Really a Waitress”, Brenda, Tonia and I moseyed down to a spectacular little restaurant for a quiet and extremely tasty bite.

At the last of the stores I walked by a very pretty crocheter working on a spectacular looking crocheted scarf, commented on it, and realized I was talking to my roomie! While Dawn and I were getting to know each other, Brenda and Meg (friends forever) found each other. Lots of squealing and laughing ensued. And I bought some laceweight yarn.

We headed to the boat, ship, tub, terminal. We got “organized” via the coded cards we received during the afternoon check-in. Many of us had the “wrong” cards. Brenda and Tonia were two. Jasmine and her crew were others. Some made it into the right group. Some not so much.

But, you know, whatever.

Dawn and I wound up in our room, rather stunned to be there. Unpacked-ish. Visited the buffet (which may have been our last time doing that). Met up for knitting in the bar where we learned that YOU CAN SMOKE INDOORS ON A BOAT. Passed out.

On board!
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On Bainbridge

Bleeding heart flowers
HeatherViaPhone

Not far from the Grey's Anatomy finale...

Bainbridge Island
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DAY 1: Arrived!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Up early, early, early, off to the Tucson Airport via taxi service. I say, “taxi” when I really mean, “the big burly guy who’d been up for 38 hours (and had another ten to go) who drove up to my house in a Giant White Suburban."

Think "Moby Dick of the Car World".

It was 5:22 a.m. and my husband had given me the phone number to call this guy. I had zero time to go check with him to see if this was real. I also had zero intention of waking him up more than I did when I kissed him goodbye.

I got my (heavy) luggage loaded in and skeedaddled into the back of the behemoth for our (touch and go) ride to the airport. With only a few weird moments of drifting off the road I got to the airport, got my bags loaded onto the scale and read my fate: 99.5 lbs. I was half a pound away from doom (actually, half a pound and a couple of months since United changed their bag policy shortly after I made my reservation).

I left the bags with check-in and vandled to the gate. No one was there. Too early. I bought a NYTimes (whoo hoo) and looked for articles by Anahad (there weren’t any). I got something that resembled breakfast at the bar (!), boarded my flight, and sat next to a super nice MSW/weight lifter from Tucson.

It looked like we were going to be on the same flight to Seattle, but I had to go work for a bit before taking off and we didn’t make contact after that. Got my work done, boarded the next flight and got to Seattle without much trouble. However, recovering bags at SeaTac turned out to be more time consuming than I anticipated. I also expected to only have to schlep my bags a bit to get to a bus...instead of the entire length of the Seattle/Tacoma airport.

But, you know, whatever.

After waiting FOR EVER for the bus driver to not tell us how to load baggage or board the bus (and after watching him cruelly leave at least 45 people more confused and unlucky than I on the curbside) I rode into Seattle at the back of the bus (a place I’d come to love on this journey) with a very nice Seattleite (Seattlean?) and a guy from Valencia, CA. Nice time. Pretty city. No worries.

It took quite a chunk of time to wend our way to the Downtown Sheraton, but wend I did, then I checked into my room in the Tower (floor 18), texted Syne, found out that she, Brenda, and Tonia, were already on Bainbridge Island. I half expected SeaSocks information with my check-in materials.

But, you know, whatever.

Hotel. Seattle.
HeatherViaPhone

I needed to recharge my phone, dug around for my cord, realized I hadn’t packed it, and got information from the Concierge for a Verizon store. I trotted over there, then caught a cab down to the ferry terminal to Bainbridge to get some quiet, beat the hordes, and, you know, since I didn’t know if/when I was supposed to meet up with the Sea Socks group, why not go find Brenda, Tonia, and Syne early on. Right?

I realized immediately upon getting my ticket that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was after 4pm, so I grabbed a pint and some AMAzing tomato-ravioli soup at a pub in the ferry terminal, read a little March, warned Syne I was on my way, then stood in line for the ferry. I wanted to get a good seat up front so I could see where I was going.

I did.

It’s lovely.

Try it sometime.

I got off the ferry and started walking. 

Lovely. Bainbridge is LOVEly.



I called and hooked up with the crew. Meeting Brenda, Tonia, and Syne, was exactly like meeting old friends. Suddenly I realized that I’d been corresponding with Brenda for over two years, Tonia about the same, Syne for about a year. That’s a lotta letter writing.

We chatted, shared scarves and laughs, and headed over to Churchmouse, a yarn store on Bainbridge. Lovely. Lovely little store with lovely lovely yarn. While there, Amy appeared with the larger group—very VERY nice to see her again. After buying some yarn and tea (whoo hoo) at Churchmouse Yarns, we tried to find out where the Sea Socks crew was supposed to meet for dinner.

But, you know, whatever.

So a small skein of us (get it? Skein of knitters?!) wandered (lonely as a cloud, which honestly, was really, really great) and found a super expensive, SUPER good restaurant. Nice time. Good people. Great food. 

We wandered back to the ferry, got back to the hotel, had a nightcap, passed out and planned to phone in the morning to coordinate something resembling breakfast. 

Onward!

Lookee!
HeatherViaPhone

Ear at nearly three months
HeatherViaPhone

Too sunny but two ears!
HeatherViaPhone

Seriously, Who Needs a Translator?

Ergonomics of Knitting

I've been studying knitting styles--that and overseeing the wrecking of and rebuiding of our backyard fence.

Here are the videos I've been looking at. If you have more, send em on! I love comments with links!!!

Stephanie and Irish Cottage Knitting from Zabet.

Continental Info, sheath info, and more on that,



























































http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNFXO8MH2z0&feature=related

Yikes

Nice soundtrack.
Scary Ride.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators

Today's job. . .

Improving the Skink enclosure
HeatherViaPhone

The Mind of the Warp

I'm noticing something quite wonderful about warping my loom. There's a meditative quality to winding the warp that I don't get from knitting or even spinning, which I think is odd. It's almost like Tai Chi. I didn't have this happen while I warped using a table, as much room as I could muster, a few weights and a two-liter bottle. There's something about standing in front of a warping board (thank you Lura and Jill) and having my cones on a hanging dowel for constant and untwisted warping; something about the smoothness of the winding; something about the movement of your arm (at or below shoulder height, thank you); something about the combination that is completely calming. It let my lizard brain take over and I realized I really need to make time to (a) exercize--like a normal person, not like a gym rat-- and (b) write more for me.

So here I am.

And now I'll go back to warping. 

Boy with two ears

HeatherViaPhone

How Do I Love This? Let Me Count the Ways!

Fun Widget

Rest in Peace

One of the most beautiful men and voices I've known: my HS buddy Brennan Maynard who passed away nearly two years ago--very suddenly.

If You're In LA...

Many of these crazy people are friends of mine from my UCLA days. Good to see them out there again, and buddy Mitch Watson wrote this insanity.

Good fun.

Go.

Of course, the poor man's not long for the world...

The new baby

SILK!

SILK!!!!!

And that doesn't even touch on the weaving!

So, as you may have noticed, I disappeared. Between my Grandmother's funeral, work, and the Arizona Federation's Fibers Through Time conference, I was swamped.

The good news? I won the award for Best Entry by a New Fiber Artist. I'm a new weaver (having picked it up in the last year) so I was able to enter something I made as a "newbie"--and I WON for the white Huck Lace table runner I made.

Very very exciting.

And, my husband was there to see it. Very nice.

In between all of the nuttyness, I got some spinning time in with friend Lynn, got to hang with Enchanting Juno, fixed the pool and water heater (both twice), cleaned the garage out (or at least cleaned what I could until we get more shelves inside and out), and am nearly done pulling all the clothes I never wear to take to Twice as Nice (our local--wonderful--New To You chain).

So now I'm still swamped and losing my mind. Work, prepping for teaching here at Kiwi, prepping for teaching at SeaSocks 08, finishing all the goodie bag goodies for SeaSocks, podcasting, TRYing to finish all the million social obligation knitting pieces I've committed to, volunteering at my son's school (love that) and generally making a nuisance of myself at home.

But, you know, Poseidon's on TV and the boat's about to be swamped so I'm rethinking that whole SeaSocks thing. But hell, if RIchard Dreyfuss can pull himself back from the brink, I suppose I'll see my way through this, too.

On The Gem. . .

SILK!
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Where She Go?

For those of you not simultaneously in the world of Craftlit, you probably don't know that my Grandmother on my Mom's side passed away on March 7, 2008.

She was...um...tenacious. I joked that she'd survived the last ten years purely out of spite and that's only sort of a joke. Our relationship was complicated--made more complicated by her demands for purely passive/aggressive modes of communication among all of our family.
But she was also generous (graciously to the outside world, usually with strings attached when with family) and full of love for many.

But that doesn't mean a passing like this isn't going to be fraught. In fact, I'll be disappearing from time to time, I imagine, to help my Mother pick up the pieces left behind. In fact, you can expect it.

Needless to say, in the midst of all of this, I've picked up some new things to do.

I've started teaching knitting at Kiwi Knits in Tucson (YAY) and some of the projects are seen in the next two entries below--felted fish and hedgehogs. I cannot TELL you how much I love these! The hedgehog especially is a DARling pattern and if you've never experienced the beauty of a short row...do this.
HOWEVER
If you've never experienced the beauty of a short row, do this in a CLASS! The instructions make sense if you know what this is all supposed to look like...they're gibberish if you don't. That's a problem with many of those one-sheet-plastic-page-protector patterns. They're brilliant, but they have to truncate the darn thing so much it's hard to follow...

I've started beading engagement rings for my sister and her boyfriend. You may think this is a little pushy of me. It is. They're so in love they don't care. The rest of us would like a happy occasion for the family to gather at, thank you. Beading Daily (through the Interweave site) has a great (FREE) peyote stitch stackable ring pattern...I actually had to look up peyote stitch elsewhere to get it clear in my head, but MAN it's fast and easy. Lovin' it!

I'm also getting ready to warp my loom for Fibers Through Time! The AZ State Federation's conference--vendors and all. I'm taking a color and weave class and HOPE to have an audio diary of said class for Syne's Weavecast! Whoo Hoo!

Thing 2's ear is progressing beautifully and today I picked the digicam up from the shop so there will be more pictures up shortly. You won't believe the changes. Just amazing.

Thing 1 got his first 100% on a spelling test last week and Thing 2 is home on spring break this week so we've had a lot of quality time. However.

It all started with a BAD MONDAY. He wouldn't put his shoes and socks on...actually he wouldn't get dressed at all (a feat he manages easily when he's inclined) so I plopped him in the car with a shirt and no pants or underpants while we drove Thing 1 to school. #2 was to finish dressing in the car while I walked big brother into school, then we'd go do fun things.

When I got back he managed to get his underpants on and was pulling on his pants but refused to put on his shoes.

Thing 2 is loud. Thing 2 is stubborn. We cave in to Thing 2 a little too often, so this time I decided that's it. I don't care how long it takes. I'm not moving this car until he puts his socks and shoes on.

FORTY NINE MINUTES LATER

Seriously. Screaming, crying, what FINALLY got him to put his shoes on?

In desperation to keep myself calm, I grabbed my knitting --the hedgehog--and he asked--in a cute little voice--"Is that for ME?"

"Maybe...maybe I'll have to give it to someone else who knows how to listen to their mom!"

Did the trick. He zapped on his socks and popped on his shoes and we were happy as clams and good to go.

So that night I got this book.

I love it.

Nearly done.

But he's been strangely good these last few days...hmmmmm....

Beginnings of a Felted fish for a class
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