Well, I’m trying to come up with cables for my aran cardigan, and I think these are the ones that I’m going to use. I’m going to use the same top-down, saddle construction that I used for the original Celtic Dreams (and, in fact, am using the exact same saddles), but these cables instead, with some spacing added in between. Hopefully it will actually fit this time…

And, you’ve got to love cameras and computers that make playing with cables this way possible. Now, I just need to see how it looks in real life.

Otherwise? Quiet weekend, after Friday’s excitement. Unlike the people a little further south, we got practically NO snow, to Chappy’s chagrin. There was about 1/2″ (if that) on Saturday morning, and that was IT.

Mom and Dad went to a surprise 70th birthday party last night, though, and had a great time, while Chappy and I had the house to ourselves for hours. That’s the first time that’s happened since we moved in! There had been one afternoon in November, a week or two after we moved, but I spent that unpacking and moving books. Otherwise, I haven’t had the house to myself for more than a few hours at a time at most, and that’s never been at night before, so that was nice. I adore my parents, but it’s a treat to be alone in the house once in a while.

Chappy, of course, disagrees. He says we’re ALL supposed to be home, with him, at all times, and wonders why the world isn’t set up in such a way as to make that possible.

Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I just saw this photo. The caption is “Blizzard + Ingenuity = Win” which pretty much covers it. Brilliant and funny … especially for Superbowl weekend! (Thankfully for them, it looks like a basement door.)

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Cables // Add Comment »

So, Mom and I went into New York today to visit the Titanic Artifact Exhibition. This is, not surprisingly, an exhibit of actual pieces salvaged from the ocean floor. Jewelry, dinnerware, ship’s whistles. Eyeglasses. Cosmetic cases. Watches. Wallets. A pair of shoes. The compass from the bridge. Money. Letters, stamps. A sink from a first class cabin. Along with these real items, there are some set pieces–a replica of a third class cabin, or a section of a first class cabin. A hallway set up to look like one of the real ones.

When you get there, you get a boarding pass for the trip.

On the back is the name and details of one of the passengers. My boarding pass belonged to Nora Hogarty, an 18-year old on her way to becoming a nun. Mom’s was a Catherine Jenson, mother of two.

When you get to the end of the exhibit, they have a list of who lived, who died, and sadly, Nora didn’t make it. (Mrs. Jenson did, though she suffered from TB, so who knows how long she lived afterward.)

Also at the Discovery Times Square location was an exhibit for “Leonardo Da Vinci’s Workshop,” which was fascinating. Pages from his notebooks, sketches, preliminary work for some of his paintings. But, even better? 3-D models of some of his most ingenious inventions. A Robot Soldier, for heaven’s sake. A mechanical Lion designed to walk up to the King of France and present him a gift. A mechanical kite designed for men to fly. All very, very cool. I wanted to play with all of them! But, unfortunately they had “Do Not Touch” signs all over the place. They did have interactive touch-screen computer models, though so you could see how it all fit together, get closer looks at some of his masterpieces like the Mona Lisa–including a representation of what the colors probably looked like before they faded with age. Very, very fun.

And, here, see? Proof that I was in Times Square. (That’s the Army recruitment booth there on the right, with a facsimile of the US flag in lights.) But, see that Pepsi 2010 add?

I’m not crazy for seeing the name of my favorite little boy there, am I?

While we were walking through Times Square, looking for someplace for lunch, we were stopped by these two lovely ladies. The one on the left, Catherine Birndorf, has a book coming out (co-written with Lucy Danziger), and they were asking people if they could ask a few questions for a book trailer they’re working on. How nifty is that?

The book is called “The Nine Rooms of Happiness: Loving Yourself, Finding Your Purpose, and Getting Over Life’s Little Imperfections,” and is a guide to helping women deal with the inbalances in their lives. Or, well, something like that. It’s hard to get a clear description while standing on a street corner, but the idea is that we each have metaphorical emotional rooms, Living room for socializing, Family room for family, the basement which is under everything and stands for our past … all that … and that sometimes even when you think you’re focused on one “room,” you may be stuck in another, one that’s throwing your balance off.

Anyway, they were both very nice, and we enjoyed chatting with them. They seemed to like Mom and me, too, which is always a good thing.

Anyway, we took the train in from Penn station. Dad had dropped us off at the station this morning, which is good, because the train is my favorite way to get into the city. (For the many times I GO into the city, of course.) True, taking a bus directly to Port Authority would have been closer, but it’s not like it was THAT long a walk. Luckily, it wasn’t freezing cold, either. Not yet snowing. Not windy (thankfully). It was just … normally cold, so the walk was perfectly reasonable.

And, as usual, somebody stopped me to ask for directions. It’s uncanny, but it happens almost every time. I’m told that I have a distinctive walk, determined, like I know exactly where I am and where I’m going. When I spent a semester in London in college, I had somebody ask me for directions there on my first day there (and yes, I actually knew the answer). I find it intriguing.

Or maybe it’s just my eye-catching orange hat? It’s proof that I was there, though, and taken by Mom, while we were playing “catch me if you can” with her and her camera on one side of this pole, and me on the other. She finally said, “Oh, just peek around,” so I did. She did the same for me to take her picture, but like just about every picture of her these days, she HATES it (sigh). (Honestly, we all understand about good and bad photos, but she hates even the good ones.) But, anyway, I’m not posting it because I want her to continue speaking to me. She was definitely there, though.

Oh, and as usual, the train ride was great for my sock knitting. This sock? I finished turning the heel last night and was literally two rows past the heel when I got on the train … and now look. That’s about half a leg, there! So, yay for me.

Okay, I should go spend some time with my boy. He really missed me today. Dad reports that he spent most of the day sitting by the garage door, instead of hanging out downstairs with Dad, or curled up on his pillow like usual. He even convinced Dad to take him to the train station to pick us up. Such a happy tail! He was sooooo glad to see us, and he has kept close to me ever since. Poor guy … he hates it when his family is unaccounted for.

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Just when you thought the story couldn’t get worse than the knitting-less needles that have left me with no knitting to do for several nights now. (Well, except for that sock.) Just when you thought things couldn’t get scarier…

You discover that evil is lurking everywhere.

Even an innocent coffee cup.

I bring my coffee to work every morning in this stainless steel thermal mug. It sits on the counter overnight, and each morning, while brewing my coffee, I warm up the mug with boiling water, so that my coffee will stay hotter longer, since I can’t abide warmish coffee.

So, this morning, I went about my usual routine. Made my oatmeal, fed Chappy, and then prepared my coffee. I dumped out the hot water, poured in the coffee, cream, and sugar and screwed on the lid.

Then I flipped the seal over on its hinge, to hold in the coffee.

There was a BUG lurking under the seal.

On lid of my coffee cup. While I was screwing it onto the mug.

What would have happened if I hadn’t sealed the mug, but had instead decided to take a sip? The bug and I would have been eye-to-eye. Or it might have fallen down my shirt (eek!). Or scurried off over my hand to get away, causing me to drop the coffee on poor Chappy’s head.

I don’t like bugs, mind you, but I’m not THAT squeamish about them. But … this was a little too close for comfort. Did that bug climb up the coffee cup to the lid and sit there all night? Did it creep across the counter while I was stirring my oatmeal? How long was it there? What was it doing? Why?

I’ll tell you what it was doing. It was lurking, lying in wait for some nefarious reason.

Well!

The aftermath?

I was very calm. Sure, it startled me. I flipped the seal over on my coffee, saw the bug, and said, “Oh!” as I pulled my hands away and stepped back.

“What?” asked both my parents.

“There’s … a BUG on my coffee cup.”

“What? Where?” Mom jumped up and came running over. Meanwhile, the bug hadn’t moved (it was probably dizzy from its ride while I screwed the lid onto the mug). I flicked it off the cup and into the sink.

Mom started doing her Bug Dance. “Ohmigod! What are we going to do? Kill it! It’s moving. It’s escaping!” She grabbed a huge handful of paper towels and … I’m not sure if she squished it or just laid them on top … but by then she was waving her hands in the air and calling my Dad, who was calmly trying to eat his bagel … not easy to do when you’re laughing at your wife’s antics. I, on the other hand, was standing there, holding my coffee cup, trying to tell them exactly where the bug had been, how CLOSE it had been, so that they would properly appreciate how calm I was, not throwing the mug across the room or freaking out.

All in all, it was a pretty exciting moment. And just thinking about Mom’s bug dance makes me feel like laughing. Mom is VERY entertaining when there are bugs around. Or snakes.

Oh, and the kind of bug? I’m not sure. Dad said a water bug (coffee bug)? We obviously have them around, though, because I found one ON Chappy’s water dish the other day. Right on the rim, right where my thumb would go when I pick it up to fill it. That was startling enough, but, you know, that was on the FLOOR. That’s completely different. Finding a bug on the floor (or, well, two inches up, on your dog’s dish rim) isn’t THAT unusual. Finding one that apparently wants to share your coffee? Definitely unexpected.

Something else that’s unexpected?

You’ll never guess what I’m doing tomorrow.

Mom and I are going into New York.

That may not seem that unusual. We only live about 35 miles outside the city, after all, right? Except … I really don’t like New York very much. It’s a crowd thing, I can’t abide crowds.

Mind you, there are some wonderful things in the city, and don’t think I don’t know that. But I also don’t like traffic. I’ve never once in my life driven into the city. The closest I’ve come was driving over the George Washington bridge the one and only time I’ve been to Long Island. I get claustrophic on buses (because, again the crowd thing), and just generally don’t like to go. I have had good times once I’ve made it into the city and am wherever it is I needed to be … the theater, the museum, the office, whatever. But the idea of going in and just walking around? That’s like going to the dentist.

In fact, you folks know exactly how long it’s been since I’ve been to New York. Almost exactly four years, since I went in on business on January 31, 2006. Before that? It had been 6 years. That had been while Katy was alive, and we went in to see a Broadway show. (“Annie Get Your Gun,” which I hated, even if it did have Bernadette Peters in it. The rest of the family loved it, though, and Mom and Dad even went to see it again with my sister and their grandkids when Reba McIntyre took over.)

Anyway, you can see that this is a highly unusual thing for me. So, it’s got to be something big that draws me in there, right?

Well, yeah, in its way. Titanic, even.

Because, that’s where we’re going–to see the Titanic Artifacts exhibit at the Discovery center (or museum, or whatever it’s called) in Times Square. It’s been there since the summer, and I’ve wanted to go, but kept putting it off. The exhibit ends in a few weeks, though, so time is of the essence.

Besides, this is by nature of a reward for finishing the draft of my book. (Did I tell you that I had the second draft done? In only one month after finishing the first one–talk about record time!) Since the book is called “After Titanic,” seeing actual pieces from the real thing is definitely an inspiring idea, don’t you think?

(And, don’t think I don’t appreciate the irony that I’m doing something I compare to going to the dentist as a “reward.”)

• Tags: General • Permalink:Evil Lurks // 5 Comments »

Okay, everything’s done except the buttons. Mom and I actually know which ones we prefer. (Well, it’s ultimately my choice, of course, but she’s HERE and has great taste, so naturally I ask for her opinion, too.) It’s not the best picture (there were close ups the other day), but… the top one is wood, the middle one is like a little, brass sand dollar, and the bottom is the same button that I used on my orange sweater.

Which reminds me, I need to sew the buttons back onto that sweater, too, now that I’ve finished its new button bands, too.

Sadly, though, right now I’m “knitless” because I don’t have anything on the needles, because I still don’t have a pattern for my yarn unravelled from my Celtic Dreams. I’d like to do the FLAK pattern, but am at a complete stand-still because I don’t know where to start. Not because the pattern is unclear, because it’s not, but because, without having the least idea what my gauge is going to be … because my knitting is always absurdly loose … I can’t even figure out how many cables I might or might not need. So I don’t even know where to start with a swatch … And the swatch I tried in just moss switch? As I relaxed while knitting, the gauge loosened even on that.

In other words, short of casting on 80-100 stitches and randomly picking a bunch of variously-sized cables to make a HUGE swatch, I just don’t know what to do. How can you pick out cables when you have NO idea even what size cables you need? Or how the cables will affect the gauge compared to the background stitch?

Especially when you notoriously have NO patience for making swatches. I mean, I do make them for every project I start–you know that I do–but they never actually end up the same size as the finished sweater. (Really, never.) Even if I picked a handful of cables and wasted yarn swatching each and every one of them … I don’t trust that they would actually match the math I need. (You know, that’s why my Celtic Dreams came out so much wider at the bottom … the gauge changed as I knit.)

Sigh. I know, I’m just whining and should settle down and do the math and make the stupid swatches … but that holds as much appeal as, well, my mind is blank. But something dreadfully dull, tedious, and ultimately pointless. Really, feel free to just ignore me. I just miss knitting… (grin)

I DO have a half-finished sock in my purse, but … blah. As many different sock patterns I have, as many sock BOOKS, I always knit plain-jane stockinette socks, and that gets dull. So, why not knit new socks? Well, one, I’d need to carry the pattern around, and my purse just isn’t that big. But also, two, I would have to re-do the math for every pattern. My freakily loose gauge and narrow feet mean that my standard socks are only 44 stitches around–and on a size-one needle, nonetheless. Those needles are so narrow, knitting for more than an hour makes my fingers ache.

Sigh.

I SUPPOSE I could start some other project while I’m trying to figure out what to do with my lovely, reclaimed Black Water Abbey yarn, but … that’s what I want to work on, darn it!

You know what I really want to do with it? If I could figure out how? Re-do the Celtic Dreams, but as a cardigan this time. Except, since it came out so large last time–with my using the smallest size instructions, and a size THREE needle with my Aran yarn–I can’t figure out how to make it smaller and still be the Celtic Dreams, you know? I’d have to leave out cables, which would throw off the symmetry, or buffer each cable with only 1 purl stitch instead of 2, but that would crowed them too close, I think…

Sigh.

See? This is the problem with being a monogamous knitter…

• Tags: Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Sigh // 4 Comments »

It’s the 5th Annual Blogger’s Silent Poetry Reading. I’ve participated in 2006, 2007, 2008, and last year gave you the Very Special Treat of sharing one of my own poems with you. it went over so well, I thought I’d try it again. It’s a rare, rare thing, so … I hope you like it!

Mourning After
by Deb Boyken

Finally, I stand, my feet firm on the shore,
And look back as the waves of grief lap at my toes.

I successfully navigated the waters, finding air
For my gasping lungs, as the tempest washed over my head.

Yet I fought my way through the waves, leaving
My battered heart no choice but to strive with the rest of me.

I struggled to the beach, victorious but weary, uncaught by
The undertow of despair dragging at my heels.

Looking back at the horizon, I see wave after wave
Baring white teeth which can no longer touch me.

Grief waits, poised to dissolve the sand beneath my feet,
But I’ve charted its greater depths, and ‘ware its watery tricks.

Still, it calls me, sussurrating in the wind, tempting me,
Promising to fill my ears, my mind, with waters of wistful memories.

I stand unmoving, my feet firmly planted on the sands of life,
My hardest challenge now to turn away.

Hmm, interesting… it’s been a while since I read this one.

• Tags: General • Permalink:Poetry // 2 Comments »

Here’s what I read in January–a remarkably short list for me, but I blame that on the “fiction diet” I put myself on, to encourage me to work on my OWN book…

1. Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo (226 p.) Such an adorable book, really. After Harry Truman’s presidency was over, he and Bess took a road trip, driving cross-country. No Secret Service. No security. No entourage or motorcade. Just he and Bess and a bunch of road maps. How cool is that? Imagine how surprised the police officer who pulled him over for speeding was?

2. Abigail Adams by Woody Holton (412 p.) A new biography of Abigail Adams, and quite enjoyable, too.

3. Respect the Spindle by Abby Franquemont (135 p.) Great book on spinning.

4. Essential Guide to Color Knitting by Margaret Radcliffe (313 p.) Really great book on different ways to use color in your knitting. Seriously, one of the best references I think I’ve seen.

5. Reversible Knitting by Lynne Barr (192 p.) How can you beat a knitting book that not only has creative patterns, but 50 brand-new knitting stitches, all reversible?

6. Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly (375 p.) Tips and rules on how to be a great copywriter

7. Script and Scribble by Kitty Burns Florey (186 p.) A book on handwriting, old styles, methods of writing, and how to improve your handwriting in general. Fun little book.

8. Dreadnaught by Robert Massie (908 p.) This monster of a history book has been on my shelf for years, and I finally got around to reading it, and am glad I did. A look at the events that led up to WWI (with an emphasis on the navy), focusing on each of the people involved. Love that.

9. Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (313 p.) Based on her blog, Orangette, a book of stories and recipes about her life.

10. Under Enemy Colors by S. Thomas Russell (491 p.) One of my favorite fantasy authors (Sean Russell) writing under a different name, this is a story about events on a British navy ship during the Napoleonic wars. It was enjoyable, but a little too heavy on sailing details for my taste. Good, but … I wish he’d go back to writing books about Farrland.

11. The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg (464 p.) A new book by a fantasy author I usually enjoy, but, I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the right mood, or what, but this one didn’t quite do it for me.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:Reading List from January 2010 // Add Comment »

I finally figured out where to put my blocking board. If I clear off the table in my little room/office, I can balance it on the top. It’s not a terrible fit, either–it’s larger than the table, but only by about about 5″ on each side, so while a little inconvenient, it at least works.

Of course, I don’t know what I’m going to do the first time I have a lace shawl to block–those never fit entirely on the blocking board, so that’s going to be interesting…

Of course, this means I was finally able to block my ribbed-cabled cardigan that I finished last month. The poor thing has been waiting for weeks and weeks to get its final wash.

My orange sweater is blocking, too–laid on a towel on the cedar chest. I had recently torn out the button bands that had stopped halfway up, because I was never happy with that. So I just reknit them, finishing them last night. So, that’s drying now, too.

After I had laid everything out and sat down to rest, I glanced over … the blocking board was just as eye level. (You folks know I sit on the floor when I’m using my computer, right?), and I loved the ripple the ribbed edge made.

Now, I just need to pick out the buttons.

On the plus side, it’s not going to take long for these to dry. Not only did I spin most of the water out in the washing machine, so they’re damp/wet, not sopping, but … it’s warm up here! We joke that this townhouse is a Goldilocks house… the downstairs is too cold, the upstairs is too warm, and the middle is juuuust riiiiight. And on days like today, when it’s really cold outside (like, 20 degrees) so that the heat is on a lot? The upstairs is extra warm. In fact, I’m sitting here right now in jeans and a tank top, having shrugged off my sweater. When I get up to go down to the kitchen for lunch, I’ll grab it, but for now? Too warm for a sweater.

Yes, I know, it’s weird. And we’re all a little worried about what’s going to happen this summer, if the heat rises this dramatically–especially with that huge window of ours.

In fact, we’re trying to figure out what to do about that window. It’s beautiful, but it’s HUGE, and it lets in way too much sun in the afternoon. (As in, it’s blinding in the kitchen.) Not only that, since that’s a large amount of glass, it’s letting too much cold air in now and is going to make things extra hot in the summer.

We’re desperately trying to think of something we can do to cover this window enough to (1) cut down the glare, (2) add some thermal protection, (3) still let in some light because we like the whole natural-light thing, and (4) won’t be too expensive.

This is harder than it might seem. First, the three of us all have different ideas on what will or won’t work, or how it shoul be done. And, second … even if we agree on a drape or blind or something, installation is going to be HARD. This window is about level with the second floor, so it’s HIGH. Even if we owned a ladder–which we don’t–there’s no way it would be tall enough to reach ABOVE the window to hang, say, a drapery rod. And that’s assuming you could find the floor space to put the ladder, because we have almost none, and our huge behemoth of an unmovable tv is in the corner right in front of the window. We can’t move it even an inch. Even if we find some affordable kind of cover that we can all agree on? Installation is going to cost a fortune …

I don’t suppose any of you have any ideas, huh?

And now? Do you realize that I don’t have any knitting projects? I’m still trying to find a pattern for all that lovely Black Water Abbey yarn I unravelled, but … haven’t found one. Which means that the only thing I’ve got to knit right now is the sock in my purse (yawn).

• Tags: Finished Knitting, General • Permalink:Knitting Horizons // 3 Comments »

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I can’t tell you how much fun I had, having a Chuck-watching contest, and I want to thank everybody who humored me and gave my favorite show a try!

1. What snack was Chuck gorging on during his depression? Cheese Balls (apparently a Buy More specialty)

2. How many times was Chuck knocked unconscious in the first episode? Four times, including being drugged into submission. Once in Prague on General Beckman’s orders, once when Sarah slapped him on the dance floor, once when they were ambushed at the Buy More, once in his prison cell when he couldn’t flash to defend himself.

3. What instrument did Chuck play on stage? Guitar–pretty much any answer with this word in it was right, since I’m not really up on the various mariachi/flamenco guitar nuances.

4. What were Sarah and her friend Carina doing when they bumped into Chuck? Clubbing, out for a drink, girl’s night out… just generally having fun.

5. How did Chuck get the briefcase out of the vault? There was quite a sequence of events here, Chuck flashed on the security system and then did some truly amazing acrobatics to get to the far side of the vault. Though, technically, he didn’t get the briefcase out of the vault at all–he got cocky at the end and sprang the alarm so that Sarah had to come to his rescue.

6. Did Jeff and Lester try to help Morgan out at his party? Or did they just mock? And were they successful? A shocker, of course, but they mocked. And mocked. And mocked. They did take steps at one point to try to bring down the numbers of men who came in with Carina, but that was mostly out of selfish motives so they’d have a better chance with the women, than to help Morgan in any  way. They were, of course, wildly unsuccessful.

7. Who looked the best at that embassy dinner? Chuck? Sara? Awesome? Ellie? (Really, there’s no wrong answer to this one.) Seriously. No wrong answer to this one … though I deliberately left Casey off the list because, handsome though he is, he wasn’t at his sartorial best that night. (He has yet to top his diving off a balcony-while-tied-to-a-chair-in-a-tux outfit.) Besides, technically, he wasn’t at the dinner–not until he crashed it.

8. What color was Sarah’s dress, while she was dancing with Chuck? Sparkly silver/gray/pewter.

9. How did they save the dictator? By the unwilling blood donation from AB-negative Casey … despite the fact that he had already passed out from lack of blood himself. Seems unreasonably risky, but hey, the man was a FORMER stinking commie dictator.

10. What do you think happened to Awesome at the end of the episode? Obvious from the next-week scenes, and of course, it’s two weeks ago now, but yes, the man was kidnapped because they thought that HE was the super-spy, not Chuck. (“Because one looks like a spy, and one looks like, well, Chuck.”)

So, who is the winner?

I used Random.org to pick a random number and, honest to God, the winner is #1, Jennifer Shival. Congratuations, Jennifer!

• Tags: General • Permalink:Chuck Winner! // 4 Comments »