August 27, 2008
~ inattentive schoolperson ~
School starts today. I've been a good schoolperson by knocking off a chunk of the reading in advance. I'm looking forward to this semester's classes - - and so far the reading's been good. One problem...no wait... two problems...er...three.
Problem One: Way back in June, when I went bananas at a local yarn shop during the mini-vacation to Seattle, I bought a bunch of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, with no specific pattern. I had been planning on improvising my own design, which has been undergoing various revisions within the confines of my mind, but I got distracted with other projects and this precious yarn has been collecting dust. As you all know, one of the most exciting parts of knitting is the dreaming stage, when you consult your stash, consider a multitude of patterns, peruse online yarn stores, compare yarns and guages, and Ravel somewhat obsessively. Well, I seem to exist in this 'dreaming stage' constantly and even though I've got projects in the works, I derive great joy from the infinite knitting possibilities.
Recently, I've gone back to this Jo Sharp yarn, which exists as tweedy awesomeness, and I've devoted some attention to attaching a pattern to it. I had pretty much resolved on the Rambling Rose cardigan from Interweave Knits, but then I noticed that something I've been lusting after on Ravelry has made its way into a pdf pattern download. If that is not a sign from God, than I don't know what would be.
And so, problem number one, is Baby Cables and Big Ones Too which will be knat in two colors of tweed, with the contrasting color comprising the garter stitch yolk and lower half of the arms. Part of what makes me drool all over this design is its similarity to the Cobblestone, but with feminine shaping and...sigh...diminishing cables.
Problem Two: I'm sure you have all been axiously awaiting my cast on for those Druid Mittens I mentioned two posts ago. Well, step one, acquire the pattern. My excitement for mittens has taken an expected-for-me turn - - that 'dreaming stage' I articulated above....yeah. Mittens.
Now, let's take a step back and discuss one of my life-long loves: fashion. By 'fashion,' I do not necessarily refer to trendy or high-end, but rather my own particular take which usually includes a good dose of fug, lots of contrasts (or, as some people call it, failure to match), and stuff that is interesting. Sometimes there is trendy, and rarely is there high-end (but only for financial reasons). As you can imagine, knitting has been integrated with my fashion tastes, and together they have 'fueled the fire' of that dreaming stage I keep mentioning.
In my mind, I have seen the glory of pairing modern knitted items (such as that diminishing cables pullover above) and traditional knitted accessories. For some time, I have been a great admirer of the traditional knitting and have only recently discovered what I expect to be my outlet. Mittens. And so, Selbuvotter (I highly recommend checking out the projects) and Latvian Mittens (again, check out the projects) will soon enable me to fulfill a great fashion dream. One of the reasons why mittens excite me is the notion that I will not go to jail and be executed if I fail to make matching mitts. In the past, I have considered my failure to maintain attention on a project, and have wondered if I would be able to make two of something (ie, a matching pair). But seriously, who's going to shoot me if I am spotted wearing a Latvian mitten with a Norweigan mitten? I didn't think so.
In other news, and possibly Problem Three, the temperature is cooling off. Which means more opportunities for me to have fun in the outside! This summer, when it was over 95 degrees, I opted to stay indoors...which proved to be much of the time. I have previously described my person's poor temperature regulation, and I have decided to 'live with' this condition rather than fight it. Anyhootily, last night it was in the low 70s, and I went on a fun mountain bike ride with the Josh. We didn't have much time before the sun set, but we meandered around some fun trails for about 45 minutes, which is sufficient for both cardiovascular health and mental health.
August 25, 2008
~ Tour de Fat 2008 ~
As summer comes to a close and the window into fall begins to open, there is one final celebration which represents the Holy Trinity of Fun (bikes, beer, ballyhoo), the annual Tour de Fat.
This year's fun began at 9:45 when the group met at Ann Morrison Park. In previous years, "the group" has gone bananas with costuming - - this year, however, we failed to costume. Although, Josh and I donned some big straw hats which were loads of crazy fun. Hats! At 10:00 the bike parade commenced, with an estimated 2,000 pedalers, and the group jockeyed for position. Throughout the parade, the group failed to stay together. There were just so many people on so many bikes, I have concluded, that it was near to impossible for the group to remain intact. Not to worry, however, this is precisely why God invented cell phones.
The parade is one's chance to see all of the many many wonderful costumes - - more wonderful even, than big straw hats! Unfortunately, I failed you, my dear readers, as I was unable to photograph the truly awe-inspiring costumes. There was a fantastic dragon, Mr. and Mrs. Potatoheads, garden gnomes, Jesus, etc., etc. I will go ahead and mention the guy with whom I attended public school from elementary thru high school who constructed a two-high bike and rode it through the parade with impressive balance and agility. The parade is about an hour in length and concludes with a critical mass through downtown which is very exciting with all of the bike bells ringing and the bystanders cheering (for bikes & ballyhoo!) and the total absence of automobiles. It is, in fact, a promotion of the bicycle-pedaling lifestyle.
After the parade, the group went for lunch. And after lunch, we returned to the park, where we acquired wristbands and tokens to exchange for beer. I'd like to take this moment to articulate my excitement for the Greenness of this particular festival, as the organizers seek for it to have a relatively low carbon impact on the environment. Which is awesome. The beer cups are corn and 100% compostable, and there were recycling and composting stations set up throughout the venue. Anyway.
Before the first beer was drunk, several of us decided to stand in line to partake in the wonky bike riding which is an incredible amount of fun, especially if you've consumed a few brewskies. Though, some of the bikes I attempted the impossible and was defeated, even after multiple try-and-try-agains. Everyone took turns riding the wonky bikes, some of us went at it several times.
As it was hot that day - - and after several hours of drinking lots of beer and overexerting ourselves with sillyness in the direct rays of the sun, the group was rather consumed by the heat. We trotted to the nearby river and employed the cold water to our advantage. After that, the group parted ways for much-needed naps. There must be something about being really really silly, smiling and laughing until you hurt, and being both hyper-active and somewhat intoxicated in the sun and around bikes for an extended amount of time that is exhausting. Several individuals had attempted to make some sort of plan with me that evening, but I declined in advance, saying "Oh, that's the day of the Tour de Fat." And when they respond, confused, "But it gets over at 4:00" I have to explain that a person is quite incapable of doing anything of consequence after engaging in the Holy Trinity of Fun. Though, that evening, the group reconvened for a viewing of Ironman at the dollar theater.
More photos are available on my flickr photoset. Also, I would like to direct external parties to David's photos which are substantially better than mine.
August 20, 2008
~ fall preview ~
This is the latest version of my garden scarf. On its previous incarnation, the center cable panel went the way of the beast and I felt compelled to rechart the blasted thing. While I was bothering to frog, I took the opportunity to cast on for an additional cable panel at either end of the scarf, hence making it W I D E .
As scarves are a regular component of my wardrobe, even in the summer (what with the crazy air conditioning action at my place of employment), I find great joy in having a variety of fashionable scarves from which to select for my daily outfit. To add to the joy, knitting a few scarves a year... Many of you should have noted (what with my constant mentioning of it) that I have become more interested in cables this year. Previously in my scarf history, I was of the rather staunch opinion that scarves ought to be reversible - - and this limited my cabling engagement on scarves, as the options for reversible cables are few. More recently I have discontinued my preference for reversible scarves, and this has opened my scarf world to inifinite and exciting possibilities.
~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~
Below, a preview of Inishfern. A few finishing touches remain to be completed. One, that bad crocheted buttonband that I mentioned....needs to be redone. It is much too bad. Considering the badness of the crochet, I may opt to pick up and knit some buttonholes. This may prove to be my best option, especially to counter what I fear may be too much negative ease at the top.
I wore Inishfern all day yesterday and it was lovely. It fits just the way I wanted, it is wonderfully comfortable, and looks pretty and attractive. You will note the asymetrical neckline, of which I have become quite fond. And the sleeves, which you cannot really discern from the photo, are mostly straight - - not tappered, not bell - - and I love them. Per my joy of cables, this is cables upon cables and cables fusing with other cables. However, I do not feel the cables are over done as can happen when cables are allowed to take over and go totally bananas. Cables, love them, but keep them in check.
~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~
I would like to conclude this thrilling post with a list of projects for which I plan to cast on this fall.
- First and foremost, Brooklyntweed's Druid Mittens. Sigh... I have almost decided which yarn to employ - - a deep-red wool from my stash that I recycled from a thrift store sweater. Although, I may crumble at the beauty of that Jamison shetland wool and throw down the dollars. These would be my first adventure into mittens, and if they go well, I envision myself knitting a lot of mittens.
- I have found Brooklyntweed to design some nice manly items, and so I am planning on knitting the Turn a Square hat for the SO. I have no idea what yarn to use - - as knitted gifts for the SO must be both machine washable and machine dryable.
- And, if I can get up the guts for steeks, Little Birds by Ysolda.
There are plenty of other ideas for improvised projects - - legwarmers, more top-down seamless raglans - - but these are specific patterns which I have a mind to follow.
Fall is around the corner. With it comes school and less time to knit, but more time to enjoy what I knat over summer break.
August 18, 2008
~ late sleeping ~
It's always really hard to get up on time on Monday. I'm sure you can all relate, but the prospect of getting out of bed so that I can spend the whole day at work is not very appealing. It's too bad that work can't begin with some awesome activity to facilitate the getting-out-of-bed. Weekends are totally different. This past Sunday, I had my alarm set for 7:00 a.m., and instead of hitting the snooze button over and over like I do on Mondays, I jumped out of bed and excitedly got ready for a bike ride. I hit the pedals by 7:45 and proceeded to do my Floating Feather Loop which is about 32 miles.
Incidentally, my Floating Feather Loop is one of my 'in town' favorites. It covers mostly flat roads, and I could see how someone might find it boring, but I enjoy spinning my legs and riding at a faster pace. Also, I find great joy in my cyclecomputer. I play different games with myself during a ride, for example, where I'll get going at a certain speed and try to maintain the speed for a certain distance, or I'll slow down and see how fast I can speed back up. I've also been working on my downhill skillz, and it's fun to climb one of the foothill neighborhood roads and then speed down. After which, I like to see what my top speed was. Anyway...
School will be starting soon. I'm taking two classes that I am rather excited about - - public land policy and state and local policy. The first, public lands, it should be evident that I am all about the public lands. And state & local, I've become more interested in local policy in recent years. Also, I have heard excellent things about the profs for these classes, which should be a nice refreshing change. I've started working through the readings and I do wish that we could skip the basic theory and dive into the topic. I realize that not everyone in the program has a political science BA, but still, we always spend the first few classes on basic theory refresher and I wish that (a) we didn't have to repeat curriculum, and (b) that basic theory be a prerequisite that if people don't get, they learn about on their own time.
In knitting knews, I have finished my Inishfern, which you may or may not recall my writing about previously. I don't have photos yet, but hopefully soon. This weekend, I had a bit of a button-fiasco - - my original plan for fastening the cardigan together was to employe hook & eye's, but quickly discovered that one should not use 'hooks' with a knitted fabric, especially one knitted at a looser guage. After throwing the hook & eye idea out the window, I had to consider buttons, and thus, buttonholes. Even though I claim to be of the anti-planning persuasion, I admit the utility of planning certain things in advance...for example, buttonholes. As I had not planned for buttonholes and the knitting on my Inishfern was complete, my options were to rip out the edging and rework with buttonholes or fashion buttonholes onto the already knitted edging. I opted for the lattter. By using my crochet hook and the rudimentary crochet skillz I learned from "the crochet edging" of my Nantucket Jacket, I clumsily crocheted some buttonholes for Inishfern. Amazingly, it worked out. Though, I have such little understanding of crochet that I don't even know what I'm looking at when I see it - - I always think to myself "Oh, that looks weird...it must be crochet" - - and so I am certain that my crochet buttonholes are really really bad crochet, but I have no idea. They are functional as buttonholes and they are rather invisible (handy, considering the bad crochet), so it works.
I also ripped out my garden scarf because the center cable panel was coming out particularly disjointed-looking and I hated it. Nothing worse than disjointed cables. I rewrote the cable chart to align with my sensibilities and began anew. I also added two more cable panels to the sides, as I decided that I wanted a wide scarf. These additional cable panels are of the celtic-style cabling, of which I am very fond. Also, bobbles! The yarn for this project I am not sure about. It is Ella Rae Bamboo Silk which I procured almost 50% off at a big yarn sale last weekend - - and just during the knitting process I am noticing a tendency for it to shed. Aside from that, it is quite glorious.
August 7, 2008
~ drawing the line ~
Last night, I watched the film Trekkies, something of a documentary about Star Trek conventions and fanatics. While I may have, at various points in my past, indicated that I was a 'trekkie' - - after viewing the film, I would like to formally recind that self-description. Some of you may be aware that there is currently a Star Trek convention taking place right at this very moment in Las Vegas - - some of you also may be aware that I was giving careful consideration to going, and that I had contacted the two people I know who may possibly have 'trekkie' sympathies to see if anyone would like to go to the convention with me. After all, I was feeling a bit odd about going to a Star Trek convention by myself - - which is why I also gave careful consideration to meeting someone's sister (who I have never met) in Las Vegas. This solo-vacation that I was thinking about taking would have been intended to coincide with visiting Star Trek: The Experience before it closes forever.
Interestingly, several weeks ago, I bumped into an acquaintance who asked me if I would dog-sit for her during this week in August. It was with joy that I was able to honestly say that I didn't think I would be available because I was planning on attending a Star Trek convention during the exact time of her vacation. Has that ever before been used as an excuse to get out of doing something???....after watching Trekkies, I believe it has.
Anyway, I've been deliberating whether to go to the convention over and over in my head, and my inability to make a decision on the matter proved to make the decision for me...as the convention is currently in progress and I am not there. But, after seeing that film last night, I feel as though it enabled me to vicariously experience the convention without having to actually go and spend the moolah. And, I feel satiated with my vicarious convention experience.
If you haven't seen the film, it provides a glimpse into the convention experience and follows several really odd crazy Star Trek fans. For me, it was embarrassing and painful to watch. There was the lady who insists that she is a real Star Trek Commander and doesn't acknowledge anything said to her unless people call her "Commander" and she doesn't go anywhere without her toy communicator, phaser, and tricorder. Then there's the lady who was disturbingly obsessed with Brent Spiner, and every moment of the film with her made me feel really uncomfortable. Oh, and the crazy libertarian commando female who's obsession with Star Trek came out of an obsession with Conan the Barbarian and homemade armor. The dentist and is family who surround their professional dental practice in all things Star Trek and who have become so accustomed to wearing their Star Trek uniforms all of the time (they even force their children to wear the uniforms) that they seem to have no clue why that is odd. The other guy who wears his Star Trek uniform at all times and who, if he had the money, would get plastic surgery to have pointed Vulcan ears, because he feels much more like a Vulcan than a human. The guy whose house is completely filled with Star Trek items and whose life goal is to build a shelf to display his glory. The guy who spends all of his free time trying to build the various gadgets from Star Trek and goes to Radio Shak to talk to the 'experts' about what components would work well for a Romulan cloaking device. ...Of course, my favorite was the male teenager whose obsession with Star Trek is simply behind explanation. And this is not to mention the sheer quantity of money that the fans spend on their obsession - - there was a scene of an auction and someone bought a Klingon forehead piece for $1,400, which I thought was utter craziness. These people, none of them appeared to be at all affluent, yet they seemed to be spending their entire livelihood on Star Trek junk. Not that I am anyone to judge, but SERIOUSLY...
So, after viewing the film, I have decided that I am undoubtedly not a trekkie in any shape or form. I enjoy watching the program, but the fanaticism...yeah, no. In conclusion, I would like to say that I greatly enjoyed Wil Wheaton's account of some convention details. I will enjoy from afar, very very afar.
August 6, 2008
~ Anderson Reservoir, Trinity Lakes ~
This past weekend, Josh and I went camping in the Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes area. I'd like to begin by directing you to Josh's blog entry that contains a nice summary of the events.
The Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes is a lovely area. That photo above is of the canyon right at the base of the reservoir. And a big reservoir it is. To get to where we would camp, we had to drive on a scary road to the end of the reservoir and then through the forest and mountains to some campgrounds approximately 13 miles before Trinity Lakes (some high mountain lakes). Our camp spot was lovely.
Soon after we arrived, we went on a mountain bike ride up Fire Road #101 which took us up a gradual climb to the top of some mini-mountains. After the bike ride, we went down to the stream adjacent to our camp, and washed the dust and sweat off our persons and spent several hours splish-splashing around in the water. This was one of my favorite activities of the trip. We cracked open a few beers and had a splendid time playing stream-side.
Interestingly, we opted not to have a camp fire. I realize this is normally a prime joy in camping, but for some reason we weren't feeling it. Instead, we went on a nice evening walk - - primarily so that I could massage the terrible intestinal cramp that I had developed - - played some smashmitten and boggle, and retired to the tent for some reading at a ridiculously early hour. I read half of an exciting science fiction short story about a kid who stumbles upon an abandoned alien space ship and takes it for a spin. It was apparently one of the year's best sci-fi short stories, some years ago.
The next day's primary activity was a big mountain bike ride up to the Trinity Lakes area. According to Josh's calculation, we climbed about 2300 feet in elevation. We rode up a gravel mountain road, which featured an interesting mix of turns and straight-aways, smooth dirt and rugged rocky surfaces. The first part of the ride was through the forest, and then it took us well above the tree line to a higher mountain zone. After two hours of consistent climbing, I began to wonder how much farther it would be to get to the lakes. It was about this point that the road began featuring some more challenging rugged surfaces that took a bit more effort to pedal one's bike over. Also, without the trees, we found ourselves more directly in the sun's rays. All of this, in addition to the fact that my leg muscles were starting to feel the burn, compelled me to feel a bit cranky. At some point, a truck passed us and Josh took the opportunity to ask how much farther it was to the lakes. The man said that the lakes were still a ways away and that the road was really rugged and that we wouldn't be able to ride our bikes up there. This last statement really irritated Josh because the guy clearly underestimated the utility of the mountain bike. Soon after that, we found the turn-around spot. It took about 2.5 hours to ride up, and about 15 minutes to bonzai down. I must say, wow, the downhill was incredibly fun. We had the whole road to ourselves and we bombed down SO FAST. Before we began the descent, Josh commented that we would probably be using our breaks a lot, what with all of the ruggedness and turns. In reality, the breaks were hardly used. I did opt to navigate the particularly rugged stuff slowly, and those sections I really enjoyed - - it's amazing what sort of terrain a person can roll right over on a bike, I didn't even bother navigating around huge rocks, I just rode over them. On the smoother surfaces, I kept my fingers off the breaks and was flying down the mountain. So thrilling! I wish that I had my cycle computer on the bike so that I could have known how fast I was actually travelling - - Josh seems to think that it was faster than ever before and I have to concur. Of course, as irony would have it, Josh later consulted a map and discovered that we had stopped not too far from the lakes.
Photos for this adventure may be found on my Anderson Reservoir photoset
