More snow!

Before class, and after class. It snowed straight through until about 9 pm. Looking at the tops of cars, I'm guessing at least 16 inches total. Crazy!

Snow!

From April flowers to snow showers! A few days ago I took this picture of somebody's yard as I walked by; this morning I wake up to this:

It's pretty exciting though. Although, no signs of university closing :-( I'm glad T. decided to head on out yesterday though; the I-81 corridor is supposed to be a mess right now.

Blocking Silk?

Another finished object! Alas the inadequacies of the camera phone. Anyway, I'm quite happy with my new scarf, just in time for another snowstorm in the forecast...









I know I'm not modeling it in the hipster "European" fashion, but this way you can see the fabric better. I love the wavy effect. But I'm wondering, does one block silk?

You guys gotta try this! :-)

Your results:
You are Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 80% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 75% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 65% Wash (Ship Pilot) 40% Inara Serra (Companion) 35% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 35% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 35% River (Stowaway) 30% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 5% Alliance 5% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%

Medicine and physical healing are your game, but wooing women isn't a strong suit.

Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...

End of the Weekend

Sunday, Terry and I were walking back from church and I showed him this sign I walk by several times a week. It's near the path to the bridge over Beebe Lake, and it just makes me laugh - "Extreme Caution!" - Oh no! Nature! Dirt! Rocks! Sticks! (believe me, their "bark" is worse than their "bite") (ha ha!) The ridiculous thing is that the path at this point is paved, and leads directly to a bridge with very high rails on the sides. On the other side are steps up to the street. Sure, there's a place you can go off onto an unpaved path around the lake, but really people. "Extreme" Caution???


In other news, here is a Finished Object! I'm thinking of making fingerless mitts to match. Very quick, mindless knit. Don't know if I'll keep it (it matches nothing I own - at least outerwear, that is); don't know whom to give it to either. Maybe the Relief Sale in November.

On the Needles (basically only interesting to Tara!)

I just counted: I have 5 projects on the needles. Two are in Harrisonburg though (a pair of socks and a hat). This mitt here is the same fingerless mitt pattern as before, same yarn too, but only one strand instead of doubling up, and size 0 needles instead of size 1. This one seems like it's actually going to FIT. Yay!
I set my timer tonight at 50-minute intervals. Read for 50 minutes, knit for 10. I found that in 10 minutes I can knit 6 rows on this scarf. I have to wax rhapsodic about the yarn for a moment though - it is Artyarns luxury hand-painted Silk Rhapsody, and it was a birthday present from Tara! If it were food, it would be French Silk Pie. If it were music, it would be the theme from Swan Lake. If it were a smell, it would be gardenias at night. I made a teeny-tiny mistake in the pattern (a misreading, really) in the first section, did it correctly in the second section, and did it wrong again on purpose in the third section because I like how it looks. I think I'll continue to alternate. The pattern says:
Row 1: K1, *yo, skp; rep from * to last st, k1
Repeat 8 times.
Well, the first run-through I thought it made sense on the second row to slip the y.o., knit the knit stitch, and slip the yo over it. This was wrong. But it looks cool. The correct thing to do, if you follow the instructions properly, is to slip the knit stitch, knit into the yarn over, then pass slipped stitch over. The effect of doing it correctly is basically a more open open-work section because by knitting into the y.o. stitch, you pull it up a little. If you slip it instead, it makes the hole smaller.

Anyway, knitting minutia.

I should be taking a nap...

Just a note to let y'all know I'm back in NY safely; didn't sleep much on the bus, so need to catch a few Zs before class tonight.

It was a pretty wild weekend! My presentation at the conference went well, despite having to completely shift my approach at the last minute when I realized that the audience had zero background in social theory. The other people on my panel included the Human Rescources director for Cargill (poultry plant), a woman who works for Homeland Security, and two computer science guys who happen to be highly educated South Americans teaching Spanish at the university pontificating about how Spanglish is a "degeneration" of Spanish (like Spanish wasn't a "degenerate" version of Latin! Come on!) So, just a little bizarre.

Then Friday night I had the *lovely* experience of going to a meeting of the Minute Men Civil Defense League, who were trying to help a group of locals start their own grassroots movement to "save the Valley" from immigration. The local activists had been, well, active, though, and the crowd was probably 70% pro-immigrant. Terry and I agreed that the discourse from the anti-immigrant group was basically vicious racism disguised under a rhetoric of rationality and even humanitarian concerns. I'm going to write at least 2 course papers on this so it was very interesting, but at the same time what sticks with me most was afterwards I saw my good friend from Guatemala, a nurse and mother of 2 college students who gives of herself constantly for others. I asked her "how are you?" and she said, "My heart hurts."

more pointless time wastage (but fun!)

According to this web site, the celebrities I most resemble (in order from most to least) are:

1. Eliza Dushku (cool!)
   
2. Jessica Alba (right on!)
   
3. Gary Lineker (erm...ok...)
   
4. Aya Matsuura (who is that?)
   
5. Adam Corolla (huh?)
   
6. Ray Romano (ack!)
   
7. Penelope Cruz (mmmm....)
   
8. Bae Yong-Jun (hmm....)
   
9. Kate Winslet (oh yeah!)
   
10. Lisa Snowdon (ok! whoever she is!)
    

Sadly, the Ray Romano resemblance was the most convincing to me...

Academia

I realized when I came back from spring break how I feel like myself here, in a way I don't at home, not in the same way.

In the midst of this contemplation, as I trudged uphill towards class today congratulating myself for being on time despite the mad dash out the door ten minutes earlier, I felt really full from the lunch of rice and broccoli and cheese I had just eaten. As my mind turned towards food, I was hit by a flash of sudden memory - the salmon! I left it in the oven...I left the oven ON!!!

Crap!!!

My landlady is away; Terry's not here; there was nobody to call. No help for it, I had to run back to the apartment to turn the oven off. My mind filled with visions of charred fish, smoke-damaged rooms, etc. As I crossed the bridge over Beebe I heard SIRENS! Aaugh! Although at the same time I knew it was too soon for that big of a fire to have started in my apt.

Sure enough, there was a fire alarm going off in Balch.

When I got home, the salmon was done perfectly. Just a hint of char at the bottom of the pan.

Ran back to class and slipped in 30 minutes LATE panting and sweating. The professor didn't miss a beat in her lecture; I was impressed.

What a luxury - to be able to show up to a meeting 30 minutes late and not get fired!

Spring in Ithaca

...seems to mean lots of rain. Crocuses are up, but patches of snow linger in cool places. I am taking a little knitting break just now as I ran out of yarn for my current pair of socks and can't seem to find the same make/model anywhere (haven't tried the internet yet...seems like a potential rabbit hole to Wonderland...) yet. Plus, had a bit of repetetive stress in the thumb area (mostly from writing too much) and want to take it easy on the hands.

I'm enjoying the pattern a day calendar I got for Christmas from Emily S., some patterns just make me go WOW! while others are "what were they thinking?" (Mostly the novelty yarn fiascos). Man, though, I'll never make it through all the things I want to make.

Well, gotta go!

Spring Has Sprung!

The daffodils are finally starting to bloom in our front yard! I got yarn for my birthday! Bright notes in an otherwise stressed-out Spring Break.

Spring Fever

toes pale and wrinkled

tap the salt-rimed sidewalk

flinch from cold mud

Happy Birthday to Me!

My friend Catherine gave me this lovely teapot yesterday, and I gave myself this yarn that I bought last fall (50% off!). It felt like Spring today. I read a lot, went to a talk by a Big Famous Anthropologist (the best part was getting out of class for that!). Terry had to leave for VA today but my spring break starts at the end of this week (yay!)

Well, guess I'll go read some more!

Mitt

I finished the first "Broad Street" mitt; it's kind of strange because it's long, but tight. The shell that folds back seems too long, and there's extra room at the wrist. The thumb is kind of long too.

Conversely, the fingers feel quite tight - when I make a fist it feels like the circulation is being cut off somewhat.

I think I'm going to make the second one, but then try another pair knit with just one strand of the yarn and see what happens.

Know anyone with really long, thin fingers (I mean really long and thin, like Jennifer Garner for instance).

Just for Fun

This is me and Terry at an Ethiopian coffee ceremony in Harrisonburg a few weeks ago. He's looking grim because his cup was smaller than mine :-)

And here's my little Christmas cactus, which just got a new spot in the sun (I had to rearrange the furniture a little bit). The Ceramic Fairy says "Recycle!"

Phone time = knitting time

I totally would have finished reading my chapter, but Terry called from St. Louis (he's at a conference) and so while we caught up on each other's days, I did this:
Yes, another poorly lit picture of yarn on needles. What can I say. I was worried it was going to be too big, but the pinky is actually quite snug. I love how the tight-knit alpaca feels like it's going to be IMPERVIOUS to cold :-)

Well, I could finish the chapter or go to bed; I've been working on maintaining a more regular sleep schedule, which dictates that I stop working at midnight (don't feel sorry for me - I took a nice, long, 2-hour supper break! And my alarm is set for 9 a.m.!) but I hate leaving things half-done...

Tomorrow (ok, today... technically) I give a presentation at an on-campus conference, so naturally I have an enormous zit on my jaw. If I wear my hair down maybe nobody will see it... :-)

More Felting

This yarn was on sale at Knitting Etc.; there was more in plain black and white, but I thought I'd just get this and see if it felted before getting more.





When I put it in the warm water, a very strong smell of wet sheep wafted up. Not so pleasant! The label wasn't kidding when it said "virgin wool."



Notice the gloves - I literally took the skin off my knuckles last time, so was prepared this time.

Yes, it definitely felts! There were some little gaps that annoyed me but I'll give it another go sometime. Not sure what I'm going to make since I only got 2 balls (that's all there was of this color).



I used to find the idea of felting completely incomprehensible; why obliterate the distinction of each individually-produced stitch? Wouldn't that just deny recognition of the work that went into it (plus I was really into cables at the time)? It's kind of addictive though; it really is a little bit like magic, especially by hand. You can actually hear the felting happening - it sounds different all of a sudden, and then you see it start to mesh together. So cool.

Relaxing

So the "fun" class where people climb up on the table and yell at each other has stopped being quite so fun, since we seem to have the same discussion every week (postmodernism vs. marxism vs. modernism) but the bright side is that I finished the second sock (knitting slyly under the seminar table...)

At home, I decided it was a good evening just to relax with the fingerless glove/mitt from Knitty and some soothing music. The yarn is 100% alpaca I bought in Peru; it's somewhere between lace and fingering weight; I double it up and use size 1 or 2 needles, depending on the project.
I think I've got this on 1s.

post-felting!

So, before starting on the bag, I hand-felted the little swatch, shown here so you can see the contrast in texture.
Hand-felting was really fun, but I wouldn't want to do an item much bigger than this bag! I may do the slippers I have planned by hand though. It was also rough on the knuckles - next time I'm definitely going to want rubber gloves. It looks really cool, it's just the right size to go over the shoulder and tuck under the arm, just right to hold the cell phone, keys, and wallet. I think it's going to need a zipper or some kind of close though.

pre-felting

Ok, so here goes another shot at felting - this time NOT using superwash wool! It's Lamb's Pride bulky, 85% wool and 15% mohair, left over from my Valentine's Day sweater (aka Blackberry).

The pattern is from the 2007 Knitting calendar (a new pattern every day!) Knitted up really fast - I'm thinking of hand felting it since it's small.

I *heart* PennDOT (not!)

Here are some photos of the trip south. I tell you, there was a long time when I felt like I was never going to get out of PA.

Here we see I-81 somewhere south of Wilkes-Barre but north of Harrisburg. I was going about 25 mph.

For about 2 hours, I sat in absolutely non-moving traffic. I worked on this sock, read a textbook for class, and wondered how long I was going to be able to hold out before I had to make a mad dash into the little wooded area by the road for a pit stop.

This is actually a street in Ithaca on my way out. Pretty, huh?

I'm just glad to be back in pedestrian mode!

Smiles

I'm sitting in the Library and a woman I've never met just walked up to me and whispered, "I like your sweater!" It's the chunky cable with 3/4 sleeves I made from an Easy Knitting pattern (so, technically not brag-worthy at all), but that just totally made my day!

Pennsucksvania

Note to self: Never attempt interstate travel the DAY AFTER A MAJOR SNOW EVENT!

Evening, Valentine's Day
Me: "Hm... up to two feet of snow... weather hazard advisories... me in a car... Well, it's supposed to stop snowing at 10:00 p.m.; how long could it take them to plow the roads? These northern states have huge fleets of snowplows and tons of salt - they prioritize keeping the highways open, so by, oh, noon tomorrow, things should be fine, right?"

Mother Nature: "BWAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Every truck driver from Canada to Mexico: "Dang, I've been delayed a whole day already, I HAVE to get this load delivered soon, I'd better get on the road and make as good time as I can."

Mother Nature: "BWAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Me: "Yeah, if I leave here by 9 a.m., I should still be able to get to Harrisonburg by dark."

Mother Nature: "I'll show these little pipsqueaks who's boss. Dam my rivers? Pave my earth? Who do they think they are? He he he..."

I think the snowplows dutifully made their rounds, all night long on the 14th and into the wee hours of the morning on the 15th. Huge snowbanks were piled up high on both sides of I-81 as evidence of this activity. However...

Tune in tomorrow for the further misadventures of EEP and her faithful '93 Camry as they brave the Black Hole that is Pine Grove, PA, and elude the trusty fire marshalls aided only by HubStar On Demand. Find out how a 7-hour drive turned into a 15-hour marathon!

I tell ya, the Mason-Dixon line never looked so good.

Snow Day

Boy they weren't kidding about the heavy snow... it's not as bad as places further north and closer to the Great Lakes, but this is awesome!
I walked to class in snow that came in over my boots; buses seemed to be running and undergrads were trudging resolutely to campus like a long line of Emperor penguins.

When I got to class though, nobody was there... the professor dashed in about 10 minutes late with a stack of photocopies; we talked for a little while and then she decided to cancel class.

After getting home I decided to work on shoveling out the driveway so hopefully I can leave for Harrisonburg tomorrow...

After about 45 minutes (great workout but I wonder how my lower back is going to feel tomorrow?) the landlady's kids showed up with their dad to finish the job! I was delighted!

Rumor has it the university is going to close but it still doesn't say so on the website...

Valentine Sweater

This is the "Blackberry" from Knitty, size M (perhaps should have done L - but haven't blocked it yet. I just couldn't wait to wear it! Finished weaving in ends this morning!) I changed the cable pattern on the sleeves to a braid (12 st wide) and spaced the bobbles a little farther apart (every 6 instead of every 4 rows). I love it!

Snow Way!

(Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!) LOOK at this white stuff! Every inch on top of that little shed is fresh snowfall; at least 12". It's so cool...and yet, even though all the area schools are closed (and this is upstate NY people! They don't close for a light dusting like they do in SOME other states), Ithaca College is closed, the city has declared a state of emergency... and yet big behemoth Ivy League university thinks the show must go on. Good think I LIKE my classes...

Meanwhile, here's what I did last night during reading breaks:

Yep

Thar she snows!

Unrelated photo: another sock!

Snow Hokai?

(Hokai means "where is it" in Sesotho)
The severe weather warning issued this morning gave a time parameter starting at 3:00 this afternoon... at 2:45 I heard someone say, "it's supposed to start snowing in 15 minutes!" Well, it's still not snowing. The updated forecast puts it at about 8:00 p.m. I just need them to clear the roads by Thursday morning!

Peace, Joy, and all that good stuff

Tonight I taught Blanca to knit! We were at her house having a "study session" (read: complain about the readings, prof, and class while eating homemade pie - did I say pie? I meant carrot sticks) :-) and Claire had brought her sari silk bag that she's finishing, although I totally forgot my sock at home so I was bitter about that. I spent all semester last Fall promising Blanca I'd teach her to knit so finally we took advantage of the moment, grabbed the needles and went for it. She did great! She has a nice little swatch in stockinette stitch, probably knitting about 4.5 st. to the inch or so. We tried to talk Tim into learning too but he didn't believe Claire's claim that it would help him meet women.

Brrr!

Man, it's cold. I'm very thankful for the warm wool coat my mom made me in 1995! Also putting the handknit wool socks to good use. I'm still catching up with myself here at the beginning of the semester. I didn't think it possible but I'm enjoying my courses even more than I did last fall! Conversely, I also miss Terry more than I did last fall. I think of migrant farm workers who only see their families at Christmas time and count my blessings... I really do live a life of privilege.

One Down

Finished sock! You know what this means - I finished all my readings and other sundry assignments for the week! Tomorrow I'm supposed to drive to Harrisonburg, but we'll see how the weather goes...

You Know

You know you're experiencing an exciting class when the students all begin talking over each other, the professor starts shouting "for God's sake, what are you saying?" and the new kid bursts out (in response to another new kid's statement), "WHAT?!?!?! I can't BELIEVE I'm hearing this!"

It was pretty fun!

Consolation

For all the EEP fans out there who have been lurking sadly on this un-updated site for days, at long last a new post!

I am happy to report that I have recovered fully from the non-sinus infection (that elicited these most heartening words from the nurse at Gannett: "That nose thing is weird, I've never seen anything like it") and feel back to normal. The down side is that during the week I was sick I managed to do very, very little work. I think all I did was sleep, go to class, and drink hot tea. It worked, I got better, but I am definitely feeling like I have enough reading and writing to occupy pretty much every waking moment for the foreseeable future. But that's what I signed up for, right? And it turns out that everything I've had to read so far this semester has actually been really really interesting, like the book I just slammed through on teacher education in Bolivia!

So, you see, that's why my knitting bag is pictured above with two unfinished projects languishing disconsolately on the needles. Until I have a chance to get back to them, I will console myself with this picture of Christmas socks, all in a row:

Cast Offs

Behold the "leftover" socks - bits and pieces of yarn left over from previous projects. For the most part, except toe and one heel, I alternated strands from two different balls just to get a different effect. It was fun! They look pretty goofy but it was a fast knit and entertaining to see how the patterns developed.

Ice, Ice, Beebe

So here I am, back in Ithaca! It was nice to go to classes today and re-remember why I love being here. Coming back to cold winter, a sinus infection, and missing Terry kind of put a damper on my "Big Red Spirit" - but back to back sociolinguistics classes put a skip back in my step!

I'll be driving back to Harrisonburg 2 weeks from now, it turns out, for a Peru preparation meeting with the students. Meanwhile, it's time to kick back, cast on, and start reading.

Here I am!

Boy it's been a long vacation from the blog! But I'm back in a highly networked context again with a few pics from the trip(s). After 10 days in Peru with the family (pictures possibly forthcoming) I spent 2 days in Dallas, TX with college roomies Christy and Jane. One of the highlights of that trip was the Dallas World Aquarium, which is more like an indoor rainforest complete with penguins, flamingos, a jaguar, and manatees! It was truly breathtaking and awesome.

In knitting news, I'm making myself a pair of socks from bits of yarn left over from 5 different sock projects... should be interesting! I also have been felting swatches for a pair of slippers - this yarn was one of my fave Christmas presents (from Terry - good job, T!). Temperatures have finally dipped enough that I'm also looking at the Knitty pattern for convertible mittens/fingerless gloves (extra spicy - mmm!)

Two weeks til classes start again - can't wait!!!

P.S. One little Solana story - you'll have to indulge me - evidently she's been talking into a fold-up hairbrush as though it's a cell phone, and this is what she says: "Hi Uncle Terry, whatcha doing? Taking a nap? OK, bye bye!" Too cute!