knit read cats hockey

Guess What?

2012-01-27T16:42:00.000-05:00

So, a funny thing happened at work this afternoon.

Well, maybe not funny. Surprising? No, shocking is the best word.

I got laid off.

It was totally unexpected. They said that the company isn't doing so well, they're eliminating the position, it's nothing personal, blah blah blah.

So. Here we go again. It's Proof-quest 2012! New and exciting!

Yeah. I'm still processing this. Much, much more to come.

I Shouldn't Even Be Posting

2012-01-25T18:42:00.000-05:00

I have nothing to say. I'm going to knit.

But to ease your crushing disappointment (ha! I slay me!), here are a few things:

Super-cute "sleeping kid and cats" photo at the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee today.

For the hockey fans, a biased but really funny roundup of the Northeast Division at the half-season point from Stanley Cup of Chowder. Sample:

A healthy Connolly would help that a lot, but if a core part of your season planning includes the words "82 games from Tim Connolly", you might as well start planning for the draft lottery.
Andrei Markov, their best player, has missed the entire season so far with an injury. Excuse me while I sit on the Throne of Amazement and drink from my Goblet of Incredulity.
A team that was predicted by many (including me) to contend for the division title has been a Costa Concordia-level shipwreck.

A lot of laughs there, even if (like me) you pay more attention to one team than the whole league.

I did not take this picture.

But I had to look twice to be sure.

And Carlos could have captioned it, truly.

Knitting, and Thinking About Knitting

2012-01-24T19:42:00.000-05:00

The Bruins game is on TV, the baby laptop is on my lap, and I'm typing with my right hand and scritching Carlos with my left. There are three skeins of yarn on my right, and knitting ideas battling for supremacy in my head (and on my Ravelry queue).

So, where is my knitting mind? All over the place.

I'm to the toe of my current sock-in-progress, so I'll try to finish that before leaving for the trip next Thursday. I'd be glad to bring the socks as finished clothes, but it's silly to bring something almost done as a travel knitting project. Finishing won't take long. The plan for the next pair is to use the green STR and try the Claire sock pattern, by the designer of the Skyp pattern that I may have mentioned once or twice ... in the last 18 months, as I've knit it ten times in a row. Ahem. Perfect pattern for me, what can I say? I'm not sick of it yet, just want to see if I like this other pattern as much. Down the road, I'm also thinking of trying the Down the Rabbit-Hole pattern (Rav link); one of my friends is making them and I like the look.

So that's socks! Other thoughts crossing my mind are moebius, scarf, and shawl. I bound off my test moebius at stitch and bitch last night, and was indeed surprised at how much bigger it was once off the needle. I felt pretty sure it would go over my head, and in fact it almost goes over my shoulders! I am now pondering next moebius steps, not ready to move along that line yet. Soon.

Scarf. I've been wearing the dropped stitch scarf I made in 2010 a lot lately, and in particular, instead of winding it around my neck, I've been holding it with both ends in one hand and the middle in the other, then tucking the ends in the loop, which works very well (it's just long enough). Am I explaining that clearly, or do I need to take pictures? Anyway, I like the scarf and will continue to wear it, but was thinking that something similar would be a fun quick project for a skein of yarn I loved, like the one I got at Stanley Pottery in PEI last summer. So I'm pondering pattern ideas, or just doing another dropped-stitch, or hmmm ponder ponder.

And then the thought of that skein of BFL that I got at Rhinebeck last year, the same kind as I got the year before and loved, came to mind again, and what shall I make with that? My thoughts, not clearly defined, went like this:

probably I don't have enough for a sweater, but something shawl-like?
only no point to the butt this time. Round or rounded?
I liked the shoulder shaping in the Frost Diamonds pattern.

I messed around on Ravelry looking at patterns, and have settled (for now, anyway) on Carol's Clever Little Shawl, an interesting yet simple pattern. It's knit from one end to the other, mostly garter stitch but some lace to the points along one edge, a little shoulder shaping, and the ends have a sort of tube thing that allows you to tuck one end in the other, so no need for a shawl pin and hopefully the thing stays put when you wear it. Just interesting enough for me! I printed it out, and need to wind the yarn. Someday I'll live in a place with room to leave the swift set up!

Though that might be dangerous, during startitis.

Hockey, Bruins, White House

2012-01-23T20:42:00.000-05:00

If you were listening to the announcers of the two Bruins games this weekend, you would think these were two of the best games all season. So close! So evenly matched! So satisfying in every way!

So not what I love in a hockey game. I about had an ulcer by the time yesterday's game finished.

Maybe I'm not a good hockey fan, not enough of a fan of the sport itself. Maybe I'm too much a Bruins fan instead. But I have to admit, I have loved the games this season when the Bruins totally overran the opposition. When they did everything right, made virtually no mistakes, ran up the big scores. 7-0, 9-0, I was in heaven. Laughing with delight. 6-0, even 6-2, 6-3. It's fun, dammit!

Saturday's game against the Rangers was close, and the Bruins lost at the very end, almost the last second, of overtime. Argh! Sunday they managed to win in the shootout, but my stomach didn't unclench for a good hour after. Those blown leads! Unforced turnovers! A hat trick for Hartnell of all players! Are they trying to make me crazy, and if so, why?

Today, they were at the White House, to get the President's congrats on last season. Tomorrow they play Washington. Then it's the All-Star weekend, so most of them* get a rest. I hope they regain their steam-roller ways after the break!

*Tim Thomas, Chara, and Seguin are playing. My nose is out of joint at Bergeron's snub, but I bet the rest will do him more good than the honor would have, so there's that.

The combination of the wonders of technology and a quiet day at work meant that I watched the live feed of the Bruins at the White House this afternoon (thank you, Washington Post). It was less than ten minutes, and pretty cool! Thoughts that crossed my mind:

As the players started lining up: that is a whole bunch of white guys in dark suits.
Though one of them was in a striped suit! Very mod. He was right behind the President, so it was pretty clear to see. (I believe it was Tomas Kaberle, no longer a Bruin but he was last June, so it's nice he got to go; you can see him on the left in this picture.)
Shawn Thornton was also fairly near the President. He looked really uncomfortable--is it wearing a suit?
I couldn't figure out why Chara didn't stand out, height-wise, since he certainly does on the ice. I finally saw him at the end of the second row. I think they had the players in the back row on a step, and his head was fairly even with theirs. Brad Marchand, standing in front of him, didn't reach his shoulder!
When the players and brass were all out and lined up, every phone in the crowd went up to take a picture.
I recognized the coach, the GM, ownership, and Cam Neely in the front row. Cam brought the President a Bruins jersey with Obama and the number 11. I wonder how Greg Campbell felt about that? Not to mention former Bruins Steve Kasper, PJ Axelsson, and Bob Carpenter, to name a few who have worn it for the team. (I was a big Steve Kasper fan as a kid. He was so cute!)(And a good player.)(But mostly cute.)
At one point when the President was speaking (I didn't have sound), there was laughter and a general looking toward Brad Marchand. What did he say? Was it the Little Ball of Hate nickname? The recent suspension? What?
Was that John Kerry schmoozing the bigwigs afterward? I know he's a hockey guy.

I didn't notice it at the time, but Tim Thomas wasn't there, by choice for his political beliefs. I don't entirely "get" his point, but it's a free country, it's his business. People are funny, though, aren't they? Of course, it's not hard to be more political than I am, so who am I to judge.

I found video of it when I got home, which answered some of my questions, and more.

Yes, they were on risers, so Chara's feet were in the second rung and his head was level with the first.
Yes, it was the Little Ball of Hate thing that brought the laughs.
Yes, Mr. President, they were "wicked happy" to be there.
Mayor Menino was there.
Yes, the players look much better without the playoff beards.
No, he didn't sound comfortable speaking the hockey terms (no hockey fan is going to put an "uh" between Stanley and Cup), but I knew he wasn't a hockey fan already (Washington hockey bloggers have bemoaned his lack of appearances at Caps games).

Overall fun. Now back to work Tuesday!

Knit Updates

2012-01-22T16:42:00.001-05:00

And how is the knitting lately, you ask? Why, progress is being made, thank you for asking.

I've been tickled by working on the moebius. It looks like I'm alternately knitting and purling, though only knitting happens.

I started in the middle, where the look changes, and am going outward both ways at once. I put a stitch marker on, to mark the start of the round, and after I knit for a while, I see it again, but not on the needles.

See the marker hanging there at the bottom? It's pretty mind-bending. Keep knitting, and it's back on the needles again.

I don't know if you can trace the edge around, but it's an Escher thing to me. The Cat Bordhi book is in at the library; I look forward to seeing what she says, particularly about casting off. I have 2-3 inches now, and am thinking of casting off and, if it fits over my head*, calling it a cowl, but I want to look at the book first.

*If it doesn't fit, it's an experiment--or practice!

I'm also making progress on the sock, second of the pair I started Christmas Eve.

Speaking of socks, here's the almost-full sock drawer:

Most of the hand-knits are machine wash/air dry, but I'm still hand-washing the ones that striped my feet--and they're still turning the water blue, which blows me away, this has to be the third or fourth time I washed them, if not more, and still the blue comes out. (The socks themselves don't look faded; perhaps the dye is coming from a parallel dimension.) The fuller the drawer gets, the happier it makes me.

Yesterday I finished the second mitt for Mum--less than a month late! Hey, once it's late, it's late, right? Here's a bad picture.

My mother has the other one, so I'll try to remember to get a picture of the pair when I'm there. Yes, the trip is coming up: we leave a week from Thursday. Woohoo! Just a long weekend, but yay for leaving the cold zone for the land of seashells and oranges, even briefly. We got a couple of inches of snow here yesterday, three maybe, enough to be messy. I haven't missed the white stuff a bit.

Snippets: Work, Tech, Hockey

2012-01-21T15:42:00.000-05:00

I had to work late last night*, since we were waiting for one last item (which was with the writer for hours, not that I'm bitter but anyway). It was actually not a busy day overall, and at 5 a couple of my fellow editors were talking about how it had been such a quiet afternoon. I acquit them of malice, but I really wanted to say something snarky about how even after the quiet afternoon, some of us didn't get to leave at five. Sigh. It's not their fault ... but I really wanted to leave, too.

*It ended up being less than an hour, at least.

*****
I wore a pair of non-hand-knit socks yesterday. (A rare thing for me, these days, but I need to do laundry.)

They kept sliding down around my ankles.

The ones I make don't do that.

*****
I know you're curious about how my group at work organized our late-night coverage schedule, after I asked you for suggestions. We did in fact go with a monthly rotation, with the added fillip that the primary and backup coverage are lined up to make Fridays less painful. Well, I mean, it's already less painful for me, I don't have to cover 5 Fridays out of 6! But this way is more equitable for all six of us.

In every 6 months, we each get one month off primary (and do Friday backup that month), one month off backup (and do Friday primary), and four months with a backup and a primary night Monday through Thursday.

I was entering all this and more in the Outlook calendar, and realized that I fell into a certain rhythm of murmuring the revolving info as I entered it: "Thursday primary Jane, Thursday backup John". And what did it remind me of? Kitchener! When I use the kitchener method (usually on a sock toe), I end up mumbling to myself "front knit off, front purl on..." in just the same way.

*****
I can't believe my answering machine died! (Well, partly.) It's only ... about ... what ... okay ... fifteen years old, maybe? Fine, whatever.

I don't actually know how long it hasn't been working right. It was still taking messages, even, but last weekend my brother left a puzzled message about how he was calling for me, hoped he had the right number ... I checked the outgoing message, and it was some standard-robo-message, not my taped one. I tried to re-tape it, and not only didn't it tape me, it just gave dead air. Time for the funeral.

I do actually have voice-mail capability with my landline phone service. Do you remember how I didn't know that when I got Verizon two years ago, and was surprised to learn that I had messages there? Well, since I haven't been using it, I had to do a lot of digging around to re-learn how to access the stupid thing, but at least I have message capability again.

For the many calls I get.

Right.

*****
The Bruins played the top team in the conference, the Rangers, this afternoon, and it was a very good, really balanced game. I felt that the Bruins played as well as they have in some total blowout games (9-0 anyone?), but the Rangers are good enough that it was fully even instead. Then the Rangers scored with three seconds left in overtime to win, which really sucked. Oh well.

Now I'm going out to clear the snow off my car (we got a couple of inches today). I haven't missed this part of winter, honestly I haven't.

A disturbed night

2012-01-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't have particular trouble falling asleep last night, but after I woke to go to the bathroom (as I do virtually every night), I could not get back to sleep. I believe I'd been awake at least half an hour when I got up, at 3, thinking that since my stomach was rumbling, perhaps a small snack would help me get back to sleep. At 3:30 I was back in bed.

I fell asleep and into a scary dream. I don't remember what it was, but in the dream, I was telling myself, "It's a dream, it's a dream, wake up wake up wake up!" I woke shuddering, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Lather, rinse, repeat: a different but equally scary dream, and waking myself out of it.

The third dream went on longer (or I remember more of it), a mix of true and not. It all felt true, of course, and only afterward was I thinking hey, I don't work in the library. And why was my brother there? But at the end, when it was feeling totally real, it got very scary: I came home to find the door wide open, kicked in, and I felt this surge of fear and panic and the cats! What happened?

I woke up gasping, and had to bury my face in Carlos's fur and breathe for a while before I was calmer. (He purred me off the ledge; what a good boy.) When I looked at the clock, it was quarter of six, and I decided to just get up.

Shit, though. That's no way to start the day. Sleeping pill tonight.

In happier news, I did start knitting a test moebius last night. I did the dishes first, then as my reward I sat down with yarn and needle in front of the video and cast on. Granted, my longest needle (29 inches) is not what she recommended (47 inches), so who knows what I will end up with, but the point is to try the technique.

I will say that I loved doing the moebius cast-on! Some new knitting techniques are a struggle and a fight for me, while others feel right and natural. This combines the sort of move I've used for crocheting hanger covers* with a yarn-over, one of my favorite little neat tricks. Fun.

*Did I mention doing those for a friend? They're actually pretty easy, if your tastes run that way. You crochet over two wire hangers held together, and end up with one strong, non-slippery hanger.

The moebius itself is mind-blowing. If you're familiar with a moebius strip in paper, you're on your way, but knitting it shows very clearly how weird it is to have only one edge. And although I've done a couple of rows, I still can't picture what the binding off will do, or look like. I requested her book from the library; perhaps when that comes in it will help. Or perhaps I just have to see it to get it. Meanwhile, I'm essentially knitting a scarf from the middle out.

Whoa.

Revelation, and Pangs of Startitis

2012-01-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

I had a startling and wonderful revelation today: Columbus Day is early this year. It's the first weekend in October.

I know, what? and who cares? Well, I do, very much.

For the last two years, in addition to my annual pilgrimage to Apple Festival over Columbus Day weekend, I've gone to Rhinebeck the following weekend, and I really really want to go to both, but the schedule is unforgiving, and by the weekend after the two trips, I'm toast. (And last year I had to work very late that Friday night, remember? It was miserable.)

This year, they're not right in a row! There's a weekend between! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

That's a happy yell. Seriously, made my day.* Though I can take time off around the trips this year (at least the Fridays and Mondays, maybe more), it's still a lot in a short amount of time, and I'm delighted to space it out a little.

*Even more than realizing it's no longer full dark at 5PM, and that made me pretty happy too.

Whew. Happy thoughts.

Other thoughts, yarny thoughts, have been crossing my mind lately. It feels like the preliminary stage of a bout of startitis, the season when a knitter (or other crafter, perhaps) wants to start something new, and then another, and then another. This is although I'm making good progress on my second sock (this is Skyp pair #10), and have Mum's wristwarmer to finish, plus the next pair of socks planned (Claire, by the same designer as the Skyp, using the clover Socks That Rock I got last Rhinebeck) ... well.

I think it was contemplating what I might make with the mystery yarn that got my juices flowing. I've done a little pattern-browsing on Ravelry, and last night I got out the swift and ball-winder and wound not only that STR, ready for the next socks, but also a skein of wool I got in PEI, the blue BFL that's on the left in the picture of all the yarns in this post (hey, the Fleece Artist Sea Wool is pictured there too! that's the yarn of the socks-in-progress). I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking of trying a moebius. I watched Cat Bordhi's video and was intrigued.

One other yarn thought: when I do start the Claire socks, I'll be using the last skein of STR I have. I don't think that I can wait until October to get more. I may be taking Grandma's Christmas money for a ride to Webs soon. That last trip was a total blast, after all. Shall I stop and pick you up on the way, Hunny Bunny? Save me a box of Thin Mints!

Quick Update

2012-01-17T18:55:00.003-05:00

Annoying day at work, but no late work for me tonight.

Dinner is in the oven.

I'm typing with one hand, reaching over the purring cat draped over the other.

We're going to watch the Bruins game. They won last night in the shoot-out, though they didn't play all that well. (Two goals in regulation and one in the shoot-out for my favorite player.) Hopefully tonight will be a better effort.

Cold. Tired. And Moderately Irritated.

2012-01-16T20:21:00.003-05:00

I'm not actually cold right now, but I was today. When I got in the car this morning, the outside temperature was 10 degrees. I eyed it as I drove, hoping to see it change, and it soon did: to 9. Not exactly what I had in mind.

So of course, it had to be today that was extra-chilly at work, meaning I wasn't the only one who thought it was cold. Lots of people were wearing coats or hats or gloves, and finally an e-mail went around mid-day that the heater needed repairs, parts were ordered, and repairs would be made ... tomorrow.

Great.

I had planned to go to stitch and bitch tonight, but I had to work late instead. Thrilled about that, as you can imagine.

Have you seen this phrase on a sign or shirt?

Why do I mention it? No reason.

As I was sorting through a complicated situation in e-mails today, I commented to my neighbor that some e-mails should come with an Excedrin attachment. Wouldn't that be awesome? Or if you got an e-mail apology and a box of chocolates popped out?

What's that you say? Unrealistic? Perhaps I have reading too much* fantasy lately.

*Trick suggestion. There's no such thing as too much fantasy, as long as you're enjoying it, and I am.

This is disjointed, but it's getting late enough that I don't have high hopes of my attention span improving, so I'll leave it as it is. Life's like that.

Mystery Yarn

2012-01-15T13:42:00.001-05:00

I am moving slowly today. I woke in the night with a headache coming on, took something for it, and slept obscenely late. My head doesn't hurt now, but I'm in that swimmy, dreamy, post-head state that does not lend itself to brisk action. I did, however, finally remember during daylight hours that there was something I wanted to get photographed.

When my mother arrived last month, she brought me something that was not Christmas-related. I may have mentioned that she volunteers at her local charity shop, and that she told the woman who sorts out the craft items there that her daughter is a knitter, in case anything "interesting" was donated. Do you see where this is going?

Meet the mystery yarn.

It's dark, but with many colors throughout.

Someone had started something with it!

The skein is 100 grams:

One ball is 99:

One ball 98:

And the last bit is 81:

I shall always wonder what happened to the remainder!

For the math-impaired such as myself, that makes about 379 grams.

Quite a lot! It's not butter-soft, but not scratchy either. There are no labels (of course), and I have no idea what it's made of. (I may have to apply the Yarn Harlot's burn test, and other test ideas from Knitting Rules, but given my currently fuzzy state, today is not a good day for that.) I think, though I am no expert, that it is not plied, but is a single strand. The thickness is inconsistent, but it's fairly chunky-weight.

I don't know what it wants to be yet ... so the story pauses there for now.

Links and Videos

2012-01-14T18:42:00.000-05:00

A random assortment here, things I've seen and wanted to share.

I don't know much about marching bands, but this one was amazing. They're playing snippets of the songs of the different branches of the US armed services, and I don't know which was more impressive, the moving tank, the plane with smoking jets, or the submarine submerging ... fun.

Have to have some hockey; here's a nice tribute to Bobby Orr. The clips are almost unbelievable.

This has been getting its share of publicity, and deservedly so. What a work of art! (And how much work...)

What the books do when the store is closed...

This story on words and language was interesting, but Madeleine Robins (a gifted writer herself) quoted my favorite part:

Why use obscure words rather than plain ones, other than to imply intellectual superiority? Perhaps some speakers or writers wield a bulky vocabulary as a blunt tool for humiliation. But I suspect that most are driven by the pleasures of being able to dip their brush into a nuanced linguistic palette.

Yup!

The Bloggess can be a bit much for me, over the top, but I keep reading her blog because she's smart, irreverent, funny, and finds things like a cardboard Tardis. COOL!

I think that will do. I have a Bruins game to watch. Tonight I'm going to knit instead of reading, so if anyone is traded mid-game, I'll hear about it.

My take on the Home Improvement: Undead Edition anthology

2012-01-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad I was writing this as I worked my way through the anthology, because that means it's ready to go on a night when I worked 3+ hours late (Fridays suck!).

I picked up the audio version of another supernatural anthology at the library last week, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, since I'm so glad to have "discovered" Patricia Briggs in another anthology recently. I'm not really reviewing it here (and not dissecting the audio performances, either), but after I started listening, I decided I wanted to report in on what I like and don't, entirely subjectively. I like anthologies for exposing me to new authors, but hey, I don't like every author. Nothing personal.

I found a list of the contents online (thanks, B&N), so I don't even have to type them in myself. Lazy win!

If I Had A Hammer Charlaine Harris

Charlaine is of course what draws me to these types of collections. I've liked her Sookie Stackhouse series since early on, and I enjoyed this creepy story quite a bit, though it's not necessarily what I would choose as an intro to her work, if you haven't read it already. On the other hand, if you haven't tried her books, are you picking up this one? Probably not. For fans, we get to see more of Tara and JB, as well as Sam.

Wizard Home Security Victor Gischler

I'd never heard of this author, but that's true of most of the anthology, so no problem. (I hadn't heard of Patricia Briggs before that other anthology, after all.) I listened to part of the story until it irritated me. I wasn't loving the main character, and then he does something stupid which is kind of annoying, but I get that people do do stupid things, plus things have to happen or nothing happens, right? But something happens that presages Bad Trouble, and I got that the first time he described what happened, but then he described it twice more before beginning to go into WHY it was bad, and dude, I got that. Next.

Gray Patricia Briggs

So we've established that I like Patricia Briggs. This isn't her Mercy series, though, it's a different character who's a vampire. I liked it, though not as much as Mercy. (There's just a touch of that I Am Vampire posturing that I find a little wearing with the vampire stories. Werewolves, for example, are much more about emotion, which I think is why I relate to them better.)(I also don't like the word that describes a bunch of vampires: a seethe [shudder].) I'm not sure if this story would have led me to read more of her work, the way the other one did, but it was good.

Squatters' Rights Rochelle Krich

Ohhhh, this one pissed me off. For a while there, I was getting frustrated because we went on for some time with "what is happening" and weren't getting to any discovery or action taken against the evil/creature/whatever it was. It's very in-her-head stuff, and I was reminded of The Yellow Wallpaper in a way (though I like that story). But the end just made me mad. I finished it as I was arriving to meet friends for dinner, and I had to get out my knitting and do some breathing to come out of the fury it roused in me. Ooh! No! This is another author I hadn't heard of, and another I won't be seeking out. Not my type. (Reading is like dating: discuss.)

Blood on the Wall Heather Graham

I found this story hard to get into, and though it didn't make me mad (sadly, a point in its favor), I didn't listen to it all the way through.

The Mansion of Imperatives James Grady