Emotional

My initial plan for this post was to talk about finishing knitting projects. But first I need to take a moment to say how lucky we are.

Soon after finding out we were going to have a baby, we heard of two other friends in the same circumstances with a due date in February as well. The first ended in miscarriage this summer. And the second has met with tragedy just this week. We are in no way better than these other two couples, or the couples we know who are still trying to conceive. There is no way to say why these things happen to some people and not to others. I just want to acknowledge how blessed we are to have made it as far in the process as we have and to give my prayers for those dealing with loss.

In stark contrast, I received an email with joyous news from another couple who have been given a date for going to Guatemala to finalize the adoption of their son and bring him home. This news brought more tears, but tears of joy that their 11-month process has an end date in sight. And delight that I will finally get to meet their son in person after months of pictures and stories from their trip.

I had bought yarn to make a hat for the baby that was lost this week. At that point, it seemed likely that he would be premature and I had planned to make him a hat after the christmas knitting was done. In his memory, I think I will use the yarn for caps to donate to the Caps the Capitol campaign. http://www.savethechildren.org/capstothecapital/index.asp

The brief knitting update is that the swallowtail shawl was mended, the ends woven in and it is now blocking (hopefully without any assistance from the cats). I wove in the ends of the shrug finally and will wash and block it tonight. I basted the maternity sweater together, and I think it is too long. I thought that basting the torso together would be enough, but I need to baste on the sleeves as well. It might just be that the armholes are too deep. Or the whole thing might be too long. It hugs my behind in a way that is totally unattractive. I'm just beginning to have enough belly to fill it, but I think I would have to be pregnant with triplets for my girth to accommodate the extra length.

Nicely Rendered

"Still, perversely, I love Williams and can't thank Open Stage enough for going through what must have been a nightmare putting this show up. In addition to assembling this huge cast, in [Beth's] colorful costumes, and the monstrous set, nicely rendered by [Amy], director [Mark] probably lost years of sleep wrestling with such an extravagantly overwritten but ultimately under-developed script. That the whole thing manages to hang together is high praise."

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An exerpt from the first review for the show. The whole thing can be found here - http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A19569 (You have to scroll down to where it says "Camino Real") A pretty good review considering how little regard the reviewer has for the script. :-)

At least two more critics saw the show. I guess their reviews will appear tomorrow?

Loving the DVR and the bella band

I'm really enjoying our new DVR. Most of the time we've had it I've been show-obsessed, so I haven't really seen it change my TV viewing habits substantially, but it did make it a lot easier to catch up on what I had missed without having to worry about the VCR being set properly, a tape being available, etc. I've also been using it to tape Knitty Gritty on DIY network. I have to say that I don't really like most of the patterns they feature and there are 1-2 shows a week that focus on beginner technique. But I have also learned several things from watching and I like the opportunity to see some current knitting book authors. It's also just nice to have a way to get knitting "input" while I'm doing other things.

The other thing I love is the flexibility while watching TV. If the oven comes to temperature while I'm watching something, I can easily pause it and resume when I return. No more running around trying to cook during the commercial breaks. No more overdone pasta, no more running to the bathroom (at least not because of TV!) and no more missing the dialogue because R asked me a question or the phone rang. I'm still getting used to the idea that I can rewind live TV if I miss something, but once I get accustomed to it I might never be able to go back!

In a very different way, my bella band is making me happy. There is limited clothing that I still need to wear it with. But I am finding that just having it on, wrapped around my belly, is comfortable and almost reassuring. Difficult to describe, but I can see myself wearing it everyday, even when it's just hidden under my clothes. Maybe I just like it right now because it makes me feel more pregnant. :-)

Uggh...clothing

Overall, I feel good. My appetite is strange and constantly changing, but I don't really have an physical things to whine about (yet). But the rest of this post will be whiny...so feel free to skip it. You've been warned.

I seem to be in the transition phase where nothing quite fits right.

The maternity shirts are still pretty big since I don't have much of a belly (it's there, but it doesn't really look so much like a pregnant belly that I want to wear clothes that hug it), but the maternity pants and skirts have wide elastic at the waists that I don't know that I want to show off.

So today I wore an elastic waist non-maternity skirt, only to discover that the elastic is a little too tight to be comfortable. It's okay standing, but scoots into an uncomfortable spot when I sit.

The non-maternity shirts are mostly too short and occasionally too tight. Not only do I need to get caught up on laundry tonight, I need to go through my closet and bring all of the stuff that is still viable to the front.

I also need to go up a size in pantyhose and I should probably look for some new flats to prepare for the inevitable change in my center of gravity. Most of my favorite shoes have a 1" chunky heel. That's not going to last.

And I still don't think I look pregnant. There is still an indentation in my belly where my waist used to be, so I don't have a recognizable round belly. In a way, this is okay. But it's also kind of weird and I'm wondering when that little valley is going to go away...

And yes, I realize how sad I will be if the valley never comes back. :-) Being a woman is complicated!

The weight is lifted

After a month of spending every free non-working, non-sleeping moment at the theater or thinking about my set, I almost don't know what to do with myself now that it is over.

Okay, so that isn't really true. We need to do a good top to bottom pre-baby house cleaning, deal with laundry and dishes and all of the other messes left in the wake of my busyness. But it *was* nice to have some choices, some time to knit and finally some time to think about what we need for this child.

First, to wrap up about the show, it turned out okay in the end. It certainly isn't everything I had wanted it to be. But I was able to finish up the last few "must-do" items between work and the first show on Friday evening. By the time the Friday night audience entered, there was paint on every surface and I didn't feel the need to return on Saturday. Certainly, if I wanted to, there are things I could do. But most of them are things that only I know are missing (with the possible exception of the unsupported arch...). Mentally, I am done. We'll see what the critics say later this week.

I started the first Christmas knitting project last night. It's a vest for someone who doesn't read the blog, so there might be some information included here. Most other presents won't be mentioned. I'm using the superwash wool from knitpicks, so far, so good. I decided on the cable pattern last night using my 365 stitch pattern a day calendar. I realized on the bus that my first attempt was too wide, so I'll try another start on the way home. I just really didn't have the mental energy for a lot of math last night, but wanted to get started. If this attempt isn't working I will force myself to do the math tonight. :-)

The baby registry process is a little overwhelming. More so because we need to decide where to register soon, so the shower invitations can go out, and we weren't able to start looking this weekend because R had to work on saturday. :-( I did pick up a copy of Baby Bargains, and am making my way through it. I have an idea where I think we should register, but we need to make one or two trips to stores before we announce it.

I'll end with two cute cat stories. While I was home last week, at one point I found Nora sleeping in the cat carrier in the dining room! Don't know if she was ready to go on a trip, or if the carrier was close enough to the heat register to be extra cozy. And several times recently Stewart has jumped into the refrigerator while I was considering what to eat. In the summer it made sense, but since he has started to recline in front of the heat register in the evenings, I don't understand what the appeal is!

What's the protocol?

So, if we assume that the set won't be "done" tonight when the show starts at 8pm, do I do more on Saturday? I was always the person in school who turned in the assignment when it was due, even if it wasn't as perfect or complete as I wanted. My architecture studio projects were what they were when it was time to show it to the jury. I never worked on one past that point. It even gives me hives a little bit when we issue addendums and supplemental drawings for a building project. Usually these are just to provide clarity or coordination or to deal with unexpected situations in a renovation...but to my "when it's done, it's done" mentality, it just irks me a bit. Even though I have come to realize that it is a natural part of the process, and no set of construction documents is "perfect".

At least 2, and possibly 3, of the newspaper critics are going to be at the show tonight. Kind of like the jury in architecture school, although they don't have to mention my set in their review if they don't want to.

It's entirely possible that there will be things on the set tonight that won't even have a coat of paint on them. Some of these, like the edge of the door that was cut down, will bother only me. Others, like a foam part of "the wall" which may be white next to it's terra cotta counterparts will be obvious to everyone in the audience that it isn't done. Never mind the paint treatments that I scratched from the list earlier in the week when it became clear that there wasn't time to get it all done and that certain things wouldn't even be built until the last minute, so last minute painting would have to be spent working on those things.

There is a little part of me that will be able to tolerate going to the theater for an hour or two on Saturday to ensure that no raw surfaces are showing. BUT, I have put my life on hold for the past several weeks, and I'm not willing to give up more time than that to add detail to things that weren't even built until a couple of days before the show opened.

Enough of the set is there to make my intentions clear. And enough of it is painted to the extent that I had planned to show that I *can* paint with some skill. And, most thankfully, the set looks considerably better under show lighting than it does under the fluorescent work lights.

In the end, the only time the audience should really be focused on the set is before the show starts, during intermission and after the last bow. The rest of the time it is just a background to give context to what the actors are doing on stage. If the audience notices in the midst of a scene that the edge of a door isn't painted or that one of the buildings has less detail than another, the problems with the show are much bigger than the fact that the set isn't complete.

It's unfortunate that my last set design experience for a while has been so trying, but I don't regret the experience and I'm sure that with a little more hindsight I will have learned even more from it than I have up to this point.

Survival

I ended up taking off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to be at the theater. Not only has everything (set, lights, sound, props, etc) been about a week behind, but I have to get a good night's sleep each night and need to take breaks often.

Tuesday was my low point and Wednesday I got some much-needed painting assistance from a friend of the lighting designer. The set will not be everything I had planned, but I'm thrilled that there will be paint on every surface (yes, without help I wouldn't have even gotten to that point!), and there most of the most critical elements have or will be getting painted texture. Taking one more day off would have been nice, but I don't want to take advantage of how understanding my firm has been. And quite frankly I don't know that I had another full day of painting in me. I'm pretty zapped emotionally and physically (though I have done a good job of getting sleep the past few nights - big plus!)

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I plan to start a couple of christmas knitting projects (I've had the yarn and it's been taunting me!), get caught up on dishes, shop for baby furniture and start our registry. I also have/will have a little TV on the DVR to catch up on and there is clean laundry to put away as well as new maternity clothes to wash. (I'm not really filling the shirts out yet, but many of my regular shirts are too short or too tight to be comfortable all day.)

The little bit of bus knitting time I've had recently has resulted in a pink and tan striped pair of kid's mittens for Dulaan. I haven't fixed the swallowtail shawl yet, but I have blocking wires now and I'd like to wear it next weekend, so that's somewhere on the agenda soon.

(On one hand, I can't wait to relax. And on the other, I can't wait to do all of these things I've been putting off for several weeks!)

Scared

There is still a lot left to do before the show opens on Friday. I took today off to get more done because I couldn't fall asleep last night thinking of all that needed to be done and I could tell that trying to get through 8 hours of work knowing all that needed to be done at the theater would be mighty difficult.

I'm also worried that it's going to take more than one day off to get everything done, so the sooner I can get more done the less likely I am to run out of hours before the show opens. The added difficulty is that I need more breaks and I just really can't spend all of my time on my feet. (I had to leave last night before I had done all that I could have because my feet were too tired to keep going.) So there are upsides and downsides to having a whole day at the theater.

Enough talk, I'm off to get things done.

Friday

Really, I don't have a lot to say. I tried to post yesterday, but I couldn't come up with anything.

This week is like last week, and pretty similar to next week. Get up. Go to work. Go to the theater and paint until I get kicked off the stage for rehearsal. Go home and have an hour or two to relax/email/eat/do anything else that needs to get done. Go to sleep. Rinse and repeat.

There is no rehearsal tonight or on Monday, so I will be able to continue painting until I'm too tired to go on. Tomorrow's glitch is that I have to be on campus in the middle of the day for an alumni reception and award presentation (aka, dress up and try not to have paint all over my hands). I might spend the morning working on the little bit of sewing I have to do for the show and not go to the theater until after the reception. Depends on how long I stay tonight. Must get sleep.

I'm a little nervous about the set construction being completed in adequate time for me to paint it. But there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it. So I'm just going to keep chugging along on what I can paint and hope that I don't run out of things to paint this weekend. I do have half a day of vacation that I can use if I get desperate.

Melancholy

Yesterday, R linked to my blog to the post with our happy news. Today, I provide a link to his with some sad but not unexpected news.

I skipped out on the theater tonight so R and I could take a walk and talk and enjoy one of the last lovely evenings of the year together. There just hasn't been enough time lately to hang out. It's unfortunate that today's circumstances were necessary to make it happen. And I think it will help me get through the next 11 (gulp) days until the show opens. At which point we can get back to a more "normal" schedule again and talk about all of these things that we need to talk about.

We've officially decided to make the daycare decision later. We're putting down deposits on our two favorites, one of which won't tell us if there is a place available until January. (And even if they do, the place won't be available until a month after I'm supposed to go back to work.)

Quick Week

Almost all time not spent at work or sleeping this past week was spent at the theater painting my set. This will likely continue until the show opens on the 20th. It's a really big set. There is a lot to paint, and it isn't even all built yet.

Work was busy, too. Working on presentation boards for a competition next week. The boss offered to take us out to a nice dinner if we get the job. I told him if we get the job I want to be on the team - it's a huge theater in North Carolina, in the city where R proposed. :-)

In the little time I've had to knit, I bound off the swallowtail shawl. Then I noticed a hole that seemed to big, and soon after I noticed a dropped stitch nearby! I caught the stitch but haven't done anything else with it since. I need time to sit down and see if I can fix it without undoing the bind off. But I'm not going to try to do that while I'm so busy. In the meantime, I've been working on Dulaan mittens on the bus. I pair completed and a second pair started.

News

Something big to share today. It is something I've been trying to tell "personally" to everyone who I know reads the blog. There are friends from college that I haven't told yet - not because I don't want to tell them but because I'm not a huge fan of the phone and my current state of busy-ness has kept me from making many calls. So I have been sure to tell the people that I know read the blog (because they post comments). If you read the blog, but never comment, and I haven't shared the news with you personally...well, let this be a lesson to you. :-)

You may have noticed that my thoughts have been somewhat scattered over the past few months. Much of this is because there is something rather big and life changing that I haven't been writing about. I'm pregnant. :-) 20 weeks and 2 days to be exact. We had the big ultrasound last week, and our daughter looks healthy and is still on course for a mid-February arrival. The due date is the 18th, but since only 5% of babies arrive on their actual due date, I prefer to say mid-February.

I briefly considered keeping a journal of the experience of pregnancy, but I don't know that there is really enough to say, and some of it is not pleasant enough to want to write. ;-) I will recap here a little bit some of the highlights:

The day we found out was a shocker. Not because we hadn't been trying, but because I was fairly convinced that we hadn't timed our attempts very well. And also because even though this was something we wanted and were purposefully trying to achieve, there is something very startling about actually getting a positive test. (And they were both VERY CLEARLY positive, no "is that a line? do you think you see a line?" for us - we got A LINE and pretty quickly, too).

Then there was a few days of - when do we tell people? who do we tell first? what do we do now? And there is the constant back and forth emotion of being really excited and at the same time not wanting to get your hopes up too much because it was so early. We've known a number of couples who've had issues both getting and staying pregnant, and we're both too practical to take anything for granted.

A week after we found out, we had the chance to tell both sets of future grandparents together and in person. So we took the opportunity to tell them (as well as R's sister, brother and niece, and a couple of friends who had stuck around to the bitter end of our party), and then simultaneously swear them to secrecy. :-) We did give them "permission" to tell a few of their friends so they wouldn't explode with the secret, but we didn't want to start telling more family but have to tell them to keep a secret, too. With a few exceptions, we didn't spread the news to family and friends until the second week of August. The following week I told work, and we've been slowly telling people as we talk to them ever since.

On the symptom front, I was nauseous on and off for the first three weeks. Thankfully, I felt fine in the morning (generally) so getting myself to work wasn't a hurdle. Once the nausea wore off, I was REALLY tired. Like I couldn't bring myself to do much of anything but sit on the couch after work tired. There wasn't much that I *needed* to do, but I hate feeling like such a lump. And as soon as the exhaustion wore off life got a little busier, so a good night's sleep has continued to be extremely important.

What else? Well, the whole thing didn't really seem very real until the 12 week appointment when we heard the heartbeat. Even after the 8 week appointment, I wasn't totally convinced that this was all real. Sure, I had had some morning sickness, and the doctor verified that my uterus was bigger and no one laughed at me for thinking I was pregnant. But until we heard that little heart beating 154 times a minute I didn't really believe that there was something in there. And when we started telling people it became that much more real.

I'm still not really showing. Yes, my belly is bigger, but it is much more noticeable to me and it is still pretty easy to hide. The only clothing that does not fit are my jeans and a few shirts that were on the tight side before I gained 12 pounds. :-) My work pants still fit, though I can tell that they won't last a lot longer. I've started wearing some maternity jeans and pants, mostly for the comfort factor, even though they are still a little big.

Part of me is impatient for my belly to "pop" and to really look pregnant (and not just like I've gained weight), but I also know that once I start to look pregnant it will be just that much sooner until I start hearing "haven't you had that baby yet?" So I'll count my blessings that the baby is healthy and try to let go of what I can't control.

I also wouldn't mind feeling the baby move now and then. It makes me impatient for the next time we hear the heartbeat to make sure that everything is still okay.

Public thanks

Baseball talk will soon be over and the football inundation began weeks ago, so I just want to give a public thank you to the Cincinnati Reds one last time. I can't remember the last time I was still paying attention to baseball in the last week of September. It was probably 1999, when they ended the season tied with the Mets for the Wild Card spot, and lost in a tie-breaker game.

Since then, each season has been an exercise in hopes being dashed by the All-Star break and last year, I deleted my bookmark of the team website before August.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, it would be awesome for them to make the playoffs (and it is still mathematically possible), but really I'm just happy that they've put together a decent season. They may or may not make the .500 mark (if they don't, it will be close), but no matter what happens I will have hope for next year and I have enjoyed following them this year. Maybe their improved play might even cause me to invest in mlb.com broadcasting, so I can see them play more often and not just read about it.

Because of my show, it looks unlikely that I'll be able to make it to one of their games here in Pittsburgh this weekend, but I will certainly be listening on the radio and rooting them along! They will need it, as the Pirates have really turned around their season and become a more formidable opponent than before. (In a perfect world, the Reds win but Freddy Sanchez gets enough hits to win the batting title. The Pirates fans deserve something to be happy about for sticking with them for 14 losing seasons!)

Swallowtail Shawl

The good news is that I really like the pattern, and it is going quickly and looks pretty.

The bad news is that I made a mistake in counting the number of times I had repeated the main lace chart, and I had to rip back 8 rows of lace. About 200 stitches per row. I used all of my knitting time Sunday (plus a little more than I should have) to undo the work I did on saturday.

It's all done now, and I'm moving through the second chart. The p5tog are slowing down the purl row a lot and are the first stitch to make me wish for a really pointy needle for lace. The second time through I made the nubbs much looser and I am having an easier time on the current purl row. I also considered sanding down the tips of my clover circular, but decided that a super-pointy needle is somewhat dangerous on the bus. There are only 5 rows with the p5tog, and I'm sure now that I am past the "shock" of the first row I'll be fine.

I have the pattern and yarn for my next lace project, but it's a present for a reader and I won't be blogging about it. ;-) I also need to get back to the ribbed sweater. I want to baste it together and check the fit before I weave in ends, block and sew it together...but I haven't made time for that yet.

Also running around my brain is the question of how many christmas presents I'm going to knit this year. Not sure yet. All I do know is that it won't be as many as the last two years...

Theater Pet Peeves

Saturday's post was something that I think about almost every time I go to a show. It's a pet peeve that comes up each time the lights go out, the curtain goes down and some members of the audience get up to leave just as the applause is beginning. Yes, I know that it takes a few minutes to leave the building when you wait until after the applause to get up. But are you really so important that can't possibly spend those 5 minutes slowly filing out of the theater in exchange for rewarding the performers for their hard work. Is it REALLY too much to ask that you not be incredibly rude?

My other regular pet peeve is the need that Pittsburghers seem to have to give EVERY performance a standing ovation. A standing ovation doesn't mean anything in this town anymore...because every stands for everything. And I was disappointed to note the same phenomenon on Broadway (though I could be easily convinced that the cast of Sweeney Todd deserved it and NYC crowds don't stand for just everyone.)

A big pet peeve of mine... people who leave during the blackout, before performers have taken their bows! Grrrrr

15 items

Dulaan 2007 has officially been announced

Since the goal for the program is one more item than last year, my personal goal will be to do my part and send at least one more item than I did in 2006. There were 14 items in the box I sent, though 2 were made by a friend. So maybe if we each increase by one we can send a box with 16 items. :-)

I think I have two hats knitted, but they need to have their ends woven in. And I've completed 1 and 1/3 of a pair of mittens. I start a Dulaan item whenever I want something quick and small to work on or whenever my main knitting projects are all too big for the bus.

There are plenty of knitting charities out there. For some reason this one speaks to me. At some point I might find one closer to home. But until I find a place here where I can personally deliver items that I can see being used, Dulaan is the charity project for me. (Given the quantity of hospitals in SW PA, it seems like it would be easy to find a local charity, but so far my web searches have only hit upon national organizations.)

Home & Stash Enhancement

I think it has for a while, but I can definitely say now that Pittsburgh feels like home.

I spent the weekend with family in Ohio. (Work unfortunately prevented R from joining me.) They do a great job of making me feel at home and the people that we visit are all parts of my very earliest memories, but there was a certain sense of relief at coming through the Fort Pitt tunnel and seeing "my city". And also knowing that I was a few short minutes from my husband, my house and my cats. But it does make a lot of sense that seeing the city skyline would have a feeling of arrival. All of my time here has been spent living in the east end, and most of my trips have been to the north (buffalo) or west (ohio)...meaning that most of my return trips meaning pass by or through the city to get home.

A month or two ago I hit the point where I had spent more years living here than any other city. And when you consider that I have few memories of my first 3-4 years of life living in Ohio, it's not hard to believe that this feels like the place I've lived the longest as well. (For the record, I'm counting my college years as being a Pittsburgh resident, despite the fact that my drivers license was issued by New York State. Just a technicality in my mind.)

I'm not saying that we'll never, ever leave (ultimatums are dangerous), I'm just glad that someplace has come to feel like home to me.

I'm also not trying to discount my connection to the city where I was born and where my family lives. But given that almost no one there still lives in the home that they were in when I grew up, the visit most likely to send sentimental chills up my spine would be a walk down the street where we lived or a visit to my elementary school playground. :-) Maybe someday.

Now to the YARN.

On Saturday we went to The Wool Gathering at Young's Dairy Farm in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Where do I begin?!?

Let me just say that this was my first fiber festival, and I think it was a good introduction. Not too big, not too small and not so swarmed with knitters that you had to buy what you saw as soon as you saw it (though there was one item that wasn't there when I returned - oh well). Following the example of other bloggers, I limited my purchases to those that I could only get at the festival. And I also didn't write anything down as I went, so a yarn or vendor had to be memorable for me to return.

We took a couple of hours to visit all of the booths after a stop at the duck-herding dog pen. (yes, you read that correctly). We missed the sheep shearing demo - arriving just as they were finishing, and didn't make it back before we had to leave. But we did get ice cream, so all was not lost. :-) During lunch, I strategized a game plan for my purchases and snapped up my yarn fairly swiftly. I did have a couple of color decisions to make, but I forced myself to go with my gut.

I bought 3 skeins (400 yd/skein) of a hand-painted, sport weight wool/hemp blend. It's not scratchy, as you would expect from the blend, and I think it will be enough for a short sleeved cardigan. The colorway is primarily blue, purple and gray, with some pink and cream tones. I'm anxious to see how it knits up.

Just down the tent was an alpaca farm that had sport or fingering weight hand-painted alpaca. (One of my priorities was hand-painted yarn, and there really wasn't as much of it as I had expected.) I debated between two colorways and whether I should buy one (for wrist-warmers) or two (for socks) for a little while. I ended up going with a tan/lavender/pink colorway and getting one...think specifically of Mrs. Beeton, partially because I have been listening to Cast On recently.

The next stop was the booth of an alpaca and llama farm. I chose a skein of alpaca from a shelf that had a photo of the alpaca that most of the fiber came from. No name, but a cute face. :-) It's a two ply, hand spun, where one ply is lighter brown and the other darker brown - natural fiber color. I also bought a skein of a chocolate brown alpaca llama blend. There were many natural color alpaca yarn options throughout the festival, and I'm pretty sure that there were less expensive yarns (and similar) yarns available. But I really liked the woman at this booth and I liked that she had the donating alpaca's photo. ;-)

The last stop was the only knitting shop booth that really interested me. I bought a locally spun/painted lace weight in 95% merino and 5% cashmere. They had some pretty, hand-painted silk which I considered, but none demanded to be purchased for some reason. I was also drawn to the booth because of several tubs of beads. I have been wanting to try a project that includes beads, so I bought a large bag of lavender beads that can be used for Mrs. Beeton and which will leave me enough left over to experiment with a little bit.

My only other comment is that after seeing a spinning demonstration and some of what is involved, I think I would enjoy learning to spin at some point, just to gain a better understanding of the yarn. But I don't see myself taking it up as another vocation. As it is, I don't have as much time to knit as I would like, and I'm not at all dissatisfied with the yarn that I can purchase. I also can't see myself doing any yarn dying - mostly because I have enough trouble keeping the kitchen clean without making a big dying mess!

Better

Last night I met with the Technical Director, the Director and the Stage Manager. And piece by piece we discussed each set piece, what parts of it are in the TD's cost estimate and what isn't. We talked about what's in the theater's stock and what isn't. We talked about what he can get done this weekend even if I don't finish the design.

The result - we're still very close on the budget, but I think it is doable. I think. Much more so than I thought it was a few days ago. There are still negotiations to be had, but I have a better understanding of how the TD plans to spend the money so I can make design decisions accordingly. He was nice enough to offer up his salary to buffer the set budget and he said multiple times how sorry he is that we can't build everything exactly has I first had it drawn, but while I appreciate that I'm not going to take advantage of him. I said that if he wants to put up his salary as a contingency, that's fine. But I'm not going to add his salary to my budget as if I don't think he'll deserve every penny for how much work I know he's going to be doing.

The best part is that he doesn't need that much more from me before the weekend. There is enough that he knows he can do to keep him busy, and he's still discovering more in the theater's stock as he digs through the layers of wood. I will be taking my laptop with me on the family visit, but there won't be any guilt when I'm not working on it. :-)

The image above is to give you an idea of the scope of this set. (this isn't the latest version, but it's close) The columns are existing and the dark gray flats are audience seating. I've hidden the back wall for a little bit of clarity (right side of the model), but everything else needs to be built and painted. It's big.

The software is sketch-up from Google. We have the purchased software at work and I've downloaded the free beta version for home. Happily, I can't see much difference between the two and I can open the same file in both versions.

Must Vent

The set that I'm designing is very large - lots of building and lots of painting. And now it's over budget. So construction can't start until we have the budget under control, but the show opens October 20th. My concerns are two-fold. One, I don't have a lot of time this weekend, so we need to figure out as much as possible tonight and tomorrow night. And two, the less detail that can be built means the more detail I need to paint. My design calls for trim pieces and some foam construction to give things dimension, but if we can't afford the trim and foam the painting becomes that much more intensive because I'll need to put highlights and shadows on everything. Lastly, there is the issue that with so much to build I can't actually *start* painting anything until some building gets accomplished...

On top of all that, I'm feeling kind of "blah". Last weekend, even though it was four days long was not relaxing really. Too much time spent staring at the laptop and not enough knitting or just hanging out.

Is the third anniversary electronics?

Today is our third anniversary. Two years ago we were in a lodge in Cook Forest (PA). Last year we were in St. Lucia. This year we stayed home...for a few reasons which include how busy things have been for R at work. He worked from home for most of last evening, had more to do this morning and finally finished up with emails and phone calls about 3pm. I'm not complaining. He was recently given a nice raise as thanks for all of the extra work he's been doing. Plus, I have several things going on this weekend that would have made a trip somewhat complicated.

This morning I finished my first sleeve of my ribbed sweater and we watched some of the coverage of the procession and funeral for the mayor of Pittsburgh. After lunch at our neighborhood coffee shop, we took Nora to the vet. (Apparently all of the wrestling and playing with Stewart has worked off about a pound of weight. She's healthy otherwise, but because she's 10 the vet wants her to start coming every 6 months. Partially so that the two vaccines she needs don't have to be given in the same appointment.)

For the evening, we had dinner at Mad Mex - a local chain - followed by a little clothes shopping for me and the purchase of a new DVD player. We got the second season of LOST this week, and it wasn't playing properly in the 10-year old DVD player in the living room and only playing moderately well in the 5-year old one upstairs. Given the low price of DVD players these days, we just upgraded.

Also, I want to give a quick report on last weekend. All dirty dishes and laundry were cleaned. All floors were cleaned and/or vacuumed. Work was done on my set design, though not enough. I will need to do more on that tomorrow. It is fun to work on it in 3D, though I will have to go back and do a little drafting once the plan has settled to be able to add dimensions.

Lastly, I want to say (with surprise) that 2 day work weeks are not good. It's too short to feel like you've accomplished anything, and with my job the likelihood of having to stay late to get something done before leaving for the weekend is too high for a 2 day week. It wasn't awful, but it makes me think that working part-time would be somewhat unpleasant. Possible, but stressful.

Here is a photo of that dog blanket I made this summer.

My post from Friday...

(It helps immensely if the message is sent to the correct address)

**********
TIRED AFTER A BUSY WEEK

Work has been busier than expected this week - I've been kind of a marketing diva, doing lots of the things that our past marketing people have done. The officers are currently interviewing for a new one, and I'm the one here with the most Photoshop, Powerpoint, graphics experience and interest. A couple of weeks ago I put together a proposal, and we got short listed so I put together the Powerpoint presentation for the interview this week. Also, my boss designs opera sets and I spent a few days helping him with the graphics for his design. He paints the images or has me find them online, and then we make collages and adjust his paintings to get everything to work together. It's really kind of cool to see another set designer work first hand. Something to keep in the back of my mind in case it might ever apply to one of my sets.

This weekend there isn't much of anything on the calendar, but there is stuff to do. My current set design needs to be flushed out and fairly well finalized by a week from tomorrow (at the latest). So I need to crank on it this weekend. Also, the house is a big mess, and knowing that my schedule is going to be busy for the next two months tells me that I need to get it under control before things get crazy. I'm not spending three days cleaning, but I do need to clean the floors, clean the bathroom, get caught up on dishes and laundry at the very least.

Also, I need sleep. I've let myself stay up a little too late a couple of nights and it just isn't a good scene. My tolerance isn't what it used to be, and since the schedule has been pretty open the past couple of months I've gotten used to having "me" time every night...which isn't really an option when I get home after 9:30 or 10.

The endless, boring back of my ribbed sweater is nearing the end. Two hours in the car for work on Wednesday helped me through the worst of it. I hope to start a sleeve this weekend. I also have a few phone calls to make. I missed a friend's birthday last week (bad Amy) and owe a few friends a return call.

If all of the above goes well, maybe I'll finally post some of those pictures that I've been promising for so long. :-)

Darn it

I sent a nice post from work on Friday to comment on my weekend plans and a few other things. Guess I should have checked to make sure it arrived before I left work. Maybe it will show up late like the last one did.

I'm off to clean the house, but I'll try to return later this weekend.

Just curious to see if I can post a message from my phone. Not that it's a convenient way to type...

Two posts in one day

I just want to add my enthusiasm that the REDS are tied with the CARDINALS for first place! Yay! They've been in second place in their division (and first place in the wild card race) for quite a while now, and even though I know that the season still has more than a month to go, I am delighted that they are staying in this race and have a real shot at the playoffs.

Seriously, I'm mostly excited that they look to end the season over .500 and it's nice to hear the guys on Baseball Tonight have anything positive to say. A playoff spot would be the cherry.

Recent Travel

Last weekend I went to new york city. I flew jetBlue for the first time. In general it was a good experience - nice people, fun to watch TV on the plane and quick boarding. The downside was dealing with JFK. We got in a little late because the plane was late leaving JFK to get us and then when we arrived it took 30 minutes to get the jetway to work. On the way back, I was in the plane for almost two hours before we took off. Not awful, but clearly JFK evening traffic is bad.

There were three reasons for my trip. #1 - to see my best friend and her husband, #2 - The Haystack, #3 - Sweeney Todd. I haven't seen Rebecca and Lee since our (Rebecca and my) 10th high school reunion in November 2004. It was great to see their place, meet their second dog and spend some much-needed time together. R unfortunately couldn't join me for the weekend, but Rebecca hopes to come visit us in the spring. We're both kind of bad about calling, but we've gotten somewhat better now that she has a "regular" job and is done with medical school and her residency. :-)

You can find out the basics of The Haystack at www.thehaystack.org. Let me just say that it was hard. I had a certain understanding of how hard it would be, but the sample puzzles on the site seemed easier than the ones we did. You can find the 18 puzzles on the site. I think the difficulty was that each puzzle had a number of layers, so if you couldn't solve the first layer of the puzzle, you couldn't go any further with it. And, you could only get points for solving the associated "hideout" puzzle if you also solved the "crime scene" puzzle with the same number. The crime scene puzzles were harder, and it took us a little while to realize that we should solve the crime scenes first, because if you didn't get that then the time spent on the associated hideout was just wasted.

I don't mean to sound like a downer - it was a very fun day and there is nothing like the rush of solving something! I'm proud of the work we did and we were all relieved that we didn't come in last. ;-)

On Sunday, Rebecca and I went to see Sweeney Todd. Fabulous! The acting, directing, design and the whole concept were wonderful. I thought that the limited orchestration served Sondheim's music well and the cast was impressively talented in their abilities to act, play, and shift scenes and props for the entire show. And I enjoyed when Mrs. Lovitt knitted. :-)

I'll admit that I have no background with this show. It's one of the few CDs of a Sondheim show that I didn't own (until now), so I have no comparison of this production to previous interpretations. I've heard things about previous performances, but I didn't know the music or the story before Sunday.

There are two ways that I typically see shows. The first, is the way that I saw Sweeney - kind of a blank slate where I can really see the show rather objectively. Not knowing the lyrics and music by heart, or being emotionally tied to the show means that I can have a much more "in the moment" reaction to what's on stage. The other way I see shows occurs most often, where I have listened to the CD enough that I have practically memorized the music and grown to love the show without ever having seen it.

Interestingly, I find that I remember the productions with much more clarity when my first exposure was in the theater. When I've learned the music and lyrics first, my imagination of the show tends to mingle with the production and make my memory less clear.

I could probably ramble on about this for a while, but I'll save that for another post. I'll just add that once I get the 2005 Broadway Cast album in my head, I'll be anxious to hear other versions of Sweeney and see any productions available on DVD.

What I'm knitting now

(There are more updates on other topics, but I can only handle one at a time for the moment.)

I finished the shrug a week and a half ago, but I haven't woven in ends or blocked it. It fits, but I'm not really sure when I'm going to wear it. I think that's why I have done the finishing.

My bus/travel project at the moment is a ribbed v-neck sweater from IK summer 2006. Thanks to the major back-ups at JFK on Friday and Sunday evenings, I'm nearly to the v-neck split on the front. I even worked a little of it on the NYC subway. :-)

I started a log cabin blanket with my cone of purple cotton. I'm doing the first ridge of each block in navy cotton for contrast. I'm on the third row and it's feeling considerable slower. So I think I'm likely to make 4 or 6 blocks with 3 rows each rather than keep growing the blanket out of one square. I was not smart enough to wind off a ball from the cone, so until I finish the first square, this project is tethered to a 5 lb cone of yarn.

I haven't gone back to finish the iPod cozy I was working on during our camping trip. I don't think it will take much to finish, but it is a bit fussy and I'm finding that the fairly mindless garter and 2x2 rib are a good match for my brain at the moment. Although I do expect that I'll start something in lace before too long.

I helped a friend with the machine sewing of her wild stripes (http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTwildstripes.html) blanket last night. Forced to run the sewing machine, I was pretty happy with the results and reminded that the hard part is the prep work and pinning. The actually sewing is basically a breeze - even when you're sewing piping and you don't have the right foot attachment for piping. It reminds me that the hard part is done for the projects I have sitting around which are pinned but not sewn...

To come:
Visit to NYC
The Haystack
Sweeney Todd
A little more demolition
...and hopefully some photos

I'll be honest

Lately, posting to the blog has just seemed like one more task I need to accomplish. One more thing on the to do list. One more way to get "behind".

This doesn't mean that I'm giving up on it. It just means that I need to come up with a new strategy for fitting into everyday life.

Writing a quick text post on my lunch break or coffee break is easy. But then there are the pictures that I want to post that I can only post from home. Or that I've been meaning to take but haven't actually taken yet. And there are the knitting patterns that I've been meaning to write down, and haven't.

So please bear with me while I try to figure out how to prevent the blog from being a burden and try to keep you lovely readers and me happy at the same time.

Don't want to whine

It's hot. I don't want to whine, so I'm not going to make this post very long. If I write for too long, I'll start whining.

I'm just writing to do a knitting update. I'm on version #2 of the shrug. The first iteration was too big. It made me look like I had wings. I have high hopes for this attempt. And with 5 hours in the car today for work, I made great progress.

It's time to get in bed and lie under the ceiling fan to prevent whining.

It's hot.

A DJ wouldn't do that

When I play the music that I've purchased from iTunes in the order that I've purchased it, my iPod transitions from Barenaked Ladies singing a semi-acoustic remixed version of "One Week" to Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

:-)

Wonder what's next?

...

James Blunt's "Your Beautiful"

Not quite as startling as the previous transition, probably because of Vincent Price's voice over. ;-)

The point where it goes from Idina Menzel to Kelly Clarkson is a bit odd, too, though I love both songs. It's eclectic.

Fashion Vent

This little rant has been welling up inside all summer.

I think the evolution of women's fashions over the years has been good, in general. The ability of women to wear pants in the outside world and not have to wear multiple layers of undergarments is much more practical, and considering how much trouble we have keeping up with the laundry I'm glad to have less to wash. I also think that the tasteful showing of neck, lower legs and lower arms is perfectly acceptable for almost any occassion. But what really gets on my nerves are women (I'm not even going to go into men in this rant) that show much too much skin ALL the time.

In my opinion, sleeveless tops, shorts, skirts more than 1-2" above the knee, flip flops and any top that shows real cleavage are just NOT work appropriate. I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who would disagree, and clearly there are because I have been seeing plenty of women all over town dressed in the items above. I don't assume that they are all going to and from work, but there is such a high percentage of innappropriately dressed people that some of them have to be.

What really gets me are the women that wear a nice, short-sleeved blouse with a knee-length skirt and a pair of FLIP FLOPS. I just really don't understand. When did it become appropriate to wear flip flops anywhere other than the beach or the pool? Is there another piece of footwear out there that is uglier? And why don't the people wearing them everyday get themselves a pedicure?! You don't need prefectly painted red toes...just clean and neat with a little clear polish would be fine with me. If your toes are exposed, then they become part of your wardrobe, so they need to be as well groomed as your fingernails (or better).

As for the sleeveless tops, maybe this is just me, but I don't think so. There is something about showing off your shoulders that means you should either be (a) at the gym (b) on a hot date (c) in an evening gown or (d) at the beach or pool. I sometimes wear a sleeveless top under a cardigan or jacket to work, and if I get overheated (which rarely happens) and take off the top layer, I always feel underdressed in a sleeveless top. There is just too much skin exposed for the workplace.

I realize that most of the people who agree with me order from the senior menu at Eat'n'Park and those who don't know me in person are probably doubting that I'm only 30, but oh well. This just drives me nuts and it will continue to until it gets cold enough out that people start wearing real shoes and tops with sleeves.

I was recently reminded of the saying (from watching The Office last night), "Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want." Touche.

Determined

Dear blog readers,

It is not your fault that I have done so little posting lately. I like keeping you in the loop in what's been going on in my life and I enjoy writing and getting my thoughts in a place where I can go back and read them again. There have been a few times in my life when I have kept a journal of some description, and I always enjoy going back and rereading my perspectives on the past. There are always little things that I have forgotten and I can say for certain that my 22 year-old self has a different view than my 30 year-old self. Part of this is because I no longer have to wonder so much about the future - I have a job and a husband - not to say that I think the rest of my life will be predictable or easy, but just that at least for the time being some of those "big" questions that used to haunt me are currently answered.

Anyway, the short "excuse" for my absense is that I've been hot and tired. Add that in with two weekends spent away from home and you get relative blog silence. Honestly, we haven't really unpacked from the camping trip or the trip last weekend to Michigan City, Indiana for a friend's wedding. The heat hasn't been as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago, but it still seems to be slowing me down. I just have to get past it and move on.

More soon about the wedding (really lovely) and my knitting (I seem to be pretty monogamous lately and enjoying lace again).

Bloggiversary

(Strange. I sent this yesterday in my usual manner, but it never posted. Trying again. Before I know it, there will probably be 3 identical posts.)

This is post #165. Not bad for my first year of blogging.

I do apologize for how slow things have been around here lately. I've been tired. It's been hot. And quite frankly, as soon as the busy-ness of preparing for the party was over I didn't really feel like doing much of anything in my downtime.

This past weekend we went camping. A description of our weekend and pictures are posted here: http://spargelkohl.livejournal.com/25144.html For those interested in my knitting, I reached the halfway point of the Viennese shrug. Whether I can get it done before the wedding on Saturday may be a stretch. But I also don't know what I'm wearing (I shopped last night and couldn't find anything) and my back-up outfit doesn't involve the shrug. I'm trying to just go with the flow and see how much I can get done. It's a fun project even if I don't wear it this weekend. I had forgotten how much I enjoy lace.

I also took a stab at another iPod cozy. The fit around the openings is good, but I need to rework the top and closer. I also might consider trying it again top down, so that the closer is on the bottom. It doesn't make a big difference, but it would make it a few seconds faster to get it into the charging cradle. :-)

When it got dark, I started a pair of socks, so I would have something I could knit in the dark without totally screwing it up. I may rip back to the end of the toe increases and make them jaywalkers or I might keep going in boring stockinette and do something more interesting on the leg.

Lastly, in cat news, Stewart seems to be making up for the fact that we were gone over the weekend by attempting to wake me up 3-4 times a night for attention instead of the usual 1-2 times. It's also possible that he does it more often, but with bedding protecting my skin at less HOT times he is easier to ignore. It's also clear to me that his claws need to be trimmed this evening...

Jeopardy!

I realize that this is late notice, especially for you morning blog readers, but I didn't think to post this until a few minutes ago.

My best friend and the woman who was the queen bridesmaid in my wedding is going to be on Jeopardy! tonight. Her name is Rebecca. She has red hair. You can't miss her. :-)

I will also take a moment to point out that I need more sleep. This morning in the shower I lathered up my hands with the cream to remove my make-up, and then I promptly spread it all over my hair. I almost did this a few days ago, too, but I managed to realize my mistake in time. My hair seems to have survived unscathed.

Lastly, I want to give advanced warning that Tuesday is my blogiversary. I have no idea what I might do to celebrate. I just happened to think that it was coming and I was happy that I took note of it before it had passed.

Yawn

I know this blog has been exceedingly quiet for the past week, but I can't really promise that it might change before the weekend (maybe).

There just isn't a whole lot that I've felt like writing about. R and I spent much of this dead-blog time watching first season episodes of LOST (I haven't seen them all yet since I worked on Monday) and resting. My motivation to do much else has been limited.

The one exception was Saturday. We went for a lovely trip to Moraine State Park with one of R's coworkers and his wife. We had brunch at Eat'n'Park, we drove around the park, we hiked, we had ice cream treats, we talked, we toured their house and we wrapped it all up with a Mexican dinner. And after an all-to-brief nap, we went to a different couple's house for a game night and celebration of Army Day. (We still don't know what Army Day celebrates, but the host couple is in the process of adopting a boy from Guatemala and Army Day is celebrated there.)

When I get my act together, there are house pictures to post and knitting pictures to take and post. The two blankets I was working on are done. The only projects in the work are the current Trekking socks and that pink pullover from Vogue Knitting that I haven't worked on since Easter. On Tuesday I knit myself a pair of FuzzyFeet (www.knitty.com) and I made two catnip toys.

Yawn.

Photo update

I'm pretty sure that the recipient of this sweater/sock set doesn't read my blog. But even if she does, she doesn't know I'm making her a present. So this is pretty safe. Aren't they adorable?!

The sweater pattern is Double Scoop and the socks are from here.

















And here is an overdue photo of the items sent to Dulaan 2006. The variegated maroon hat and blue irish hiking scarf were contributed by blogless Erin. Also, the brightly colored fair isle on the left was made with leftover yarn that Erin gave me at a GTG. I used up every bit that she brought!

Please don't ask for patterns for the fair isle hats. I made them up as I went. :-) I can send you a more detailed photo if that helps...



And last, a photo showing how much our party tired out Stewart. This is the day after. He's sleeping on my old painted theater canvases. They aren't soft, but somehow he manages to be very comfortable on them.

He also likes to sleep on the piano, so clearly he is a cat that likes a firm bed!

Hello again

Up until 3pm on Friday I was preparing for our party - an open house to celebrate our house's 100th birthday and our third anniversary of living there. My parents arrived just after 2pm to help with the last minute fruit and vegetable chopping and food layout and R's parents arrived right at 3 to add their edible contributions to the layout.

Guests started trickling in around 3:30, and we had a lovely crowd all afternoon. It was nice enough to use the backyard, so there were a mixture of people inside and out and a number of people had tours of the house. It was a very nice day and I had no trouble falling asleep that night.

Father's Day was unfortunately hot and humid, but we still managed to have a nice day. We began with brunch at our local coffee shop and while Dad spent the afternoon watching the U.S. Open, we all kept ourselves busy. R unfortunately had work to do, I had a wedding present to finish (cross-stitch) and Mom worked on her knitting. We ended the day with dinner out and then spent the remainder of the evening in the backyard.

It has been a relatively quiet week. It looks like the House Tour will be postponed until next September and I've been having major problem trying to work a short row heel on my current pair of Trekking XXL socks. For the moment, I've put them on hold and started a Dulaan 2007 hat to keep me busy on the bus because my other ongoing projects are too big for travel. Two of those big projects are presents that I would like to finish before I start another sweater or tank for me.

I should also add that I went to a great all-day seminar on green building last week. I plan to take the exam in the next few months to be a LEED accredited professional. The competitive spirit in me wants to take it before the other four people in my office (all older men, 3 of which took the same seminar 4 months ago). I'm not in the mood to write a long piece on green building at the moment - you can learn more about the LEED rating system at www.usgbc.org. :-)

Lots to do

At some point, there will be a photo-heavy post to show the things I've done around the house the past few weeks. But there will be people showing up at our house 3 days and 4 1/2 hours from now, and there is still a lot left to do. Tonight there will be carpet stain removal and vacuuming. Tomorrow night I need to make a shopping list and clean up the kitchen. Friday night will be the beginning of food prep and one of us will need to clean the bathrooms. And sometime, the dollhouse needs to get transported upstairs. There are a few other odds and ends that I would like to take care of...but if I don't, I'm the only one who will know...so I'm not even going to mention them. :-)

On the knitting front, the belated shower gift is moving along. I got about 6 rows of the border done on Sunday between the knitting gtg and the Tonys (great show, BTW, even if I didn't agree with some of the winners. And no, I haven't seen any of the shows...this is based solely on what I've read and my general feeling about juke-box musicals). Also on Sunday I completed a gift for a friend who's expecting and continued on a pair of baby socks in Baby Ull (recipient TBD).

I finally mailed the purple cardigan and hat to the baby that was born in April (it is supposed to fit her in the fall) and I mailed my box of items for the Dulaan Project - 14 in all. Those two mailers have been on the mental to-do list for much too long.

Can someone...

...please explain to my coworkers the difference between "Reply" and "Reply to All"?

Because really when an email is sent to everyone in the office about a goodbye lunch on Friday, I don't need to see everyone's response OR read what so-and-so is doing on Friday that will prevent them from coming.

Also, the fact that I'm wearing a WOOL sweater and I have a chill is just wrong.

Things you probably don't care about.

1 - I've finished the painting in the bathroom. Just need to put the hardware back on the doors and window and it's officially done.

2 - Straightening and Cleaning progresses, including getting all of the painting supplies and tools down in the basement where they belong.

3 - The Reds are back in first place and they've won 8 in a row!

4 - The main section of the belated shower gift is done. Now to pick-up stitches around the edge and knit the border.

5 - It looks like it is more expensive to cool the third floor than the first and second. More estimates will be collected and discussion will occur. The good news is that the cost for the first and second floor was at the upper end of the range I expected.

6 - We are almost caught up on laundry...for the moment.

7 - The plumber was not happy when he found out that kitchen sink he was going to be disconnecting was actually on the third floor. I was not happy when he caused water to leak from my office ceiling. (But he didn't do it on purpose and it wasn't much)

8 - I'm hoping that when the 1-800-Got-Junk people leave we will feel like a weight has been lifted to no longer have so much unwanted crap hanging around the house. I'm sure it will help us get a better sense of the space available on the third floor...even if it is hot up there.

9 - 1 hour, 15 minutes until the weekend begins. I'm not dying to get out of here, but I am getting a little tired of looking at window details...

Freedom

It's amazing the freedom I feel now that the network television season is over. If I have something to do that can have TV as background noise, I can find something to watch or put in a DVD. But if I have things to get done that don't involve sitting, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

The one exception is this coming Sunday. I will be watching the Tonys. :-) And in a couple of weeks there will be a Saturday Reds game on ESPN.

Baseball

The fact that I haven't mentioned the Reds for a little while does not imply that I have stopped following their daily ups and downs. It is merely that it is less fun to proclaim "The Reds are in second!" or "The Reds are 3 games out of first!" or "The Reds have the fourth best record in the NL!" than the previously true "The Reds are in first!"

I was sorry to note that they lost several series in a row and they weren't playing as confidently as they seemed to be in April. But they have not lost their offensive prowess and the pitching has still been capable. Their sweep of the Astros makes me happy and should put them in a good frame of mind for playing their division rival Cardinals.

It's much to early to dream about the playoffs (seriously, a season over .500 would be a big improvement) but it is nice to think that if yesterday was the last day of the season, the Reds would be the Wildcard team. :-)

Monday, monday

Most of the things that I listed on Thursday were done this weekend to some extent, although our hiking trip was postponed. It was really not an attractive weekend for weather - sometimes it was sunny and sometimes there were thunderstorms. But best of all there was a break in the heat, so there was no more sweating while painting this weekend.

Thursday I am taking the day off so we can have a plumber and a heating guy (or girl) come to the house. The plumber will disconnect the sink left in the third floor "kitchen" and the heating guy is going to take with me about central air and the costs involved. It is something we will do eventually, and the cost is the major factor as to whether it will be sooner or later. When we were house hunting, I think we only saw two houses with central air. The first needed major updates and work, but it was high enough in the neighborhood to have a fabulous view of the East End. The second was very nice, but it was on the small side and it was half of a duplex, and R was very much uninterested in sharing a wall. (There may have been other negatives about it, but they have faded.)

We have forced air heat, so fingers crossed that it won't be too expensive and that there is a good solution for cooling the third floor (which isn't connected to the forced air system). I have a feeling that we'll condition the third floor first, just because it makes that space much more usable year-round *and* because we might as well do as much work as we can up there before we start living up there. Also, I'm guessing (and hoping) that it will be less expensive than the rest of the house...

Next, to schedule the junk pickup for the weekend.

Happy Anniversary to me!

7 years ago today was my first day of employment at my current job, which also is the only job I've held since I graduated from college. I don't know if that says a lot about me or just says that I was lucky enough to find a good fit the first time out. Sometimes I wonder what kind of change would have to occur to force me to go someplace else, and I'm not really sure what the answer is. Or if there even needs to be one.

One more year of service and I get upgraded from 10 vacation days to 15 - woohoo!

Upcoming plans for the next few days:
- Finish painting the bathroom trim, door and transom
- Figure out what else we need to do before we have 1-800-Got Junk come make a pick-up from the third floor and the garage
- Possible outing with R's coworkers to welcome a new admin
- Hiking outing with friends at a local park
- Continue knitting on shower gift that will be late
- Pack up donations for The Dulaan Project and get them in the mail
- Pack up overdue baby gift and mail it
- Browse the neighborhood yard sale on Sunday for things we can't live without ;-)
- Pray that we get some neighbors to agree to put their homes on the house tour so I can stop worrying about it
- Figure out who we can ask to help us schlep a dollhouse that will just barely fit in the stairway up to the second floor...

Drilling, Painting and Humidity - Oh my!

I fear that this will be a somewhat annoying post, as I don't have photos available (yet) for posting. Some of them have been taken, but they aren't yet online.

Friday evening, after touring a project under construction, I came home prepared to start my first project of the weekend. Only to find that both batteries for my cordless drill needed to be charged and R was interested in going to a movie. So we went to see The DaVinci Code. It was okay. Afterward we had Coldstone Ice Cream. That was great. :-)

Saturday morning (well, late morning) I started my first project for the weekend - putting pulls on the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. I had made a template a few weeks ago, so I basically able to dive right in and start drilling holes. I did take the time to clean the cabinet doors and drawers when they were removed, which added some time to the project but was definitely needed. I considered cleaning out the cabinets while I was at it...but I wasn't that motivated.

Once I got on a roll, and had an understanding of the different challenges of the different kinds of pieces (the drawer fronts are as thick as the built-ins, requiring a wider hole on the backside for the screw-head to be recessed) I realized that I didn't have enough pulls. I did a little searching, thinking that I had purchased enough for the kitchen in two batches, but I couldn't find them. Hopefully, I only bought as many as they had when I first choose them and never went back to get more. If not, someday I'll find a bag of 20 pulls somewhere in the house...

While we were at Home Depot, I bought paint for the second floor bathroom and a test color for the foyer. R also got some supplies to continue with his hardware stripping procedures. I finished all but the last 5 pulls by the end of Saturday. Leaving the large glass doors for when R could help me take them down and the 3 built-in drawers, which turned out to be pretty quick work. Even with sleeping in and brunch at our local coffee shop, I was done by early afternoon.

The next step was cleaning up after myself. :-) I removed all trace of sawdust and woodchips from the living room, kitchen and while I was at it I vacuumed the first floor hall and lower set of steps because they just really needed it.

Next, we considered the task of moving the large dollhouse upstairs, but decided that it was more than R and I could handle alone. And it also involves protecting the stained glass window on the landing. Getting the house up there is going to be a tight squeeze...making me kind of glad that I didn't ask the not-totally-competent moving guy to take it up there when he delivered it.

After a quick trip for dinner and groceries, we set our sights on the second floor bathroom. R cleaned the shower floor and replaced the seal that wasn't in good shape. I cleaned the walls and otherwise prepped the room for painting. Stewart seemed concerned that we were expending so much effort in his favorite room.

Monday I primed the trim and walls, and put two coats of paint on the walls. (That is such a simple sentence that represents so much work...) The whole weekend was warm to hot and fairly humid. It was most uncomfortable up on the ladder, but since it tends to be much more humid in July and August, I'm really glad I didn't save this job for then. (And I'm thinking more and more that if I get some more done in the next few weeks I will probably try to avoid doing too much work around here in the worst heat and humidity of summer.)

So the trim still needs to be painted and I think a few of the pieces of hardware that R stripped yesterday need a little more time in the stripper bath. The second floor is kind of a disaster at the moment - between the stuff removed from the bathroom and all of the painting tools. I think I will be taking another 3-day weekend soon. They're very productive!

Ha!

I just got email saying that my Plymouth Encore is shipping this afternoon.

*sigh*

Guess they didn't get my email about canceling the order. It just means more yarn for Dulaan items, right?

Better

Since R had plans last night, I decided to use my first free evening in a while to go to my LYS and try to solve me problem. The one I went to is much larger than the one downtown, and I figured it would have a better selection to choose from.

I was right. There were actually a number of machine washable options that came in the two colors I was looking for. Even Baby Ull, but I really wanted a yarn bigger than DK weight.

I settled on Cascade Sierra - a 80% cotton/20% wool blend. The label claims that it should be handwashed, but I see no reason for that. There is less wool that the Plymouth Encore that I had planned to use.

I walked a significant part of the way home. The weather was nice, it was light out and although I was not wearing the best shoes for a 75 minute urban walk, it felt good to stretch my legs.

I'm going to cry.

Seriously.

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about the yarn saga. But it continues...

Last Friday I emailed the company I ordered from to ask about my order. No response. I send another email first thing this morning, and I finally get a response late this afternoon.

Apparently they sent me an email on May 11th (the day after I placed the order) to tell me that one of my colors was on backorder. I didn't get the email and it is *still* on backorder.

IF I would have received the email on the 11th, I could have cancelled the order and placed it with a different company. A company which will also do expedited delivery, although it would not have been at such a good price per skein. But I would have had it by the 15th or 16th.

IF they would have responded to my email from Friday with this news (maybe they did and I didn't get that either? What other emails am I not getting?!), I could have done the same thing and had the yarn by Tuesday or yesterday.

NOW if I place an order, I would have to pay $20 for overnight delivery plus the 30% more for the yarn and I wouldn't get the yarn until Tuesday because of the holiday.

I checked the LYS downtown and they have only one skein of one of the colors I wanted (just like they did on May 10th when I placed the order).

I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I had accepted the fact that the present would be late, but I had assumed I would at least be able to start it before the shower occurred. *sob*

Not. Here. Yet.

There is still hope for an afternoon delivery, but the yarn for the shower gift hasn't arrived yet. I think the likelihood that the bride can open this gift at the shower is now infinitesimally small. I'm fast and there is a 3-day weekend coming, but I wasn't planning to spend the whole weekend knitting. Really.

I've decided that the stripe order will be
2 - 10 - 4 - 6 - 2 - 4 - 14

Dinner Invention

It was too sweet for Rudy, but I think with more meat and rice, and fewer tomatoes and corn it would be okay. Or maybe peas instead of corn. The meat was really tender and tasty, so its worth another shot.

Here's what I did...

Heat olive oil in non-stick pan, add pine nuts and 1 clove pressed garlic. When nuts and garlic begin to brown, add beef stir fry. When I could barely see any more pink on the meat I added 3 medium tomatoes. Once the tomato juice was boiling, I added the rice and enough water to cover. When the rice was nearly done, I added a package of corn that I had warmed in the microwave. I added salt and pepper, and cooked it all together until the liquid was gone.

Should have

I really should have gotten more done around the house this weekend. But really, the weekend is over, so there is not point stressing over what I didn't accomplish. I DID make some progress on gifts for two friends having babies. And I got to spend time with friends and with my husband. And I slept in both days. I also got the house tour stuff done that I needed to do (except for printing) and I found two wood chairs for the dining room at an Estate Sale on our block. The caning in the middle of the seats is not in good shape, but they cleaned up nicely and I have more of the dining room chair fabric if I decide to fix them myself. (Which seems likely)

So not a bad weekend, but there was probably some knitting time that I should have spent doing one of the things on my list that I want to get done before our party in June. :-)

Oh, and that yarn I ordered still hasn't arrived. No clue what I'm going to do. I'll probably try to sprint through it and see what I can get done before it needs to be mailed next week (*shudder*). And if I don't make it, it can be a "shower" gift that doesn't actually get opened at the shower. Oh well. I need to work on the wedding present, too...

Why not LAST night, too?

I'm thrilled and relieved that the Reds squeaked out a win today. I just wish they could have done so last night. The number of times that they loaded the bases and scored 1 or 0 runs was incredibly frustrating. I just didn't see the team play that I've been reading about. Same goes for the game I watched on TV Tuesday night, although that one was almost worse because Harang really only had one bad inning, too, and he threw a lot of strikeouts.

Despite his less than stellar performance, I was impressed by Arroyo. He is clearly very confident and he's not one of those pitchers who has to take a lot of time between pitches or who worries tremendously about base runners stealing. He's clearly there to pitch, no to dawdle around the mound, which I find impressive. His last couple of innings he was pitching the way I expected to see him pitch the whole game - in command.

Oh well. It was a good game last night until White came in *and* we only got rained on outside before the game. :-) Glad I went with friends and not alone!

(still waiting for yarn to arrive for shower gift...*tapping foot*)

Not even planned

I just looked at Reds.com and found out that when I go to the game tomorrow night Arroyo is going to be pitching! The only reason I chose tomorrow night is because it is "ladies night" at PNC Park and I thought it might be more interesting for my friends. I'm even more psyched than I already was!

PLEASE don't let the game get rained out!

The Reds are currently 1 game behind the Cardinals who are starting a series against the 1st place Mets. Seems like a great opportunity...

Panicking...a little

The yarn for that shower gift isn't here yet. If it doesn't get here by the weekend (ack!) I don't think I'll make it...

Nora the Brave

I'm not really sure how well I slept last night, since I was surrounded by three cats playing "let's make an Amy sandwich" all night. I know I woke up at least once and had to untangle my from Stewart while trying not to disturb Nora at my hips and Effie up by the pillows.

At 6am, there was a noise in my office that woke all 4 of us up. Effie raised her head and then put it back down. Stewart stood up, but stayed on the bed with his eyes glued in the direction of the door. Nora was the brave one, and immediately went to see what was going on. And when I got up to see what had produced the noise, she walked around with me and chatted a little. Stewart did not leave the bed until it was clear that I thought the coast was clear.

I finished the front of Double Scoop (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/PATTdoublescoop.html) last night. My first real intarsia project. My first attempt was poor and I didn't totally understand what I was doing. I did a little reading yesterday and got a much better understanding of how it works.

This morning on the bus I bound off the first of the Cherry Tree Hill socks. 11 rounds of ribbing on the second one, and I can bind it off, too. Pictures soon.

Two sightings today

First this evening I've seen what I assume is a new Miller Lite commercial. There are a variety of men in the commercial - the first one of note is Jerome Bettis. This wasn't my first sighting. Later in the commercial was an appearance by Aron Ralston. He was the RA on my friends' floor freshman year at CMU.

The second sighting had to be verified at tvtome.com. Kim Director is playing the crazy ex-girlfriend of Eric Delco on CSI: Miami (don't ask me why I'm still watching this show, I don't know.) Kim played the Witch in a production of "Into the Woods" that I was assistant stage manager for my freshman year at CMU. It took me a few minutes to figure out why she looked familiar, and even once I did I wasn't sure I was right. Don't know if she's lost too much weight or if its just because I haven't seen her since 1995.

Knitting Photo Dump

I'm not taking any more pictures of knitting projects or progress until I get caught up on the photos I've taken already and promised in the past. Above is the orange cabled vest, before I made it narrower and knitted around the armholes and neck. A final picture is still owed to you, my loyal readers. :-) It was based on the Veste Everest pattern from the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits.

On a similar note, the next photo is of a 2/3rds completed clapotis. It's done now, but the only finished photo I have at the moment is from when it was blocking and Nora decided to throw up on it...






Much progress has been made on these socks since this photo was taken. The pattern was inspired by Grumperina. She hasn't posted the pattern, but I was basically able to figure it out from looking at the close-up photos that she had posted previously. The pattern is not as easy to see on the variegated yarn, but it looks better than this photos makes it appear.

I do have to say that the length of sock that I am getting out of this one skein of Cherry Tree Hill yarn is impressive. These are already the longest socks I've ever made, and I still have quite a chunk of yarn in my skein. I'm at the point that I need to add calf shaping, because I don't want the socks to be too tight.



These are the Trekking XXL socks. I love them. There are two more skeins of this brand of yarn waiting in the wings. The yarn is soft but solid, and I just loved the colors and striping of this skein. The four or five times that I had to reknit the second heel to get the striping to match on the two socks was totally worth it. :-)

The purple socks below are made from a superwash wool sock yarn from brown sheep that I haven't seen anywhere since I made this pair. This was my first pair of two-at-a-time toe-up socks on metal needles. I liked the fact that I could make a pair of socks from one fairly short skein and make them as tall as possible. I wasn't so crazy about magic loop, although I will be giving it another chance since I did it with a pair of needles that had a shorter than recommended cord.



Last is the beginning of the fair isle bag from Sally Melville's "Color" book. I've decided that there isn't enough contrast between the variegated Noro yarn and the brown body color. I also think the fabric is too dense to felt well and because of the density, it is puckering in a few places, so I wouldn't like it unfelted either. This will be frogged and I'm going to start over with a darker brown yarn and a needle at least one size bigger.



I feel better now. At least until I take some more photos. ;-)

Knitting Group Quandry

I think I explained in the past that I encountered two women within a couple of weekends of each other who each had the names/emails for 7-10 knitters interested in a group meet-up. I suggested combining the groups and meeting at the coffee shop in our neighborhood. Both agreed and one suggested the second Thursday of the month. Now, Thursday isn't great for me, but I got the impression that it was good for the people on her list, so I agreed.

Last month, we had 7 people come and go over the course of 2 1/2 hours. Tonight, I was there for 1 1/2 hours and no one came. Now, I sent a message to the neighborhood email list, so I know that half the group was reminded a few days ago. But I don't think that the other "half" of the group was reminded.

My dilemma is really that I don't want to be the organizer of this group. I realize that it isn't a big responsibility...but I don't want anymore responsibilities right now. The house tour and other neighborhood things I do are enough. I just want a knitting group in my neighborhood, at my coffee shop that I can show up at once a month. But I have the feeling that if I don't step up and run things, this group won't get off the ground. Argh.

The only good news, is that if I do decide to take the reins, I'm going to change the date to Wendesday or Monday...because that works much better for me!

Oops

I got an invitation to a bridal shower 2 weeks ago. I had a nice idea for a knitted gift to make the couple and then I promptly forgot to do *anything* about it until today. Oy.

Let's all pray that my WEBS order gets here quickly (they don't have an overnight shipping option, & my LYS didn't have what I needed) and that I can knit like the wind!

I hope there isn't anything else important that I'm forgetting.

Last night I was floundering a little bit about what knitting to work on... Guess its good that I didn't start a sweater or anything. Although I do have two gauge swatches for yarn that I want to turn into sweaters at some point.

1st Big Demo Session

I decided to take Friday Off - I knew the weekend was going to be too busy to get much done, I needed the extra sleep, and R was off all last week and it seemed like it would be nice to have a day off together. After a slow morning, lunch at our local coffee shop and a walk around the neighborhood, we came home energized enough to start doing some demo work on our third floor. We ending up working on the removal of the carpet and tack strips, the pad and staples, the "bar" (well most of it), two layers of wallpaper, a couple of light fixtures and an outlet/switch.

Demo Photos

Saturday I had a show and we helped some friends move. Sunday we visited a friend's new cabin. So we plan to return to the demo later this week. Bulk pick-up is next Monday morning, so the more we can get done, the better!

Reds - Still in First!

Knitting - Progress on the Cherry Hill socks continued this weekend. I'm working my way up the leg. From the amount of yarn I still have, it seems like I could make knee socks! We'll see which runs out first, my motivation to keep going or the yarn.

Show - What I saw on Saturday was Golda's Balcony with Valerie Harper. It was very good. And lunch afterwards with my friends was very nice, too.

Celebrating a decade with tuna

The only reason that Nora (or any of our cats) care that today is the day that I celebrate Nora's 10th birthday is because they will get tuna tonight. Honestly, we don't know the real birthday of any of our cats - although Nora's is the one we are closest to knowing. The woman I got Nora from knew that the litter was born in late April or early May - so today's date is not exact, but it is close.

Because it would be difficult in a number of ways to give tuna to one cat and not the other two, last year we decided that all of the cats can celebrate Nora's big day. But it also means that Nora's is the only birthday that is "celebrated". Last year they were all pretty adorable - clearly demonstrating that the tuna is better than the wet canned food. Once the food was put down, all you could hear for several minutes was the clanging of ID tags against the pyrex bowls. And when the cats finished licking every drop and morsel from their bowl, they checked the bowls of the other cats for any scraps that might have been left behind.

Stewart turned 2 sometime in March and Effie will probably be 17 (or around there) later this year. Stewart is not overly interested in food, he would much rather be pet or played with, but even he is part of the herd of kitties that follow my every step when I make myself a tuna sandwich. So I think he will enjoy tonight's festivities, too.

Knitting - I've made two or three more hats since my last posting about them...although the last couple still need to have their ends woven in. Since I was at the theater every day last week (Monday through Sunday) there hasn't been time to plan my next couple of projects or interest in working on the sleeves for the pink pullover. I need to make the house a little less messy before I can devote time to project planning and stash diving. ;-)

Reds - They are in first place and Arroyo pitched a complete game last night. Overall, the pitching has been impressive this year (not just Arroyo - Harang, Clausen, etc) and the offense has been the kind of offense we've been expecting for years, and on top of that Griffey will be back in the lineup soon. I'm looking forward to the games at PNC Park in mid-May. The Reds are wrapping up two series with their main division rivals and the worst they can end up after today is tied for first... Also, I plan to sign up online for the chance at All-Star tickets. My chances are probably pretty low, but I will at least try. I'm not willing to pay thousands of dollars for tickets on eBay.

Books - I really like Big Girl Knits from Amy R. Singer and Jillian Moreno. By their definition I'm just on the borderline to be a "big girl" because I think some of the sizing is too big for me...but it doesn't matter. This book has great guidelines for how to measure yourself, how to get handknits to fit and how to add shaping to get any piece of knitwear to fit *your* body. Besides, I have two of the three "Bs" and their guidelines for fit for each of the three "Bs" are excellent. (For example, I never considered that I shouldn't carry a tiny purse or bag, because it just makes me (and my arms) look bigger!) This is a great book for any woman who wants to make knitwear that fits properly on her curves, no matter what size she wears! (For the non-knitters who are curious, the 3 "Bs" are Boobs, Belly and Butt)