Speaking Of Traveling to Exotic Places

This is the typical exotic locale I get to visit on my work-related travels.

My students and I stopped here for lunch on Friday.




Yes, the name of that hamburger stand is the Hamburger Haus - just opened last weekend for the summer season. They make a great burger. We were lucky the weather was nice as there was only outdoor seating.

I couldn't get a closer picture, as we were already garnering an undue amount of attention from the customers - we were 4 people who are clearly not locals.

5 Things

This meme is going around. I've never done a meme yet, so as I've no new knitting progress to show...

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I had just finished graduate school and was moving back to the midwest.

5 things on my to-do list today.

Doing laundry.
Grocery shopping.
Making a dish for a work-related party.
Going to that work-related party.
Continuing to clean out 3 closets.

Snacks I enjoy.

Please...the easier question to answer would be snacks I don't enjoy.

As for top favorites, for something sweet - chocolate. Any kind of chocolate.
For something salty/crunchy, Walkers Salt & Vinegar Crisps. The snack companies in the US have no idea how to make good salt and vinegar potato chips. They load them with TONS of salt.

Where are some of the places I've lived?

Well, this is boring. With the exception of living in Florida for 3 years, I've always lived in the midwest, specifically places in Michigan and Wisconsin. DH has lived in much more exciting locations, like Brazil, San Francisco, the Phillipines, Seattle, and other places.

What things would I do if I was a billionaire?

Of course there are the typical things I would do which I think are a part of everyone's list: make certain our families are financially set, give to favorite charities; have a knitting studio or room devoted to knitting - with a comfy chair, a TV (with Turner Classic Movies) and lots of natural light.

But mainly, I'd want to travel, travel, travel.

After accompanying Jean to see the cats of Lake Van and her other wonderful sites, I'd organize a trip to see places I haven't had the opportunity to travel to (yet). Who wants to come along? A good starting point would be the new 7 wonders of the world. DH is ahead of me, as he has already seen the Colosseum in Rome, Machu Piccchu in Peru, the Great Wall of China, and the Christ the Redeemer statute in Rio de Janeiro.

Then, I'd start on this list.

And it should go without saying that any flight more than 3 hours in duration would be spent in business class, not economy.

On The Needles

Lately this blog has been a bit short on the knitting content.

At last - a remedy.

During the Sorting of the Stash, as the incident is now known in the Haus, at least 5 projects were frogged. A few more were re-found and re-invigorated.

First on the list is Amy Anderson's Grapenuts pattern. The first photo shows the true color of the yarn and the other 2 photos show more of the cable details.





Next is another Amy Anderson pattern - Gone Fishin'. Here's a close-up of the detail.



There's another sweater that was re-discovered, the Brambleberry. Again, first picture shows more the true color, the second highlights the detail.




And we've got The Reversible Cable Scarf.



Last, but not least, some little progress on Celtic Dreams. It is supposedly done to the armhole but I have not tried it on yet. I'm going to do the neck as directed, then try it on to see if I need to knit further on the front and back to reach where the armholes should properly be placed.



Finished, but not finished (if you know what I mean) is the Baby Surprise Jacket.



All these new WIPs should keep me busy. I still have plenty of scarves on the needles as traveling/meeting knitting.

What's on your needles?

Spring Cleaning

I'm back after a long radio silence.

Life is in an uproar right now. Once the seas stop roiling, I'll be able to share more with you.

Knitting has been happening, but only in the late, late (or early, early) hours of the night during periods of insomnia - not a prime time for photos. I've done a bit on the Celtic Dream aran sweater, finished a scarf and made progress on several other scarves.

If any of you have been on Ravelry lately, you'll see what I've been up to - cataloging the stash. This was quite a job and is 99% finished. Enchanting Juno had a wonderful post about her stash. I can only echo what she wrote.

While I love, love, love fiber and love collecting it (obviously!), organizing the stash gave me a hard knock of perspective upside the head. I want to use the yarn not store it in the stash forever. It was worth taking the time to photograph the skeins. Rather than having a catalog written on pages of notepaper and having to sort through bins when I can't remember what the particular yarn looked like, now I can see exactly what I've got right there on Ravelry. I was concerned about exposing this to the world - my embarrassment of riches - the WHOLE stash - what was stored in a closet and the extent of which only I had knowledge. But then I realized who is on Ravelry. Other knitters. (Duh!) Some of whom are the best enablers. People who, of all people in the world, would understand the stash and not condemn me for it. There are those who will shake their head and "tch, tch, tch" a bit but most will understand the fiber obsession.

I'm seeing benefits to cataloging the stash already. I was a much more controlled shopper on our recent safari and, even more important, I've passed up several major sales at different yarn shops. This would not have occurred in the past. Another benefit is that a number of neglected items have been frogged and others have been put aside to be worked on and finished. It's a fiber spring cleaning that's been long overdue.

Warning: obligatory cute cat photo to divert reader from lack of knitting photos.

Harlot Tour Stop

Hail heralded the Harlot's visit this past week.

It gathered on the grass

and my windshield.

Thankfully, it did not stick around for long.

The venue was crowded a full 2 hours before the Harlot arrived.


But knitters and spinners passed the time chatting and working on projects.


As usual, she was delightful, funny, and informative - sharing anecdotes about the human brain gleaned from medical/psychological studies. She recharged my knitting batteries.


What's truly amazing is how she can still be witty and gracious even at the end of a LONG day. It was near 11 p.m. by the time everyone had their books signed.


As for knitting, I'm still working on Celtic Dreams and various scarves but, lately, the majority of any free time has been spent entering the stash on Ravelry.

I've also been trying to read non-knitting books for at least 30 minutes before going to sleep.

I'm currently reading Eleanor of Aquitaine. It's taking me awhile to get through this book as it's chock full of facts and figures. It reads more like a doctoral dissertation (to me it lacks fluidity) but I'm enjoying it.

I just finished Pamela Aidan's trilogy of books in the "A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy" series. The books are entitled An Assembly Such As This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain. If you enjoy Jane Austen, you may enjoy these novels. Ms. Aidan's novels retell the story of Pride and Prejudice but are written from Darcy's perspective. For me, they were a quick and very enjoyable read.

Next on my list of reading are The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt.

Anyone out there have any recommendations of books they've enjoyed?