Made from Concentrate

Project: Sagittarius

2010-02-17T15:57:00.002-05:00

This is a somewhat belated update on my first Zodiac project, for Sagittarius, which I was cryptic about last month.

Fefferknits just had her twins (8 weeks early! Way to throw off my deadlines! Geez!). As a baby shower present, I had decided to make the babies stuffed elephants.

The babies should come home this week, and they'll get to drool all over Bernie and Eunice! (Um, that's what I've been calling them anyway.)

I used Caron Simply Soft (Shadows for the green elephant, Tweed for the purle), and knit up the wonderful Elefante pattern. I did tweak it slightly--the ears are crochet, and I got to them at work, when I had neither the mental capacity nor the physical resources to crochet elephant ears. Instead, I used the ears from another pattern. I also decided to forgo the poly-pellets.

2010

2010-01-02T11:32:00.002-05:00

Another year, another decade. As some of you faithful readers know, I work in textbook publishing. Like the car industry, we operate in the future. I just held in my hand the pages of a book that I have been working on since calendar-year 2007, and was signed in calendar-year 2005. The book was 5 years in the making, and will be physically bound as of next week, in calendar-year 2010, but it's a copyright of 2011. There are several bound copyright '11s in my office right now, that we weren't legally allowed to ship out until yesterday. It gets very confusing, since professors are only just finishing their first semester with the 2010 copyright books, and we are already working on 2012 books. (And in some cases, beyond that, since first editions have a much longer lead time than revisions.)

This is a long-winded way of saying that I never have any idea what the actual year is, anymore, without checking a calendar or asking someone who preferably doesn't also work in publishing. In some ways, the new decade started for me three years ago, which makes all the "looking back" posts and articles a bit odd for me. (10 years ago I was a junior in high school!)

But the new year is the new year no matter when my brain is, and the new year is always a time for reflection and resolutions. This year, I'm not doing resolutions per se, but rather a "Zodiac Challenge" that as far as I know was concocted by my friend DigiKami. The idea of the challenge is to complete 13 projects over 28 day periods throughout the year, leaving us with a day off at the end of the year. I agreed to do this, got lazy and forgot to come up with challenges, except for a few vague ones, so when I got my reminder email this morning, I was scrambling a bit.

The challenges are meant to be projects, and if you don't finish your project within the allotted four weeks, you must put it down. If you finish early, you can go back to any previously unfinished projects. Obviously not all projects will take as long as others--one of mine is to sand and either repaint or stain a small dresser and my night stand, which should only take me a weekend, and another is to crochet my grandfather a blanket.

I'll be posting here with updates about my challenges. The first challenge will be a secret, though. It's something I need to do and would get in the way of starting any other projects, and I can't have someone reading on here what my challenge is for the 1st through the 28th.

One Last Present

2010-01-02T11:20:00.002-05:00

The CephaloPod seems to have been a hit. It was oohed over when it was opened. It was in fact the second present opened in the Yankee Swap, and while no one took it away from the person who opened it, she never opted to trade for any of the other things in the swap.

The final gift I gave this holiday season was another scarf. This one, too, was hard to give up. It was made with Malabrigo Aquarella, a super bulky, thick and thin yarn. The color I used was "Coronilla," which ranges from coppery red through brown and into black. And of course, since it's Malabrigo, the color is delicious and the yarn is soft and buttery. I kept the scarf simple, to highlight the qualities of the yarn--it's just a garter stitch scarf, so it looks fabulously home-made with the thick and thin yarn.

This is not the best picture, as it comes out looking darker than it is in real life. I shall attempt to capture the scarf "in the wild," that is, around the neck of its recipient, my roommate. I've seen her wearing the scarf a couple of times already, so another success!

For those who care about such things, and aren't on Ravelry, here are the details:

Yarn: Malabrigo Aquarella, 3 skeins in Coronilla
Needles: Size 13 KnitPicks Options.

I used the new acrylic Zephyr tips. I am not a huge fan--they are a little bit grabbier than the original, nickel-plated tips. I haven't used the Harmony tips yet, but I did order the Harmony 9s so soon I should be able to have a full comparison of the various tips.

CephaloPod!

2009-12-21T20:47:00.003-05:00

I promised more crafty-gifts, and lo and behold, I present to you, CephaloPod, the squid iPod Cozy!

CephaloPod is made from SquiPod iPod Cozy, in Caron Simply Soft Shadows, on size 8 double pointed needles. I got the buttons for 50 cents (total!) at Windsor Button after work today. I'm enamored. I want one for myself. I stupidly didn't decrease the amount of stitches in the pattern, even though I used worsted where the pattern called for sport, so he is really more camera-sized than iPod sized. Shhh. I'm throwing him into the Yankee Swap tomorrow, so we'll see how he goes over!

Mario Tree Topper, v 2

2009-12-21T13:34:00.004-05:00

On Ravelry come the fall, talk inevitably turns to holiday knitting/crocheting. "What are you making for people for WHATEVER-HOLIDAY?" The posts are then replies with copious lists of "This for that person" or, "I don't knit for HOLIDAY because everyone around me are ungrateful jerks," or, "I'm lazy/not good enough/whatever." I'm usually in the lazy category, but suddenly I realized that I was nearly finished making my fourth gift of the season.

You've already seen one, Z's scarf. There's another present that I dare not post lest the recipient reads my blog (I don't think the recipient does, but you know), and I still have a tentacle to knit and eyes to sew on for another. But I did give M & E their Mario star tree topper!

At my holiday party, M requested a star for their tree, but bigger, hopefully by their holiday party, or at least by Christmas. No problem. On Saturday, I crocheted their star, which is probably twice as large as mine (I haven't measured them, but that'd be my guess). I actually was an hour late to the party because I was hurriedly seaming and stuffing the star while T played the new Super Mario on my Wii.

I used the same pattern and yarn and hook as last time, but I did make modifications for the size. After round 5, I repeated rounds 4 and 3 once each, for a total of 60 sc around. The points were therefore 12 sc at their bases instead of 6. I decreased for the points at the same rate as in the original (so decreasing on rows 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12).

They are pretty pleased with it, as am I. Will have pictures of the other two presents for you shortly!

Breaking Radio Silence: More Knitting and Crocheting!

2009-12-05T23:09:00.005-05:00

Hello, blog. Long time no see.

This year, I decided to save some money by knitting presents. I can't show you one of them yet, but I already gifted one of them to Z, who left to study viola de gamba at the Hague for three months this week. I actually finished the scarf (the bind off and weaving-in-of-ends) at her going away party, and then wrapped it around her neck.

I think it was a hit--she wore the scarf the rest of the party, and then left my apartment without the scarf she'd worn to my apartment in the first place.

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Velvet Grapes
Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Needles: Size 11s (I love my Options!)
Ravelry page
This was much quicker to knit than the last My So Called Scarf that I made. Since I, you know, actually worked on it.

While cruising the Atheist and Agnostic Crafter's boards on Ravelry, I saw someone was knitting a Flying Spaghetti Monster tree topper. I thought that was a pretty awesome idea, and then I had an even geekier idea: a Super Mario star tree topper! The only pattern I could find was a crochet pattern, and while I taught myself to crochet over the summer, I hadn't actually done anything past learn the basic stitches. But I decided the idea was too awesome to not at least try, and so I toddled off to Windsor Button after work one day this week.

Windsor Button is a fabulous store in downtown Boston--they have a wall of buttons, sewing supplies, random craft supplies, and of course, yarn. I haven't seen many yarn selections like the one at Windsor Button--craft stores like Joann's have a limited selection of yarn companies, and they tend to focus heavily on Red Heart, Lion Brand, Caron, and Patons. Local yarn stores might have Patons, but are unlikely to have the rest. Windsor Button has everything from Red Heart Super Saver on up to Malabrigo and Sea Silk. It's a fantastic store, and I love that they have a smattering of everything. And while I normally hate acrylic, I knew that Red Heart was going to be my best bet for the bright, bright yellow I'd need for the star. I very much appreciated that I could walk from my office to Windsor Button and get the yarn I needed, rather than having to get in a car and drive to a big box store.

Anyway, I wound up ripping the star out a lot, and re-crocheting it. At one point, I had all of the first star done, and all but three points on the second star done, and redid them both. I had some beginner's difficulties, but I learned a fair bit, including how to read my work some. And so, lo and behold, my first crochet project!

I know have to figure out how to attach him to the tree. And prevent all my friends from grabbing him and running around my apartment singing the invincibility music from Super Mario Bros games during our party next week.

Yarn: Red Heart Classic Solid in Yellow, Cascade 220 in black for the eyes.
Pattern: Super Mario Invisibility Star
Hook: Size 3.25 mm (D)
Ravelry link
The pattern calls for a size E hook, but I didn't have one and was too impatient to wait for another trip to the store to acquire one. I'm quite happy with the results, though!

Update: Here it is on the tree!

The Lonely Egg

2009-07-28T21:28:00.002-04:00

You may have noticed that I talk about food a lot. I like to cook and eat. So do a lot of my friends. In fact, one of them likes to cook so much that he created a website to share recipes. The Lonely Egg just went into open beta today, and is pretty awesome, with even more potential for awesomeness down the road--I've been using it for a while now, and it's nice to have my recipes at hand anywhere I go.

So, if you like to cook, check it out. There's also a Google Group for the site, where you can make suggestions, give feedback, or report bugs.

Good News! Spring is Here...wait a second...

2009-07-10T17:50:00.002-04:00

So it's now July 10th, and weather-wise, it's a beautiful May day. At least it's not raining.

The last of the strawberries are in the farmer's market, so I made Strawberry Shortcake Cookies, which I made for the 4th and were a huge success. I'm hoping they are just as delicious today as they were last week!

It's Summer! Kind of.

2009-06-24T13:24:00.004-04:00

Boston is currently suffering from an acute case of "raining and gray and cloudy and miserable all the time." This has been going on for the last couple of weeks, and I for one long for the return of the Daystar. (Sources say tomorrow may be sunny. Forgive me for holding my breath.)

So that may be why the farmer's market was pretty deserted yesterday at lunch, but it did not prevent the return of my favorite vegetable. That's right, zucchini are in season! I snapped up two, and while I regrettably over-blanched them, I still wound up with a delicious dinner of stuffed zucchini.

My mother had reported the first tiny zucchini on her plants (she's growing fewer plants this year, since her garden tends to grow giant monster mutant zucchini) so I didn't expect to find them at the market yesterday. I was happily surprised.

Tilted Duster

2009-06-03T13:07:00.005-04:00

When you've been anticipating something for a long time, it's sometimes hard to believe when it's over. Like my trip to Japan, which I started planning in about March of 2008, over a year before the trip actually happened in April of 2009.

Or my Tilted Duster sweater, which I started knitting in October of 2007, and didn't finish until Sunday night. But now all the ends are woven in and every seam has been finished!

Tilted Duster (Ravelry link to project, and to pattern) by Norah Gaughan.

I knit the 40" size on size 9 needles, out of GGH Bel Air in "Olive" (though I'd call that more an avocado color, myself. Nomnomnom.)

The pattern was easy to follow and clear, which didn't prevent from being dumb, like when I knit a good portion of sleeve only increasing on one side instead of both.

I started knitting this in October of 2007 on size 10s. The next time I came back to it, I realized that what I'd knit was waaaay too big (stupid gauge), so I ripped back and started over. Last September, I was close to finishing it, and had even sewn on the buttons and one of the sleeves when I tried it on and decided the collar looked like crap. It was too long, so it sat funny on my neck, and the buttons/buttonholes looked terrible. Modifications: no buttons! I plan on getting a shawl pin to keep it closed, and if I get really frustrated with that I'll add some toggle buttons and a button loop.

Much thanks to Digikami, who is the awesome photographer who provided these photos.

This is my first sweater, and I'm incredibly excited about it, to the point where I am wearing it today. In June. It's keeping me nice and toasty in my frigid office.

Back from Japan

2009-04-24T14:01:00.004-04:00

I have had several things I thought about blogging this past week, but hadn't because I felt I couldn't make a blog post until I blogged about going to Japan. Which is what I did on April 4th. I got back this past Sunday, so I've had a few days to start to digest my trip mentally. (People keep asking me what my favorite thing was...there were so many awesome things I still can't decide.)

I don't speak any Japanese, so my trip would have been pretty difficult, if not impossible, without Digikami, who speaks pretty damn good Japanese (don't let him tell you otherwise). I also got to see my friend from forever Japam (who will be losing her "Ja" in August when she comes back to the States in August).

We were based mainly in Kyoto, where we found an awesome deal through a hostel to rent an apartment for 15 days. This was awesome and way cheaper than staying in regular hostels the whole time, so we were glad to have found it. It was a super nice place right in the center of Kyoto.

I took of pictures, as did Digikami. He took more photos than I did, but posted fewer. They are also much better than mine, but hey, what're you going to do?

Highlights include:

Sakura:

Kiyomizudera:

Himeji-jo:

Toji:

Turtles ("kame" in Japanese):

The World's Largest Indoor Buddha, Nara:

Tame Deer (in both Nara and Miyajima, this was in Miyajima):

Miyajima:

Instructions on How To Use a Western Toilet:

Pachinko Parlor Ads Ripping Off Obama:

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion:

And the view of Kyoto from Daimonji-yama:

This trip was actually my first journey out of the country, and in a lot of ways a huge jump out of my comfort zone. I don't speak the language, and I can't read any of the alphabets (though I have since learned 5 different kanji). While some of the food was familiar, I was being dumped in a place where I couldn't get the things I was raised on easily (and the Japanese barely eat cheese, which is probably my favorite food). Japanese-style toilets are traumatic.

But the food was delicious. People were friendly and polite despite my mangling their language. I saw beautiful things, and cute things, and funny things, and a couple of disturbing things. It was refreshing to see some of the problems that plague America (terrible public transit, for instance) are things that other countries have down. I had an awesome time, and I really would love to go back. Neither my words nor these pictures can really describe what it was like.

Time to start learning Japanese, so next time I can communicate a little better.

Finished! My So-Called Scarf

2009-01-29T21:27:00.004-05:00

Three posts in 2 days? You lucky, lucky faithful readers you!

I just finished the My So Called Scarf I started back in August of 2007. Yes. It did take me a year and a half to knit one measly little scarf. I'm going to claim it's because it's so soft and luscious I didn't want to finish knitting it. Yeah, that's it.

Apparently, I have thus far failed to blog about this scarf. Oops. Ravelry link to my project here.

Details!
Yarn is Malabrigo worsted, in Autumn Forest. I used about a skein and a half, I think. Cast on 30 stitches, as per the pattern, and knit until the scarf hung to my knees when draped around my neck. I'd probably make it wider if I made it again.
Used Knit Picks Options, size 11.

It's an incredibly easy stitch pattern to memorize, what with it being the same two rows repeated ad infinitum. Perfect for the T or watching TV or reading a book, if I remember to use my book stand. But it's not particularly boring. It IS hard to fix mistakes, though.

I'm looking forward to wearing this for the first time tomorrow!

Hope Whatever Just Cracked Wasn't Important...

2009-01-29T16:16:00.003-05:00

When I was a freshman in high school, I started taking Tae Kwon Do classes at the same school my little brother was going to. Being 14, however, put me in the adult class (which I was fine with, because I didn't want to go to class with my brother.). I ~~was~~ am a big fantasy geek, so getting to learn hand-to-hand fighting was a big bonus in my eyes, plus I was pretty lazy and needed the exercise. Never really liked playing sports (competitively, anyway, for fun is OK), and have always hated going to the gym or running, so having a reason for my exercise was awesome.

I never quite understood what Mr. D (I almost typed "Sir", as that was what we most often called him, and how my mom still refers to him) was talking about when he'd talk about how the winter and the cold make you stiff and how important it is to stretch more in the winter. I was a teenager, and since I was active (I went to class 2-3 times a week, on average, sometimes more, until I was 18), I was pretty flexible. And I'd get a little stiffer in the cold, but not that much. Now I am 25, and have been mostly inactive since I was 18 (except for brief spurts of activity and fitness). I'm not old yet, but I definitely feel the difference the winter air makes. Especially now that I've started taking yoga classes at the gym (OK, I've gone twice. But that's a start!) and can't do things I used to be able to do, or can't do things I think I would've been able to do. And yes, some of it is just that I've been lazy for the past 7 years. But I can also feel that my muscles and ligaments are a little more set in their ways than they used to be, a little less willing to make that movement. (Or in some cases, a lot.) At least my bum ankle was more flexible yesterday than it was on Friday.

Maybe if I keep it up, I'll feel like I once more deserve to wear the black belt that's sitting around collecting dust in my mom's house.

C'mon, hips, not even a little fib?

2009-01-28T15:43:00.002-05:00

Today I brought apple slices with peanut butter for a snack, rather than hitting up the vending machine for chocolatey goodness. I am trying to eat more healthily, partly because I have been slightly infected with the New Year's resolutions-vibe, and partly because, like Shakira, my hips don't lie. They will tell you exactly how many cookies I eat, and what kind. My hips are kind of bastards like that.

So, in an effort to reverse the ever-so-slight expansion of my waist, apple slices with peanut butter. There is first the dilemma of how to transport the apple, whole or already in slices. Already in slices, it naturally starts to oxidize so by 3:30 your apple is kind of brownish, though not too bad. If you bring a whole apple, you either have to bring a knife to slice it, or you have to rely on those available to you at your office. At my office, there is an enormous "cake knife" that looks like it came from the set of Psycho, or plastic butter knives. It is actually possible to cut a Granny Smith apple into slices with a butter knife, but it's not a particularly fun activity, nor one I recommend. (Especially after I nearly sliced my finger. With a plastic butter knife!) Then there is the issue of peanut butter transport. I could have just brought the whole jar of peanut butter, but that seemed like it would be heavy and bulky and just plain excessive. So I found a small tupperware and spooned some in.

The problem here, of course, is the one I always face when I have a limited amount of dipping/spreading foodstuff. I can't ensure that I won't run out of peanut butter before I reach the last apple slice unless I spread it evenly onto all apple slices before I begin eating, and that's pretty lame, and anyway, these slices are not at all even and some of them are actually "chunks." So instead, I find myself skimping on the first few slices, using not-quite-enough-peanut butter, until I reach the last slice. Invariably, I have skimped too much early on and am left with far too much delicious peanut butter, so that I am actually basically eating the peanut butter with the apple slice as a mere conduit for it's sticky, delicious goopiness.

Temptations

2009-01-07T20:26:00.003-05:00

The universe does have a cruel sense of humor. Barely 24 hours after I posted my not-for-the-new-year-specifically resolutions, but they are tested. My workload is more than doubling for the next year--year and a half, which probably means permanently.

But, in the spirit of my resolutions, I am choosing to focus on the positive implications of this, rather than the scary parts: I will be working with all-new people, which will expose me to different processes. I will therefore be more well-rounded of an employee, and if I do well, will impress more people, which will lead to good things down the road. There will probably be some new responsibilities involved in this that I currently don't handle, which could at some point help me segue into a higher position. The fact that I have been added to this new-to-me book team means that my boss has confidence in me and my abilities and thinks I can handle it. (He always thinks highly of what I can handle. I hope he is right.)

Also in the spirit of my resolutions, I started journaling again last night. I'm hoping that by just writing brain-dump entries I can sort them out. Or at least get them off my mind for a while. It does feel a little silly to maintain a blog and a journal, but I don't feel there is the space here to be as honest and forthright as I need to be. And posting everything I think on the internet is a bit too much like my college/livejournal days for comfort.

Resolving, Revolving, Revolting?

2009-01-05T15:33:00.005-05:00

I haven't made New Year's resolutions. I haven't even really thought about New Year's resolutions, except sometimes when I saw them referred to on various blogs or Ravelry-threads, and even then it only crossed my mind long enough to read the words. It's not that I don't think they can be a good idea, if properly implemented and followed-through, it's just that I'm lazy. And all the things I would make resolutions about are things that I know are problems, and am trying really hard to get better about, and think (hope, really) that I am getting better about, despite the occasional (usually huge) slip-ups.

Everyone has character flaws, and I don't think mine are really any more glaring than anyone else's are. Obviously, they are forgivable: otherwise, my brother, sisters, cousins and I would never have been born. But I don't like these things about myself. In fact, they tend to infuriate me in other people, which probably means I need to add some degree of hypocrisy to that list of flaws (unless it's mitigated by my acknowledgment that I share these problems, and am trying to work past them?).

So:
I am attempting to let things bother me less. Particularly things/persons I perceive to be stupid, inefficient, or both. This will lessen my overall stress levels because if I don't allow them the become stress in the first place.

I am attempting to complain less. Once something has bothered me, I want to let it go faster, rather than dwell on it. There is a fine line between venting and just being spiteful. I need to learn to actively do something to fix a situation, or shut up and deal with it.

I am still looking for a way to release stress/tension/anxiety better. I need to look harder, because I have not, in all honesty, done much about this.

I am attempting to argue less, at least about the things that don't matter. This. Is. Hard. Help would be appreciated here, preferably BEFORE I've annoyed everyone around me.

That being said, I am attempting to be more perceptive of when I have crossed the line.

I am attempting to be less (negatively) sensitive to criticism. Sometimes, people are just trying to help.

Part of my goal is that by releasing these various negative things from my life, I will have more mental energy for happy things.

ETA: I'm pretty sure this post counts as complaining about myself. FAIL. :D

And all the little bloggers go "tweet"?

2009-01-05T11:51:00.003-05:00

Blog fail! Oops.

First day back in the office of the new year, first day back after a week and a half of vacation, so clearly I must blog.

I signed up for Twitter, on the recommendation of a friend, when I expressed bewilderment at the whole idea. He said I needed to start using it, and use it for a while, before I'd get it. I'm cawthraven, since someone stole the name Stiney. The nerve. I'm not sure I get it, still, but I suspect that I often think in "tweets" (or at least non sequiturs) so maybe it's not so weird.

Home Again, Home Again?

2008-11-26T15:32:00.003-05:00

I think it's a pretty good sign that you've moved out of your mom's house mentally as well as physically when you forget where the outlets are in your former bedroom.

Every time I come home, I find a little bit more of my mom's things in my bedroom. And I've usually brought a few more with me to Boston.

Binary Hat

2008-11-15T15:53:00.004-05:00

Tada! I made the Binary Hat for Digikami as an early Christmas present. Here's the Ravelry link for the project.

I used Cascade 220 in 7822 and some tan color that I can no longer identify. Clover Bamboo size 9 double pointed needles, with 7's for the ribbing (because 8's were not to be had!) He has a lot of hair, so I added an inch of stockinette in the brown before starting the stripe sequence. This was the larger size already, but it fits perfectly! I'm not super-happy with the seaming at the top, but oh well. I think this would be a good stash-buster project--I barely made a dent in either ball of yarn.

This was a fun and quick knit, too. It only took me four days from cast on to bind off.

The MBTA

2008-11-14T11:47:00.004-05:00

So, the bane of my commute to work is taking the T every weekday morning and evening. I will say that despite all of the problems, it's still better than when I lived in NJ and drove to work every day (and I was lucky--I reverse commuted and rarely every got stuck in traffic). But the amount of grief the T causes me is ridiculous.

Between rude people who won't move further into the train, resulting in crowding at the doors when there is plenty of room in the trolley, or rude people who push onto the train without letting others off first (hint: you'll have more room on the train if you let people off at their stops), to rude people who are stuck in the stairs and don't move off the train at stops to let people getting off get on (hint: see above, and also, you'll still be able to get back on the train!), to rude people who stand in the stairs when the train is empty (WTF?), to baffling people who will stand around an empty seat in an excess of politeness, to expressed trains that pass you by, leaving you waiting for often quite a long time for another train, to tourists and people on their way to Red Sox games who don't know the etiquette of riding the train (it's common sense, people!)...(holy run-on sentence, Batman!) there are a lot of frustrations involved in riding the T.

Perhaps none are so infuriating as when there is a problem with the T itself. I understand that accidents are going to happen. Someone is too tired, or not paying quite enough attention, or whatever. We are all only human, so we make mistakes and accidents happen. The key difference is how accidents are taken care of, and the MBTA routinely fails to take care of problems quickly or efficiently. Case in point, the accident this morning at the Boylston St T stop. Two Green line trains collided, injuring 7 people aboard (out of 500). The trains weren't derailed, the tracks were fine. They set up shuttle service between the Arlington St (one stop outbound) and Government Center (two stops inbound). I take the B line of the Green line into work every day. The last above ground stop on the B line is Blandford St, before it goes to Kenmore and joins up with the C and D lines.

When we reached Blandford St this morning, we were told we'd be standing by. Moments later, we were informed that Blandford would be the last stop, and we should walk to Kenmore and catch another train. So the full train unloaded, and we all went to Kenmore and squeezed onto the first train we could. That T proceeded to crawl forward, spending a long time standing still in between stops before inching forward to repeat the process. We weren't given any more information at the next stop, Hynes, except "There was traffic up ahead," and "some delays." The train continued its underground crawl to Copley, the next stop, where we were all told to get off the train, and that there were buses waiting above ground. I was only two or three blocks from work at that point, so I walked. It wasn't until after I got to work (at 10:30) and was able to get on the internet that I was able to find out about the accident.

The MBTA should have informed the conductors of the full nature of the problem, who in turn should have informed the passengers--I could easily, and far more quickly walked to work from Blandford St, and I'm sure some people would have taken cabs. Underground service between Kenmore and Arlington should not have continued--buses should have been provided. Kenmore is one of the few underground stops where trains can be taken out of service easily, alleviating some of the underground traffic. It's just so frustrating that there was no communication about the accident. This article in the Globe doesn't mention the hour and a half delays experienced by passengers between Kenmore and Arlington, the numerous commuters who were late to work, the students who were late to class (or exams).

Seriously, MBTA. You are one of the most important transportation arteries in the city of Boston, if not THE most important. You need to be able to clear up traffic in a timely fashion and get passengers where they need to be, not stick them underground for hours with no idea of what the problem is. Thousands of people depend on you for transportation.

Grouchily yours,

Stiney

VOTE!

2008-11-04T10:39:00.002-05:00

Don't forget to vote today! It's really important make your voice heard, and elections are our best way of doing that.

I voted before work--I waited in line 45 minutes, to vote in the kitchen of a school about a five minute walk from my apartment. (A lunch lady was even hard at work in the corner.) I also got to participate in an exit poll, which was exciting.

So, whether like me, you voted for Obama, or like my dear old G-pa, you are voting for "McClain" (We have a whole different issue that he doesn't know the name of the man he's voting for) or a third party candidate, go and vote, vote, vote!

Stiney's "Famous" Wings

2008-10-20T16:30:00.003-04:00

Friday night was a friend's recital, and I was drafted to help make food for the reception which followed. I went the lazy route, and made chicken wings, which are easy, popular, delicious, and easy.

I have two variants, one of which I've only been making since the Super Bowl this year (it has supplanted the version I learned from my mother), and the other I've been making since I first started cooking, in 2003 or so.

Buffalo Wings
Ingredients:
1 package fresh or defrosted chicken wingettes (these are the separated kind. It is a huge, huge pain in the ass to cut the whole wing into bits, and then you wind up wasting the very tip, unless you save it for stock.)
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup Sriracha sauce
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place wings into roasting dish (I usually use my Pyrex dish, though I have been known to use aluminum as well). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Cook wings for 1 hour, until golden brown. Remove from oven.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter, then stir in sriracha sauce.
4. Pour sauce over wings, and mix so that all wings are coated.

Serve with bleu cheese and celery sticks. Eat and enjoy! The sauce for this was modified from the Frank's Red Hot Sauce recipe. I was going to make buffalo wings and asked if Digital Paper Revolution had "hot sauce" without specifying what kind I meant. The answer was yes, but there was no Frank's Red Hot sauce to be found. He had sriracha sauce, so I decided to made do rather than run to Shaw's. Sriracha sauce is significantly hotter, so I doubled the butter. The sauce is more flavorful (and more buttery!), and sticks to the wings better.

The other variation my mother made up, and is delicious and even easier. This would be easy to modify, as well, but I find it so simple and easy that I haven't experimented with it at all.

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
1 package fresh or defrosted chicken wingettes (these are the separated kind. It is a huge, huge pain in the ass to cut the whole wing into bits, and then you wind up wasting the very tip, unless you save it for stock.)
Soy sauce (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place wings into roasting dish (I usually use my Pyrex dish, though I have been known to use aluminum as well). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Cook wings for 1 hour, until golden brown. Remove from oven.
3. Pour sauce over wings, and mix so that all wings are coated.

Eat and enjoy!

Feel free to do with these what you will. A link back to this blog would be awesome, though.

Election Weirdness

2008-10-17T10:42:00.001-04:00

I was in 7-11 last night, picking up NyQuil for my ailing roommate, when I saw the weirdest election thing ever.

They have blue Obama cups. They have red McCain cups. And they have cream-colored Undecided/Independent cups.

I kid you not.

I hope you all registered to vote!

Don't Forget to Register to Vote!

2008-10-07T13:27:00.004-04:00

US Citizens! If you aren't registered to vote at your current address, make sure you are! Deadlines for some states have already passed, and others are rapidly approaching. (I need to mail mine in before 10/15. It's been in my bag for over a month, for want of a stamp. Yes, very delinquent of me.)

The most important thing is that everyone votes. I know not everyone reading this will agree with my political opinions, or vote for the same people as me, but you should vote!

Also, make sure to research the candidates running for Senate, House, and lower levels, and to consider any issues that will be on the ballot. I know MA has three questions this year, and I already know how I'm voting on them.

Oops, I almost forgot a title

2008-10-05T11:21:00.004-04:00

Two whole months? Geez, I've been negligent.

But also productive! I moved to a beautiful new apartment the weekend of September 1st, so I'm going to give myself a pass on the lack of blog updates. I also have a freshly completed knitting project to show off (because I'm a ham like that).

On the basis that my boss has no idea I have a blog, I present to you:

Saartje's Bootees (as knit by me):

My boss is having his first baby, and the due date is November 1st. So I decided to make these, which I've thought were adorable for ages. They are a quick knit, though I found the strap instructions really confusing.

Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4-Ply in Mosaic (main color) and Dive.
Needles: US 1 Clover Bamboo DPNs (It's knit flat, but I don't have straight or circular 1's, so I made do.

Yarn and buttons both came from A Good Yarn in Brookline. (I'm going to miss living 500 yards away...)

I hope they like the booties, and that they fit. And they don't unravel. I always fear so much when gifting knits.

Squashed

2008-08-03T20:19:00.003-04:00

I received a package from my mother on Thursday. She had sent it FedEx overnight.

The box was fairly large, though most of the volume was taken up by green peanuts. (I didn't know they made green peanuts.)

Inside was the vegetable of her summer's labor:

Eight pounds of zucchini. Delicious, garden-fresh zucchini.

The largest one was the size of my calf.

Literally.

And it was delicious--it made enough stuffed zucchini for 4 people, with leftovers.

Have I mentioned I love summer?

The Universe Has A Cruel Sense Of Humor, OR, Crying Over Spilled Milk

2008-07-28T15:39:00.002-04:00

So, a couple of months ago I broke my long-standing aversion to capris and wound up with four pairs. I had tried some on faithfully every spring in high school, and they all looked funny on me, so I gave up for a long time. Anyway, I finally found some that I was happy with and have been wearing them like someone who has never worn capris before and needs to make up lost time (that is, all the time.) I even, based on the success of my one white skirt, been brave and bought a white pair of capris.

Shocking, I know! The sheer existence in my wardrobe of white capris was clearly thumbing my nose at Murphy and his laws. So first, he made me spill salad dressing on the khaki pair that I have that are identical to the white pair.

Today, I spilled milk. All over my white pants.

Summertime and the living is easy

2008-07-22T16:43:00.003-04:00

I love summer. I love the smell of grass growing, and freshly cut grass (but not too long after it's been cut, then it starts to smell bad), the way skin smells after it's been slowly heating in the sun. I love the smell of grills, and chlorine, and salt air, and suntan lotion. I love that asphalt is too hot to walk on with bare feet, and the feel of that first jump into a cold pool or lake on a really hot day. I love summer ales, and ice cream trucks, and tomato salad. I love that I don't have to bundle up against the cold (except in my office) and the way the sun doesn't set until 8:30.

But I've had a few too many hot, sleepless nights, lately. Boston, can we dump the humidity out to sea and have a few pleasant days in the low 80's with no humidity? I think I might melt otherwise. Or buy an air conditioner.

Dancing Robots and Signs of Aging

2008-07-05T16:36:00.002-04:00

Greetings from the currently-not-at-all-sunny Jersey Shore! I'm on vacation with my mom and brother for her birthday/the 4th of July and stealing internet.

I was peering into the mirror today, examining my roots, when I realized that I've started going gray. I suppose it's not too surprising, seeing as how I'm fast approaching 25, and most of my friends have found at least one gray hair by now. I've also always thought I was going to gray early, because my grandmother did. It's hard to assess the extent of the gray, between the dim light of our motel room, the fact that I've only got about an inch or two of growth since the last dye job, and I've been out in the sun a fair bit over the last week, but there is at least one pure white hair, several others which are suspect, and two patches that may have gone completely white. (These two patches are just above my temples on other side. The hair there has always been lighter than the rest of my hair, blond even after the rest of my hair rounded the bend from "dirty blond" to "light brown" and solidly into "brown," so I'm not surprised on that count, either. I'm not particularly fussed about going gray, but still.

Also, Dancing robots!

In Which The Knitter Actually Talks About Knitting

2008-05-15T21:48:00.003-04:00

iPod Sock
Originally uploaded by cawthraven

So I just got a new 80 gig iPod, because my Video iPod died. I always had a lot of trouble with the Video--Apple replaced it at least twice, maybe three times. I was really tempted by the iTouch, but I really should not have access to the Internet all the time.

The iPod came last night, and I wanted to preserve it's smooth, unscratched silver exterior. And I had a lot of Malabrigo leftover from making Foliage. What's a gal to do but knit her iPod a sock?

I cast on 20 stitches onto size 7 double pointed needles. Not enough. I cast on 25, thought it was enough. Decided after a couple of rounds that it was too small, so I increased to 30. Decided after a couple of more rounds that I was wrong, and decreased back down to 25, and then knit in stockinette until it looked long enough to cover the iPod. Then I bound-off 11 stitches and knit the flap flat until it looked long enough to reach the button. The "button" is actually a bead from the fringe on a suede jacket I have--the beads are always coming off, so I figured this would be a good use for it. The "buttonhole" I made up, too, because I don't actually know how to knit them. So I bound off 5 stitches, did a two stitch i-cord until it looked long enough to make a loop that the button-bead would go through, and reconnected it to the rest of the live stitches to bind them off. Then I had some ends to weave in and the bottom to sew-up.

I've already got ideas for more, since it's such a quick knit. I have one of the Nicki Epstein books, so I think one of her fun loops would make a good button-hole, and then maybe a cable. And I might try different things to avoid needing to seam up the bottom. (Not that I did a good job.)

iPod Sock II
Originally uploaded by cawthraven

"You come swimming into view."

2008-04-27T23:08:00.003-04:00

Tonight my friend hosted a Passover seder. It was my first, and I enjoyed it a lot. (This has nothing to do with the four glasses of wine. Or, you know, everything.) But it's amazing how holidays, even when they aren't from a familiar tradition, make me introspective. But for once, I feel like my introspection is resulting in progress, rather than wallowing.

Some of the progress is stuff I've known, but now I feel it. And so here are the things that tonight, I would raise my four glasses of wine to:

~I'm not going to care about that anymore. I shouldn't have anyway, and now I don't. (Thank you for reminding me of that.)

~There is so much beautiful out there, and so many interesting things to see and learn and observe. And I don't mean to be disrespectful when those things are religious beliefs, but I find them fascinating and I hope to have lots of opportunities to move past my white-bread background.

~I only watched about 2/3 of Ratatouille tonight, but I called most of the plot. And you can't do that in real life--there isn't going to be a high point, then a low point, then a come back in real relationships. And that's a good thing. Ratatouille is cute, but I don't want my life to follow a formulaic plot. I'm OK with things being messy. And I don't believe in second chances.

~Good food, good wine, and better friends.

This may not entirely make sense to anyone else (See: four glasses of wine) and I'm OK with that.

Operation: Rescue Herman, Day 28

2008-04-21T12:03:00.003-04:00

I have been remiss in blogging, and in updating you on Herman's status. I'm sure you have been on tenterhooks. You needn't have worried; there has been no change.

I forgot to introduce you to Fred.

Fred is a Plant Gnome, hailing from Canadia. He crossed the continent and braved the border to keep Herman company.

Part of my lack of updating is because spring has arrived in Boston.

Yesterday was spent playing Frisbee and learning to play Backgammon in the park. Today is the Boston Marathon, which would have wreaked havoc on my commute and work-day. So I'm relaxing at home today, instead.

Operation: Rescue Herman, Day 14

2008-04-07T22:36:00.006-04:00

Day 14.

Not looking so hot. He's browner by the day. I've read you should trim the brown away...I may try cutting down so that all the brown is gone, but that would leave about an inch of green. We'll see how Herman is looking on day 21...drastic measures may be needed. Or fertilizer.

To prove I'm not a terrible plant-mommy, here's a picture of Ethel.

She and Hermie could teach Herman a thing or two about thriving. (Hermie is 7 years old, and has been almost exclusively in my care that entire time.)

I am 1 year old today

2008-04-02T16:21:00.003-04:00

Today is my one year Blogger anniversary. By odd coincidence, it is also my 5 year LiveJournal anniversary.

I wanted to do something more in this entry, but I've still got a lot of work to do and tonight is the last regular games night, so I most likely won't have time to do it.

So this is my short, commemorative post. Perhaps I'll expand on it later.

Operation: Rescue Herman, Day 7

2008-03-31T18:26:00.002-04:00

Herman has seen decidedly better days. My theory is that he is a type of dracaena, which are supposed to be very hardy plants, and hard to kill.

Unproductivity Software

2008-03-26T11:37:00.004-04:00

If you know me at all, you probably know that I am something of a Google whore. I mean, this blog is hosted on Blogger, if I'm in front of a computer, Gmail is open, I use Google Docs & Spreadsheets (and have you seen their presentations? That's what the internet is supposed to be doing for us. Collaborative work over a distance. It's not there yet, but oh man.) I use Reader and have converted many friends to it. Etc.

But this was not always the case. When I got my Gmail account, way back in 2004, I was distressed by the inability to make folders. How would I possibly organize my emails? I wasn't familiar with tagging, or "labels" as Google calls them. Once I'd figured out what tagging was, and that I could tag emails in Gmail, I still resisted. As a result, I have severely under-utilized tagging my email for ease of finding things. But that's OK, because I can always search my email and find what I'm looking for. That recipe for fried peach pies from the Times? (OK, this is actually under my "recipes" tag, but bear with me) Searched and found.

It is stuff like this that makes me so frustrated when I come into work and have to use Microsoft products, particularly Outlook. There are things about Outlook that I like--it's easy to change the sorting of email, and once I've sorted by Sender, I can collapse all the emails from my boss so that I can find the one from that guy whose last name I can't remember.

But I really, really wish that Outlook had a good search engine. It has one, and it plods along and sometimes you can find what you want. If you are lucky. And my desire for a good search engine is dwarfed by my desire for tagging. I have a lot of emails that could be sorted into different folders--it is associated with a particular book, it is about a particular media supplement, and it discusses specific guidelines. I wish, rather than trying to figure out if this should go in a folder for the book, or the supplement, or an "Important" catch-all folder for guidelines, that I could tag it with the information I needed. I don't need hundreds of nesting folders--I need precise tags and good search capabilities.

Microsoft, you're supposed to be the leader in productivity software. Stop making me fight with your software to do simple stuff, and start making changes that actually, you know, enhance my productivity.

CAVEAT: I have no seen Office 2007. It is entirely possible that the changes they have made to Outlook for Office 2007 will render some or all of my complaints moot. But I doubt it.

Operation: Rescue Herman. Day 1

2008-03-24T23:43:00.004-04:00

So, Herman belonged to friend L. She nearly killed him. I thought he was prematurely declared dead and given up on. J & T took Herman in an attempt to revive him in their sunny apartment. I suspect a combination of overwatering and underwatering nearly did him in. When J & T declared Herman a lost cause, I stepped up to the plate. Here he is, shorn of dead-weight. Hopefully, he can make a come back!

To the right is a cutting made from my plant Hermie. I've yet to name the plant, but have been considering "Hermie, Jr." and "Ethel." Suggestion welcome.

Book-tag

2008-03-18T15:59:00.002-04:00

I was just posting in Essjay's blog that I hadn't been tagged, and here was my smart-ass contribution, when I head over to iKate's blog, and lo and behold, I was tagged. Oops.

The Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.

Robert Blitzer's Introductory & Intermediate Algebra, Third Edition.

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.

"In Exercises 59-66, use the given information to write an equation."

3. Post the next 3 sentences.

"Let x represent the number described in each exercise. Then solve the equation and find the number. 59. If a number is multiplied by 6, the result is 10."

4. Tag 5 people.

Um. Five people who haven't been tagged, read this blog, and want to do the meme. (Neener, neener.)

Sumer is a-cumen

2008-03-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

I smelled spring yesterday, while walking near the Brookline/Brighton border. It was fleeting, that scent of green and growing and life. But it made the cold weather a bit easier to bear this morning.

Yellow Sun Is Shining In the Afternoon

2008-03-09T17:44:00.005-04:00

OK, I always moan about Daylight Savings Time ending and starting. I don't like the disruption to my sleep schedule, or how I went to bed at 5 am but my body thought it was 4.

But I love that it's nearly 6 and my room is still filled with sunlight.

Also, just finished a mix for a friend and I'm really digging it. Hope she likes it, too.

Can I Stay Here With You Till the Morning?

2008-03-09T15:56:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I was chagrined to realize that I only updated this blog three times in February. I thought I'd been doing better than that, but work took up so much of my time and energy that I didn't have the mental wherewithal to collect my thoughts into coherent mumblings. So I'm trying to do better this month, though work is still pretty all-consuming. (Hey, this is post number 2 for March, so I'm already 2/3 of the way to matching February, and we're only a week in!)

It feels bitterly cold outside, though it's not actually all that cold. It is incredibly windy, though, so the cold feels like it's cutting through to your bones. I went out to meet up with my friend at Trident for brunch, and had a good time hanging out with him. I'm a bad friend and don't hang out with him often enough. I also picked up the Collected Poems of Jane Kenyon, so I'm excited about that. I don't know what my problem is with trying to get back into writing, but I can't seem to kick start my brain or get myself to any of the poetic events or workshops in the Boston area.

I can't wait for spring. It's a bright, sunny day despite the cold and the wind, and I want to be outside and not cooped up in a scarf and fingerless gloves. I'm ready to put the sweaters away!

Something's gotta give

2008-03-01T10:57:00.005-05:00

I'm running late. I never used to be late, but then all my late friends made me late. I'm going to blog anyway.

Work has been utterly, crazily, insanely busy. For months now. My coworker and I stay late day after day, week after week. As a result, I've been exhausted and stressed out pretty constantly since at least Christmas. There's too much to do, and not enough time or people, so you are always super late with SOMETHING. It's extremely frustrating.

But I hit the wall on Tuesday night. Or possibly Wednesday morning. I left work only half an hour late Tuesday, but with a splitting stress headache that was shooting down the right side of my neck into my back. I came home, scrounged up some sort of dinner, and just sort of vegetated in front of my computer. I eventually felt mentally capable of playing WoW, though I died. A lot. And then I was wide awake at 10, even though I wanted nothing more than to go sleep. I had a venting session with a phone, where I unloaded some of my work complaints, and went to bed at 11. When I woke up at 8 to go into work, there was just no way it was happening. I took half a personal day, and slept the entire morning. I'm still tired. Work is still busy. But that extra morning of sleep just left me feeling so refreshed and relaxed. I've felt like I was in a really good mood ever since. It made me realize just how unhappy I had been for the last few weeks--as a base state, I've had a lot of good times lately. It's almost like post-finals relaxed, or when you have that awesome night of hanging out with a friend, and spend the entire time laughing.

Anything for iKate

2008-02-13T09:52:00.003-05:00

I had a request from iKate to post this picture.

Kelly's to the right, not paying attention, and Anree is way in the background, buying the same yarn I am holding.

Oh right, I'm supposed to talk about knitting here, too

2008-02-11T10:50:00.001-05:00

Man...is it too soon to say "it's been a long year"? Because it has. January and February have been crazy busy at work, plus I was sick for two weeks, went to NJ for a wedding, and have just generally been hanging out with people (and playing lots of Rock Band).

We had Weather yesterday. Lots of it. Sun. Snow. Sleet. Sun. Sun and sleet. Sun and snow and thunder. Sun. Clouds. Wind. More snow. Etc. So I spent all afternoon cleaning my room, which was desperately overdue (see: previous paragraph). I even unpacked the last box, which was full of yarn. It lives in an under-the-bed tupperware, now.

There's a lot I want to knit. The subway mittens (of the beast) from the Winter Interweave. Bloody Stupid Johnson from the Winter Knitty. But I was going to cast on for Hanami yesterday if I got a chance to knit. Yes, I'm pretty sure this means I've lost my mind. I think I'm OK with that. I'm just concerned because I REALLY want to use this yarn:

but I don't think it's going to work. (It's 100% Bombyx silk from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, purchased at Fiber Fest this summer.)

She smells sea shores by the C line

2008-02-07T11:55:00.000-05:00

I tend to forget that Boston is a coastal city. I hardly ever get down to the Harbor, and let's face it, these days, no one throws tea parties like they used to.

But every now and then, the wind shifts and I catch a scent of the sea. Usually a gray, overcast, wet kind of day like today

Ave Genevieve

2008-01-29T20:24:00.000-05:00

"Ave Maria," as performed by Aaron Rosand is just finishing playing in iTunes. When it started, I was just overwhelmed by missing my Grandma so much. Mr. Lenahan sang a version of Ave Maria at her funeral, which we're just shy of the 4 year anniversary of.

For someone who claims to be a writer, I have a hard time articulating that which I feel the most. My family is all bat-shit crazy, but I know Grandpa's always there for me--and I knew Grandma was, too, right up until the end.

I miss the way she used to ask me if I was sure I didn't want any more cookies/cake/junk food, and then tell me I was getting a fat fanny. I miss the 70 cents she used to put in our allowance, in case we needed to use the pay phone (enough for two calls a week!). I miss the rips in the kitchen table where I did all my homework from 3rd to 8th grade, while watching the Disney Afternoon and re-runs of Saved By the Bell or 90210. I miss the way she'd call Bush "your president." I miss the dismissive hand-wave she gave, head turned away, when you teased her. I miss the marble notebooks she used to calculate their taxes that were under the TV in the spare bedroom. I miss all the little things you forget because of the hospital smell and proliferating drug regime and the albuterol (that she always said was too salty) and because she was shrinking away until she was gone. And all the things you forget because she's gone, and we don't talk about her because you don't talk about the things that matter most.

Seriously?

2008-01-24T22:02:00.000-05:00

Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket Heath Ledger's funeral. (Pick an article...by the time you click the link, I'm sure more will have been added.)

Disgusting. Sick. These people have no shame, and they give humanity a bad name.

Way to follow the teachings of Christ, there, Westboro Baptist Church. It makes me wish I believed in Hell, so that I could take comfort in the fact that you would be burning there for eternity after death.

Oh say say say Oh say say say Oh say say say

2008-01-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

I am so sick of being sick. The most frustrating thing is that the symptoms are fairly mild in and of themselves, but they combine to leave me weak, tired, and dizzy. Huzzah. I think I'm over the hump of the illness, but it would be nice to be 100% again. Maybe my Rock Band performance will improve once I'm healthy! (I don't have a problem. I can stop any time I want.)

I'm at work after 5 again, because I have a physical therapy appointment for my ankle (which, the perceptive among you will remember I sprained back around Halloween. And it's still bothering me--today it hurt to walk on it). But rather than cross anything off my massive to-do list, I'm posting here. I'm also sick of my massive to-do list that never gets shorter, only longer.

But yesterday, I left work at 5, and it was still light out. I, the tone-deaf wonder, sang two songs on hard in Rock Band last night. My friend sent me the January 7th page from the New Yorker daily calendar because it has penguins. It's the little things.

You can't go home again

2008-01-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a cold to make you feel like you've been run over by a truck. Repeatedly. I've put in a day and a half at the office this week, and tomorrow I'm off to drive down to NJ. Tomorrow, G-pa turns 86, and Saturday, a good friend from high school is getting married.

She's not the first friend my age to get married, but for some reason, this feels more like the beginning of a new chapter in my life than previous marriages. There've been a lot of articles written about my generation and how we're taking our sweet time growing up (combination of bad job market and too much pressure in high school and college are the usual reasons given) and creating a new life-stage, between adolescence and adult-hood. I'm entirely too lazy to look up any of these articles, but I've read several over the last 3 years--had to do something while I was looking for jobs and living in my mom's basement (wait a minute…that's what all those articles were about...)--and I'm also too lazy to look up and see what they were proposing to call this new life stage. The first time I read one, it said "tweens," meaning between teenager and adult, but that’s since been co-opted by the pre-teen set.

So anyway. I don't really feel like an adult yet. I have a steady, 9-5 job (in my desired career path, no less). I pay rent and bills. But I still feel like I'm playing at being a grown-up. My friends have jobs, or they’re grad students, or off in Japan teaching English. Yet a lot of them feel similarly—that we’re just play-acting, like pre-schoolers playing “house” or “school.”

And now I've got this good friend from my past who is getting married. Sure, she's still a grad student, so if not for the impending ceremonies, she'd still be in this quasi-state with the rest of us. But she's going off into this new stage of life and that's absolutely crazy to me. Even if I walked out of my apartment tomorrow and bumped into the person who I want to spend the rest of my life with...I'm not there yet.

The other, really jarring thing about this is that it made me realize something that actually happened months, if not a couple of years ago. I'm still good friends with several of my friends from high school, and there are more who I don't talk to as often, but I am still friendly with. And they are "my friends from home." But one by one, we've moved on. The friend who is getting married is still based where we grew up, but that's not going to last long. I'm not saying that we're suddenly going to stop talking to one another, or going to visit one another, or fall completely out of touch. But it did make me realize that not only is that "chapter of my life" over, but the one after that is over, too. (I'm going to blame the cliché on being fever-addled most of the week.)

2008-01-16T12:28:00.001-05:00

I'm sick, so this'll be a quick one.

If you want to vote in the MA primary, today is the last day to register to vote!

Elections and Voting and Primaries, Oh My!

2008-01-09T09:39:00.000-05:00

So, on Thursday I went down to Ye Olde Town Hall and I registered to vote in Massachusetts. If you want to vote in the primary on February 5th, the deadline here is January 16th! Make sure you are registered, have any necessary absentee ballots, etc!

There are still a lot of problems with the way elections work in America. Certain states get more say in the nomination process than others, just because of when they hold their primaries. The electoral college is ridiculous. We desperately need campaign finance reform. Etc. But this election season (which admittedly already feels like it's been going on forever--buckle down, kiddies, we've still got 11 months to go!) is one of the most exciting I can remember. Iowa and New Hampshire both had record voter turn-outs. Both parties had surprising results in both states. People want change, and they are actually going out and doing something about it.

Check out Rock the Vote for more information on registering to vote in your state.

Shameless Plug!

2008-01-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

So, my first job right out of college was as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble. I worked there for just over a year. It sucked. A lot.

But I met a lot of really awesome people, including my friend Chris. Chris, like me, was an idiot. We decided to graduate a semester early. We bonded over this a lot.

He wound up abandoning me for a cushy job, and a few months later, I finally got my break into publishing. But now he's done something that I think is pretty amazing, and takes a lot of balls.

He quit his cushy job with the intention of getting a short story published by his 25th birthday, giving him roughly 6 months to do so. He's posting his stories, and blogging, over at Becoming Somebody.

And make sure you read "The Often Unheralded Affect of Burnt Bagels and Weak Coffee." It's his best story yet.

Foliage, because all of it is gone

2008-01-05T23:47:00.000-05:00

So, I'm a pretty slow knitter. The tendonitis doesn't help. And I have a couple of ambitious things on the needles (the Central Park Hoodie, for instance. Though that's for the frog-pile. And I started the Tilted Duster back in oh...October. And I have maybe 6 inches done on it.) So it's been a while since I finished anything.

But at long last, I can present to you my Foliage.

(Please to be ignoring the poor lighting--the color is off--and the ugly purple sleeping bag.)

I started this back at the beginning of December. "Self," I says, "you like knitting hats. They are quick, and this one is cute! And you need some Princess Bride and knitting!" Sometimes, I am not so smrt. This pattern took pretty much all of my concentration. I couldn't do ANYTHING else while knitting it, or else I made stupid, stupid mistakes. And they were stupid, the pattern isn't hard. Just attention-consuming. All those yarn-overs and slip 1 knit 2 together and pass the slipped stitch overs! Very confusing.

The details (which can also be found on Ravelry, for those with accounts):

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino, less than one skein in Burgundy. The yarn was a gift from Essjay and her husband, and I love it.
Needles: Clover Bamboo Double Pointed Needles, sizes 7 and 4.
Start to Finish: December 2007 to January 2007
Modifications: Used size 4's for the ribbing instead of 5's, left off the last two rounds of ribbing due to impatience. Initially, I'd done a knit-off but it was too tight, so I picked it out and did a knit 1, purl 1 bind off. I don't love the edge it gives, but it's much stretchier.

Obligatory End of the Year Post

2007-12-31T15:34:00.001-05:00

Bear with me, this will hopefully be my last navel-gazing post for a while. Something in the air in December makes me really, really introspective.

Remember when you were a kid, and you always listened to grown-ups complaining about time going soooo fast and not knowing what they were talking about? And then all of a sudden you blinked and you were a grown-up?

Well, all of a sudden, I blinked, and I've been out of college and time just keeps going faster and faster and I want to scream stop! I need to enjoy this! But time doesn't listen, because time is a motherfucker.

December of 2004. I graduated college. (Tip for those of you still in college: Don't graduate a semester early.) I had only just met Jon a couple of months previous, and I was still dating him. I went home to NJ. I was antisocial over "winter break" and played a lot of Super Mario World. I had a definite feeling of "Now what?" And in January, I started looking for jobs, starting with a "part-time" job at B&N. (I was full-time inside of 3 weeks. Wheee.)

December of 2005. I was the head cashier at B&N. I spent my time working, sleeping, or drinking at O'Malley's. I think I was depressed. I was disheartened by my inability to find a real job, but still unwilling to look outside of publishing. I got a wretched cold on Christmas Eve. I got dumped and my brand new boots broke all in the same night. I felt trapped. I hated my job. It was bad.

December of 2006. I was an editorial assistant at Prentice Hall. The job was too easy, and I missed Boston. I'd been applying to jobs in Boston unsuccessfully. I'd been so thrilled to get the job, but I was beyond ready to move on, even though I had only been in the job for 10 months. (See: me going on an interview in January, and telling my boss I was doing so. But without that, we wouldn't have any of the stuff in December of 2007) Living at home was driving me insane)

December of 2007. I'm an assistant editor now, all because I did something kinda stupid and really ballsy. Wow. (For the record, the interview was a disaster.) I moved back to Boston, I've got an awesome group of friends here, I was brave and braved the Midwest. For the first time, life is really looking up in December. Even though the EA job > B&N, and B&N > unemployment, I was so...stuck that December sucked. But I had an awesome year, and I'm looking forward to 2008. (I had to double check this earlier. The thing about working in textbook publishing is that you lose track of what year it is, because our copyright years are so skewed from the calendar year.)

I hope your New Year's Eve is everything you want it to be, and that 2008 is an awesome year for everyone.

"and it goes fast...you think of the past..."

2007-12-26T19:27:00.000-05:00

Somewhere between Boston and Northvale, something changes. I think it's when I'm crossing the Tappan-Zee Bridge and heading into Rockland County that something in my head reverts and I become some I used to be. It's not just my accent that code shifts, but the way I think changes.

I went to the Palisades mall on Saturday to finish off last minute Christmas shopping. Considering I worked there during Christmas 2 years ago, you'd think I'd know better. I parked down in the Home Depot lot (and it was just like when I worked at B&N) and I started walking up the hill to get to mall proper. And I think, "Man, this is far. I can't believe I used to walk this all the time!" and then I thought, "I can't believe I just thought that, this isn't far at all." I walk farther than that all the time in Boston--I walk at least that far just to get to the T stop. But something flips a switch in my brain and all of a sudden 200 feet is far.

I went out with old friends while I was home, too, and the same thing happened. I'm not that person anymore, but I was when I was with them. How can change be so impermanent? When I read old journal entries, I don't recognize that person anymore. So how can I become that person so easily?

I'm back in Boston, now, so my Jersey accent is mellowing again. You are probably all lucky you didn't hear it while I was home.

obligatory holiday post

2007-12-25T11:13:00.001-05:00

Happy Winter Seasonal Holiday of Your Choice!

You are being spared the rant I was fuming over last night about NORAD's Santa tracker and blatant propaganda and so on. But, there are many more important things to get angry about, and more appropriate occasions.

I hope you enjoy your holiday, whether or not you celebrate Christmas.

If It Snowed Cats And Dogs, That Would Hurt. A Lot.

2007-12-13T20:01:00.000-05:00

It is, you are no doubt aware, pissing down snow on Boston, and has been since about 1 pm this afternoon. I left work a little early as a result--I'm mostly glad that I beat the rush, though I wonder how many T-riders really stayed it out?

Snow generally turns me into a huge Grinch. There is something about the gray sky, the cold, the wet AND cold things that are coating my jacket and sneaking into my shoes, the need to shovel, the ice, the salt, the--you get the picture--that just makes me absolutely Grumpy. Granted, I can sympathize with Grumpy Bear, the Grinch, and Squidward on the best of days. But snow? Forget it. I just want to crawl into my bed and give everyone the finger until the snow has melted.

No, I don't know why I moved back to Boston either.

But when it's snowing this hard? When a New England city practically shuts down in the face of the rapid accumulation (we're getting 1"-3" an hour)? It does get pretty. And I like the reminder that Nature can kick our asses any time it wants, and there's not much we can do about it, all our technology aside.

Touché, snow. Well-played.

2007-12-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

Can I just say how much this terrifies me?

ahhhhh

2007-11-22T14:32:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting on the couch in my mother's house (that sounds weird), with a mug of coffee next to me, my knitting waiting to the side, and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on the TV.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you enjoy yours.

And Adding Insult to Injury...

2007-10-30T11:58:00.001-04:00

I didn't post about it here, but some of you know that there was an electrical fire in my apartment building last Monday. It was in an apartment on the 2nd floor, and I live on the 4th. The firemen evacuated the building at about 8 am, and let us in about 20 minutes or so later. Not terribly disruptive. It was very smoky in my apartment on Monday, but the smoke and smell had dissipated by Tuesday. They sent 4 fire trucks and shut down all of the street, which seemed excessive.

Well, I was woken up at about 2:30 am this morning because my roommates were yelling. I really thought I would kill them if they were yelling about the Philadelphia Eagles again. But no. I came out of my room, and the kitchen floor was an inch deep with water. It was flowing from the bathroom, because the hot water pipe under the sink had burst.

A plumber came out (eventually) and turned the water off in our apartment. He came back this morning at 8 and said he'd be done in a half hour. Great. I called my boss to tell him I'd be late today, and went back to sleep. An hour later, the plumber finished and I was able to get into the shower. I was only about an hour late, and I would've been in sooner, except for my hobbling and the Red Sox parade jamming the T full of overly enthusiastic idiots, most of whom were cutting school.

I'm really hoping this completes the bad luck trifecta and I can get on with my life.

(Oh, and the doctor told me to elevate my ankle, ice it, and take ibuprofen. I'm assuming it's not broken, because they let me leave the hospital without a cast.)

Comedy is Tragedy that Happens to Other People. Or to Me.

2007-10-29T10:45:00.000-04:00

It's Monday morning, and if yours has started like mine has (forgot my T pass, so I get to pay $4 to take the subway instead!), then you could use a little bit of a laugh. I'm going to invite you to laugh at my expense.

So, yesterday, I realized that I could no longer put off doing laundry any more. I decided to do just the lights/darks, and to do towels/sheets in another trip, because that's a lot to carry to the laundromat. Which is the most expensive laundromat ever, wtf? Anyway. I'm all done with my laundering, and start walking back to my apartment. It's like a five minute walk, not bad. Carrying my laundry in the little pop-up hamper, my brain full of thoughts of tidying my room and actually putting things away where they belong. (No, I'm serious. Stop laughing!)

And then my phone rings. So I dig it out of my pocket and answer it, and it's my friend calling to go to the Garment District and go a-costuming. I still needed a few final touches for my costume (flapper), so I am all for it, and we are just setting up our plans when a family is coming down the sidewalk. I always get out of the way of larger groups by going to the edge of the curb. This is not really the best of ideas when you are a.) on the phone, b.) carrying your laundry, and c.) have a backpack full of detergent on your back.

My right ankle betrayed me. It was always the good ankle--I've sprained my left ankle twice, and my left knee once. Perhaps it was jealous. I don't know. It gave out. I went down. The hamper went flying (though luckily not my expensively cleaned clothes!). The phone went flying...

...and landed an inch from the edge of the sewer grate.

Ladies and gentlemen, I may be the luckiest ankle-sprainer in the world. I haven't gone to the doctor's yet (trying to make an appointment), so I don't have confirmation, but the bruising, swelling, and general pain are usually pretty good indicators.

ETA: Thanks to everyone who helped me yesterday. And didn't laugh (too much) at my gimpiness.

Probably Wasting My Breath...

2007-10-26T11:31:00.001-04:00

Always, I mean to post, I mean to post, I never get around to it. Until something lights a fire under my ass. Like this article.

I feel sorry for atheists. They are so much in the minority in American society and they are bound to feel some marginalization if not persecution.

I feel sorry for theists. It must be really hard being told by some book or organization how to live your life, and be denied the opportunity to think objectively about your choices.

Christians should be the last people to persecute anyone -- including atheists. But that doesn't mean Christians have to accommodate atheism as they tolerate and love atheists.

We have to recognize atheists' full freedom to believe God does not exist, but we don't have to embrace atheism as a social good. In fact, I would argue that atheism has no redeeming social value.

Atheism undermines values. How? Let's look at care for others. Yes, an individual atheist might care for other people. But when have you heard of an entire atheist organization serving the poor, the sick or the hungry?

You do not establish how not having an atheist organization that helps the poor, the sick, or the hungry undermines values. Nor do you state whose values are being undermined. The values of atheists? The values of theists?

So far, at least, atheists haven't demonstrated their concern for others in any organized way.

So we need to be organized for our concern for other people to be worthwhile? Why?

Also, Amnesty International, along with many other organizations who make it a mission to help the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the oppressed, states on its website: “AI is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion.”

But more importantly, atheism undermines values such as care for others because it cannot explain why anyone should care for others. If there is no God or anything at all above nature, then nature is all there is. The law of nature is survival of the fittest. Why help the less fit survive unless there is a God who loves them because they are created in his image?

And this is where you REALLY lost me. “Survival of the fittest” is not “the law of nature.” It’s something that has often been said, but rarely by scientists.

As an atheist, I can assure you that I do not structure my life around this “law.” I’m not nice to the less fit because someone (in your case, God) told me to be nice. I’m not nice to them because I think I’ll go to Hell if I’m not. I’m nice to them because I think we only get one chance on this earth, and that’s it. I’m nice to them because I think every form of life on this planet has intrinsic worth and something to add to the greater whole. (Okay, I struggle with mosquitoes.) I’m nice to them because I treat other people the way I want to be treated.

It makes me glad you have your God telling you to be nice to people, because otherwise, you would obviously be out of control.

What argument can atheism marshal against "might makes right"?

Might makes right only benefits the strong. Everyone deserves the chance to live and thrive, because we are all the same, we all share similar genetic code. And if only the strong are thriving, then we have a problem.

Many atheists argue that caring for others can be encouraged based on self-interest.

Which atheists have you been talking to? I’ve never heard this argument before. Please cite your sources.

I don’t care for others based on self-interest. I feel no one should care for others based on self-interest, because humans have strong selfish streaks, and the system would fall apart. People should care for other people because we all deserve the same chances at life. Because we’re all people.

But what answer can an atheist give (that is consistent with atheism) to the question, "What if I figure out a way to be personally happy and fulfilled while oppressing other people?"

There is no answer to that without appeal to someone transcendent to whom we are all accountable.

You are blinded by your own faith. Because you can’t imagine a world where there is no higher being.

Oppressing other people is bad for society, and it’s bad for other people. We should be living our lives for the betterment of ourselves and other people.

And atheism has no answer to social Darwinism -- the idea that society should not help the weak because it's nature's way to weed out the less fit.

Sure we do. Social Darwinism is a bad idea because it’s bad science. It has no value to add to society. ALL people are intrinsically valuable, weak or strong, rich or poor, sick or healthy. If we govern society according to social Darwinism, we lose their contributions.

Helping the weak goes against nature and if nature is all there is, well, why should we fight it? A person might choose to, but not because of any transcendent, objective obligation (such as that all persons are created in God's image).

I still don’t see how “helping the weak goes against nature.” You’ve never established this point, so this whole paragraph is moot.

Not only does atheism undermine values; it also undermines meaning. I'm talking about meaningful reality -- life with meaning and purpose.

German theologian Hans Küng wrote Does God Exist? An Answer for Today. In it, the maverick Catholic thinker argued that atheism can provide no basis for "basic trust" in the meaningfulness of reality.

The only logical option for the atheist is nihilism -- belief that nothing has any objective meaning or purpose.

What? How does this follow?

Küng admitted that atheism is a rational "basic choice" and it cannot be proven wrong in any kind of absolute way.

But most atheists demonstrate their basic trust in the meaningfulness of reality by being outraged at evil and injustice, thereby demonstrating that atheism cannot be lived out consistently.

You haven’t proved that nihilism is the only logical option for atheists—merely stated it. Stating something doesn’t make it so.

What makes something evil or unjust if nothing like God exists -- if nature is all there is? Only subjective choice either by an individual or a society. But that can change and it often does. Without God, the social prophet has no way out of relativism.

Of course it changes. Up until the 19th century, most people didn’t see a problem with owning slaves! Most THEISTS didn’t see a problem with owning slaves. Even the Bible mentions slavery without condemnation.

Baylor and universities like it exist to promote objective values and meaningful existence.

For them atheism is not benign, but the enemy -- even if atheists themselves are not.

That’s funny, I thought universities existed to promote higher learning and critical thinking. It was critical thinking that led me to atheism.

“Atheism is not benign, but the enemy.” Wow. Just, wow. That’s such a dangerous, close-minded way of thinking. That sentence is antithetical to the pursuit of higher learning and critical thinking, and is therefore antithetical to universities. Universities are places where these things should be debated, not where they should be stifled.

Finally, let me repeat that I have nothing against atheists as persons and neither does Baylor University.

But in my opinion, they are people of character and virtue in spite of their philosophy of life -- not because of it.

And in my opinion, a professor should be capable of formulating a better argument than this. If I handed this in as a paper in high school, I would have failed it, and rightfully so. You make sweeping generalizations without backing them up. Too many straw man arguments to count. And you get paid to teach?

PS, thanks for respecting my (lack of) belief system! Might really does make right, huh? Would you have written this letter if Christianity was the minority religion? Didn't think so.

Maybe I should write a letter to the editor of the Lariat about how Christianity is dangerous and damaging to society.

A Day of Sad Tidings

2007-09-17T13:28:00.000-04:00

I just logged in to Google Reader to find not one, but two blog posts about a sad event that has been slowly approaching.

I knew James Rigney, better known to most of us as Robert Jordan, was battling cancer, and that it was a rare and rather deadly form of cancer. So I am not too surprised to find that he died yesterday, at 2:45 pm.

Warning, there are Spoilers ahead...

I started reading Robert Jordan's books at age 10...I picked up the first 18 chapters of the first book of the Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World, as a free give away at the Encore Books in Closter. Which is now a Starbucks. My grandfather had taken us there so I could stock up on Babysitter Club books and other kids books before going on vacation to Maine with my dad's family. I read those chapters while in Maine...I read the part where Rand is carrying a wounded Tam through the woods of the Two Rivers, desperately trying to back to Emond's Field, to get his father to the Wisdom, as Trollocs ravaged the surrounding countryside, while in the main lodge of the fishing camp we were staying at. I then had to walk back through the dark woods at night to get back to our cabin on the lake. It was deliciously creepy. I didn't pursue the series until I was 13 or 14, and I picked up The Great Hunt, and then the Eye of the World, in Tower Records. Very soon after, I was googling everything I could find about the Wheel of Time on the internet--except no one knew what Google was back then. I think I was using Yahoo! or Excite. Anyway. I found the archives of the Usenet group devoted to Robert Jordan, and started lurking...the Lord of Chaos was the last book to be released (the first three books are the tightest and best written, but I think Lord of Chaos is my favorite) and Usenet was swamped with questions about "Who Killed Asmodean?" And then there was a little post by someone with the username "Aman A'vron" who was recruiting for a new message board system for the Wheel of Time. I didn't quite understand what role playing was at the time, but I checked out the Tripod based web pages, and whatever primitive forum was up, and started my first character.

I spent most of high school and college at the White Tower Online, and made some fantastic friends. We had something great, and it's all because of the Wheel of Time, no matter how badly the last 5 books have sucked. I don't keep in touch with enough you. I miss you all.

x-posted to my other blog.

In which the knittin', writtin' fool has hopefully learned something

2007-09-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

My friend and I were having a conversation a while back, and it made me want very much to immediately sit down and write a blog post. I didn't, however (I think I went to bed), but the idea has been bouncing around inside my skull for the last few weeks, so we here we go.

I've seen a lot of trepidation from knitters in various internet watering holes who feel like they can't try new things. Some of these "beginners" have been knitting well past the point when I would consider them such, some have knit fairly advanced things. My aunt, for instance, saw me knitting cables on my Central Park Hoodie while we were on vacation this past July. She was knitting last July when we were on vacation, so she's been knitting at least a year. She said, "Oh, you're much braver than I am!" The knitters I am referring to seem to develop some sort of mental block about something being "hard." Whether or not it is actually hard or not is beside the point.

I tend to feel frustration towards this attitude, because I just. don't. get it. When push comes to shove, it's sticks and some string. Maybe it's 2 sticks, or 4/5 sticks, or 1 stick that is connected by a bendy tube. Maybe it's really fancy string that was pretty expensive. But part of the beauty of knitting is that it is loops, pulled through other loops. If you make a mistake, you just tug on it, and the offending loop is now an unoffensive straight bit of string! No harm, no foul. Sure, sometimes you lose many loops to a mistake, even rows of them. And it may have taken you a long time to make those loops, and it will take you a long time to make them again. But, if you make a mistake, it's not an irredeemable. (In fact, if you make a mistake, chances are most people won't notice. Or you could call it a design feature.)

So, my frustration is that people are afraid to branch out in their knitting, to take chances. But...how is that any different from me and my writing? Have I submitted any of my poems to any journals? (One, and it was for a college publication.) Do I ever sit down and force myself to write? No, I whine and think how I wish I was writing more. The hypocrisy bothers me. Knitting is pulling loops through loops. Writing is put letters, words, and punctuation into an order that makes sense. If I write something that isn't good, it isn't the end of the world. I can hit backspace to fix mistakes. I can edit and rework a draft (and frankly, if it's saved in Word, that's a lot easier than dropping a stitch down a few rows to fix a mistake and then pulling it back up.)

A knitter is someone who knits. A writer is someone who writes. I'm a knitter. I want to be a writer. The only way to be a writer is to start writing.

So...wish me luck.

Dream Swatch

2007-09-06T19:14:00.000-04:00

I have many things to discuss here, but instead, I have FO pics!

This is the Dream Swatch, fairly heavily modified.

I did 3 repeats instead of 4. I wrapped the yarn 4 times instead of 3. And I made it just big enough for my head, and seamed it up into a circle. The yarn is one of the KH colorways from Blackthorne Fibers.

And apparently, it's fall. The students are back, that fall feel is in the air, it gets dark early, and the leaves

have started changing colors.

You can take the girl out of the East, but you can't take the East out of the girl...

2007-07-25T21:27:00.001-04:00

So the Midwest isn't quite as scary as I thought it'd be. So okay, I was right outside Chicago, but still. There was a dude with a mullet and a 10-gallon at Karaoke, singing country songs. And a woman named Debbie who wanted us to come transvestite-watching at Denny's with her. And scary drunk girls in the bathroom. And... Okay, the Midwest is still a scary place, and I was in one of the tamer parts!

It's incredibly flat. Our hotel was on "Bunker Hill Road." As a Boston-resident, this offends me. The hotel was actually super-nice. The company was fantastic. There was karaoke and hilarity and boob pictures.

And there was knitting. So much knitting that I shouldn't be posting this, because the pain in my elbows and wrists is phenomenal. Besides the lack of carpal tunnel symptoms, it hasn't been this bad since the problems started. I got some work done on my Central Park Hoodie, and started the Dream Swatch.

I also acquired yarn!

This is enough Malabrigo to make a sweater for me. 2 hanks Natural, 2 hanks Bobby Blue, 4 hanks Marrongon. I bought it a Fishbed, in East Dundee, IL.

Also from Fishbed, Laine du Nord in colorway 4015.

Angelia, from A Perfect Yarn made a custom (or rather, several custom) color for KnittingHelp.com, which is where I met my crazy internet knitting friends. This is my version:

What could draw knitters far and wide, from Canada and California, from England and Elgin, IL, to Algonquin? Fiber Fest!

Where I bought Socks that Rock mediumweight in Downpour...

...and 1,000 yards of Spirit Trails, hand-dyed, laceweight, 100% Bombay silk.

I am currently accepting suggestions for sweater/sweater vest patterns that do Malabrigo justice, and lace patterns that do my Spirit Trails justice.

2007-07-19T11:02:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting in Logan Airport, having paid their rather exorbitant fee for wireless internet access. Because I wanted to finish downloading the World of Warcraft expansion pack. HUGE NERD.

I'm on my way to Chicago, where a large number of knitters from knittinghelp.com are descending on Crystal Lake, IL for Fiber Fest. Watch out, Midwest. In the mean time, my flight is delayed at least an hour--I have rotten luck flying. I brought my laptop with the idea that I would watch episodes of the Tick while on board, but I've been here for about an hour and I'm already down to 64% on the ole laptop battery, so I don't see that happening.

At least Terminal B is nicer than Terminal C--there's a Legal Sea Food and a Fox "SkyBox" and a few fast food-type places (McDonald's, ABP, etc.) in addition to the Hudson News. C just has the Hudson News. I'll probably go get some chowder soon, but I kinda want to wait until the Burning Crusade finishes downloading. HUGE NERD.

Answers.com Challenge

2007-07-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

The lovely Julie of Dotmom's Knots recently posted a short story she wrote in answer to Answers.com's Creative Writing Challenge. (Haha, get it?)

The rules: Write a creative, less than 750-word creative composition (short story, poem, prose, etc.), correctly using the 10 given words, linking them back to their respective Answers.com pages, and posting it on your blog. Deadline is July 31st.

I have no delusions of grandeur, because I knocked this off pretty quickly, but it was fun and a good way of kicking my lazy writer's butt into gear. Never you mind that I shouldn't be writing poetry--or blog posts--at work.

For all intents and purposes,
the brown recluse spider
is quixotic, bouncing like a yo-yo
from its tangled web,
lurking in its quest to lure prey
into waiting fangs. Poison abrogates
opposition, the bite perfunctory,
the death a quid pro quo exchange--
quick release from pain, a tasty snack--
at least, the spider thinks so,
as he dreams of tropical pleasure gardens in Belize,
where mosquitoes the size of Chihuahuas
await intrepid spiders.
Alas! the ubiquitous honey trade
will trigger its melissophobia.

A General Note to the Magazine and Newspaper Publishing World

2007-05-24T13:46:00.000-04:00

Dear Magazine and Newspaper publishers,

Okay. We get the picture. You are all in a panic about losing your jobs. Your industries are in flux, and no one knows what the future is going to hold.

Stop writing articles everyday that say either "print is dead!" or "long live print!" It makes you all look very silly. It hurts your credibility with advertisers (and hey, since when have advertisers been the important people in this equation? Shouldn't you, you know, I don't know, maybe be publishing things that PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO READ????) You only win points if your prediction is correct. It's boring reading--article after article of people weighing in on the topic, saying the same things in different ways.

Lighten up. Instead of freaking out about the future, and wasting hours on these repetitive articles, maybe you could try to do something constructive with your time, like helping to shape the industry in the years to come. Life is change--stop nattering about how things are changing, have changed, and will change, and start actually changing things.

Sincerely,

Christine

Neither here nor there nor anywhere

2007-05-16T11:50:00.000-04:00

I feel a bit.. I don't know. I need to finish packing, I have stuff to take care of (getting my rent check for my sublet sent out, stuff like that) and figure out and I don't want to do any of it. I need to finish wrapping up my old job, and start tackling projects for my new job (okay, I need to be given the projects first) and the first makes me want to cry with boredom and the second with fear. I'm half chomping at the bit, ready to start the new job, half convinced I can't do it and I'm going to fail miserably. I hate in-between stages, living in more than one state. I'm currently an editorial assistant/assistant editor, I work for Boston and New Jersey, live in NJ but need to get to Boston. I hate living with boxes and around boxes and out of and into boxes. I have friends I need to see before I leave and I'm in a hermit phase. There's just too much for me to do and think about. So instead I play WoW. Great.

I had to do the whole in-between-stage thing in 2005. I had to pack up most of my stuff and move out of what had been my bedroom, the entire downstairs of our old house, and into my old bedroom, a much smaller room after G-pa moved in with us. But we were waiting on selling our house and buying a new one, so I spent the summer in that in-between stuff. We had stuff in storage, more than half our life was packed up. And then we finally moved in October and it was like life started moving again. (Okay, so it ground to a bit of a halt for the horror of Holiday 2005. That was the longest month of December ever. But it also really started to move again in January, because that's when I got this job.)

I'm stuck again, and time is running out and not moving and god I just want this all over.

Things That Get My Goat

2007-05-03T18:34:00.000-04:00

A lot on my plate right now, and I've gotten sucked into WoW. But that's not why I'm here.

I'm here because of close-minded people who forget that what makes America a great country is that it is a free, democratic society, and that we have the right to free speech. Maureen Johnson, a YA author, has had her book Bermudez Triangle banned in Bartlesville, OK.

I've never read Bermudez Triangle. But it is about three girls who are friends. One goes away over the summer, and the other two begin a relationship. The book is about how relationships affect (effect? Can't remember, too lazy to check.) their friendships.

The Objection, officially, is underage drinking, sexual content, and homosexual content. But there is no sex in the book, only kissing, according to everything I can find. So really, the objection is homosexuality.

I’m shocked and appalled at the lack of discretion, and moral decline in the selection of books at the Mid-High library. Homosexual content, unprotected sex, underage drinking, and reckless promiscuity are not values that belong in a school library. I understand there are parents or teens who are dealing with these issues, but not all parents want their kids exposed to this material. Personally, I would not endorse any of these types of book as “14-and-15-year-old-friendly.” Giving teenagers knowledge without guidance is irresponsible and dangerous. As a parent, I screen my 15-year-old’s television, Internet, video game, magazines, and books. There are things she’s not mature enough to handle, or are simply wrong for her. Parents are a child’s best line of defense in a world that rushes to grow them up too soon. This book, “The Bermudez Triangle” has no moral fiber, and wrongly promotes a “do whomever you want to discover yourself” mentality. There’s no mention of the myriad of diseases, pregnancy, destruction of friendships and lives that are very real consequences of a “sexual free-for-all” decision. I ask that his material be removed at once. You have a responsibility to the children at school to protect them and educate them. Let’s raise the bar a little higher, respect moral values and a parent’s right to guard that which has been entrusted to their care.

Let's leave aside the fact that she's screening everything that her daughter consumes, meaning her daughter will never learn to think on her own because her mother is underestimating her daughter's faculties of judgment and intelligence.

Let's instead focus on the fact that she is promoting close-minded, bigoted thinking. That she is limiting the flow of ideas and information for not just her daughter, but for the entire Bartlesville school district.

Let's instead focus on the fact that only two people involved in the decision had read the book--the librarian protesting it, and one parent, presumably the banner. NONE of the committee members who made the decision read the book. What kind of message is that sending? How irresponsible! Bartlesville School Board, you should be ashamed of yourselves. What happened to the right to a fair trial? It's just a book, you say, but once you start dismissing fairness in one area, it follows in others. Once you start limiting people's access to information, books, and ideas, you don't stop. You start to think you know better than everyone else.

You don't. You know just as much, and are just as equipped to make decisions for other people as the other people are. Less, in fact, because you aren't them and don't know what they want, need, and can or cannot handle. I'm not arguing with a mother's right to control what her child does while that child is a minor. I'm arguing with that mother's insistence on controlling what OTHER children have access to. I'm arguing with people making decisions in ignorance.

So far, a few bloggers and the Human Rights Campaign have picked up the cause. Mediabistro has an article, as well. Get the word out. Stop book banning. Take a look at the most frequently challenged books--you might be surprised at what's on the list.

x-posted to my el-jay, since no one reads this.

Beantown Bound

2007-04-07T20:36:00.000-04:00

So for those of you who don't know me, (though I'm pretty sure no strangers are reading this, at least not yet) I went to Boston University, graduated in December of 2005 and moved home jobless. I got a job down here in NJ, as an editorial assistant at Prentice Hall. Despite an utter hatred for all things Red Sox, I absolutely love Boston and miss it to death. I also love working in publishing, and opportunities in Boston are very limited in comparison with New York. So I had mostly resigned myself to living in NYC.

BUT I just got promoted to Assistant Editor, for another list--located in Boston! I'm so freaking excited. The job is kind of "more of the same," but more intensely, and with less administrative crap. Poo on administrative crap. (Haha, get it?) It's weird, because I didn't even really formally interview. My editor gave me rave reviews, there were a couple of phone calls to an editor up there, plus the Editorial Director (like an Editor-in-Chief, but responsible for more $$), and bam, I was offered the job on Thursday.

So I start May 1st from the office down here, and am going to spend May traveling up to find a sublet for the summer, and probably also training a replacement, assuming my editor hires someone before I move. I just kind of shut down when I think about HOW MUCH I have to do in the mean time. I have a big list of stuff my editor wants done before I leave, plus I have to find a sublet in Boston, possibly buy furniture, figure out what exactly I have and need for apartment living (I still have a lot of stuff from my college apartment, but a Swiffer, for instance, will need to be purchased, because I don't know what happened to mine), pack, say goodbye to everyone down here, start figuring out what to do with my car, etc, etc, etc. Oh, and learn how to do my new job! They want me in Boston in June, hopefully, so that's a lot on my plate. Have started looking over craigslist, have done so math to figure out what I can afford, etc. I think I'm going to need to move fast to find a good place for the summer, though.

Oh, and I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now. Oops.

In Which the Knitter Actually Knits

2007-04-04T19:46:00.000-04:00

So you've got the pseudo-intellectual-ese, now for some knitting.

This is my WiP, the Central Park Hoodie from the Fall 2006 Knit Scene, in Knit Picks Swish Navy. I'm fearing it will be too small--that's the front panels and the back knit as one piece. Fretfretfret.

A close-up of the cables:

I like this project. It's my first sweater. The Swish shows the cables nicely, and is soft. I'm just afraid about the sizing issues--I'd heard that the CPH runs small, so I'm knitting the largest size, and it still looks small. I'm also knitting very, very slowly on it, because after a weekend spent on the couch, knitting like a demon and on my laptop for inordinate amounts of time, I started getting tingling and pain in my hands and wrists, which I fear is early symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. More fretting!

I am proud of the photography. It's actually in natural light, with no flash! The color is a bit washed out. My photography skillz are pretty craptastic.

Poetry Spam!

2007-04-03T14:38:00.000-04:00

"April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain."

T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"

And, because Geoffrey Chaucer told me to the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales:

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
Bifil that in that seson on a day,
In southwerk at the tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye,
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste.
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse,
To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse.
But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,
Er that I ferther in this tale pace,
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun
To telle yow al the condicioun
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,
And whiche they weren, and of what degree,
And eek in what array that they were inne;
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.

The Cruellest Month

2007-04-03T14:15:00.000-04:00

Continuing the theme from yesterday, April is National Poetry Month. Read a poem, be it Dr. Suess or Goethe or William Carlos Williams. Write a haiku, who cares!

Though there are people who say that National Poetry Month is bad for poetry. Charles Bernstein writes:

National Poetry Month is about making poetry safe for readers by promoting examples of the art form at its most bland and its most morally "positive." The message is: Poetry is good for you. But, unfortunately, promoting poetry as if it were an "easy listening" station just reinforces the idea that poetry is culturally irrelevant and has done a disservice not only to poetry deemed too controversial or difficult to promote but also to the poetry it puts forward in this way. "Accessibility" has become a kind of Moral Imperative based on the condescending notion that readers are intellectually challenged, and mustn't be presented with anything but Safe Poetry. As if poetry will turn people off to poetry.

And he's not all wrong. It's like the poetry given to you in middle school. Watered down, flat. Boring. Unstimulating. Unimaginative. Good poetry should make you want to wrestle with it. It's an art form that engages the brain, as well as the imagination and the ear. It should be accessible on a multitude of levels, with subsequent readings adding new layers of meaning for the enjoyer of poetry.

But he's not all right, either. National Poetry Month is like the Oprah Book Club. I want to think the Book Club is bad, because people are only buying the book because Oprah told them to buy it. They're being sheep, they're not exercising their own judgment, they listen to her because she's a celebrity. Well...so? She gets people to read and buy books that otherwise they wouldn't have bought or read. And she tends to pick really good books. (I am choosing to ignore James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, and Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, both of which lost her endorsement anyway.) Many of these people are not readers, and wouldn't be if not for Oprah. Readers who do buy the book are likely to buy it whether or not Oprah recommended it. Similarly, National Poetry Month just might get teachers to talk about and encourage poetry in schools. It might cause someone to pause at a National Poetry Month table or endcap, and find someone new. Maybe someone will hear a poetry reading. Maybe one or all of these things will change something about a person, and suddenly, they will be poetry readers, or critics, or writers.

The problem isn't poetry, or National Poetry Month. The problem has to do with how our society is structured. With our schools. With allowing people to become frustrated and give up before they've even tried. Not enough teachers push their students. And we don't have enough good teachers because our society doesn't care about education. But that's a rant for another day.

Not with a bang but a whimper

2007-04-02T19:35:00.000-04:00

I spent some time trying to think about what I would do with this blog. Should it be knitting exclusive? Should it have any knitting? Should I make a (pseudo) intellectual blog? Should I just post whatever I wanted to post, whenever?

I don't think I could stay monogamous to one topic, and after typing "intellectural" elsewhere on teh intarnetz, I decided that probably wouldn't be the best of ideas.

I've got nothing of substance to post tonight.

This is the way the blog starts
This is the way the blog starts
This is the way the blog starts
Not with a bang but a whimper.