Dear Wil Wheaton....

Dear Wil Wheaton,

In three days, you will be in my hood. No, really. The Birchmere is within walking distance of my house. And I intend to walk to the show on Thursday evening.

I mean, really? Who are we kidding?

Del Ray is an awesome neighborhood and there are some places you should visit while you’re in town. I can even take you around if you want. No strings attached. I don’t need a ticket – already bought mine. I’m not looking for a date – no offense, but you’re not really my type (i.e. you’re not single). Hell, I’ll even pay for dinner. All I would ask is a photo (potentially by the “it would be obscene if it wasn’t art” statue in the ‘hood) and maybe for you to sign my Bazinga shirt. And I reserve the right to sing and/or hum the song Butters sang about Awesome-o/Cartman, but with some changes to the lyrics. 

Anyhoo.

Some restaurants to consider:

1.       Holy Cow – gourmet burgers. They’re addictively good. And they have waffle fries! The sweet potato waffle fries come with marshmallow fluff for dipping. Seriously. Plus, they give money back to local charities/organizations – they have a list and you can choose which one you want your $1 to go to (I would suggest the Alexandria Citizens Band, but I’m biased).
By the same folks that run Holy Cow are Pork Barrel BBQ and the (in)famous 18+ Sushi Bar. Holy Cow is, by far, the best of the three.
2.       Los Tios or Taqueria Poblano. There are two kinds of people in Del Ray. Those who prefer Los Tios, and those who favor Taqueria Poblano. I’m a Los Tios girl, myself. It’s family-run, bigger on the inside, and you can ALWAYS count on a great meal. It’s Mexican/El Salvadoran.
3.       Del Ray Pizza is great if you’re looking for pizza. Hell, if it’s good enough for President Obama, it’s good enough for us. Amirite.
4.       If you absolutely, must, without a doubt, eat lots and lots of cheese, go to Cheesetique. It’s a little on the expensive side, but you can eat all the cheese!

For dessert:

1.       There’s really only one thing to say: The DairyGodmother. Again, if it’s good enough for Barack, Sasha and Malia… The flavor of the day for Thursday is Mint Chocolate Chip. This place is a cornerstone of the community. The only reason you shouldn’t go there is if you hate everybody and everything. 

2.       Throwing a bone to The Happy Tart – a gluten-free pie place across the street from Dairy Godmother. But honestly, custard is already gluten free, so why bother?

Other stuff:

Rikku is way cooler than I am.

1.       Del Ray has a great shop that is an “Exotic Planterium and Card & Comic Collectorama” Seriously.
2.       Del Ray Variety, a relatively new general store that has anything you could ever need, plus some.
3.       Tarot Card reader. Used to be a baby things store. Ha.

So yeah! Welcome to town! Let me know if you want a guided tour, or if you just want to come hang out at my boring little apartment with my super cool dog.

Love, Emily

PS. You will also be within 20 miles of ThinkGeek's headquarters. It's a pretty fun place and if you have a rental car, you should head out there (not during rush hour) and say hi to them!

Nerdy Knitting

Another few months between posts. Someday I'll get the hang of this blogging thing. I do notice that some people stop by, though. I hope they enjoy the old stuff.

My main knitting projects over the past few months have been for something called "Nerd Wars." It's a game on Ravelry, the social network for fiber artists. People join teams based on their favorite fandoms and work on projects every month. The tournament leadership picks topics for challenges each month and people have 28 days to make something that relates to the challenge and the fandom. There are three rounds - one each month - and each contains five challenges. People can choose to participate any or all of the challenges. Some people even completed all 15 challenges over the tournament. I wish I had the time to do that. I completed one challenge in the first round and two in both the second and third rounds. Each project is scored based on relevance, challenge requirements and creativity. The points go to the team and the team with the most points at the end wins.

This tournament was my very first and I enjoyed it. I even won a lottery for one of the things I made and got a skein of pretty sock yarn. I was on Team TARDIS (shocker!), so most of the projects I did tied into the Whoniverse.

A few of the things I made:

Round 1 Challenge: A Nerd's Dream/Food (Other Challenges: Simple Machines, Carnival, Whatever the Weather, Giving)

For the first challenge, we had to make something that we would eat on a first date with a character from another fandom. I chose to have a slice of pie with Emerson Cod from Pushing Daisies.

Round2 Challenges: Water, Architecture (Other Challenges: T-Shirts, Turn Back Time, Giving)
For "Water," I made socks from a pattern called "River Rapids" in a colorway called "Blue Lagoon." I noted how water, specifically rivers, can have a great impact over time. They carve out landscapes and encourage civilization. Another river with an impact through time is River Song from Doctor Who. She's the Doctor's wife, the daughter of two companions, and half timelord.

For Architecture, I chose to make an art deco-inspired hat to match the architecture prevalent in New York City. The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building are both featured in Doctor Who.

Round 3 Challenges: Equinox, We Are All Made of Stars (Other Challenges: Color Therapy, Chuck Norris, Giving)

For Equinox, we had to make something that represented either autumn or spring. Being a big fan of spring and a resident of the DC area, I chose to make a scarf inspired by cherry blossoms. It came out a lot better than I expected and I've received a ton of compliments on it. It's definitely unique. It kind of reminded me of the flowers from the episode "Amy's Choice."

For "We're All Made of Stars," we had to either recycle something into a project or use scraps/leftovers to create the project. A few years ago, as a member of a yarn club at my local yarn store, I got a couple skeins of pencil roving (unspun yarn in long strands), and knitted it up into the pattern included with that month's kit. It wound up being a super-bulky cowl - something that added unnecessary bulk to my already bulky figure. I've never won it and had no idea what to do with it, so I "frogged" it (ripped it out) and spun it inot yarn. It made about 200 yards of super-bulky yarn. I think I'm going to make a laptop sleeve from it, since I had to give up my neoprene one when I left my old job.

Before

After

And that brings me to the last bit of news: I started anew job at the end of April. Actually, I went to one of my former projects with a new company. I left Arc Aspicio after almost four years and went to a larger, but not too large, defense and homeland security company. I'm back at immigration, with former clients and received a hefty salary increase. It's going extremely well and has been like a homecoming. One of my former/present clients has just taken up knitting, so we're always chatting about it. She even shops at my local yarn store. I try to help her when I can.

While I wait for the next Nerd Wars tournament to begin, I'm working hard on my Beverly cardigan. It's going to take a while, but I'm cranking through. It's so soft and will be very cozy. I'm hoping I can make a significant dent in it before the end of June!

Oh, and as a bonus, I also made these during Nerd Wars, but not for a challenge. They're based on Rose Tyler's mittens in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday in the second season of the new series. Love them!

Out of commission

Happy New Year! I know it's belated, but I decided that February 1 would be my mulligan on the New Year. 2013 didn't exactly start well for me. I'll put more about that at the bottom. It was pretty nasty.

The title of this post has a double meaning. The first relates to the health problems I experienced at the beginning of the year, which knocked me on my ass and literally put me out of commission. The second meaning relates to my latest commission and having finished it just in the nick of time.

Emily: 1; PB&J: 0

Before I get into the commissions, I do want to celebrate the fact that I finally finished my PB&J socks. They had been on the needles for over a year. I finished one sock over Thanksgiving, then promptly started on the second. Being sick for the first few weeks of the new year really helped me get the socks finished. I'm extremely happy with the way they turned out, but I'm a little disappointed with the yarn. It stretched way too easily when I first wore them (even after blocking) and I'm a little nervous that they won't shrink back into shape. I might have to run some elastic through the cuff if they don't tighten up.

Take home hat & ladybug.

 After finishing the socks, I immediately delved into a commission for a friend. One of the girls I worked with at USCIS was expecting a baby and had asked me to recreate some things that she found online. After negotiating some of the patterns (the ones she found were crocheted, so I proffered some knitted versions), and having her pick out the yarn, I was ready to get started. She basically wanted an array of hats, including a "take home" hat for when they went home from the hospital. Since I didn't get these going until I got out of the hospital, it only gave me about three weeks to get everything done. Thankfully, baby knitting is quick and easy because the items are so tiny. I still have one hat to go, but it is less of a critical item as I'm having trouble finding the right shade of orange (it's a hat in school colors...Gator colors).

Owl Hat

Bunny Hat

For now, I've decided to get started on the Beverly Cardigan kit I ordered from
KnitPicks in the fall. It's alpaca lace, which was a little daunting at first, but it's held double, which makes it go faster. It's going to be so soft and warm. I'm still only about 1/8 of the way there, but I think I'll probably get it finished soon.

Of course, I've put my Yankees sweater out of sight and out of mind. I know where it is, but I don't look at it much so it's not getting the attention it needs. Maybe once baseball season starts again.....

My January:

 On Dec 28, I wound up in the ER with back pain and vomiting. Hooray. Another kidney stone. This one was only 8mm (the one I had last year was 2cm), but still huge given that the average diameter of the ureter is about 4mm. I wound up needing to get it surgically removed. But when the doctor went up to get it, it was nowhere to be found. But there was a lot of swelling and infection, so he put a stent in. The next day, I experienced the worst pain I've ever had. I battled with it through the first weekend of January, until Monday when my mom finally insisted on taking me back to the ER. Of course, it was the busiest day the ER had ever had because of the massive flu outbreak, but I finally made it into an ER bed and, after 8 hours, a CT scan. Turns out the stone had gone back up into my kidney, but had dropped back down and was pushing on the stent. Talk about PAIN! They weren't going to be able to do anything about it until the following Wednesday, so I was admitted to the hospital so they could manage the pain with weapons-grade painkillers. They did the sound wave treatment on Wednesday evening, then I had the stent removed the following Friday. I'm not 100% sure that the stone is gone. I need to figure out a time to get back to my urologist and demand an x-ray. That whole experience decimated my paid time off. Then, to add insult to injury, I wound up having a really bad cold toward the end of the month that took me out of commission for a few days. Hence, February 1 was my New Year redo.

This? or That?

I'd like to introduce a little game I'd like to call:

THIS OR THAT!!!!!

This game takes mass-produced items and pits them against hand-made versions. Which one is better? You choose! (There are right and wrong answers).

The first one should be easy.  Tell me:

THIS

THAT

or

Ok, if you answered "THIS," you are correct. It's my version of the "beardo" that can be found on fab and other places. I made it for my nephew. The materials were <$10 and it took me a few hours of work. I was able to custom-attach the beard so that it fits well. Plus, he got the remaining yarn! The price of the Beardo: $39.99 (plus shipping!)(Note: at time of post, it was sold out. You know what's never sold out? Your aunt knitting you something wicked cool!)

Next up, Geeks everywhere love it:

THIS

THAT

 or

Again, the winner is "THIS!" Fans of Joss Wheedon's tragically short-lived Firefly will recognize the Jayne Cobb hat, sent to the macho man by his dear mum. Not the prettiest hat, but it is quite cunning. From a skein each of red, orange and yellow, I was able to make two adult-sized hats. That meant each hat cost about...$15. My personal-favorite, thinkgeek.com, sells it for $24.99. Theirs? Acrylic. Mine? Cotton. Theirs may be officially licensed, mine comes with a license to be the hero of Canton.

Bonus: one recipient wearing his favorite hat.

More after the break.

Emily: 2, Complicated Sweater: 0

I have been MIA for a little while, but with good reason. I've been knitting my fingers off on these really really really really cute, but fairly complicated, sweaters for my friend's kids. They are so adorable. I'm very happy they fit, as that was my biggest worry. I'm so child-illiterate, so I have no idea how to gauge children's sizes.

I also made a Lovey Dovey dress for my friend, Beth's, daughter, Ellie. It's really cute.

OT: For SHAME!

Or "For SMAME!" as the Liz-ards used to say in the comments section of the WaPo's Celebritology blog.

So, one of my lovely AV neighbors turned me on to this tumblr page, Dog Shaming. It's kind of a spin off on the social media public shaming parents have recently inflicted on their children. Except instead of being a form of punishment, this is a form of pure hilarity. There are a number of posts that mention panty stealing or some form of bodily waste, which is completely unsurprising. One of my friends found this great one of a Rikku doppelganger! I have no idea who or where this dog is, but s/he is a dead ringer for my girl! Long lost twins. If you can't read it, it says "I roughly stab my nose into the testicles of all men I meet." Rikku definitely doesn't do that.

So, of course I had to submit one of Rikku. I had a hard time figuring out what to do. Finally I settled on this one:

If you can't read it, it says "I've jumped out the 2nd story bedroom window...three times! Not a scratch! (I didn't run away. I just wanted to be outside!)" It was the easiest to execute.

Some others that didn't make the cut:

I'll pretty much do anything for a tennis ball.
I love my neighbor more than I love my mom. I stop listening to her when he's around.
I eat cats.
I pulled a dead rat out of the bushes, and keep going back to see if there are more.
I herd other dogs, but get mad when they try to herd me.
I put puppies in their place.
I curl up in my mom's spot when she gets out of bed to take a shower, especially on cold mornings.
I can break out of a vari-kennel in under 10 seconds.
I chipped some teeth and lost another while chewing my way out of a wire crate. I got out, though!
I like to roll in things and put my "war paint" on so that the squirrels don't know I'm coming.
When my mom first put the gentle leader on me, I got mad and ate her Oakleys, her prescription glasses and her bluetooth headset. I have expensive taste.
When I'm excited to see people, I'll grab the nearest soft thing to bring to them. If there are no toys, I'll grab socks, shoes, bras or panties.

Anyway, if you get a chance, head over and check it out. Some of it is really funny.

Time flies...

It has been almost a year since I wrote. A lot has happened, not all great. Part of the reason I haven't written is because I didn't want to be a "Debbie Downer" about all the pain and suffering that has happened since September 27, 2011. The other part is because, for most of the past 11 months, I had little to no knitting mojo. In the past 11 months, I have completed 8 projects (for some perspective, I have a total of 99 finished projects since November 2008). The last one I bound off was in April. I'll show what I've done in a sec.

But first, here's what's happened over the past 11 months, in a nutshell:
The day after my last post, my Aunt Bev succumbed to cancer after a 2.5 year battle. I left my USCIS project of 2+ years for a project at ICE. I turned 30 (and freaked out about it quite a bit). A dear friend passed away on Thanksgiving. I had a 2cm kidney stone resulting in 2 hospital procedures and 11 days off work (therefore ruining any chance of a vacation this winter). I scaled back on ICE and ramped up on a FEMA project, on which I've been working ridiculous hours. I went to all three Yankees v. Nationals games and watched the Pinstripes SWEEP!

I'm getting my mojo back, but it's still hard because I'm so incredibly exhausted all the time. I can only really focus on one project at a time, which is probably for the best. Meanwhile, my stash has continued to grow, although with greatly decreased velocity. I've been avoiding yarn stores like the plague, except for when I absolutely need something, or when there's an irresistible draw (like an Anne Hanson or Miss Babs workshop). Even though my wallet is happy about it, my motivation has suffered. I've got a project "to do" list that is growing as people keep having offspring, but at least baby clothes are quick.

Speaking of baby clothes, I've made a bunch of them this year. Of those 8 finished projects, 3 of them were for little girls. The one I'm currently working on is for a 5 year old, but more about that later.

When I wrote the last time, I mentioned the Lovey Dovey dresses. Well, those are the three little girl things I made.

For Catherine Watson

For Genevieve Rizzo

For Vanessa Rasmussen

They all came out really cute, if I do say so myself. I've got at least 4 more on my to-do list (Eleanor Freeburt, Eleanor Pomerance, Ruby Bradford and Katie Greiling). Thankfully, once I get past the hem, they go fairly quickly.

Jayne Hat, quite cunning.

I also made three hats since last October. One was a "Jayne" hat for my brother-in-law for Christmas. It's SO awesome. My landlord liked it so much, I made one for her, too!!! I also made a beanie for me out of sparkly alpaca. It's pretty, but like every other beanie in the world, I didn't make it deep enough. I might go back and try to add ear flaps to it. it's too pretty to go unworn.

As for the other things I made, I made a headband for my neighbor, Janene; a shrug for my friend, Stacey, and then a really pretty scarf for me. The scarf is cool, because it's made from a hank of absolutely GORGEOUS sock yarn I got as part of the Cookie A Sock Club. And why didn't I make socks? Because the yarn is RED. And not just a little red, it's cherry, fire engine, piss off a bull red. And, if you haven't guessed, I flat out refuse to make red socks. So I found a beautiful pattern with a cockleshell edge that shows off the beautiful color and stitch definition.

Janene's headband

Stacey's shrug

And what am I working on now? It's a commission for my high-school bestie, Greer. He has two boys, Derrick and Michael. He asked me to make these absolutely adorable hoodies for his kids. They've got stegosaurus "plates" down the arms and on the hood. SO CUTE! I made the mistake of showing the pattern to my cousin's 5 year old twins, and was immediately met with "Will you make one for me?" *sigh* We'll see, sweet boy. But I want to finish these four little girl dresses, first!

I'm also working on a pair of Cookie A socks from last year's sock club. They're very intricate and take a lot of concentration, so I haven't gotten very far. This might be my first-ever bout with second-sock syndrome, which is bad because I can't even get through the first one!!!

So, hopefully this will reignite my writing. I'm looking forward to finishing these hoodies soon and can't wait to see how they turn out.

Long time, no mojo

I am fairly ashamed at how long it has been since I have written. I started to compose part 2 of the tips for tourists back in August, but couldn't seem to write it without being totally hateful and malicious. And by now, it's pretty much moot until spring breaks start in March. Maybe I'll take another look at it then and see if I can retool it.

The main reason I haven't written is because I really haven't been knitting all that much. I lost my "knitting mojo," as it were. I haven't given it up, not by a long shot, I've just had little motivation to pick up the needles. I've also had a lot of other things going on - work, family, sleep - that have taken priority. I've decided to squarely place a couple projects in the "UFO" (UnFinished Objects) pile - possibly to pick up again, possibly to pay someone else to finish. I've only got two projects going right now, though I am itching to start a couple pairs of socks, especially since the weather is getting colder.

Punkin' Chunkin'

One of the projects I have going is a scarf for my sister. In the spring, I bought some beautiful orangey-brown sock yarn from Miss Babs called "A Day at Punkin' Chunkin." I bought it because it is SOOOO my sister. She rocks those colors and she loves Punkin' Chunkin'. I bought it thinking she'd want a nice pair of socks. Originally she said she wanted a hat. But when I finally got her to sit down and look at patterns, she changed her mind to wanting another scarf. She picked out a checkerboard pattern and I got to work. It's a fairly simple pattern, though I can never remember the number of stitches at the beginning of each right-side row. It'd be a lot easier to remember if it was in entrelac, but instead it's lace, with a pattern of k2 yo and yo k2tog stitches. It's coming out nicely, though, and is a great display for the yarn, which has started to pattern a little bit.

Adorable, no?

Over the weekend, I started the first of four dresses/tunics for friends who have recently had, or will soon have baby girls. The first is for Catherine Watson - the daughter of my friends Heather and James. It's going to be green and yellow. I am not sure what I'll put as the embellishment - maybe a dinosaur, or a tree, or maybe just a monogram. I finished the hem and am a few stitches into the main part of the skirt. It's worsted weight yarn on size 10 needles, so hopefully it will go quickly. Catherine is getting the 9-12 month size. The others will get the 6-9 month...probably.

Hopefully these projects will help reignite my knitting mojo. It really does help me relax and unwind. Maybe now that the new television season has started, and the Yankees have (again!) made the playoffs, I'll have some good ass-sitting time to get some hardcore knitting done.

OT: Tips for Tourists; Part 1: Metro

The Dalai Lama is in town for the next 11 days. I think it's kind of funny since I'm feeling especially stabby this week. Since his holiness preaches love and helping each other, I've decided to take my stabby-ness and hopefully turn it into something more productive. With the influx of locusts invading tourists visiting the nation's capital for whatever reason - be it Dalai Lamas, field trips, masochism, or National Treasure/Lost Symbol theme tours - here are some tips to help you avoid angering the locals.


Riding Metro
The DC metro is one of the cleanest and easiest to navigate systems in the country. Those are pretty much the only two good things about it. Washingtonians have a love/hate relationship with our metro system. Its frequent rate hikes, escalators of death, and continuous track work are a constant source of grumbling for all who have to come in contact with the 30-something year old system. Unfortunately, it is the only alternative to the snarl of traffic and construction work that plague the area (more on that later). A few hints to make your ride more pleasurable:

Yes. Seriously.

• Escalators: Stand right, walk left. This unwritten rule of escalators often spills over into malls and other buildings, but it's most strict in the metro. For many DC denizens, scaling the often stopped moving stairs is part of a daily workout regimen. You can still talk to your group-mates when standing in a line along the right side - trust me, I've done it many times! If you decide to stand on the left, be prepared for locals to sometimes give a polite "excuse me," and don't give them trouble lest you want a laptop bag shaped bruise on your arm.
• Train doors: You'll hear it a million times: Metro doors are NOT like elevator doors, they will not bounce open when obstructed. If you put your bag in the way, hoping to get everyone in your party on the train, say goodbye to that bag, and maybe your arm. I hope you didn't have an iPod or smartphone in that bag - it belongs to the teens of DC now! But seriously, trying to jam them open will break them and put that train out of service. If that happens, everyone on the platform will shank you!
• Getting on and off: along the same lines, if you have a big group of people trying to get onto the train together, don't try to all get in one door. People are going to be coming out, and chances are the "door closing" chime will ring immediately after those doors open. Each train car has THREE sets of doors. Spread out. It's nicer for everyone



Typical rush hour

• Times: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY DO NOT RIDE DURING RUSH HOUR! Trust me, better for all involved. Locals won't be cranky and stabby when they get to work/home, and you'll save money by avoiding the peak and peak of the peak (seriously - that's a thing) fare periods.
• Other rules: Don't eat/drink on Metro. It's an arrestable offense. Really. Seriously; Avoid the Red Line when possible. There's no reason you should be on it unless you're visiting someone in Maryland - and why in hell would you want to do that?; Do your research beforehand. Surprisingly, wmata.com is actually fairly well put-together and has a lot of information. Get to know the train routes, the fares and the areas around the stations.

For other Metro tips and all-around metro shenanigans, follow @fixwmata and/or @unsuckdcmetro on twitter. You can also follow @metroopensdoors, but there's not much on there. Who knows, someone might catch you in the act of doing something stupid great and your picture could end up immortalized in the annals of the twitterverse!


I've decided to go ahead and break this up into a series. Be on the look out for Part 2 coming soon!

Happy 4th! Go blow something up!

For the third year in a row, I'm spending my Independence Day in Virginia Beach. It's pretty cool that it's been on a weekend the past few years. Next year, I'm going to have to stay put. :/

Ultimate summer picture, Elizabeth, 4Jul2009

It's my second time in Virginia Beach in as many weeks. Two weeks ago, I was down here for my brother-in-law's retirement from the Marine Corps. It was kind of a rough weekend because there were swamp fires down south and the smoke was aggravating my migraines. Obviously, some started again last night because my head has started to bug this morning. Good thing I have my prescription this time!

I'm not looking forward to the drive home, but hopefully most people are staying put and driving home tomorrow. Or staying home and watching the Firefly marathon on the Science channel! If I didn't have them all on iTunes, I'd be calling in sick tomorrow! 


One of the great things about this weekend is I got to see my nephew play in TWO of his little league all star games. He's so great! He's been playing first base and has been put in a few innings each game. His team is AWESOME! They won their first game 4-0 and their second game 7-something. Yesterday, one of the other parents commended the team on their sportsmanship and the quality of the coaches. They were absolutely right. Yates' next game is tomorrow and then on Thursday. He might not make the Thursday game, though, because my sister and family are supposed to go to a funeral in Florida.
We also went to the Tides game - they won by a lot. The fireworks afterwards were awesome!


As far as knitting, I had been trying to focus exclusively on my sleeves, but I eventually got bored with stockinette stitch. I decided to pick up the Frog Tree Meriboo my mom got me and start the Evenstar Hat. The pattern is fairly poorly written, but thanks to some other ravellers, I was able to figure out the band. It's a gorgeous cable and is popping pretty well in the purple blend. My sister also decided what she wants me to do with the Miss Babs Day at Punkin' Chunkin' sock yarn I got a couple months ago. She wants another rectangular scarf and she chose a tilting cubes type pattern. I'm feeling the sock itch again, too, but need to figure out what pattern I want to do.

A Major Award!!!!!

Frah-jee-lay, that must be Italian!

Not this

THIS!

Ok, so it's disappointingly not a leg lamp, but I did win an award! Actually, my team, headed by me, won an award. The Arc Aspicio Team won the Human Resources Leadership Award, Sister Eymard Gallagher Award for Corporate Social Responsibility for our Community Involvement initiatives. I can't tell you how much it means. I didn't think I'd ever be wrapped up in that kind of thing, but to be recognized for my efforts and those of my team by people who wouldn't know me if they bumped into me on the street. I had to give an acceptance speech and everything. It was so hard for me to not thank the Academy, God and all the little people who helped me get to this point! Ok, maybe it wasn't so hard, but I did give maaad propps to my team, Lynn Ann and the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. The big trophy we got is now sitting in the office, for all to enjoy. We also got a miniature version, which Lynn Ann said I could keep as a token of all my hard work and dedication to our Community Involvement Efforts. I'm still riding the high from Tuesday's award ceremony. I went with no expectations except free dinner and drinks, and walked away with an award! I knew I had been nominated, but I didn't know we had a shot!

 In other news, I went to the Glee Concert Last Thursday. It was AWESOME! I was a little far from the main stage, but my cares about that melted away when Mark Salling (aka Noah Puckerman) appeared on the second stage right over my left shoulder! I unexpectedly turned into a screaming fangirl. So unbelievable. I also swear that I was NOT the one who pulled Darren Criss into the crowd at the end, but I'm pretty sure the chick next to me would have if she had been closer to the stage.

Sue's going to be PISSED when she sees the New Directions used her confetti canons!

Anyway, now I'm headed for Virginia Beach. My brother-in-law retires from the Marine Corps after 21 years. Looking forward to a fun weekend with family.

Insurmountable Sweater!

Look! Sleeves!

Last post, I mentioned how I was teaching myself how to knit "two at a time." I figured it out and got most of the way through my socks.* Even though I rarely suffer from "second sock syndrome",** I do suffer from "second SLEEVE syndrome." Hell, I have even been suffering from FIRST sleeve syndrome. My first bout of the ailment happened when I was making the Rayne Wrap Cardigan for my sister. It took me FOREVER to finish the first sleeve, and another FOREVER to finish the second. For that sweater, the sleeves were the last things I had to finish, so if I really had a big problem getting through them, I could have given up and turned it into a vest.

I have a confession to make. I've been ignoring the fact that I've been plagued by this sleeve syndrome again. This time, I have been battling it for about nine months. How embarrassing! I've been avoiding confronting the problem, even to the point of taking it "out of sight out of mind" by burying the sleeve in a project bag at the bottom of my knitting basket. It's not my first battle with this particular sweater. I've effectively been working on it for 19

The sweater as it has been finished to-date.
It has been completed up to the armpits.

months now. The sweater? My "World Champion Cardigan" (aka the Ruby Red), which I started soon after the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. I got up to the arm holes last September and started on the first sleeve. I've been working on it off and on for the past nine months. I only got halfway up the arm since then.

Yesterday, I decided to come out to myself and acknowledge the problem. In doing so, I have also devised a solution. I have frogged^± the first sleeve, cast on and finished the cuff pattern of the second, and started to work them two at a time!!! This not only ensures that they will get done at the same time, but also that any increases, lengths or design characteristics are consistent between the two sleeves. Hopefully this will get my rear in gear to finish this blasted sweater under the two-year mark! I'd like to give myself the ultimatum of not starting any other projects until I finish this one, but we all know that's not going to happen. I've got waaaaaaay to much gorgeous sock yarn waiting patiently in my stash.

And for your viewing pleasure: my recently finished Haleakala Socks.

Of course, the day after I finish them, it is around 100 degrees outside!

*I got about three rows past the heels and one of my needles snapped in half. I had to transfer the socks to double pointed needles and finish them one at a time. 

A particularly dire case of SSS.
Ironically, this comes from Felicia Lo, the woman
behind Sweet Georgia Yarns, which 
I have used twice in my sock-making career.

**Second Sock Syndrome (SSS) - An affliction for a lot of knitters who often finish the first sock of a pair and do not complete the second. Symptoms include: wearing mismatched, handmade socks; unfinished objects (UFOs); occupied DPNs; and multiple half-skeins of sock yarn. It is often treated by two at a time knitting, and/or public ridicule by fellow knitters. 

± The knitting term for quickly unraveling a project after finding a mistake or being frustrated/unhappy by the results. You might be asking what amphibians have to do with knitting. What do you do when you unravel knitting? Rip it, rip it, ripit, ribit, ribbit. A relative of the also popular, but less dramatic, "tink" - literally knit backwards.

'Tis May!

Man, I'm pretty bad at keeping up with this blogging thing. I had wanted to do it every week, or at least every other week.  Though I guess monthly is better than never.

Cruise Shawl

There's not a super whole lot to report I think I've only finished two or three projects since I last wrote. I finally finished the shawl I started on my cruise. It came out very nicely, but it doesn't want to stay in the shape I blocked it to. I might have to try it again.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, though, including a bunch of random ones coming from people at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last week.

I finished the self patterning spiral-y socks a few weeks ago, too. I'm very pleased with them. They're very warm and comfy as well.

Spiral-icious

Another project I did was for my coworker. She found her hands were getting cold so I offered to make her some fingerless mitts.  Not just any mitts would do. She's a sassy old broad and she needed some sassy classical mitts. I made her some red and black victorian style fingerless mittens. I don't think she's really worn them yet, but she sure liked them!

Sassy Mitts

Another piece of news is that I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival for the first time last weekend. I didn't really find any yarn that I HAD to have, but I did buy 2000 yards of some Virginia-made cotton/wool blend for ~$50. There are a couple patterns I want to try out with it.  I also got a yarn-bowl and some size 1 circulars for making two socks at a time.

My loot

Speaking of two socks at a time, I'm working on  my first set of 2-at-a-time socks using the String Theory Caper yarn and the Haleakala pattern from February's edition of the Cookie A Sock Club. They're coming along pretty well, but I'm dreading the point when I have to rearrange everything for the heel flap. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I'm going to have to transfer the stitches to dpns then back to the circulars. Should be fun!

From the work side of things, we had our spring celebration/Search Dog Foundation fundraiser on Thursday. It went really well despite our guests of honor, John Stewart and canine Lani, arriving about an hour and a half late.  But they got there and it was good.  We managed to raise $3000 for the organization in one night! My colleagues did a great job of organizing the silent auction and the part as a whole.

Now all I need is for my Yankees to come back around. They haven't been playing very well recently. I hope our favorite catcher-turned-DH gets it together soon. He's losing the mental game and I know he's better than that. Maybe Girardi should put him in as catcher every once in a while so that he gets some confidence back. He's one of the pieces of the heart of the team, and you can tell that his struggles are weighing a lot of folks down. I hope he finds his mojo again.

Cruise Recap and other catch up shtuff



St Maarten port from my stateroom's balcony
 (I upgraded - totally worth it!)

It's been a month since I was on my cruise and I'm just now getting around to write about it. The cliffs notes version: I had a blast. It was my first cruise and will definitely not be the last.  I loved everything about it. I loved being able to get chicken fingers at all hours of the day/night. I loved upgrading my room to a balcony and sitting out there, watching the world go by. I loved the heated tile lounge chairs in the spa. I loved being in the warm sun of the Caribbean.

I definitely recommend Norwegian Cruise Lines. Of course, it's the only cruise line I've been on so far, but the ship was gorgeous. It was well taken care of, clean, spacious, interesting. I could be social when I wanted to be and had my "me-time" when I needed it.  The staff was wonderful.  I got to see the Blue Man Group, Second City, St. Maarten/St Martin, St Thomas, St John and waved at the port of Nassau as we passed it by. The customer service was awesome. I accidentally left some clothes on board when I got distracted during packing. I got them back in the mail last week, clean and in one piece!



Cruise shawl



The only thing missing was any kind of lap pool. I LOVE to swim and wish I had the opportunity to really swim some laps. The only pools they had were wading pools and the hydrotherapy pool, nothing where you could really swim.  I was able to go snorkling in St. John - a last minute decision and one I'm very happy I made. It was a gorgeous day aboard the catamaran from St. Thomas to St John's Honeymoon Beach. The water was warm and the sand was white and fine. I would've loved to have spent more time snorkling, but they do two sailings a day!!! I'm also glad I did it because our port of call in Nassau was cancelled due to wind. I had a snorkeling trip planned for the Bahamas and would have been incredibly disappointed had I not been able to snorkel at all!



I was able to do some knitting on board. I started a shawl - the Sea Foam shawl in my "Caribbean Blue" linen lace. It was the perfect project for a cruise - nice and light and inspired by the sea. I'm still not done with it, but it's getting there. I was working on it during the plane ride from Miami to DCA and the flight attendants were so impressed, they let me move into an empty row so I could have more room to maneuver. They were so sweet.

Spiral-y!

I haven't finished any projects lately. I've had a severe loss of what we call my "knitting mojo." My motivation to knit had left me for a while. I'm just now starting to get it back.  I have put a few more inches on the Cruise Shawl. I finally turned the heel on the first Ribbelmuster/Spiraleta socks in the Plymouth Sockotta self-patterning yarn. A few more inches down the foot, decreases on the toes, and one more sock to go! I'm going to teach myself how to knit two socks at a time so that I never have to suffer from "second sock syndrome" (knitting socks one at a time and getting bored after the first one, thereby never knitting the second). It hasn't plagued me as yet, but the way my mojo has been going in and out, it wouldn't surprise me if it does.

I missed one of my big New Year's resolutions. Opening day of baseball was last week and I'm no closer to finishing the World Champion sweater than I was in January.  Oh well. I might see if I can pay someone to knit the sleeves for me.  Or rip out the first one and do two at a time.  It's just a lot of boring stockinette in sock yarn - so it takes forever to even do an inch.
I'm still fairly good on my other resolutions, though. I've only had three Starbucks coffees since January. And I've only been to fibre space twice - one of the times, I didn't even buy the yarn!!! I did falter last week, but it was for good reason. Miss Babs Ausherman was in town and I attended her color workshop. Her yarns are wonderful and I got four skeins of sock yarn. I can't wait to knit them up!

Putting my feet up

I am going to there.

I really have been delinquent again on my blog-writing. I guess once a month is now a reasonable goal as things continue to be busy. Work is getting much better and personality conflicts with new colleagues and clients are starting to improve. What has made it even more bearable is that I've got a vacation coming up! Next week, I'm leaving on my first cruise!  I'm leaving out of Miami on the Norwegian Epic and hitting St Maarten, St Thomas and Nassau. I cannot wait. I've been needing this break. I'm looking forward to the sunshine and being able to "switch off" completely - no cell phone, no computer, no work. I will be able to do whatever I choose.

Caribbean Blue indeed!

I've already been planning my knitting for this vacation. I plan on taking the linen lace I got from the fibre space stash club and making a shawl. It really is meant to be as the colorway of the yarn is "Caribbean Blue" and the shawl pattern is called "Seafoam."  It should be beautiful!  I'm also taking a pair of socks, the World Champ Sweater (which I still intend to complete by Opening Day!).

I haven't finished much for myself recently. The last thing I finished for myself were my Pomatomus/Mermaid Socks. They came out beautifully and I LOVE to wear them. I'm now a devotee of Wollmeise. I'm still working on the self-patterning socks. The spiral-y pattern I've picked is a little tricky, but it makes the knitted pattern interesting without taking away from the dyed pattern. 

The main reason I haven't finished much for myself was because I was making a bunch of things for my colleague, Donna.  Last month, we met up on a Sunday and I introduced her to fibre space. She fell in love with a hat in the window and bought me $100 worth of Spud & Chloe yarn to make it and whatever else I could make out of it. I wound up making her the hat, convertible mittens and a really long, randomly colored scarf.  They all turned out beautifully and look fantastic on her.

On a more serious note, my gmail account was hacked last week and a spam message was sent from it telling everyone that I was in London and that I had been robbed.  The perp set up forwarding to a yahoo account and changed my passwords. Thankfully, my friends were quick to alert me to the intrusion and facebook was able to disable my account before he/she got to it and I was able to get it back up again the next day. It was terrifying. I hope others can learn from this mess and take the time to change their passwords and make sure their security settings and software protections are in place.