I Aten't Dead

Courtesy to the wonderful Terry Pratchett for the title. Really, I aten't dead, just busy, wondering what happened to the summer.

Yikes. It's been a long time. It was pointed out to me (not even very recently) that my drive-by posting was August 1, and it's now October. I hadn't realized that it had been so long. Anyway, what have I done lately? Should I categorize by month? Maybe.

July: I ended up in the Cooperstown area visiting the lovely and blogless Kathe during the last weekend of July. Very nice drive, wonderful visit. The cupcakes and beer were appreciated. We went to Ommegang, wandered around the nice bits of Oneonta, saw some entertaining signs ("25 years of relatively safe flying" and "KILTS"), and Kathe scored me a ticket to the Glimmerglass Opera where she works summers, so I saw I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

August:
Caught a few performances of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival over the summer (Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), as well as a Tri-C performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. August 2 brought the Weakerthans, which was a lot of fun. Made a metric tonne of cupcakes that day, too, as it was also SAAZ Blues and Brews. Mike went there, cupcakes and beer in tow, and apparently it was a great location (with indoor plumbing - yay!!) and an enjoyable evening. He got home later than I did, even.

Skipped the Stan Hywet Blues and Brews festival this year, too. I was all about skipping the beer parties in August for some reason. But what did I do? I think I dyed yarn. Managed to drag myself out on that Friday night to see A Lion In Winter at Notre Dame College. Was surprised at how entertaining it was. Met a girl who was new to our knitting group, and must have underwhelmed her, as we've never seen her again. Hit up a few Wade Oval Wednesdays, though not as many as planned. Darn work got in the way!

Mike and I saw Great Big Sea in Akron on the 16th. They're always a good show, and were in rare form that night, with random parodies and covers, and Lock 3 Live is a great place to go. We'd never been, but you can't beat free parking and $5 tickets. Will definitely go again next summer, depending on the schedule.

Ended the month with a cookout at Melita's. Very nice time, quiet but enjoyable afternoon. Got to show off the sweater that I'd finally finished!

September:
Had some knitting group drama at Studio-A-Rama. Enjoyed the evening, otherwise, and the person in question is no longer in our group (not like we'd ever met her), so no worries there. Joined the bandwagon and started a clapotis, which my mom promptly claimed shortly after arriving for her visit later that week.

Went to the Vatican exhibit with my mom. Had a very nice visit, saw all sorts of papal clothes and accessories. One robe looked like something Elvis would have worn.

Took a fabulous course called "Horrid Musicals." Watched Xanadu, Can't Stop the Music (the Village People movie), and The Apple (a look at the 90s music scene from the perspective of the 1970s). Best Thursday evenings I've had for a while.

Tried to see Dar Williams in Pittsburgh, but due to Ike causing a power outage the concert was cancelled. Had a nice lunch with my dad anyway. Gotta love Fat Head's!! Ike also blew one of our deck couch cushions into the pond. Luckily it floated the whole way across - Mike was out there with a fishing rod trying to retrieve it, but it swam right to him. Very happy that it floats!

Lecture season at the museum started again, with a talk on the polar regions and changes that have occurred there, with the next lecture on ecological design. Bought more yarn for the Museum Scarf, as it has been promoted to the Museum Set, and will include a hat and possibly mittens. Learned that the yarn gets really soft after washing. The set will be used to decorate a wreath for the Women's Committee mini-fundraiser, and hopefully bring a decent amount. Discussed the idea at an event at Dike 14, received good feedback, so the wreath will be decorated with knitted goods rather than Alejandro's sunflowers. Which is probably good, as the sunflowers didn't seem to dry as well as I'd hoped.

~ picture interlude ~







from Dike 14

Speaking of the Women's Committee, I am now the recording secretary. Or is it corresponding secretary? I'm not exactly sure, but I get to hang out at board meetings and such. Have also been recruited somewhat for a Membership Subcommittee at Kirtlandia, possibly because I am under 40.

Found out that I won't be working weekends this school year. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with all the extra time, but I am not complaining. Couldn't complain about the job, but can't complain about not working, either.

Spent a Saturday dyeing yarn with the knitting group. Participated in a shop hop of stores throughout Northeast Ohio - explored a few new shops, had a lot of fun. A few of us (Megan, Mary) visited four shops that Saturday before dyeing. I tried to hold back, and did a decent job of sticking mostly to one skein of sock yarn per shop. Took a combination knitting course with Annie Modesitt at River Colors/Stitch Cleveland, and learned some new things.

Other highlights of the month were: seeing Neko Case at the Beachland (she was wonderful!), taking an Angels tour of Lakeview Cemetery, going to a book reading at the Akron library and meeting Chuck Klosterman and other Akron-area authors.

October (nearly done!):
Started the month by going to see Eliot Abrams at the Natural History Museum for an Archaeology night lecture. He was as brilliant as ever, and I wasn't paying tuition this time.

First weekend of the month was our annual October party. We chose the date when I was expecting to work weekends, so it was a bit earlier than we would have preferred, but we'd sent the "save the date" notices by the time I found out weekends were free, so hey, we stuck with it. We had a good crowd, about 30 people (cupcake to guest ratio was 5:1 this time), and I forgot food. Oops. Meant to put out a veggie tray, cheese and crackers, dip, and a few other things. Like chips and salsa. Really. I forgot the easiest bit because I was focused on ho-ho cupcakes. Luckily the beer cheese soup went over well. And that's nearly all of the past excitement - we're on to things that Will Happen!

This weekend, Gretchen is visiting! We'll hit up the Rock Hall, Lakeview Cemetery, and who knows what else. Maybe Melt. If we have time, we'll hang out with the knitters at the Miss Chickpea Knit-In in Hudson.

My mom will be driving in on Monday morning for the North Coast Tour de Stitch. We'll drive all over Northeast Ohio, from Madison to Toledo to Canton. Wednesday night is an in-store performance at Music Saves - my current favorite band, Frightened Rabbit! I am pondering staying for Jennifer O'Connor's show at the Beachland Tavern, but we'll see how awake I am. Thursday is a workday, and Friday Mary and I are off to Rhinebeck!

Seriously debating going to visit Kelly and Carry during the NC State Fair on the last weekend of the month. We'll see what happens. I will do my best to keep y'all informed.

Finally, I was tagged twice for the Six Random Things meme, which is very similar (IMHO) to the Seven Random Things meme that I did several months ago. Erqsome and ktb both tagged me, so I guess I'd better participate, eh?

The Rules:
1) Link to the person who tagged me (see above)
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself
4) Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

1. My hair changes color on its own. I was born with black hair, that fell out and what grew in was blonde, and it got progressively darker as I got older, with a reddish phase in my high school/college years. During the HS years, I dyed my hair red once and my mom didn't even notice.

2. I am a packrat, and tend to carry lots of unnecessary things with me. My backpack weighs enough to be considered a passenger by my car. (At least it is light enough not to require the airbag.)

3. I am a compulsive list-maker, whether or not anything will ever happen with the lists.

4. I am an overachieving slacker. I want to do everything, but lots of the time sleep wins.

5. I have a fear of having nothing to do. I generally have at least one knitting project (usually two-four) and one (or more) book with me at all times.

6. I have what some people consider an encyclopedic knowledge of 80s music, although I have forgotten a lot of it.

There. I really don't feel like tagging anyone else, so if you want to be tagged, tag yourself for me.

Anyway, I think it's quite funny that it's taken me several months to post, and I keep getting errors saying that Blogger cannot be reached and there may be errors in publishing. Oh well. I will keep trying. Have fun!

Meme revisited

As promised, I am returning to Emmms' meme. Christopher Moore is much more fun:

"Gabe tracks rats with microchips in them," Theo said.
"It's only one of the things I do. Mostly, I count dead things on the beach."

Isn't quite as riveting as Melanie Omega, but hey, I feel better now.

Anyway, should get back to the knitting. Working on Geno. I never knew I was so lacking in white worsted weight yarn. Could report on last night's lecture, but will summarize that I discovered a new career for my mom: dental hygiene for dead people. Very intriguing lecture, especially the bits about cotton being found on teeth, which hasn't yet been published. Here's a bit of info; here's a bit more. Good stuff.

I don't want to work, I want to pet my yarn all day

First, thanks to EvilJulie, who showed me that you can add pictures to the Rav progress bars. And she probably doesn't even know that she was such a help...

Back from the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival. Lots of fun. Picked up a decent bit of yarn.

This is the haul:

Clockwise from the huge grey hank in the upper left: Grey 2-ply mohair homespun (nearly a pound!) from Sheepstone Natural Fibers in Darlington, PA, spun by Kris Savage; Red/burgundy/deep wine-nearly black wool, silk and viscose blend from Crabapple Llamas and Fibers in Latrobe, PA; green semi-solid superwash sock yarn from Knit Picker (not sure of location); multicolored variegate superwash sock yarn from Knit Picker; blue-green hand-dyed handspun merino from an unknown vendor.

Jessica and I had a really nice time. We left Saturday after lunch, stopped at IKEA and DSW on the way down (I bought a French press, plastic bag closures, and a small frying pan - no new furniture for me), and briefly popped into the festival around 5:30. The weather was bad, it was incredibly windy (tents were blowing over!) and many vendors were packing up. Jessica bought some gorgeous blue mohair/wool yarn for a bag, some pretty green alpaca for socks, and a hank of ivory silk light fingering weight. So soft! We dropped by Mike's brother's house, unloaded our stuff, and headed out to the only sit-down restaurant in Waynesburg for dinner - Bob Evans.

Went back to the house after dinner, and hung out with my sister-in-law and niece. And knitted. Worked on Stephen (the turtle). Finished the top and bottom of Stephen's shell, and started the "shell attachment panel." Forgot to bring Firebird, which was fine, as I didn't have time to work on it, anyway. Almost watched P.S. I Love You, as my niece and her friend had it on in the other room. Seemed like a decent chick flick; at least I appreciated the soundtrack. Camera Obscura, Pogues, Nellie McKay, I forget who else - oh, wait, of those, only Nellie actually appears on the soundtrack album. I won't be buying that one, don't think. Stayed up later than usual, but hey, I could sleep in, right? Um, no. Woke up at 6. Convinced myself to stay in bed until 7, and then went downstairs to knit. Rest of the house started moving sometime after 8.

Went back to the festival today, after a breakfast of cinnamon rolls. Word to the wise, let them warm up for a few hours before baking if they have been refrigerated. Or just make them fresh. I feel like I should have taken over my sister-in-law's kitchen and started from scratch this morning, as they would have turned out better. They weren't bad, just not as good as usual.

Anyway, I did my yarn purchasing today. Weather was somewhat better, although it was still windy. Love-love-love my huge hank of handspun mohair. Originally thought it might be a sweater; right now I think it might be a shawl. I need to figure out the yardage. Zuzu loves it, too.

Zuzu getting to know her mohair pal

Speaking of Zuzu, she and I were outside the other day. I noticed that when the sun shines on her fur, if you look closely, she looks like she's covered in rainbow glitter. Her fur apparently acts like a bunch of prisms and refracts light into many colors. She's my technicolor kitty! Not sure why it took me so long to notice that, but hey, I can be oblivious.

Oh well. I should head up to bed. But first, Emmms tagged me for a book meme. She is just a wild tagger lately! So here goes:

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

1. It was hard to pick the book that was nearest. There are at least five within an arm's reach. First one I grabbed was Mary Higgins Clark's Daddy's Little Girl. I almost feel like I should explain. A librarian foisted it upon me, and I haven't returned it yet. Haven't read Higgins Clark since high school, when she seemed very formulaic. Read one, you've read them all. At least that was my impression when I was 17. But it was closest, so here goes:

"I'd like that. I was kind of expecting that I'd get a postcard from Houston or L.A."
"I never send postcards."

Kinda blah. Let's grab another. No, no details of what to use for a basic rolled-brim hat from Knitting for Peace. How about Where the Girls Are by Susan Douglas? Ahh, the start of a chapter called "Genies and Witches." Sounds promising. Let's investigate:

The Journal continued, "They have rights and opportunities today the likes of which the Western world has never seen . . . .Indeed, women today are in many respects much better off than men." In its special supplement of October 1962 entitled "The American Female," Harper's maintained that American women were "repelled by the slogans of old-fashioned feminism.
But Harper's also thought it saw a trend in 1962 and named it "crypto-feminism."

Somewhat better, but still not great. Probably the best I can do before bed is from The Best of World Cafe, an interview with David Bowie:

Well the genesis of that song--- I had, I've had sort of an off-and-on long-standing thing about Tibet and its accompanying philosophy, Buddhism. And I studied off and on for three years in the sixties when I was younger and it really meant a lot to me, especially what I gleaned from the philosophy of Buddhism. And I guess over the last couple of years, my memories of that period, and also pangs of guilt for not having paid more attention to the plight of Tibet and to the Chinese, was sort of brought into focus with the lectures and speeches that the Dalai Lama is giving particularly, over the last couple of years.

Oh well. I am sleepy, and not in the mood to tag anyone (and too tired to post links to books, too). So if you are compelled, tag yourself!

Finally, kudos to Andrew for pointing me to his blog post that features Cary Grant knitting. Love the picture. Good night!

More memeliness and other random stuff

Eryn just tagged me for the Seven Random Things meme, and as I was already going to post tonight, might as well do it now. Because if I don't, it may never happen. Looking forward to it, I think, as I have many random out-of-context facts to share. Other stuff to follow.

The rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

Let the Randomness Begin!
1. I have driven over 200,000 miles (probably closer to 300k at this point), the most being 45,000 miles in five months.

2. Somewhat related - I have visited all 50 states, but have not been outside of North America.

3. Like Eryn, I dream of having a farm in North Dakota. I would love to grow sunflowers, but I am probably too lazy to make it work.

4. When I was in high school, I was once part of the entertainment at a bachelor party. Somewhere out there is a videotape. (Used to shock "nice girls" with that story - that, and the story about dating a married man around the same time. Innocent stories that sound naughty.)

5. I have gone weeks, if not months, without watching TV.

6. When I am immersed in a good book, I want to do nothing but read. The library has been my downfall on many occasions.

7. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved to cook and bake. I once set off the smoke detector and woke up my whole family at 4am while baking pita bread from scratch. (My mom just brought that up the other day.)

Who to tag?

1. Carry
2. Cheryl
3. Cyd
4. Emmms (though we should be patient - she's got a lot going on right now!)
5. Ktb
6. Mary
7. Shirley

Still working on the sweater; have started the ribbing for the bottom. My cable broke as I was trying on the sweater, which was a bit of a mess. Was able to recover, thankfully, but it was a pain. Haven't yet figured out the number of stitches in the sleeves, but that is on the agenda for this evening. Did figure out how many stitches I can get per skein of yarn, so once I figure out the number of stitches in the sleeves I can calculate if I will have enough yarn to make long sleeves, or if I will need to make a short-sleeved sweater. Which would be silly, as it's mostly alpaca, and thus very, very warm.

Nearly bought enough yarn for another sweater today. Remember the pattern I bought at Knitter's Fantasy? Well, I have decided on the yarn I will use to make it. I will need 2000 yards of this, probably in Spice, but possibly in Moss or Lichen. I could even live with Fieldstone or Slate. Maybe even Sable or Cranberry. Thoughts, anyone? It's very sad that as the weather gets warmer I am still thinking of sweaters.

Weekend work is over for the summer. I am looking forward to grocery shopping on Saturday and staying home on Sunday. Easier to buy beer on Saturday mornings... Speaking of which, I should run out later tonight to buy beer for the Beer and Fiber Swap. I was supposed to have a package on the way today, but as Mike's anti-beer mom surprised us with a visit on Monday, I did not get everything purchased. My procrastination worked well for once, though, as my swapner has moved in the interim, and I can now ship to her new place.

So how about that Pens game last night? It was the first in the series that I'd actually watched, well, at least most of. Caught the post-game highlights of Sunday's game at my parents' house, after visiting with my dad and sharing the Happy Birthday Cinnamon Rolls. And cupcakes. And chocolate chip cookie pie.

Oh yes, I did try to burn the house down on Sunday morning. Made the dough for the cinnamon rolls, and while the rolls were rising, I made chocolate chip cookie pies. Unfortunately, they rose a bit too much, and some dough spilled out onto the bottom of the oven. Result? Lots of smoke. Luckily no smoke detectors were activated, as we were pretty quick to open windows and doors. Cleaned out the oven enough to bake the cinnamon rolls, but Jennifer and I started out a bit later than we had hoped. The surviving cookie pies were still tasty, as were the cinnamon rolls. And the cupcakes. Good stuff.

Had lunch with my mom at Mad Mex, which was quite tasty. Dropped off her car at the house, then the three of us drove to the golf course to visit Dad. Listened to the tail end of the Pens game on the car radio. Visited with Mom at the house for a bit, then headed over to Brad's potluck for a bit. Gave him the blue cabled hat (oh, at lunch Jennifer agreed to adopt Guacamole for me. She can wear the green; I can't.) and the second chocolate chip cookie pie. He asked his friend Emily to play a few songs for us, since we couldn't stay. I was very impressed - she has a lovely voice, and writes beautiful songs. We may need to have a house concert at some point...

Arrived at the Byham during Ron Sexsmith's first song. Knitted a bit between sets, and then enjoyed Nick Lowe. I admit it - I have a fondness for witty British men. Mr. Lowe has crafted some very fine pop songs during his career. Particularly enjoyed this one, with its Rick Astley reference. And this one is always a favorite. Oh, the floppy 70s hair......

Drove home after the show, and was surprised to find Mike still awake at 12:45. Went to bed, and Zuzu allowed me to sleep until 4:45. Nice kitty. Took a nap on the couch after her breakfast, and was only slightly late to work. Would have been on time, but Mike informed me that his mom was coming over at 8. Can't say I was ready for that. Or really wanted her around on Monday. I worked, came home, napped, went to knitting. Visited a bit in the middle there, and went to bed early.

Went to the Cuyahoga Falls knitting group on Tuesday, as part of our group is joining them for Stitch and Pitch at the Akron Aeros in June (June 13, if you're interested!), and the other girls wanted to meet that group. Nice people. Oh, also worked with the kids that afternoon. Taught one girl a yarn-over/dropped stitch pattern; she seemed to like it. Would love to have the sweater done next week to show them.

This morning I ruined someone else's commute. That is to say, I was the bad driver that some lady is complaining about. I don't think I did anything wrong - you decide. I was reading at a stoplight (you know, that engrossed in a book thing), and apparently I didn't move the instant the light turned green. I was 10-12 cars back, so one would think that immediate motion was unnecessary. In fact, I noticed that the light had changed, and was ready to move, but couldn't move until the cars in front of me started moving. She beeped at me anyway. Oh well. We both made it through the light.

Oh well. Just had a bit of bad news, but there's nothing that can really be done. I should get back to the sweater.