Rhinebeck and other AWESOME October happenings

WOW. That word pretty much sums up Rhinebeck (otherwise known as New York Sheep and Wool, one of the biggest fiber festivals in the country). That, and AWESOME. And yes, it deserves all caps. It was a wonderful time, hanging out with some of the people who live in my computer. Mary and I left Friday morning with eleven dozen cupcakes (Pumpkin Spice with cream cheese frosting, Mexican Chocolate with Kahlua glaze and chocolate ganache frosting, Vanilla with just plain vanilla frosting, Ho-Ho filled with vanilla cream and frosted with chocolate buttercream and Nutella, need I say more?) and 2.5 gallons of beer (well, 2 gallons of beer, half a gallon of cider). We arrived around 7, connected with my last-minute roommate Hopi, and figured out where we were going for dinner. Ktb and her mom made reservations at a fabulous place called Gigi Trattatoria. There were supposed to be eleven of us, but Cyd's train was delayed, so Pixisis was anxiously awaiting a phone call to get her. The call came just after dinner. Bowen was there, up from Philadelphia, with a stop on the way to pick up Silver. Also in that car was Monica from Portland (yes, Portland, Oregon), who had flown in a day or so earlier. And we can't forget the wonderful Dan, aka Brewergnome! Definitely an enjoyable meal.

Saturday was the festival! We found Melcentrica in the lobby at breakfast - we ID'd her because she, Mary and I were all wearing the same shirt. (Cyd wore hers, too, but we met her Friday night at the hotel. Our room was party central, as I had the cupcakes and beer.) Then it was off, across the Kingston Bridge, to the Rhinebeck fairgrounds!

We met at Completely Pointless and Arbitrary central - the Tsock Tsarina's booth! She and Jennifer (as well as Glenna and the Tserf) were incredibly busy, but they always had a moment for a hug or a cupcake. Jesh was pricing her gorgeous spindles, and by the afternoon they were nearly gone. (I did get to snag a tasty peanut butter cookie, though!) We also met Franklin on the way there. He is as charming and wonderful as expected, and Mary gave him her well-received Delores creation. Once at the booth, I overheard someone talking about beer (they were pondering and did purchase the Oktoberfest in Chocolate Stout, as did I - Mike will someday have beer socks to wear to festivals), and wouldn't you know that it was Holly! After much squeeing and hugs, she introduced her husband and we made arrangements to hang out at the hotel after that evening's Ravelry party.

Made a few purchases, too - Nine Tailors and Imbas as well as Oktoberfest, and some beautiful Gnomespun yarn, and a Yarn Fairy skein of Holiday Yarns. Wandered off to the Ravelry meetup. Showed up a bit late (that was typical of the weekend), but met Ravelry leadership Jess, Casey and Mary-Heather, as well as a few others of the Rav family. (And shared cupcakes.) I didn't really take many pictures; I let others do that for me. Lots of those pictures can be found here, if you have any interest.

Picked up a bit of other yarn along the way, but really ended up investing in roving. Yes, I don't know how to spin yet, but if all goes well that will be remedied on Wednesday. I could not resist one bit of Corriedale. Oh, the colors! Beautiful blues and purples. I carried it around for something like 2o minutes before deciding that I needed to take it home. Picked up some incredibly soft undyed Merino as well - grabbed a bit for the amazing dyer Jen, then couldn't resist buying one for myself. Snagged 2oz of llama as well, and 8oz of Acacia, one of the lovely Burgis Brooks alpacas. She wasn't there, but Manny and Tito were. Mary brought home some of Manny's yarn, since Tito was only available as a blend. So yes, I have a lot of spinning to do, especially since Kelly sent me some roving from an Alpaca farm open house in North Carolina.

Anyway, Saturday was quite a day. We went to the Ravelry party, and showed up about 30 seconds after they ran out of goodie bags. It's estimated that there were 650 people there. Lots of fun (lots of door prizes - Mary won some beautiful Briar Rose yarn, and Kathe won Small Bob!), although it was quite cold. I was most amused by Hurricane Kitty beer. Because Kitties cause hurricanes all the time, you know. After the party, we congregated back at the room for more cupcakes and beer.

Sunday morning, Mary and I took off after breakfast. We delivered Hopi to her ride home, and followed some back roads to find the Fork in the Road. Then it was off to Kerhonkson to see the World's Largest Garden Gnome! I do have a picture of him, but haven't uploaded it yet. We'd pondered going to Hershey, but after getting stuck in construction in Scranton, I doubted that we'd get to Chocolate World before they closed (although looking now we might have made it). So it was an easy ride home - we just followed I-80, arriving home around 9:30.

Anyway, Rhinebeck was an adventure, and we're already making plans for next year.

It was a busy week before Rhinebeck, though. Gretchen showed up on the 11th, and we spent most of Saturday at the Rock Hall. After that was lunch at Melt, then visiting with Jessica and Mary after the Miss Chickpea knit-out that Gretch and I missed. Sunday we had plans to play in the leaves and maize maze in Peninsula and see Wade Chapel. Since Gretchen is unlike most of our houseguests in that she is ready to go before noon without prodding, I revised our agenda to start in University Circle. After two quick cupcake drops (yes, four dozen cupcakes is a bit much for four people), we were at Wade Chapel. Gretchen has always loved Tiffany, so we spent a decent bit of time admiring his genius and talking to the docent. We wandered up to the Garfield Monument, too, and braved vertigo to walk up and down the steps. Then it was off to the Art museum! Hadn't been since the galleries reopened. Definitely a good setup for their legendary collection. I'd nearly convinced Gretch to stop in at the Natural History museum (she knows how I am, and generally avoids such places with me) to see their wildlife area, but it was still before noon, so we wandered off to find lunch and such.

Mike had just eaten his leftovers, so there was no point in stopping at the Lizard near home. Gretch wanted to investigate an Archivers, and there was one in Montrose, so we stopped by for a pre-lunch visit. I put my blinders on and got out my knitting so as to avoid picking up yet another hobby. Anyway, no Fairlawn Lizard, as I try to avoid unfiltered Akron water. We were inspired to try Vegiterranean, but alas, they were closed on Sunday. On the way to the Peninsula Lizard (sense a theme here?), I got a panicked call from Mike: "Come home now. Zuzu got outside and I can't find her." We won't talk about the how, but he knows he was not a good indoor-cat parent.

Drove home, getting increasingly worried as the "I found her" phone call did not come, and started wandering around looking for our kitty. Mike was back behind the house. I walked around the pond, and asked everyone I saw if they'd seen Zuzu. Set some kids to search as well. No luck. I'd finally nearly given up for the moment, and was heading back towards to house for a blood-sugar boost, when I halfheartedly called for Zuzu. She bolts from her hiding spot in the thick weeds in the empty lot next to us (which is where Mike started looking) and plops down in our mulch. She'd been about 20 feet away, if that. I scooped her up and brought her inside. Whew. After Zuzu was found, we were off to the local Lizard for a late lunch, and then took Gretchen to the airport. Lovely kitty is now curled up on Mike's lap, covered with a sweatshirt, all adventures forgotten.

Monday afternoon my mom showed up. It was time for the North Coast Tour de Stitch yet again! Monday we hit Inn Stitches in Canton, Crafty Ewe in Broadview Heights, and Just Stitching in Strongsville. Tuesday we picked up Megan and visited the shops in Vermilion, Toledo and Findlay. Sadly, the planned yarn shop visits didn't work - one wasn't where we thought it was supposed to be, another was only a mail drop, and the third was going out of business and had been picked over pretty well. It was still a nice day, though. Wednesday brought a trip to the Red Apple in Madison, and we stopped at Wade Chapel on the way home. We spent about an hour soaking it in. Mommie was quite impressed, and thinks my dad should see it as well.

Wednesday night was Frightened Rabbit at Music Saves, which was a fantastic performance. Discovered that the video feature on my camera no longer works, but at least I have the audio to my favorite song of theirs - The Twist.

Thursday was work, then cupcake time! (After a failed trip to get new phones and dinner. Apparently Thursday night is a busy time both at the Independence Lizard and Verizon store.) Woke up around 3am Friday to finish before Mary and I took off to Rhinebeck. And that brings us to the beginning of the story.

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Time for the nostalgia bit of this post. (Because it certainly isn't long enough already.) Got to talking to my friend Ed at the Frightened Rabbit show, and found out that the Friday following (Rhinebeck departure day) was his anniversary (Happy anniversary - hope you guys had fun!). Which is near ours. How exactly near? Not sure. He got me thinking about our wedding, and why we don't know the exact date we got married. Yes, we have a piece of paper with the details, but we haven't dragged it out for a while. So here's the story:

Mike and I got together in October 1999. Well, we spent time together before that (college from December 1995-April 1996, then that summer of 1999), but it was decided in October that yes, this could be something serious. My grandmother got sick about the same time (she and I were supposed to go to Hawaii that October but she got sick so my mom and I went), and although she recovered for a while, she went into the hospital on Memorial Day weekend and didn't come home. March 2000 I moved home from Cincinnati, as I could afford either a car payment or rent at my current job, but not both. Since Cincinnati and I didn't get along, I gave up rent and moved home. June 2000, I am grandmotherless, living with my parents, working a temp job, and having nightmares because I was grieving. Figured out that I didn't have nearly as many nightmares when I had a kitty sleeping with me, so I started staying with Mike a lot more. No, we weren't living together, because I still got my mail at my parents' house.

Fast forward to late September 2003. Temp job turned into a permanent position, our friend and Mike's coworker has met and married a woman in Cleveland. Our options are either stay in Pittsburgh and either Mike or Tom finds a new job, or move to the Cleveland area and I am the only one out of work. So that is the plan. We like our life together, and have a committed relationship and a nice family with Zuzu. Mike tells his very religious mother that he and I will get married before we move into a new house together. Well. News to me! Anyway, I can kinda deal with the idea of a piece of paper justifying our relationship, especially if it will end the stress of family visits, so we decide to get married. We're scheduled to move to Cleveland in August 2004, we're partial to October, and we don't want the drama llama visit that seems to happen with any overly planned wedding, so we decide it's a go for October.

My dad was Psycho Penn State Fan at that point, with season tickets and tailgating themes for each home game. (He has since recovered a bit.) We looked at their schedule (which I just pulled up to research the dates), and October 18 was a bye week. So we started planning our party. We got the license, and made an appointment with a magistrate for Friday night, and dinner reservations for afterward. The ceremony was supposed to be small, with just close friends (one each) and family.

Gretchen flew in on Thursday (I think?), Mike had a bachelor party of keggerator cleaning and beer drinking with a few friends, Gretch and I create vast quantities of food. I think we were on the way back from picking up the one storebought cake (from Eadie's Kitchen, definitely recommended!) when I realized that the license needed to be at the magistrate's office before 4:30. We were 20 minutes in the wrong direction, so we called Mike. He and Tom hit the road, Tom in bare feet, with license in hand as well as a phone book and a cell phone, calling the office to say they were on the way. They were repeatedly told, "We close at 4:30." They finally find the place and pull up. 4:31. Tom runs up to the door (having put his shoes on while in the car.) The door is locked. NOOOOO!!!

Being as we did not want the sort of drama that occurred at my sister's wedding (a story in itself, though I will say that I had four people walk up to me and apologize for their behavior), we were upset for just a bit, then stopped at Cold Stone (which was still a new franchise then) for ice cream. That was our drama - and it ended with everyone having ice cream.

We all still went out to dinner, and had the party on the 18th, we just didn't get married. It was the running joke at the party that we missed our wedding, so therefore it was a pre-wedding reception. It was great fun, lots of friends that we rarely see showed up (like Kelly from NC, and Erica from Vegas), there was plenty of food (three pans even went to a women's shelter the next day) and beer.

The next Friday, the 24th, we took the afternoon off, and stopped in at the church next door to where I worked, and got married. Nothing fancy, no rings, no pictures, but we have the piece of paper that caused our car insurance to decrease.

To add to the date confusion, Mike's family had a party/reception for us, too. His parents are very anti-alcohol, so they weren't invited to our party due to all of the beer. His oldest brother's wife, a sweet and generous soul, wanted to have another party for us. It ended up being a weekend in early November, with no easy point of reference to find the date. At any rate, we have a week-long anniversary, with flexible starts and ends, as we have a hard time remembering the actual dates.

So there you have it. The story of our bungled wedding. We're celebrating our anniversary today (the 26th, I think), because we can. Anniversary pirogies and a Steelers game. Good stuff. We're still together, still happy, and still ringless (we still don't have serious ones, though I did get a dragon one with flashing eyes and a pair of adjustable ladybugs that we wore for about 30 minutes until they pinched too much). So thanks, Ed, for reminding me of the subject, and playing one of our songs today. This is why I got confused when talking about the dates.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Rhinebeck visit and nostalgia! Will post pictures of the goodies at some point.

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!

Wildlife interactions

This morning, I looked outside to survey the landscape, take pleasure in the post-rain green, and I saw a rabbit. Haven't seen very many rabbits in our yard in the past, and I think I discovered the reason.

I was watching the rabbit graze on the selection of weeds in the brush just beyond the yard, when I noticed a small bird marching around in the same section of plants. The bird was not very big, smaller than the small rabbit's head, even. I look at the walk, the white belly, and realize that it must be a baby killdeer. Baby bird uses the distracting tactic of pretending to have a broken wing, and walks up to the bunny. Rabbit starts moving away, but apparently not far or fast enough, because next thing I see is the bird, with wing askew, running behind the hopping bunny. So that, my friends, is why we rarely have rabbits in our yard - the birds scare them away.

Anyway, it was a busy week for having little planned. Monday was the big event. (Thanks to Mary for posting a picture of the frosted cupcakes.) Tuesday I schlepped leftover cupcakes all around the east side of Cleveland (to Rebecca, in Mentor, to share with her knitting group; to Chagrin Falls to share with my friend Cathy, since we were scheduled for lunch anyway; to Shaker Heights to drop some off for the nieces, since Grandpa didn't share Tuesday's cupcakes; to Macedonia for Jen and Nick, because they missed Monday due to family obligations), stopped by the library to pick up a book and donated blood while there. Jen and Nick came over for dinner to help eat the non-cupcake leftovers (yay!), Mike poured me a beer, and I crashed hard on the couch. Monday was a very long day - 3am to 11pm, approximately, and Tuesday morning started at 6 (the post-kitty-feeding nap ended about then). Sleep was necessary. Wednesday was a long day - had an afternoon meeting at my morning client, and there were a few computer issues afterwards. They called me in from the parking lot.... Thursday was spent preparing for the server migration that didn't happen, and a good thing, too, because Friday was filled with other crises that couldn't have been ignored for user support.

Anyway, when I finally escaped work yesterday afternoon, I was very cranky. Jen sent me a note earlier in the day, asking if I wanted to visit the Pea. Of course! What better way to rid yourself of nasty work vibes than some yarn therapy, especially sale yarn therapy? I picked up Malabrigo in Vaa and Velvet Grapes, enough of each color to make the Hemlock Ring blanket. Theoretically, they will be the family Christmas gifts this year. I have enough Indigo for a blanket already, so one more colorway to go. Maybe. Actually, I already have yarn for another alpaca blanket, so perhaps my parents will get the alpaca (since one has already been made for my sister), and Mike's side of the family will get the Hemlock Rings. It's a beautiful design, and looks incredible in Malabrigo. (If you're on Ravelry, definitely take a look at the projects out there!) Apparently it's a relatively quick knit, not all that difficult, and looks impressive. And there are fewer of them to make, so they stand a chance of being completed before Christmas.

Oh, and to alert you to a tragedy in the yarn world - Malabrigo had a fire in their mill. We learned of it yesterday, when I unloaded 12 skeins from my basket, and the friendly Chickpea employees shared the news. I had to sit down. Hope they get everything back in progress soon.
Jen and I had thought about driving down to Medina to visit Studio Knit, but I'd called, as I am searching for some Malabrigo Silky and laceweight (for me and Elin), and they did not have what we wanted. Also, by the time we were finished at the Pea, we had only an hour to drive to Medina and shop. And 15-20 minutes is not enough time to explore a new yarn shop.

Anyway, that was the week. Not much knitting news. Worked on the "Museum" scarf in the car a bit here and there, finished Geno the Penguin (pictures to come later), and thought about starting the Great A'Tuin. Haven't wound the yarn yet, as I want to finish a few projects first. I have a few too many things on the needles to start more. I should finish the clogs, as they will go very fast - one pair that needs finished, then only one more pair to make as a gift, and then one for me. I could probably finish them this weekend. Maybe that should be the goal. I have a few more baby gifts to do - I think I will make toys, as they don't get outgrown before they are gifted. I need to finish my sweater - now I have the needle back, I can finish the sleeves and collar.

So, game plan: Work on clogs this weekend (and finish!). Work on sweater after that (until finished!). Baby gifts for two neighbors, and several friends (quick toy knits!). Finish Firebird. Start A'Tuin. Return to Baudelaire socks. Make Hemlock Blankets. Knock my Ravelry queue from seven pages into something smaller. (Yeah, right!)

Anyway, I should get moving - time to make the weekend productive! I am a sole away from having a pair of clogs finished. Will post pictures sometime soon.

Just a little crazy

Those of you that follow this blog already know this: I tend to go overboard. It is just what I do. I love to bake, and I love to share baked goods. This is what I made today, starting around 4am:

Billy's Vanilla Vanilla (slightly ugly but definitely tasty)
Magnolia Vanilla (my favorite vanilla cupcake. Sometimes I even prefer it to chocolate)
Peanut Butter Cup with chocolate frosting
Wasabi-White Chocolate with white chocolate cream cheese frosting (skipped the plum sake filling)
Pineapple Goo (apparently you shouldn't use fresh pineapple in baking. I learned something today.)
Chocolate with chocolate frosting
Pumpkin Spice with cream cheese frosting
Mexican Chocolate recipe only made a dozen, and they went quickly, so they are gone. Need to get more kahlua and make more - they were tasty!

Anyway, made fifteen dozen cupcakes. For ten people. The cupcake to person ratio was 17.8. I sent people home with plates full, but I still have around eight dozen left.

Here is a picture of the table, minus frosting and two batches of cupcakes:

From the upper right, we have: Billy’s Vanilla, One-Bowl Chocolate, Pumpkin Spice, Peanut Butter Cup, Magnolia Vanilla, Wasabi White Chocolate. No photos of Pineapple Goo or Mexican Chocolate. Which is a shame, as the Mexican Chocolate ones were the prettiest. Will just have to get more Kahlua and make more.

Anyway, as usual, I have been busy. Friday we had a mystery shop for lunch. Never again at that location. Started cleaning the house - my goldfish bowl of a knitting area exploded all over the living room. I cleaned out the stash basket again, to remove things that are not currently on the needles and make room for things that are. Also started removing things from the coffee table. Big mess.

Saturday was the Great Lakes Fiber Show. Jessica and I met Vicky there, and ran into Rebecca. Also saw Mary, and several other area Ravelers. Had a nice time at the Rav meetup, chatting with everyone. Yay - just found out that Rebecca will take some cupcakes for her Tuesday night knitting group.

My haul from the festival:

From upper left: felted cat toy kit; cone of unknown green yarn; green laceweight, to be the Great A'Tuin (I wonder if the pattern has been posted yet); Wildefoote sock yarn in Bluegrass; Prime Alpaca (undyed), enough for a cabled sweater.

Good stuff. Sunday, we visited the nieces for the elder's birthday party. Fun to see the kids. Also stopped by MicroCenter to get a new power supply for Mike's computer, as it wouldn't boot on Saturday. Cleaned a bit more. Went to bed relatively early. Oh, also received a fun swap box in the mail. Will have to share more details later, when I have more time.

Today: Woke at 3, and started baking (after finishing most of the cleaning). Had four batches done by 7. Paused for a few moments to take a picture of the kitty sunshine.

Token Zuzu picture

Zach showed up at 1:30 to help Mike brew a pale ale; Jessica walked in at 2, Mary arrived shortly thereafter, and they helped frost the cupcakes. Thanks, girls! Pixisis, Melita and family, and Megan weren't too far behind. Oh the food!

Anyway, I am up way too late, especially having been moving nonstop since 3am. If you're in the Cleveland area and want cupcakes, please leave a comment with your email address, and we can work something out.

Mostly pictures

Traffic yesterday was just stupid. That just needed to be said. Stupid people on the road when I was going to work last night, and evil construction that condensed four lanes to one over the span of about a mile. I got bored with sitting in traffic, so I got out the sweater. Did 100+ stitches while not moving. Took an additional 20 minutes to get home. Yuck. At least Zuzu was happy to see me. She was showing off her lovely kitteh belleh yesterday. Can you see where the fur is shorter, where it hasn't grown back completely after her surgery? We love our kitty.

Zuzu's lovely kitteh belleh

And can't resist this one, taken as she tired of her supermodel status and sat up:

Kitty in motion

Somehow made it to work early today. Have gotten a decent bit done on the sweater, so it is longer than it appears below. It's 25-30 rows longer now. 53.33% done, according to my estimate. Soon I'll figure out the actual number of stitches and have more accurate calculations.

Fibonacci stripe sweater

Here's Zach's hat, because I'm sure everyone wants to see the evil yarn. Did I mention that? Well, I have decided that I do not like Vanna's taste in yarn. (Vanna's choice yarn is quite painful to knit with, IMHO.) I do like the stripey pattern, though.

Zach's hat

And in the exciting news category, we present Zelda!!! Elin from Norway created a beautiful zebra hat, which was too large for her head. So Zelda was felted, and became too warm for Elin to wear. After a trip across the ocean, Zelda now lives with me. How lovely! I almost (but not quite) want the weather to cool off again so I can wear her. Elin is right - Zelda inspires song!

The beauty that is Zelda - Thanks, Elin!

What else? Deer have been eating my tulips. Mike tells me we have at least one snake under the deck. (I'd rather have a snake than mice.) Got a phone call and did another row on the sweater - 53.67%. Decided that my dad will have some Happy Birthday Cinnamon Rolls tomorrow. Why? Because I want to make more. I think there are also leftover cupcakes, so there will be lots of sweets for the diabetics. Plus I have some caramel corn leftover from Easter, and he has a craving, so I'll bring that along, too. Will probably make some chocolate chip cookie pies, as we may stop by a potluck tomorrow evening so the blue cabled hat can be delivered to its new owner.

Anyway, I should get back to the sweater. Must have lots done so my mom is impressed, and inspired to get back to her cabled scarf.

Cupcakes and other sweets

It's been a busy week. (Surprise, surprise, I know.) I think I spent the remainder of Sunday working on my sweater (just under 50% done now - again assuming 60,000 stitches), but I can't quite recall. Feels like a long time ago.

Finished the Guacamole hat on Monday - does anyone want an avocado hat? I like the pattern, but don't think I can pull off the color.

Guacamole!


Zuzu didn't enjoy wearing the hat - would you?

Finished it with my knitting group then picked up the sweater. Was one of the last to leave because the sweater is an addiction. And knitted in the round, so there is no obvious stopping point. Ever. (Wait, why am I typing now?)

Tuesday was the New Pornographers. Good show, although I missed seeing Neko Case and Dan Bejar. I think my brain supplemented what my ears heard. Baked cookies for Ed early that morning - he tipped me off to the presale info; naturally I was grateful. And promised cookies. Also shared some with my HS knitters. And a few people at work. Zuzu woke me early, so I started baking. I think the cookies were done by 5:30 am. Stashed some dough in the fridge for today, too (will explain later). Even had a bit of time to do a few rows on the sweater. Went to work, then came home for lunch because I felt like spending time with Mike. Back to Cleveland for knitting lessons, where I worked on my sweater and explained knitting in the round.

After hanging out with the HS girls, I spent a few hours in the Euclid Creek Metropark, as it's pretty close to the Beachland, and it made no sense to go home and then back north. Sat on a bench and worked on the sweater. Witnessed a jogger chatting on a cell phone. Made me think of this song. Saw a pair of Metropark deer. No fear of people. Wondered if they were going to visit me during dinner, like my bison friend once did. (I was eating an energy bar - they might have liked a nibble.) Anyway, eventually moved along to Music Saves and enhanced my CD collection, in part with my bonus WRUW telethon premium. Met Ed, who proved to be as nice of a guy as he sounds. Gave him his cookies as well as a few treats for his cat. (Donate to his show! C'mon, you know you want to!) Enjoyed the conversation and then the show, as the NPs played many favorite songs (including a cover of ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down - ELO always makes me think of Xanadu - I really need to get to NYC to catch that on Broadway with Gretchen!), and was not quite groped. Very odd experience - a petite woman was making her way through the crowd, and was, um, overly friendly. She was gaining people's attention by touching their waists and shoulders in a very intimate fashion. Almost like she wanted someone to turn and kiss her. She did it to me, as well as the woman in front of me. And yes, we both felt somewhat invaded. It was odd enough that we chatted about it.

There has been a theme in my life lately: I have been knitting outside a lot. Tuesday afternoon, deck and Metropark. Spent Wednesday's lunch hour at a lakefront park, knitting. Used the time between work Wednesday and the museum lecture to work on my sweater while sitting on a bench in Wade Oval. Big news: I am no longer entirely pasty white! The backs of my neck and shoulders are now pink. And sore. Enjoyed the Wade Oval time, though. Saw a grackle trying a bird of paradise move - he puffed up his neck, showing off his iridescent feathers. Also saw a pair of mallards just hanging out in the middle of the oval. I know the Botanical Garden has some water, but the middle of the oval does not. Appreciated the lecture, especially since vicuna was mentioned. Chatted with a few Kirtlandia members as well. Got home, passed out.

Spent Thursday evening running errands with Mike. Lizard, Lowe's, Library, and grocery store. With a detour to Mark's so he could return a carboy. Went to bed early. Ahhh, sleep.

Argh. Just spent an hour on the phone. Not that it's bad, but I wasn't ready for the calls, and my sweater was still in its bag! No knitting! *gasp* Jennifer and I are heading out to Pittsburgh on Sunday to catch Nick Lowe. (Thanks WYEP!) Will probably have lunch with my mom, may hang out with my dad for a while (I should bring him cupcakes or something - today is his birthday) when he's at work on the golf course, may go on a Just Ducky tour. Fun stuff. May just spend time outside knitting.

Oh yeah. Made cupcakes this afternoon. Baked the rest of the cookie dough this morning, and this afternoon, per our friend Chris's request, made more of the vanilla cupcakes. Since he and I share a desk, he will have several cupcakes when he arrives on Monday. Or he might visit me tomorrow, who knows. Yes, the cupcakes are worth going in to work on a weekend. Reason for the cookies and cupcakes? One of the instructors always buys dinner for his students on the last Friday of classes, and last week, asked what I wanted. He had no obligation to include me, but as he did, I figured I'd bring cookies. Mentioned that to Chris, and he suggested cupcakes. As this morning's work went surprisingly well and as a result I got home at a reasonable hour, I made cupcakes. Yum. I think I may have another now. After I refill my water bottle. Some of them turned out ugly for some unknown reason, but they are all tasty.

Anyway, I should try to get a teensy bit of knitting in before I leave. And pick up my tupperware from downstairs. I work all day tomorrow, so I should be able to get a good bit of my sweater done then. Will post pictures when I upload more. Have fun!

No Rice for the Zuzu

Post title: Was portioning rice into tupperware for freezing, and some fell on the floor. Zuzu dashed over to investigate, because it could be food (we were in the kitchen, after all). She sniffed the rice, but decided that it wasn't edible. No rice for the Zuzu.

She has been a naughty kitty lately, and has taken to waking me at 3am. She curls up on my chest, purrs, and paws my chin. Ohhhh, see how nice this snuggling is? We should go downstairs and snuggle more, after you give me breakfast, of course. Yeah. No go. She did that for two nights in a row. We set her feeder to give her some kibble at 2am, and that seems to help. She would have let me sleep in until probably 5 this morning, but I think I'm now conditioned to wake up at 4:30, so even if she doesn't wake me, I wake myself.

Speaking of the kitty, she has been birdwatching lately. Apparently it is a great season to have bird feeders, because the migratory birds are back, but their food is still somewhat scarce. We've had lots of finches, but Zuzu's attention is really drawn by the cardinals. (I think it's because they look more like a meal, rather than the finch-snacks. Not that it matters, because she stays indoors, and her only wild food consists of insects. But a kitty can dream, right?) We have a pair, and they may be looking to nest on the beams of our deck's roof.

Really need to get the She and Him CD. I have been singing various songs of theirs for the past few weeks. Would be great car music, so I could sing along without being overhead. (I think the woman in the office next to mine is a bit annoyed at hearing my voice. She works Saturdays for the quiet.)

So I was going to post Sunday, but got swept up in a kitchen frenzy. Baked bread, cinnamon rolls, red pepper cornbread, and spinach-artichoke dip. Is that all? Feels like there was more. Cinnamon rolls were lovely. I will have to make them again. Challah bread and red pepper cornbread are favorites from Still Life with Menu by Mollie Katzen. Good stuff.

cinnamon rolls pre-icing

challah bread

Mike had a few friends over to play games, and while they made a mess of the basement, I made a mess of the kitchen. I think they were happy for all of the food, though.

What should I have been doing rather than baking? Working on the SAAZ newsletter, finishing those last two pairs of clogs (though I did get one pair felted), making more baby gifts (I'd forgotten how many I need to make, and have gotten sidetracked), and doing laundry. Now nearly done with the first of the last pair of clogs, aside from my clogs-of-many-colors. Have started thinking about them, and what fun they could be.

This week was busy, as we had knitting group on Monday. Abuelo's is a pretty decent Mexican restaurant - and if you ask when you're being seated, they will bring you a vegetarian menu. Gotta love a place that will do that. Plus, I've found most Mexican places in the area to be very bland. Mike finally got the point that I didn't care for one place when I told him that it tasted like Taco Bell. Why spend $7 when I could have the same experience for $2? Anyway, brought him takeout from Abuelo's, and once he understood that yes, the food was his and was not my lunch, he enjoyed it. We will go back.

Finally did the SAAZ newsletter Tuesday, day of the meeting. Oops. Hey, life happens. It didn't really take long to throw everything together, as there weren't all that many contributions. Left out a few small things, but didn't want to search for pictures or clip art to fill the rest of the page.

Baked cupcakes Wednesday. Four dozen. Vanilla with vanilla buttercream frosting, and vegan chocolate mocha with mocha frosting. Surprisingly, I think I like the vanilla ones better than the chocolate. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a chocoholic, but for some reason I'm finding the vanilla ones really tasty.

Bobmas Eve cupcakes

Thursday was Bobmas Eve. If you have to ask, you won't understand. Just over a dozen of us met at Bob Evans for a celebration of Ravelry. It was a lot of fun - matching faces to Ravelry user names. General consensus is that we'll have to have another, sometime soon. Perhaps at a place that serves alcohol. (What can I say, we like to have margaritas/beer while we knit!) Cupcakes were appreciated, but I still went home with two dozen. Left most of them for coworkers this morning, and brought a few for the guy who is covering for me tomorrow.

Mike drove to Columbus this afternoon to drop off beer for the NHC. He kegged beer on Tuesday, and several turned out quite well. Hopefully he'll do well in competition, although you never know who your judges will be. (They even let me judge one year, and after watching Mike torment himself over his returned score sheets, I will never do that again. I don't want to have my name on something that can cause such misery.) Anyway, it is out of his hands now - beer has been delivered, and he is home.

I'm at work now, and it's finally turned into a quiet night. Had to do a lot of running around at first, then had to talk someone through accessing their email account for the first time, oh, and then needed to change a projector bulb. Fun stuff. Finished "Collapse" while waiting for the slowest computer in the world to boot up and open Outlook so I could print the schedule.

Tomorrow is Knitter's Fantasy, in Youngstown. So we are having the traditional turnpike-route departure, and gathering at my house for breakfast before hitting the road. Cakewaffles and cinnamon rolls, probably. Vicky gave me some Vietnamese cinnamon, and it was fabulous in Sunday's cinnamon rolls, so will try it again with the new recipe.

Another News Item: It is the end of an era. I received a new card from Discover, and they changed my account number. I have been able to recite that number for years. Really. I have had the card since college, and always used it for phone orders (really mostly just donating to public radio stations - I'd feel the need to call while in the car, and didn't want to fumble with my wallet, so I'd use the number I knew.). Anyway, I tried to use it online today, and it was declined - they deactivated it! New one is now activated and working, but now I have another number to learn.

Not sure if there's anything else I should share. Oh, made another afghan square last night and shipped it out this morning. Some of the squares may have been lost, so mine is an extra. I just wish I had extra time to include some goodies in the package!

Oh! Chocolate Skittles! Found some in the store here at work, and bought two bags to share tomorrow. They frighten me somewhat, although probably not as much as the ones I saw on their website - Ice Cream Skittles. (Was craving chocolate last week, and didn't bring any baked goodies, so I checked out the candy rack in the shop.) Was amazed by the variety of M&Ms, too. No longer is are M&Ms just plain or peanut - there are dark chocolate ones, wild cherry and raspberry packets. I tried the dark chocolate, but wasn't really all that impressed. Will stay away from the wild cherry and raspberry ones - they are scary. Oh well. On that note, it's back to busy-ness!

Just can't get enough...

Sleep, that is. Went to bed relatively early last night, slept a bit extra this morning (and Zuzu wanted me to sleep even more), and took a nap this afternoon (and Zuzu wanted me to sleep longer then, too). Started the workday with a "server down" phone call, but thankfully the server was fine, it was just the internet that was down. Could not get warm this morning. Hot shower helped somewhat, but not all that much. Finally had a hot breakfast and coffee, which worked a bit.

Tried to get my windshield repaired today. Don't recall if I mentioned or not, but my car took a rock to the windshield last week. Looks like a mosquito - small nucleus with a few legs. Runners, the repair guy called them. He told me that he shouldn't repair it because there was no guarantee that it wouldn't expand, and also it was in my line of sight. Personally, I think it's a bit below my sight line, but who knows. He was kinda short. Maybe he just didn't want to work today, either.

Met with my knitting group tonight, and worked on more clogs. As usual. Brought cupcakes and individually sized brownies. Found a Hershey's Kiss silicone baking pan, and used the brownie recipe on the label. Turned out rather well, even if I did overfill the the cups. Very cute. Dark chocolate brownies and vanilla cupcakes. There wasn't much to take home.

Oh, remembered to bring my Pittsburgh yarn to the meeting tonight. I love my cashmere. We're planning a trip to Knitter's Fantasy in Youngstown in April, and apparently my house is the central location, so I get to make a cakewaffle breakfast again. Yum. Speaking of yum, I have some really good oranges. I like oranges. Yum.

Anyway, consider this a short post. It is 9pm, and I am tired.

Radio show plug: Shindignation, on from 7-9 am on Mondays, on WRUW. Those girls make me giggle.