nesting

The nursery is slowly coming together. You could say that one side of the room is done. The other 3/4 of the room... well, maybe next weekend.Christopher's friend Derek came over yesterday and did various handy tasks for us, like install some lights over the changing pad and hang our baby hammock. We've gotten a lot of flak from our families about the hammock, but we remain confident that it will work for us and for Smudge. It's got a really great swaying and bouncing thing going on, and we hear that babies sleep really well in them.

I have so many things to share, but I seem to be rather passive with my camera recently, so until it's photographed in some decent daylight, the blogging will have to wait. In other news, as of today I am 37 weeks pregnant, which means that the baby is ready. He isn't due for 3 more weeks, but really he could come at any time. wow.

Labor Day weekend

I feel like we have been bracing all summer for this weekend. For most people in this country (and even this city and borough) Labor Day is about the end of summer, BBQs and a day off.But in this neighborhood, it's about the West Indian Day Parade, which is tomorrow.

The police set up barricades along our street this morning, and by mid-afternoon the vendors had already started arriving. And cooking. And selling their food.

I think the food is the best part of this parade, especially in this take out starved neighborhood. Tomorrow I'll be able to go out and buy roti and curried goat and fried fish and lassi. And it will all be just a few steps from our front door, and completely delicious.Christopher and I went on a walk this afternoon, knowing that tomorrow we'll be basically trapped indoors. Which is alright. We have a lot of work to do in here. The main issue will be the noise. It's a very loud parade (think flat bed trucks with 12' speakers covering the back, blasting as loud as possible.)

And the fun starts tonight with J'Ouvert, the kick off steel drum dance party down at Grand Army Plaza. That goes from 2am-10am (no, that is not a typo), and those going to the parade (ie the steel drum bands) like to play on their way there, as they walk down our street. At 4am.

We are prepared, and have ear plugs. I hope we can sleep through the night!

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In other news, I am wearing maternity pants for the first time today. They are a little loose, but so comfortable. Smudge seems to have gone through a growth spurt this week, making everything I own a little tight.
I think I need to go shopping.

running (for a cure)

I think I mentioned a few months back that I'd started running. It all began in mid-February, when 3 people asked in one week if I was a runner, and then my friend Joanna (who was then visiting from Seattle) asked me if I wanted to run with her before I went to work. She and I ran for about a mile in the park, and it was completely glorious to be outside for an extended period in the winter. Joanna also talked about her recent conversion to running, and I was struck with the inspiration to start training on my own.

I think I should mention that I've tried running before, but without success. In middle school we had to run a timed mile every year, and it was something I dreaded for months ahead of time. In high school I actually quit playing lacrosse because I hated running so much, and in college I used to jog with a friend of mine, but we never went more than a mile. Even more recently I have run sporadically in the park, but again never went farther than about a mile.

This time, I downloaded some Couch-to-5k podcasts. The program involves running 3 times a week over the course of 9 weeks, and eases you into running in a very manageable way. About half way through my program, I realized that I'd reach the goal (5k) around the time my cousins run their annual Race for the Cure 5k in Philadelphia, which is held yearly on Mother's Day. They invited me to join them, and my runs began to take on a purpose.

Needless to say, last week was week 9 of my training and the race was on Sunday morning. Last Monday I ran my first 3 miles at the gym (the rain kept me indoors) and on Thursday afternoon I ran what I thought was about 3 miles in the park. And on Sunday morning, after a nervous night's sleep, I found myself here:

That's me waving to my cousins across the crowd.

My cousins are Real Runners, meaning that they do things like train for marathons, and one of them has a treadmill in her garage. In the period leading up to the race, they kept telling me that I'd find the race to be a piece of cake, that it was only 5 kilometers. Well, they were right. The worst part was probably the first third of the race, when I couldn't stop coughing (I think I had a bug in my throat or something) and then I got a stitch in my right side. My cousin's husband (also a marathon runner, who was running with us) advised me to reach my right hand over my shoulder and to lean back a little. The stitch went away almost immediately, and the rest was downhill (well, not literally, but it felt much easier). We finished the race in about 32 minutes.

Christopher, who didn't sleep the night before due to my nervous tossing and turning, dragged himself down and took some photos of me at the finish line. He's a good sport.I shouldn't forget to mention the fact that we were running in order to raise money for Breast Cancer. I raised $140 from donations. There were roughly 35,000 people participating in the run/walk, and I found being in that crowd rather sobering. Many people (including my cousins and I) were running in memory of a loved one, and some had signs celebrating their mom or sister or whatnot. Perhaps I was feeling overwhelmed by the race and early hour anyway, but while Christopher and I were wandering around trying to find my cousins I must have cried 3 or 4 times reading people's signs. Once I found my cousins, they advised me to stop reading people's signs, since they were so upsetting. Good idea.Anyway, I did it! and it wasn't such a big deal. Strangely, now that I've reached my goal, I don't feel like running anymore. I know that this is a mistake, that I should keep going, even if it's just to maintain my distance, but it's hard to get out there and run!

spring is here!

We spent about an hour yesterday at the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom) Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. We live more or less across the street from the Garden, and have a membership, which meant we were able to avoid the huge lines.

This was the line at just one of the many entrances.

It was supposed to rain all day, but it was actually very sunny and comfortable.I don't know a lot about the festival, or about Japanese culture really, but it was fun to just walk around and see whatever was going on. People (of all races, though also of a certain generation) were in costumes. And not just kimonos. It was a little like Halloween or something.I had a lot of fun playing with my camera and taking pictures of people and of the plants. Everything seemed to be in bloom. And other people were taking pictures too. By the time we reach April (or May!) we're all ready to spend some time outside and in the sun. Of course today it is raining. Maybe I have to actually finish the furniture moving project I started a month ago...

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I promise to update soon with some new knitting projects. The problem is that I'm in a button rut. Anyone know where to get some large, affordable (but pretty) orange buttons? I went to M&J and didn't find what I was looking for. And I can't get over how expensive they are-- how can can I justify spending more than the yarn cost on buttons?

the furniture dance (part 1)

You may remember a few weeks back, when I'd decided to to the Apartment Therapy Cure. Curers (curees?) can opt between the Deep Therapy or One Room cure, and instructions are found both in the official Apartment Therapy Cure book and on the site, where there's currently an 8 week Cure-Along taking place.

I borrowed the book from Terra this week, and skimmed through it fairly quickly. There are some really interesting ideas, and a lot about just slowing down and decluttering. I could use some serious decluttering; the advice about cooking at home is a little less necessary, seeing as I do that regularly anyway. But the book is really about how to love and use your home, and not just inhabit it.

We have plans to refinish the floors in our bedroom and office sometime in the next few months, so it seemed silly to cure those rooms. I quickly decided to focus on our "den," which has become less of a den and more of an office/fiber space for me. My thought is to make it mine, since I use the room more than Christopher does, and it seems to be taken over with my knitting anyway.

Quick history:

May 2007We once had a sofa in here, and it made more sense as a den. I would set up here and watch TV and knit, or maybe we'd watch an episode of Six Feet Under together. (this was before our Netflix subscription.)This is the view looking the other direction. Clearly this was right after the room was set up; there still aren't any books on the shelves.

In the following two years, we have moved the sofa to the living room, where it creates a very nice L with our other sofa, and the cat has claimed this room for herself. It's also become a bit of a dumping ground when we're cleaning up, since it's conveniently located right next to our living room. We've also gotten a nicer TV, which means that we're more likely to watch things (ie Netflix movies) together. Unfortunately, all there is to sit on is the office chair and that white armchair, which is now covered in cat hair.
If you are still reading this, you might see what I'm talking about. Time to throw stuff away.

This room is also mostly about my knitting and my computer, so it would make sense to move my desk and drafting table in from the office, where it's mostly in the dark. Plus Christopher flees every time I try to work in there. I see no point in sharing the work space with him if he's unable to work with me in the room.

Other than putting the old stuff on the curb, I have declared that the TV has to be moved out. Our den is no longer good for watching TV, but the living room is.
So TV and TV cabinet will go into living room, in a space currently occupied by a cabinet housing our linens. This cabinet will be moved into our bedroom. Once this happens there will be little access to the secretary, so it will also be moved. At the moment we want to put it where this mirror is (across the room) though I'm sorry to see the mirror leave the living room, and that corner might start to feel heavy.
On the other hand, it might be a nice little desk/bill paying space, and could work nicely.

There is more planned, but this is the first part of our renewal. I also need to think about how my new work space will function and how to organize it without overfilling it with stuff (which I have a lot of).

baby knitting

I seem to be on to the next round of Everyone I Know is Pregnant. One friend had a baby in February, Christopher's cousin's wife had a baby in early March, and my best friend from high school had a baby last week. Tonight I am going to a baby shower for someone else whose baby is due May 1. And there's another due in mid-June. But that's far away, for now at least!

So! Baby knitting!

The February baby, Cliff, lives in LA. Since a wool hat doesn't really make sense, I made him a Fuzzy Mitten Lamb (Ravelry link) with some leftover acrylic and superwash yarn. I think it's cute (even though somewhat lopsided), but I still haven't gotten it in the mail. hm. I don't think Cliff minds.

Henry, the newest Wall baby, was sent a hat and bib. I rather love the hat, knit with left over Dream in Color Classy, and an edge of some scrap Knit Picks Swish DK. The pattern is Erika Knight's Pixie Hat, a pattern from a book I've had for several years. (I find there aren't a ton of worsted weight baby hat patterns, which can be a problem when you're knitting something last minute.) Anyway, this was a winner and I'll definitely make it again.

And the last baby, the shower baby. (you may notice I'm skipping Charlie, born last week. Well, I don't have anything for him yet. I'll see when I'm invited to visit and then whip up another hat, probably). This was a toughie, since I went to grad school with this mom-to-be, and she's someone with amazing and very stylish taste. I know there will be some fashion designer and crafty types at the shower, so it really had to be more than just a knit baby hat. I made a version of the Berroco Cisco hat, but without ears, since I think this mom would appreciate a little funk.Another great pattern, in my opinion. It's like an updated bonnet of sorts, with some attitude and definite cuteness. I'm supplementing the little hat with a pair of organic baby socks and a tube of Weleda diaper cream (which I've been told is the best).

I'm frantically baking cookies, since I just noticed that all of the guests are requested to bring desserts to the shower. Christopher seems concerned about how much I'm stressing over all of this, and how competitive I seem to have become. Yeah, well, you can't be the one with the lame gift, and the competition will be indeed fierce.

What should I wear??

the pre-holiday weekend

I have something to admit: We haven't done any holiday preparation. In fact, we've only really thought about Christmas shopping; very little has been purchased. We have no tree, and only a decoration here or there.

This weekend was going to remedy that. I was going to bake Christmas cookies, and get a tree and put up lights. We were going to take control of our Christmas lists. None of that has happened.

Instead, we worked on our kitchen.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. We started renovating it almost 2 years ago, and though we've come a long way, we still had a lot still to do. Here is what it looked like when we moved in:We replaced the cabinets and tore out the soffit as soon as we could. The rest of the work- tiling, replacing the appliances and painting- has taken longer. You may remember that my father tiled one side of the kitchen a few months back.

Here is what we did this weekend:

Christopher sanded. I primed the area across from the fridge with special magnetic paint. 3 coats.Christopher primed the areas where the soffit had been.I tiled the other side of the kitchen (above the sink) & Christopher painted the kitchen. (there aren't any action shots of me tiling; you'll just have to notice that this is now tile where there was not.)He's actually still painting it, but I'm done with the tiling (for now, it still needs grout). I should move on to writing Christmas cards. Or to reading a play that I've just agreed to work on. But I'm up for a break, and I'd still like to make those cookies...

Sundayness

I've been having issues motivating recently. Both this weekend and the last one have been washes in terms of getting things done. Real things, I mean. Knitting doesn't count. On the list have been Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, house cleaning (mopping would be nice), and general maintenance. So far this weekend, I've hemmed curtains and hung a shade in our den. That took maybe an hour. (I left the sewing machine out with the idea that I'll do some more fun sewing projects, but somehow I think that mopping might be more important.)

Christopher and I took a very pleasant walk to the hardware store today, where we got paint for our kitchen. This is the last room in our apartment to paint, and it will be a relief to have the years of food oil streaks painted over (is that TMI?). I also need to finish tiling the back splash, but that might take more motivation than I've got a the moment.

Anyway, my reason for blogging today: the coat that I'm knitting, Metropole, still has the wrong gauge. I seem to be knitting it at a tighter gauge than I knit swatches. I need 3.5 stitches per inch, which translates to 7 stitches to 2" or 14 stitches for 4". I'm getting 14.5 stitches for 4". Minimal, right? Well, it's supposed to be 23" wide at the bottom, and it's 21.5".
The waist should be 17", but it's 16". Either I have to frog and reknit it again, or I need to make the front really big, or... I'll have a coat that is too small for me. It does knit up fairly quickly, but man, I'd like to move out of the washing and measuring stage. Ideas?

a new hobby?

Yesterday I was feeling a little more perky (though not enough to brave the rain) so while Christopher did the laundry and corrected his students' essays, I hemmed some curtains and made chicken noodle soup.

Once the sewing machine was out, I decided to pull out all of my fabric - bags of scraps and random things I've bought or inherited over the years - and took stock. There's quite a lot, and some of it is really interesting and inspiring. I also pulled out my Denyse Schmidt Quilts book, which Derek and Terra gave me for my birthday. I've been longing to make a foray into quilting, but have been terrified by the amount of skill that seemed necessary. There is a simple sachet project in the book, and I decided to try it. Recently I've noticed that our sweaters have grown little holes and I know it's time to take some action against what is probably a small moth infestation. It could quickly get out of hand, especially with so much yarn around. Though greater action is needed, some sachets filled with lavender might help keep them at bay.

I chose some tan linen and some fabric that I designed back in 1994, when I had a silk screening apprenticeship at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. My finished object is a little bigger than it needs to be, and I didn't have as much lavender as I thought I did, but I think it will work.
My sachet was quickly done. It was a lot easier than I'd imagined, and SO FAST. I realize that I'm comparing sewing to knitting the equivalent object, but still. Fast. Christopher rolled his eyes when he saw my excitement. I'm not sure what I'll make next, but I think that a small quilt is on the horizon...

a quiet weekend

Since returning to Brooklyn on Friday night I've come down with a nasty cold. Sore throat, sneezing, coughing, congestion. I walked down to Park Slope yesterday to get some groceries, and the trip really wiped me out. I don't think I'll be going out today, especially since it seems to be sleeting or something.

I spent most of yesterday on the sofa in the living room, wrapped in a blanket with Dinah and reading The Golden Compass. I'd been wanting to read it, and when we stopped into my parents' local used bookstore on Friday morning I bought a copy. I finished it last night. It was alright, a little more complex and interesting than Harry Potter, but still not great literature. Still, I'll see if I can track down the next book at the library. I'd like to know what happens next.

Christopher once again made dinner last night. I decided that we should have some leftover pasta with broccoli that I'd made on Monday night, and stuck the whole bowl in the microwave. Christopher came in and took over, saying that he'd rather heat it up in a pan with garlic and oil. And then he added the leftover tomato sauce he'd made on Friday night. It was delicious. I asked him if he's actually a chef and has just been hiding his skills from me for the past 5 and a half years. (I swear, all I've ever heard him say is that good food is not worth the effort of cooking it. But hello, he just chose to cut up garlic and saute it, which I think takes more effort than microwaving it.)

I was in bed and reading by 11 last night, and was disturbed by some loud banging in the hallway. It sounded like someone was trying to knock down a door, and I padded out in my PJs to see what was going on. (I wasn't alone, there were many heads peering down the stairwell to see where the noise was coming from.) It turned out that the super was trying to break down a door on the 4th floor. The residents weren't home, and a torrent of water was pouring into the lobby downstairs. It looked like the people below them (on the 3rd and 2nd floors) also weren't home. There was a small crowd watching the super, and another crowd watching the waterfall. can you see there's an inch or two of water on the floor? And that there is more streaming off the ceiling fixture?

I'm not sure how it resolved itself, but the water was turned off for a few hours, and a firetruck sat outside for a while too. I can only imagine what those folks will find when they get home. There was another flood in the building a month or two ago, and these same apartments lost the ceilings in their bathrooms. Oh, I'm glad I live on the top floor!

November update

I feel like I've just awoken from a long nap or something. I guess that's what happens when you have a break in your crazy work schedule.

The weather is beautiful. The leaves are nearly all off the trees, and those that are on are beautiful shades of yellow, red and orange. Today is sunny and bright, a day for being outside. I wish I had a yard I could do some work in. (I know, I could just walk down to the park and skip the work part, but I've sworn that today will be used for much needed apartment-fixing projects, and a walk to the park doesn't count.)

I have been finishing but not blogging various knitting projects. I've also not really been photographing them, so you may be hearing about them here and there.

First up: socks.
I have never had much interest in knitting socks. I mean, you can buy a decent pair for less than $5. But people seem to love making them, so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, I knew that a plain sock would drive me crazy, so I picked a complicated pattern (Spring Forward from Knitty), and I started them on my trip to Cape Cod in early September. They were a great road trip project, and later turned into a good subway project. Of course, pulling my sock-in-progress out of my backpack over and over resulted in a broken needle, and so I knit most of this pair with 4 #1s and 1 #0 needle ala EZ. You can't tell, there's so much going on. Anyway, the last sock was sitting around for a few weeks, waiting for me to graft the toe, and I finally did it last week. Grafting is no big deal; not sure why I have such an aversion to it.

Second: handspun.
I don't even know when I stopped writing about my handspun. I've been trying to get back into spinning, and realized at some point recently that I haven't been treadling the wheel fast enough, so my yarn is a bit underspun (and extra fluffy). I am trying harder to treadle faster, and wonder if my wheel might benefit from some oil to help me do that. Of course, the whole point of this style of wheel is that it's not supposed to require lubrication. We'll see.

Anyway: yarns I've spun since I last blogged my spinning:
Two different colors of wool from roving bought at the Hope Spinnery this summer.
54 yards of orange30 yards of brown/orange/redthen there's 82 yards of the Blue Faced Leicester that I dyed with goldenrod this summer. And lastly, 69 yards of Jacob Sheep wool bought at Rhinebeck. I'm not doing so well with the yardage here. Clearly I should be trying to spin a little thinner.

Maybe I should also be trying to find something to make with my handspun. I seem to just be accumulating it at this point...

calming down

Yesterday I took the morning off to go to a morning yoga class. I used to do yoga quite a bit, but in the past few years the classes have triggered stomach aches, and once I had to run out to throw up during a class. Needless to say, I've cut down on yoga.

Yesterday was different, perhaps because I have been so stressed. In any case, it was like rediscovering an old friend. I left the class feeling very relaxed, and the feeling has continued through today. I would like to make it more of a practice, and hopefully it will help me keep my stress levels down.

I spent most of this rainy day today spinning wool, knitting, cooking and talking on the phone with an old friend, and all of it was good for my soul. Christopher and I baked a pumpkin pie using a pumpkin I bought at the Coop yesterday. It was delicious though very gingery.

On a completely other note, has anyone seen these Japanese cat videos on YouTube or Gothamist? This one especially cracks me up.

two steps back

My final show for awhile opened on Wednesday, which means that my schedule has, or is about to, free up considerably. I feel like I should be a little nervous about the lack of work ahead, but to be honest I'm completely thrilled to be able to relax a little. Let's just hope that I don't get bored...

My dad came up yesterday to do some work on our apartment. Really we just needed him to finish patching the wall in our den, so we can paint it and send back all of the construction equipment that's been sitting in there. But the patch job turned into a realization that the molding in the den is warped and probably needs to be replaced, which is bigger project than we wanted to take on.

Outside of the kitchen, I pulled off a few feet of molding that didn't cover the whole wall, with the idea to replace it with something that went all the way around, only to discover that the plaster under the molding is rotten and needs to be redone. Dad put a few pieces of new molding on before he left, but the wall still needs work. I guess this is what happens when you get a place that has "character..."

report on Rhinebeck!

I have so much to do today, but well, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck) must be shared first.

This was my first time at Rhinebeck (I mean, I've been to the town before but not this fiber event). My mom came up on Friday night and we drove north on Saturday morning. The drive was pretty uneventful, but the traffic from the fairgrounds extended about 3 miles down the road, and it took about 45 minutes to go that distance. Yeah, there were a lot of people!

I have to admit, it was completely different than I'd imagined. First of all, it was a family event. There was a small midway, and plenty of cotton candy and fried fair food to go around. Being upstate New York, there were also local food stands: fresh vegetables, a bakery (complete with freshly baked gourmet pizza and bread), and a long, long line for individual chicken pot pies. Yeah, chicken pot pie. I am not sure how we skipped the hot apple cinnamon buns with ice cream, but we did.

My mom and I got there at about 12:30, so after hitting the Ravelry group standing on a hill (which was just too social and weird for me) we found some hot turkey and rice soup, which really hit the spot. The day was beautiful, but there was a definite chill to the air. I had brought along a mish mash of winter accessories, which I ended up wearing layered. I must have looked like the obsessed knitting lady. Even worse was that my top layer was a beautiful long knitted coat that I rescued from a friend's give away pile in April. Her mother had knit it, and so all day yesterday I got compliments on my knitted coat, and then I had to admit abashedly that I hadn't made it. Pathetic. (My mother also received many comments on her bag, which is made from reclaimed candy wrappers and came from Mexico. I think we both felt a little like posers, getting attention for things we couldn't take credit for.)

There are many, many stalls of goods at Rhinebeck. Our first stop was at the Hope Spinnery stall, since my mom needed to get more Jacob's Wool for the sweater she's knitting. (For those who don't remember, Hope Spinnery is the wind-powered fiber mill in Maine where I got a tour and bought roving and yarn in August.) Bill, the owner, seemed happy to see us again and was excited to see the progress on my mom's sweater. The booth was teeming with people, and I recognized first the hat and then the face of Kate Gagnon, whose beret I've been knitting recently. I introduced myself and told her that I loved her berets (she also designed Selbu Modern, which I'd also really like to make.)

Here's another thing about Rhinebeck: everyone is there to enable. We found ourselves at a stall that was full of beautiful varigated yarns. They weren't cheap, and I suggested to my mom that we remember this place and move on, since we hadn't really seen anything yet and I was sure there were other great yarns in other halls. A woman overheard and turned to us, "I've been coming here for years and I can tell you, this is some of the best yarn here! Buy it now!" and we, of course, started grabbing skeins and buying.

We also met a couple, later while eating a black bean burger and admiring our purchases, who had come to Rhinebeck from the Outer Banks. They were about my mom's age, and the man asked us how many loads of yarn we'd taken to the car yet. They seemed skeptical when we said that this was all we'd bought so far. Clearly, we were in a much more novice level than most of these other buyers.

We saw a lot of different types of sheep and goats and llamas and alpacas. I know there were rabbits, but I didn't see them. I've never seen so many types of sheep all next to each other, and I don't know enough about sheep breeds to know what I was looking at, but they were amazing in their variety. Some were really tall, some had wooley faces, and their shapes were all very different. We also saw some very unusual looking goats.I can go on and on about what we saw. In any case, here is my loot: The three skeins on the bottom left are Icelandic wool from Tongue River Farm (2 skeins of fingering and one of lace weight), then some very soft lace weight wool from Shelridge Farm in Canada for my lacey scarf, and 2 oz of llama roving. On the top right are 2 oz of Jacob's Sheep roving, and then two skeins of the Persimmon Tree Farm Pot Luck yarn (50% wool/50% mohair). Oh, and I also got this: half a pound of roving from the Persimmon Farm booth.

I wish I could dive into this fiber and start making something immediately, but I need to hold myself back and really finish the sewing I have to do today for my show. The fiber will be my reward...