Baa, Baa

 

I don't have the opportunity to attend fiber festivals, so I don't usually have a chance to see a real sheep. Naturally, when I heard my nephew was having his fourth birthday party on a farm, my thoughts did not turn to what would be a perfect birthday present for my nephew. Instead, I thought of the chance to see a touch a sheep. What can I say? I'm a knitter. The farm did not disappoint me. Not only did they have a sheep, but they had two, and I got to pet them! Oh, happy day! Little Clover, Papa, and Nana Clover were all happy for me as well. I have a very great and understanding family. The sheep were newly shorn and in my excitement, I forgot to ask about the breed. I think the natural wool fumes intoxicated me and made me too giddy to think clearly.

In addition to petting the sheep, I finished Xavier Guy's socks. The second sock really zoomed off the needles. I began the first sock in January, early January. I finished it last week. I started the second sock last Sunday, and handed off the pair to Xavier Guy in time for his birthday and the muggy delta summer. I think he likes them.

In the red

I started writing this post about how I wasn't knitting with Project Spectrum 2.0 for the months of June and July and I was just going to do a photo journal of red. I anticipated bowing out of PS 2.0 this go round because I'm taking Project Spectrum as an opportunity to reduce my stash and the red yarn I had in mind is for a lovely long sleeve wool sweater. Wool sweater and long sleeves should not be part of a Southerner's vocabulary in June and July unless it is to describe the oppressive heat and how it feels. Then the word wet is usually added. Then, I remembered the lovely red lace Schafer Andrea I just received. I could knit a shawl. Even better, I have some fabulous red Socks That Rock and I've been itching to knit and the Interweave Favorite Socks book just happens to have a pattern I've been eying. It looks like I'll be knitting in the red after all.

I also then realized it was still May and not June (can you tell I'm a bit frazzled still?). I have some time then to knit a little green baby hat for a little newborn in Texas. With any luck, I may finish the hat and the socks before PS 2.0 Red begins.

SSS

I'm not sure if my crazy work life is truly slowing down or if I just have let go of the stress and said "Screw it." I think it is more likely the latter. I also discovered this weekend that Italian's family commitments and software deployments have an uncanny knack for occurring at the same time. It's rather remarkable really. For the first launch, we had a lovely wedding at the same time. For the second launch, we had a lovely graduation:


Xavier Guy officially has a diploma! We requested to see the diploma as proof and were quite proud of him. We drove up to Cincinnati Friday after Little Clover's Field Day (where he won first place in the 50 yard dash).


The graduation ceremony was early Saturday morning and I was armed with coffee, water, a book and GameBoy for Little Clover, and knitting for myself. As a knitter, I love graduations because it means at least 2 hours of uninterrupted knitting time. I was happy. (The fact that I have a small child who is perfectly content sitting for two hours at a time is also a beautiful thing and the sheer luck of this is not lost upon me).

We celebrated the happy day with lunch and Italian, Xavier Guy, SweetPea, Little Clover, and Mrs. Soprano all went to the aquarium while I returned to the hotel to do some work. Little Clover returned to the hotel with a beaming shark painted face and told me all about the amazing things he saw.



He is convinced that Cincinnati is a fantastic town and that we just needed to stay there instead of going home. He agreed to let us take him home the next day when I promised him we would return.

The sock also enjoyed the time in Cinicinnati. He was the only project I packed and he loved the singular attention. He thanked me by letting me finish up the first sock (after ripping back an inch and a half) and I even finished the toebox of the second sock.


Now, I know a lot of knitters suffer from Second Sock Syndrome, but for some reason, I am immune to SSS. Instead, the second sock is usually a treat for me and I generally finish it quickly. I think the second sock is like running down hill towards the finish line after running a crazy long distance. It's the signal that the end is near and I can begin to pay attention to all the other sock yarn in my stash. I begin to get excited about the prospect of adding another FO to my list. My fingers get excited, and the stitches fly. Let's hope this second sock continues this streak and continues to prevent SSS.

BFF

I have been in a love affair for over a decade, now. Today, Italian and I celebrate the day we made the love affair official. We were much younger then, but I love him more today (if possible) than the day we were wed. Looking back at this picture, we almost look like kids playing dress up or getting ready for a silly dance instead of two people making a commitment to love each other forever. I still smile at our youth then. We had no idea of the pains and joys our life together would bring. The journey to this, our eight anniversary has been filled with unexpected excitements as we've grown up together. On our wedding day, Italian was my best friend. Today, our friendship, just like our love, has only grown stronger. I can't wait to see what the next eight years will bring. Happy Anniversary and I love you more than four.



As if I need any proof that Italian is a wonderful catch, today, when I awoke, he had laid beside me a skein of Schafer Andrea laceweight silk. Yippee!

Catching up

Me: How does my hair look like this?
Italian: Fine. It looks good.
Me: It doesn't look bad.
Italian: No, it looks good.
Little Clover: Uh, I wouldn't exactly say it looks bad.
Me: Oh, what would you say?
Little Clover: It looks a little weird. You aren't going to put on lipstick are you?
Me: I was planning on it. Why?
Little Clover: Well, when girls do things to their hair and then put on lots of make-up, their faces look a little crazy.


I dont' think Little Clover is accustomed to me getting dressed up to go out. The above is the conversation we had while getting ready for Engineer's wedding.

Little Clover looked spiffy in his suit jacket and Engineer was a beautiful bride.


The dress was elegant and the shawl did not clash with it! Yay! After the ceremony, we partied at the downtown train station which had a large amount of historical and local flair. Little Clover showed us that dispite his young age, he can really groove to funk and R&B! He ruled the dance floor with his little moves. I tried to dance with him, but I couldn't keep up. After a few hours, he was finally ready to go home.

After the wedding, I set my focus back on work. We are in the middle of a huge project and work is temporarily hogging all of my free time. I haven't even had time to knit. I know, the thought of it still makes me cry a little bit. My life is pretty stressful without yarn.

I knew things were bad when I left the office late one night and called home to see what my guys were doing. They weren't home yet either, so I immediately changed course and went to my LYS. I didn't need anything and I didn't have any knitting with me. I just needed to be around yarn and knitters. I walked in, said "Hello" to the owner and then proceeded to walk all around the store touching and sniffing everything I could. When asked if I was looking for anything in particular, I told the Spinning Guru I just needed a yarn break. Then I sat on the sofa and talked to everyone there as I leafed through pattern books. I left feeling rejuvinated.

I did pack knitting with me for my flight to Minneapolis and the knitting goddess was smiling on my. I just grabbed a bag with Xavier Guy's still unfinished socks and stuffed it in my carry-on bag. I got through security, both flying there and back, with a set of metal DPNs and darning needles. I was shocked, but very happy. Other than the flight, where portable electronic devices must be turned off, I didn't get to knit at all.

I did get to go here:


Where we saw:

An indoor amusement park
(It really is huge!)

LegoLand Store:


And fish, lots of fish.


The Mall of America has an aquarium and my traveling companion and I took some time of for a mental break one night to bum around the mall. If you are ever in the Twin Cities, go to the mall. You will not be disappointed. Besides, there are plenty of stores to exercise the "No Sales Tax on Clothing and Shoes" rule.

I may not have knitted much the last two months, but I made up for the lost time this weekend. After finishing the wedding shawl, I needed something mindless and easy. I picked up the Picovoli again and wove in the ends yesterday. I'm still not sure how much I like wearing it, but it was a quick and easy project to knit, the perfect antedote to lace.

FYI

The wedding was fabulous!
Engineer was a beautiful bride.
The shawl was delivered on time.
Minneapolis has no sales tax on clothing.
I found the Ann Taylor Loft by the hotel :)

More to come with pictures.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Between work and personal deadlines, my week has been extremely crazy again. I've been working long hours and have had a few late evenings at home. I've outsourced meal preparation to local restaurants, all house cleaning to either Italian or a service, and taxes to Italian. I have even sent those super short emails. I'm sure you have seen them. They are fragmented messages missing nouns, articles, and verb: messages that are limited to:
Busy. Send more later. Lunch?

Little Clover has responded to my busy schedule and stress by stepping up and becoming a little gentleman in a pint sized body. After a long and stressful day at work, I came home late the other night and hit my limit within 15 minutes of walking in the door. The dinner Italian had called in for me to pick up on my way home was not ready. In fact, they had not even put the order back to the kitchen. The washing machine had forgotten its purpose in life was to clean clothes, and my favorite hair clip broke. I was stressed and tired. Little Clover took one look at me and said, "Mama, I'll fix dinner tonight? How about a grilled cheese sandwich?"

I smiled and said, "That would be lovely."

Since he is still little and not allowed to use the stove, I asked if he would like for me to cook it. He said, "Yes, please," and we had a wonderful dinner.

In an effort to meet my pending deadlines, I've eliminated sleep from my schedule. Other than the bags under my eyes, my new twitches, and a propensity to be a bit edgy, it's coming along swimmingly. You can get a lot done, like a Wedding Shawl.


Yes,sirree bob! The shawl is blocking! The knitting was finished late Tuesday night and the ends were woven in yesterday. I made three mistakes while knitting but only one is really visible. I hope The Engineer loves it. I also hope the off white of the shawl doesn't clash with the off white of her dress.

Don't Drink the Lemonade

Water for Elephants

First, a confession:
It took me well over two months to finish listening to this book. The story is very good and the narration was wonderful, for some reason though, I wasn't engaged enough to continue listening to it. Other things seemed to be more important. I think one thing that made the book difficult to finish was the subplot of Jacob as an old man.

The book is really two stories in one. The primary story is that of Jacob Jankowski as a young man who ran away from his life and found himself in the Circus. The backdrop of the Circus is as large of a character as any of the living breathing characters and Sara Gruen is a talented writer for being able to pull this off. I love stories where the setting has such prominence. Jacob must resolve what his life is and who he is as he travels from town to town. His journey with the Circus train chronicle's his journey from a sheltered one life to one that is more worldly. He finds himself on that train.

The sub plot of the story is about Jacob on the verge of losing himself. He is old, 90 or 93, he's not sure which. His not knowing is a very strong theme of the subplot. The subplot of the book was the true point of the book. It made me think of what I want in old age, how I view those who are old, and how I have behaved around those who are old. I felt regret for my behavior and I felt great sadness for what Jacob's life is like in the nursing home. If nothing else, this book grants readers amazing insight into the mind and emotion of the aging. I don't know what Gruen's experience is, but she is gifted. Not only does she have a depth of understanding for the human experience, but she can communicate it in a way that builds bonds and empathy.

Oh, the ending was superb!

Eenie, Meenie, Mighty, Mo

A new phase of Project Spectrum has begun and I am way behind. I knew the shawl would take me into April, but I was hoping to have a Picovoli done by now. Sadly, my plan didn't work out exactly like I had hoped. The Picovoli is moving at a quick pace though, and I have a feeling it will be done before the warm weather arrives.

Since I'm a stickler for finishing a project before moving on to the next, I will finish the Picovoli before I start my Pink Project for Project Sprectrum. My green project may just fall to the wayside and will have to wait for another day. For my pink project, I need some help. Which one do you guys like?

A.

B.

I will make the short sleeve version for either one of these.

Last night I knitted

I spoiled myself last night and shut myself away when Little Clover went to bed. I didn't do any of the laundry that was lingering, waiting to be folded. I didn't even work on the documents due this week for work. I certainly didn't check my email. Instead, I sat in bed with a small bedside lamp shining softly next to me. My iPod was speaking the words of a book in my ear and my hands knitted. I stayed this way for over two hours, knitting in bed. All the tension in my shoulders that had built up with the stress of the last few weeks began to melt and I felt revived. After two hours of knitting, I had a renewed sense of self and the second panel to the wedding shawl, which I stitched up today.


I owe belated birthday wishes to a few people. Every year, the beginning of April is a time for celebration as I am fortunate enough to be a part of four very wonderful lives.

Firstly, my brother in law had a milestone of a birthday this year. He is now officially old :) Happy Birthday, Brian! Remember, I have a whole year to give you little gifts to help you with your new old age.

Next, I have to give a huge gigantic cyber hug (for now) to my best friend. Happy Birthday, Tlee! I miss you much. Please come down in May for some fantabulous Canadian music and food wrapped in bacon.

I also owe a belated birthday wish to the Godfather. Thank you for welcoming me into the Family. May you have many more happy years, and I can't wait to see the garden.

Finally, Italian deserves a gigantic birthday wish. I love you and love celebrating the day that you came into this world. Happy Birthday.

Although I didn't plan any huge party for Italian's birthday, we did celebrate in our own special way. We had a very nice dinner with his family. Xavier Guy was even in town for the Easter break. Friday, we bundled up with hats, sweaters, winter coats, scarves, and gloves. We were ready for the 30 F weather and head out to the baseball game. Yes, we watched a baseball game wearing clothing that was remnicent of a football game. At least the beer stayed cold.


And you can't have beer at a baseball game without a nice helping of
BBQ Nachos, which also stayed cold. Trust me, they are wonderful hot.


The game was quite fun. The home team won. The crowd was extremely entertaining. Little Clover left with a bat. Yep. He got a bat from one of the players. We were sitting in the stands by the dugout when one of the players walked up to the wall, reached over, and handed Little Clover his bat, complete with ball marks. Little Clover, being the baseball fan that he is, was in heaven. Oddly enough, the one picture I took of the game was actually of this particular player battting. The heavens must have been aligned that night.


Now we have yet one more reason to like the Cardinals. As a Cubs fan, I'm still holding out hope that David Eckstein will be wearing Cubbie blue one day.

Oh, how could I forget? What says Easter better than a Darth Vader decorated Easter egg?

On your mark, get set, go!

My crazy life is starting to slow. This past week, I finished up two of my neighborhood events. Every year, my neighborhood hosts a landscaper who will give general landscaping tips. If you bring a picture of your house, he will look at it and give you specific suggestions on what to plant and where. He was very good. Next year, I may be brave enough to bring a picture of my house.

Then, on Sunday, our neighborhood had an Easter Egg hunt. This is the only event without a chairperson, which meant that I had the lovely job of running the Easter Egg Hunt. I spent the last two weeks stuffing over 600 eggs with goodies and candy, finding a person to make an appearance as the Easter Bunny, and making treat baggies. We had torrential downpour on Saturday, which left me worried that Sunday would be too muddy. Fortunately, the park was dry and perfect for hiding all the eggs. The kids arrived, ran around frantically,

and left with baskets full of candy and smiles on their faces.


Now with my big event over, I can focus on a few other things, like watching the mama and baby birds at our house,


or my roses bloom.

The first rose of the season.

Catching Up

For those who haven't heard, Interweave Knits will have a new Editor in a couple of issues. Eunny Jang will be taking over at the helm of the magazine. As a follower of her blog and an admirer of her designs, this is an exciting announcement. She has a great attention to detail and puts an extraordinary amount of thought into her patterns. Congratulations to Eunny!

The lace shawl I'm currently knitting for my sister's-in-law wedding, is a Eunny Jang design. The shawl is the Print o' the Wave pattern off her website. So far, it has been a very easy knit. I originally used stitch markers to segment each repeat section. I quickly abandoned the stitch markers for a couple of reasons. First, the pattern repeats become easy to read as the knitting grows. Secondly, the repeat sections are flanked by K2tog or SSK and occasionally, they would consume a stitch on each side of the stitch marker making me do this crazy balancing act of slipping off the stitch marker with a couple of fingers and then precariously holding the stitch marker between some free fingers while I try to knit, then placing the stitch marker back on my knitting. After doing this for a couple of rows, I decided to be darning and flung my stitch markers to the side. I felt liberated.

The pattern tells you to start with an invisible cast on. There is actually a cast on called the invisible cast on. This was news to me and I'm glad I took the time to look it up before I started knitting. You will need a piece of waste yarn and you will end up with live stitches. Could you imagine my surprise if I had used the long tail cast on and then gotten to the "pick up stitches part" for the edging? The Victorian Lace Today has wonderful instructions for an invisible cast on. The tutorial in Victorian Lace Today is also better than the instructions in The Knitter's Companion by Vicki Square. Although The Knitter's Companion has pictures, the instructions in Victorian Lace Today were a bit easier for me to understand. I didn't look at anything else in The Knitter's Companion, so the rest of the reference book may be quite handy.

The shawl is definitely growing. I was casually working on it last Thursday at my bi-weekly knit night, and was talking about the pattern with blogless Lynsey. I was happily relaxed thinking I was over halfway done with the center panel and could easily knock it out by the end of the month, when a small comment made me realize that I was only halfway done with one of the two center panels. I started to panic. Since Thursday, I've been knitting furiously on the shawl and the sweat and swearing and tears have paid off. I finished one of the two panels Sunday and have casted on for the second panel. With luck, I can have the shawl finished in a couple of weeks. I am completely loving the pattern. It's an easy lace knit. I think there will be much more lace in my future.


The Picovilo is also growing and is almost a half top.


My spinning is also progressing at a decent rate. My LYS has a very large supply of Ashland Bay fibres. I was lucky enough to score some bamboo:

Enough

I realized the other day while driving Little Clover to a game that loving your child is enough. After my mom died, one of the biggest regrets I had was that I didn't show my love for her enough. There was more I could have done. I could have been nicer to her while I was a teen. I could have said "I love you," to her more. I could have called more. I could have talked to her more. I could have hugged her more. I could have done all those things and it still wouldn't be enough, because after you lose someone, all you think about is what you don't have anymore and there is this gap that stays behind for a while.

Being a mom, though, has brought me the realization that my mom had enough. She loved me with all her heart and that is all she needed. That's why I remember the special smile she had just for me. Italian calls it the "Mommy glow." I know that the love she felt for me is pretty darn similar to the love I feel for Little Clover. I love him enough for the both of us. My love for him is enough especially for me. Do I want him to love me back? Of course I do, but I don't need it. Feeling how much I love him makes me immensely happy. Being able to show him my love makes me happier still. The rest, his hugs and kisses, are an added bonus. I have enough.

I actually wrote the above paragraphs several months ago and was waiting for the right time to post it. Today, my mom's birthday, seemed to be the right time.

When March hits, her birthday enters my mind and I usually begin to miss her and become quite sad. This year, though, whenever I thought about her birthday, I found myself getting excited and looking forward to it. I miss her still, but it has been different. Her birthday is seeming more like a celebration. It is a special time for me to remember her and be thankful for the time we had together. I can still feel her love for me and as I look around, I see small things that remind me of her. I've seen four leaf clovers everywhere, birthday cards in people's cubicles today, and even a bright seven color rainbow. It's as if with every little sign, she's saying hello in her special way and reminding me that she loved me enough. I love her back and I think she knew.

Southland in the Springtime

There are many things I love about being a Southerner. Spring (or nearly Spring) is one of them. Every March, the South begins to transfer from a black and white Ansel Adams to a Technicolor backdrop as the gray trees sprout blooms in luscious whites, bright pinks, golden yellows, and brilliant blues. The tulips pop up out of the ground in reds and the daffodils and crocus open. There is definitely something 'bout the Southland in the Springtime.

3.1415

Yesterday was National Pi Day and we celebrated by having pie, cherry to be specific :)
(I meant to post a picture of the pie, but forgot to upload the pictures. It might show up later)
We are now gearing up for Square Root Day on March 3, 2009 (3/3/09). Anyone else want to join in?

To complete my dorkiness, here is a book review:

Brave New World
I finished the book a couple of weeks ago after having put it down for a few months. My schedule did not allow for much actual reading time, but during a business trip, I picked the book back up again. It was still good and the narrative was very fresh. (I have yet to master the art of knitting while reading, but once I do, watch out bookshelves!)

The book was written in the late 1940s/early 1950s timeframe. It is touted as being "timeless," and it is for the most part. We have made some technological advances that date the book to a certain extent, but in the 1950s, the internet, email, instant messaging, and cell phones were very very experimental at best. The social aspects of the book are still timeless and still provoke thought.

This is my second time to read the book. I first read it in high school and it was inappropriate for me at 15. I could get it, but not on the same level as now. Who knows, when I read it again at the age of 60, it may take on a whole new level of complexity. Overall, the pace was good, the writing was fine. I wanted to finish the book and even hit the sweet spot of reading where the book takes over and calls to you. As a warning, the sweet spot is late in the novel.

The things that struck me were the arguments for and against emotional attachments and the discussions on what is civilized. Huxley can causes you to think and evaluate what a society is and its influence on its members. He also does something beautiful with paragraph structure when Linda is introduced. Up to that point, the paragraphs and writing overall were well structured. They were fairly short, easy to read, cohesive, and formatted correctly. When Linda was introduced, the paragraphs begin to stretch and flow. The sentences jump a little and some paragraphs are question after questions. The lack of social constraints become evident as John and Linda speak, and I enjoyed the visual shift.

Also, I couldn't help but think of Disney World during the descriptions of the Feelies. If you have been to Disney and seen either Mickey's Philharmonic or the Muppet Movie in 4-D, then you will know what I mean when you get to this part of the book. It was actually a bit unnerving.

As for the ending, it is conclusive but also open ending. You could interpret the actions that lead up to the ending in two ways. Both ways could plausibly leave you with the ending Huxley has written. I have to admit, that I like the fact that the ending can be interpreted like this. I think it makes the book a little better.

In my Element

Oh, how I love my car. This past weekend, I got to try out the second of the 64 seating configurations of the Honda Element (the first being the standard seating configuration, which I think counts, but shouldn't really). This seating configuration will be called the "Can you shove the mattress in there, too?" configuration. You see, I got a call from my dad Friday morning letting me know that they would be in the neighborhood and he was wondering how the spare room was coming along. I smiled and said, "Well, I've been meaning to pick up the futon from Costco." We made plans, I assured him that this would be no big deal and that I could whip up the room with very little effort. Of course, I lied.

Although we had picked up the house and tidied for Xavier Guy and SweetPea (who is super sweet), the house was in no state for parental visits. I don't know what it is about having the parents over, but I feel the need to show them that I've grown up and become responsible and neat despite the fact that they saw the state of my bedroom while I was in high school. I called Italian and we settled on the game plan. Costco though, wasn't cooperating. They had sold out of the futons. I called around, checked online, found a futon store in town who did have 7 in stock that I could drive away. I rushed in, bought a futon, mattress (with internal springs, quite comfy), and a cover in under 15 minutes. Then Futon Guy and I had to load it into the Element.

He asked me to raise up the seat and I went, "huh????" Lucky for me, Honda gives you a Quick Start Guide (I kid you not. Being in the software industry, I found this rather humorous). The guide told me how to fold my back seat and attach it to the side wall of the car. We shoved in the futon, both boxes, the mattress, and the mattress pad all in the car. I even had room to pick up Little Clover from school. Yippee! The Parental Clovers confirmed the comfiness of the futon and much fun was had by all.


Yay!

It's even blue to go along with Project Spectrum. Okay, that's a coincidence. I may be a knitting dork, but I'm not that big of a knitting dork. Okay, okay, I am!

During the melee of the weekend, I did get some knitting done. The Picovoli is coming along. I've made the sleeves and they look like sleeves. This is my first top down sweater and it's rather fun.


Secondly, the wedding shawl is slowly coming along.


Oh, Xavier Guy, watch out. I think Little Clover was trying to move in on SweetPea this weekend. We had a great time seeing you guys and can't wait for May!

To the gentleman I passed on the interstate:

Although the local newspaper can be quite interesting at times and can contain enthralling articles, please do not read it while driving. It seems that you only have enough mental capacity to either read or drive and not both. Maybe the cup of coffee you were drinking at the time while driving in the fast lane was too much of a distraction, but you were only driving the speed limit and I really needed to get to work.

Sincerely,
Irish Clover

I had a spare moment this week and settled down on the sofa with a Pottery Barn catalog that had recently arrived in the mail. I think it might have been a late winter issue, but hey, I don't often have a chance to look through a catalog. Plus, since I'm on a shopping hiatus, I can pretend that I'm browsing at the store. This issue was jam packed with knitting!

Knitted blanket on the homepage

Knitted furniture


And knitting on the floor

Who knew you could knit furniture?

Slowing Down and Speeding Up

I spend Saturday mornings knitting and listening to podcasts while Little Clover watches cartoons. I have a few that are my favorites, but in general, I will listen to almost any knitting podcast. There is something about having a conversation about knitting with someone who obviously loves it as much as you do. It is quite pleasing and unifying. This Saturday including listening to David's latest episode of Sticks and Strings. His essay on "The Slow Clothes Movement" drew me in to the point that I slowed down my knitting so I could focus on listening.

He drew attention to the amount of time each knitter invests in a finished object. The yarn can usually be purchased again and often times, a store bought item is cheaper, but the time can never be renewed. Once it is spent, it's gone and knitters choose to spend the time on making lovely things for themselves or for lucky people they love. Our knitting now is a conscientious decision. David talks about how we purposely delay gratification and go against the "I want it now" mentality which is prevalent in our world today. With each stitch, we are taking back our time and slowing it down, making it last for days, weeks, years, or if we are lucky, decades as our knitted items are used and passed along.


This is the beginnings of a shawl for an upcoming wedding.

As a side note, what makes one qualified to become a social chair? Evidently not much because I am the new social chair for my neighborhood association. The closet I have ever gotten to being a social chair before now was working on the posters for my Junior Prom. I had the glitter, so I got to help. I feel oddly unqualified at this position, so much so, that I'm tempted to go buy this:



Help!

Chestnuts Roasting

We had our first fire last night and it was wonderful. We had a gas fireplace in our old house. It was convenient to be able to walk into the living room and have a fire with the turn of a key, but we didn't really use it much. Even though it had the fiberglass stuff at the bottom to mimic burning embers, it still had this tinny out-of-a-box fakeness to it. Now, I know what was missing. What was missing from our fake gas fire was the popping of wood as the water trapped in the fibres exploded, the smell of camping and out-of-doors that waft out of an open fireplace, and the crisp glow of orange that can only come from real carbon materials. It was wonderful and dreamy and perfect. We all spent the evening with no television watching the real embers and flames dance and jump behind the screen. Bliss.

Now, the saga of our fireplace began over two years ago. The massive fireplace in the family room commands attention and was one of the features that drew us to this house. It was beautiful, but it wasn't functional. The chimney cap was damaged and there nothing to arrest sparks, so if we had a fire, we could possible set the roof on fire. Little Clover suggested that we only have a fire when it was raining outside. He's a smart kid. In addition to the missing chimney covers, the dampner was broken as well. This winter, we finally decided to have the entire chimney serviced and fixed. All the work was completed last week, and we had temperatures in the high 60s and even hit 71 one day. We were resigned to waiting until the next winter to have a fire, but we lucked out with a fairly cold night and a lunar eclipse (one really doesn't have anything to do with the other, but they were both highlights [hee, hee] for us). I'll never go back to a gas fireplace again.

I am Woman

Where's the Kitchen?

That was going to be the title of my book. Before I found a job I liked at a company that I really, really liked, I used to dream of being a full time writer. I have notes on several different book ideas that cover a broad range of fiction categories and a few nonfiction concepts. One of the concepts that is my favorite is the concept of the a neo-feminist viewpoint.

The book idea began when I heard some news story or read some article about a feminist thought or ideal or movement. I probably became very frustrated by said thought/ideal/movement because I don't consider myself a traditional feminist activist and could not identify with that movement. I don't consider myself a traditionalist either and find their ideals to be just as distasteful. I was somewhere in-between and felt a bit alone.

I was tired of hearing from people what a woman (womyn for those versed in the NOW campaign from the 80s) should be. The extreme sides had extreme views. Some feminist shunned not only stay at home moms, but motherhood in general. Being a mother myself, I disagreed. The other extreme shunned those who decided not to be mothers (or wives) to focused on their careers, because they believed that women should be at home tending husband and children. Being a working woman, I couldn't agree with this side either. Where were the moderate people, the ones in the middle who believed that it was okay to work and it was okay to be a homemaker? Why couldn't we all just get along???? Surely there were other people out there that shared some of my views. I just had to find them. I rationalized that if I wrote a book and people bought it, then the others who were in the middle wouldn't feel alone. We could all be happily in the middle together.

I had this in mind for my cover art:


It quickly conveys the gist of what neo-feminism means to me. I can have it all, if I want to, but there is nothing wrong with not wanting something either -- the happy medium. Who knows, maybe this little book of mine will come out anyway. (Of course, if the book were as witty as Erma Bombeck but as insightful as Anna Quindelin, then I'd be happier)

Happy Woman's History Month. Let's celebrate all the woman who have come before us, those who were vibrant and progressive, and those who moved history in their own quiet ways.