Crafty as a Serpent

I am a clever knitter- the Yarn Harlot says so

2008-10-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a fantastic day off. I was in pj's until 2pm, when I finished Widdershins by Charles de Lint. It was a great book to read on a stormy day, which it being Fall in Seattle, it was a terrifically stormy day. The story takes place in alternate worlds, so after reading it, I felt like I was in an alternate world, too.

I blocked Sarah's Wedding Shawl yesterday. The pattern was the Lotus Blossom Shawl from Fiddlesticks in Canada. I liked the simplicity and clean lines of the pattern. The bobbles I left off.

I'm going through a small withdrawl from shawls. I knit on my socks and dream of shawls I could cast on. But I have a feeling I should wait for a little while before starting any big new projects.

After blocking, I went up to Third Place Books in Bothell for the Yarn Harlot's reading. I love the Yarn Harlot. Those of you who know me well know how much I love all things related to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She's so funny and encouraging of all people. She is certainly a positive force for good in the universe.

I waited in line for her to sign her new book which I had just purchased, and while I was there, I also showed her the sock that I'm knitting for a family member (who might read this blog). This sock I am knitting is also my first design. I'm really enjoying it, especially the Malabrigo sock yarn that I'm knitting it out of. When I finish and give the present away, I'll show it to everyone. But last night when I showed it to Stephanie Pearl McPhee, she said, "Aren't you clever" and then complimented me on the opposite cabling I did. Yay!

So that's it for now. Summary: Yesterday was good. I'm knitting socks. And I miss knitting shawls at the moment.

If you've all gone away, I don't blame you

2008-09-30T21:20:00.001-07:00

It's been nearly 2 months since my last post. In that time, I've recovered from the whole chaplaincy, packed, moved, unpacked, and dived right into my new job as pastor. And now I'm trying to make some friends in the Seattle area.

On the whole, things are pretty good, although I do have my lonely moments, which is only to be expected when one moves.

I finished my friend Susie's shawl. There are great pics from the wedding photographers on my ravelry page. That wedding was in Canada, on Pender Island in the Gulf Islands. We stayed at a B&B, run by a British couple, Peter and Tessa. Peter and Tessa were great, and they also had sheep on their land. What's not to love?

The wedding was so beautiful, and I preached at it. It was a lot of fun. I even got to eat a butter tart, which was quite tasty. I may move to Canada some day, if only for butter tarts and yarn. It sounds like something Charlotte would do.

The shawl below is my friend Sarah's wedding shawl. I have big plans to block it this weekend. Her wedding is next weekend. (Not this weekend, next weekend. Does anyone else have quibbles about the "this" and "next" terminology?)

Since finishing the shawl, I've been working on a sock out of the gorgeous Malabrigo sock yarn. It's coming along, but I don't have a picture. I know, I know. Just when you think I've changed.

I will share other pictures, though.

Will and I have been doing a lot of this lately:

The weather has been great for Fall, and we've been out canoeing on Lake Washington. Twice!

I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of canoeing next Spring and Summer. I love living here.

Upon my honor, I swear

2008-08-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Upon my honor, I do hereby swear to update my blog when my life becomes more stable.

Here's a quick update (and I can't take too long because I have much to do today):

June: I heard from a congregation that they were interested in having an initial phone interview. Phone interview went well, then talking with the senior pastor went well, then I was on a plane for a weekend long interview that went well. In knitting, I attended my friend Ariane's wedding. She wore the beautiful shawl that I made for her. Pics are on my ravelry page.

July: I attended my friend Candace's wedding. She wore a shawl I made for her, but I forgot my camera, so we're waiting to see pictures from the photographer or from her family. The day after the wedding, I heard from the congregation that they called me to be their pastor.

Since then: I have been scurrying around, trying to work on planning for my ordination on August 23rd, finishing up at my CPE residency, and packing up everything.

We leave tomorrow to drive from California to Canada for my friend Susie's wedding. The shawl is not yet finished. I may be bringing the blocking wires with me and blocking at the B&B where we're staying, during the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Life is flying by. After the wedding, I'm heading to Holden Village for a week long retreat, and then to LA to visit friends, and then back to Berkeley for my ordination. Woohoo!

You may not hear from me until September when Will and I have settled into the parsonage.

By the way, there's room for a fiber area in the house and I'll have enough room for a spinning wheel. And amongst my coworkers in Seattle, there's an accomplished knitter and a spinner. Yeah!

Meme

2008-05-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was a junior in high school, finishing up on finals and looking at colleges. That summer, I lived at home and worked at Wal-mart because it was the only job nearby. I did not know how to knit yet.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Pack boxes, email the bishop, pay my student loans, unpack a few boxes, bike to work

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Fresh fruit, wasabi peas, molasses cookies, brownies, cheese and crackers

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Buy a house and never move again, have a beach house, travel the world, buy a spinning wheel, pay off my student loans.

5) Places I have lived:
Oregon, Washington, Brazil, Minnesota, Spain, New Hampshire, Indiana, California.

6) 5 peeps I wanna know more about:
I don't know if I have 5, but- how about Katie B? Or really anyone who'd like to respond with their own answers.

Master (or is it Mistress?) of Divinity

2008-05-19T19:22:00.001-07:00

Saturday, which was also Norwegian Constitution Day, was the day I graduated from seminary with my M.Div. Because I waited a year, my class had already graduated, so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.

Instead, it was very meaningful. I was surprised at how moved I was when my husband, sister, and mom hooded me.

And I had a blast with the funny sleeves of my gown. I even put money into the long part of the sleeve. You see, I received the Mercia and Theodore Bachmann award for History. That was a very pleasant surprise. And so I received a prize to go with it, which I stuck in my sleeve because I didn't have pockets in my dress. I reminded myself to take it out before I gave back the rented gown. But I was so eager to get out of that hot thing and to get my diploma that I forgot. And so I still don't know how much the prize was for.

After the graduation, my neighbor and I hosted a taquisa, which we had prepared in the morning: carne asada, carnitas, lengua, and frijoles refritos, plus 3 kinds of homemade salsa and a guacamole. It was darn tasty, and I learned a lot.

After the party, I was done with people for a while. I love all the people I saw, but I was done. So I read an Anne McCaffrey book that night.

On Sunday, I met up with a new friend of mine who knits. I met her on the BART- and thanks to Ravelry, we're becoming knitting friends. We are starting a knitting meetup at Cafe Leila on San Pablo near Delaware in Berkeley. It's on Sundays at 4pm. Although, this Sunday, I'll be gone. And the next Sunday she'll be gone. We'll see. I had a lot of fun, though. And my knitting buddy was starting the most awesome socks (which I promptly forgot the name of).

Maybe I can do this...

2008-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

So it's Sunday night. Last Sunday I posted. Maybe I can do Sunday posts, kind of like calling home, but only blogging instead. I like that. Maybe I'll try.

I've had a shock this week. I was sitting down with my CPE group to parcel out the on-call dates for the next two months. As I was perusing my calendar, I realized that my graduation wasn't on the calendar (what graduation, you may very well ask. Hold on and I'll tell you). I looked up the date and just about fell out of my chair. My seminary graduation is happening on May 17th, less than a month away. I promptly began ~~freaking out~~ attending to important matters, such as my exit interview for my student loans. Now I'm ~~freaking out even more~~ determined more than ever to get a job.

Speaking of jobs, I had a lovely conversation with my new bishop in Northwest Washington. He was very nice and said he'd start the process of helping me find a job. Of course, it could be a very long wait. But it's starting. If you are the praying type, I wouldn't mind a prayer or two about this.

In knitting, I'm working on Rachel's wedding shawl. And I went to a sale at a JoAnn's and picked up some dishcloth yarn. But I don't post pics of dishcloths unless they're super-fancy and this one is just your standard diagonal dishcloth- perfectly suitable for washing dishes, not so thrilling that they get their own spot on the "internets".

It's going to be a busy week, with 2 on-calls. So I had better get some other work done and go to sleep already. Like many, I've been having allergies, so my sinuses have been interfering with my sleep. I hope it gets better soon.

Back next Sunday, I hope.

Home for a little while

2008-04-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

I've realized a few things in the last week. It all started when I got an email from the housing coordinator at the seminary. She told me that our request to stay in our apartment until August was denied and that she can only offer me housing until June 30th. My program at the hospital lasts until August 30th, and while it would be hard to live in temporary housing (i.e. with friends or housesitting) for a month, it would be doable. But 2 months means absolutely moving.

I am in the midst of CPE, a challenging and demanding time. The last thing I want to do is to pack twice in one summer.

When I got the email, it felt like my stomach dropped to the floor. But being the practical person that I am, I picked myself right back up and started to think of the options before me. We could find a new apartment altogether. We could sublet. We could housesit for the whole time. I could quit my CPE program and we could move early (and pack only once) to Seattle.

That last thought caught me up and sent a wave of grief through my body. I realized how much I love my work as a critical care chaplain. I have other units: Oncology and Adolescent Psych at the moment, but critical care is really "mine". I will really miss it: the nurses and doctors, the teamwork, the patients and families, the closeness of God's spirit hovering over those who are very ill, the blessedness of shepherding families through the death of their loved one. There is so much that I love about being a critical care chaplain.

Thankfully, when Will and I reviewed our options, we decided to stay for the summer, have me finish up at the hospital and him at his work, sublet from a friend, pack up lots of stuff and then have a smaller packing session at the end of summer. We'll essentially be living out of suitcases for 2 months, but hey, this is an adventure, and we have each other.

In less future oriented news: I've been baking and knitting lots lately. I made a Ukrainian Lemon Poppyseed Cake (from the Moosewood Cookbook) and a Gingerbread Cake (recipe from Chez Panisse) for coffee hour at church today. And I finished my friend Katie's wedding shawl while I was on my Zen retreat last week at Green Gulch Farm. I also picked up my new blocking wires this week, so blocking is in my future. Yeah!

2008-04-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been 2 months since my last post. I knew it had been a while, but dang!

As you might imagine, it has been a bit busy around here. Will was accepted at a couple grad schools, so that's great. We're pretty sure we'll be going to Seattle in the Fall. With that in mind, I've been working on my paperwork for my new bishop. The paperwork is exhausting and long. It seems to never end. I'm hoping to finish this weekend.

I've had quite the time at work, too. We've been short-staffed for a while, mostly due to illness and vacations. It means that a lot of the time, I've been visiting only the most critically ill instead of rounding on all my patients. It makes me sad that I don't get the more light-hearted visits as much these days.

We also had a 10 day strike at the end of March. That was long, arduous, and not my favorite thing in the world.

In knitting, I've been fairly monogamous with my friend Katie's wedding shawl. It's nearly done, especially since she just gave me leave to omit the frilly edging and to just leave it a plain triangle. I only have about 6 rows left.

I'm also working on my friend Christina's rainbow hat with earflaps. The colors are fun, and I've got to have that done for this Thursday.

I'm going on retreat to Green Gulch in Sausalito in a week and a half, so I should get some good knitting time there.

I'll post some pics soon- no really, I promise.

Lace Knitting Meet Up

2008-02-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I went to Lacis, which is one of my LYS's. It's actually much, much more than an LYS, because it is a lace and textile museum, as well as being a place where people will teach you to make bobbin lace and tat. I became reacquainted with tatting there a couple years ago.

Anyway, I now work just a handful of blocks from Lacis. So I could go there every day if I had a mind to do so. I stopped in a few weeks ago and found beautiful lace weight yarn. It made me wish I had a project for it. Unfortunately, I don't. I'll be knitting with the yarn I have for quite some time.

But a very kind lady told me they host a lace knitting group which happens on the first Saturday of the month. This was great news.

So on Saturday, I braved the torrential rain and the scariness of meeting brand new people, and I went to the knitting group. I had a great time, and saw some lovely lace. The 2 hours went by in a blink of an eye.

I'll certainly be back next month.

Sick-eh-ly

2008-01-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

Will has this funny made up word that he uses all the time. "Sockely". As in, "Where are my sockelies?" or "These sockelies are very cozy". As cute as it is, you might think that Will is 5 years old. But no, the cuteness stayed with him into his (almost) late 20's.

Well, today, we have a variation on the word. "Sickely" is what I am today. Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat. And today, I seem to have developed a full blown cold. Fun and delight!

Last night, instead of going to the gym with my neighbor for our step aerobics class, I stayed home and cast on for Rachel's wedding shawl and watched Nowhere in Africa, which won an Oscar in 2002 for best foreign film. Watch it and you'll see why. I was so captivated by the storyline (Jewish family flees Nazi Germany for Kenya and has to adapt and sort out identity issues) that I only got 1 repeat done.

I also baked a loaf of banana bread and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. And I wrote a verbatim. That's amazingly productive for a sick day for me.

Today, I'm home sick again. I am consuming copious amounts of my lemon-honey "tea" (which is really just the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of honey, mixed with hot water). I think it would properly be called a posset. I'm not sure. I'll have to look that up.

Also, K-bomb (and anyone else), you should look into Ravelry. The waiting list is only a week long now.

Almost a month

2008-01-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's that the Christmas tree is still twinkling its little lights in our living room, maybe it's that I've been getting to the gym 4 times a week, or maybe it's that sweater I've been trying to finish, but the fact remains that I've been remiss in posting. I keep thinking I'll post "tomorrow". Almost a month of tomorrows have come and gone.

Things to catch up on: New Year's, the beginning of a sweater, and yesterday's yarn purchasing.

New Year's: Spent with college friends in Minnesota. It was all that I could have hoped it to be. We stayed with wonderful friends at their house on a lake. It's a smallish kind of lake, one where I enjoyed sailing in a small boat last summer. This trip, the lake offered other entertainment, in the form of "boot hockey", which is like hockey but without skates. Boot hockey is the result of 20+ friends coming together for dinner on the night before New Year's, who post dinner, go out into the cold to slip around on the ice. We put up floodlights and played out there for 2 1/2 hours. It was so lovely it was like being in a snow globe.

Knitting for New Year's: 1)a pair of Fetching done for me (mostly in the airport when my flight was delayed 8 hours due to mechanical errors). 2)Purchased yarn for wedding shawls for 3 friends. 3)Spent time on ravelry with 5 friends who were picking out lace shawls for me to knit for their weddings.

Beginning of a sweater:

Last year, for my birthday (okay, so maybe it was the day before my birthday. Who's going to quibble here), I went to see the Yarn Harlot when she was in Ann Arbor. (I am in the first picture, to the right of the sock, wearing orange) A glorious time was had by all. I went to Busy Hands, an LYS in downtown Ann Arbor, where Malabrigo was on sale for 50% off. Logically, because it was my birthday and because the yarn was on sale, I promptly bought enough yarn to knit a sweater. It is a beautiful purple. I'm using my new book The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to make mine. So far, I have the back done and up to the armhole on the left side of the cardigan.

I just searched for a post about my trip to Ann Arbor last April, and found that I never blogged it. Should I be surprised?

Yesterday's yarn purchasing:

My friend Ariane is getting married in June, and when I saw her at New Year's, we looked at shawl patterns and yarns. Her criteria: She wants something smallish (she's quite petite), something turquoise/robin's egg blue (she's a very bold person), and something that will cover her tatoo (to make her mother happy).

The result: A flower basket shawl (pattern by Evelyn Clark) in Tsuki, color number 10, held double.

I am casting on today.

Yesterday, I went to Imagiknit in the city, and searched for the Flower Basket pattern. I took the BART to MUNI. I waited for trains. And when I got there, they didn't have the pattern. It must be very popular. I ended up getting the pattern at Artfibers, where a very pregnant Amy was so very helpful.

In non-knitting news: Yesterday, Will and I were at a stoplight when a guy who was using a wheelchair was trying (with limited success) to cross the street. As he searched for the toggle switch to move his chair, a young man sporting a beard, an almost Yassir Arafat style headcovering, and a light brown robe came and offered assistance. As we drove away, Will said in a sarcastic manner, "I guess we've had our Jesus sighting of the day". I wondered aloud if someone had an elaborate scheme to inspire people to be kind to others. Then Will accused me of cynicism. Who's the cynic in this case? a)Will, b)me, c)both of us

Chrismas

2007-12-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful time of year!

Christmas Eve was lovely. Our pastors asked us and another person from the seminary over for Christmas Eve dinner. Salmon, borscht, baked potatoes... It was a lovely meal and a blessing for me after having worked all day.

We went on Christmas Eve to the candlelight service. All was lighted up and decorated with many candles, truly a season of light. The church was beautiful. After communion, we sang Silent Night and lit our candles. It was then that I felt a true Christmas moment. The ushers went up the aisle, lighting the candles of those in the center. They turned to light the candles of those next to them. In the row ahead of us is a dear couple. He has been in severe pain for about a year now, and it has only been worsening. Many Sundays he lies down in the pew or can't come because the pain is so bad. But on Christmas Eve he read one of the scriptures. When it came time for the candle lighting, he was on the end. And I had this moment, as I watched him light his candle from his wife and then turn to pass on the light to someone else, of realizing that he may never do this again, that his issues of ill health could take him at any time. And then I realized that that was true for any of us, and I looked around the room and took in the sight of so many dear faces, each person a treasured child of God. And I thought how the Christ child comes for all of us to set us free and to love us.

After church, Will and I set out for our friends' house. We stayed up late, talking and drinking wine. Actually, I didn't exactly stay awake as long as everyone else. And we each opened one present.

I still had not finished Will's socks for Christmas, so I wrapped the first one and finished the second the next day. When he opened his present, he said to me, "You know, you didn't have to stay up late knitting for me. I'm knitter's husband, so I understand about gifts that come later." What a sweetie.

We made crab ravioli with tomato sauce for dinner, and got to initiate a friend into the wonders of ravioli making. The food was great, and just before we ate, we opened English crackers. I got a puzzle, which was fun because it is a tradition in my family to put together a jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Day.

We took Will to the BART yesterday so he could get to the airport and fly to New England. He carried with him the afghan for Sarah and Bruce. I hope they like it.

Beloved, let us love one another

2007-12-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

Today, I was on call at the hospital. Right when I came in this morning, I became involved in a very sad situation, where a man in his 30's was critically ill. That is not the story- things like that happen every day- and it's sad, but it happens. The remarkable part of the story is the amazing crowd of people that gathered around him. This man was surrounded by a changing cast of about 20 people- always about 20 people, filling the waiting room to overflowing, constantly changing the guard at the bedside, singing to him, shedding tears for him (the nurse said she had never seen so many men cry so openly). The richness of the love pouring from this group of friends was incredible. It made me think of my group of friends from college.

Recently I wrote to a friend of mine:

I know that as we all grow into our new lives and scatter to do the work God has put before us and called us to, we will all change and grow. To me there is something very special about my friends from college- a small tribe that I know I can count on, people that I could call should anything devastating ever happen to me or Will and they would come. I imagine going to each others' funerals after long lives of staying in touch. There is nothing like an old friend, someone you can catch up with but don't have to tell the backstory, someone you know before you became who you are now. I treasure each and every one of my friends and that God that I get the honor and privilege to share this journey we call life with them and with you, my friends.

I'm grateful for you, my friends.

(Radio) Silence

2007-12-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure where the past two months have disappeared to. The pace has been tremendous at the hospital. When I'm not at the hospital, I'm relaxing or going to the gym.

Will has been preparing his application for grad school, so that has all equalled very little computer time for me. Hence, no post in a month and a half.

My knitting has been very simple lately. I think I'm coming down off the afghan knitting for Sarah. I've been doing lots of booties, including some for my nephew who was born in late July and barely fit into his size 6 month booties. He was darn cute in them. Hopefully my sister will send me pics soon.

I'm also working on some very modest Christmas knitting for my dear spouse. He will like the results, so I'm trying to work on the project while I'm on the way to work or away from him in general.

I've also been doing a bunch of baking. I made 5 different kinds of cookies a few weeks ago and some stollen with my sister. It was so good I made another batch, this time experimenting with marzipan in the middle. My, but it was good!

I'll post some pictures someday. For now, just know that I'm alive and happy.

Christmas Knitting

2007-11-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

This year, I have decided to knit for only a couple of people. I am still working on the cabled afghan. I haven't really been home for a while, and now that I am, I have a very busy week in front of me (preaching on Sunday, a verbatim on Wednesday, on call on Friday, final eval for the unit due on Monday).

In other news, my computer has died. We're borrowing the one I'm typing on right now, so that's why I haven't been on ravelry or blogging as much. I miss it.

I did finish my black socks 2 weeks ago. I love them. My friend Sara calls them my "business socks" (as in the Flight of the Conchords). They're on Youtube but I'm too lazy to find the link for you. Check it out, though, because it's funny.

Knitting and the World Series

2007-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the reversible cabled afghan when I've been home, but lately, with the World Series, I haven't been home (because we don't have a tv). So, instead, I've been working on my black socks. I think the knitting of socks encourages the mojo of the Sox.

I finally decided to knit the black socks in a fairly simple pattern. I was going to learn a new pattern for the toe from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. Instead, in the first sock, I knit a french toe. Then I decided I didn't like it. So on the second sock, I did a flat toe and am now reknitting the toe of the first sock. As you can tell, I'm almost done. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

In non-knitting news I've been a very faithful Red Sox fan. Last night was almost embarassing when the pitcher for the Rockies walked 3 Sox in to make the score 13-1. I felt like we should have given those last 3 back. But they're ours now. And we'll need them, I think, as we head to Colorado.

Miscrossed Cables

2007-10-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

This picture gives you a glimpse of what I've been working on. It's Sarah and Bruce's afghan for their wedding present. I'm running a bit behind, as their first anniversary was last Sunday. I blame the heat in Toledo all last summer. If it hadn't been so darn hot, I would have had this finished long ago. Instead, I'm still on skein 9 of 12.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the incident which is pictured here. Nope, not at all. That's the result of a miscrossed cable. Nothing really to see here at all. Continue on your merry way. Really, though, I'm fixing it.

In other great news, I'm on Ravelry! My username is CraftyAbby. I just got my invite today. I would stay up late exploring the site and documenting my stash, but I'm on call tonight. So I had better go to sleep soon so I will be able to go in at midnight if they happen to need me.

By the way, the wedding in Wisconsin was beautiful. But I didn't bring my camera (where is my brain these days anyway?) so I am waiting for photos of the shawl from friends.

Spiral Socks

2007-10-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm home sick today. I came down with a little cold/sinus nastiness beginning on Friday when I was on call. It turns out I am in good company. It hasn't been so bad that I've been debilitated, so I went to church on Sunday and to work yesterday, all the while washing my hands religiously and covering my cough diligently (and correctly). But yesterday, I was sneezing and coughing enough that I decided not to go visit patients. Their immune systems are fragile enough. And if it were my grandma in the ICU, I wouldn't want some sick chaplain visiting her, not to mention infecting the staff.

So this morning my supervisor advised me not to go into work. I'm using a vacation/sick day (they are one and the same for me) which sucks, but I'm spending the day in a nice way, even if it's not at the beach.

I made a squash curry soup for lunch, which was delicious. Will went to the library for me and got the next 3 Katherine Kurtz books for me. And I finished a pair of socks this morning.

Pattern: My own, with a heel flap and a french toe
Yarn: Wool, purchased at Fiberworks in Toledo, Ohio. I forget the company (Regia?) and the colorway and I lost the ball band somewhere in the cross country drive (maybe Montana?), but there are browns, blues, and greens in the colorway. Yarn leftover? Yep, tons.
Started: August 6th at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
Finished: October 2nd at home in Berkeley, CA

These were my "I'm taking a break from knitting the shawl" knitting. I like the pattern, especially that the two spirals go in different directions. And somehow I like it better when the spirals point down to each other like in this picture, as opposed to switching the socks to the other feet.

I'm now trying to decide which pattern to use for a pair of solid black socks. Should I just do a quick and easy pair of my standard pattern? Or should I do the monkey socks? Or will the monkey pattern be obliterated by the solid blackness of the yarn? I'm itching to cast on, so I'm going to decide soon.

I've got angel wings

2007-09-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Seraphim Shawl, from Miriam Felton.
Yarn: The yarn came from Holy Threads in Spokane, Washington. It is an undyed merino wool in a cream color, and I used about 800-900 yards.
Needles: Addi Turbos US 5
Finished dimensions: 80" across the top, 40" edge to tip.

I finally downloaded the pattern in Eugene, Oregon and began knitting the shawl on my wedding anniversary, August 22nd, 2007. I finished blocking the shawl on September 22nd, 2007.

This shawl will go to my friend Karen who is marrying my college friend and classmate Alex on October 13th of this year in Door County, Wisconsin. We can't wait for the wedding.

Here is a detail of the shawl:
I'll post pictures of the bride wearing the shawl after the wedding.

You know how I "don't have a digital camera"

2007-09-17T19:14:00.001-07:00

Well, I do now. The universe decided I needed one, so my sister and a friend from church both offered one to me last week. Now I have a camera. Woohoo!
Now I just need some finished objects to post.
I should do some photographing of projects of long ago, but I'm spending my time finishing the Seraphim shawl for my friend's wedding. I have 8 long rows left. I'm almost there. Except that the rows are over 300 stitches now, I think. It takes me something like 20 minutes to purl across.
On Saturday I went to my sister's house. My nephew (who is 2) wanted to make gingerbread men, so my sister made the dough and it was resting by the time I got there. My nephew took me by the hand, brought me to the kitchen and told me, "Gingermen sleeping". When it was time to roll out the dough, he ran into the kitchen and started yelling, "Wake up, wake up!" It was darn cute. It was also cute how he asked for cookies later, "J_ needs a gingerman". Very, very cute- and irresistible.

Chaplaincy

2007-09-07T07:20:00.001-07:00

Since my last post, I've settled into my new home, more or less. I received my socks from Sockapalooza (they are beautiful), and I wear them a lot. I'll have to get a hold of a camera one of these days.

I started my new job on Tuesday. It's a year long CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) residency at a local hospital. We've been touring campuses and having "disorientation" as they've nicknamed it. They're a funny group, and we laugh a lot. I'm glad because the work can be so heavy later on.

This morning we find out what units we are assigned to in the hospital. I was pretty flexible and put that I wanted one ICU and a couple other less acute areas of the hospital. I seek balance in my life this year, and I'm hoping that's one way I'll find it.

In knitting:
I've been working on the Seraphim Shawl from Mimknits.com for a friend's wedding. The shawl will be for the bride, and the wedding is in October in Wisconsin, so the pattern has long portions of stockinette. I'm just now getting to the yarn overs, and I've been working on this shawl for a couple weeks now (with interruptions for unpacking and such). I purchased the needles in Spokane (Addi's), the yarn in Spokane (undyed merino at Holy Threads), and printed the pattern in Eugene. I began knitting then and knit all the way to the Redwoods in Redwood National Park. That was such a stunning drive that I had to put the needles down to really take the whole experience in: the fresh smell of the forest, the coolness of the air, the sight of the sunlight spilling onto the forest floor in patches made by the leaf-screens. It was lovely. That was the day of our third wedding anniversary. We ate dinner overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

We arrived back to the seminary apartments the next day and started moving in. One thing of note in this incarnation of our home. Although the apartment is pretty darn small (425 square feet), my partner Will is so committed to me having a stash storage place that he insists I take the linen closet. There is only a linen closet and a clothes closet, so this is a big deal.
Unfortunately, he also unpacked the boxes of my stash, and as he puts it, "I thought I knew you have a lot of yarn. But now I know you have a LOT of yarn." Oops. I guess I'll have to keep knitting.

Knitting update- shawls, sockapalooza, socks, booties

2007-08-14T06:32:00.001-07:00

Now, I know that I have disappeared for a while. I have a valid excuse. I was moving and packing and finishing internship.
I did finish the Wing of the Moth shawl for my friend in time for her wedding on July 28. It is spectacular, the best knitting I've ever done.
If I can make picasa shrink the photo when I get my computer back (that's another story altogether), I'll post the one I was emailed.
I did finish the socks for sockapalooza, right on the deadline. I had already started the move by that time, having left Toledo on Monday. I was then in Chicago for the ELCA's churchwide assembly. I finished the socks on the first day there and sent them off promptly. My sockpal has not updated her blog since May, so we may never know if she got them. then again, perhaps the socks will spur her to new blogging heights.
As for receiving my socks, I am not yet in California, where my socks are being sent. I'm still enroute.
Because I had not yet received my socks, I started knitting some for myself. I'm doing a spiral pattern on multi-colored wool.
We stopped in Minnesota for a couple days for a little R&R and friend time before heading across the plains. This turned out to be a great idea. I went sailing with my friend Matt. Those of you who know me in real life will, of course, be astonished that I actually loved it and want to do it again. Like a little child who protests eating vegetables and then wants more, I had a great time and dream of sailing again. Of course, this gives no end of joy to my partner Will who already loves to sail. Alas, I have certain parameters to the sailing I will do. I want to sail on small lakes in small boats. I do not want to sail on the Bay in a big sailboat- they rock too much.
I also spent many hours swimming, pulling lake weeds, and knitting dishcloths for presents. Because who doesn't like a good dishcloth, really?
Next post: on knitting and books across North Dakota and Montana.

Knitting update- shawls, sockapalooza, socks, booties

2007-08-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to shawls

2007-07-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

I blocked the Kiri shawl. And I love it. It is all that I hoped it would be.

And the next day, I cast on for the Wing of the Moth shawl. I'm using Tsuki yarn from Artfibers. It's so light I feel like I could be weaving a spiderweb. But instead I'm on the fourth repeat of the pattern. It's gorgeous, and I love it. It will be a beautiful wedding gift for Dawn and Jeremy.

Reflections on El Salvador

2007-06-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Last week at this time, I was hauling water by hand from a deep well. It was extremely hot and humid, but we were all working very hard on building two houses for two brothers.

In El Salvador, I found much evidence of the “Americanization” of the culture. The local currency is now American dollars. I never did see the colón, which used to be El Salvador’s money. The changeover from colones to dollars has meant inflation of prices, and this has hurt the poorest people the most.

All over the place, we saw huge houses in gated communities which were sometimes located just next to utter poverty. Many families lack clean water, bathrooms, access to adequate medical care, or education.

In light of this, the work of Habitat was inspiring. They are working, family by family, house by house, to build a more stable community. The families invest in their houses with sweat equity and a modest monthly “mortgage payment”. But for some families, even the small mortgage payment is too much.

One person who is helping with that is a priest that I met in San José Villanueva, the town where we were working. Padre Mario has been in San José for 11 years now. When he first got there, he gathered the people for Mass. He asked for readers, but everyone looked at their shoes. After that he told his bishop that opening a school would be evangelism so that people could read the Word. Since that time, he has opened 3 schools which now serve a total of 1500 students. The community sustains the school as parents work to improve the school on weekends. In addition to his work with the school, Padre Mario is also helping families from his parish build houses through Habitat. He has helped various people by paying for half of their mortgage so that they have a chance to live in a house.

Another place where I witnessed work for the kingdom of God was the Hospital de la Divina Providencia. It is the only hospice center in all of Central America, so it serves the people of Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panamá, and El Salvador. The Carmelite nuns who run the hospice operate on a very small budget and do not charge the patients because they are already so poor from medical bills. The work there is amazing, and I hope to be able to return to help.

Right next door to the hospice is the church where Monsignor Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980. He was in the middle of the Eucharist when a sharpshooter sent by the death squads opened fire, killing him immediately. Romero is considered a 20^th century martyr, and his life and death continue to inspire the Church around the world.

I continue to be amazed by the gifts that this journey gave to me: the friendships with the Salvadoran people, the witness to the Christian faith that refreshed my belief in what the Church can do when united, the beauty of the sharing of cultures, and the humbling nature of the work that I did at the building site. I give thanks for all of those blessings and the countless others that I have not named.

Que Dios les bendiga, (God bless you all)

Abby

Cabin Cove Socks are finally done!

2007-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I packed my knitting bag in haste for the Barnes and Noble Knit Night group. Since I didn't have my yarn yet to finish my shawl, I threw in a pair of socks that I have been meaning to fix and finish but have neglected.

I packed them thinking- if I throw those in, I'll have to work on them. And so I did. I finished reknitting both toes and grafting them today. I have a new pair of socks: the lovely Cashmere-Silk socks in the Shell pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I am quite pleased with them.

Now I am anxiously awaiting the post to see if my yarn comes in today. I'd like to finish that shawl and block it soon.

Loopy Yarns saves the day!

2007-06-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

So remember that alpaca fingering weight I got in Chicago back in April? I had thought I would knit it up into luxurious socks. I even started on them and got as far as the heel on the Zokni pattern. It was pretty, but I couldn't motivate myself to knit on them. So I frogged the sock and started my first shawl at the end of May. It's the Kiri shawl from All Tangled Up, and I love it. I knit on it at a retreat. I knit on it at home. I knit on it in the plane to and from El Salvador and at the Habitat work site. People were fascinated by the lace, and I had a pretty good time knitting.

Well, now I'm home, and I'm also on the homestretch of the shawl. I'm in the middle of the edging. And I just ran out of yarn. So I called Loopy Yarns in Chicago on the off-off-chance that they might still have some of my yarn. Lo and behold, a miracle! They are sending me a ball of my yarn- same dyelot and everything. I can't even believe it.

Now, to decide what to do with the leftover yarn. Maybe baby booties for my soon-to-be-arriving nephew?

Receta para pollo con chocolate

2007-06-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Receta de la madre de Claudia, la coordinadora del afiliado de Habitat en El Salvador

Pollo con chocolate
Toma un pollo, bien limpiado. Pongálo en una olla con un poquito de agua. En una licuadora, ponga una cebollita, como 10 tomates, un chile verde, dos dientes de ajo, y un poquito de sal o consomé. Molé la mezcla bien. Echa la mezcla encima del pollo y mezcla con el pollo. Entonces, enciende el gas y cocina todo por aproximadamente 15 minutos. Entonces echa la media de una tablilla de chocolate (el tipo con canela) encima del pollo hasta que el chocolate está bien fundida. Entonces echa unas migas de pan encima. Ya está!

El Salvador

2007-06-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I am going to El Salvador with Habitat for Humanity tomorrow. I will be in San Vicente, El Salvador, just east of San Salvador, until next Saturday. Here's a link to Habitat El Salvador: http://www.habitat.org/intl/lac/62.aspx

I am going with a team of 18 people from Toledo. We will spend the week building three houses. I will be in a team of 6 women. We're pretty excited to build a house together.
I will be serving the team as the translator (let's hope my Spanish and my energy is up to the task of translating for that big of a group!).

I ask that you please pray for my team and for me as we work with our Salvadoran brothers and sisters. I also ask your prayers that we will all remain healthy.

Peace,
Abby

(I'm bringing my Kiri Shawl that I've been working on. It's beautiful- and I hope to finish it this week. I'm also bringing dishcloth yarn to make presents there.)

It's been too hot to knit

2007-06-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks the weather has kept me from knitting in earnest. I finished off my Dulaan items and sent them to Flagstaff, Arizona. I ended up with 3 adult hats, 1 child's hat, and 1 pair of child's socks.

As if the universe knew I was done with my commitment to charity knitting, my colleague Wendy invited me to take part in the knitting of rainbow scarves which will be used at the churchwide assembly in August in Chicago. In a vile twist of fate, the organizers of this project chose nasty acrylic for the scarves. I hate acrylic, but I'm knitting away for the cause, because I believe in it. I'm nearly done with one scarf. I'm using a k2tog, yo pattern which is going diagonally. It's nice and airy, so hopefully no one will smother while wearing a scarf of mine. It is Chicago in August, though, so there is cause to wonder.

I also knit a few rows on the big afghan. I'm midway through ball 9. Only 3 and 1/2 balls to go.

The past couple days we've had storm after storm, and the temp has finally dropped to 65 today. We'll be having soup and I'll be knitting tonight. Woohoo!

In non-knitting news, Will and I have acquired a housemate. Kim is doing CPE here in Toledo, and she and her dog Sophie were seeking a place to stay.

Pizza night!

2007-05-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Will is in New England visiting family, so tonight, when I made pizza (one of our favorites) I didn't have to make any adjustments for his sensibilities. I made a whole wheat dough (almost completely whole wheat, hardly any white flour), with lots of toppings (Will likes sparser pizza) and I didn't eat the crust (which he always does and I usually give him mine).

He won't be back until Friday, so I have the house to myself for the week. I've been reading, listening to the radio, and knitting. I've also been working a ton.

In the knitting world, I've cast on for a hat for Dulaan. It's in 3x3 ribbing all the way (I've never done a hat like that, but I think it will be nice). It will also be fast, which is good as the deadline is soon.

I've also been working on Sarah and Bruce's afghan. I finally got through ball #8. There are 12 balls, so I'm 2/3rds of the way through. It's already huge, so I'm not sure if I can finish it this summer. It's hot and humid here today. I think I'll have to save it for days when it is stormy and cold.

Gay Wedding in Massachussetts!

2007-05-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Boston, MA celebrating my friend Branden's wedding. It was so great. The wedding was very beautiful, the music was phenomenal (to be expected when one of the grooms is an organist), and seeing all of our friends from college was great.

I spent most of my knitting time on dishcloths. I put together a set for the grooms and then also one for the household of the people we stayed with (friends of Will's from high school). I knit a couple in star stitch, one in garter stitch, and finally did something in the feather and fan pattern.

I knit the feather and fan one at the Red Sox game on Saturday, just before the wedding. We saw a few home runs, including a grand slam. The sox beat the braves 15-3. It was awesome. Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched for the Sox. I think we can conclude that he is a great addition to the Sox bullpen. And I think we can also conclude that the Braves were definitely experiencing pitcher envy (as their bullpen sucked on Saturday).

I did finish the 4th Dulaan item while in Boston. One more to go and then I'll ship them off.

Now that I'm back, I'm working on Pentecost planning (this Sunday already-eek!), unpacking, doing laundry, and getting ready for El Salvador.

Dulaaning along (and also sewing)

2007-05-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Who knows why, but last night after confirmation, I came home to an empty house and pulled out a project I've been intending to work on since August. It's not knitting, but rather sewing. For our second anniversary, I got cotton for curtains at our place this year. Will and I wanted a home, not a temporary apartment for the year. Well, we have a temporary apartment, but I'm making it into a home. Will painted accent walls in the living room around Christmas time. Now I'm making curtains at only 2 months until we leave. But we will leave this apartment in better shape than we found it. I can only hope that the next tenants will enjoy the colors as much as we do.

I cast on for another hat last night at confirmation. This hat is intended for Dulaan. This is item number 4 of 5, with one month to go before the deadline. This is a very reasonable amount of time.

Hospital knitting and other tales

2007-05-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

I got a call this past week from my stepdad Tom saying that his mom, my step-grandma Betty, who had been in the hospital with double pneumonia, had taken a turn for the worse.

It's hard for me to talk about Grandma Betty without mentioning how much she rocks. She's in her 80's and she gardens, sews (she made my wedding dress), and cooks. She was a home ec teacher for years and she keeps house like nobody's business. She grew up on a farm, married a farmer, and raised 2 kids on a farm. Even though I'm not blood related, Grandma Betty adopted me in to the family, and she always made me feel welcomed and loved. Will and I were so happy to get to spend Easter with her and Tom this year, especially since her husband of some 60 years died in September.

So yesterday I drove down to Fort Wayne with Will to see Grandma Betty. When she was awake, she was still herself and could connect things and answer questions. She couldn't talk because she had a mask on and it was supplying her with oxygen. But the machine wasn't cutting it and they decided to put her on a ventilator.

My little sister has flown in from Hungary. My stepbrother has come in from Wyoming. Even my mom (who's not actually still married to my stepdad) came in to say her goodbyes. I'm not sure if the vent is going to make things better or not (actually, I'm pretty realistically thinking it's not. Once you're on a vent, it's hard to be weaned off of it), but everyone is getting to say goodbye.

I'm so lucky that I was able to be there to sing for Grandma Betty, to pray with her and her family, and to support Tom and his sister. I'm so grateful to be able to do that.

I knit on some Dulaan knitting while at the hospital.

Today, I went up to Ann Arbor and then bought plants for the garden. I put in some lemon thyme, Italian parsley, basil, oregano, and planted seeds for purslane, beets, zucchini, cucumber, and marigolds.

And I'm making a very late dinner of eggplant curry.

Total Knitting Time?

2007-05-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

This morning, my partner packed the car and zipped off to Grayling, Michigan to fish the Au Sable river. He loves to fly fish, and he's been dreaming of this trip almost constantly since last Fall. I hope he has a great time and that it doesn't rain too hard.

Back at the ranch...
I have church council tonight. And staff meeting tomorrow. And text study today. And intern committee tomorrow night. And tonight, after council, I may have some extra time to myself. (Although, if it goes too late, I may just read and then go to sleep. We'll see.)

All of these meetings, which total about 7 or 8 hours in the next 48, means that I have some wicked good knitting time ahead of me. That is, assuming that my thumb problem eases up.

Last week, I did some seriously good knitting, cranking out some fo's like nobody's business. My right thumb was a bit sore, but I didn't think much of it because sometimes your fingers get sore when knitting for extended periods of time.

But the soreness hasn't really gone away. It has eased, but it is not all gone. I'm a bit afraid that if I knit long and hard today and tomorrow that I will damage the thumb more.

I am a continental style knitter, so if there are any tips about how to relieve that affliction, I'd welcome them.

In the meantime, I'll be casting on for some thick and warm wool socks for Dulaan. That and working on the "first sweater".

Retreat, retreat!

2007-05-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I returned from the Ohio Lutheran Clergywomen's Retreat (at Camp Mowana Retreat Center) to find that one of my colleagues had given me and Will a pair of free tickets to a Nora Jones concert at the historic Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. Will made reservations for dinner at Zanzibar in Ann Arbor and off we went. It was delightful. We had a very nice dinner (mussels in red curry sauce to start, arugula salad with shaved fennel, beets, and goat cheese, and sea scallops and pappardelle pasta with saffron cream sauce... mmm). And the concert was great. Will had to go to work at 11, so we had to leave at 9:30, before the show was over, but it was still great. We only knew Nora Jones' first album, so we enjoyed listening to new stuff. We also heard M. Ward whose song Chinese Translation I had heard on Frontier Airlines when I had flown to San Francisco last month.

At the retreat, I was in good company. 4 of the 11 of us were knitters, including my friend Kelly. Kelly and I roomed together and talked until 2:30- oops!

The new bishop from Northeast Ohio was there also, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. She was down to earth and very funny. I loved hanging out with her and getting to know her. If I didn't have such strong ties in the West, I'd love to have a call with Bishop Eaton as my bishop.

Today, Saturday, has been a day of laundry and cooking and baking. I did 3 loads of laundry this morning and this afternoon I made carrot cake, cinnamon raisin bagels, chocolate banana bread, fresh pasta, and homemade tomato sauce. Dinner totally rocked and now I have stuff to last for the week. Oh, and I went to the store also somewhere in there.

About our local grocery store:
We live in a very diverse part of Toledo, and our local grocery store caters a lot to soul food. It's funny, because shopping becomes a cross-cultural experience. I can get cooked chitlins, but I can't get fresh bread. I can get pork fat back for beans, but I can't get prosciutto. For the most part, we do find basics there. We also shop mostly at Trader Joe's and Costco in the Ann Arbor area and supplement with stuff from our local grocery. I cannot wait until the farmer's market begins on Saturday. Hurrah!

In knitting news:
I finished a pair of socks for Dulaan. At the retreat, I also cast on and finished a hat for Dulaan. It feels good to have 2 items done, and I'm wondering if there is interest to have a Dulaan-a-thaan here in Ohio. No one has responded, so I don't know. My LYS has said they would be willing to host, I just have to give them the word. We'll see.

Planting

2007-05-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I spent some good time out in the Peace garden here, weeding. I gardened with Judy, who went to the Yarn Harlot event with me, and with her friend Sveya, who is a master gardener. We did excellent work.

That got me thinking about the vegetable garden in the back of the yard. No one has done anything with it for a long time, so today I went to Phoenix Foods, our local food co-op and purchased some High Mowing Seeds. I bought seeds for a gourmet lettuce mix, arugula, carrots, sugar snap peas, and shell peas. I'm pretty excited, even though we won't be eating any of this until at least mid-June. Oh, well. Here's hoping they grow really fast!

I didn't plant all the seeds I bought. Really, who ever does? But I will plant again in two weeks so that the harvest continues. We won't necessarily be here to enjoy the yield of all the work we do this year, but that's kind of like paying it forward.

In knitting news, I'm working on 4 projects. I'm working on a pair of Dulaan socks, out of Dale Baby Ull. They're yellow, and will have blue toes.

I'm continuing on Sarah and Bruce's big afghan (the Lily Chin reversible cable afghan).

I'm working on the first sock of green alpaca in the Zokni pattern. Beautiful.

And I've cast on for my first sweater- again. I knit a full sweater and then hated it enough to frog the whole damn thing. And so I did. And now I'm knitting it again, now that I am a wiser knitter. I am to the waist on the back. We'll see how long it takes me.

And I have purchased the yarn for my Sock Pal's socks (due in August). I haven't decided on a pattern yet.

Dulaan-a-thaan?

2007-05-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

I spoke with one of the owners of my LYS and he said he'd check, but anticipated there'd be no problem in hosting a dulaan-a-thaan at the store. We might also check into having at a local church...
This would be in Toledo, before the Dulaan deadline...

New knitting books

2007-04-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

My birthday is in the beginning of April. And yet, it is the holiday that just keeps on giving.
This week I received a package from my mother-in-law, via Amazon. It contained 2 books- Vogue Knitting and Knitting Rules! by the Yarn Harlot. Now, I have long coveted Vogue Knitting- simply because I needed some basics all in one place. Plus it as a bunch of ways to do things- like 7 different ways to cast on. And it's all clear. I'm pretty excited. I've already been learning things.

The second book was the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules!. I read it a while ago, but had borrowed someone else's copy through bookcrossing. It's pretty funny, but it also has lots of good tips for knitting, such as ratios for hats, socks, etc. so you can make up your own patterns.

In Finished Objects News, I have cast on and cast off a pair of beautiful socks. Last week, I stopped into my LYS to replace a dpn that had broken. When I left, I was carrying 2 skeins of credenza (I think that's what it's called). It was gorgeous. 100% merino, in stunning colors. I cast on on a Wednesday. I was done with the socks on Sunday. I know that seems slow to most of you, but for me, that's great. I don't usually have that much time to knit.

I'm also a sock and a half into my first item for Dulaan. Hats next? I'm not sure.

Chicago Sox

2007-04-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today is the infamous April 15th. It may be a Sunday, so we all get an extra day to get our taxes in, but I will point out that it is mid-April. And this morning I woke up to snow on the ground. Real snow had accumulated. It wasn't enough that it covered the grass completely, but it was still there. I'm so tired of this season of winter. I'm ready for Spring!

Friday morning, Will and I got up early and drove to Chicago. We always have a great time on road trips together, and this was no exception. We travel extremely well together. After our trip, I always come away from the experience feeling grateful for my partner and for our marriage.

We went to Chicago so Will could attend a political science conference. But I went along so we could both have fun with our friends Alex and Karen. They are getting married in mid October. We're pretty excited for that.

They live right in the thick of things in downtown, so we had a lovely time. While Alex worked and Will went to the conference, Karen and I walked to find yarn stores.

Karen was not a knitter before this weekend, so we googled yarn stores. First we walked to the Chicago Fabric, Yarn, and Button Company on Monroe. It was not even worth the time, in my opinion. It was one of those old shops that has crammed far more merchandise into a tiny display than can be good for selection or organization.

We then proceeded to Loopy Yarns on 719 S State Street. It was wonderful. There was a great selection of sock yarns, which is what I was looking for to begin with, including Fleece Artist, Austermann Step, Tofutsies, Anne Schaefer, and a bunch more. I found alpaca fingering weight for 6.20 per skein, and 2 skeins to make a pair of socks. I bought 4 skeins, and I can't wait for the luxurious results. (Alpaca socks!!)

While we were at Loopy Yarns, I persuaded Karen that this was a good opportunity to learn to knit. I was in town, and she has this beautiful yarn store within walking distance, and she is new to the area, so she needs new friends. So she got some Lamb's Pride worsted weight, some Addi Turbos (another bonus of the shop, the Addis are about half the price than at my shop), and a simple hat pattern.

In Chicago, I knit consistently on Will's blue socks (which are self striping). I bought the yarn, which I believe to be cotton, at Skein Lane in El Cerrito, CA, sadly out of business now. They closed so the owner could have more freedom to travel and teach classes. The socks are now done, and Will is very pleased with the result. So am I. They are almost perfectly matched in the self-striping. I had thought to do fraternal twins, but I had to rip out almost 7 inches of knitting because I couldn't stand it.

Now we're home. I'm making lamb chops for dinner tonight and doing laundry. I'm trying to convince myself to knit on the afghan instead of reading a book or casting on for my alpaca socks. I also need to sew up some curtains for the bedroom. Now that Will is working the 3rd shift, he'd like less light in there in the morning.

Cabin Cove Knitalong update (and confession)

2007-04-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

A while back I signed up for the "Shut up and knit your cabin cove". It refers to the beautiful yarn of Cabin Cove Mercantile. If you have not yet knit with this yarn, you are in for a treat. April of the Weaving Inn gave me some (I won a contest on her blog. I love April.) It is luscious yarn. It is silk and merino and a creamy color. I love it. And I was saving it for a long time because, well, you know, it was fun to pet it now and again.

But I know it will be even better as socks.

The thing is that I chose an easy lace pattern for socks (from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, which I love also). It is the Child's First Sock, which has been adjusted for adult feet. But I wasn't sure if I would have enough. So I knit the first sock according to the pattern so I would be sure to have enough yarn.

I began on the second sock and knit all the way to the toe. It is now clear that there is plenty of yarn for both socks to be knit to my feet size, but I had already cast off the first sock. So I thought, "Well, no need to be greedy. Just give these to your sister (who is pregnant and deserves happy and pampered feet). You can always get more yarn." I even tried to tell myself that the color is not quite right for me. It goes with hardly anything in my closet anyway, right.

But I just can't bear to part with these socks. The yarn is so soft, and I'm so attached to it.

And so when I got to the toe of the second sock, I knit it to be my size. Sadly, something was going wrong at the toe. I would have weird numbers of stitches. I ripped back and knit- different number of stitches. Twice I did this. And then...

The last week of March, I was going on a week-long trip to California. I decided not to bring the socks (even though I would be seeing afore-mentioned sister) but to let them sit on the yarn bureau to think about what they had done.

Then I got home, having begun another pair of socks (for Will), which I'm now on the second sock for. It was Holy Week and the Yarn Harlot came to Ann Arbor, and I was busy. But now I'm starting to wonder- should the Cabin Cove socks be for me, or my sister?

You decide- leave me a comment, and I'll tally them up.

Holy Week is over! Halle-halle-lujah! (sung to the tune of neener-neener-neener)

2007-04-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, this week has been so long.
I'm so glad it's Easter.
That bears repeating. I'm so glad it's Easter.
Not only did Christ conquer death (good news!), but I'm done preaching and leading daily services for the next week or so.
I swear, the Easter sermon was a bit late in coming. "How late?" you might ask. Well, try 2:30am on Easter Sunday. Here's the tale:
Usually, my most effective sermon writing technique is to sleep. Now, this might surprise you, but my best stuff usually comes after I've done my studying up on the history, literary context, language tidbits, yadayadayada... And then I don't think about it at all. I go knit, I go bake, I cook, I go to the gym, whatever. And then I sleep. And when I wake up, something beautiful streams forth from my mind. Usually it is a sermon complete.
Now, I praught (if the past tense of "teach" is taught, why isn't the past tense of "preach", praught?) on Maundy Thursday. And that was fine. My brain is okay with one sermon per week. It percolates around that schedule, and if I moved up the days a bit, it was still alright. The problem came in having a second sermon in the week. I couldn't keep two texts like that in my brain. So I let the Easter sermon rest until after Maundy Thursday service.
So Friday came around. I woke up- no sermon. "Okay, that's alright," I thought. "I'll just take a nap." Still no sermon.
" Okay, don't panic,"I thought. There's always all of Saturday.
Saturday was also the day of the Easter Vigil, in which I sang the 4 page long Easter proclamation. That was fairly difficult for me as I kind of choke when I perform in public (probably one of the surest signs that I am truly an introvert). So I was pretty nervous about the singing. One thing about the sleep writing technique- it only works when I'm not stressed out. Otherwise I get nightmares instead.
So Saturday night after the Vigil I was exhausted. It had already been a long week, and I knew what was coming in the morning (an 8 am service and then Easter breakfast and then the 10:30 service with sermon- the sermon I didn't have yet).
So I went to bed right away, thinking I would wake up 8 hours later with a beautiful sermon.
Instead I woke up at 2:30am (maybe it was the Holy Spirit? God is known for not having the same timing as the rest of us) with a lovely sermon. I wrote it all down in the dark on the legal pad I keep next to the bed just for these purposes, but had to turn on the light for the final sentences. That was the end of the sleepiness. I was awake until 4am.
All this led to a barely coherent me for the 8am service. Oh, well. At least the sermon turned out fine.
Will and I drove to Indiana for Easter dinner with my ~~ex-stepgrandma~~ grandma and my stepdad. And I worked on the second sock for Will. But I also broke another bamboo dpn. I'm now down to 3 and a half. I think it's time to consider metal? Or perhaps the 2 circ method? I'm just not sure. We shall see. The yarn store is closed on Mondays, so I'll ponder it tomorrow.
Happy Easter, everyone!

Wherein the author of this blog meets the legendary Yarn Harlot

2007-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Palm Sunday. And it was also the day of the Yarn Harlot's visit to Ann Arbor. Now that was good times!
On Sunday, I had planned that directly after church I would change, grab some lunch, and go. I did invite a parishioner to come with me (she knits during church- a clear sign of a Knitter). She did want to come, so I changed out of the clergy collar, grabbed some lunch, got in the car and found that we were low on gas. I had been out of town for the previous week (visiting friends from seminary and my sister), so I was not on the "Does the car have enough gas" wavelength. Add 10 minutes. We stopped to fuel up, but the pump's credit card swipe thingy was out of order. Add 5 minutes.
Finally we (Judy and myself) got on the road. Judy remembered a shortcut, but because of the bridge constructions, it was closed. Add 5-10 minutes as we circle back and go the long way.
We drive up to Ann Arbor, behind numerous slow vehicles, driven by clearly selfish drivers who only want to drive in the left lane, even though they are only going the speed limit. (Inner dialogue: "What do they think they're doing? The left lane is for speeding. Damn, I'm going to be late seeing the Harlot. I'm going to miss the event. I wonder if I tail them if they'll get the hint and pull over") You should know that I am not usually one to tail someone. This shows the extremity of my anxiety to get to the Harlot's event.
Finally we get to Ann Arbor and find the library, only to realize that the public parking lot is full! We drive around, trying to find parking, get screwed by pedestrians who take their sweet time crossing, one way streets that will not let us get to where we want to go, and a usually functioning entrance to the parking garage that was converted into an exit. We were not thwarted in our mission, however. We arrived at the library at 2:15.

On the way, we saw all these people with pink bags.
Turns out the pink bags were from Busy Hands, the closest LYS in Ann Arbor. We were informed by people with pink bags that the Yarn Harlot had been delayed by 2 hours.
We decided to enter anyway, claim a place, and knit awhile.
It was packed! And no one was leaving. So we sat on the stairs and had an impromptu knitting circle. It was great. The booksellers had free chocolate (God bless them) and we all had yarn. We just sat there, knitting, grateful for the time to work on a sock or two.
Also, because it was April Fools' Day, the library was hosting a Feast of Fools. The kids made hats and then modeled them for us. That was pretty fun, too.
Finally, around 4:30ish, the Yarn Harlot appeared. She was great. It was definitely worth waiting for.
And then she signed everyone's books and even someone's spinning wheel. She took a picture of me because the next day was my birthday. I got to hold the sock!

Afterwards, Judy and I went to Busy Hands and I picked up a sweater's worth of Malabrigo worsted weight. It's purple and beautiful and soft. And it was on sale for a little under $8 per skein.
At the yarn store, we met Nia, who had also come for the event, but she came by herself. The three of us went out to eat at Palio's and had a lovely time.

A beautiful day all around!

My monthly post

2007-03-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

So it seems that I only get around to posting about once a month these days, if that. Since I'm probably the only one reading this, that's probably okay.

Knitting continues. My Cabin Cove Mercantile stuff is almost knit up into a pair of socks (and a lovely pair they'll be, too), but they've been stalled by the arrival (and the subsequent knitting up of) much yarn for the Lily Chin reversible cabled afghan. I'm loving it. I'm on the 6th skein of 12. And I love it so much that I can't wait to knit some more.

Next week I'm going to San Francisco to see my seminary ladies. We're going to the beach. And I'll see my sister and her family.
And while I'm in the Bay Area, I'm getting my hair cut. Why is it that I can't quite bring myself to trust anyone here in Toledo with my hair? I've let a random Roman hairdresser cut my hair (and no, my Spanish did not help me communicate with her or her minions). But I won't let anyone in Toledo come close with scissors. Maybe it is because it took me so long to recover from that time in Rome. But I digress.

When I get home from SF, it will almost be my birthday (Which reminds me of Charlotte on Making Fiends). And the Yarn Harlot is coming to my region, having a reading in Ann Arbor on Palm Sunday. So directly after church, I will be going up to Ann Arbor. It will be a good day, I can tell already.

Alright, back to the Lily Chin afghan. I must finish this thing before it gets hot and humid here in Ohio.

Toledo+Winter=COLD

2007-02-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

You'd think that I would have anticipated it. I actually did. I packed my wooly sweaters (2 cardigans, one jumper I bought in the Aran Islands), my long underwear, and my knitting needles (for the odd scarf or hat).
But for the longest time, it was just windy and what I thought was cold. I now know that Winter is in earnest. She was teasing before.
It has been below freezing for over a week. We live in a house that is over 100 years old. This means that our house is cold.
We have the heat on. But even so, I am wearing my long underwear, my jeans, and a wool sweater over that. And I am still cold. The sweater even has a hood. My head is covered, therefore I should not be cold. And yet I am.
Now, I know I am a wuss. I know that I am not as hardcore as Lene
Nevertheless, I am cold. I have been knitting socks like crazy, but I'm being seduced into mittens or gloves, or maybe just those wrist warmers. I'm succumbing.

To return to my hooded sweater... Yesterday, after surveying the limits of my cold weather wardrobe and realizing that a)I am sick of wearing my heavy sweater (which I still love, but I just want a rest from it), and b)the temperature does not seem to be rising, Will and I went on a small shopping excursion to our local Goodwill. And let me tell you about the beautiful finds there. I bought a merino sweater (the one with the hood), which is now helping me to stave off hypothermia. I also bought a turtleneck sweater, also out of merino. And then I got a turtleneck that was an acrylic/nylon/wool blend... but soft enough to wear. And, this is the best part, then I found a cashmere sweater. It's pretty and blue and it fits. And it was $4.50. Yes, $4.50. Not even five bucks. There was another one but it had a hideous collar and wide waste band. I hate that. So the blue came home with me while the pink stayed behind. I just wish I could have found some wool slacks. I could do with a pair of those about now.

And now I'm off to drink some licorice tea from Stash. It's pretty yummy. (even though I usually hate licorice)

After a brief 2 month pause...

2007-01-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

Alright, so the pause wasn't so brief.
All of a sudden, it was Thanksgiving, then Advent, then Christmas, New Year's, and then all sorts of continuing ed. It has flown by. I can't even believe that it's Candlemas on Friday.

The knitting- it has flown by also. Since I last blogged, I believe that I have knit several things...

Oh, and on Dec. 1, I was in a major car accident... from which I walked away. And then bought yarn to commemorate how all of us lived and were more or less okay (biggest injury sustained by anyone in the car: broken collarbone from the seat belt). Pretty amazing for the 5 people in a car that rolled over at highway speeds.

So the knitting I've done since November:
I knit blue socks for my little sister and sent them to Hungary for Christmas
-little yellow socks for my nephew who turned 2 in December
-beautiful socks for ML out of Lorna's Laces in the Citron pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
-A hat and scarf (for myself) (I think that's since then... not sure)

I forget what else I've knit. It's been good times.

Last week I went up to Grand Rapids, MI to Mars Hill Bible Church where Rob Bell is one of the pastors. That was pretty awesome. There was a conference on the church. The theology was so spot on that I was blown away. I hadn't expected that a church that size in suburbia would be so progressive. But it was. And it made me reconsider my vow never to serve in a mega church. I might do it if it were like Mars Hill.

Finishing: the class and the hat

2006-11-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day off (hooray!) and so I spent some of it at my LYS. I cast on for a cardigan, but really, I cast on the wrong amount of stitches, and so it was just practice, or a meditation in knitting.

One of the owners of my LYS conducts a choir, and last night they had a performance at Trinity Episcopal in Toledo. The music was beautiful, the church was stunningly gorgeous. And I sat in the last row and cast on for a hat. I had purchased 2 skeins of Noro Silver Thaw, color number 2 back in the early part of summer when I had been in Massachussets. I now have a hat, knit in the Ann Norling Spiral Rib Hat pattern. It's quite lovely and warm. I finished it today in the car on the way to Ann Arbor.

On the way home from Ann Arbor, Will dropped me off at the yarn store for my finishing techniques class. You heard it here first: Wayne Anthony is a knitting genius! He did all sorts of math and figured out ratios for proper Jade stitch sleeve sewing. It's beautiful. And everything lies flat in the end (as it should). I learned a ton, and now I'm really glad that I didn't start that sweater for real, because I'm going to alter my previous plans.

Will made sushi tonight. I love the fish we can get at Monahan's Fish Market. It's always lovely to get their chowder (whatever the daily special is) and sit and chat with Mike Monahan, who is delightful. And then we drive home and Will makes something special. The sushi was great today.

Ah, I am slain

2006-11-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today marks my death in Sock Wars. It's been a good time. My socks were almost completely knit by Sock Wars assassin Yarmando.
I am wearing my socks right now.
This is the second pair of hand knit socks that I have ever owned.
I had a pair in college that my freshman year roommate's mom made for me for Christmas. They were in the colors from the Dr. Seuss book _Oh the Places You'll Go_, a classic for any college student. Sadly for me, the washing machines had a history of eating socks, which I did not realize. My most notable casualty, discovered during midterms of the Spring semester, was one of the pair. The remaining sock, still beloved, became a whiteboard eraser that lived on my bulletin board on my door for the rest of my college days. I think I still have it somewhere in a box from my college days.

Thanks, Don!

Sock wars and Socktoberfest

2006-11-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

On sockwars:
I have now sent off the socks for Force of Nature, my second target. As soon as she receives her pretty pink socks, she will be dead. Rest in peace, and enjoy your socks!

On socktoberfest,
I have to say that I never signed up for Socktober, but I have been knitting socks. I completed the pair for sock wars, and have knit sock one of the Christmas socks for my MIL. I also cast on a sock for my little sister for Christmas. I'm to the foot on that one.

Also, even though I'm on a yarn diet, I bought 2 bags of yarn from another member of my knitting guild. She had owned a yarn store, but has closed it since. So I got some plain white cotton/nylon blend and some plain black cotton/nylon blend for two cardigans. I'm still trying to finish the swatch for the white, which will be the first one to be knit up, I think. I'm in desperate need of a new white cardigan because the one I have is wearing out.

So the knitting continues.

Yesterday I was at a workshop called "Orienting to Ministry" and I knit the whole way through. It was with a bunch of pastors, mostly from rural settings. I think I surprised them, because knitting seems so demure, yet I told them that I was knitting for sock wars. I suppose death by sock sounds a little more violent than most people's picture of grandma knitting. But I bet that grandmas can get mad, and one must always be careful around people who routinely have pointy sticks with them.

Knitting with stretchy yarns

2006-10-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,
A while back, my mother-in-law revealed a shocking piece of information. While my mother-in-law loves to knit, she is allergic to wool. Oh, the horror!
At the time, I was working on my mother's beautiful koigu socks. Koigu is made from merino, but it doesn't feel like wool. Not at all. Nevertheless, Jane (my MIL) stated her opinion that it was still scratchy (I'm really hoping that this wool allergy is not hereditary*).
Yet, being a thoroughly converted sock knitter, I still wanted to knit socks for Jane.
I found this delightful cream colored yarn- a cotton-lycra blend. It was stretchy and soft, unlike most cotton. I decided to purchase the yarn, intending socks for Jane.

I've started the socks, and friends, it is not pretty. The yarn is pretty enough in color and texture, but it stretches horribly. Which makes getting gauge impossible. I'm unsure if the socks will even fit her. Here's hoping, though, because I am loathe to frog the whole sock that I now have down to the middle of the foot.

I'm working on a cabling pattern, too, which complicates things in unanticipated ways.

I knit on the socks while I was in New York for my sister-in-law's wedding. It was beautiful, by the way. And the lace shawl that my MIL made for my SIL turned out to be gorgeous. It is definitely heritage knitting.

*Perhaps there should be a questionarre for potential marriage partners that includes the question: Does anyone in your family have a wool allergy?

Coming out of the haze

2006-10-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

For you knitters out there, no, I'm not referring to Kid Silk Haze.

But for all of you adventuring people out there, I am speaking of the haze that one finds oneself in when in a foreign land. If you are confused by my term "foreign land" because you remember that I am in Toledo, then let me explain.

The North End of Toledo, where I live, is not like other places. Yes, we have stop signs and homes and even churches, but the North End is a place apart. I have never lived anywhere like it before. The paradoxes are myriad. Homes that look nice have no electricity- not because the wiring isn't there, but because there is no money to pay the bill. Children refuse to go to school, not because their homework isn't done (no one would give out homework anyway because students won't do it), but because their clothes don't look right.

Anyway, I'm writing this to say that I'm finally starting to see things a bit more clearly. Or at least it feels that way- like when a fog starts to burn off. I'm coming into the sunny days, even if the rain pours in real life.

On a fibery-goodness note, I completed my socks for Sock Wars 2006. I finished them at the Ohio ELCA Clergywomen's retreat at Our Lady of the Pines retreat center in Fremont, OH. It was very pretty there, and I made a friend. Kelly is a pastor in NE OH, which kind of sucks because she's far away. But I was delighted to meet her, so I hope we'll see each other soon.

The bad news is that my target has not emailed me with her address. So I have 2 socks, all done up and nowhere to go. I suspect that my target is being sneaky and refusing to send me her address so that she will not die.
I hope that Yarn Monkey will email me instead so that I may kill my target properly, before my assassin gets me.

In other fibery-goodness news, I'm almost done with another Christmas present. You heard me, I've got almost 2 done! With the amount of people in my family, though, that's not too great. I've got to get crackin'.

Sock Wars have begun, en guarde!

2006-09-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

My pointy sticks are out and the wool is flying fast! Beware, Sock Wars have begun!

With some minor glitches at the beginning of Sock Wars, I have finally obtained the pattern (that actually happened yesterday, but hey, I've been knitting).
I am knitting for a person named Henke.

Most of you will know that I am a fairly well traveled person. You might also recall my interest in linguistics. Imagine my surprise when I saw the name and realized that I cannot figure out if my target is male or female.

Using my training in linguisitics, I have guessed that Henke of German origin.

And I am guessing that Henke is a woman.

But I could be very wrong.

Why does this concern me?
Well, I am getting to the end of the foot of the first sock, at which point I must decrease. I do not want to decrease too soon and have too small a sock. Yet, I do not want to go with a sock that will be too big either. I need a definitive answer, and soon.

Cold weather=sweater desire

2006-09-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was downright chilly. I never checked the temperature, but I could feel the need for a light sweater. The organist at church was wearing her mother's handknit shawl, which was beautiful, and that reminded me that I have a shawl that was given to me my Will's mother. It had been her mother's, but no one else was likely to actually use this shawl. It is made of acrylic and has a couple missed stitches. I actually take comfort in that. It means that Will comes from non-perfectionist relatives, and this is a good thing.

It was cold last night in the house, enough that it was great to snuggle under our down comforter. Today, the cold air that remains is making me itch to cast on a sweater. I keep thinking of that cone of cashmere in my stash. But I have promised myself to reknit my purple sweater, which is more for Fall and Spring. What is keeping me from that is that I have to knit up 5 swatches for a class on seams and finishing techniques at my LYS this Saturday. I don't know what's going to come up between now and then, so I've been knitting the swatches sooner rather than later. But knitting stockinette like this is hardly captivating. At least the yarn is a pretty light green wool. I'll be unraveling those swatches after the class and knitting up a little felted something with this skein, I'm thinking.

I found a great knitting blog this morning. Nurinkurin is a Finnish knitblog. I just LOVE how Anna takes risks with her knitting. She's quite bold. Her blog is good times.

What a week: In which I explain why I'm so darn crabby

2006-09-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I've been reading emails from my colleagues who are also on internship. They talk about how they don't really know what to do, how they have so much free time right now. I read these emails and wonder what parallel universe they must be on.

This Spring, I thought about packing up all my books. I specifically packed books that I would like to read on internship. People said: you'll be bored for the first couple months and then you'll also have no friends, so bring your books. You'll need them.

Happy me, these things are not true.

This Sunday, I'll be preaching at Salem for the first time. I'm absolutely thrilled. I've been letting this sermon percolate, I've been waiting patiently for the goodness to drip through the filter and present me with a lovely sermon. But it is slow going. I'm preaching about how labeling people makes them into "others" and that those divisions don't exist in God's eyes. There's so much division and people labeling their neighbors as "others" here that I don't even know where to focus. That's the flip side to having a diverse neighborhood and a successful outreach effort.

So yesterday, Friday, my normal day off, I set aside for working on my sermon and catching up on my to do list because I had been neglecting it in favor of a million meetings and other more pressing tasks.

Instead of conquering the list, I only got through some of it. My number one task of "sermon", did not get done. Today is Saturday, which I had hoped would be my day off. Instead, I am working on my sermon.

Will is canning in the kitchen. He's making more sauce and trying his hand at salsa today. But I'm too darn crabby to be in a hot kitchen today. For now, he is content.

Yesterday, I thought it might be helpful to switch to another task for a while. So I took my first sweater down to my LYS (which still rocks, by the way) and frogged the whole thing.

YES, I FROGGED the WHOLE sweater. Happily, while I was there, I made some new friends. I could spend a lot of time down there. Did I tell you that there's a bakery a couple doors down?

So my first sweater is now numerous balls of yarn waiting to be cast on with a new design. Rick, one of the owners, suggested doing the sweater in reverse stockinette because it will show off the mottled effect more of the yarn. We will see.

This weekend is the Greek Festival here in Toledo. In fact, the festival is just a few blocks away, in our neighborhood. This means we can hear traditional Greek music until Midnight again tonight. Last night we helped with the parking (an annual fundraiser), and some of our youth were to show up at 10. When no one came, we called around and some other youth showed up at 11. That was way awesome of them, particularly since they're working again tonight. I feel like baking them a cake in thanksgiving.

So let's recap on the schedule:
Friday: get some little things done, attempt sermon, frog whole sweater (for hours), and help at Greek Fest until 11pm
Saturday: wake up at 7 to go to the Farmer's Market downtown. Attempt sermon, blog instead. Reject canning.
Sunday: Preach.

Wish me luck. Or pray that the Holy Spirit will give me words to speak.

By the way, my turnips that I planted in August are coming up and will need to be thinned soon. Yippee!

Adventures in Tomato Land

2006-09-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today, Will and I revisited my childhood by canning tomatoes. Granted, we only canned 2 pecks (1/2 bushel) of tomatoes and ended with 10 quarts and 3 pints, plus a little left over, so it's not nearly to the scale that my mother would can with my sisters and me. We used to can for hours, late into the night.

We started out with our Squeezo, with the medium screen. I wasn't sure how pulpy it would be. And it turned out to be pretty runny. So we switched screens, but it was still runny. Then I remembered that blanching tomatoes is super quick, faster than a minute. They go in for a little dunk. In and then out. And so I began doing smaller batches and then rinsing them afterward to loosen the skins. Perfection!

We ended up with a mix of tomato soup, whole tomatoes in juice, tomato sauce, and tomato puree. All of it has fresh basil in there because we like basil in our sauce, and there is just no way that I'm expecting to find fresh basil here this winter.

I may freeze some pesto next week, but I'm exhausted today. We were going to make eggplant parmesan for dinner, but forget that. We're going out.

A quick fiber update- another washcloth was born, this time a basket weave and some crochet finishing around the edge. This one looks more homely, thus encouraging Will to actually use it for dishes.

Also, last night we went to a Toledo Mud Hens game and had a great time. There were fireworks afterward. More importantly, I finished a pair of booties to send to my friend Blaire who just had her second baby.

LYS! Toledo Rocks!

2006-09-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

So if you've been listening to me at all these past 2 weeks, you've heard me mourn over leaving the Bay Area and how sad I am to be away from friends and community and fresh produce and my lovely yarn stores. I've been pretty sad. Well, that has changed, my friends.

Three things happened yesterday to Will and me that made us feel at home in Toledo.
1)Our new record player arrived in the mail. Our record player we had had for many years (bought during college- a cheap one from RadioShack) died on the move out here. Who knows if it was just ready to rest in peace, who knows if it just received one too many blows in the shipping. But when we tried to play a record while unpacking, it refused to oblige us. And so we bought a new one. Or we bought an old one that is now new to us. We are very pleased to be able to play our records again (yes, we have vinyl). We are listening to Edith Piaf right now- a record we bought in Ann Arbor last Friday when we were so very sad. At least, I was sad until I found a few Fairy Doors. It was good times.

On to the second thing that made us feel more at home
2) We found a Mexican grocery store. Back in California, we had a lovely local Mexican grocery store, complete with a butcher and small taqueria. We like to make our own Mexican food at home, and we own the tortilla press to prove it. But we did not transport our tortilla masa. Instead, we left it with friends (hey, Sara!). I expected to easily find a Mexican grocery. This one was not too far off the beaten track, and found it on day 13 of our Toledo experience.

Now, these are lovely things, but the BEST thing by far, the thing that has me the happiest to date in our Toledo experience is
3) I found my Local Yarn Store. And it rocks! I had googled yarn stores in Toledo, but the websites are not that revealing. In fact, the website for my lys does not do it justice. Fiberworks is not that far away (only about 15 minutes away, I think) and it has a lot of really great yarn. And they have a weaving studio there and- wait for it- they have spinning wheels- that you can rent! If the exclamation points aren't yet signifying for you, I am VERY excited about this recent development. I can't wait to knit down my stash so I can go buy yarn. And Wayne, who teaches there and who may own the store (I was too distracted by the yarn to remember to ask who owns such a lovely store) said I can come down to knit any time I want to, well, I'm sure he meant whenever it was open.
I've been wanting to learn to spin for a while now, and apparently, they give classes that start with the drop spindle and end on the wheel, which you can then rent out and try out at home. They have different kinds- an Ashford, I think, and some others which I didn't recognize yet.

Today, Will and I spent time devoted to other crafts. We got up early and went to the Farmer's Market (which is more "homegrown" than "organic", but hey, beggars can't be choosers). We bought 2 pecks of roma tomatoes, among our regular groceries. We are planning on spending Labor Day here canning tomato sauce. To that end, we drove to Indiana and looked in my mother's boxes which are eventually going to her in California where she just moved.
In the end, we were triumphant on several counts. We found the Squeezo in a box, as well as my baby trunk, some books of mine, and some pictures from my childhood.

During the car ride, I completed one bootie and one dishcloth. I am definitely suffering from Second Bootie Syndrome.

Last night was for finishing (or Damn, I wish I had a camera)

2006-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, Will's stripey socks were completed. Even though he has been present for most of the knitting, I have decided to put them away in the Christmas box for gifting at a later date. Hopefully he'll forget all about these nice wool socks so that in our cold December, he'll be delighted and surprised to find them under the Christmas tree.

Will has decided that handknitted socks may be the only knitted item he should be trusted with. Not only does he have ADD, which means he loses things very easily, but he is Italian in heritage, with the genetic predisposition to hair. So when I think about knitting warm fuzzy items for him, I always have to remember that I have to be prepared for the day when he'll come home without said fuzzy item with a sad look on his face. Let's imagine the conversation (based on previous conversations).
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"I'm really cold."
"What happened to your (insert fuzzy warm item that was handknit and, of course, cost much money and time)?"
"I'm not sure. I got hot somewhere and took it off. I meant to take it with me, but...."
"Perhaps we can track it down"

The search ensues, sometimes with results, sometimes not.

But Will has decided that socks will not be abandoned somewhere when he gets hot. After all, he can't very well leave a building barefoot, nor would he unconsciously sit down to take off his shoes and socks while in public. Doffing his hat, however, could and would happen easily.

Second Finished Object:
Garterlac dishcloth.
For our second wedding anniversary (cotton), I got Will some yarn and fabric. What? Why are you looking at me funny? No really. I got some cotton yarn for dishcloths and some fabric for curtains. We just moved into our new apartment and we promised each other that we would make this place into a home, even though we're only going to be here for a year.
And so I knit up a garterlac dishcloth in Sugar and Cream with blue, yellow, and white for our kitchen. Will says "It's so pretty I'm afraid to use it for dishes." But I am insisting that it be used for daily use, except, of course, for bacon greasy pans, etc.
I didn't have a size 7 needle, so I knit it on an 8, so it's kind of big, but I plan to remedy that largishness for the next one by going to my new LYS. The store is not new, but I'm new to it, so it remains my new LYS.

Right now I have nothing on the needles, and I have an urge to knit more socks. At the same time, I know that Sock Wars is quickly approaching, and if I start socks now, I must commit to having them finished and off the needles by then because I don't know what size needles I'll need. We shall see.

I could frog that entire sweater that I'm planning on remaking. I didn't like how it turned out so I redesigned it and I'm frogging the entire thing. But I wish I had a ball winder and swift for the rewinding of that yarn. I am not looking forward to that process sans swift and winder.

I could work a shawl. I have a couple of skeins in the stash that are designated for lace. I even have the pattern for Stephanie's snowdrop shawl printed off and in my pattern book. I have the needles and the yarn. But I have to admit that I cast it on and tried it and got really frustrated when I had to frog my efforts not once, not twice, but three times. At that point I gave up and knit a sock.

I also have some Noro for a hat and mitten set for me for the winter. I don't think I'd like Noro for a functional scarf. I'm anticipating that I will have to breathe through my scarf this winter and really use it like I used scarves in Minnesota. There, when the air is too bitingly cold, you put the scarf around not only your neck but also your face, covering your chin, mouth, cheeks, and nose up to the bridge. Then you pull down your hat, leaving a slit for the eyes. This is how you avoid frostbite or at least chapped skin from the wind and cold. For the last 3 years, I have knit lots of beautiful scarves, pairing them with cotton sweaters that I received as hand-me-downs from friends. I don't mind shopping in other people's closets (or even their leftovers). And so I've given my "new to me" sweaters some life by knitting fun scarves. But these scarves are not for true winters. Or at least, they are indoor scarves, to be worn with the sweater and then a coat over that with a hat and scarf on the outside. Anyway, a scarf out of Noro would be bad because it has such a high content of mohair, which means it is fuzzy and that means that I would be getting little bits of mohair in my mouth with every breath. Icky.
But I would like to make a hat and some mittens.

I await true inspiration to see what I will end up casting on.

Note to self

2006-08-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Self,
Regarding socks, please, no matter how smart you feel nor how much you feel you know the pattern, always check the number of stitches you should be left with at the end of your gussets. The "check no matter what" policy should insure that you never have an evening last night in which you got to the toe decreases on the second Stripey sock for Will and discovered that you were missing 4 stitches. As you will no doubt remember, this discovery led to the frogging of the entire foot of that sock, which you are beginning to loathe because of its never-ending qualities. As you eye new projects (especially those alluring garterlac dishcloths), remember that haste makes waste and skipping over the important step of reading the pattern (even if you think you know it better than your mailing address) can lead to much crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth. In short, avert disaster and frogging in the outer darkness by getting out the damn pattern.
With love,
Your Wiser Self

We're here!

2006-08-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

We set out early on Monday morning from Berkeley.
Yesterday afternoon, which was Saturday, we arrived in Toledo, Ohio. We have arrived at our new home.
In between, I decided to stick with knitting Will's striped socks, and I turned the heel of the second one on Friday. We were in Indiana visiting family during that part of the trip, and, unfortunately, since then I have not had time to knit. One of my goals yesterday was to actually get time to knit, but I was too brain dead to remind myself to sit down with my knitting bag.

We are living in the parish house of the church where I'll be working. The house is old, although we have new fridge and stove (gas- yippee!). We do have a working washer and dryer (in the kitchen, which I think a little strange), and we have a ton of furniture, quite a bit of which should go. There's just too much. So today after church, we'll be moving furniture to the attic (which needs a good cleaning) and then tonight when Amtrak opens at 8:30 (weird that they're open all night but not during the afternoon, eh?), we'll go get our boxes.

I got a tour yesterday, and the church itself is beautiful. It's an historic building, and I'll have to get some photos to show you all. Just beautiful.
The neighborhood is a little rough, just as I expected. But we feel safe in our house and the car is insured.
By the way, it is way humid here. Sometimes, I feel like I'm swimming through the air. Yuck.

I got some good photos (again with other peoples' cameras) on the way here, so sock pictures are forthcoming.

Gee's Bend Quilts and Suppenkuche

2006-08-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Last night was my last "ladies night" with my seminary women. And man, did we have a good time. Now, before you go thinking that we were out clubbing (not that some seminarians aren't all about that), think how San Francisco is hosting the Gee's Bend quilts.

Recently, Brynne of All This By Hand went to see the quilts when they were in Houston. She reminded me of these quilts which have been inspiring me for the last year. I have a stack of worn out corduroy pants and jeans to prove it (They're in my fabric stash now). You see, these quilts are not just the same patterns you have always seen (as gorgeous as they may be). Think crazy quilt and modern art and you will begin to imagine these quilts. The women of Gee's Bend used whatever material they had to hand and didn't use templates to make each quilt square the same. Rather, they started sewing things together in vibrant colors and using old work clothes and flour sacks. The quilts are beyond amazing.

Last night, I invited my friends Melissa and Sara to come see the quilts with me. We went out to the de Young Museum, which is in Golden Gate Park. Last year when I worked at UCSF as a chaplain, I would look out onto Golden Gate Park while I scrubbed into the Neonatal ICU on the top floor. You could see the de Young from there, as well as the Conservatory of Flowers. And I always meant to go, but I was so damned tired that whole summer. And so I finally went last night.

We had a wonderful time. We went after hours, so admission was cheap. We didn't have access to the collection but just to the traveling exhibits. But we got to see the quilts, which is what I really wanted to see.

Afterward, we went down to the Civic Center area and had dinner at Suppenkuche. It was loud, but the food was tasty. We ate sauerbraten, red cabbage, and spaetzle as well as amazing squash soup. Also, trout with this incredible cream sauce. Really, it was out of this world good. It made me want to ask my sister for our Oma's sauerbraten recipe.

I loved my evening with friends.

In other news, I have an FO- a felted bag that was commissioned by a woman I know. She saw my huge felted bag and wanted one herself. So I knit it this summer. It was crazy to knit a huge bag out of wool in the summertime, but I had to do it before I left. If I can find someone with a digital camera to lend me, I'll put a pic up.

Saying goodbye to San Francisco yarn shops

2006-08-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful yet sad day for me. I bid goodbye to Artfibers yarn store in downtown San Francisco.
A little more than a year ago, I had just gone to the fabric store and purchased some lavender colored linen for a skirt. But I was at a loss for what to pair my pretty new skirt with. My friend Sarah D convinced me that a sweater wasn't really all that hard and that I could knit one with a little bit of learning. And so, on her advice, I began looking at yarn that I might like. I found it at Artfibers. It was Phyz, in color 10, a varied purple that I really liked. The fiber was a cotton/nylon blend, so it worked well with my linen skirt to provide a Spring outfit.

I began that sweater immediately, but when I realized that I had read the directions incorrectly after doing all of the back and half of the front, I ripped back the whole damn thing and started over. I learned a lot and eventually finished the sweater. Unfortunately, when I had designed the sweater at Artfibers using their Knitscape softwear, I had had no idea what I was doing. The person working with me had suggested a number of things, which I had gone along with.

In the end, I had a sweater with 2 inches extra all around and a bit more in some strategic places. Can we say short rows for the bust next time?

I kind of wore the sweater but not really (because I hated it but really liked the yarn), and so I decided to reknit the sweater.

Saturday, I headed into the city, bringing the sweater with me. I redesigned it with the help of Keira, who works at Artfibers and has a background in costume design (she's awesome and way helpful). And while I was there, I also had to buy some of their Tsuki for a Yarn Harlot Snowdrop Shawl. I've knit with Tsuki before, making a simple but gorgeous drop stitch scarf. It turned out beautifully but I gave it to Sarah D for her 25th birthday. So now I have to knit a shawl. It will be my first foray into lace (besides those lace socks out of koigu).

Two other things:
I visited Imagiknit which was awesome and having a sale. I did not purchase anything because I had already purchased the tsuki.

I also heard that my lys is closing. Yes. I will have to dedicate another post to that soon.

Knitting at a concert

2006-08-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

Back in the days of my time at St. Olaf College, I was not much of one for rock concerts. I'm still not much of one for rock concerts. Give me a symphony, an orchestra, an opera, and I'm happy. But a rock concert is not on the top of my list for anticipated events. As such, I was rarely seen in the concert space at Olaf, called The Pause. The only night of the year that I really anticipated every year was the Michael Gulezian concert. Granted, Michael Gulezian plays acoustic guitar and that may have something to do with it, but it still means that I liked the Pause above all other places on campus for only one day of the year.

Last night, Will and I had tickets to see Michael Gulezian play in a very small venue- Schoenberg guitars in Tiburon, CA. It's a fantastic guitar shop, should you be wondering.

Michael Gulezian, my friend Heather who was visiting from Santa Barbara, me (knitting with sock), Will, and our neighbor and friend Alan.

The second pic is a closer look at the sock. I was working on the heel flap last night and am now up to the gussets today.

The third pic is of Michael Gulezian holding the sock with Heather holding the yarn.

So go, visit Michael's website. He is an amazing musician- and a fun person to hang out with. And he is knitter friendly.

Packing up the stash

2006-08-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I've been dreading. Today is the day that I pack up my stash of yarn.* I'm moving to Toledo, Ohio for a year of internship and my move day is on August 14th. I've been filling boxes for storage, for shipping, and for Goodwill. I've said goodbye to my books, some of them for a year. But today, I have to put the stash away in a box.

I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about shipping the stash. Granted, I've only recently become a stash person. I've always had little balls of yarn around as leftovers, but it was only this year that I started collecting yarn. Almost every skein has a plan to go with it (except for a couple), but I'm nervous about losing the stash in shipping. I have visions of that one box falling off of the train and tumbling down into a ditch, never to be seen again by a human being, least of all me. I fear yarn thieves who might spot my ~~hoard~~ stash of beautiful yarn. What if they open my boxes to inspect them, spot my noro and decide that the noro must come with them? What about my cone of gorgeous cashmere for my gray cardigan that I so desperately want to knit this Fall?

It's strange how little attachment I have to some things in my apartment, yet my yarn now means a lot to me. I have ideas for its usage. And I have dreams of filling my craft room next year with shelving for my stash and a rocking chair for knitting there.

I hope my yarn will meet me in Toledo.

*Rest assured, dear reader, that packing up the stash does not mean that I have nothing to knit. I am continuing the sock, as well as some booties, and I have a felted bag to finish before we go.

Berkeley Kite Festival

2006-07-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my partner went sailing with his dad, leaving me on my own for the day. I decided to go down to the Berkeley Kite Festival, which was fantastic. I borrowed my neighbor's digital camera (thanks, Katy!) and packed my sock in progress, which remains nameless. (If you have a suggestion for a name for these socks, leave a comment).
Here are the results of yesterday:

The (current) sock visits the Berkeley Kite Festival.Some of the Japanese kite flyers (Hamamatsu Tako) who were in town with their kites.

I also got some pictures of an astounding hat. Sighting this hat made me think, "What was this woman thinking? Who made this hat and what were they thinking?"
Alas, blogger is not allowing me to upload more pictures at the moment.
In the next post: Pics of my sock, pics of the amazing hat, and a little story about booties.

A crafting blog

2006-07-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

This first post feels rather intimidating. How can I make this brilliant, funny, witty? Apparently I can't, the pressure is just too high.

A bit about the origins of this blog:

I've been blogging on livejournal for about a year and a half now. And I'm more than a little bored with it. Thanks to my neighbor, I have found sites like the Panopticon, where Franklin introduced me not only to Dolores but also to the Yarn Harlot . And through the delightful Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, I have found so many others. And now I am addicted. I am addicted to knitting blogs.

I love how reading them stirs the creative juices. When I read them, I get excited about the possibilities of knitting. And then I realize I've wasted all this time reading, so I should just go grab my current Work In Progress (which, by the way, is a sock at this moment. Thanks, Stephanie!)

Now, you might wonder why I have no pictures (or very few). It is because I am without a digital camera. I know, I know. I can hear the gasps from here. I rely upon the kindness of those who do have digital cameras and the film developing team at Costco to convert my regular film to digital.

Why this dire situation? Well, I'm a grad school student. And I'm trying to be fiscally responsible. And, to be honest, I spent all the camera money on yarn. Can you blame me? I found this great cone of cashmere in New York for only $80. And then I found some Koigu. And... And... And... And so we find me, Abby, without a camera.

But please, stick with me. I am planning to purchase a camera in September when I am settled in my new home in Ohio. I figure it is best not to spend the moving money and our cushion of savings. You know, just in case there's an accident or something. I will try to entertain you with my literary prowess in the meantime.