Now, we didn’t buy much wine at all last weekend on our trip to the Santa Ynez Valley…
I had two other favorite parts of the trip: getting to eat at Chef’s Touch in Solvang for both lunch and dinner and visiting an organic lavender farm.
Monthly Archives for November 2007
Quick WIP Count
I haven’t done this in awhile and, as much as it pains me, it really should be done every month or so. The following is a list of all of my current WIPs and UFO’s and what their status is.
Evening Bag – Totally screwed something up with the short row shaping using the glittery yarn. This is sitting on a makeshift stitch holder in my storage trunk. Really need to bring it to my SnB to get some help (or encouragement to toss it).
Clapotis Deux – Maybe seventy percent done. I need to do two more straight row repeats then it’s off to the decrease rows. This will get picked up again when I go to Florida for Christmas (bamboo needles are easier to get onto planes though those of metal are technically allowed – love you, TSA!).
Jaywalker socks – I just got tired of working on these. One day I’ll pick them up and work on ‘em again. I’m still on the first sock, just before the incrases for the heel (it’s toe-up, remember).
Dishcloths for Matt – Hate, hate, hate this project. For some reason the basketweave thing totally drive me bonkers. I may never finish these. Anyone want my progress? Heh.
Tuscany in Silk – Up to nine repeats (or is it eleven?). Not much longer to go. I’ll probably work on this Saturday when I’m keeping Steph company at her craft show.
Tuscany in cotton – It’s still very small in size, maybe three feet across. I need to pick it up again and work on it or it’s never gonna get done before Christmas.
Danica – No, I haven’t officially said I’m working on this. I randomly decided to start it last Monday when I was sitting at home, trying to think of what to work on while Eshter was here (one of the Tuscany-s is for her). It’s up to about three feet already! Yes, yes – photos soon.
Ski Hat – From that Never Knit Your Man a Sweater book. Cast on yesterday and it’s driving me crazy (stupid K1 CA, K1 CB). This is getting put aside until at least after Christmas. Tiny yarn, tiny needles. Oh, it’s for my father-in-law.
Dad’s Christmas present – Uh, yeah. Still need to buy yarn. The LYS in Solvang didn’t have anything but Lamb’s Pride which would work for it and that stuff makes me itch. Really need to investigate a Knit Picks order ASAP or he’s guarenteed to not actually get anything hand-knit from me for Christmas (unless he wants socks in worsted weight acrylic suddenly).
Preparation
Matt will be traveling for work starting Tuesday. This means I am going to be very lonely for about a week while he’s away (and that I’ll be eating far too much take-out and freezer-based food). Prepare yourselves for lots of posting of the words “lonely” and “bored” repeated multiple times. I’m really hoping things will be better than the last time he went away; I can knit for longer periods of time now, I can do homework or study, I can stay at school longer, and I’ve got friends I can call up if I get bored. Also, I don’t have a weekend stretching out in front of me at the very beginning of his trip, like before.
How does anyone stand to do this on a regular basis? It’s only a week and I know I’m going to go bonkers!
Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by anleese
Ever had something happen that totally pissed you of when it happened yet there was this little voice in your head that let you know you’ll be laughing about it later? That was our Thanksgiving this year.
Starting Tuesday, our oven wasn’t working the best. When Matt was making dinner, the oven turned off randomly. The pilot just suddenly went out (and didn’t automatically re-light itself like it’s supposed to). He was able to re-light it but then Wednesday we figured out it was actually broken. After Matt all but crawled into the broiler to figure out what was broken we gave up and decided to move Thanksgiving to Amy’s.
We loaded up the car with the turkey and everything else needed to make dinner and headed to the Valley. Matt took over Amy’s kitchen and made the turkey (all-natural free range turkey brined the day before) and trimmings. While he cooked we talked, watched TV, and snacked. It was really nice to spend the time with our family and, well, I didn’t have to clean a single dish afterward. I took a bunch of other photos that you can see here. It’s nice to actually have photos of a family holiday as I don’t think a single photo has been taken at one since I was a little kid.
Sweet Smell of Vacation
I am free! Okay, it’s only until Monday but that’s nearly a week without school and meetings. I’ll ignore the fact that I have a French dialog test the day I get back. For now I will simply focus on the wonderfulness that is fall break. Lots of time to knit and spin (Julie gave me a brief lesson at school today) and just plain relax. I’m sure there’ll be lots of playing of the Wii; I can’t wait to get my father-in-law to try it out. He’s never really played video games before but the Wii is so active and easy to grasp for a beginner so I think he’ll like it.
Speaking of in-laws, they arrive tomorrow so we’re in the last wave of getting everything ready for their visit (hence the list I posted yesterday). Thankfully I get to sleep in a little before we head up to the airport to get them. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do all day but I do know I’m going to try to kidnap Esther and take her to my knitting group tomorrow night. I know she’d really like the ladies and could probably use a break from her husband (plus I really want to show off my finished Clapotis).
Sorry for yet another photo-free post. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday I’ll have some time to borrow Matt’s camera and take some photos of recent knitting progress (though no photos of Tuscany as one’s for Esther and she’ll be here). I’ve started a new project to keep me busy while they’re here and I’ll explain more about that soon. Let’s just say I drank the Kool-Aid.
The WPE
Note: I wrote most of this earlier, waiting for the test to start. Why I spent twenty minutes writing before I took a writing test, I don’t know. And no, I can’t tell you what my topic was though I’m happy to say it was something I have strong feelings and therefore had no trouble writing about.
No one likes coming to school on a Saturday. Some of us wind up there when our attempts at studying are fruitless but most people avoid campus like the plague. Yet here we all are, sitting on the floor along a hallway in LA5. We’re here to prove something which should have already been proven multiple times, that we have the ability to write a logical essay in the English language. Yet about a quarter of students (10% of native speakers) fail the test the first time. Didn’t we all have to prove our writing abilities to get into college? How did some of us manage to learn that ability merely upon entering university? Come on, I’m an engineering student and even I have at least a basic ability to state my views in writing.
Here’s how the test works: Once you complete 65 units (typically in your third year) you show up to take a test lovingingly nicknamed the Whoopie. You pay twenty-five bucks and give up two hours of your Saturday morning to prove you know how to write. You have seventy-five minutes to write an essay on a given topic. Finish writing early? Too bad, you’ve gotta sit there, staring at whatever is in front of you. No reading, leaving early, listening to music, or knitting; those are considered distracting or cheating.
At least it’ll all be over soon and (hopefully) I won’t be back here to do it again.
Test is done.. bring on the Beajoulais!
You know how you push everything aside when you’ve got a big work deadline or other event? With last week’s mid-terms I did that. The focus of my life became studying he properties of carbon steels. Then I took my test and all the anxiety went away. I couldn’t help but walk to my car with a smile on my face (okay, so maybe that was more because I kicked butt on the test). I spent the afternoon knitting and doing laundry. (Why does having all of my laundry clean make me so happy?)
All week I’d been looking forward to Thursday evening. Sure, my test would be over by then but we also had plans to go to a wine tasting with Will, Mary, Theresa, and Chris. Not just any wine tasting, but a special tasting of Beajoulais Nouveau. This young French red wine is released the same day each year and is marked by parties throughout France (and the US, to some extent). I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the ones we tried but there’s fun in knowing everyone else is having the wine for the first time, too (I kept comparing it to the release of Book Seven which resulted in many awkward silences). They also had coq au vin and French cheeses for us to sample; the guys probably made up the cost of the tasting with their cheese consumption.
After the tasting we were all hungry so we headed to Open Sesame, a local Lebanese restaurant. We waited for quite awhile for a table (stupid guy in his 50s wouldn’t finish his glass of wine to give us his table – 45 minutes to finish the last sip). I’m so glad we went there; chicken schwarma is now on my list of favorite foods. Take chicken and marinate it in “Lebanese spices” then wrap in up in a warm pita with garlic sauce. Plus it was better with my new finished Clapotis (still no good photos yet) helping to block the cold wind that came through the door each time the servers went out to the patio.
I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. My biggest worries are my writing proficiency test tomorrow, French quiz Monday, and getting the apartment ready for my in-laws’ (still odd to say that) visit starting Wednesday.
Opinions
So you know how I was going to keep my mom in the dark about her Christmas gift? Yeah, not going to work. Yesterday morning I started freaking out about whether she’s like the color, material, pattern, the entire idea of a shawl. I had her come online and showed her what a finished Tuscany looks like as well as the progress I’ve made on the one in cotton (originally for her) and the other in silk (originally for me). She likes them both which really doesn’t help as I like them both, too. My plan is now to finish them both and let her choose between them. The other will go to Esther. I can always make myself another out of the remaining silk after the holidays are over (using the needle set my mom has promised to buy me for Christmas).
So here’s what the one in cotton is look like about now.
And here’s the one in the silk I got in San Francisco.
I just hope I can get both done in time. Thankfully the silk one won’t really need blocking, just the cotton one (and I can do that while I’m in Florida if need be).
Louet Drop Spindle
Here’s the drop spindle I picked up at the fiber festival. I also got some fiber though the photos of that didn’t turn out so well. I’ve tried using it a couple times but to no avail. It’s really something you have to have someone teach you, showing you how your specific fiber needs to be handled. Or so I keep telling myself.
Got me some photo learnin’
Today Matt gave me an hour or so lesson in how to take better photos and how to process them in Photo Shop. Add this to my purchase the other day of a white poster board and I am a very happy camper. I borrowed his camera for two hours and shot a bunch of photos of my yarn and knitting projects. Here’s some of my favorite results. Look for a post in the next few days about the yarn I got at the fiber fest last weekend.
1. Lamb’s Pride Worsted from the swap
2. Tuscany, in the turquoise silk from ArtFibers
3. Knit Picks Gossamer in Rose Garden
4. Erin’s Clapotis (about 75 percent done!)
