Monthly Archives for July 2009

No Photo Post – Parental Visit Edition

Yes, lots of photo-free posts from me lately. Haven’t been much in the photo-taking mood despite having lots of things I should photograph. Things like all the FOs I have stacked on my desk at home, our newly cleaned and organized basement, or all the places we went while my parents were visiting the past few days. But, it’s okay, I’ll flood the blog with photos when I get my photo mojo back, even if I have to force myself to get back into it.

My parents have been here since Wednesday afternoon, having taken advantage of frequent flyer miles and the high volume of flights from Florida to the DC area. I thought they were coming Thursday but found out, via a comment my mom made on Facebook, that they were actually coming a day earlier. Oops! Lots of running around Tuesday to get the place cleaned up and a little coercing of my work schedule meant we were eventually prepared for their arrival. I took off half of Thursday and all of Friday and yesterday to spent some time with them. We’ve done quite a lot yet not much, all at the same time. I got to play tourist in my own backyard and celebrated the warmer temperatures by donning a tank top and shorts for the first time this year. We dragged my poor parents all over but here’s the highlights.

Glen Echo Park/Clara Barton House

It used to be an amusement park so there’s still a giant Popcorn concession stand, bumper car area, a hand-carved wooden carousel, a now-drained swimming area called the Crystal Pond, and a bunch of yurts. The park service bought the park in the 70s and now you’ll find artists selling their wears in the yurts, a photography gallery in the concession stand, a single streetcar permanently parked on the remaining 30 feet of tracks, and a carousel that only runs on weekends, and an overall odd feeling that you’re about to run into Jason from the Halloween movies. Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme but it was like we were in a place where the people all suddenly went missing. We did go on a Thursday afternoon and we weren’t the only people there but, yeah, I was creeped out beyond belief. I’d recommend going on a weekend to avoid the eerie factor. It’d be great for little kids and only costs $5 (on days they bother to man the gate).

Technically outside of the park is the Clara Barton House. Yes, the Clara Barton of Red Cross fame. She was quite the woman – opened the first public school in New Jersey, treated wounded soldiers during the civil war with zero medical training, and convinced the US to join the International Red Cross (in addition to convincing the IRC they should add natural disasters, not just war support, to their mission). Your visit consists of a tour of her home, designed after a Red Cross “hotel,” which was used not just for her and volunteers to live in but also a storage sight. I loved that all the hallways had giant storage lockers built into them – no lack of closets there! Tours run every hour or so and last 45 minutes. No AC but it’s worth suffering through. Find it just to the right after you enter Glen Echo Park.

National Museum of American History

The museum recently reopened after being closed for some time due to renovations. I never went before so I can’t tell you if things have improved, but I can state that the museum seems very friendly to visitors of all ages and backgrounds (they pay careful attention to the politics of their displays). It’s arranged by categories: Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Transportation, etc. I really enjoyed the Science and Technology section which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Matt, on the other hand, was into the “real” history portions, especially the one on the history of American wars. The museum is free, takes about three hours to walk through, has the usual high quality Smithsonian signage/layout/design, and has a lot of, well, great American History pieces. As with anything free in DC, get there early to avoid crowds though we didn’t find many on a Saturday morning in the summer (though we did skip the 45 minute wait to see the First Ladies’ dresses).

Larriland Farm

This wasn’t our first time visiting Larriland this season. Last time Matt and I spent an hour and a half picking nearly 10 poudns of black raspberries (which are now 21 jars of jam and 5 pounds of frozen berries to be consumed later). Matt wanted more berries so we headed up Friday morning to pick purple raspberries. Except we didn’t pay attention and wound up picking red ones, instead. No big deal. Thirty minutes in the slightly more picked-over bushes yielded about five pounds of berries (all four of us picked, I should state). Larriland has all sorts of berries and other fruits and veggies avilable, mostly in the sumer months. They have excellent prices, well-maintained fields, and friendly staff. Very much worth the 90 minute drive from DC. (Call them just before you head up to ensure they still have want you’re looking for available to pick.)

Family BBQ

Last December, about a week after we moved in, we invited all of Matt’s cousins over for dinner. The event was a big hit so we decided to have everyone over again. We picked the weekend after Father’s Day which also happened to be the week before Jeremy’s birthday (which he spent at Convention and not with family). Matt made smoked turkey, pulled pork, and tons of sides and dessert. I, as usual, took lots of photos. Somehow Maegan and Alison and Matt (and the amazing food) didn’t get in my photos.

First, Abby (who is the sister of Jesse, Caleb, and Joel) – she’s such a sweetheart and one of my fave people to sit and talk with each time we go to Deleware. She’s a knitter though not nearly as into it as I am though, really, that’s not saying much.

abby

Brothers Joel (left) and Caleb (right) before they questioned why anyone would want a photo of them
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New mom Christina and her adorable daughter, Charis
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A close up of Charis
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Charis and her dad, Jesse
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Izzy fell in love with our bottles of water (she’s held by her dad, Jeremy)
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And, lastly, a close-up of Izzy
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Writing – For Myself or Others?

I often tell people that I love to write, that I always have a notebook with me in case I want to jot something down that I’ve realized or observed or am thinking about. But, who am I kidding? Sure, I do love to write and I do always have a notebook with me. But, do I actually like to write for the sake of writing? I’m not so sure. I think a more accurate analysis is two-fold: 1) I love to talk about myself and 2) I feel a compulsive need to record things. While the 2nd issue is important, I’ll leave it for another post.

The only thing I remember about my Introduction to Sociology course I took in 2001 is this: if you ask someone a question, there is an 80% chance they are going to answer with a story about how your question relates to their life. We all like to talk about ourselves, I just do so on the internet. I pretend that my life is very interesting, that everyone would like to know what I’m up to, that they are going to be upset with me if I don’t write about completed projects (of which I have at least eight) or the family BBQ (that was held in late June). Extend it further and you’ll find that I just want people to like me, especially for my writing and photography. Sure, I can do math better than the average person and I’m pretty good at creating a technical Power Point presentation but some days my entire self-worth hinges on how many comments my photos receive or how many hits a new blog post gets.

I make fun of myself a lot, saying I have no talent and no ambition and that I’m annoying and stupid and clumsy – and maybe those are a little true, but I like to also think that I am awesome and everyone should be my friend. That every blog post should be linked to by the “popular kids” and my blog a household name. But, really, does it matter at all?

My livelihood does not, in the least, depend on this blog. Most strangers who stumble upon it probably have little clue that I’m a full-time Systems Engineering student who works in the defense industry. I’m just another knitter, sharing with friends (and the occasional stranger) the details of my knitting and, rarely, other portions of my life.

My friends, my parents, and probably even my little brother (“little” is relative – he’s 23) read this to find out what’s going on in my life. The knitting friends care about the knitting content; my family zips past it, hoping to find out how school’s going or see photos from a recent vacation. And I should be okay with that.

But maybe it’s a something I’ll always struggle with, wanting to be one of the popular people. If it makes me try harder – be it knitting, photography, writing, whatever – then it’s worth it. I just have to work on not letting it get to me *quite* so much.

“Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self.” – Cyril Connolly

One Fast Turtle

I used to say I was a slow knitter. Despite the fact I felt as if every spare moment of my life was spent knitting, I couldn’t seem to get a project done in less than a month. Sure, there were a few items like fingerless gloves that I could eek out in a week but those are small items (and the pattern I used was all garter stitch). I would see others finish a sweater in a month and be astonished; I could barely complete a baby sweater in that time!

Not so much anymore. Since my last post (May 20th), I’ve finished one adult sweater, a scarf, and four lace shawls. I think I figured out why I’m suddenly so speedy..

1. I have more knitting time available. I have only a handful of school friends I spend time with outside of classes so I find myself with more alone time, time I use to sit and knit and think. It was rather relaxing this past semester, just being able to knit and let go of the stresses of my day. At CSULB, I always felt obligated to choose spending time with friends over knitting in a quiet place by myself. I now have the ability to knit in more than 20 minute intervals during the summer because, at last, I live in a home with air conditioning. I’ve also found a great LYS here in Virginia, where it’s perfectly fine to sit and knit and talk with the employees, regardless of your age or skill level.

2. I’ve gotten faster. With practice, comes speed. I’m much more comfortable with techniques like lace and raglan sweater shaping and, now that Olga has taught me how to knit correctly, my overall speed with the basic knit and purl stitches has increased.

3. I’m only working on one project at a time. Gone are the days when I would work on ten different projects at a time. Now, I tend to focus on one major project and sometimes have a small and/or less complicated project I work on during my bus commute to and from work. I can now stay in the rhythm of a pattern without too many distractions.

4. I’m knitting more with specific recipients in mind. I’m trying to avoid making items just because the pattern looks appealing to me. Sure, I started knitting to keep my idle hands busy but I would like my completed items, for the most part, to leave my home when they’re complete. It’s that or I’ll be suffocated by 1,000s of FOs I’ve hoarded. Having a recipient not only means the FO won’t live in my house forever but it gives me a focus, a reason to complete things instead of frogging them when I get bored and have managed to convince myself things weren’t turning out correctly. And, of course, the satisfaction of doing something for someone else though that has nothing to do with the speed of my knitting, if I’m honest.