Re-entry
It's a sunny day here, and I've got afternoon plans that include going to the post office to buy a bunch of stinking 1-cent stamps (yay! rate hike!) and to the library. But first, a little bit about what we've been up to for the last week or so.
Just the fibery parts today. I'll see if the Fool will step up and share what he's been working on. We spent a week in Seattle between a contra dance gig in Colorado and the Northwest Folklife Festival, both of which were more fun than I can imagine having at one time.
At first, I thought the Fool was conspiring to keep us away from the Seattle area yarn stores, but no. On our way to the Olympic Peninsula, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island, and visited Churchmouse Yarns and Tea. While browsing, we heard a woman say, "Hey, I know you! I met you in New York!"
It was Jayme, who we met at Rhinebeck in, uh, 2006. She had her adorable new kid in tow and was visiting family and friends in Washington.
"So wait," said a woman who works at the shop. "You're from the East Coast and you two are from Chicago and you met in New York and you're all standing here on Bainbridge Island?"
Well, yeah. Such is the power of fiber.
We stayed with some friends of ours, a former coworker of the Fool and his wife. When we met up with Matt downtown after we arrived, we went for a restorative afternoon beverage (coffee. Decaf for me. So maybe just a beverage. No restorative powers in decaf coffee.) The two of them, as they both work in computers, started speaking the speak of the geeks and I opted to nip across the street to Uwajimaya, a huge Asian market that I felt sure had a branch of Kinokuniya, the Japanese bookstore, in which Japanese knitting books can be found.
Sure enough, I found a couple.
The Fool said, "Hey, more books of stuff you can't knit!"
Heh. Very funny. I figure, I can order sushi, I can knit in Japanese. How hard can it be? It's mostly charts anyway. OK. The explanations to the charts are in Japanese, but again, there's a Ravelry group for this kind of thing. Entirely feasible. Watch this space for future developments.
We also made a trip to Weaving Works Inc. and So Much Yarn.
The Fool fell down hard in the face of a Dale of Norway kid's pattern. He's such a sucker.
We didn't buy much yarn. We were limited in packing space. Here's how it all got home. There was room in the fiddle case, too. We could have gotten a couple more skeins in.
I knit some socks. These went to Edward. We had the following conversation by text message this morning:
ED: Today, as I walk by, everyone admires my socks.
ME: Heehee. Who knew that was what it took to be a man of style in the math dept?
ED: Actually, all that takes is an occasional shower and clothes that fit. But the socks help.
(Socks: Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, colorway 721, cuff in 2x2 ribbing with baby cables, instep in plain ribbing. OK yarn. It's a little fuzzy and tends to split. I like smoother yarns.)
I prevented myself from casting on for a sweater by knitting these socks from A Fine Fleece on the trip. They're out of some Dream in Color seconds.
The cats are pleased we are home where we belong. If I'm sleeping, Angus is curled up next to me, and this morning, he decided to sit on my lap while I checked e-mail and to play Pirate Cat, his favorite new game, where he sits on my shoulder as if he were a parrot.
Jen and Matt keep their five cats in line by putting bells on the feistier ones in order to give the meeker cats an edge in not getting pounced on and wrestled to the ground. We thought maybe that might give Spoot an advantage, so now Angus is sporting a nice blue collar (matches his eyes) and a bell. I'm not sure whether this is helping Spoot or not, but it's much easier to keep track of Angus in the house. I may have just spent $9 to make that cat even more obnoxious. We'll see.
Just the fibery parts today. I'll see if the Fool will step up and share what he's been working on. We spent a week in Seattle between a contra dance gig in Colorado and the Northwest Folklife Festival, both of which were more fun than I can imagine having at one time.
At first, I thought the Fool was conspiring to keep us away from the Seattle area yarn stores, but no. On our way to the Olympic Peninsula, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island, and visited Churchmouse Yarns and Tea. While browsing, we heard a woman say, "Hey, I know you! I met you in New York!"
It was Jayme, who we met at Rhinebeck in, uh, 2006. She had her adorable new kid in tow and was visiting family and friends in Washington.
"So wait," said a woman who works at the shop. "You're from the East Coast and you two are from Chicago and you met in New York and you're all standing here on Bainbridge Island?"
Well, yeah. Such is the power of fiber.
We stayed with some friends of ours, a former coworker of the Fool and his wife. When we met up with Matt downtown after we arrived, we went for a restorative afternoon beverage (coffee. Decaf for me. So maybe just a beverage. No restorative powers in decaf coffee.) The two of them, as they both work in computers, started speaking the speak of the geeks and I opted to nip across the street to Uwajimaya, a huge Asian market that I felt sure had a branch of Kinokuniya, the Japanese bookstore, in which Japanese knitting books can be found.
Sure enough, I found a couple.
The Fool said, "Hey, more books of stuff you can't knit!"
Heh. Very funny. I figure, I can order sushi, I can knit in Japanese. How hard can it be? It's mostly charts anyway. OK. The explanations to the charts are in Japanese, but again, there's a Ravelry group for this kind of thing. Entirely feasible. Watch this space for future developments.
We also made a trip to Weaving Works Inc. and So Much Yarn.
The Fool fell down hard in the face of a Dale of Norway kid's pattern. He's such a sucker.
We didn't buy much yarn. We were limited in packing space. Here's how it all got home. There was room in the fiddle case, too. We could have gotten a couple more skeins in.
I knit some socks. These went to Edward. We had the following conversation by text message this morning:
ED: Today, as I walk by, everyone admires my socks.
ME: Heehee. Who knew that was what it took to be a man of style in the math dept?
ED: Actually, all that takes is an occasional shower and clothes that fit. But the socks help.
(Socks: Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, colorway 721, cuff in 2x2 ribbing with baby cables, instep in plain ribbing. OK yarn. It's a little fuzzy and tends to split. I like smoother yarns.)
I prevented myself from casting on for a sweater by knitting these socks from A Fine Fleece on the trip. They're out of some Dream in Color seconds.
The cats are pleased we are home where we belong. If I'm sleeping, Angus is curled up next to me, and this morning, he decided to sit on my lap while I checked e-mail and to play Pirate Cat, his favorite new game, where he sits on my shoulder as if he were a parrot.
Jen and Matt keep their five cats in line by putting bells on the feistier ones in order to give the meeker cats an edge in not getting pounced on and wrestled to the ground. We thought maybe that might give Spoot an advantage, so now Angus is sporting a nice blue collar (matches his eyes) and a bell. I'm not sure whether this is helping Spoot or not, but it's much easier to keep track of Angus in the house. I may have just spent $9 to make that cat even more obnoxious. We'll see.
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