Finishing Line, first time in a while...

My project ADD had really taken hold over the summer. It also didn't help that I got a couple pairs of socks going one-at-a-time, which leaves me susceptible to Single Sock Syndrome and always takes immensely longer to finish the pair than when I do two-at-once.

I took advantage of some social chat time at a friend's party to pick away while watching other people's kids goof around and chatting with friends. The result is below - the CounterPoint Scarf, made for Adam. On my head you can see the Big Green Bag, aka my Betsy hat but pre-felting.



Photo by Adam

A pair of socks is now at the toe, too.

Of course, I've put myself further behind again probably by starting more socks already and have the November Sockdown! yarn all lined up, too.

Wow, Where Did That Week Go?

Sunday night, and I'm back to work tomorrow. Holy flying wristwatches, my week off went fast.

I used to not "be able" to use all my vacation, back when I had much less of it! Couldn't think of anything to do that was more interesting than work. Now, well, a 3-day work week and a 10-month year wouldn't suit. I could actually feel that it took until about Wednesday to start decompressing (I was on a massage table at the time and my calf muscles were getting a talking to by a very aggressive therapist). Unfortunately, by about Thursday the dread of returning to work was seeping in and I was having weird nightmares of walking back in to find I was laid off because I took my vacation.

My anxiety is slightly dulled by the fact that I can count a couple of my current heap of personal projects as "done" as of today. I finsihed a quilt top, and while it's not yet on the bed, it is off to its professional quilting appointment and will come back to me with just a binding to do. I've been working on a simple but interesting scarf for Adam, and it's done and was artsy-fartsfully photographed tonight, so you'll get to see that soon. And, I just dragged out of the washer my new winter hat, which was a knit-then-felt project and is currently drying and shaping on top of a ceramic bowl on a flour cannister (because I don't have a hat form). I'm almost done one of the way-too-many socks-on-the-go and should be able to make the Sockdown! deadline for September. Finally, a trunkful of stuff made its way to Value Village this morning. There's a little more to go out to a little project a fellow Raveller is doing to warm up some of her homeless neighbours, but I haven't got that sorted yet.

Now, off to review the arms-length list of "to be started" projects I want to do! Actually, scratch that. Will leave for tomorrow. Going to bed.

Rhinebeck Bingo, Recap

Home again, after a whirlwind extended weekend trip to New York State, where I visited my University roomie and her family, and spent a couple of days - well, probably day-and-a-half - at the New York State Sheep and Wool festival, a fibre-fanatic's fantasyland of all things wooly.

Thursday night, we drove partway there, dropping off some class supplies with a Buffalo contact, and getting to somewhere in the Rochester vicinity for the night. Friday we covered the rest of the way to Peekskill, to see my friend Ev, her charming hubby and absolutely stunning daughter.

Saturday, the bunch of us drove about an hour back towards the Upper Hudson River region to Rhinebeck, and joined the herd (flock?) of fibre nuts at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.

I should have thought to take a score sheet or organize something on Ravelry for "Rhinebeck Bingo", because there was something every which way. I saw, spoke to, bumped into, or walked past: A hundred or so Ravellers, including Casey, Jess, and Mary-Heather, Amy Singer and Gillian Moreno of Knitty and Big Girl Knits, the Yarn Harlot herself, several of my Waterloo-area neighbours, the Bosworths, several of my OHS Spinning certificate class, one of the Twist Collective promoting that 'zine, Toni from the Fold (Blue Moon's Eastern dealer), oh, and on and on...

Saturday night Adam was good enough to indulge my wish to attend the Ravelry party, which was interesting and cool to go to an included a door prize raffle of heaps of stuff. I think I'm happy to have gone, and said Hi to Casey in person, but I'm not sure it was really my sort of thing - they planned for 400 or so people and probably hit 600 within the first hour. It is really something best attended with a posse of Ravellers you already know, so you have a start on the networking. I found myself wandering the crowd with my nose at people's lapels looking for Ravel-names I recognized, and many others were doing the same. There's some disconnect still between our evolving online social lives and the real world. There's just no elegant way to walk up to someone and introduce yourself saying "I stalk you online because you say the raunchiest stuff and knit really cool lace". I did bump into and say Hi to someone I sold my Addi Turbos to, though.

Sunday was a shorter day - having scoped out the site, caught up with my other spinning class deliveries, and gotten oriented on Saturday - oh, and already bought a fleece - I could browse for a few more specific things and run. We did catch the beginning of the Punkin' Chunkin' competition, where competing school teams build catapults and launch overgrown gourds the length of a small stadium. After team 3 got hung up with technical difficulties, it got pretty boring.

We headed back to Peekskill. My friends had joined us Saturday but not for the 2nd day, and we ran home to take them out to dinner as a thanks for their putting us up for the weekend. We checked out a brew pub now operating in the town and I was impressed with both the complimentary "Brewmaster's sample" of the local beer and the food. It was an early(ish) night, as I'd stayed up chatting with my friend for hours both Friday and Saturday. Monday was our start home, after a leisurely brunch and tearful goodbye from Ev's daughter Robyn - she does not like people leaving, and tries to keep a stiff upper lip but it doesn't always work. We'll just have to visit more, I think.

Monday night we crashed somewhere around Syracuse, and had a decent dinner and uneventful evening, resuming the drive on the I90 for today. Mostly straight, flat driving between Syracuse and Buffalo there, a bit of dodging through Niagara Falls, a very disappointing lunch at an under-attended yet still under-staffed Montana's Cookhouse, and home again. So it's all over but the laundry. I have the rest of the week off but plans for most of it already. Off to tidy up and tuck myself in for now, I think.

Checking out the Neighbours

Hey, does anyone who reads this know what was up at RIM 14 today?

My workday afternoon was interrupted by a little flurry of activity and I followed the meandering coworkers (including my manager, so she couldn't really complain about me going) to the windows. Our street was blocked off, traffic out of our lot was being routed in one direction only, pedestrians were being stopped, and there were 4 fire trucks, a swarm of cop cars and internal security guys all over the building across the street and down one.

So the few of you who read this know I don't work for RIM, but do work in a company occupying tenant space in the RIM ghetto of North Waterloo. All this now resolved, but as yet unexplained fuss, was across the road at one of the newer RIM buildings. If anyone wanders by who doesn't know this area - RIM is Research In Motion, the company that makes the BlackBerry.

Anyway, a crowd of us are pressed up against the windows wondering what's going on, one of our developers, completely straight faced, shakes his head and says "Someone must've brought in an iPhone".

Let me know if you know what that was all about. Most excitement we've had since the bomb squad got called to check out a wet cardboard box at Raytheon a couple years ago.

I'm off to Rhinebeck tomorrow evening! May or may not blog from there, see you later.

Can't Sleep, bloggity bloggity....

Hey, Mom - update just for you!

Nothing much is new or exciting except that I've juuuuust about finished my first assignment - first two, really - for the OHS Spinning Certificate Level 1 class. Four small skeins of yarn are drying on a towel, ready for documentation assembly tomorrow.

Otherwise, I'm up after midnight snacking on liquorice as despite a very nice, sensible blood glucose reading of 5.6 at 11 pm or so, several hours after dinner, it decided to tank to 3.4 for no good reason whatsoever about 20 minutes ago.

I suppose while I'm up I should update the Lofty blog with some of the hand dyed yarns that have gotten done. I did have a moderately successful first craft show last weekend - sold about double what I needed to, to cover my costs. All the yarns that Shall We Knit purchased have sold as well, and Karen would like to order more, so there is potential yet for me to have at least a self-funding, if not profitable, hobby going on.

Here are some random successes. I'll load more into my online craft shop shortly.