Various and Sundry for Thursday

1. I've made some more progress on Thermal. One sleeve is knit to the separation for the sleeve cap shaping; I stopped at that point to get the second sleeve to the same length before knitting said shaping. This is the first project for which I've ever used two circular needles to knit in the round, and I love-love-love it. When patterns call for sleeves knit in the round, I've always just knit them flat because of my utter and severe distaste for double-pointed needles, and it's taken me until now to bite the bullet and learn the two-circs technique. So glad I did, as I also have a healthy distaste for seaming.



2. It snowed again. For some reason, this is shaping up to be the winter of ridiculous snowstorms. Last year, there were a lot of snow events of varying levels of accumulations. This year? A foot of snow each time, it seems. While watching the news this morning, I learned that our current snowfall for the season so far is only ten inches less than the average for an entire winter. And we still have a solid two months of the snow season left to go. Have fun, skiers...

3. I should say, though, that I was lucky enough to shovel none of yesterday's snowy, slushy mess. I cooked dinner (spaghetti squash with chicken/tomato/red wine sauce - yum) while Monsieur Fantastic cleared out the driveway. Seriously, how lucky am I?

4. He's also fantastic for knowing exactly what type of flowers I'd appreciate (pretty, simple, not extravagant) and surprising me with the same:



Yay.

Less eventful update

Not every post can be all life-changing! or about traveling! or otherwise momentous (in a manner of speaking). I mean, really, that's not sustainable, and the result is more likely to be lengthy delays between posts as I endeavor to think of something sufficiently interesting to say to the world (hello, the past month).

Anyway, so today I'll just let you know where I am on a couple of sweaters, photographic proof included.

Thermal is STILL ridiculously slow, but at least I've hit the benchmark of completing the body section and connecting the tops of the shoulders.


Forgive the needle hanging bizarrely in the center; it's holding the live stitches that will become the button placket. I'll also have to knit the neckband and the sleeves (ugh), but now the end is in sight.

The end is also in sight for my version of Francis Revisited.


That picture was taken yesterday. By now I've finished knitting that second sleeve and I've moved on to the cowl. The cowl! It's very nearly complete, and I think I should be able to finish it by the weekend.

Opportunity. Really.

I'd been figuring that 2009 will be an eventful year, but I didn't realize how quickly that would be apparent, and in what manner. On Monday, I got laid off from my job. Hellooooo, 2009! Thanks for letting me know right up front that you're going to be a roller coaster.

Under the circumstances, I'm hugely thankful for several things. First, I'll still get paid for three months, but I won't have to keep going to work during that time. Essentially, I have three months to find a new job without suffering any financial conquequences. Thank. Gawd. With the economy the way it is right now, I'm hoping that'll be enough time, but regardless, the cushion helps, big time.

I am, of course, also thankful that Mr. Terrific is being great about all this. (No surprise, but I'm still thankful.) If I don't find a job in three months - heaven forbid - he'll help me however he can, and everything will be ok. Everything would have been ok if this had happened to me when I was single, just ok in a different way.

Finally, I'm thankful that I've been nudged out of a career that wasn't a good fit for me, so I now have to move in a different direction. This is where the sense of opportunity comes in. During the time I've got between jobs (please, universe, not the full three months), I'm determined to work on the following:

- Get more healthy and fit. Seriously, how many times have I said how great it would be if I could go to the gym in the middle of the day. I have no excuse not to take advantage of this right now. This means that I also have no excuse not to be ready for the 5k I'm signed up for in March. The treadmill and I will be fast friends this winter.

- Tackle house projects that have languished for lack of free time. Paint a couple rooms, paint the stairs to the upstairs bedroom, bring in an electrician to get a few lights fixed, that sort of thing. The big picture purpose here is to get the house prepared to rent out in a few months, so I can move in with Mr. Terrific and let my house pay for itself. We'd been planning on doing this anyway, but with my financial situation set to implode in three months, it would be great to have that wrinkle ironed out in advance.

- Find. a. job. I. like.

- Knit things, though, really, I suspect I won't need to summon my determination to make sure that gets done.

Craftosaurus and The Awesome Boyfriend Venture to the Big City

That's right, folks. A mini-travelogue for you today, complete with photos.

We departed for The Big City by rail transport, earlier than I'd've even wanted to be awake, never mind out of the house and functioning. It meant, however, that we were in The Big City before mid-morning and had the whole day ahead of us.

First stop was the natural history museum of a prominent and reknowned university. By unintentionally taking the extremely scenic route, we managed to find it after just about an hour of brisk walking. Once inside, though, we saw, among other things, this fossil of a 40-foot prehistoric marine creature:

It was thiiiiis big!

From there, we met up with a good friend of The Awesome Boyfriend for lunch and a few pints of Guinness at an Irish pub that was pleasant enough, particularly considering its nondescript location nextdoor to a FedEx location.

Blurriness due to lack of flash, rather than intoxication.

Lunch and beer having taken the lion's share of the afternoon (and that, of course, always being the mark of a lovely time with great people), our plans to visit the Fancy Schmancy Art Museum had to be scrapped, so as to meet more fun people for dinner, specifically, a friend from college and her husband. By the time I'd enjoyed my chicken with capers and olives and mushrooms and anchovies in white wine sauce, and half a cannoli, it was not a minute later than 8:30 and yet, exhaustion had set in. The Awesome Boyfriend and I headed off to catch our train north, but not before making sure to get photographic proof of the visit.

It was cold, so I wore a big hat.

We were left with about two hours of spare time, during which neither The Awesome Boyfriend or I had enough energy to do much more than read or knit, respectively, and people-watch. A group of sports fans and their VERY intoxicated friend came through in strong fashion. Thanks, guys.

Oh, but The Awesome Boyfriend did bring out the camera during the wait in the train station. Considering the amount of sleep I'd gotten, the amount of time I'd then been awake, and the distinct lack of make-up or hair-brushing that had happened in the preceding several hours, this is the face I made:

Public Service Announcement

People, do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy store-bought, jarred hot fudge ever again. Seriously. Prince Charming and I ended a lovely New Year's Eve dinner (stayed in but got dressed up anyway) with sundaes, topped with the following Yummiest Sundae Sauce Ever:

(found through epicurious.com, originally appearing in Bon Appetit, December 2000)

Put a half a cup of water, a cup of sugar, and a half a cup of unsweeted cocoa powder in a small pot. Whisk constantly over medium-high heat until the consistency changes from liquid to slightly thicker than liquid, wherein bubbles formed from the heat of the oven move more slowly, and the whole thing more closely resembles molten goo. At this point, add 4 tablespoons of peanut butter (could probably get away with lower fat stuff, but probably not the natural, need-to-stir-it kind, though that would be good to try and even better if it works, from a wholesome foods, fewer chemicals standpoint) and keep whisking over medium heat for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool enough so as not to burn the roof of your mouth. That's it. Simple and amazingly delicious.

Now that I've fulfilled my civic duty in spreading chocolately goodness throughout the land, I've also got a pictorial knitting update. First, proof that I've been working on Francis Revisited:


I've actually gotten very nearly to the bottom hem by now, but the pictures I took that captured the progress in its entirety didn't really do the yarn justice. This one's prettier.

I also finished a scarfy version of Clapotis this morning. It's destined to be gifted, even though it's pretty and silky soft and so lovely I've decided I'll need to make one for myself before long, my aversion to knitting non-sweaters notwithstanding. (I also made a miniature Clapotis to be gifted to a person who is age- and height-appropriate for it, but didn't take any pictures. If the recipient likes it and will stand still for more than two seconds in front of a camera, perhaps a photograph will be forthcoming.) Anyway, the adult-sized Clapotis, scarf-style (better color accuracy in the second photo):





Thermal hasn't been touched in weeks. I also knit up a fluffy-soft scarf in some random mohair blend, resulting in a piece that looks a lot more labor intensive than it really was. Will probably be given as a belated holiday gift. More sweater knitting is on tap for 2009, that's for sure. Right now, though, that sundae sauce is calling my name...

on the bandwagon

Let's add one more post to the sea of year-end re-caps crowding the interwebs right now, shall we?

2008 was an interesting year. In January, I set several goals for myself, with varying degrees of success.

To review:

1. Begin and complete renovation of the Rustic Attic
Yup, the attic itself is completely renovated. The stairs leading to the attic are another story and they need to be painted, but the attic is finished. Yay.

2. Decide on and implement new look for the kitchen
Hmm. Nothing's been decided for sure (so, obviously, not implemented either), but I'm thinking of using a striking, rich blue on some of the walls. I'd also like to have one wall in black chalkboard paint, and I think there's a way to make that look really awesome with a rich blue, but also a way to make that look really horrible. The one thing I'm pretty sure of for now is taht any big overhaul-type renovation is a ways down the road, and that a spuce-up coat of paint is on the table for a sooner timeframe.

3. Purge house of unnecessary clutter (or at least reduce said clutter)
I got rid of a few bags of stuff over the Thanksgiving weekend (aren't you proud of me?!), but that's about it. There's still a lot more storage space in my house to sift through. Much of what's there can easily be removed; it's just a matter of setting aside the time to do it.

4. Get a knitting pattern published
This didn't happen. I have one garment that I designed and finished, and one that I'm currently designing as I knit it, but I haven't written up (or started to write up) a pattern for either of them. I did, however, knit a whole bunch of sweaters in 2008. Not the 12 in as many months that I'd hoped, but almost. The scarfy gift knitting derailed my progress on my final sweater, chosen for its purported speed of knitting. Oh well. Stay tuned for a post (with pictures!) on how that and the other current projects are going.

5. Be able to run a 5k again (am signed up for one in March), then improve my time (will sign up for at least one over the summer
Another item that's gone unaccomplished. I will say, however, that over the past month or so, I've gotten back in the habit of at least getting myself to the gym more often than not, which in my mind is at least half the battle. My running abilities aren't where they once were (and they were never in an impressive place, to be sure), but I'm making incremental improvements in the continuing effort to ignore the internal voice reminding me to stop running when I get bored just because I can. And the goal for 2009 remains the same, even to the extent that I've again signed up for the very same 5k in March.

4. Cook and eat real dinners, even if I'm eating by myself (heavy emphasis on soups and vegetables)
Aha! I am cooking real dinners, even though I'm not often eating by myself anymore and thus didn't have to conquer that cook-for-just-yourself issue. Regardless, the point is that I'm eating better food (where "better" = healthier, tastier, and so forth) and being more conscious of what I'm consuming. Usually.

5. Have a rockin' vegetable garden
The garden went pretty well this year. I was able to harvest some food, and I'm looking forward to using some of the mistakes I learned from to ensure that next year's garden will be even better. Particularly important are to plan better, add more space, use tomato cages, and be extra patient when waiting for the danger of frost to pass.

6. Figure out what the heck to do with the decorative garden beds around the house
I started this! I gave away a few hostas that were taking up space in front of the house, and in their places planted a bunch of tulip bulbs. Will have to wait until spring to see if they fill up enough visual space, or if I need to add something else.

7. Bust out the sewing machine and use up some of my languishing fabric
Technically, yes, I did this. I did indeed use the sewing machine, and I did indeed use up some fabric, but the end result was by no means usable. I don't think there will be any sewing in my near future, and certainly not until I de-clutter enough to have a place in my house allocated to it.

8. Decide on and pursue a volunteering opportunity
Well, yes. I did a little bit of political volunteering, and a brief (read: six hour) stint with the local Habitat branch. It was fun, I'm glad I did it, but the personalities I dealt with didn't leave me super excited to sign up for another day. I'm debating how much I want to incorporate it into 2009.

9. Start up an IRA again; look into other investment approaches
No IRA, although I have until April of 2009 to make a contribution for 2008. I also became eligible for my employer's 401(k) plan, so I've been contributing a lot to that. Need to assess for 2009 whether it would be better to keep throwing large overpayments toward my student loans, mortgage, etc, or whether I should focus on building up my account balances.

10. Update blog consistently and hopefully more interestingly
More consistently, for sure (ignoring, if you will, the last few weeks). More interestingly, I hope so!

Lest you take my dismal rate of success above as an indication that nothing much happened this year, I present to you...

Other Big Changes and Occurrences in 2009 (said is booming, movie-announcer voice, of course):

- Suffered near-daily headaches. Had eyes examined; got prescription for glasses. Got super-cute glasses that I love. Warily noticed that headaches returned several months later.

- Bought a lawn mower! An electric corded model. Managed to prevent rioting among my neighbors in reaction to vastly overgrown eyesore of a yard. (Also bought a charcoal chimney - these things are the best! - so as to more easily cook food on the grill in my not-unkempt yard.)

- Went on a *real* vacation. Three time zones away. Via air travel. Saw touristy things, ate nice food, went dancing.

- Met the most wonderful man, who, luckily, thinks I'm the most wonderful woman (not to be confused with Wonder Woman).

It was a good, good year.


... Will jump on the Goals for 2009 bandwagon in the coming days!

Obligatory "Wow, it's snowy!" Post

So it snowed a lot yesterday. There was lots of shoveling this morning, and I got to work a couple hours late. Halfway through the afternoon, I didn't feel well, so I packed up some work and went home. When I pulled onto my street and up to my house, though, I found that the 15+ feet of snow we got, plus, apparently, ALL of the snow from my street, stood between me and my warm, cozy house. Couldn't park in the driveway. Couldn't even get to a shovel without walking through a snowbank the height of half of a car window. As I climbed through it, I was, quite literally, up to my ass in snow. Yes, I live in a snowy part of the country, but it isn't even Christmas! For crying out loud.

Anyway, yes, here's a shot of the monstrosity.


Cross your fingers for melty weather for me, if you please.