S is for...

Socks! Or, equally appropriate, Second Sock Syndrome!

My first pair of socks! OK, so it's just one sock right now, but it WILL be a pair in the near future! I broke up the making of the pair so as to avoid SSS, knowing my tendency for Knitter's ADD. So, I took a break from my Clapotis at about the half-way point, made one sock, have picked back up Clapotis, and am giving myself a sock-related break before I'm ready to start No. 2.

This is my first full pair of socks, though in all honesty, it is my second attempt. I just don't really wear socks enough, hand knit or otherwise, to warrant the effort that goes into making them. Maybe it's the beach upbringing, but I'm in sandals even into fall when I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt! Not really much use for socks in that case, huh?

However, my best knitting buddy here on post is a hard-core sock knitter, and keeps trying to get me to give them a try. I saw this particular pattern and thought it was adorable, and found some fun colorways of Cascade Fixation, which I already knew I like working with, and there you have it: the final straw! So, I am now giving them a try.

For this first pair, I did the Varsity Sock, designed by another blogger, trekcelt. Like most patterns I do, though, the listed pattern was my starting point, but then I adjusted as I was making the actual sock. The biggest change was that it became a toe-up sock, not a cuff-down. There were a few other mods, too, that I'll go through all my changes below, for your edification and for my own notes when I make another pair :)

I'm using Cascade Fixation. I used this before for my Runner's Companion armband and a headband from the leftovers. Like I mentioned above, I enjoy working with this yarn. Once you get used to the tension of the elastic, it's a nice thick cushy fabric. And, it's nicely textured, so even if you have some issues getting an even tension, the texture hides it well :) I have heard that it doesn't hold up quite as well in heavy-usage socks, but like I said, I don't really wear socks. These are gonna be more bed socks or light slippers, not as much really heavy wear, so hopefully I'll still get some good use out of 'em.

To figure out the toe-up starts, I used an article on Knitty. I ended up using the Figure 8 cast one, and started with 8 eights (8 wraps on each needle). It did take me a few tries to get that one worked out, as I kept losing wraps from my needles at first, but it was pretty simple once it got started. And, since I didn't have waste yarn on me when I was starting the sock, I wanted to use that one :) Maybe for my next pair, I'll try the provisional cast on!

Several websites I used to help me figure out how to do a toe-up gusset. Wendy Johnson (the author of the above article on Knitty) has a pretty good article on a basic toe-up sock. Let me figure out the basic idea of toe-up socks, though I did a different toe start and heel. Mim's Blog has an INCREDIBLY helpful tutorial on how to do a gusset heel. I had found other websites for how to do toe-up socks, and even ones with a toe-up gusset, but hers has lots of pictures which help make it much clearer. Forward Motion has a good break-down of the math involved in the gusset, so that it's easier to customize to one's own foot.

Modifications I did compared to the original pattern:

• Toe-up. That's probably the biggest change. I tried it from the top-down first, but it came out waaaay big for my foot. Made that hemmed cuff and it ended up about 10 1/2 inches around! Since I don't know how many stitches I wanted my sock to be, being the first pair I've really made, I figured toe-up would be the easiest way to make sure it at least came close to fitting (the last time I attempted socks, they came out fitting Zach, who wears a size 12 or 13 - needless to say, I only made one...)

• Smaller foot - I knew I'd need to do this one anyway, since my foot's definitely a bit smaller than the pattern called for. I'm only a size 7 1/2, maaaaaybe 8, not a size 8-9 foot. I ended up with only 60 stitches going around my foot, not 64, and I honestly could have gone down another set of increases, i.e. 56 stitches around. Oh, and to get gauge, I was using size US 1 needles, not US 2.
  
• I changed the stitch pattern on the heel flap to be a broken rib - I just liked how it looked a little better than the slip stitch pattern in the original.
  

Changes I'd make compared to my final project:

• I'd probably go down to 56 stitches instead of 60 next time. Just make it a little snugger. The socks as they are now are fine for what I want to use them for (bed socks/slipper socks) but if I wanted to wear them under shoes, I'd need them a little closer-fitting.
  
• I need to be more accurate counting the short row heel. I think I have an extra set of rows on the heel, so it's a little pointy on this one sock. It stretches out when the sock it on my foot, so it's not really noticeable when it's on (a good thing), but it definitely looks rather elfin when the sock is not on a foot! I've heard of pointy-toed socks before, but pointy-heeled?

International Rabbit Day!

I know I lost my Joey back in April, but that doesn't mean I can't still celebrate International Rabbit Day! This is celebrated each year in September to raise awareness about rabbits as pets. So many people think they are like gerbils or goldfish or something, a relatively 'disposable' pet. They don't realize that rabbits will live 6-10 years, have tons of personality, and are really more like dogs or cats as pets go. I can't even count the number of times I've heard the eating rabbits joke from relatively well-meaning but crass and/or uneducated people talking about my pet. I don't make jokes about poodle stew when you talk about your dog; why do you think it's clever to talk about my rabbit that way? Rabbits require care and attention and investment in time and "bunny-proofing" as far as houses go. But with that time and care, they make lovely pets!

So, take today as a day to learn a little more about a wonderful and more unusual pet that can bring some smiles (and lots of poop!) to your daily life :)

(steps off soapbox now)

A lot of rabbit rescue organizations have fundraisers and special events at about this same time. Check out the House Rabbit Society page for more events celebrating Rabbit Day.

Make Mine Chocolate is another great rabbit charity, which focuses their efforts at Easter time. Apparently there are parents who consider a live animal is a great pet for Easter baskets. Make Mine Chocolate works to get information out about rabbits as pets, so that people will only invest in a bunny as a pet if they truly want one. If they are looking for something cute and bunny-ish for an Easter basket, well, like the title says, Make Mine Chocolate!

Celebrate Banned Books Week!

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA)'s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries shelves and from classrooms. According to the OIF, nearly half of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (listed below) have been the target of ban attempts. Nearly half of the top 100, and 9 of top 10!! And yes, it is reassuring that no one has yet tried to ban Charlotte's Web or Winnie the Pooh!

The titles in bold represent banned or challenged books. For more information on why these books were challenged, visit challenged classics at the ALA website.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
23. Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E. M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

To read more about Banned Books Week, check out the ALA website here.

As an avid and longtime reader, banned book efforts always interest (and confuse) me. Some are banned for language or ideas that are controversial, but if they are taught by a good teacher, they serve as strong lessons on history, on culture, on society. By banning these books, are we saying that the students aren't intelligent enough to process situational language (like in To Kill a Mockingbird, for example) and separate it from what is acceptable today? Or are we saying that teachers cannot be trusted to teach these books in a worthwhile, intelligent manner? Like I said, it confuses me.

So, think for yourself! Read a banned book!

Still a classic

"War On String May Be Unwinnable, Says Cat General."

This is one of my absolute favorite Onion headlines of, well, let's face it, of all time. We use it all the time as Scruffy charges around the house attaching his archnemesis, Boot Lace. And now I find it's available on a magnet!! Awesome, simply awesome!!

Avast!

That time of year again! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys!

Because we all need some silly fun in our lives :)

Double Movie Monday, cont

The second of my back-to-back viewings, Inception.

Plot: Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. Summary written by Warner Bros. Pictures (courtesy IMDB).

Chris Nolan gets another good mark in my book. After reviving Batman (for which I, and every other fangirl/boy, am eternally grateful), he is also now getting my notice for his original projects too. He was director and writer for this project, and I'm thrilled with results for both.

The movie is long, about 2 1/2 hours, but there is always something holding your attention on the screen. The multiple dream layers, the action layered within them, the special effects making the surreal seem very real, all were very well done. The special effects are well used, not over used. There aren't things happening on the screen just to show off "look, it's a dream, look at how many crazy things happening we can fit on screen!"

There are a lot of ideas in the writing, too, which I really loved. First of all, the idea of how thoughts become physical items within the dream space. Ideas and secrets become documents, the top, the pinwheel, hidden in the safes of the subject's mind. I really liked that. And another fun idea, the Forger of the team being one who forges not documents, but people within the mind. The writing just gets a lot of credit for being intelligent as well as entertaining.

The acting was very solid. I'm not a fan of Ellen Page's character, but not having seen her in much before this (no, I haven't seen Juno yet), I don't know if it's her as an actress, or the character of Ariadne who irritated me slightly. She just seemed kinda weak and a little whiny to me, when the character seems like they should have had more confidence, being the other designing the realms and all... Writing plus, though: perfect character name of Ariadne, she of the labyrinth. Yay for a classical education :)

I did like how we saw several faces from Chris Nolan's other works too - Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, and Cillian Murphy have all worked with Nolan in the Batman franchise. Nolan has worked with some very good talent, so it's nice seeing that he's pulling them in on other projects too. I'm a happy movie fangirl when all the talent I like watching continues to work together :)

For a new face, I liked Tom Hardy, as Eames, the Forger. I think there's a good chance this will be his breakout performance for US cinema, not a bad thing at all in my opinion. Looking forward to see what he does next!

Thinking of the actors, I've already commented a few times on Leonardo DiCaprio growing up well, but gotta say, Joseph Gordon-Levitt grew up NICELY! I haven't really seen him in anything since 3rd Rock, so was very impressed at how well he's left behind "child actor." And it didn't hurt that he was running around in a well-fitting suit most of the time, either. Icing on the cake! ;)

Onto the subject of DiCaprio now, it's an interesting choice of back-to-back roles for him, with this and Shutter Island (another movie worth seeing, in my humble opinion!). Both are strong, driven hard-working men, dark pasts, plenty of secrets, haunted by deaths of their wives and loss of their kids (in different senses, though)... Not that the movies themselves were similar, but it just struck me several times during the movie, how similar the characters were. He pulls them off, though, so can't say I have any objections to him in these sorts of roles!

Overall: 5 of 5. Solid acting, good directing, good writing. A thinking adventure movie, nice blend of special effects and plot. Hard not to sound too gushing about it, but it's a nice change from the average Hollywood action movie. Definitely one for the shelf.

Here be spoilers!
Also, a nice series of movie posters to give you space to avoid the spoiler, if you want :)

So, I stuck this down in the spoilers section, because it is one of those movies that you want to see for yourself to answer this question.

IS HE STILL DREAMING AT THE END OR NOT??

There's actually a good discussion of the movie and it's open-ended question on IMDB, if you want to read the user's evidence both for and against the dream theory. They also have a good break-down of the time-frames of each dream level, which can be confusing in the movie, with so much going on.

I can see both sides of the dream argument. I think which side I choose will probably depend on my mood on a given day, how optimistic I'm feeling!

Still, whichever way you think it went, I honestly prefer it being open-ended. Nice discussion point for the movie, for starters. And I honestly don't like deep, philosophical movies that present a definite "this is the way things are" sort of viewpoint. Because it's philosophy, right? A field which it's all discussion and nothing definite anyways. An open-ended story suits it better.

PS - so, John, you're not right. It's not a cut and dry "it was all a dream" ending, like you're predicting. Chris Nolan's better than that :)

Double Movie Monday!

I saw a double feature at the post theater, so you get 2 movies today :) Well, really not a double feature, nothing official, just two movies I wanted to see, back to back. Despicable Me and Inception. For some reason, Zach didn't come along...

Anyhoo: First up on the list was Despicable Me.

Plot: Gru is a criminal mastermind living in suburbia, the house with the black paint and dead lawn as stark contrast to the white picket fences of his neighbors. His status as a super villain is threatened by a younger, up-and-coming baddie. In order to regain his place as the world's greatest super villain, Gru, aided by his army of minions, is planning to pull of the heist of all time (stealing the moon). As part of his grand scheme, Gru uses a trio of orphan girls as pawn, but finds himself profoundly changed by their presence in his life.

Yes, this is a kids' movie, so the plot wasn't anything to be surprised about. And for CG movies recently, Pixar has set the bar so high on movies which entertain on multiple levels, that when a movie's 'just average,' it seems so much lower in comparison. Still, much fun to be had here with Gru and the girls. The fun is in the dialogue writing, not the plot. Lots of funny jokes for the kids, and plenty of ones tossed in for the adults too (for example: "Bank of Evil: formerly Lehman Brothers").

A lot of the humor comes in the scenes and backgrounds of the movie, like the Lehman Brothers joke. So many subtle jokes thrown in there: the minions DJ on Gru-Ray Discs, the couch made out of an alligator, the newspapers on Gru's walls, the massive Venus Fly Trap houseplants, the decorations in Miss Hattie's office... And especially as the girls' influence starts redecorating Gru's home - the pictures on the wall, the fridge, pink all over! Just a lot of visual humor as well as the conversations.

Favorite voice casting (practically a cameo): Julie Andrews as Gru's mom. She's supposed to be warm and soft and caring, right? It's Julie Andrews, for crying out loud! I love that she's the mean, kickboxing granny!

Steve Carell and Russell Brand are both great, too, as Gru and his aged assistant, Dr Nefario. Gru, even with his accent, takes advantage of Carell's wonderful deadpan sort of humor. So awkward!! And the ancient Dr. Nefario just cracked me up. Brand is just a funny guy, and so versatile!

Have to add, too, the music is pretty fun. The opening song I was humming for a good couple days after the movie. And honestly, since then, it'll pop into my head whenever I'm "having a bad, bad day." Good job, Pharell (way to go, another PAHS grad!)

And don't forget the line that has become the movie's tagline "It's so FLUFFY!" Since seeing the film, I have yet to talk about my cat's fluffiness without saying it in that tone of voice :)

Overall: 4 of 5. Much fun, and laughed out loud several times at the theater. Not deep and emotional as well as entertaining (i.e. not Pixar) but still a good afternoon flick. This would be a welcome addition to the silly kids movies which still continue to populate my movie collection :)

My dorkiness knows no bounds!

This time it's swimming dorkiness. I don't talk much about my swimming, because I don't race any more, but it's still a very large part of my life. I grew up around water (we're one of those families where you learn to swim about when you learn to walk) and competed through high school. I have competed, guarded, taught lessons, coached - you name it. If I'm around water, I'm a happy camper.

Anyways, when I did compete, I was a distance swimmer. Distance freestyle and butterfly. Yeah, the fun, masochistic events! Honestly, though, can't sprint worth beans. Kinda holds true in my running now! I have one speed, but can hold that speed for quite a long time :)

As I was searching for something else online the other day, I stumbled across this T-shirt. It's also available on other stuff - mugs, stickers, etc. - being a CafePress shop and all.

Yes, it's a reference to the SNL sketch a few years ago with Christopher Walken with his 'fever for more cowbell.' But it's also a hysterical shirt for me, swimming wise.

Distance swimmers have counters at the end of their lane to help them keep track of how far they've swum (hey, you try swimming 500 yards or 1650 yards at race pace and not losing count!). They also have an auditory signal for the swimmers as they start their last lap. In our area, a cowbell was rung near the lane of the lead swimmer in the heat as they started their final lap. Everyone could hear it, so you knew you were just about done when that cowbell rang, even if you weren't in first.

It's one of those little things that sticks with you, too. One of my first long races in VB ended on the Boardwalk for the last few miles (the Shamrock, if you care) and as I turned the corner onto the Boardwalk, it was about mile 11 in the half marathon. Some spectator was there at the corner cheering for the runners and ringing a cowbell (one of the sponsors had been handing them out at the race expo). Hearing that noise, I had a very strong thought, "Almost done!" I had to think hard why I was thinking that so strongly, and realized it was connected to the noise of the bell! And this was several years after I'd stopped competing swimming! I still laugh at myself for that one :)

So what do distance swimmers want? More cowbell!

So cool!!

I'd seen this company at a race expo, but stumbled across them again the other day. Thought it's worth sharing!

Mile 22 Bags is a company that will take whatever race memorabilia you send them (bibs, t-shirts, mylar blankets, etc) and turn it into a bag. They've got a few different styles of tote bags, even a backpack and a wallet.

These are just too cool!! Gym bags with bragging rights! And they'd be perfect race-day check backs (though if it's one of the totes, I doubt I'd be using it for just race-day - too much fun to just be tucked away!) The backpack would be perfect for the water-bottle-and-keys sort of light load I take to the gym, too.

And I'll admit it - I keep a lot of my race memorabilia. Zach would probably describe me as a pack-rat (in some cases, I would too) but for race memorabilia, seeing the numbers or the shirts helps me remember the things I've done. I'm a very visual person, and seeing the medals or shirts or bibs triggers the memories. It makes me very proud of what I've accomplished, and keeps me motivated for races I've got coming up. So I've been scrapbooking a lot of the bigger races I've done, and I have a collection of the cotton T-shirts from races ready to be cut apart and made into a T-shirt quilt. My medals are hanging on the wall, and I've a motivational poster surrounded by a bunch of my older race numbers too. So, for me, it's really a question of what race memorabilia would I want to send in for a bag? :)

Oh, and the pictures are all from the Mile 22 website (gotta give credit where it's due!). I just had to link to them, since it's impossible to explain how much fun these bags are without the visuals :)

Review: 11:14

Another one that Zach pulled up from off the Netflix Watch Instantly queue. Hadn't heard of this one before (Zach had added it to the queue), but here you go: 11:14.

Plot: Crazy things happening in small-town America late one night. The movie tells the story of about a dozen people involved in separate story lines that all coincide with disastrous results at (you guessed it) 11:14.

Another dark comedy. We seem to be on a roll :)

Like in many dark comedies, you have people in serious situations making the most awkward or incomprehensible decisions in response to their serious surroundings. My favorite comment from one of the IMDB user reviews is "Bad Decisions Make for Great Entertainment." That really sums up this movie. These people are making the most bizarre choices as these things happen to them, and you just sit back and watch how it all plays out.

Not a classic, but definitely worth a watch. The cast is great, just a very, very strong ensemble. The teenagers are all very real characters. The three guys joy-riding (Ben Foster, Colin Hanks and Stark Sands) are hysterical, watching their simple pranks go so horribly, painfully awry. Hilary Swank is nicely cast, in a part originally written for a male until she expressed interest. She's the epitome of the characters choosing the worst possible option instead of using a little common sense. Patrick Swayze, so often overly dramatic in parts, is perfect as an overly dramatic, overly protective father, while Rachael Leigh Cook's character, his daughter Cheri, is a nice blend of malice, manipulation, and naivete, who sets in motion all the night's events.

The direction is very well-handled, too. Movies like this, with multiple intersecting story lines, can be so good if handled well, and so bad if not (yes, I am still quite bitter about Magnolia, a rant for another time). The direction here was great. The storylines intersected nicely, and you were allowed to see the puzzle pieces start fitting together, as you got shots of the other storylines as you were watching another one happen.

Overall: 4 of 5. Very fun. Don't think it's one I'd watch over and over, not really a classic, so probably not one for the shelf, but certainly one to check out on Netflix Instant :)

FL Trip - Pt 2

No trip to north FL to see family would be complete without a trip over to Mandalay. Best-est place in the world, as I might have mentioned before ;) I am writing about this particular trip, because it was Zach's first trip in the summer - a rite of passage in our family! Worthy of note!

Mandalay is an old house on the Aucilla River, and is perfect for spending time outside and appreciating nature. This dock has been appreciated for generations in our family as a place to sun oneself, to swim, to sit and watch the river flow past. My cousin is demonstrating below the proper use of the dock :)

Getting out on the water is also key at Mandalay. It being Zach's first trip there in the summer, we took the canoes out and paddled up the river. The bridge is about a mile and 3/4 up river from where the house is, and it's generally used by the family as a turn-around landmark when we go out paddling. So, of course, I had to take a picture as we arrived there :)

It was a day full of wildlife to see, too! Besides the standard fiddler crabs and little birds (lots of hummingbirds!), Zach saw his first gator! We do have gators on the Aucilla, and this one was chilling out near our neighbor's boats. Never got really close to us and our dock, (I think we were too noisy), though he was definitely close enough to watch! We saw another one as we were paddling too, though not as close as the one at the docks. Prompted the question, "Have the gators around here ever been know to do something... stupid?" No worries, though - much easier prey than us around here!

The osprey nest was very active too. There are always a few nests up and down the Aucilla, and we passed one as we were paddling. There was a baby (well, juvenile at this time of year) in the nest crying for food, and two adults swooping up and down to the water from the trees to go fishing for the hungry one. We paddled slowly as we passed, so we could watch them flying about and fishing. Beautiful birds!

The unusual wildlife was the raccoons! A pair of young raccoons came right up to the rushes near the house and were just hanging out!! We could hear them crunching on something, so I think they were hunting the fiddler crab that live in that area of the bank. 25+ years that I remember of going down to this house, and this was the first time seeing raccoons there, and certainly the first time this close to the house! They climbed the trees when I came out to take pictures of them. Sorry, little guys! We did get some very good pictures though :)

FL Trip- Pt 1

So, two weeks in FL and it was AWESOME!! Besides all the craziness that is inherent to a large gathering of my family (or a small one, for that matter), it was really nice simply being back east again.

I mentioned the weather there the other day, from when we went over to St Augustine. And, true to FL, it did rain just about every day. There were some down sides to that, obviously, like in St Augustine we couldn't go up the lighthouse... lightning warning - some sort of safety issue with lightning in the area... Oh well, can't win 'em all. Still got to visit the museum, just couldn't go up for the view. :( Guess we'll just have to go back and visit again! Oh, darn!

That same weather in St Augustine was really nice, too! Didn't mention it the other day, but it kept almost everyone home, even after the rain started. We stopped by the beach, and the only folk there were the sandpipers and the hard-core surfers enjoying the waves. You never get the beach to yourself in August in FL unless it's bad weather! We walked along the beach for a little and enjoyed watching the waves. There's just something so pretty about an ocean after a storm. I miss it so much...

The nicest thing about the weather, though, was being outside again. Yes, it was ridiculously sticky and humid, as FL summers are known to be, but it was REALLY nice running outside again. In the desert, with a total lack of humidity, it hurts to breath when you run. Or walk to the mailbox for that matter. Yes, I was sweating like a pig when I ran during our trip, but I could BREATHE without feeling like my lungs were bleeding. Running out here can be painful - the wind and the dry air just rip all moisture from your lungs. A friend is an aerobics instructor and is very conscious of proper breathing when she works out or rides her bike or runs or whatever. She laughed "I've become such a mouth breather since moving to the desert!" You just CAN'T breathe through your nose here. You don't feel your sweat in the desert, which some people like (it just dries SO fast on your skin), but I can live with feeling sweaty - it's a run, for cryin' out loud! You're supposed to sweat! :)

Beyond the breathing and moisture for my lungs, I really liked running in both Tally and Gainesville because of the park systems available there. Gainesville has a State Geologic Park at the Devil's Millhopper. It's a big ol' sinkhole, and there are stairs leading down to the bottom of the hole. 220, if I remember correctly. At any rate, it's 120 feet deep and the stairs go all the way to the bottom, and there's a little half-mile trail circling the top of the hole. Makes it a perfect place to do a stairs workout! Lots of greenery all over the sides, water flowing in and out of the hole, very pretty place, too, so even better!

We dragged Zach's sister along on the run, too. She's in FL now, so it was easy to see her as well as all my side of the family when we visit! Fun!! I love my family :)

Tallahassee has really been working on expanding it's trail system. Besides another state park I like to run in, the city has the Miccosukee Greenway, a trail system of about 17 miles of trails along Miccosukee Road, one of the old covered roads in the city. Lots of old oaks, Spanish moss, flowers... beautiful to drive too!

I have to say, I was nearly in tears my first run back here in CA desert. It was very windy and obviously dry and not nearly as scenic :(

R is for...

Ravelry!

Any knitter knows what Ravelry is, I think. For my not-so-fiber-crafty friends, Ravelry is like Facebook and a reference library combined for fiber folk. The last 5 years of my life, I have lived in areas where there weren't a lot of knitters, or where there weren't knitters I could easily meet up with. My job schedule over the past few years has prevented me from meeting up with knitting groups, and then we moved to the middle of nowhere, where our nearest 'local' yarn shop is an hour and a half away (the second closest is 2 hours away). Means that I look online a lot more for support!

Ravelry opened up a lot for me. I can search patterns, search yarns, see what other people have made with yarns I have in my stash, see how the same pattern will look on different body types, in different yarns, with different modifications. And there are tons of patterns to download, too, either free or for a fee. If I lived in an area with a LYS or two (or 5, like VB), then I might not have depended on it so much, but given where I've been...

And it's a social site too. Lots of groups to join - knitters who run, who are men, who travel, who are fans of particular TV shows or movies or sports teams, who have preschool kids, who don't have kids, who have red hair, who have had cancer, who knit for different charities, who live in certain areas... anything and everything probably has a group on Ravelry. It's actually how I met one of my best friends here on post too! One of the groups I'm in is for military-connected folk (service members, spouses, kids, whatever) and we were swapping who lived where, so that we could meet up with folk in our areas. There wasn't anyone on my post at the time, but Sarah found me and was moving out here soon! As soon as she moved out here, we met up, and that was nearly 2 years ago! Having a knitting buddy has definitely helped us both stay sane in this crazy place we're in!!

Ravelry will have events semi-regularly too. The Olympics are a big one. That started in 2006 after the Yarn Harlot suggested it as a way to challenge ourselves as knitters (or crocheters, not to discriminate) while we watched all the international athletes challenge themselves. In 2008, Ravelry allowed it to be an even bigger event in the knitting world (and again in 2010, for the Winter Olympics). I participated in 2008, on the Futurama group's team (Team Robonia- "Hail, Hail, Ro-bon-ia! A land I didn't make up!"). My schedule was too crazy this winter to do the 2010 one, unfortunately. 2012, though, I'll be there!

I know some aren't as fond of Ravelry. Anne and a friend here each have mentioned that their minds and project organizational systems just don't coincide with how Ravelry works. That's totally OK. I know sites like this aren't for everyone. I just know that it works for me, and anything that helps me keep an eye on my stash and queue is a good thing :)

Q is for...

Quick and Easy!

Bet you thought it'd be Q is for Qivit, right? Unfortunately, that's both a little expensive and a little too warm for my knitting right now :)

Q could also be for Quality Time, but I don't have any pictures of our Knit Nights :)

So, onto what I did choose!

Quick and Easy projects are a necessity for a knitter. Sweaters or involved projects (like the two lace scarves I'm working on now!) can just be such involved undertakings. They give a great sense of accomplishment when they are done, but those accomplishments are such a long time in coming! When you are in the midst of a slog-along sort of project, you just need something quick to finish, have that nice feeling of "Ta-da!" Hats, scarves, simple baby clothes, some sock patterns... all sorts of things with a short time span as a break from something more involved!

The project I pictured above was a pattern that I made up on my own. Haven't written it up, but have found a very similar one on Ravelry, if you are interested. It's a great pattern to use up extra bits of skeins, and being such think yarn (or multiple yarns held together), it's a REALLY quick knit! I made two of the ones shown above for Anne and I, and I think they were both done in a week! They do require some long circular needles, and there are lots of stitches on a given row, but when you only have 10 rows to do, no big deal!

Because it's knit horizontally, it's self-fringing too, for an added bonus :) Hey, no ends to weave in!

It's an easy pattern to adjust to personal taste, too. Anne's scarf is pictured below, and if you look closely, it's a little narrower than mine - you can see fewer stripes. If you saw them side-by-side, too, you'd see that hers is a little longer too. That's just how she likes her scarves :)