C is for...

Cambridge! Specifically, Christ's College, Cambridge!

The summer after my junior year in college, I did a summer abroad in England. My undergrad degree (biology) was too structured to allow a full semester or year away (at least without delaying graduation), so I 'settled' for a summer away. Still had a blast! 2 months in England, took classes, traveled, utterly enjoyed myself. Truly, truly loved it there!

Christ's was the college that hosted our study abroad program, and still holds a very special place in my heart. Right downtown in the middle of Cambridge, it was easy walking distance to the train station for quick day trips into London, Sainsbury's (grocery store) was only a block or two up the road, and the Market Square was less than a block from our gates. There was a very sweet yarn/needlepoint shop right behind our back gates (yes, I did hit it up several times) and parks and the River Cam nearby to go running or just wandering along. Lovely used book stores there too (and in several of the other towns I went to, as well - ended up shipping a full box of books home, since they wouldn't fit in my suitcase anymore!)

These pictures are actually from 2005, not 2003 when I did my summer there. Yes, I did get a chance to go back :) My sister had done a high school summer abroad in 2002, the summer before I went (she was at Newnham College, farther out from town). So, when we got the chance to chaperone/play tourguide for Mom's scout troop's trip to London, we jumped at the opportunity to get back across the pond! (Actually, we told her she was nuts if she thought we'd stay quietly at home for 2 weeks while they went over, but it all comes out the same!) One of the days that the girls were playing tourist in London, they were hitting up a lot of sites that Anne and I had already seen and didn't really need to see again. So we took the opportunity to hop a train into Cambridge and see the 'old haunts' again. Saw both our colleges there, picnicked along the Cam, browsed the stores, had a great day.

We laughed a good bit because our 'souvenirs' from that trip to London weren't really what one thinks of as souvenirs. Instead we were stocking up on foods we'd become addicted to in England but are hard to find in the States - Penguin bars, a type of tea I love, Penguin bars, jam that she could eat her weight in, Penguin bars... the important things. :)

Also, for accuracy's sake, I did take the picture on top, of the Christ's College gates. The others were a mix of me or Anne taking the picture (obviously, I didn't take the one's I'm in). But, since there were very good pictures, I'm posting them anyway! Because I can :)

Silliness

Just a quick little thought as I'm heading to bed (yes, I know it's late - wasn't feeling well and took a nap today, and now can't get to sleep!)

Anyway.... I'm excited by my little counter at the bottom there. Just a silly little thing that strikes me like a school yearbook - Do people like me? Yes, they do! Completely ridiculous, I know, but at least I'll admit it! :)

Besides, it's shaped like yarn!! How cool is that!?

A weekend on the coast

Sometimes I do appreciate my job (at least what I do, if not who I do it with). During the past 2 years, I have gotten to travel a good bit more, and to places I'd never have seen otherwise. This time, we had a job site down in Savannah. Trying to arrange the site visit with my travel time (4.5-5 hrs 1 way) and the client's moving office schedule, it worked out really well to meet Saturday morning. Fine with me, since I just picked up Zach on the way and we stayed down there an extra day to see the coast! Sometimes things do work out nicely :)

So, Savannah and Tybee Island - consider it another check off on the bucket list!

Saturday we went over to Tybee Island after my site visit was done. Little town on the coast about 20 minutes east of Savannah. "Savannah's beach." Was a great time to be over there, since (being February) there were no tourists (although the Tybee Marathon/Half Marathon/5K was this past weekend too, but it's only a small group of races). Totally lucked out in the weather all weekend - it was breezy and early-springtime, but still mostly sunny and in the 60s to low 70s. Even Zach was in his T-shirt at some points! Didn't feel like the beginning of February at all!!

On Tybee Island we went for a dolphin tour. Third times the charm! We tried to go whale watching in Monterey when I visited him out there, and then again in VB at New Year's, but both times the weather foiled our plans. Not this time! And the dolphins were out too! The guide on the boat said that we had a great turn-out for a winter tour. In the summer, the dolphins come to Tybee and Savannah for the fishing season, and they can have 2-300 hanging out in the area. In the winter, the number's a little closer to 30-35 in the area. Still, the few that were there on Saturday wanted to play! The tour guide was laughing that they must be enjoying the good weather too. There was even one jumping in the distance! We actually got a few good pictures, though there were also a lot of shots of water that I had to clean off my camera too :)

I was just happy to get out on the water, honestly. Zach doesn't care as much, as he's never spent as much time on the water, but growing up on the coast in VA and FL, I'll miss the water when we move. Heck, I miss it here in Greenville, and we've got creeks all over the place, and a river running right through downtown. It's a different type of water though; the big rivers, calm and smooth and steady, are very peaceful and calming for me. Not something I'm going to have much of in Death Valley, CA come March, so I'm just trying to get my fill now. :)

We went to the Tybee lighthouse, too, as we were on the island, and climbed all the way to the top (of course) to enjoy the view. Can see quite a ways from up there, and we caught it at the end of the day as there were some great shots with the late-day lighting. The Tybee lighthouse was home to the local museum, too. The pirates and colonizers, the military history of the area (used to be home to a small fort), and the tourist history (Savannah folk coming over for the beach). They even had an old wool bathing suit on display among the tourist displays!

On Sunday we went to Ft Pulaski, which lies between Tybee and Savannah. Pre-Civil War fort (built in the same time period as Alcatraz and Ft Monroe, if you're interested), but it's really known for the site of a Civil War battle. First use of rifled cannons in warfare - huge technological advance. Kind of the same type of change as the Monitor-Merrimack battle. The rifled cannons could shoot further and with greater accuracy than previous cannons, and effectively changed the way forts had to be designed. Pretty interesting. The tour guide was great - very low-key, but you could tell he loves what he does. He's worked at 6 (I think) other National Park forts, and was full of interesting little stories. Like the first baseball game played in the state of GA was played at Ft Pulaski by the NY regiment stationed there. Gotta do something to keep busy, right?

Sunday afternoon was Savannah itself. We walked along the Riverwalk, saw all the little kitsch-y tourist shops. I had to get my pressed pennies, y'know. Zach's very good at supporting my expensive souvenir habit, as it seems I never have the right type of change - I'll have to be more conscious of that in CA :)

Went to the Juliette Low Birthplace, too. (For those who don't know, she's the founder of Girl Scouting in the States) I know I went in middle school with my troop, but I honestly don't remember tons, so I figured it'd be good to stop by again before moving cross-country, especially since I was in town, and all. :) My favorite story from the tour guide was that apparently Juliette's mother was fond of sliding down bannisters. That's actually how she met her husband (Juliette's father), by crashing into him as she slid down the bannister at a library. He said that 'she kept him off balance ever since.' It's interesting to see what I did remember, and what was new to me going as an adult. Like the giant hair combs Zach noticed in one of the bedrooms. Apparently that's the size comb that you use to create hairpieces for formal wear. They were huge! I'd never thought about it, looking at Victorian formalwear, the type of 'equipment' you'd need to keep those giant 'dos together. Interesting...

I know this has rambled on a good ways, but we had a very busy weekend and I just had to share! It was a really good weekend, too. Perfect weather, plenty of good pictures to remember it by, and lots of interesting stuff to see and learn. Zach and I are realizing that though we don't necessarily have similar tastes in history and museums, we both enjoy them, so it's easy to get the other to tag along. Works out nicely that way!

To celebrate my 60th post!

A free pattern for you all! Something nice to celebrate! I will try and get this uploaded as a pdf as well, to make things easier for anyone interested in the pattern. For bigger versions of the pictures here, just click on the thumbnails here.

ZACH’S DOUBLE-KNIT SCARF

My husband (still weird writing that!) is a Virginia Tech grad and when we were dating, asked for sweater at one point. Fearing the curse (he’s a good one – didn’t want him getting away), we settled on a hat & scarf set for his birthday instead. Not knowing if he had a burgundy-with-orange or orange-with-burgundy preference, I decided to make him a reversible set. I made the hat working from Knitty’s “Not Your Grandma’s Double-Knit Hat” and “One Warm A$$ Double Knit Hat", both available free online. The scarf was harder to find, online or otherwise. There are several reversible hat patterns available on the web, but the only scarf patterns I was finding were in books and not quite what I wanted. So, out of necessity, this is what I came up with.

If you’re unfamiliar with double-knitting (as I was), there a two ways to do it. The basic premise is the same for both methods – you are creating two pieces of fabric at the same time. As you’re working, you are looking at the front of one piece, and the back of the other. Ideally, this creates a pocket between the two fabrics. There’s even a pattern I’ve seen online for making a small bag using this technique. I made several potholders for family members as I was practicing the technique. The two layers make wonderful insulation, making it very suitable for potholders, and also resulting in a very warm scarf. My husband is one of those permanently chilled types, so he has loved having this nice warm scarf the past few years.

These are some of the references I consulted as I was teaching myself how to double-knit. There are 2 styles of double-knitting. You’ll see this as you read through the references below. I didn’t use the ‘slip & slide’ method, but knit a stitch from the ‘front’ side of the fabric, and then purled the matching stitch from the ‘back’ side of the fabric. This way, both sides are worked at once, with stitches from each side of the fabric alternating on your needles.

• Stitch Diva - lots of pictures and explains all the steps of the process in nice detail
• Knitting Help – if videos help more than still pictures, this page on KnittingHelp.com has videos of double knitting
• Woolworks – There are a few notes on Woolworks on double-knitting, but no pictures.
• Knitty – Not-your-grandma’s-double-knit Hat – yes, it’s a hat, but it’s got some nice pointers and tips to make your first DK project go more smoothly
• One Warm A$$ Double-Knit Hat – this uses the ‘slip & slide’ method of DK, but if that is more comfortable for you, this has a good explanation of it.
• InKnitters magazine, Spring 2005 also has a good article, but I do not know if it is still in print. If you have a copy, check it out.

Materials:
Yarn: Plymouth Encore (100g, 3 ½ oz, 200 yds per skein - 75% Acrylic, 25% Wool) 2 skeins each color A and B (For VT - Colors 999 burgundy and 1383 orange)

Choose your own school colors, or whatever nice contrasting colors take your fancy! The important thing for this scarf is that the weights of the yarns be the same/very similar. The idea is to get the contrast with the color, not weight or texture (that type of scarf is also possible, but would look very different than this one).

Needles & Notions:
US Size 10 (or size needed to achieve gauge).
Crochet hook/tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Finished Dimensions:
9 inches wide x 73 inches long

Gauge:
16 stitches x 23 rows = 4 inches in double-knit stockinette stitch

Directions:
Cast on 72 stitches. This is twice the number of stitches used in each side. Every other stitch will be side A, and the rest will be side B. Another way to achieve this same result is to cast on 36 stitches with both colors held together.

Begin Chart. I’ve summarized the striping pattern below
1 K selvedge (knit 1 stitch of both A and B held together)
2 K stitches A (each paired with P stitch B)
2 K stitches B (each paired with P stitch A)
1 K stitch A (paired with P stitch B)
2 K stitch B (each paired with P stitch A)
1 K stitch A (paired with P stitch B)
2 K stitches B (each paired with P stitch A)
14 K stitches A (each paired with P stitches B)
2 K stitches B (each paired with P stitch A)
1 K stitch A (paired with P stitches B)
2 K stitches B (each paired with P stitch A)
1 K stitches A (paired with P stitch B)
2 K stitches B (each paired with P stitch A)
2 K stitches A (each paired with P stitch B)
1 K selvedge (knit 1 stitch of both A and B held together)
___
72 stitches/2 sides = 36 st at 16 st/4 in = 9 in.

NOTE: Except for the selvedge stitches on the edges, each block on the grid represents 2 stitches (a ‘front’ and a ‘back’). Remember, you are knitting up both sides of the fabric at once. Look at the chart as the pattern for one side of the scarf, then each time you knit in one color, purl in the other. The ‘front’ of the scarf will look like the chart, and the ‘back’ will be the reverse.

Continue knitting *k1 A, p1 B* following chart until the scarf measures 73 inches long (or as long as desired).

I bound off using only one yarn. To do this, bind off working through both the ‘front’ and ‘back’ strands of yarn, treating them as a single stitch. This acts as a k2tog decrease, and joins the two panels together, instead of creating a pocket. For the edge stitches, work through both strands of the end stitch, again working it as one stitch.

Some tips to help:

• Remember that any time you knit in your main color, you'll purl in your contrasting color.
• Carry both colors together from front to back. In other words, if you are knitting, both yarns are behind your work; if you are purling, both yarns are in front. You only actually knit or purl one yarn at a time. It's just that both are there hanging out together, as it were. It helps keep things from getting tangled.
• Keep your stitches firm and even. This REALLY helps.
• Try practicing first. I worked several pot holders before attempting the scarf. It helps you get the hang of how to hold the yarns and how to keep your tension even.

Enjoy! As always, if there are questions, please let me know. This is the first time I’ve tried writing up one of the patterns I’ve ‘unvented’ so feedback is always appreciated!

And, of course, the standard wording applies. Thanks very much for checking out my pattern. You are welcome to make any of my patterns for yourself, a friend, or charity, but please do not sell the finished product. If you would like to share the pattern, please do not sell it or try to pass my work off as your own. If you make one of the patterns, I would love to see pictures! Please consider sending me a picture, or letting me know on ravelry (I’m oddbird26).

I truly hate my job

I went in to work this morning, and somehow ended up in the middle of a inter-office bickerfest. It's never good when you open your e-mail first thing in the morning and see about 12 e-mails bouncing around your e-mail from a bunch of managers.

I honestly made a mistake, I'll admit. Unfortunately it was a mistake over something that one of the regional directors of the company tends to get his panties in a bunch over. This company has a lot of hot-tempered, knee-jerk-reaction-type folk, and a lot seem to be people who feel a need to justify their worth. Add to that, the fact that our company fosters an environment of suspicion, hostility and between-office bickering, and you get a nice little e-mail storm, which I got caught in the middle of. Being lowly peon that I am, I just had to be quiet and suck it up, as actually yelling “You people are INSANE!” wouldn’t have gone over well. One of those days where you get so frustrated, you want to yell or punch something, but can’t, and you just end up feeling like you’re going to explode. I was seriously in tears, because I was so frustrated that I wanted to put my fist through a wall, and (obviously) couldn't at work. (On a completely unrelated note, I need to find a dojo in CA to start training again....)

So, since I was so mad I couldn't see straight, I helped Tom (another one of my unfortunate coworkers) clean out our equipment room. Good cathartic chucking-of-stuff. Expiration date past? Throw it out! Don't know what it is? Throw it out! And we actually saw progress being made! Our department equipment room was a very scary place. Thankfully, most of my stuff doesn't need to be kept in there, because that room would seriously creep you out, it was so filthy. However, as our department grows and the equipment we invest in becomes nicer, the decision was made to clean out our equipment room and get it in order. Worked out for me today, since I was so mad I would have thrown my monitor across the room if I'd had to sit at my computer today and type.

The cleaning did help. After lunch (good comfort food and venting with Amy) I was feeling almost myself again. And the equipment room is pretty much usable! One of the technicians is going to make us shelves to hold a lot of the bulkier equipment, but all of our smaller stuff is tucked away into the cabinets (which are now clean!). Tom even swept and mopped the floor! He couldn't get all the stains off - the red clay 'round here, as well as some of the chemicals we handle do leave their marks. On the other hand, there was a nice clean area around our equipment room doorway, where you could see the division between our equipment area and the area of the field technicians (their floor was still filthy!) Way to go, Tom!

The whole thing with the e-mails this morning, though, was that it was over a ridiculous little thing. It's something that shouldn't be as big of an issue as it is, but since this company is structured oddly, it makes the issue more than it should be. The company is structured almost in a franchise set-up. The individual offices operate very independently of each other for the most part. All the admin and stuff is together, and there are lots of corportate meetings and such, but basically, the different branch offices are set up to be competitors. Weird set up - as Amy says, "we aren't friends with the other offices." I prefer to think of it as a company policy of "Does Not Play Well With Others." Leads to a lot of bickering and stupid infighting between the offices. Some people get along great with each other (mostly project level-types, like me, or managers in very small offices), but some get very weird about things (mostly managers and regional-level staff and up). Ridiculous waste of time and effort, getting all heated up about such trivial things - can't we all just get along? 'Course I think that of most politics, not just the office kind.

So today was very tiring, in a very different way than yesterday. BUT! Tomorrow is Friday!! And Amy and I are in the field tomorrow, and then it's the weekend, which means I don't have to see any of those idiots at the office FOR ANOTHER 3 DAYS!!

Woohoo!! (Yeah, I'm a regular Girl Gone Mild!) ;)

Wallowing

Blargh. I hate these days.

Work is draining (though with branch manager gone, it has been a noticably less tense atmosphere in the office these past two days - hope he's gone tomorrow too). But it's like senior-itis - I feel like I've got miles of things to do, but no time or energy to get them done, and a part of me doesn't even care if I do get them done. And the rest of me recognizes that this attitude isn't like me at all. Like I said, draining.

Getting ready for the move is exciting, but overwhelming sometimes (a lot of the times). It's exciting to have a new start ahead of me, get out of this job, this town, but I worry about how much can actually change, y'know? I know - I'm a worry wart.

Nothing to be done, I suppose, but try to get to bed early tonight and try again tomorrow. Not a long or exciting post tonight, but I feel neither rambly nor exciting. Just gotta keep plugging it out one day at a time.

Blood! I must have Blood!

(please insert the Dracula voice there - makes more sense that way!)

So today was the blood drive here at work. It's actually been nice having them come right to work. Don't have an excuse for not donating! Unlike my sister and several good friends, I don't pass out from needles, so I don't feel I have an excuse for not donating. I just forget sometimes... This way, they're right in front of work, and since I've given each time they come by, the next time they come is the next time I'm due to donate! Works out very nicely. :)

I'm worried that they won't get a great turn-out today, because so many people from the office aren't in today. A lot of folk are out in the field, including 2 who I know donate regularly, more's the pity. Also including our branch manager! Yay! No snarky comments or bad moods looming over the office (I swear that man is like Eeyore, with the thunderclouds hovering over him).

Still, there are several here who have given blood this morning, myself included. I really like the Blood Connection here. They can actually stick my elbow well (I am notoriously hard to stick with a needle) and they wrap up my elbow nicely, so I've never had the nasty-big bruises like when I donated at school. And the free t-shirts afterwards actually come in sizes other than XXXXXXXL!! So I can get a good workout t-shirt that fits! Ooh! and the snacks afterwards aren't just dry cookies, but include Hostess snackies (HoHos and NutterButters and Zebra Cakes...!) It's the little things that make me happy :)

So save a life! Give blood!

At least if you don't pass out from needles - that doesn't do anyone any good. Just find another way to do something nice for someone else today instead!