A little tropical flora and fauna

This year has allowed me to travel a bit more than usual...

Mostly to Illinois to visit the Physicist (which often means side trips to other cities in the Midwest - we're to visit the St. Louis Arch this weekend... I'm lobbying for a side trip to the Ozark Trail).

I also took a long weekend to visit my grandmother in Florida about a month ago.
I wanted to visit the Everglades and see the ocean.

Although we were limited by time - I got to spend a great day seeing lots of things I don't get to see in our more temperate zone.






This guy here, he was <1 foot away. Since it had been a cold and dry winter, they move S L O W L Y - so being so close isn't as terrifying as it would seem.

Although the rangers suggested we didn't poke him to make sure he wasn't dead.
THAT'S why they're the Ranger...

My Scandinavian Journey

Update: My inner fiscal conservative is making TSK TSK noises and forcing me to dig deeper into my ability to do this, since it would require a furlough from work in addition to having cash on hand...

But there will be more adventure in 2010 - regardless of the continent.

***

So it looks as though I will be heading to Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki - maybe even St. Petersburg - for 2 weeks this summer.

I can't even begin to believe that this may actually happen.

That's four more countries in my passport.

A chance to have the European backpacking trip I never had in college.

An excuse to learn to say "Where is the nearest yarn shop?" in Dane-Norwe-Fin-Russian!

Foster yarn: part II

Pretty quickly after learning how to knit, I realized how expensive a good yarn can be.
A good sock yarn can fetch $20 a skein, and often that's just enough for one sock.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that, so I took to taking in yarns that friends were destashing - or offering as a reward from detangling - or some other challenge - that would result in the ownership of some yarn I couldn't imagine myself buying, but was all too happy to play with.

Those days are (somewhat) gone. I'm less appalled by the price of yarn - although I'm still sensitive to budgetary constraints. But I can honestly admit that I spend more on yarn than I do on food, electricity or gas on a monthly basis.

That said, my favorite foster yarn is finally knit up into something wearable! Socks!


And they come with a drawn out story that few will care to hear, but many will be forced to endure.

It started on a cool September day in 2008.
That's right.
2008.
(This is history, folks.)

Anyway, Ms. Affiknitty got some lovely Koigu and decided to double strand it into a cowl, creating the infamous Color of Disappointment cowl.

Time went on and she offered me the yarn if I was willing to frog and rewind the yarn.

So I did.
And I considered many a sock pattern for this yarn.
Hemmed and hawed.
Finally, I settled on Spring Forward.
Easy lace - sweet - if done correctly, a pogo stick would soon be my mode of transport (as the picture indicates).

I blogged about it then.

Look how far I got!
But I succumbed to the terrible urge to put them down and poof...
I lost my place.
I tried to start again, but there were too many problems.
So I frogged them.

I rewound the yarn in December and decided I needed to try again - this time the Synesthesia sock.

Again, toe up, two at a time.

And... crap. I forgot that it was toe up and was working them like the ankle so the bottoms weren't flat, but lace, and gah!
I got 3 inches in before I realized it.

Frog.
Swear.
Rip.
Swear more.

So I started again. And I got kinda far - to the heel.
Put it down, but picked it back up again.
Got through the heel, but put it down (STOP PUTTING IT DOWN!)
Finally, this weekend I took it and only it to River Colors, determined to finish these socks. Not to be distracted by colorwork or stash or some crazy yarn I stumbled on in a moment of weakness.With Bob as my witness, I will finish these socks!


And I did!

Squee!

Yup - Knitting

A stranded cowl...


A leafy shrug..


A stripey weekend v-neck...


A dress for spring...


The thickest, warmest sweater I'll ever wear...



Oh - and some origami too.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

***

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Yoga, work and knitting

That pretty well sums up the last month or so.

I can't show off the yoga, but I can share the knitting,
(Like I would miss the chance to do that!)

Some mittens for me...



And a sweater, too...



A bag for my smaller knits...




A cashmere cowl for Mom...


and convertible mitts for Dad...



Just for fun...


Updated with deep red top-stitching to keep my toes toasty in a more fashionable manner...


Time to get back to knitting - so much more to do!

Moments of absolute contentment

I didn't even know this was possible, and yet there it was.

On Sunday, January 10, 2010, the Physicist and I were driving back to IL after a day's adventure in Madison, WI. There was lunch at a great veg cafe, sub-zero walking along State Street, tentative steps out onto the frozen lake, shopping at Willy Street Co-Op and thawing out at the Olbrich Botanical Garden conservatory.

We were making our way back - I was knitting and listening to Zoe Keating - there were wide expanses of white glistening snow and the sky was that perfect winter blue.

I couldn't help but feel perfectly content, not just in an instant, but in that expended way that allows it to deepen and take root throughout your whole self.

There was nothing I needed, nowhere else I wanted to be.

I've had glimpses of that, but never an extended time - my distractible nature makes sure of that.

But not this time - this time I got an hour or so.

The spell was broken when thoughts of packing and planes got in the way, but I look forward to welcoming more of these moments into my life.

Yoga, work and coughing

That's what 2010 has been.

Not bad, but the coughing could go away.
I had a cold over the holidays, but now I have another cold and since the Physicist has one too, and he's just got back from abroad and I'm visiting him soon, I expect to have a third cold soon.

Blerg.

Work has been challenging and things feel a little like graduate school - projects with lots of possibility... and coughing.

Yoga is something I started around the holidays, thanks to Netflix and their fabulous stream-tastic streaming option.

So I signed up for 3 weeks at a local studio and so far, so good. I'm nice and bendy again - and a little blissed out.

But maybe that's the cough syrup talking.