Autumn Sweater

Help!!

I need a costume for a theme party in 2 weeks... 'Heroes and Villains'...  Any ideas?  It's a work thing, so head-to-toe spandex is out of the question.

Then and Now, part 2

This year for Christmas, I gave my mom and my sister each a package of yarn.  Since they both knit, I suppose I could have just given them yarn and been done with it.  The plan was, in fact, to knit for them.  Since I had no chance of starting or finishing any knitting in time for Christmas, instead I let them choose what they wanted the yarn to become.

My sister's yarn is this yummilicious Shaffer Anne.  Once upon a time, I made socks out of this exact colorway.  The socks (finished, unworn, and un-blogged) were casualties of the Great Moth Invasion of 2006.  Michelle very sweetly gave me this skein (as well as some amazing STR, on a day that she helped me move!  Who has better friends than me?)  I stared at it for the entire month of December before realizing that I didn't have it in me to re-knit my socks.  However, I love love love this yarn, and knew that if I gave it to my sister I would be motivated to knit with it.

My sister also loved the yarn, and requested a scarf.  Socks were too hidden for her.  This is great, because I know in my heart that this is too colorful for me, and I only ever would have worn this colorway as socks.  But I really wanted to knit Trekking is for Necking.  So... (please excuse the crappy picture taken in a bar)

I'm really enjoying knitting this (although I am a bit shocked that I'm only halfway done!)  And check out the cool color effect... I'm knitting DNA.

Then and Now, part 1

Here's what my apartment looked like at the end of December...

And here's where we're at now...

Another shot from December...

And now...

I'm still skeptical about my contractor's estimated date of completion- the end of Feb???  I really want it to be true.  In the meantime, Fred and I are camping out in my friend Walter's place, conveniently located one building away.  Poor kitten has had way too much change in the past six months. 

I need to get out more

create your own visited countries map

Monthly Update.

As the month ends, here' s where I'm at:

-Knitting photos posted: 0/1

-Apartment renovation photos posted: 0/2

-Pilates mat instructor training classes completed: 5/6

-Pilates practice teaching hours completed: 0/30

-Annual reviews written for my direct reports: 2/6

-Road tests passed: 1/1 (as of 9:05 this morning)

It was looking a bit dire there, but that last one really made my day.

Other Things

So much for my promise of knitting content...

It occurred to me that part of my problem with blogging is this ideal I have about this being a Knitting! Blog!  Much as I love knitting, it probably only gets less than 10% of my waking time.  But what does it say up there on that banner?  Ah yes, "other things that occupy my time".  Let's see what happens if I blog a bit more about those other things.  Maybe I'll blog more!  Maybe I'll bore people!  Who knows??

I've lived in NYC for nearly 13 years.  This is my excuse for not having a driver's license, though I am *finally* about to schedule a road test.  Over the years, I have done a lot of walking, waited for a lot of trains and buses, and skated, skateboarded, and biked all over the place.  When I was packing up Brooklyn, I found my old skates.  I got together with my old skating buddy Roger, and hit Central park a few times.  Despite nearly 5 years off the skates, I seem to have remembered most of what to do.  On the last Friday of December, Roger convinced me to skate Critical Mass with him.

Although I hear that Critical Mass used to be a lot of fun, it is now apparently a cat and mouse game with the police.  There were times when there were easily 4 dozen cops on scooters following us, while others were trying to get in front of us and box us in, as well as cops on foot blocking the streets.  They were grabbing and ticketing people for allegedly running red lights, or not having bells on their bikes, or whatever they could come up with.  Of course, on skates it's much easier to avoid getting grabbed.  Still, it was pretty intense.  I'm not typically one to have an adversarial relationship with the police, and trying to outstrategize and outmaneuver them for a few hours was a serious adrenaline rush.  I was told that the police were reasonably calm this month, perhaps because of this article in the New York Times.  Despite what the article says, all the cyclists I saw were obsessive about following all traffic rules.

I was just so horrified by the waste of resources on trying to prevent people from riding their bikes.  Wasn't there something more important for the police to be doing that night?

On New Year's Eve, I joined up with the Time's Up ride from Washington Square Park to Central Park to watch the fireworks from Belvedere Castle.  This was a totally different experience, the police didn't mind us taking over the streets, and everyone we passed cheered for us as if we were a parade.  The fireworks were fun too.  I didn't remember my camera, but this gives you some idea.

So here's hoping I can keep getting out and about on skates, or my bike (once I get the flat tire fixed) in 2007...

Wrap Up

Well, since my last post, I packed up all my possessions, put most of them into storage, moved to a friend's temporarily, and started renovating my soon to be new home (a 350 sq ft apartment).  Somewhere in there was also Thanksgiving, my birthday, and Christmas. 

Two days ago I was at the closing for the sale of the apartment in Brooklyn.  That chapter of my life is now closed.  That was the first time I ever bought an apartment with the intention of sharing the space with another person.  As a result of how things ended up, I felt as though I was living in the coffin of that relationship.  I am so relieved to have given the coffin to a new owner, and thrilled that she sees it as fresh and new and exciting.

So now I'm going to attempt to get back to this blog thing.  Perhaps with posts!  Maybe even commenting on other blogs!

When last I blogged, I implied that there might be pictures of Shanghai.  Here's a few, while I get things together to put up an album:

A street in the shopping area of the old part of the city.

Another area of the old part of the city.

This was an old fishing village about an hour outside the city.

And with that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and promises of knitting content in 2007!

All over the world...

Due to the magic of the internets, I am blogging from Heathrow airport.  I just spent 3 crazy days in Shanghai, working (mostly) and getting to do a wee bit of touristy stuff.  I'll post some pictures when I get home.

My plan was to knit a pair of socks on the flight(s) home.  Simple little rib/lace pattern,  mindless, trekking, all good...

The problem with travelling on British Airways to Shanghai is that they impose Heathrow's security rules on you no matter where you board.  Does everyone know what that means?  No knitting needles.  They have specific signs posted that say just that.  Not a list of prohibited items that includes knitting needles, nope.  They have specific signs specifically for the issue of knitting needles and how they are not allowed.  So this means: 2 hours at airport in Shanghai, 14 hour flight, 2 hours at airport in London, 7 hour flight, all with no knitting.  Luckily I slept for at least half of the flight to London.  And by the time I get back to NYC, I expect to actually have some skills with the Sudoku, because that's all I've been doing!

Shanghai was very interesting (what little I saw of it), and I really was unprepared for it.  This trip was a bit sudden, and I had no chance to do any research about the city.  So I didn't realize how new most of the city is.  There has been a whole lot of development in the last 5 years, according to the people I was meeting with.  Meanwhile, the city is huge.  I've been to a few cities, let me tell you, and Shanghai is in another league.  They were telling me the population is something like 26 million people!  I'm a bit stupid about populations, but is that even possible?  I think NYC is 8 million?

Anyway, more when I get home, and have at least 2 working brain cells...

Secrets

I've been keeping a secret. After the last post, a few people asked me where I was keeping my yarn.

That's right, in the freezer.

While packing, stressing, splitting up with the boy, and painting, I discovered a serious moth infestation. September was just not my month. Everything that I could salvage went into the freezer. A whole lot of yarn, as well as Ene's Scarf, Gentleman's Fancy Socks, and Go With The Flow Socks went into the trash. The carnage was brutal. I'll spare you the details.

Depite all of this, I am still going to Rhinebeck with the plan of not buying any yarn buying only enough yarn for one pair of socks. Budget simply does not allow it. Speaking of Rhinebeck, I got my Blogger Bingo card today, and realized I know almost no one on it. I don't know how I'm going to identify any of you people, especially those of you who don't seem to have photos of yourself on your blog??!!

If anyone's looking for me, I'll be wearing Tubey at least part of the time. My hair is quite a bit shorter and darker now. Tubey, on the other hand, hasn't changed so much. If you see me buying yarn, or looking like I'm contemplating buying yarn, please feel free to interrupt me with shouts of "Remember your closing costs, bitch!" or something like that. I'll thank you, really!

Does this count?

I'm back. And I've been busy. Does this count as a finished object?

For more shots of the apartment and the deck, look here.

I am just exhausted. The apartment was repainted, the floors were refinished, everything was cleaned within an inch of its life. I want to sleeeeeeeeep and sleep and sleep. Maybe this month I'll knit something?