One Crazy Fiber Lady

I’d like to thank everyone for their very thoughtful comments to my last posting.  I’ll be individually responding to your comment but if I haven’t I just wanted you to know I have read it and I thank you.  I tend to agree that the blog is for whatever I want to use it for.  Like most of you, I do prefer to keep it more of a surface level record of my projects, my family and what’s on my mind.  I am careful when I do post something that it isn’t of too personal and is something that I don’t mind the world knowing.  As a footnote, I’m still amazed that anyone reads and that this would be a problem.  So thank you all!  My dilemma was that I did have something on my mind and if I had posted it in the language I was starting to use I would have hurt people.  Not faceless blog readers who if they disagree with what I write could not read anymore.  That wouldn’t bother me.  This would have involved people that I see FTF (thanks Laurie for that!) almost every day and I didn’t want to do that.  Do I know that it involved regular reader(s)?  No.  But I can take a guess.  While I’m discontent feeling disconnected, I don’t want to inflict it on others.  Sorry for those who got a bit more in response to their comments than they bargained.

Returning to the regularly scheduled light hearted blog that this is…

I’m getting to be a pretty good judge of how much I can get done during my commute.  On Wednesday I predicted that I was going to finish the back during my trip home.  I did just that.  (Thank goodness for timestamps from digital cameras to keep us honest.)  Here’s the back reclining on the middle seat of the three-seater train car on the way home.  I saved casting on for the front until my commute in yesterday.  Nearly forgot to change to the smaller needles, but remembered it at the very last minute.  Read that as being RIGHT before I would have had to tink.  As of this mornings arrival in Hoboken, I had four rows past the initial cable twist done.  I’ve been knitting Mondo on the train and saving the sock for the PATH train rides.  I’m a smidge short of starting the heel on the sock.  Normally this sock would probably be done, but it really has been limited to PATH knitting.

For clarification, the PATH train is akin to the subway, but more limited.  Port Authority Trans-Hudson is a quasi-government agency headed by the Governors of New York and New Jersey.  They operate this little subway like thing between New Jersey and New York.  The Port also operates Newark Airport and were the owners of the World Trade Center.  If you’re curious, here’s a link to their website.

Now that we’ve had a minor mass transit diversion, I honestly haven’t been spinning.  Either I’ve come home too late from my parents house because we opted for swimming:

These were taken on Wednesday before dinner.  Kat is sitting her on the side of the pool with her very favorite person in the whole world.  Pop-pop.  They are loving the water and we haven’t felt the need to torture the monkeys and shove them into bathing suits.  The only problem with this pool, as you can see from the shot of me standing in the shallow end is that it isn’t shallow when you are only 31" tall.  And there are no steps, just that ladder.  Thanks for all the feedback on the municipal pool!  We’ll be joining that this summer and hopefully the kids will enjoy it.  I’ve also arranged with their daycare teacher for her daughter to be a mother’s helper, so I’ll pick up a pool membership for her.  So strange to be arranging for a mother’s helper.  I remember when I spent the summer as a mother’s helper.  That included a three week stint at a rental beach house on Long Beach Island.  That was the summer I turned 17 and I got my driver’s license the day before we left on the trip.  How to torture a teenager right?  It was for a family with one boy, who now that I think about it was about the twins age.  Stephanie, I would have loved to take one of your girls as a mother’s helper!  Maybe next year.

I’ve been music-less, or just about music-less during my commutes recently.  I have an iPod.  The 10gb size that I bought in December of 2003.  It’s worked pretty well though I have noticed that its battery life had been seriously decreasing.  I don’t listen to it all the time and it has been in my bag for a while, unused.  But then I’ll go through a period where I want to listen to it, everywhere.  Now that I’m sitting in a different car on the train and not getting off when all my old traveling buds where, I wanted it again.  I charged it up, dropped it in my bag and then after a day of not using it (yes I put it on hold) the damn thing turned itself off immediately yesterday, bevitzing about its battery.  I hadn’t used it!  I vaguely remembered the news bit that I heard last week about Apple settling an iPod lawsuit so I did some searching.  I turned up this website and actually found the claim form in the mail.  I does pay to register ones purchases.  I even managed to turn up the original sales receipt from my time of purchase.  Thank you Judge Judy for recommending keeping a drawer and just tucking receipts into it.  No I haven’t found the receipt for Purl yet and I’ve given up looking.  I charged the iPod last night so it was fully charged when I left this morning.  When I got to the office, I turned it on, noted the time and waited for it to run down the battery.  Beast only got 1 hour and 37 minutes of playtime before it shut off.  I’m well within the definition of battery failure for the purposes of the lawsuit settlement.  I’ve filled out the claim form and opted for a new iPod or battery replacement.  Their option.  Don’t really care.  I ordered one of these in silver yesterday.  It shipped last night.  Checking the FedEx tracking, while the package arrived in Newark, NJ this morning at 9:37 (which is less than 1/2 hour from my home), delivery is estimated for Monday before 4:30.  Geez.   

Since I haven’t been able to find any good summer skirts in the local stores and 1) fit and 2) aren’t made of some cardboard-like fabric, I think I’m going to sew myself some.  I spent a little time surfing patterns online and came on this one.  (Simplicity 7655).  I made a post-it note and stuffed that in my bag in preparation of hitting a fabric store sometime today.  Somehow this pattern looked very familiar though.  After the twins were asleep last night, I pulled out my box of patterns and lo and behold.  There was 7655 looking at me.  Nice to see my tastes haven’t changed.  Classic is classic.  I had gone through another period of sewing some three years ago and must have picked it up then.  I’m going to make the skirt in the shorter length in something summery.  Probably two.  Maybe event three.  I purged my closet a few months ago and really don’t have much.  Not to mention now that I found my seasonal color scheme I honestly can say I’ve been buying the wrong colors.  I had on a black top yesterday and really looked at myself in the mirror.  Ugh.  Its the wrong color for me to wear by my face.  It brought out those very lovely yellow undertones that squarely put in me Autumn colors.  I think a few new skirts in my new found colors are called for.  Maybe I’ll make myself a nice totebag too, though I have recently been using a backpack as my tote/purse/knitting bag.  Julie’s venture into sewing has me seriously tempted to make one of these as well.  Would matching skirt/totebag be a bit much?  Honestly, I don’t do a helluva lot of sewing though I’ve been sewing for even longer than I’ve been knitting.  My Home EC Sewing teacher didn’t particular like me because by the time I got to take that class, I had already been sewing for years and wore a jumper to class that I had made.  She pretty much ignored me and left me to my own fun while teaching others the basics.  While they were busy making pillows (which I did with my leftover fabric), I made this off the shoulder, long sleeve blousy top. 

This weekend I hope to finish off the rest of the second batt of butterscotch wool and get the two bobbins plied up.  I love that little wheel and I found that with the right diversions, I can actually spin when the monkeys are out of their cages cribs.  I’m going to head to the bookstore this weekend as well, as my employee discount gets an extra boost for the next 3 days and pick up a couple of books.  I think my Secret Pal might be getting herself a book as well. 

To answer Lynne’s question:  who are your two favourite captains?- Kirk and Janeway   Though I can appreciate Picard and Sisko.  Though with Sisko I didn’t really like his mopey brooding demeanor in the early seasons. I found fault in Picard in that he actually relied on Troi.  Useless empath.  "Captain, I sense hostility."  So instead of saying something like "Oh yeah, what gave it away sister, was it the fact that they are FIRING ON US" he would act as if he couldn’t tell this himself.  She certainly didn’t belong the bridge of all places, wearing a cheerleader outfit.  Nothing against cheerleaders…. 

..Sorry rabid trekker took over the keyboard there for a moment.  The crazy fiber person is now back in control.  Before the trekker comes back, I think I’ll close this longish post.  Maybe pictures of spinning/stash this weekend. 

Knit, Live Long and Prosper, Knit on!  (Down trekker)