Well, that was really pretty amazing. Irene visited Philadelphia, and definitely left her mark. Fortunately, we had no serious problems as a result. We got more water in our basement than we usually do when it rains really hard for any length of time. And our garden had all kinds of branches, leaves, etc. in it, as did the street. But we are lucky, because tons of people very nearby have flooded streets, homes, and have lost power. And of course, outside of our little corner of the world, lots of people elsewhere ended up with catastrophic results.
Everyone said that the media over-hyped Hurricane Irene here. But I think that part of the reason it wasn't more awful for us was that the majority of people actually paid attention, stayed inside, and prepared the best they could. Businesses closed, instead of telling people to make every effort to get in. So I don't think it was over-hyped at all. Hurricane Irene meant business, from what I saw and heard!
Jetsam spent the night sleeping under our bed. Pip spent most of the night in the window, "talking" when the rain and/or wind would get especially severe. Makes me think that he might have a future as a cat meteorologist on the Weather Channel ...
The good thing about a weekend like this is that because you are staying inside, you actually accomplish some things. I had bought one of those cubbyhole-type things to store my some of my stash, and put it together last Sunday. This also led to a rearrangement of the room where my stash, books, sewing machine, and the computer live. So this weekend, I got a pretty decent amount of yarn put away, and at least made a path through the room. I have made a promise to myself that I will finish the entire reorganization project (meaning books properly on shelves, etc., rather than just on the shelf to be off the floor) by December 1. Ideally, I'd be finished long before that, but it just cannot be later!
Along with everything else, I have actually completed a knitting project! It's not one of the ones I've blogged about - those are still in-process, though.
Around the middle of July, Fairmount Fibers announced a design contest, using one or two skeins of Manos Wool Clasica. As you may or may not know, the only thing I have designed is the Zach Attack Hat (free pattern along the sidebar), and a cowl I knit for one of my nieces a couple of years ago, called Jules' Lacy Cowl (Ravelry link; no pattern written up yet). I would like know basic design principles, but have no actual experience or understanding of how to really do it (plus it involves math. Not one of my friends for the most part). But I would like to learn just for myself, not because I think I will become a famous knitting designer! Along with that, every Sunday when I am working at Rosie's, I spend 5 hours staring at a wall of Manos yarn.
My original idea was to knit a cowl that had oak leaves on it. I even attempted to chart the leaf pattern, and got started. However, after a bit, the "leaves" looked more like something you pick up when you are walking your dog. So I decided to think of something else, and that worked much better.
Having said that, I cannot show you a picture of the FO because I'm still deciding what I want to do with it, as far as whether it will just be a freebie here, or if I'll see if Rosie's wants it for a Project of the Month, or ... well, currently I have about 42 ideas roaming around in my brain. I'm not submitting it to the contest, because I sorta feel that it's a conflict of interest. Plus the prizes are more skeins of Wool Clasica, which I love, but I am really trying hard to be careful about more yarn acquisition, other than what I have planned for specific things.
I can tell you one thing for sure - you WILL eventually get to see it!
28 August 2011
24 August 2011
"Whether It's Cold, or Whether It's Hot ...
We will have weather, whether or not."
My mother used to always say this when people would talk about the weather. It drove me NUTS. Though I realize it's true. Just like one of my favorite routines of the late George Carlin, where he would be the Hippy Dippy Weather Man, and he would say, "Weather forecast for tonight: dark."
As practically everyone knows by now, yesterday the East Coast had a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. I was at lunch with a friend, and we heard a rumble, but both of us assumed it was subway underneath us. Then we left the restaurant, and people were all over the place on the sidewalk, having emptied out of the high-rise office buildings. Some guy ran up to us and said, "Do you know what magnitude that was?" At which point we decided it was likely not the subway ...
When we returned to work, one of my co-workers said that the earthquake was proof "that Satan is extra busy." If that is in fact the case, I personally think that Satan didn't put much work into it. Just my opinion.
Our only "damage" at home was that The Tim's Mr. Bean bobblehead was knocked to the floor. Not broken, which was a relief to one of us. There may have been more, but frankly, anything else could also be the work of the cats.
So we breathe a sigh of relief at our luck, and hope it will hold out this weekend and that Hurricane Irene will decide to visit elsewhere. Both events are for the most part out of our hands, so we'll just do the best we can. Which is all any of us can do anytime, right?
Anyhoo, I have WINNERS in my blogiversary giveaway! Thanks to everyone for your kind words, wishes, and for playing along. Those listed below should send me their full names and mailing addresses. If you don't have my e-mail address, you can send the info to thekittyknitterATverizonDOTcom, or via PM to thekittyknitter on Ravelry.
My mother used to always say this when people would talk about the weather. It drove me NUTS. Though I realize it's true. Just like one of my favorite routines of the late George Carlin, where he would be the Hippy Dippy Weather Man, and he would say, "Weather forecast for tonight: dark."
As practically everyone knows by now, yesterday the East Coast had a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. I was at lunch with a friend, and we heard a rumble, but both of us assumed it was subway underneath us. Then we left the restaurant, and people were all over the place on the sidewalk, having emptied out of the high-rise office buildings. Some guy ran up to us and said, "Do you know what magnitude that was?" At which point we decided it was likely not the subway ...
When we returned to work, one of my co-workers said that the earthquake was proof "that Satan is extra busy." If that is in fact the case, I personally think that Satan didn't put much work into it. Just my opinion.
Our only "damage" at home was that The Tim's Mr. Bean bobblehead was knocked to the floor. Not broken, which was a relief to one of us. There may have been more, but frankly, anything else could also be the work of the cats.
So we breathe a sigh of relief at our luck, and hope it will hold out this weekend and that Hurricane Irene will decide to visit elsewhere. Both events are for the most part out of our hands, so we'll just do the best we can. Which is all any of us can do anytime, right?
Anyhoo, I have WINNERS in my blogiversary giveaway! Thanks to everyone for your kind words, wishes, and for playing along. Those listed below should send me their full names and mailing addresses. If you don't have my e-mail address, you can send the info to thekittyknitterATverizonDOTcom, or via PM to thekittyknitter on Ravelry.
Marji will receive the pattern
Michelle (no link, sorry) will receive the Classic Elite Montera
Geekknitter will receive the Newport yarn
Congratulations to each of you, and once again thanks to everyone for commenting. :-)
And that's it for now. Have a good evening, and to anyone in the hurricane's path, I hope you'll just be able to say Goodnight, Irene and not worry about it.
21 August 2011
Milestones
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my 600th post here on my blog, which was 5 years old yesterday! Who'da thunk it? Not me certainly! When I started this blog, it was primarily because some of my knitting friends would get aggravated when I asked them what was new with their knitting, and they would say, "Well, if you would read my blog, you'd know." So between that and the fact that I enjoyed swaps, which usually involved having a blog, The Ravell'd Sleave was born. Since then, I've made many friends and from what I can tell, have many more readers than I could have imagined. I still write as much for myself as anyone else, but it's also nice to know there are other people out there ... Thanks to all of you for sticking around, and for even reading it in the first place.
Today would also have been sweet Tess' birthday, as well as the birthdays of both The Tim's father and mine. We love and miss all of them, and ask you to send a kind thought out to the universe for all of them, and also hug someone special in your life.
In honor of these milestones, and the fact that I discovered that I have a total of nearly 4,600 comments, I'm having a giveaway. There will be three prizes, and three chances to win.
Third prize will be a pattern called Mabel's Scarf, by Larissa Brown. This is a great pattern, and I have ended up with two copies somehow.
Classic Elite Montera, in a very pretty purple. Enough for a hat, mittens, cowl, or incorporated into any other design.
First prize is five skeins of Newport (DK weight), a yarn from the late, lamented Wool in the Woods. It consists of 50% Rayon, 44%Cotton, and 6%Nylon, and has a lovely sheen to it.
And if you were thinking you'd leave three comments in a row, don't. Anyone who does is eliminated from the giveaway, because a) that's not fair, and b) no one does that regularly, so it would be a blatant ploy to win all three prizes.
So speak up, and take a chance - who knows, there may be other goodies in the packages as well ...
But mostly, thanks for being here for the last five years - I plan on staying around, so I hope you will too!
Today would also have been sweet Tess' birthday, as well as the birthdays of both The Tim's father and mine. We love and miss all of them, and ask you to send a kind thought out to the universe for all of them, and also hug someone special in your life.
In honor of these milestones, and the fact that I discovered that I have a total of nearly 4,600 comments, I'm having a giveaway. There will be three prizes, and three chances to win.
Third prize will be a pattern called Mabel's Scarf, by Larissa Brown. This is a great pattern, and I have ended up with two copies somehow.
Third prize will go to the 4,599th commenter.
Second prize is four skeins of this:
Classic Elite Montera, in a very pretty purple. Enough for a hat, mittens, cowl, or incorporated into any other design.
Second prize will go to the 4,601st commenter.
First prize is five skeins of Newport (DK weight), a yarn from the late, lamented Wool in the Woods. It consists of 50% Rayon, 44%Cotton, and 6%Nylon, and has a lovely sheen to it.
First prize goes to commenter #4600.
And if you were thinking you'd leave three comments in a row, don't. Anyone who does is eliminated from the giveaway, because a) that's not fair, and b) no one does that regularly, so it would be a blatant ploy to win all three prizes.
So speak up, and take a chance - who knows, there may be other goodies in the packages as well ...
But mostly, thanks for being here for the last five years - I plan on staying around, so I hope you will too!
18 August 2011
That Personal Touch
This is neither about knitting nor reading, but just something I felt like writing. It is something that on one hand amuses me, but on the other hand, really has me puzzled.
For as long as I can remember, people have always told me things that a) I didn't ask to know, b) that I usually don't want to know, and c) that I would be unlikely to tell even closest friends. According to The Tim, there is a sign across my forehead that only I cannot see, and it says "Spill Your Guts."
Don't get me wrong - I am good at keeping things that others tell me to myself. It's not really a conscious act, I guess I've always been that way. And often I understand when friends, family, or other relatives tell me things that I have no reason to know.
But co-workers? That just puzzles the bejesus out of me. Case in point: at work, I am on the Wellness Committee. We recently started what is called the Academy Step-Up program, and those participating were able to pick up a pedometer from HR. Everyone keeps track of their steps on a shared site, and each week a person is named as the one with Most Steps, Most Improved, Most for X number of Weeks - you get the picture. It is my responsibility to send out the all-staff e-mails making these announcements, since apparently I am known as someone who writes "hilarious" e-mails to the rest of the staff. (The head of our division recently said to the Interim Director at a meeting, "Who knew Bridget was so kooky?" Seriously.)
Anyway, on Monday mornings, I send a very brief reminder to everyone to add their steps for the week to our online record by Wednesday morning. Then, every Wednesday, I send an e-mail announcing the winners.
Without fail, and easily within 10 minutes of sending that e-mail, I get 5-6 e-mail responses from people telling me why they didn't do well that week. And I mean detailed info. Not "I forgot my pedometer," but rather, "I had my pedometer, but then we went on vacation to Wisconsin, and I forgot it, but we did A LOT of walking." Granted, this is not the personal type of stuff that I usually get (thank God!), but there's always someone explaining themselves. And not necessarily the same people.
Now, I want the Wellness Committee's ideas to work, and people to be healthier, etc., but I really do.not.care. if/why/how anyone was able to log their amounts. Also, I am not the Pedometer Police - the only "penalty" is not being able to be included in the tallies for any given week. So it amuses me that so many people that I do not even know are writing to me in apologetic or defensive fashion to tell me their excuses/problems!
But I also wonder - why DO people tell me this stuff? Much like I don't care why people aren't logging their steps, I also *really* don't care to know about my co-workers' sex lives, or the neighbors' problems with each other, or that a customer in the yarn shop on Sunday gets terrible gas after she eats rice. And it's not like I start the ball rolling by sharing something first.
Does this happen to anyone else? Or will everyone in the world eventually tell me everything?
For as long as I can remember, people have always told me things that a) I didn't ask to know, b) that I usually don't want to know, and c) that I would be unlikely to tell even closest friends. According to The Tim, there is a sign across my forehead that only I cannot see, and it says "Spill Your Guts."
Don't get me wrong - I am good at keeping things that others tell me to myself. It's not really a conscious act, I guess I've always been that way. And often I understand when friends, family, or other relatives tell me things that I have no reason to know.
But co-workers? That just puzzles the bejesus out of me. Case in point: at work, I am on the Wellness Committee. We recently started what is called the Academy Step-Up program, and those participating were able to pick up a pedometer from HR. Everyone keeps track of their steps on a shared site, and each week a person is named as the one with Most Steps, Most Improved, Most for X number of Weeks - you get the picture. It is my responsibility to send out the all-staff e-mails making these announcements, since apparently I am known as someone who writes "hilarious" e-mails to the rest of the staff. (The head of our division recently said to the Interim Director at a meeting, "Who knew Bridget was so kooky?" Seriously.)
Anyway, on Monday mornings, I send a very brief reminder to everyone to add their steps for the week to our online record by Wednesday morning. Then, every Wednesday, I send an e-mail announcing the winners.
Without fail, and easily within 10 minutes of sending that e-mail, I get 5-6 e-mail responses from people telling me why they didn't do well that week. And I mean detailed info. Not "I forgot my pedometer," but rather, "I had my pedometer, but then we went on vacation to Wisconsin, and I forgot it, but we did A LOT of walking." Granted, this is not the personal type of stuff that I usually get (thank God!), but there's always someone explaining themselves. And not necessarily the same people.
Now, I want the Wellness Committee's ideas to work, and people to be healthier, etc., but I really do.not.care. if/why/how anyone was able to log their amounts. Also, I am not the Pedometer Police - the only "penalty" is not being able to be included in the tallies for any given week. So it amuses me that so many people that I do not even know are writing to me in apologetic or defensive fashion to tell me their excuses/problems!
But I also wonder - why DO people tell me this stuff? Much like I don't care why people aren't logging their steps, I also *really* don't care to know about my co-workers' sex lives, or the neighbors' problems with each other, or that a customer in the yarn shop on Sunday gets terrible gas after she eats rice. And it's not like I start the ball rolling by sharing something first.
Does this happen to anyone else? Or will everyone in the world eventually tell me everything?
14 August 2011
Stalled
Over the past two to three weeks, I have not had the desire or the inspiration to do anything that I usually enjoy. At first, I thought this was only related to my knitting. I'd reached a point on my Narragansett sweater where I needed help (kindly offered when we can coordinate schedules by Andrea) before proceeding, and though I am enjoying the Graydon Socks pattern, I just don't feel like knitting them.
Then I realized I wasn't in the mood to read, either - did you see that, NOT IN THE MOOD TO READ??! Usually, no matter what else I do or don't want to do, I always feel like reading something. If not books, then I catch up on magazines. But no go at the moment.
What about watching a movie, or TV shoes we like and have recorded? Not really.
I really hate when this kind of thing happens. It's not like I'm a regular ball of fire, but most of the time, there is something that not just occupies my time, but that I enjoy and look forward to. I wouldn't mind if it was only one thing, but it seems to be all the things I normally enjoy doing.
Maybe the horrible summer has just really all caught up with me, and even my brain has run out of energy.
All I know is, the whole thing is extremely annoying!
At least there are still things that can make me happy and entertain me, no matter what else is going on in my life or that of the universe.
As long as these two can keep me laughing, I know it will all be OK.
Then I realized I wasn't in the mood to read, either - did you see that, NOT IN THE MOOD TO READ??! Usually, no matter what else I do or don't want to do, I always feel like reading something. If not books, then I catch up on magazines. But no go at the moment.
What about watching a movie, or TV shoes we like and have recorded? Not really.
I really hate when this kind of thing happens. It's not like I'm a regular ball of fire, but most of the time, there is something that not just occupies my time, but that I enjoy and look forward to. I wouldn't mind if it was only one thing, but it seems to be all the things I normally enjoy doing.
Maybe the horrible summer has just really all caught up with me, and even my brain has run out of energy.
All I know is, the whole thing is extremely annoying!
At least there are still things that can make me happy and entertain me, no matter what else is going on in my life or that of the universe.
Pip (inside) and Jetsam (outside) try to attack each other
As long as these two can keep me laughing, I know it will all be OK.
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