Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Travels

Wednesday Night

I love to travel. And lucky for me, I get to travel a lot for work. But it isn't always glamorous. Sure my tropical trips are great and I've loved all of them: it was fun practicing my Spanish in Puerto Rico and Mexico; in Hawaii it was cool to see how similar hula is to bellydancing and I loved watching the whales jump at sunset. And those were just work trips. I've loved my trips north to Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec for my brother's wedding and then subsequent family trips (and it was fun to practice my French--since it's been 10 years since I returned from my year abroad in Aix-en-Provence). G and I loved Cape Cod and Rehoboth Beach.

But as I said, travel isn't always glamorous. Most of my travel is back to Wisconsin and while I love my former home state, it doesn't elicit ooohs and ahs from other travelers. And as I sit here in a Quality Inn room in Madison, blogging on my bed (OK, wireless access is pretty sexy!), I think about just how boring travel can be. Well, if the severe weather the TV keeps talking about produces a tornado, it could get a bit too exciting pretty quick here, especially since I'm already in my pjs for the night! But the weatherman usually overreacts, no?

I've been on the road this trip since Friday and I won't be home til Sunday. Blah. It'll be great to see my parents and brothers this weekend in Milwaukee. But I am already tired of eating out. It is really hard for me to eat healthy on the road, a real problem when I travel several weeks out of the year. I think all the extra fatty, greasy food adds to the fatigue I usually feel while traveling. So tonight I ordered a side of broccoli instead of the fries and it was so good!

It's great catching up with old friends, but I hated having to miss knit nite on Monday. And of course, I miss my new husband.

Following Tuesday Afternoon
I had to stop writing my post last week because the tornado sirens staring going off. There wasn't a tornado, thank goodness, but I didn't want to be blogging in case there was!

So, I am home now and so happy about it! I am really tired still and worn out, but I know I'll catch up soon. It has been a busy month. We went to Maine the weekend right after the terror alert, and while security in DC and Maine didn't seem to be any more crazy than normal, it was a bad travel weekend b/c we got bumped from our flight home. We got up so early the day after the wedding to get to our early flight and then didn't end up getting out until 5ish and home after midnight. It was exhausting. But, during a layover, I was knitting my simple baby blanket and this woman approached me. Karen is LYS owner in Detroit and has a pattern for a cabled shawl coming out in the Winter Vogue, she said. She was working on one for her daughter's wedding party. It was lovely. Her store sounds nice too; if I am ever in Detroit (outside of the airport), I'll be sure to go.

And life is getting back to normal. I went to a new bellydance class last night and it was great. I haven't been in a class since May so my muscles were sore, but it felt really good.

I have about two inches left on my sock before I get to the heel. I always think I'll have tons of time to knit while I travel, but then I never do. I also brought three books and didn't read any of them. But I did get some new knitting books b/c I had a gift card for a mall in Madison. Yeah!

I am really looking forward to this weekend. G and I are going to the Renaissance Faire. I missed opening weekend, sadly. G proposed to me at the opening day of the Faire last year, so it is kind of special, but it will be just as great this weekend.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Quick Post

I don't have time for a lengthy post today. And there will be no pictures. But there has been progress on the sock! However, pictures will have to wait til Monday.

Tomorrow I am off to Maine for a wedding. Not looking forward to a loooong time spent in airports. But, hey, I'll get a lot more done on my sock, right?

I had a great time Monday night at the Columbia Knit Nite. Learn more about it from Lolly or Laura. They both have info on their sidebars.

It's such a fun group of women! All knitting, all laughing, all the time (well, most of the time).

At the end of the evening, Jolene (who I share an anniversary with, granted a few years apart!) mentioned that she is having a lemonade stand this weekend with her family. The proceeds are going to leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma research. Find out more on Amie's blog.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Finally Progress

I feel like I've been knitting all summer but not really getting anywhere. Well, truthfully, I didn't knit much in May, June or July. I brought yarn to knit at the beach on the honeymoon, but then never touched it.

Then I started a sock, but ripped it out a few times. I had decided to use size 0 needles so my stitches would be nice and tight. But then I looked at my 2s and thought they looked so much bigger and wouldn't it be nicer (to my poor finger) if I used them instead? So, I did a swatch in each needle size and knew the 0s were better, but I wanted a seasoned sock-knitter's perspective. What if they thought the 2 swatch was fine? I new it was wishful thinking but .... At last week's Baltimore Knitting Meetup, I asked Amy (thanks, Amy!), who confirmed my suspicion that the 0s were better. But it is OK, I started them again, and am knitting away w/o (so far) punctures in my fingers. Yeah! And I have a couple of centimeters done! Yeah! It is fun. I am really enjoying knitting in the round. Even though there are 76 stiches, I feel like I go around much quicker than when I knit something flat. So far sock knitting gets a big thumbs up. Who knows what the verdict will be when I reach the heel....



As you can see in this photo, I am still knitting too lose, even on the 0s. I am just going to keep going though and try to knit tighter. I can't expect my first sock to be perfect. :)



I am also working on a simple diagnol garter stich baby blanket. I got the yarn at a meetup swap and don't know exactly what it is, something arcylic, but it is soft and is a pink, white and green variagated yarn. I think it will make a cute little blanket. There's a good chance that at least one of my brothers' babies will be a girl, right? Here is a corner:



So, I am feeling better about knitting today than I was earlier in the week. My problem was that I am going to a wedding on Aug. 12. And even though I have two, very full closets of clothing, I wanted something new to wear. What is it about weddings that makes people want to buy a brand new outfits? I will know only a handful of people at this wedding, and aside from my husband, the other four people have seen me fewer than four times. One of those times was my own wedding. Two of the people are guys, one is the groom. My point: I can wear anything from my wardrobe and it will look new to them; they will notice that I am wearing clothes, but nothing beyond that. But, still, I want something new. But I just got married, am saving for a house, trying to be wiser w/ spending. So I should just wear something I've got and shut up already. But maybe I could knit something, I thought. A cute little sweater or a tank. But I am a super slow knitter, have never made an adult garment before and don't have yarn or a pattern. So, I know I'll never knit a tank in time for that wedding.

So then I was sad. Why can't I be one of those knitters who just happens to have the perfect yarn in her stash and can make a sweater in a weekend. I know I'm not, yet. But I remembered: I can sew! And I have tons of fabric in my stash, including summery fabric I got on two of my work trips to Hawaii (yeah, I've got a good job that sends me to Hawaii in the winter every few years). So I made this skirt on Monday after work. It's not done; I still need to hem it. But I didn't have a pattern. I used an A-line skirt I had made years ago as the base and built on it, made it a little bit fuller. I've never done that before, but it was easy. So, now I have a new skirt. Yeah! It would look great w/ a hand-knitted black tank... hmmm.