On the Road Again

Last weekend, I headed up to Chicago to visit with Jiff and Misha. We had ourselves a regular 4th of July bash. It was loverly. When I was packing for the trip though, it was the first time in forever that I thought to myself, man, I wish I were taking some knitting with me. I mean, I think about knitting all the time, and I have hundreds of patterns to knit, and hundreds of skeins of yarn calling out to be made into something. But, the carpal tunnel has been holding me down. It's been keeping me from my knitting for the better part of 6 months. So, now, I am ready to try knitting again. I have to. I miss it. Plus, what better way to spend evenings than curled up with someone...and your knitting...right?

I've been working on my cabled Aran sweater for ages. I can't stand it anymore. I'm about a quarter of the way through my first sleeve. I've messed up twice, altered the pattern once, and lost the sheet where I note my alterations. DO OVER. However, before I start to do anything over (which most people know I HATE doing - Jiff especially, who helped me unravel HALF of this SAME sweater in March), I have some ideas about other things to work on. If I can get my shit together, I'd like to take some of this with me when I fly up to NYC this coming weekend. Two hours as a captive audience of my knitting and I might just get a project started. :) (Below: Chevalier Mittens, Seamless Yoked Cardigan, Knit Hearts and, of course, EZ's Bog Jacket.)



Two weekends ago, before my tight summer travel schedule started, back when I had a relaxing weekend in town, I got to spend some time eating some BBQ. In Carrboro, Tyler's Taproom hosted the 8th Annual Blue Ribbon, Bluegrass & BBQ Festival. With PBR abound, and some great food and good music, my friend Jen and I had a rather southern good time. It was lovely and relaxing and despite the heat, there were frosty beverages and cute dogs to keep our minds off the sweltering temperatures, and steam room-like humidity.



Once I have a chance to upload pictures from Chicago, I'll be sure to give you a little picture show of that. :)

I hope everyone's having a lovely summer, and happy knitting/growing/vacationing/whatever it is that you are up to!

Garden: the Recap

It's been a long haul waiting for my tiny container garden to do something... I'm not a very patient person, but I mostly just have focused on watering, misting and adoring my plants. I know that I called my garden lots of names last month. I think I planted in the pots too early, and I called the wrong plants names...

Lettuce and radishes - Gone. I tended to them the best that I could, but whatever love I was giving them wasn't what they wanted. I tried hard to revive their limp bodies, but when it didn't happen, the cucumbers took over...

Cukes - They might be part of the problem with why the lettuce and radishes didn't do so well. The cucumbers are going crazy!



Zucchini - Not so limp and uninspired. In fact, it's growing gangbusters. It is a force to be reckoned with. I haven't seen any baby zukes yet, but here's hoping!



Tomatoes - I might have spoken too soon. I don't think I'd choose this variety again, but I am impressed that I've got a couple little tomatz growing on the vine!



Mint - I don't know if I need more, or different growing conditions, but it was lovely, it grew strong, I used some and now, it looks like crap. It's straggly and meh, just kind of gross and dirty looking.

Basil - gangbusters, right along with the zucchini. It's produced a great amount of tasty tasty basil for me to use, and keeps going. I think I'll need to start picking off some leaves to make pesto some time soon.

Explorations

I haven't posted about knitting or spinning recently. It's really rather tragic my carpal tunnel has become. I think I've only picked up knitting twice since the beginning of the year and neither was a particularly comfortable experience. In lieu of knitting though, I had hockey, cooking, a slew of out of town guests, my container garden (which is pretty much only herbs and zucchini - the lettuce and radishes didn't fare so well). Of late, I've been trying to explore some other parts of the Triangle that I hadn't previously played with...

In the past few weeks, I got to play around at Frankie's Fun Park, which is a bit of a staple for childish fun in the area. What better way to prevent yourself from growing old than to act like a kid. Mini-golf and air hockey paired with beers. That's my idea of a good time.

I've been to the Durham Farmer's Market a handful of times, and I love the live music and nice family scene. This past weekend though, I ventured into new territory - Raleigh! I went to the Raleigh farmer's market which is substantially larger than the Durham market. More vendors and more variety of goods - meat, cheese, fruits, veggies, house plants, vegetable plants, plants for flower beds. It was rather lovely. The only problem - I went on Sunday and it was probably 95° out. (In fact, it's only 82° out right now, and it's down right chilly feeling compared to the weather we've been experiencing.)

My exploration of Raleigh didn't stop there though. After the farmer's market, I got to explore the North Carolina Museum of History. They have a pretty cool pirate exhibit. After checking that out, and being overwhelmed by the kids running around, I went across the street to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We looked around there a little bit, but went right to the top level where they have a room with all sorts of butterflies. Through all of that, I managed to not have my camera. It's rather disappointing to look at this post and not have a single picture to show for it.

After the museum encounters, I wanted (a cup of coffee and) some outdoor time. NC State's JC Raulston Arboretum, which was beautiful, as my next stop. I'd never been there before, and I was used to Duke Gardens. The two have really different feels to them. I much prefer NC State's version to Duke's. I was astounded by the rainbow of colors in geraniums, roses, Japanese maples, hydrangeas and, of course, the hibiscuses.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm definitely looking forward to exploring some more!

Roller Coasters of all sorts...

Well, it's definitely the end of the fiscal year, which is not my favorite time of year. Long hours, begging for money, exhaustion and frustration starting to set in...

Despite feeling completely exhausted and overextended, I have managed to spend some family time recently. I was up in Baltimore with the whole kit and caboodle of my family for my cousin's wedding. It was great getting to see everyone, and the wedding was lovely.


I was sad to have missed out on Baltimore's Honfest. We're already making plans for next year's Honfest...and for this year's Renaissance Festival. Hehe!

After the wedding, I ended up getting to explore King's Dominion with my friend Kate. It was a Monday and there were very few lines. It was excellent. The only problem - if you're riding roller coasters back to back with no chance to regain your equilibrium, you will most likely get queasy. :) Regardless of the nausea, we managed to have a great time. (I did hear from my (2nd? 3rd? 4th?) cousin Raymond that Carrowinds in Charlotte is far superior to King's Dominion. Clearly, I'll have to go check that out some time soon!

Brilliant weekends must include hammers.

I miss the sound of your voice
And I miss the rush of your skin
And I miss the still of the silence
As you breathe out and I breathe in

If I could walk on water, if I can tell you what’s next
Make you believe, make you forget

So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire in the swing of your hips...

Little more than good music, good lyrics and generally happy music propelled me home on Sunday afternoon. I spend an enchanting day at Travis and Kate's house in Alexandria, and to be honest, I'm embarrassed to say that I've only been there once before. It's certainly going to be on the constant rotation from now on. (It's also blissfully close to Misha's house.) I rushed up there after a long and drawn out trip, but was happy to help (slightly) on the shed. 95% of what has been done thus far has been done by Trav's hands. It's rather impressive. I do love working with my hands. I have minimal wood-working experience, then there's knitting, spinning and quilting...and cooking...and gardening... I don't necessarily like to get dirty, but I do like to use my hands.

After playing in the mud and trying to help install the ceiling joists, we went to dinner at Thai Peppers in Alexandria. I've eaten there before, but was happy to enjoy some delicious Paneng Tofu, Pad Thai, Golden Triangles, and the like. Afterward, I was granted an hour for napping (and I'd had a rather long day). I slept while Travis, Misha and Trav's friend Matt all entertained (or frightened my mother). Once I was up and functioning again, it was rather a quaint scene - the lot of us sitting around a fire pit, able to see Trav's contruction project on the other side of a reflecting pool (large trench) in the yard. We joked around and chatted and watched Matt climb the fence into the neighbor's yard after he had begged us to punch him in the stomach to alleviate his hiccups. Strange, to say the least.

Despite all the silliness and ridiculousness that ensued each time I drank red wine, I was amazed again at how much I love my friends, and at how impressed I am by them. How lucky am I?

Although my trip home wasn't quite as long as the trip northbound, it was filled with lots of great music, some mediocre music and some music meant simply to keep me conscious. Matt Nathanson, The Hold Steady, The Decemberists, Abba, moe. and the Old 97s.

Sushi Love

Last night, I was fortunate enough to have a super hot date with my good friend Mika (Hot for Teacher). I've been neglecting her and my other knitting friends for months... But let's be honest, when you've got carpal tunnel and aren't supposed to be knitting, the last thing you want to see is what other folks are knitting.

So, having not gotten together in a good long while, Mika and I met up for a little evening out of the town of sorts. We went to Sushi Love, which is a relatively new sushi place near Duke's campus. We shared some amazingly delicious and amazingly priced sushi...and some fried green tea ice cream.


After running into a slew of people we knew and finishing up our meal, we went for a nice little stroll. There's a tiered fountain near the restaurant...and my first thought was (thinking of college) "I wish I had some soap to put in the fountain." Silly, I know, but we used to do it in college. Well, after taunting Mika a bit, she decided to attempt to scale the fountain. Without a leg up though, she was unsuccessful at getting up onto the tiered portion of the fountain. Regardless of her lack of success, we both had a great laugh. :)

Life is good.