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Restingmotion

LOST

It seems like that is what happened to last week. I had plans. I got lost. Here we are in a new week and I am exactly where I was and the time is gone forever.

I had planned to cut and sew a simple top from one of the Burda Magazines. In my head I thought it was January 2007, but it was not. I finally found it in the December 2006 issue. Of course I had hidden the December issue in a stack of fabric (in anticipation of cutting perhaps?) and so the search took longer than necessary.

This is the top:

It is pretty simple and even I should be able to produce this pretty quickly. I am not that good at knits yet, and I can’t tell by looking if this pattern or shape will fit, so there will be at least one "muslin" in some kind of inexpensive knit. This doesn’t bother me. I can’t tell in a store either which tops will look fabulous and which will look just terrible. With knits, the apparently subtle differences in cut and the stretch and drape of the fabrics all seem to make a difference.

Or perhaps I am just difficult.

At any rate, finally got the pattern traced and cut:

Now I at least have somethng to work with.

It is not that late, only after 10, but I am still suffering a little residual exhaustion from last week. Or perhaps I have just lost that will to drive myself to exhaustion. If I were ready for some actual sewing perhaps I would just leap right in. With cutting out, even on knits, or especially on knits as they tend to have minds of their own and cling to themselves when I least expect it, cutting late at night is not a good idea.

Besides, I am obsessed with getting a little further on a knitting project.

March 5, 2007
ReReading

Started rereading Even Cowgirls Get the Blues today and I immediately fell back under its spell, savoring the words and the story and remembering past readings. It had been some time. The book was stored in a stack, not immediately visible as I am working on increasing and rearranging book storage facilities in the house. A chance remark brought it back to memory. For that I am thankful.

I first read this book in 1977 in a college course on 20^th century fiction. The reading list was diverse and difficult, much of it like nothing I had read before, completely foreign to me, and I struggled at first but came to love everything we covered. That course changed much of the way I looked at reading, although it never stole from the secret thrill of escaping into an imaginary world with an occasional bit of trash fiction. We read Beckett, Brecht, Jean Genet, John Barth, Tom Robbins, early Milan Kundera (The Book of Laughter and Forgetting), and, oh dear, I forget what else. Many of the books became permanent fixtures in my library and I read other works by the same authors. They are all old friends now. Ahh the path of memory is long and winding.

I read Cowgirls that year, and then I read it again shortly after I graduated from college, probably in 1981 or 82. Somewhere in the late 80’s I lent it to someone, big mistake, I was still young and naïve then and would lend out books, most of which have never come back to me. I had to replace it so my current copy is newer. I read it at that time but probably not since. At that time I was trying to reduce the inventory of paperbacks in the house, a mission undertaken every few years as I have a tendency to hold on to all books. They aren’t all friends though. There are those books with which one never connects even if the tale is well told and the writing beautiful. There are the many books that are good for a one-time escape and then are forgotten, never bearing up to a second reading, and there are the books that are not so great in terms of literature or writing but hit a chord, bring up some forgotten memory or remind of us a particular time or place. The merit of these books is more than the book itself – it is the relationship, almost like a friendship, that has been formed. And of course there the books that can bear reading over and over, sharing something new with each rereading.

You know, I rarely lend out books anymore, unless I know the person feels as I do about books, treats them as treasured friends and would never dream of not returning one. I don’t know many people like that. Occasionally I will lend something to the kids, but never anything that cannot be easily replaced. It seems the only books that come back are the ones that I wish would stay away, the mistakes or misbegotten gifts from others, books like WICKED which everyone I knew loved, and which kept coming back to me despite my deep disappointment in it.

March 4, 2007
Life Intervenes

Life got in the way this week. Actually, work got in the way of life.

There was no knitting…

No progress…

Nothing to report.

Until today anyway. I finally ordered the brown Super Cashmere to finish the sweater. Although I seriously considered the vest, and I do think it is an attractive vest, I have never been a vest wearer and an expensive cashmere vest didn’t seem like the best way to begin. Besides, as some of you pointed out, I had my heart set on a cardigan — so cardigan it is.

Since I was placing the order for the extra cashmere, I also ordered the yarn to knit this spring Anny Blatt sweater:

Unfortunately although most of the accent yarns are in stock, I was informed that the base yarn, Selene, has not yet arrived, so there will be a little bit of a wait.

It is going to take me a while to finish the cashmere anyway and I do believe there are other things on the list as well. I do hope, however, that the yarn does arrive before the next season begins.

March 3, 2007
Mid Week Update

Finished All the Pretty Horses today. It was an excellent book, one I will read again I am sure and pause to savor bits and pieces. John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins were setting out for trouble from the beginning although they didn’t quite realize it. It was so painfully plain, not so much Rawlins, but Cole was one of those unfortunate young men, so right and yet at the same time so wrong. Trouble was destined to find him and even revolve around him, without his ever understanding how or why, much less seeing his responsibility in attracting it. I was sad to put the book down.

I immediately started another though; the demands of the exercise bicycle are always present, after all. The new book is Sweetwater Creek by Anne Rivers Siddons, which promises to be quite different. I’ve not read any of Siddons books but the first couple of chapters of this one have drawn me right in – a huge change from the world of words I just left.

Otherwise all has been mundane and hectic all at once. We moved the chairs in the family room on Monday with the goal of attempting to see how the room would work if they were actually in front of the fireplace. Of course this raises the issue of the television, and the stereo speakers as well. We ended up spending far more time than we initially thought, but have come up with three potential scenarios. The next step will be to plot some drawings on graph paper to check to see that things will fit and how before me make more decisions and start thinking about getting estimates for some work. I don’t see how anything will be accomplished merely by rearranging furniture. A minimum of a little electrical and carpentry work will be required, but not as extensive of renovation work as I had originally feared. I don’t think either one of is ready to start the whole contractor wheel going again, a little breathing room is required. Still I am feeling great hope, and far more excitement for the prospects in the family room and dining room than I have felt for some time. Still there are many things to finish before I get started on this project, including my sewing room closet; I STILL have not finalized the plans for that, much ordered the components. With Harvey coming for a visit the beginning of April, time is running short – I can’t use the guest room as a sewing closet and fabric storage area forever.

The biggest suck on my time now is the office computer, which is dying a slow death. I should say it is just dead, but that is not completely true; we are keeping it going on life-support. An equipment swap was performed yesterday, just because the secretary had to have something to get through the day, but things are not going well. The scheduling program we used for 11 years disappeared a few years back and won’t run on any version of windows more recent than Windows 98. A constant bevy of phone calls and trips between offices seems mostly to drive my available time down to fragments and I see a future littered with interruptions and fixes, at least for the short term. Even buying a new computer won’t solve these problems. There are certainly days when running one’s own business, and being married to the boss, is a trial. Not that the boss is a trial, but I look back fondly on the days when I could close the door on the office in the evening and be truly “off duty”. What an interesting concept.

February 28, 2007
Nineteen

I hadn’t planned on watching the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but I did, and because I did I also got the rice stitch cardigan back knitted up to the armhole shaping, 19 inches or rice stitch, since this sweater has been lengthened for my extra height. This gave me an opportunity to take the sweater off the needles, take some measurements, and make some calculations about yarn requirements before proceeding.

The news is not good.

In order to make the pattern in the length and size I wish, with sleeves, I need at least 4 more skeins and probably 6 because I am pretty confident that the sleeves as written are going to be too short. Before I continue with this sweater (shown off the needles), some decisions need to be made.

First of all, can I procure 6 more skeins of the same dye lot? Does it matter? Well that depends on how much the dye lots vary, with some yarns it matters more than others.

Do I want to buy 6 more skeins of a rather expensive yarn, or should I just knit something else?

I do have enough yarn to knit this sweater as shown in the Fall 2006 Vogue Knitting magazine, as a vest, and a vest is not such a bad thing. I just had my heart set on a jacket.

Or do I just knit something else. I certainly have enough yarn to knit a perfectly nice turtleneck or other pullover in stockinette, perhaps even with a cable or pretty shaping. The rice stitch called for in this pattern eats through the yardage.

Still, I wonder, how did I end up so short of yarn. The sweater I am knitting was a kit. I am not altering the size of the sweater that much, lengthening it a little, but my gauge is only a little bit tighter than the pattern calls for, 5 stitches per inch instead of 4.9 stitches per inch. When I calculate how much yarn I would need as the pattern is written I still come out 2 skeins short. So why did they only send me 17 skeins when I needed 19 or even 21? I am sure that I would have told the girl that took the order that I was lengthening the cardigan, but I guess I can’t expect them to calculate the extra yardage needed for that; if she had told me the dimensions of the sweater, I could have calculated the difference in the square inches and told her how much extra yarn to order.

In the end however, even if they had sent me 19 skeins, I would still have been short, and I would still be facing this dilemna.

If I go for the vest at least I can continue knitting, without ripping out, washing the yarn, and starting over.

Vest?
Cardigan?
or completely different sweater?

February 26, 2007
What to Have for Breakfast
It seems I have spent a great deal of time this weekend pondering the subject of breakfast. On the surface it does not seem like a subject that would require much time in the way of thought: one rises, one eats, one gets on with the day. But, like many things, one’s initial impression of a subject does necessarily relate to the depths of the whole.

I suppose my thoughts were prompted by musings on what to have for breakfast one morning. It is not as simple as it seems. If one cannot eat wheat, barley or rye, and the modern American breakfast consists of cereal or breadstuffs, what is left? There are eggs. But eggs get boring every day.

As G has joined me in embracing a diet of fresh and freshly prepared basic foods, the subject is arising of how to plan breakfasts and lunches when one is not relying on the cereal box or the local deli and fast-food joint for one’s daytime nutrition.

I am faced with the need to come up with a repertoire of basic breakfast foods that I can either prepare easily, or prepare in advance for working mornings, so that breakfast is a fairly easy, healthy, nutritious, and satisfying start to the day.

We have several requirements.
1. Since I have been keeping track of our daily nutritional intake, the breakfast should contribute to the nutritional input for the day in a positive way, providing at least some vitamins and fiber, not just empty calories.
2. It should also be satisfying and comforting; we are not always particularly daring first thing in the morning although we have gotten into the habit of incorporating more fruit and more often vegetables into our morning routine. But although an omelet with leftover vegetables works with many things, what do I do when there are no suitable leftovers, or we are tired of morning omelets?
3. There should be enough variety in the choices so as not to be totally dependent on leftovers but also not be boring. Although I love my Apple, Apricot, and Blueberry salad which I have for breakfast quite frequently, having it two or three times a week, every week, does get tedious. There are also times of year when the apple supply is less than thrilling such as now during this end of winter/not yet spring period, when the fall apples are old and the spring apples are not yet appealing.
So what are our stock breakfasts now? The selection is rather slim. Most breakfasts seem to consist of some king of mishmash of leftovers. This week, when we got back from a trip and there were no leftovers, the choices were fewer. The breakfast menus that we come back to, time after time boil down to about two, plus a new one that I added this morning which looks like it can become a staple.

    Apple, Apricot and Blueberry Salad

    Scrambled Eggs with Soyriso and Greens (often beet greens but any other greens work)

Oatmeal. I have successfully incorporated McCann’s steel cut oats into my morning routine with no adverse affects. Although I realize there are people who eat a bowl of oatmeal happily every day, I think I want a little more variety in my diet.

And today’s new addition is:

    Ham sautéed with Hominy

This morning we had a generous slice of ham, about 8 ounces total, or 4 ounces each, which I seared in a skillet. After I removed the ham I used a little chicken stock to boil up the ham bits and I added a can of hominy, rinsed and drained, to the skillet, which I warmed in the ham gravy and served on the side of the ham. This was very popular and easy and will probably become a standard choice.

G usually has toast on the side with these breakfasts, I never was a big bread eater, and now that I can’t eat good bread, I am little inclined to eat most of the gluten free offerings I have tried, so I do without.

There are things I would like to incorporate, namely:
1. Pumpkin pancakes. Good and easy and I love pumpkin, but these alone with syrup only last about an hour or two before I get the shakes and have to eat something immediately to avoid passing out. Perhaps with a chicken sausage on the side or stewed fruit or both. This might be worth exploring.
2. Egg Cakes are a variation on matzo brie that my family ate when I was growing up and which I have successfully adapted to gluten free cooking. They are heavy on eggs, but don’t taste like “eggs” to me so they might be a good choice if I can find some fruit or vegetable side to go with them just to increase the complex carbohydrate and fiber intake.
3. Grits. I love grits but grits alone do not a good breakfast make. Grits and eggs are good, but again we get back to the fact that I get bored with eggs every morning.
4. G loves leftover chicken fajitas for breakfast so perhaps I can come up with some variations on chicken fajita breakfasts with some easy side dishes, perhaps even grits.
I can incorporate tortillas, beans, cheese, and greens as well as rice and potatoes. In reading about the history of breakfast foods it seems that historical American Breakfasts incorporated a much wider variety of foods than the modern American breakfast does. Apparently having leftover rice or greens was fairly common and I remember broiled tomatoes for breakfast, but then again perhaps that was a dish reserved for special occasions or brunch.

So I have to get to work on some menu experimentation. If I have to come up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, I have to develop a collection of basic lunch and breakfast dishes I can fall back on easily without much work, or with a little advance or weekend planning so that something is always easily available on those more stressed and busy days.
February 25, 2007
It looks like a deck

It seems as if I have been existing in a void of late. Life is not empty. My mind is not empty either; there are thoughts, but they are more like fireflies in the night, lighting up little pieces of time but not staying in place. I cannot seem to pin them down with words. And so I have been quiet. Perhaps it is just the winter. Perhaps it is some primal urge to hibernate and emerge with the flowers in the spring.

And so I will give you an update on the construction project. It looks like a deck and only little things remain. But those little things add up to a lot of waiting and scheduling still to come.

Fron the driveway, looking at the north side of the house:

And then continuing to the west side of the house and around, looking toward the south.

As you can see, the door has not been moved. The new door will be on the North (left) and the old door will be raised to match the windows.

Then around the pool and looking along the living room and up toward the master bedroom:

If you look you can see that the master bedroom deck is still cantilevered off the house, as was the original deck. The code will not allow for this and the deck is too flexible to be approved. Footings will have to be poured and supports put in from below as well, and the underside of the deck will be framed in, so that no one can crawl up onto the pool deck from underneath.

I will actually miss the look of the cantilevered decks, it looked so "right" with the style of the house, but we would never get approval or a certificate of occupancy so I suppose it has to be done sooner or later. When the house was done, nothing met code, nothing was checked, this town had a reputation then for having an "anything goes" attitude. Now the tide has swung in the opposite direction.

Looking Northwest from the master bedroom deck. Even this one, which will not meet code is far sturdier and less bouncy than the original, which could mimic a diving board if one was ambitious in ones attempts at stomping around.

And the view from the living room deck in all its gray winter glory.

February 24, 2007
Conspiracy Theory

Although it has basically been a short winter, and the cold wintry weather didn’t truly begin until well into January, I have a complaint.

It has come to my attention that in the 4 or 5 weeks that have encompassed our season of cold, nasty, wintry weather, the weather has interfered with my Thursday knitting circle three times. This strikes me as completely unfair.

Worse, none of those nasty wintry storms actually turned into anything — there was just enough slick, icy, sleet/snow mix in the early evening to make the roads treacherous for my 40 minute drive down to Yarn Central but then, just after I got settled in and reconciled myself to the thought of not going, the evil weather stopped. I think that if I have to miss knitting, Mother Nature should at least leave something on the ground to compensate my for my pain.

Yesterday morning I dutifully salted the driveway with the requisite 15 gallons of calcium chloride:

And all I got for the hour of my time and very tired sore arms was a little rain and sleet which has now disappeared.

G is trying to console me by telling me that I had I not salted the driveway it would not be bone dry now. It was a sheet of ice this morning and the steepest parts of the driveway are "blessed" with an almost complete lack of winter sun.

Although it has been a short winter, I hope this slow torture ends soon.

February 23, 2007
Better than Chocolate? (almost)

I adore Laura Foster Nicholson ribbons. Usually I buy them to use on some special gift another and I never indulge in any for myself. But when I heard that they were on sale through the end of February, I had to indulge.

I think the sale has been going on for a bit, and many of my favorites were gone, but there were still plenty of treats from which to choose.

Now, will I actually use these on some little treat for myself? or will save them up and give them to someone special?

February 23, 2007
Back Home Again

Our long weekend in Tucson was lovely. We soaked up the warmth and sunshine and were lucky enough to come home to a mini heat-wave hear as today was quite warm and sunny as well. A little breather before the next snow I suppose.

Very little was accomplished on the knitting front however. Usually I get a lot of knitting done on the plane, and although I did not anticipate knitting on the flight home (we took the red-eye, leaving Tucson at midnight and arriving at Newark at 6 AM), as I have no trouble sleeping on planes, and I knew I would be driving home when we landed, I fully expected several hours of uninterrupted knitting time on the flight to Arizona.

Instead I slept. I will probably never know what happened on the NJ Turnpike Friday afternoon, but this was one of the worst drives to Newark I can remember. We left early, as G was a little worried about rush hour traffic, leaving at 3:00 for a 7:40 flight. In normal conditions it takes 2 hours to get to Newark from my house, maybe 2 1/2 in heavy traffic. Not so Friday. We got to the NJ Turnpike exit off of I80 in good time but then the world stopped. It took us over two hours to go the five or six miles from the I80 exit to the toll gates on the Jersey Turnpike. We were stopped in traffic as we received several phone calls confirming our flight and later informing us that the flight was delayed. We were grateful for the delays, but our airline, Continental told us we still had to check in by the original final check in time of 7:10 or we would not be allowed on the flight. At 6:50 we were just barreling toward the Newark Airport exit off the turnpike. Then the parking lot was backed up, with people lined up blocking the street and no one moving. Another half hour later our car is finally at the front of the queue and we wait for the shuttle bus, and waited, and waited, with a bus load of people all worrying about whether they will make their flights. Our flight was delayed until 9:30, but we had no idea if Continental would let us on and in fact, when we finally got to check in, at 8:10 we were refused. Insistence and friendly staff got us around that obstacle and we were very glad to be on that packed airplane to Tucson. We finally took off by 10, and I, tired and stressed, having been the anxious driver on this trip, fell promptly asleep.

Luckily the rest of the trip more than made up for the inauspicious beginning. While we were there we saw butterflies:

These were in a special exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Garden and I did not manage pictures of most of the butterflies, but apparently several other people got photos of a lovely specimen that decided to ride around on my backside. Too bad I missed it.

And I love the texture of this cactus:

Now that I am home, and caught up on sleep, knitting resumes. Hopefully I will have some progress to show soon.

February 21, 2007