In which trek attempts to stay get warm

I couldn't decide which picture to use so I went with both of them today.

Picture wherein the colors are *close*
There's a bit more green in person, though

Slightly more artistic shot with book in background
Name that book (or series)

This is a great sock. Really great. I'm knitting it with Koigu (my first Koigu socks!) on size 1 (US) dpns and the cast on was 72 stitches so there are a lot of stitches involved but I really like this sock. Wish I was there.

Yeah, I could use a bit of a break from here. It's been very cold and while we had a delayed opening of just about everything on Wednesday due to the invasion of the wintry mix, we haven't had a lot of honest-to-goodness snow. What's the use of having cold without snow?

And I found the natural gas bill in the mailbox yesterday afternoon when I came back from Hot Lunch duty at Neatnik's school. I almost had a coronary.

We have four appliances sucking down vast quantities of relying upon natural gas for their power source: the stove/oven, the clothes dryer, the (new) hot water heater, and the furnace. We haven't really changed our lifestyle since last winter; meaning we use the stove and the dryer about the same as we were twelve months ago. We do have a new, larger hot water heater but it rated as highly fuel efficient so it shouldn't be responsible for nearly doubling the gas bill. Nope, I think we have to lay the blame for that all on the furnace.

It isn't really the furnace's fault, mind you. Our trusty furnace is doing what it is paid to do: heating the water in the pipes and pumping that hot water around the baseboard units in an attempt to warm up our living spaces. And it does: right up to about 67°F and I just can't set the thermostat any lower: my fingers turn blue when I am on the computer and I have been wearing two shirts and a sweatshirt all month long as it is.

The problem is, we live in an older house. Along the lines of a 70+ year old house. Let's face it, peeps, our house is a senior citizen. Back when our house was born built, people didn't worry about trifling little things such as insulation. No, they just shoveled more coal into the furnace and kept on burning.

That's where we are now: no insulation and it's cold outside. You see, it is quite a bit colder this year than last year. Hang on a second, let me see if I can dig up some numbers...

Ah, there it is. The average temperature around here last January was 34.7°F. This year it has been hovering at about 8°F less than that. No wonder our gas bill is through the roof. Or should that be right out the windows and walls?

Anyway, we try to keep all of this in perspective. Yeah, we didn't plan on spending so much on heating the house. But at least we have a house to heat and are paying the heating bill on time, right?

Maybe I need to learn how to knit faster: at this rate, I'm going to need more woolly socks.

Questions

At the beginning of the semester, there are always some questions from students who did not write down things correctly. Important things. Like the correct URL for the online study guide questions. I was prepared for that. And so we start today's post...

To: professor trek
From: Student #1 With URL Issues
===============================
I need to know how I get to the online study guide. I also need to know if
:: URL here :: is the right URL. I'm having trouble finding it. Thank you.

# # #

How nice! A student with good manners. Sure, he didn't write down the URL correctly, but he was only off by one character. Not too shabby, SWUI #1!

# # #

To: SWUI #1
From: prof trek
===============================
:: correct URL here ::

# # #

To: professor trek
From: Student #2 With URL Issues
===============================
Hi prof trek,

Can you give me the Internet site for the online questions. Mine's not
working, of course.

Thank you.

# # #

Again with the good manners, yay! Another incorrectly copied URL.

# # #

To: SWUI #2
From: prof trek
===============================
:: correct URL here ::

# # #

Since yesterday's wintry mix resulted in a delayed opening at the college, I guess I should have been prepared for student emails but, really, I didn't give it all that much thought until the emails actually started to arrive in my inbox...

To: professor trek
From: Student With Timing Issues
===============================
Hi prof trek,

I am in your class this morning (note: sent less than half an hour before class would normally start - trek) and know about the delayed opening. Does that me we still have class, or only classes scheduled after 11:30 have class? I'm sorry for the confusion!

# # #

Uh, huh. We're going to have the early classes while the ice and slush is still falling from the sky and the snow plows haven't yet been activated and then, after the roads are clear, we'll cancel classes.

# # #

To: SWTI
From: prof trek
===============================
According to the college home page, classes starting before 11:30 are
cancelled.

# # #

To: professor trek
From: Student With Good Question
===============================
prof trek

I am from your Wednesday 8:00am class. Since class was canceled, I was wondering if there is any work we need to do for next week's class.

# # #

Hey, this is a very good question! My first inclination was to say, "no, we'll just adjust the schedule next week - somehow." Then I thought a little bit and decided to send a high-priority broadcast email to all of the students in my Wednesday classes. The first tutorial is really basic and they should be able to do it without a lot of assistance.

I made sure to put a note at the end advising them to email me with any questions.

Anyone care to start an office pool? We could each chip in a hank of sock yarn and start a grid with block categories named Shortest Time Between Sending Email and First Student's Panicked Query, Day of the Week with Most Student Queries, Total Number of Students Actually Doing the Homework Assigned, Number of Students Claiming They Never Got the Memo...

Delays

Well, the promised wintry mix did indeed arrive. When the alarm clock serenaded us this morning, we were greeted by a whole lot of white stuff both on the ground and falling from the sky.

A quick peek out the bedroom window revealed that the snow plows had not yet been activated, so I shambled down the stairs to search for cancellations and/or closings. It was a good thing that I did: Neatnik's school had a two hour delayed opening as did Number Guy's job.

It was an even better thing that I continued to monitor the situation: the college canceled all classes scheduled to begin before 11:30 this morning. It would not have been much fun to have been out before the snow plow drivers had finished their morning coffee. I would have gone out, driven all the way across the county on treacherous roads, and then sat facing locked doors and a snow-filled, unplowed, but otherwise empty, parking lot.

It is better this way. Trust me.

Hmm. I wonder, though, will I still get paid for today? I was willing to go. The school called off classes, not me. I didn't *ask* for the wintry mix.

With a couple of hours between the normal bus pickup time and the time I needed to drive Neatnik to school, I folded a load of laundry but quickly realized that even though folding laundry is a good and noble task, it isn't particularly fulfilling. I mean, sure, you have the satisfaction of clean, tidy clothes all ready to wear and that appeals to the orderly side of the mind which protests clutter and craves organization, but it sort of lacks a certain something with respect to the creative side of the mind. Wouldn't you agree?

I knew you would understand.

In an effort to appeal to the more creative side of my mind, I shopped the yarn dresser for some woolly sock inspiration. I found a couple of pairs of socks' worth of Koigu in there. These two hanks

Note to self: now wind the yarn and pick a pattern

are a bit outside my normal color palette (though both Number Guy and Neatnik approved of the colors and the degree of squishiness). This begs the question, why do I have these colors in the sock stash? Because they were given to me - I didn't pick them out. This is most likely a good thing. Left to my own devices, I would probably knit blues and variations on blacks and whites exclusively.

No, I didn't select Fire on the Mountain for the recently completed Madagascar Socks: it was a gift.

This yarn

is more along the lines of what I tend to pick out when left to my own pathetic simple color devices. At least I thought it was when I placed my order with Webs. They said it was black. Cascade helpfully calls it color 8095. It looked like a very dark grey on my desktop monitor.

This morning, it looks more like a deep chocolate brown. I didn't want to believe it, so I asked Number Guy and Neatnik. They concurred: it looks brown to them, too. I don't own brown clothing.

Number Guy feels that a sweater knit from this would look good with my skin and hair but also says return it for another color if that will make me happier.

I told him that maybe I should ask the blog's opinion. It goes with the odd colored jeans I own and with the stone and tan colored khakis. I know it won't do at all with the true black jeans but what about the blue jeans?

Should I send it back and pick a different color or should I attempt to expand my palette and try to work with it?

This yarn, though

Creamy!

is more in my comfort zone. It is a little bit lighter weight than I thought it would be but there is just over a pound of it and that's enough for a basic woman's sweater, right?

Here there be bullets

Welcome to a Tuesday Night Edition of Bullet Posting...

• This morning, Neatnik had a really hard time getting out of bed. She tried to burrow deeply into her pillow to avoid being awakened.



• I think she stole this trick from Little Feet who frequently attempts to burrow through the bottom of her penthouse apartment.



• Burrowing into the very fibers of the mattress cover did not allow the child to avoid getting out of bed. When she did crawl forth from the covers, I noticed that Number Guy had let her go to sleep Monday night in her school gym clothes.



• Normally, I have Neatnik change into play clothes after school. But the kids are wearing their gym uniforms every day this week. Gym clothes, by definition, are play clothes.



• Fortunately, Neatnik owns a pair of plain navy blue sweatpants. I had her wear those with an extra long sweatshirt. Nobody knew the difference.



• All school gym uniform components have enjoyed the pleasure of a swirly bath and are currently tumbling about the dryer's warm interior.



• Well, yes, Neatnik does regularly sleep in sweats - that's what passes for jammies around here.



• I finished the second Madagascar Sock. The pair of them are sitting on the corner of my desk, awaiting their turn in the sudsy water.



• Finishing the sock meant that every needle in the house was bare. Naked. Entirely unclothed.



• Yes, it was rather on the scary side, now that you bring it up.



• Stop it.



• I cast on an SJ Gym Crew Sock for the Neatnik, now with even more pink.



• Well, no, not really. Actually, this pair will have slightly less pink than the last pair. Not sure yet whether it will have blue toes or just single blue stripes just before the toes.



• Has to have one or the other in order to keep the pairs with their proper mates come laundry day.



• The Box Tops for Education contest collecting continues. Thank you to each and every blogger who has sent or is planning to send us their unwanted Box Tops. Neatnik's school wants needs those Box Tops very badly. Anyone else who wants to chip in, please leave a comment with a way to contact you or shoot me an email.



• Classes over at the college have commenced for the spring semester. For those of you who find my students' emails amusing, get ready. I fear that there may soon be a bumper crop of interesting communiques.



• I explicitly told my students that they are not allowed to email me to ask what the homework assignments were. I write it down on the board and I tell them to write it down in their notebooks.



• Two students have already emailed me asking for the link to the online study questions.



• The questions are due tomorrow morning.



• I'm supposed to be ready to lecture and give a full tutorial tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock.



• I realized at 5:30 this afternoon that I had looked at neither the lecture material nor the tutorial since the second week of last semester.



• I remedied that little situation after dinner. Sort of. I kind of got halfway through the slides for chapter 2 and decided to wing it in the morning.



• We are looking at buckets full of wintry mix descending from the dismal grey skies tomorrow. It will probably result in a somewhat sloppy morning commute. It probably won't result in a snow day, though.

Well, there you have it, Tuesday Night Bullet Points. I should probably start thinking about shutting down the computer system and seeking some shut eye: I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, too.

Try to stay warm, dry, and de-iced!

Insert clever title here

It's been pretty cold out there all day. I checked the thermometer this morning at about ten after seven and it read 19°F. Now at nine-thirty, the mercury is up to all of 25°F (yay!) but it is predicted to dip back down to around 22°F overnight. There's a 30% chance of snow tomorrow with a large serving a wintry mix planning to arrive on Wednesday.

How does a knitter combat the chill in the air? With warm, woolly socks. Or at least, sock. I kitchenered this toe this morning and was planning to work my way down the length of its mate's foot tonight.

I call this one "Sock with Teapot" -
A warm, homey sort of photograph

Well, I didn't quite finish the foot but I did make some darned good progress. I have a wee bit of a problem with all of the progress, however: this second sock is the only thing on my needles.

Perhaps I should consider winding some yarn.

I could invite the family over.

Privacy

My Webs order arrived just before we needed to leave for the company dinner last night. Since I haven't gotten around to photographing the phfiber phfor you, I thought that maybe I should regale you with a wee bit of childhood humor.

Today is the first day of Catholic Schools Week. We dutifully showed up early for mass so that Neatnik could be part of the school procession. Afterwards, everyone congregated in the school cafeteria for the traditional breakfast treats and social hour. I made sure that Neatnik was well-supplied with apple juice and danish and then I made a beeline for the restroom.

In the next stall over, there was a little girl. A very little girl. I saw her later in the morning and I'd estimate that she was only about 3 to 3½ years old. She was having a vehement discussion with her mother who was in the stall with her.

     Indignant Little Girl: Mommy, I need privacy!

     Mother of Indignant Little Girl mumbled inaudibly

     ILG: No, Mommy, you go out the door and when I am done, I will yell for you and then you come in to help me. I need privacy!

     MoILG: Um, no.

In which the company springs for dinner

Back at the very beginning of December, Number Guy forwarded me an email from the person at his (very small) company who was arranging the annual Christmas dinner. Said dinner was scheduled for the twentieth at a fancy local establishment, The Falcon and the Pear. We responded that we would attend and dutifully noted the date and time on the social calendar. We secured the services of a babysitter.

The morning of the twentieth dawned cold. The skies were not merely overcast but were, instead, ominous. Snow began to fall. Roads were slippery. Accidents happened. The company dinner was cancelled with the promise that it would be rescheduled in January. We thought that this was a very responsible position to take since several of Number Guy's coworkers live quite a bit up the roadways and the roads to the north of us were rather thickly covered by the white stuff.

About a week after New Year's, Number Guy forwarded me another email. The dinner party was rescheduled for today: the twenty-fourth of January. We noted the new date and time on the calendar and advised the babysitter that her services would be required.

This morning, I decided to see if the restaurant posted its menu on these here interwebs. They did. We began to fear that we would need to stop on the way home to pick up some sustenance at one of the local diners.

Everything on the menu appeared to be some sort of haute cuisine. I can understand that some people might enjoy a bit of sea bass for dinner - but not why a chef would want to encrust it with kalamata olives and serve it up with fontina and artichoke whipped potatoes.

We were somewhat apprehensive upon leaving the house this evening.

As it turned out, the menus online were only representative of the offerings available tonight and we were able to find a bit of sustenance on the menu to suit our plebian taste buds. Number Guy opted for the potato and leek soup with filet mignon au poivre and I selected a small salad of baby greens and seared duck breast. Quite tasty.

Our babysitter needed to be home at a reasonable hour, so we skipped out on dessert.

But Number Guy swung by the diner to pick up a couple of slices of cheesecake. I think that it's going to be loads better than the souffles at The Falcon and the Pear.

Where's my fork?

In which Neatnik needs a little help from the blog

Over the Christmas break, Neatnik's school ran a little contest to see which grade could collect the most Box Tops for Education.


You guys rose to the occasion. You rocked so hard that the first grade tied with the fifth grade for top honors. Instead of a pizza party for the winning class, both classes brought home little goody bags last week.

I guess the powers that be at the school were pretty impressed with the results because they have called for another Box Tops contest. Neatnik brought home the flyer this afternoon. This contest runs from now until the end of February.

We here at chez trek have 96 Box Tops in our little collecting box as of this evening. Anyone out there want to help out again? We turned in 225 Box Tops at the beginning of January, with a little lots of help from the blog.
Since we have more time this go around, could we better that total?

I'm thinking that this should be a real contest with a drawing and a yarny prize for my blog peeps.

What's in a name?

Some days, blog fodder is thin on the ground. Other days, it falls right in your lap when you least expect it. On the latter sorts of days, you must suspend any and all other tales and go with the fodder flow. It is a rule.

If you had been in the kitchen today as I was preparing dinner and Neatnik was at the table coloring, you would have heard this exchange live...

     Neatnik: Mommy, I know what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph's last name was.

     Mommy: (thinking, huh?) Oh, really? What's that, sweetie?

     Neatnik: (proudly) Holy: because they were the Holy Family!

You just can't argue with logic like that.

I am a cozy

Because even a knitter who met with minor mitten achievement sometimes needs a break to do something both whimsical and creative in order to yield something useful...

About the only thing I asked Number Guy for at Christmas: an I Am Not A Paper Cup. Everyone was out of stock before Christmas but right afterwards, the local bookstore got a few and he picked one up for me before New Year's. It is double-walled ceramic with a silicone top. Since today was the first day of the spring semester, last night I made sure it was all clean and ready to be pressed into service. The temperatures around here remain rather low, though, so I decided yesterday that my I Am Not A Paper Cup required a jacket.

It was only fair, really. I mean, I was planning to wear a jacket for the morning commute.

What the well-dressed
I Am Not A Paper Cup
is wearing this season

My morning tea stayed hot longer than the last time I used my new cup, despite it being noticeably colder outside. We'll call this one good.

While I still have a second mitten to finish, I am having visions of a whole line of trek original designs: warm cozies for I Am Not A Paper Cups. Picture it: an Aran styled cardigan cozy complete with cables and little sleeves; an "illusion" vest cozy with the molecular structure of caffeine knit into it; a Fair Isle pullover cozy in happy springtime colors. The possibilities are endless.

Success

At last. After three attempts, I have a completed mitten. Aren't you all just so proud of me? And the color in this last photograph is slightly more accurate than those which have preceeded it.

Any idea just how cold your bare fingers
get while you are trying to take a picture
of a mitten on the snow?

In an effort to (temporarily) distract myself from my major mitten mangling knitting, yesterday afternoon I placed my very first Webs order. I ordered some of this to make this cardigan (Ravelry link) and some of this to knit Neatnik some new school socks and some of this because my piper's fingers get cold in the winter time and this pattern and few of these to make them and then some of this for a plain simple sweater. Number Guy was cheering me along the whole way.

No, you can't have him: he's all mine!

Take two

Or three.

Yesterday afternoon was spent relaxing and socializing at some friends' place. While the menfolk labored over a huge stockpot of malt and hops soup, we womenfolk sat at the dining room table chatting and working on our personal creative endeavors. Neatnik played with everything in sight.

Before we left, I'd finished the mitten! You remember this mitten? The red one? The one which was already on a second go?

If I'd not had to rip back, I'd have a full pair of mittens right now.

If this second attempt at a mitten hadn't turned out somewhat too short and rather too snug, I'd at least have one completed mitten.

As it turns out, I have a mitten to frog and have cast on the larger size: a men's medium.

Perhaps I should have just cast on for the men's medium in the first place. I would have if I had just thought for a moment that the last pair of gloves I bought were a men's size medium.

In which trek sees red

Like most amateur photographers, I recognize that there are a lot of things about photography that I just don't know, like how to photograph red objects. I've got a good grip on the wave and particle theories of light and a basic understanding of color theory but that combined knowledge hasn't yet morphed into an intuitive understanding of digital photography in general nor my camera in particular. I have waited patiently for a photographic epiphany to descend upon me from on high, but so far that hasn't worked out so well.

Instead of wasting my time waiting for miraculous enlightenment, it occurred to me that maybe I should research How to Photograph Red Things. This search led me to several blogs and how to sites. One suggestion in particular which seemed very promising was to set the white balance on my camera. "Hmm, white balance? Does my camera have such a setting? Oh, lookie, it does! I'll try that."

I put a piece of white paper on the place where I was going to shoot the mitten and then told the camera that the paper was, in fact, white. When I looked at my digital viewer, white stuff looked white, not yellowed or grey. Progress! I took several pictures, varying the light meter settings and the ISO sensitivity settings. I even took the mitten out to the sun porch and froze my phalanges trying to get the reds right.

But the mitten still looked too orange.

In addition to being an amateur photographer, I am also an amateur photograph editor. I know a bit about how to manipulate digital images but have relied mostly on preset filters and such in the past. In order to get this red mitten to appear, well red instead of orange, I experimented with a whole bunch of different color manipulating techniques on the computer.

But the mitten still looked too orange.

Last night, I emailed PinkPaperClip for suggestions. She just graduated from a pretty prestigious photography program - she'd know what to do! PinkPaperClip suggested setting the white balance and a series of tweaks in a particular software package. Said software package is sitting in my desk drawer awaiting the return of my laptop. I really didn't want to waste time installing it on the old flaky desktop and so I tried to approximate her suggestions in another software package.

But the mitten still looked too orange.

Right after lunch today, I had what I thought was surely an inspired idea. Once upon a time, PinkPaperClip told me that to photograph a navy blue sweater, I might try putting it in front of a blue background. I am wearing a pink shirt. The mitten is red but leans towards the magenta/pink family rather than the offending peach/orange family. Why not take a picture of the mitten laying on my shirt sleeve? Along with following the directions for setting the white balance, etc, etc.

And so, for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of the red mitten on my pink sleeve above the off-white kitchen counter tiles.

I just love sepia toning, don't you?
At least it isn't offensive orange...

In which trek is in hot water

So there I was this morning, all excited and rather smug that I was going to finish a mitten. A mitten that fit. A mitten that didn't itch.

You know what happened next, don't you?

My stitch count was off.

How could this be? I'd been so careful about making sure that the number of stitches in the thumb gore was correct.

Perhaps I should have been a little more careful in the very first round after the ribbing, where I didn't decrease properly.

Uh-huh, you guessed it:
all the way back to the cuff...

Somehow, I should have known that it was going far too well, I suppose. In my own defense, I was so caught up in the fact that I was knitting a mitten and that the installation guys had provided us with a very big, efficient, shiny new hot water heater that minor things like remembering to check the stitch count on all four needles just didn't register on the radar.

And, no, these reds aren't accurate either

At least there was plenty of hot water for my shower this morning.

C-c-cold

Baby, it's cold outside! It isn't quite as cold as the Midwestern regions, but seeing single digits on the ol' thermometer is quite a bit below my personal comfort level, thank you very much.

When the temperatures plummet, what else does a knitter think of knitting? Why, mittens, of course!

Yes, you can all point and laugh now and note that knitting a pair of mittens before ice was forming on my eyelashes would have been better planning on my part. You'd just better be wearing your mittens while you do because otherwise those knitting fingers will be turning into Popsicles.

I started working on a Classic (Red) Mitten this morning. If not for having had to call tech support about my laptop three times today, I might have finished it by now.

The yarn reminds me of Bing cherries
Use your imagination, 'kay?

Indoor red photography - meh.

Interchanges

We will return with Thursday Afternoon Bullet Points, but first a word from our local sheep sponsor...

     Keebler: Mommy? Mommy! Look all of that white stuff on the ground! Isn't that what we used to call snow?

     trek: Most people still call it that, Keeb.

     Keebler: But look, its all over the road and the sidewalk and the grass and the cars...

     trek: Snow does tend to fall rather uniformly. Believe me, if someone could come up with a way to make the snow only fall on the grass and not on the cars and the sidewalks and the roads, that person would become very wealthy, very quickly indeed.

     Keebler: (poking his nose into the porch) Mommy! It's something like minus a hundred degrees out there!

     trek: (walking him over to the outdoor thermometer) No, silly sheep, look here: it says it's plus 21°F or 267 Kelvin.

     Keebler: (shaking his head) It sounds warmer when you call it Kelvin but it's really cold today. Can I stay home under the covers today?

# # #

And now, on to our Thursday Afternoon Bullet Points...

• Keebler got to stay at home, snuggled under the covers whilst the rest of us braved the cold in order that we might all arrive at our appointed destinations on time today.



• The snow we got is of the very fine, powdery type but we only got an inch or so.



• While it looks like the snow is done for today, the cold is not; in fact, the cold has made reservations and plans to stay through the weekend.



• Get out your warm woollies!



• The hot lunch program at school resumed this week; that's what my appointed destination was this morning.



• We served French toast sticks.



• These are very popular with the kids.



• We first ran out of chocolate milk and then out of regular milk.



• Neither of these occurrences were popular with the kids.



• Honestly, I couldn't blame them.



• No, I do not know who dropped the ball on the milk delivery. It wasn't me but I was the one who had to break the news to the kids.



• I had multiple repetitions of the following interchange with children who were *supposed* to get chocolate milk today:
  
       mrs trek: We are out of chocolate milk today. Would you like regular milk, juice, or water?
  
       Child Who Ordered Chocolate Milk: Chocolate milk.
  
       mrs trek: (laughing) We are out of chocolate milk today. Would you like regular milk, juice, or water?



• Towards the end of lunch service, I had to amend my spiel:
  
       mrs trek: We are out of milk today. Would you like juice or water?
  
       CWOCM: Chocolate milk.
  
       mrs trek: (laughing) We are out of milk today. Would you like juice or water?
  
       CWOCM: Regular milk.
  
       mrs trek: (still laughing) There is no milk. Would you like juice or water?



• I am sort of wondering about some of these kids' parents. If their kids' shocked astounded stunned uncomprehending blank stares are to be believed, they have never, ever run out of milk at home.



• That is quite a feat.



• Speaking of the resumption of all things scholarly, the spring semester for the college begins next week.



• My first class is Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock on the other side of the county.



• I am hoping that my new laptop comes home before then.



• I had to request an RMA last night: the SD card and fingerprint readers are defective.



• Number Guy brought the shipping carton to FedEx for me this morning. Thank you, Number Guy!!!

Looking up the page, that's a lot of bullets this afternoon. Hope everyone enjoyed them. Please, say a prayer that my laptop will come home by Tuesday!

Cables and ribs

As I cast off the second Hot Pink Edition SJ Gym Crew Sock yesterday, a horrible realization overcame me. Even the joy of a finishing a pair of socks could not insulate me against this insidious thought, it was so frightening to contemplate. I am almost afraid to speak of it.

Perhaps if I do not speak of it, it will not be true?

But then I must consider, do I really wish to live on the river bank?

No, I probably do not. Egypt does tend towards a desert climate, after all, and while I could pass on cold winters, I don't think that I am well suited to unremitting summers either. And then there would be that pesky little problem of having to learn a whole new language not to mention a whole 'nother alphabet, just to get directions to the bathroom or to purchase a gallon of milk. Or do they measure in liters there? And what about the local library scene? Would they even have books published in English? Would I have to rely solely on those books I was able to fit into my luggage or acquire through the Internet? What about the cost of overseas shipping for books published in America? Speaking of costs, how expensive is yarn over there? And could an American ex-pat readily find work?

Ack, numerous problems challenges rear their ugly heads.

No, I suppose that living on the river side is really not an option. I must, therefore, come clean.

I have only one project on the needles right now.

What do you mean, speak up? I thought that I was perfectly, abundantly clear.

I have only one project on the needles right now.

What? Oh, fine, since you obviously refuse to check the batteries in your hearing aid...

I have only one project on the needles right now.

There. Happy now?

Would somebody please help those knitters up in Minnesota to their feet? Oh, and the one down there in Key West as well? Or maybe we ought merely to wave some smelling salts under their noses and wait for them to regain consciousness first...

...

Is everyone feeling okay? Has everyone regained conscious? Good, then I shall press onward.

The only yarn currently inhabiting any needles here is the Socks That Rock FotM which is in the process of becoming a pair of socks.

This isn't to say that there has been no knitting. There has.

I've been swatching for this sweater (Ravelry link).

Is this trip really necessary? Must we go through this again?

I've been swatching for this sweater (Ravelry link).

When will you change those batteries?

I've been swatching for this sweater (Ravelry link).

Yes, swatching.

The first yarn I tried was a standard worsted weight on size 7 US needles. I got 26 stitches in 4 inches over relaxed 3x3 rib. The second yarn I tried was an aran weight on the same needles. I got about 24 stitches. I was aiming for 22 stitches.

Question: When you knit 3x3 rib, do you notice that the last knit stitch in each column tends to be a little loose compared to its fellows? Have you tried knitting the first purl stitch in each group through the back of the loop? If so, how did that work out for you?

Did I happen to mention that the yarn specified (Ravelry link) in the pattern is actually a closer to a DK weight? Even though they try to claim that it is aran weight.

And, another thing, who measures gauge over relaxed 3x3 ribbing? How relaxed should it be? Would it have been all that much of a bother for the designer to have whipped out a simple Stockinette stitch swatch? She could have done that after the actual sweater was finished even!

This is going to be an interesting ride.

Gratuitous cute sock picture

In which trek thanks the delurkers

I was so excited to see so many people delurking to leave me comments yesterday, Delurking Day. Thanks to everyone who left a comment even if it was just to say, "Hi".

I responded to each and every commenter as long as either (1) their email address came along with the comment; or (2) I already had their email address from some previous delurking. For those of you who did not hear from me, I just had no way to contact you, but I was still really interested in what you had to say.

This is a really short post because it is winter. Yup. You read that right: because it is winter. Because it is winter, the skin on my hands is drier than a desert at noon on Midsummer's Day. When this happens, my fingertips and knuckles crack and bleed and I am sporting adhesive bandages and triple antibiotic ointment on my index finger and thumb of my right hand. Not so good for the typing skills. I am making lots of typos and having to backtrack to fix them.

So, have a great day and if you didn't comment yesterday, here's another chance to deurk!

Delurk!

This is a Public Service Announcement: Today is Delurking Day. Leave a comment on every blog you visit, starting with this one!

Please, if you are a lurker, choose today to stop lurking and to tell your bloggers what you like about their sites. I promise you, they/I really want to know. For me, knowing that someone actually reads what I have to say, not just cruising in to skim the pictures and scat, means an awful lot.

Yes, I realize that sometimes it seems that someone else has already commented what a reader wants to say and some readers feel like adding their 2¢ is just repeating but it isn't. Honestly. Every comment is a connection between author and reader. If you need more incentive to comment on my blog today, I reply to all comments via email - as long as a valid email address is provided.

I have made some very good friends through my blog. Just because we don't see each other in person does not mean we do not care what happens in each other's lives. The blog is a medium, a vehicle, if you will. Think of blog posts as open letters to a group of pen pals then the email exchanges which follow are the one-on-one letters between pairs of pen pals.

Delurk today!

Now that we have had our PSA (and every one of you promises to delurk today, right?) let us continue with a little bit of cool technology. Last May, Number Guy and I replaced our cell phones with slick new models that have lots of cool features. One of those cool features is the ability to link the phones to the PC via a USB data cable and transfer pictures, ringtones, and other information between the units. We got a good deal on the data cable through an Amazon.com seller and proceeded to transfer information.

Except when we couldn't: the cable was like a touchy lock. I'm sure you have experienced this phenomenon. You put your key into the lock and try to twist but it gets stuck. You fiddle with the key and by backing it out of the lock, ever so slightly, you manage to get the fussy thing to work.

The data cable was like that. It was very fiddly. Perhaps it was attuned to the phases of the moon. Or the day of the week. It performed in a manner inversely proportional to (1) my desire to transfer data; and (2) the amount of time I had to get the task completed. I gradually stopped asking the phone to talk to the computer and settled for it being a phone and a digital camera whose pictures were destined to remain only in its own memory banks.

Enter my sweet new laptop computer with its own set of cool connectivity features. One of those cool features is Bluetooth technology. Did I mention that the phones are Bluetooth-enabled? No, I probably did not since I did not invest in Bluetooth hands-free units.

Yesterday afternoon, while finishing repairs on my mother's computer, my sister and CanjunGuy were rhapsodizing over their new cell phones. I played a few of my custom ringtones for them and they asked how expensive they were to download. That's when I told them that I transferred them from my computer. That's also when I realized that I have Bluetooth connectivity!

Immediately we arrived home, I set up the pairing between my phone and my laptop. There was a little tinkering to get the connection but once I figured it all out, the two gadgets talked to each other perfectly! I was literally bouncing in my seat, I was so excited. I know, you'd think a techie like me would take this in stride, right? Not so. Techies get very excited when the equipment does exactly what we want it to do and does it without complaint.

The best part of this whole experience? We bought the cell phones which were Bluetooth-enabled but originally didn't plan to use the capability since our computers were not so enabled. I bought the laptop with Bluetooth capability based on a whole different set of criteria and never once thought about the Bluetooth, nor the fact that my phone speaks Bluetooth. It truly was a serendipitous convergence of features.

Please excuse me. I think I need to transfer some more data from my computer to my phone. Now that they have met, they seem to want to talk to each other all the time. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful and long-term relationship.

In which Neatnik demonstrates good technique

In the minivan, on the way home from church today, we were singing extemporaneous songs about how cold it is. This one is Neatnik's:

It's cold outside.
It's cold outside.
Glory to God!
Tell Him to make it warm!

We in the front seat were really impressed. She stated the problem, did a little buttering up, and only then asked for a favor.

Twenty or so years in the future...

     ::brrrring!::

     "Hello, Neatnik Campaign Headquarters, how can we help you today?"

In which Neatnik is just in time for "tee"

Neatnik was really impressed with both the Just in Time for Dawn hat for CajunGuy and the "tee" bag from Daddy's old shirt. She was so impressed that she wanted ones of her own.

I cast on her hat on Thursday evening and finished it up in time for her arrival home from school on Friday. It's made mostly from leftover yarns. Neatnik chose what she liked from the yarn drawer but I had to put my foot down on combining lime green with the green/orange/cadet blue variegated yarn....

As modeled by the very helpful Jacqueline

The dark blue on the bottom is some midnight blue Berroco SofTwist; the variegated yarn is Cascade Bollicine Maxi; and the dark purply-blue on top is a bit of Corriedale handspun someone sent me as a blog contest prize from I don't remember when.

As for the "tee" bag, we went through her dresser after school yesterday to see if there were any outgrown tees which could be pressed into service.

It took me only a few minutes at the sewing machine this morning to run a sew along the hem of the shirt and seam up the corners for a little shaping.

"Tee" bag for Neatnik's Cinderella figurines

Maybe one of the reasons for the higher than average sewing output is the absolute dearth of books available from my local library. Do you realize that I have read only one new book since the beginning of the year?! And that was one of Neatnik's Charming Ponies books?! I'm truly hoping that the library is turning their act around: they did call me yesterday to let me know that they had three books for me to pick up.

If anyone needs me, I'll be sequestered in a warm corner either catching up on my reading or surfing the Internet for more new books to acquire: it's supposed to snow.

Rounding up

It seemed like a good day to do a bit of a project round up, so I collected all of the little project bags and assembled the handknits in progress for a group photo.

Aw, don't they look sweet together?

Clockwise from the upper left we have the Hot Pink Edition of the SJ Gym Crew Socks, the previously finished but currently under reconstruction Kiddie Kables Hat, the two half-knit FotM Madagascar socks, and in the center, a Scrap Yarn Edition of the JIT Hat. Everything is destined for the Neatnik except for the FotM socks.

Things went very well for the photo shoot. Until it was time to return the knits in progress to their respective project bags. That's when I snapped a dpn.

I decided not to photograph the fatality for the blog. Some of my blog peeps have delicate stomachs and I just couldn't force myself to inflict this gruesome sight on them. It really wouldn't be the right thing to do.

Rest assured, though, it was ugly. Very ugly. And very splintery.

Fortunately, the good people at Woodland Woolworks, my place of purchase, are on the case. I'm mailing them the now-useless bits and they will mail me a new size 1½ dpn. The nice lady on the telephone even asked me if I had a way to keep the sock in progress safe whilst this process plays itself out.

Note: Only a fellow knitter would be as concerned about holding up the project as replacing the equipment that failed, I tells ya!

When not working on these smaller sized projects, I've been scouting around for a suitable sweater pattern. I think that I finally found the one (Ravelry link) I would like to knit. It is from an out of print magazine but a fellow Raveler is willing to send it to me. More news when it arrives.

Rituals and traditions

As the sun broke over the horizon this morning, it was rather on the cold end of the spectrum but still, it was a brilliantly sunny day; a perfect day, in fact, to go visit Dr PreciousMetal and to wish him and his staff a Happy New Year. It really was just the polite thing to do.

Okay, a morning at the allergist's office isn't really high on my hit parade of things to do when I am between semesters, but if you had sounded like I have for the past couple of mornings, you would have been off to see your local prescriber of antimicrobials as well.

We have a very good relationship, Dr PreciousMetal and I. He tells me what I should do and what I should take to keep the allergy and asthma symptoms under control. I respond by getting a "cold" each and every year 'round about November. Every year, I am sure that it is just a "cold" and I drink lots of fluids and try to get a little extra rest whilst popping fever remedies like M&Ms and swilling over-the-counter cough syrup like it's fruit juice.

Inevitably, the symptoms recede and I am convinced that I am all better. Except for the nagging bit of cough. Over the course of the following weeks, said "cold" shows up for an encore performance and we repeat the process. At about the third or fourth time the "cold" reappears, I call for an appointment to see Dr PreciousMetal.

You are probably wondering why I put off a visit so vigorously given that we have a very good relationship. I am always convinced that this year it really is just a "cold" and everything will be just fine in a few more days. Then when it isn't, I really don't want to go in for an exam because he always looks at me slightly reproachfully and asks, "Why didn't you come see me sooner?"

It's like a tradition. And we just can't be breaking with tradition, now, can we? I mean, if it wasn't for traditions and rituals, society would crumble and anarchy would reign.

I don't want to be responsible for the onset of lawlessness and disorder, not to mention the invasion of the zombie hordes. I'll stick with the traditions and the rituals, thanks very much.

All of this leads us right up to today, when I walked into Dr PreciousMetal's office and absolutely, positively, and completely diagnosed myself. Yup, we have been through this ritual so many times in past that I can now diagnose a chronic, recurrent sinus infection with 100% accuracy.

On the upside, my lung function tests were stellar today so the infection is all in the upper reaches of the old respiratory system. I'll take that over pneumonia any day. Oh, yeah, and Dr PreciousMetal's nurse asked if I'd lost more weight. Maybe it was just the new form-fitting pink thermal shirt but I'll take a compliment any time and twice on Sundays.

Gratuitous picture of
yesterday's "tee" bag

"Tee" bags

Today is the third day running that I've broken out the sewing machine! Don't worry, though: this isn't about to become a "sewing" blog - I'm still knitting!

This afternoon's endeavor was to convert an old t-shirt into a reusable grocery bag. I found the tutorial over on Vanilla Joy in the wee small hours of the morning.

Three things that I really like about this project: (1) you have a way to reuse almost any really old, torn t-shirt; (2) you can use any family member's tees; and (3) its a great way to retain that souvenir t-shirt you bought while on vacation back in 1998 and which you have worn and washed until it is softer than the finest merino top.

I used one on Number Guy's old tees for today's experiment. Since his shirt was a bit wider than the bag I was aiming to make, I trimmed each side (thereby also eliminating the hole). I think it came out pretty well but I don't have a picture to show you: it is still all grey and rainy here and the resultant indoor lighting is lousy.

The tutorial just suggested running a seam along the bottom edge of the shirt. I first trimmed off some of the length and then ran a double row of stitching to improve durability.

Not long after I finished the bag, I had another thought on how to improve durability and appearance: make it fully-lined. Using two t-shirts of the same size, make one bag right-side out and one bag inside-out and stitch them together at the shoulder seams.

In which trek gets lucky

Neatnik was rather impressed with the napkins when she got off the school bus yesterday afternoon. Then she wanted to know why I only re-hemmed the two red-checked napkins and not also the blue-checked and rainbow-checked ones.

I explained that the edges of the red ones were rattier than the edges of the other four napkins and so I chose to do them first - to see how they turned out. This morning I broke out the rotary cutter, iron, and sewing machine and attended to these before making my way over to the thrift shop.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself
And, of course, I just did

Remember the fiasco with the black slacks? Number Guy suggested searching the racks carefully today in the hope that those pants might still be there. With little hope but great optimism, I searched. I looked at every single pair of black pants on the racks in the ladies' section of the shop.

Nothing.

Oh, well. I did find a pair of stone colored slacks in a similar cut and a light blue thermal kind of long-sleeved tee which will work well under sweaters and turtlenecks. Then I wandered into the girls' area where I found a pair of Levis with hearts for back pockets, a dress-up dress, and a pool cover-up for the Neatnik. Through the archway and down the hall was the men's section. Number Guy can always use a pair of slacks so I carefully combed the racks for his size. Then, at the very end of the rack I saw them: my black slacks.

Yes, my pants were misfiled with the guys' stuff. I'm guessing that some previous shopper picked them up, changed her mind, and left them on the nearest clothes rod. I am glad that she did.

Sure I had to pay for my pants twice, but today all of the clothing in the shop was half-off.

And I didn't have to do the driving, so I knit on the socks to and from the shop. I've knit sock #1's cuff and leg and am halfway through the leg of sock #2. All in all, a pretty good morning.

PS - CajunGuy loved his hat. He actually asked how much I'd charge to knit one because he's that sure that they guys on the boat are going to want them.

School daze

We reuse and recycle here at chez trek. Not that anyone could ever accuse us of being the tree-hugging type, but we do try to minimize waste around here.

One of the ways we try to eliminate waste is by using cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Neatnik is the only kid at her school that brings a cloth napkin every single day. Napkins used at school tend to be good for only a single use since the child usually wraps up her used spoon/fork in the napkin. Dried yogurt isn't a very appetizing thing to leave on the linens.

A couple of our older napkins started to show some significant wear and tear and I decided that I really needed to do something about it. For the most part, the napkins were intact and in good condition but the edges were all frayed and the hemmed parts started to separate from the napkins' centers.

Well, a nice, sharp rotary cutter took care of this problem:

Frayed trimmings

A little attention from the iron and my trusty Emerald 116 yielded these:

Newly hemmed napkins

All ready to pack into the lunch box for school tomorrow!

Speaking of school, I sent 225 Box Tops to school with Neatnik this morning. Two hundred, twenty-five Box Tops. Almost half of them came from my wonderful blog peeps. Thanks, peeps! I don't know when the tallies will be finalized but I think that the first grade has a really good chance at winning the contest.

It is something of a wonder that the Box Tops even made it to school today, though. Apparently Neatnik's school bus wasn't quite ready to return to duty this morning. That, or it partied a little too hard over the Christmas vacation and was simply incapacitated by excessive diesel fuel ingestion. In any event, it wouldn't start and the driver had to get another vehicle. This caused significant delay to the bus route this morning. When the bus finally arrived, there were no other children on it.

An interesting thing to have happen on the first day back to school, no?