Knit & Nosh

simple is good

After a morning of research my brain is numb.  It has occurred to me that I have spent the past 6 months cramming by brain full of new knowledge.  Colleges, International Study, Non-Dairy Cooking, Computers, Blogs, Writing...no wonder all I want to do is knit simple things.

The latest simple thing

Sock Pixie, #1 DP’s.  One sock all done, the second at the heel.

We in our household are not good consumers.  The living room chairs and sofa are hand me downs.  The dining room furniture too.  Come to think of it, everything but the mattress’ are probably second hand. We do not replace things, we fix them.  We are conscious of the resources used to make things and we usually decide we can do without. 

So how did it happen that we are about to have 5 laptops in a 6 person household?  The last holdout being only 9 years old.  And how crazy is it that we all need  to work on computers just to get our stuff done?  The kids for school, Husband for work, me for writing.

I know not everyone reading this blog is of my age, but the fact that I am sitting in bed, typing to a world connected by the internet is amazing.  I remember the first time I saw a computer.  It was housed in a 10’ by 20’ climate controlled room and it did not do squat.  30 years later and everyone has a computer that slips into a backpack.  Wow.

alpaca and silk

Here is what the best mailman in the whole world delivered on Thursday.

Dragon Fibers March edition of the Fiber O the Month Club,

2oz 70/30 Fawn Alpaca/Tussah Silk. You can not imagine the softness of this fiber. It makes butter feel grainy.

2oz Tussah Silk. Shiny, subtle, amazing.

I think both of these fibers will be spun and knit into a  Kata Scarf. I am saving them. They will be the first project I spin on my wheel. I do not know when the wheel will arrive, or when I will feel confident enough to spin for a specific project, but this stuff will happily wait for that day.

My little friend says, "Yes".

oh canada

When Husband left for work this morning it was not snowing.  30 minutes later when I rolled out of bed, it was not snowing.  2 hours later when Oldest Daughter came upstairs, it was not snowing.  We decided to go for it.

First stop, the grocery store for road trip supplies.  You know the ones I am talking about, chips and red vines and the like.  Second stop, the gas station.  As we are leaving the gas station is begins to rain, there is a bit of snow mixed in, but just a bit.  We make a decision to get on the freeway and see what happens.  If it starts snowing we can always turn around.

There is a lot of rain/snow mix, this does not worry me.  Once we get north of Everett the rain stops and it is just snow.  It snows lightly for a few miles then stops.  I am fine.  15 minutes later it snows again for a few miles and then stops.  I am OK with all of this.

We drive right through Bellingham, all is well.  2 miles out of Bellingham the snow starts.  Real snow.  After a few miles it does not stop, in fact it gets heavier.  I can hardly see.  At some point we realize we are driving along side the ocean, but can not see it.  This is bad.  We find a diner and have some lunch.  Lunch is spent looking out the window and wondering what the hell is going on.  It is the end of March and we are right next to the water, how can it still be snowing.

It is too late to turn around, we are practically at the border.  We eat our lunch very slowly and hope for the best.

The best happens!  The snow lets up, we travel on to the UBC.  We take a walking tour of the campus and remain dry!  Cold, but dry.

It snowed again on the way home.  At some point I thought about stopping and grabbing a hotel for the night.  Talked myself right out of that.  I was going home, no matter what.

While in Canada I realized that I am an American Idiot.  I used to think only the Hummer driving, bomb dropping, Bush lovers were American Idiots.  I am afraid I had more than my share head shaking moments today.

First, we are waiting to cross the border and I see a construction sign for the Douglas Crossing.  Douglas Crossing?  That sign must have been erected by mistake.  Turn the corner and there is another sign for the Douglas Crossing construction.  What is the Douglas Crossing?  This is the Blaine Crossing?  Duh!  It is only the Blaine crossing if you are from America.  I felt so stupid.

We cross the border and see a sign that says Vancouver 50 km.  This means nothing to me.  50 km could be around the next corner or 2 hours away.  I felt so stupid.

About 10 miles later I realize that I have entered a foreign country, with a cell phone that may not work, with only a vague idea of where I am going, and it did not even occur to me to bring map.  Oh yeah, I am that kind of idiot.

here i am

testing 1 - testing 1 - isn't this a lot of fun