Hubris

Whine.

That's what this entry is going to be, so feel free to move along. Nothing to see here...

When last we met, I was seriously high on spring and high on biking. But I overdid it. I biked to work on Thursday (10 miles each way) and then did it again on Friday. Thursday night I felt fantastic. Friday night, well, not so much. I was way too tired to bike home and I knew it but I did it anyway and it was a serious slog. I made it (and in good time, surprisingly), but my body rebelled. The fibromyalgia that's been behaving itself quite well (with a few exceptions) for the last 12+ years (many thanks to SSRIs) decided I needed to be taken down a peg. Friday night I crawled into bed with that familiar old deep, sickening ache all down one leg and in both arms and hands. It's been much better since then, but I'm still stiff and achey and exhausted.

I didn't take much of a rest over the weekend - Y and I took commuter rail all the way to Long Island (dirt cheap but time-consuming) for the wonderful 40th birthday party of our delightful Raqs. Indian food and belly dancing! And I delivered the Montego Bay scarf I made for her, which went over very well. Here's a picture of me in it, though it looks most at home on its recipient (but I didn't manage to get a picture of it there).

Pattern: Montego Bay Scarf by Amy Singer for Interweave Knits
Yarn: Conjoined Creations Passtimes Soy Silk - less than one skein
Colorway: Joyce
Needles: US8

Anyway, back to the whine. So 5-ish hours on commuter rail + fabulous party + lovely brunch + 5 more hours on commuter rail doesn't exactly equal a weekend of recuperation.

So today I'm taking a sick day to see if my body can catch up. There will be kitties. There will be a movie or two. There will be naps. Maybe a walk. Some reading. Sadly no knitting and no Rosie's knitting circle - must rest the hands.

Really the thing that drives me the most crazy about all this is that spring on the river is marching on without me. The reason I rode two days in a row was that I couldn't stand not to see the next day's progression of blossoms. And now I'm missing so much! The daffs are starting to shrivel and the magnolia petals are littering the ground under the trees and the tulips are out and the next round of cherries are blooming and I'm not on my bike. Feh.

Yellow, Pink, White, Green

Biking along the river, it is all about the cherry trees. Hot pink, pale pink, white, dwarf, giant, weeping, and... laughing. They're everywhere. 1,000 new cherry trees were planted in the city last year. The renewal of a gift from Japan. Thanks, Japan. They're indescribably lovely.

And the magnolias. The magnolias are in absolute full-on-sexy-peak bloom and I can't get enough. And the thousands of bright daffodils. And the late forcythia. And the early pale purple azaleas that always lead the way for the other colors that come later.

It was seventy degrees F and sunny on the way home this evening. But this morning, it was foggy and gray and fifty and all these colors seemed all the brighter in the fog - especially the intense light green of the budding willows on the opposite side of the river.

************
My internal monologue on these rides cracks me up. mmagnoliaaaa (sugar magnolia/blossoms blooming/head's all empty and I don't care...) cherry trees ripply water scullers like jesus bugs swans! geese (I wonder what it says about me that calling out ON YOUR LEFT to the geese that wander across the trail never ceases to amuse me...) mmm daffs... okay lady, multi-use trail here ON YOUR LEFT uh oh, train coming! It'll block the crossing if I can't beat it out. Go Go Go Go - oh yeah, I can beat it. just push a little harder and I'll be far ahead by the time I get to the crossing... goodbye river! see you tonight! oh for crying out loud, hang up and drive yikes! stupid pedestrian walking in the street plus stupid driver not paying attention = near disaster. don't you even THINK about dooring me you &($$#&^% YES and she makes it in a record 51 minutes! the crowd goes wild...

I feel good. And I could swear the hills are getting flatter.
Happy spring, everyone!

Stuff of Dreams

I had a dream last night that Rosie's built a new location.

It was like a city.

Striped Baby Mitts Pattern

I've been meaning to post this pattern for a while, since it's the first pattern I ever actually wrote, but I got some new motivation this evening so I think it's time to do it!

I made the first pair of these last winter in the car on the way down to Virgina to see my then 6-month-old nephew. I needed a quick giftie for him, and I had just finished making Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts, so I had leftover koigu and some new techniques on hand...



The second pair I made in a newborn size for Courtney's Clyde (then known only as "Flippy the Bean").



They were a hit at the shower (scroll to the end of Lisa's post for a picture), and when I met the gorgeous 3-week-old Clyde tonight at the Rosie's holiday party, I was delighted to see that he was wearing a pair that Courtney had modeled after mine!

So here's the lowdown:

Striped Baby Mitts

Sizes: Infant (6 months)
Yarn: Koigu KPM in two colors
Needles: Size US 2 (2.75mm) dpns (set of 5)
Size US 0 needles (set of 2)
Gauge: 8 sts/12 rows = 1"
Finished dimensions: 2 1/4" X 3 1/4" (2 3/4" X 3 1/2")

Instructions:

Using italian tubular cast on (that's the technique I borrowed from Eunny's mitts) and size 2 needles, CO 32 (40) sts in MC.

K1 P1 for 2 rows in MC. Distribute 8 (10) sts onto each of 4 needles. Join and work in the round.

Following 6 rounds: K1 in MC, P1 in CC.

*Next 4 rounds: K all sts in MC.Next 4 rows: K all sts in CC.*
Repeat * to * once more.

6 month size only: Next 4 rounds, K all sts in MC.

All sizes: Switch colors. K1, K2tog, K until 3 sts remain on 2nd needle, ssk, K2, K2tog, K until 3 sts remain on 4th needle, ssk, K1.
Next round: K all sts.

Repeat these two rounds 4 times for a total of 8 rounds, switching colors after 4 rounds.
From there on, decrease every row instead of every other, switching colors again after 4 rounds.

When 8 sts remain, K 1 round even in MC. Thread tail through remaining sts and pull tight. Weave in ends.

Using size 0 needles, make a 3-stitch i-cord in MC measuring 14" (15"). Leave tail after bind off. Thread tail onto tapestry needle.

Thread i-cord through the V created by the 4th row of MC of ribbing, and on the 4th (5th) rib from the edge of the mitt. Repeat in each rib, working toward the edge and then all the way around. For the 6-month size, leave the last rib unthreaded.



Weave in ends of i-cord, and tie a tight knot near each end of the i-cord.

Enjoy!

Who knew that a syntax error could totally make my day

WARNING: GEEK CONTENT ALERT

So I'm working in Stata, the statistical analysis software we use here in the office. I know I need to run a "do" file from within the program, but I can't remember the exact syntax, so I give it a shot.

Here's what I typed in:
m:\ccr\data\ccrupdate.do 21

Here was Stata's response:
'do' found where almost anything else expected

Good to know the folks at Stata have a sense of humor...

Heading Home

Hello all, and thanks so much for your sympathetic comments!

After another night, we decided to ditch the campground, as we really just didn't feel welcome there. If people keep making you cry when your intentions are good, it's time to move on! We checked into a stunning hotel in Waikiki (the Waikiki Parc) and spent the next 3 days there. Very pampering and lovely.

On Tuesday, our tour with Bike Hawaii went off without a hitch. We had a lovely coasting bike ride down a mountain, followed by a sail out to a good spot for snorkeling, where we saw sea turtles and cool fishies. And today we got out of the city for a bit and took a quick hike up in the rainforest, which was incredibly beautiful, and then got ourselves back to the airport in plenty of time to hit the internet stand at the gate. Nice to see more green and mountains before we left.

So I do feel like we got a pretty nice balance of country and city, and having left the place with the mean people made it much easier to put that part behind us and get some real vacationy relaxation time.

Love to all!
Emily

Jellyfish Sunrise

Hello all!

I'm writing from an internet cafe in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii!

We've been on the island since Friday afternoon, and have had quite a mix of experiences since!

At this moment, the experiences that come to the surface for me are unfortunately the negative ones, though there have also been many lovely ones. We're camping in a rural area on the Windward Coast, which is really lovely. We're *right* next to the ocean - WINDY, but beautiful.
We stupidly forgot to leave the rental car outside the campsite gates this morning, and since they are locked from 7pm to 7am (and 24 hour security apparently does NOT mean that someone is actually awake at 4:30am, and they are VERY cranky and threaten to throw you out of the park if you wake them up at that hour), we missed our lovely plan (and our $200) for our Dolphin-swimming sailing/snorkeling adventure tour with Wild Side Specialty Tours that left from the other side of the island at 6:30am. Serious, serious bummer.

Even worse, though, is the feeling that we are everyone's worst Clueless Demanding Mainlander Urban Tourist Nightmare. We keep inadvertently breaking campground rules and not understanding the way things work in the country. The only thing I can say for us is that there are probably many people who fit this description who are also mean and unapologetic, which is certainly not us. Our problem is just that we don't get it.

So we decided on an urban adventure today. We do feel dorky, since we're dressed more for the country and don't exactly *blend*, but it's a bit comforting to be back in a city where we understand the culture at least a *little bit* better.

But we are still reeling a bit. We're definitely going to spend some time on the beach today, hopefully before it gets horribly crowded.

I definitely need to mention how lovely most of the people here have been and how unbelievably stunning the scenery is. We've been scarfing down local bananas and avacadoes (avacadoes that are sweeter than what we get at home, and *juicy*). We found a truly fantastic vegetarian cafe in a little surfer town on the North Coast for yesterday's lunch. And we stood in the surf and watched the sunrise yesterday morning. Oh yeah, at which time I got stung by jellyfish on both feet. Um, ow. Turns out the bay where we are is jellyfish central this time of year at high tide with a strong on shore wind.

Hmm, I seem to keep coming back to the bitching. I guess that's just how I'm feeling at the moment. Soon, I'm sure we'll have regained equilibrium and be able to really relax and enjoy ourselves. I think that jet lag & noisy nighttime camping neighbors don't help much. By Tuesday, the Labor Day crowds will have thinned, though, and (if we haven't got ourselves kicked out of the campground by then) we should be able to get some better sleep.

In the meantime, we'll seek out our comfort zones. I'd like to find a yarn shop today. Y would like to find a public library. Tonight we'll steel ourselves and head back into the country and try very hard not to piss anyone else off.

Much love to alla youse,
Emily