Purling Pearls of Perl

Giftmas 1.0 Menagerie

2010-12-27T01:57:00.003-05:00

I found all of these patterns for free on Ravelry. Froggie was made using Ribbit except that I couldn't get the eyes to look right until I used these buttons which had long vertical holes that I modified by drilling smal ircular holes in the center top and bottom. Then I used liberal amounts of black crochet thread to make the pupils.

His friend Lambie is Fuzzy Lamb from Lulu. This pattern was by far the most pleasurable to knit and put together despite it being knit flat and sewn together.

The only modification that I made to the pattern was to add a small fuzzy tail. I didn't even bother knitting, I just wrapped the yarn into an oblong french knot.

And finally the last was Marisol the mouse whose pattern is unfortunately only available on Ravelry.

Helena Baby Cardigan

2009-10-18T15:53:00.004-04:00

I finally got the chance to give the Helena Baby Cardi that I knit to my niece Phoebe. I got the yarn (Katia Alba) at a little yarn shop in Rochester NY while we were on vacation. The store happened to have just enough in the discount bin. The buttons were a serendipitous find at Joann's Fabric.

It's the middle of October and I'm watching out the window as snowflakes the size of my palm come down in front of the still mostly green trees and only a couple hours ago I was apple picking with Phoebe and her parents. It's a crazy year for weather!

Random updates

2009-09-21T10:57:00.002-04:00

I've had a bunch of potential posts popping up and swirling around in my brain over the past several months and not one of them has made it to the blog.

I was going to write about riding my motorcycle while wearing pearls. I was going to write about the smell of popcorn and chocolate every so often as I'm riding home through Clinton. I was going to write about how much being 30 feels just like being 29 and about what I've learned in the past year. I've also been meaning to take and post pictures of the baby cardigans that I'm making for my now 1 year old nieces, and how I managed to knit 80% of the first one in the week that I bought the yarn and how it's taken me several months since and I still haven't finished either of them. I was sure that I would have them done with time to spare before their respective birthdays. It turns out that I'm most productive as a knitter when I'm away from home and don't have a house to putter around.

I'm now working full time again, and this past weekend I've been sick with a cold which is sort of ironic since my new job is tracking flu data and I spent Thursday registering hundreds of people for flu shots. All I can figure is that I wore myself out and ran down my immune system giving the cold an opportunity to settle in. Consequently I spent the weekend snuggling with a kitty under the covers and indulging myself in anything I felt like eating. The downside to this mini break is that life rolls on and there are things to be done...

Look, a knitting post!

2009-05-30T12:58:00.004-04:00

It's a medium sized hobo-style bag based on shape and dimensional specs given to me by a friend. I didn't follow a pattern, I made it up as I knit. The whole thing started with a 2 x 2 narrow, ribbed rectangle for the bottom. I picked up stitches on both of the long edges of the bottom rectangle and knit the sides up as simple stockinette rectangles. The short sides and strap were knit in one piece from one end to the other, onto the bag, conceptually like a french braid, I picked up stiches along the edges of both sides and the bottom of the bag and knit the edge stitches into the cable as I went up until I got to the top, then knit a flat (5-stranded) cable across the length of the strap, and then used the same general process to knit down the edges on the opposite end of the bag. The only sewing up was the small cable details at the top side edges of the bag. I had planned to do a much more intricate cable on the top edge, but everything I tried was completely lost in the slubbiness of the thick cotton yarn. I started and frogged them about a million times. It is completely lined which should prevent any stretching and sagging of the knit, and it also allowed me to add the checkbook pocket that she requested. The lining is a woven cotton fabric in a slightly lighter shade of the same color (the picture color is pretty accurate). In the end I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, and it feels great to finally have it off my to do list.

Where have I been?

2009-05-08T01:12:00.004-04:00

This blog has been quiet since March of 2008. I have to admit that it doesn't sound that long ago. During that time I've gone from being a full-time student, to a full-time employee, to a part-time self-employed computer consultant. I've been working for a company called Double Exposure Technology Consulting in Manhattan. Most of my work there has involved converting PC users to Mac users. I transfer data from the PCs, I show the users how to use their new Macs to do everything that their PCs did and more, and I stick around to answer questions. What I've been most surprised about is how much I actually like one-on-one human interfacing. It turns out that I have the patience of a saint. If you don't know me personally, then let me explain...

I grew up around computers. My father has spent almost his whole adult life working as a computer programmer. I may be giving away my age to say that I started learning how to program computers at the same time that I learned how to read (don't ask me what that did for my spelling and grammar... it wasn't pretty; and please don't point out my current failings in that area, an ego can only take so much!). When I was a kid I played with all sorts of computers, and all sorts of programming languages. I used the original Macintosh SE, a TI, and the computer I spent the most time with through high school was a Linux box that my Dad helped me build. I worked in the IT dept in college, and started working for Big Blue shortly after graduation. And perhaps it's hard to believe now, but I was, at least internally, the very picture of one of those nerdy computer geeks who doesn't know how to talk to actual people. My saving grace was that I had a very "emo" (before there was such a word) poetry phase in high school that built up a foundation of language and emotional awareness that set the stage for a social blossoming in college. But I'm naturally an introvert. I just like spending time by myself, with my thoughts. I always thought that I'd be the lone wolf programmer who didn't know or care that the world was going on outside my cubicle.

Clearly I've broken out of my shell. Sure there were inklings that I would love to teach: I had a semester stint as a math tutor, I trained a group of fellow IBMers on a particular automation technology using materials that I designed myself, and I am always ready to jump in and help a newbie do something that I've previously muddled my way through. I've discovered that I love that social interaction. I love helping people. I think part of what makes me good at it is that I don't pre-judge. I know what it's like to be a smart person who just happens to not know something, so when I'm answering questions about the computer, there's no condescension. People's brains all work differently and everyone comes to it with a not only a different level of experience, but also a different quality of experience. The technology that you were exposed to and your qualitative experiences surrounding it during your young adulthood affects a lot of your views about technology. It's very different to teach someone who is fluent in a different operating system from someone whose experience with electronics is limited to typewriters and microwaves. There are plenty of people who will relinquish the technology in life to their spouse, partner, or kids not because they can't learn it, but because it's better for their primary relationships.

So, yes, I love teaching. And not in an academic setting. I'm not sure if I'll every return to academia. I'm not counting it out, but right now there are bills to pay!

A gift from Affectioknitter

2008-03-02T16:17:00.002-05:00

Affectioknitter sent me this lovely package. It's a handknit dishcloth, vegan citrus soap (yum!), herbal tea, and personnally embossed notecards! So sweet, thanks Affectioknitter!

Rev Lisa's art.

2008-02-25T14:51:00.002-05:00

I bought these paintings from Rev. Lisa a long time ago before she left for warmer climes. Sorry about the terrible photograph...

Oh my! It's almost Velentine's Day...

2008-02-11T01:38:00.000-05:00

I'm somewhat shocked that it's been so long since I posted. This blog, though named for my love of programming and knitting morphed overtime into an almost full-time renovation blog. Since I haven't worked on the renovation in months, there hasn't been much to blog here. I have been blogging over here though. It seems that now that my kitchen is functional, I'd rather be cooking in it than painting the trim.

I have been knitting something, off and on, ...more off than on actually. I haven't posted pictures of it yet because it's a gift, and I have a long way to go on it.

On the programming front, I have been working on a little project in my free time that I hope will someday morph into something highly functional, at least for my own sake if no one else's, but I'm trying to limit working on it until I finish math stuff and raise my income level to something sustainable.

End of year wrap-up

2007-12-31T13:51:00.001-05:00

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, but I haven't been blogging myself. Partly it's been the hectic end of semester/holiday crush, and partly it has been a terrible disappointment in the photos my camera is willing to produce. Without a flash things are a blurry mess, with a flash the photos are flat and washed out. Nevertheless, I will push on.

The kitchen has been in a state of mostly finished since Thanksgiving. It's quite functional, but the trim and some touchup paint need to be done in order for it to be truly presentable. I swear that I'm not going to leave it this way. I just wanted to get the semester out of the way and then I will start working on the finishing touches one section at a time.

In this photo you can see the base of the cabinets has been boxed in with flooring. I decided to use quarter round for the corners of the peninsula, but it still needs to be puttied, stained and sealed.

The side of the kitchen that you can't see has some temporary shelves, our old refrigerator and the blue tiled bar table that my sister designed and built for us. Eventually that side of the kitchen will be finished with upper and lower cabinets, built-in under cabinet fridge and freezer units, and an above-counter built in microwave. Hopefully all that will happen relatively soon, but it will have to wait until we have liquid assets to purchase it all with.

Since Thanksgiving, we've been doing a lot more cooking and I've become something of a bread baker. I searched for a good bread recipe and have settled on the NY Times no-knead-bread recipe, with a few modifications of course. Originally I used my Le Creuset dutch oven and the corn meal / oat bran that the recipe recommends. It was somewhat difficult to get the dough into the preheated pot because it is so sticky and fluid. I also wasn't crazy about the crust that it produced. Instead I have settled on a different tactic. I use either a glass loaf pan with its own lid that I grease with Earth Balance spread, or I use a metal loaf pan and form a tinfoil tent. I still cook covered for 30 minutes and then 20-30 minutes uncovered. It's about the best bread I've ever made and I've taken to making a double batch every few days. It's so easy, practically makes itself.

Using the same dough we made this pizza that passed muster with my omni DH. It's very simple, I pre-baked the crust, oiled on top with olive oil, on a silpat, then topped with Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, marinara (if you put the sauce over the cheese, it helps it stay moist and melt better) then red and green bell pepper slices, Trader Joe's Meatless balls. Put this in a 350 degree oven until the peppers are softened and then switch to broil until the cheese is nice and bubbly. While this was all baking I sauteed some onions until sweet and caramelized to top the pizza with when it came out. It was so worth the effort.

I'm finding that now that I have acres of countertop and new appliances cooking is a breeze. It's so much easier to make that slightly more complicated recipe and then have a dishwasher do the hard labor for me :)

Oh and there was knitting. I finished the candle-flame scarf that I started. It's so pretty to look at, but not quite what I was hoping for when I put it on. I think blocking might improve it, but I haven't gotten there yet. I also made a clapotis like every other knitter with internet access. I wasn't as pleased with it as I had thought I would be. I also started an afghan for my sister, and I think I will be knitting it for a very long time, despite the size 15 needles and double stranded worsted weight yarn.

Renovation short list

2007-11-17T16:30:00.000-05:00

I've updated the most recent to-do list with all the stuff I've accomplished and crossed off my list. I'm really on task when my classes aren't keeping me from it. I decided to make a short list for the timeline between now and when my family arrives for Thanksgiving.

Kitchen:
~~- recut removable back panel for water-meter cabinet~~
- ~~sand,~~ caulk, prime, and paint all trim molding
- ~~prime~~ and paint windows

Dining room:
~~- putty, sand, prime, caulk, and paint all trim moldings~~
~~- prime, and paint windows~~
- install guide rails on window jambs

Bed room:
- ~~prime~~ and repaint window sashes (partially done)

and if there's time:
- touch up the wall paint here and there because of general carelessness.
- prime and paint doors
- install guide rails on window jambs and reinstall windows

probably won't get to these:
- finish sand and oil sink area butcherblock
- caulk, and seal/waterproof thresholds

Molly, Queen of Cushions...

2007-11-11T11:54:00.001-05:00

Knitting post

2007-11-11T11:20:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling rather knit deprived of late due to the heavy workload for school and the final throws of the renovation. As a consequence, I had something of an attack of yarn fume gluttony last night. I spent a good deal of time updating my notebook on Ravelry and now I'm beginning to understand why it's so good. I've also experienced a lot of server errors over there :(

I was so inspired that I frogged the swatch I started over my mother's birthday weekend and started a headscarf/kerchief in the last ball of purple bamboo. I'm using the Candle Flame Shawl pattern on size 9 addi turbos.

In other knitting news, I've just now heard of Irish Cottage Knitting and stumbled upon this video of the yarn harlot knitting, first at full speed, then slowed down and explained using iMovie effects. Blows my mind, though I suppose I shouldn't feel too badly about my lack of speed since she has been knitting since she was a small child and she's enough older than me that she could have been my babysitter at the very least (Ms. Harlot, if you ever stumble upon my humble blog, I'm not saying you're old, just more experienced! :^)

We Have Heat!

2007-11-02T13:43:00.000-04:00

The Osterman Propane guy came out today and the heat is now on and working. He was a colorful fellow with stories of how he spent his life thinking that he hated homemade mac & cheese until finally trying it as an older chap and finding out it was actually really good. He also gave me a little history lesson on Ireland and the origins of the term Black Irish. I don't know if it's true or not, but it made for some interesting conversation.

I've got the first coat of joint compound in the gaps around the outlets that needed it. Unfortunately I'm caught in a struggle between math homework and just wanting to finish this renovation once and for all.

cabinet hardware and electrical updates

2007-10-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

Here are the door pulls that we picked out for the back-side of the peninsula cabinets. They are flat against the face of the cabinet until you flip them up with the tip of your finger and then pull.

Here you can see why I've chosen this design. That lavender/turquoise door in the background is the (unpainted) bathroom door. Since the peninsula forms one "wall" of the corridor leading to the bathroom, and I know that I will bump into and bruise myself on anything in my path, I wanted as little sticking out as possible.

Here is the outlet that Richie moved up a few inches for us, and was kind enough to fill in the gap in the dry-wall with the piece he cut out. Now I just need to fill in with some joint compound before I replace the butcher block shelf.

Here is the latest challenge/debate. The original plan had the peninsula cabinets centered on the wall between the bathroom and kitchen sink area, however the choice was made to push the peninsula closer to the center of the room to widen the "hallway" to the bathroom by a mere inch or so, it now means that the cabinet to the left of this picture is only half an inch back from the corner of this wall. If the originally planned for drawer pulls are used here it will mean that the cabinet to the right, between the sink and the corner will have to be a hinged door that swings toward the sink which will be awkward. We could get a larger version of the flat hardware on the opposite side of the peninsula for the drawers on the left of the corner so that they lay flush to the drawer fronts and allow the drawers in the cabinet to the right to open fully. The downside to this is that I've already drilled holes and installed the original hardware on half of the other cabinets and we'll end up with mismatched hardware on this one cabinet. Paul is willing to accept this but I'm a little more hesitant to mess with the uniformity of my original design. I have a feeling he'll win out on this one.

2007-10-20T20:09:00.000-04:00

Here is the test fit for the butcher block shelf over the back splash behind the sink.

Here you can see that the shelf actually interfers with the placement of this outlet. The current plan is to have Richie move the outlet up an inch or 2. Don't worry, I've turned off the circuit, so there's no risk.

Here you can see the faucet handle in the hot position, showing why the bevel was necessary. I did the bevel by turning my hand plane on a 45 degree angle and shaving away layers to the depth I wanted, Then using the palm sander to smooth over the sharp edges, then Paul followed it up with a fine grade sanding.

Here you can see the bamboo flooring that I've cut to box in the platform for the dishwasher.

New Renovation To-Do list

2007-10-20T13:00:00.001-04:00

Ok, first here's the old list, updated for clarification.

and here's the new list:

Kitchen:
~~- bevel the front edge of the window shelf above the sink to accommodate the faucet handle in the hot position~~
~~- install window-shelf behind sink~~
~~- caulk joints around sink area~~
- finish sand and oil sink area butcherblock
~~- box around cabinet legs with bamboo flooring (Richie says the inspector will want this)~~
~~- recut removable back panel for water-meter cabinet because I messed it up. This one is tricky.~~
~~- install final window trim piece above sink (need window-shelf done first)~~
- ~~re-glaze, prime, and~~ paint windows
- ~~strip (partially done)~~, prime, and paint doors
- install guide rails on window jambs and reinstall windows
- ~~putty~~, sand, caulk, prime, and paint all trim molding
- touch up the wall paint here and there because of general carelessness.
~~- assemble cabinet drawers~~
~~- install cabinet shelves, and doors (only 1 cabinet left to go!)~~
~~- install drawer pulls on remaining cabinets~~
- caulk, and seal/waterproof thresholds

Dining room:
~~- re-glaze, prime, and paint windows~~
- install guide rails on window jambs
~~- putty, sand, prime and paint all trim moldings~~

Basically we haven't touched the diningroom because it has been used as storage/work space for the kitchen appliances and cabinets. Once ~~the cabinets are completely out of the way~~ I'm finished using it as my wood shop, we can really get down to business.

Bed room:
- ~~re-glaze, prime, and~~ repaint window sashes (partially done)

The Offset U

2007-10-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

I've found that I much prefer nice deep drawers for most kitchen stuff because you can pull them all the way forward to access items at the back of the cabinet. So as soon as I realized that having drawers under a sink was possible, I knew I wanted them. Otherwise the space under the sink seems to end up such a Hodge Podge of cleaning items and things that get lost. I saw the idea in Fine Homebuilding magazine (Fall/Winter 2004) while I was brainstorming the kitchen design.

The key here is that instead of the trap coming down directly off of the sink drain, the sink drain is connected to a 90 degree elbow and then a pipe leading to the back of the cabinet with a rather shallow slope. At the back of my IKEA cabinet there is a small gap between the back of the drawer and the back of the cabinet. The U trap can be positioned here so that it is parallel to the back of the cabinet before the piping takes another 90 degree turn to head out the back of the cabinet. This method can also be used to make a wheel chair friendly sink space.

I further expanded this theory by converting the standard IKEA cabinets in the sink area to have removable back walls. This did several things including allowing all of the plumbing including the dishwasher hoses to be behind the cabinet, moving the sink worktop inward into the room closer to the stove and fridge, thus tightening the natural work triangle, as well as creating a small space behind the cabinets to hide the water meter and instant-on water heater.

Unfortunately I fell in love with a big, double bowl, apron sink. The sink itself is much deeper than a traditional drop-in sink which is why I had to modify the top drawer to accommodate the pipes leading from the drains to the back of the cabinet. A shallower, single bowl sink would have made the conversion much less painful. Another point to note is that while the plumber who did the rough-in thought I was brilliant in my use of space, the plumber who came back for the finish work(same company, just different guy) thought I was completely nuts and couldn't imagine why anyone would want to do such a thing. He went so far as to intimate that it wasn't possible, that I was going to have drain flow problems, and that there was no way the dishwasher was going to be able to be hooked up. He completely didn't get it and he politely fought me on it. I had to explain things to him very slowly and it made me wish I'd called Ask This Old House to get Rich Trethewey to come sort it out. Finally he got it and it was as if a light bulb went on. So this installation is probably not for the faint of heart. It makes me think that I should forget this math stuff and become a plumber.

Progress Not Perfection

2007-10-15T12:30:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that it's been a long time since I blogged. I've been pretty busy with school work. I have been plugging away at the kitchen though, small bits at a time. So here are some pictures:

Here is the finished end panel for the peninsula. I used a combination of drilling holes in the corners and threading the coping saw blade through the holes to cut the outlet. The far side is the cut side. I reclaimed the veneer off one of the cut pieces for that side by cutting as close as possible with the table saw and then sanding away the excess. I tried a couple other tactics for getting the veneer off, but they all damaged the veneer, so this is the one I went with. By far it was the easiest as well. I used titebond wood glue, a couple 1 inch wide scraps along the edges, and the band clamps that I bought for joining the counter tops. I glued it up, wiped off the excess with damp rag, and ended up letting it cure for a couple days because it took me that long to get back to it.

Here are the drawers installed under the sink. I think technically the larger drawer is supposed to be on the bottom, but to be honest I didn't notice that they were different sizes until I measured to center the handles. I think it works out better this way though because it means there is more room in the upper drawer. It does mean however that I'm going to have to make sure that the other drawers around the kitchen match so that there is uniformity. In this picture you can also see that the vertical part of the back splash has been installed.

Here's a picture of the inside of the top drawer under the sink. You can see that I cut out the back of the drawer in the middle to accommodate the plumbing under the sink. I ended up just using a hacksaw that I forgot I owned to cut down the sides from the top and then used a small drill bit to perforate the horizontal so that I could bend it with my bare hands. Then I used a metal file to smooth away the burr and some of the roughness. It's still not very smooth but it's not sharp enough to cut skin, and I plan to get some padded tape to fold over the cut edges. I also installed vertical dividers. I used a strip of the leftover end panel from the peninsula that still had the veneered edge attached. I drilled holes through the particle board bottom and used 2-1/2 inch cabinet screws from the bottom up and 1/2 inch cabinet screws through the metal drawer back. I wanted to make sure that the drawer could be opened and closed without the contents shifting and getting in the way of the plumbing.

Never should have....

2007-09-22T10:17:00.000-04:00

I hate to say it, but I never should have agreed to do the Cancer Walk on Sunday. Sure it's a charitable event, it's a good excuse to get out and take in some fresh air. I thought that it would give me an excuse to get in some non-renovation-related activity. But there's a certain level of risk one takes in committing to such an event. It creates an opportunity for Murphy's law. On Tuesday, my classmate Amanda commented on my sneezing and I assured her that it was just allergies. On Thursday I started to get the itchy ears and sore throat that indicated maybe she was right, maybe I really was coming down with something. Yesterday, I thought I could get ahead of this thing by remaining mostly horizontal all day, drinking lots of fluids and not doing anything strenuous. Today I'm sick. I have a box of tissues at my side, I'm breathing through my mouth, and my body feels like it's lost all lubrication in the joints and any temperature regulation it may once have been capable of. I'm not the only one, apparently my mother is sick too, and possibly my sister.

So what are the chances that I'll be "all better" by tomorrow? I've got a bottle of NyQuil with my name on it.

Plumbing Complete!

2007-09-14T13:09:00.001-04:00

One room down...

2007-09-04T13:24:00.000-04:00

...two to go.

Some accomplishments

2007-08-31T09:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Richie installed our new fan:

And our new stove:

The bedroom is *so* close to being finished, but I am waiting until it's completely finished to post a pic. Up on the agenda today will probably be the sink area countertops and more work in the bedroom.

FO: dice bag

2007-08-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

I made this dice bag for Paul at his request with yarn that he picked out. He wanted a dice bag that was reminiscent of his very first dice bag that was lost years ago. The yarn is Bella, the chart is just the skull and crossbones from the arrrgyle chart. I knit it on dpns from the top down like a sock but without the heel flap.

Some of you know that I'm vegan, and while I would never buy silk or wool yarn for myself, I couldn't say no to Paul who bought this yarn (he's omni) for me to make him a dice bag. It's probably not a compromise many other vegans would be willing to make, and I'll say that I'll never use silk yarn again because I really didn't care for it's feeling in my hand.

It seems...

2007-08-28T00:56:00.000-04:00

that my birthday is fast approaching, so I just thought I'd mention that my Amazon wishlist is current and in addition to that I've got a list on wishlist.com as well:

http://wishlist.com/auntiex

Renovation To-Do list

2007-08-09T12:15:00.000-04:00

Kitchen:
~~- adjust cabinet openings for appliances~~
~~- install appliance platforms~~
~~- install counter-tops~~
~~- route out bottom of water-meter cabinet~~
~~- install bolts for removable-backed cabinets~~
~~- install remaining baseboard and quarter round~~
~~- buy and install foundation wall cap~~
~~- install thresholds for front door, bath room door, and living room door~~
- ~~stain,~~ caulk, and seal/waterproof thresholds
~~- install end panel on penninsula~~
~~- have plumber in to install sink and dishwasher~~
- finish backsplash/window-shelf framing behind sink ~~(need sink installed first)~~ (the framing is done, just need butcherblock shelf installed)
~~- install trim pieces above sink (need window-shelf done first)~~
~~- remove doors from hinges~~ (The hinge pins are stubbornly fused in place. I'm not sure how it's possible considering that the doors still swing, but apparently it is. Also, the screws that hold the hinges to the door and doorjamb are also impossible to extricate)
- ~~strip~~, prime, and paint windows
- strip (partially done), prime, and paint doors
~~- rehang doors~~ (see above)
- install guide rails on window jambs and reinstall windows
- putty, sand, caulk, prime, and paint all trim molding
- assemble cabinet drawers (mostly done)
- install cabinet shelves, doors, drawers (partially done)
~~- have electrician come and finish electrical work~~

Dining room:
~~- buy and install trim pieces for window aprons~~
- ~~strip,~~ prime, and paint windows
- install guide rails on window jambs
- putty, sand, prime and paint all trim moldings
~~- buy and install smoke detector~~

Bed room:
~~- cut and reinstall doorjamb~~
~~- buy and install trim moldings for support beam~~
~~- install healing duct and vent cover~~
- ~~strip paint~~ on window muttons, prime, and repaint
~~- remove closet door, prime, paint and rehang~~
~~- putty, sand, caulk, prime, and paint all remaining trim~~
~~- install door threshold~~
~~- buy and install smoke/CO detector~~
~~- install puck lights in closets~~

Sink cabinet framing

2007-08-02T13:07:00.000-04:00

I fully intended to blog more about DexCon, but since Paul and I were sharing my laptop, there wasn't any wifi in the hotel room (even though there was in the Con area), and Paul was ~~hogging~~ using it to track his character sheets in all his rpga games.... I never actually got the chance and I forgot to continue taking pictures.

So here's a renovation photo....

The area behind the future home of the sink is all framed up (except for the backsplash which I'm keeping relatively open for the plumbers), everything is level, square and ready to go. I think I'm going to let the plumbers do their thing and then create the removable back panels for the cabinets after. Or at least the sink cabinet.... I might do the one next to it first so that they can see what I'm trying for. It's all a tight squeeze, so I'm hoping that the dishwasher fits without a huge problem. The plumber might need to reroute the pex piping for the outdoor spiggot though... Not sure what he was thinking when he made that stick so far out from the wall....

DexCon 10 Day 1

2007-07-19T08:15:00.000-04:00

Kate as Alice

Owen enjoying Steel Battalion

Connect-a-Jar

2007-07-16T17:10:00.001-04:00

Sweet! I just found these in the pharmacy section at my Shaw's supermarket. I've been looking for tiny containers to hold dried herbs and ground spices that are small enough to be portable to take on camping trips and vacations. I like to keep my cooking options open, and although I'd rather not be relegated to bland food, it's sort of hard to take the spice rack with you. I had seen Alton Brown use something like these on a pot roast episode and I've been looking for them every since. Today I picked myself up a couple sets. I really love the fact that they stay connected to each other and are teeny-tiny.

Coachella FO

2007-07-05T11:55:00.000-04:00

Two days ago I finished Coachella. I used a double crochet bind-off (J10 hook)so that it would be nice and stretchy, and then I went through with a matching sewing thread and stitched into and wrapped the yarn joins on the pearl side and then cut off the excess. I'm hoping that will keep everything securely in place through washing.

Yesterday I got to give Coachella to my sister-in-law as a very early birthday present. She immediately put it on and wore it the entire day, so I would say that was pretty successful. It fit great, I don't think I could have done better, which is a relief since the guage on the top came out tighter than the guage on my swatch! I just couldn't get a good measurement of the circumference until I'd knit almost halfway down, and at that point it seemed too late to go back to the beginning. Now I'm really glad I didn't, because I don't think I could have done better than it came out. The shaping was perfect, it fit her like a glove. And I think the fabric is stretchy enough that even if her weight fluctuates a bit it'll still look great.

Coachella progress

2007-07-02T09:38:00.000-04:00

I'm glad that there are photos to prove that I haven't been spending *all* my time knitting because this project has gone by so fast that even I'm shocked that I'm going to be finished at my self-appointed deadline. I guess that's what happens when you sneak a few rows in here and there. Not to mention that it's such an easy knit, no complicated charts to memorize or lose track of. I'm glad I decided to use a row counter on this one. And no Mr. Mick didn't steal it. Somehow it managed to drop into the centar of the yarn spool and got stuck.

cabinets!

2007-07-01T23:42:00.000-04:00

Here are the cabinet carcasses for the kitchen peninsula. The gap is for the drop-in stove.

A Door!

2007-07-01T11:46:00.000-04:00

Paul and I installed the door on Thursday and then we shaved off a bit at the bottom, re-hung it on its hinges and I installed the knob this morning. It's so nice to have a door on that closet now :) Of course we still need to wrap it with moldings, but you get the idea.

Coachella work in progress

2007-06-25T17:41:00.001-04:00

Coachella from Knitty, being inspected by Mr. Mick, who is likely the row counter thief, though he will remain innocent until proven guilty :)

FO: socks, and Capecho progress

2007-06-20T13:10:00.001-04:00

Here are the socks that I was working on. We went on a spur of the moment camping trip because everything just fell into place. That gave me ample time to finish these. Capecho is also making progress, now I just need to produce the sleeves and collar. I'm going slow on that one because It's too danged hot here to wear it any time soon.

I'm also going to start on Coachella from Knitty as soon as I get the yarn in the mail. I realized last night after swatching that I'd bought the wrong "suede" and there was no similarity between the two yarn brands. Sneeky naming..... So I ordered the right yarn online from WEBS and I'll be returing the untouched yarn from Michaels. Lesson learned.

Flashing My Stash

2007-06-14T15:09:00.000-04:00

My mom and I went to see the yarn harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at WEBS in Northampton. I think it was the first time I spent any significant amount of time in Northampton and it was a pretty good time overall. I didn't meet Stephanie up close in person because I had to come back to pick Paul up at a friend's house in Boston and I didn't want to be too late for waiting. Of course Stephanie was a great speaker despite her nerves and she mentioned stash a bunch of times. So my mom asked me how much stash I had. I think being allergic to wool and a fairly new knitter helps in keeping the stash "manageable", though as of late I've had a few episodes of "What was I thinking!" Also I've been knitting a lot more recently as I've been spending more time with my family and attending pre-events for my friend Dave's wedding. Knitting calms me and makes me more tollerant and hopefully more tollerable to others.

So here it is, my somewhat diminutive stash:

From left to right there are: the disturbing and unnecessary amount of yarn I bought for the Vogue Knitting cover Capecho. I'm not sure what posessed me to buy so much except for that fear Stephanie talks about that the world will run out. My sister said that she likes the color, so maybe I'll make her a throw blanket out of the leftovers once I'm done.

Next to that is the pile of leftover microspun from the Arrrrgyle hat I made my brother-in-law Deq. Just above it is the first start on the chart that I did as a warm up. I suppose I could make something of it, but I hate the yarn, it's so splitty it made me want to pluck my eyeballs out with dpns...

Next column at the top is the pair of socks I'm working on for myself out of Cascade Fixations. I'm working them both alternatingly so that they match fairly closely at each stage of creation. I did most of the cuffs while I was waiting at various pre-wedding events. I've been working on Capecho, but it's now too bulky to easily carry with me so I cast on the socks for traveling.

Just below the socks are two skeins of Jaeger Aqua Cotton that I got at Windsor Button along with the leftover bamboo and the leaves of bamboo scarf that will probably be gifted away once I block it. I have no idea what I will do with these 3 skeins, though the cotton will likely become socks. I was on a purple kick when I bought them.

Next over is a ball of red cotton that I bought for play and now have no idea what to do with :)

Below that is an assemblage of pink and cream stuff that I used to make a bunny hat out of for my niece Charlie, I've started several mitten/bootie projects which she has since outgrown :) and at the bottom near the pink pile of fun fur is a couple tiny balls of periwinkle cotton that are leftover from the cross-slung cabled bag that I knit as an interpretation of Tasha from knitty.com.

And lastly the two fuschia squares are the charity blanket squares we were asked to knit at the WEBS event out of cashmerino that they gave us *free* which I knit in my first foray into non-vegan yarn and surprizingly didn't break out in hives or even really itch too much. They knit up so quickly that I was truly depressed when the yarn ran out and I had none left. I just wanted to blog them before I mailed them off.

So there you have it, my current projects and stash. Not too bad...

Explanation

2007-03-18T05:33:00.000-04:00

The digital camera stopped working.

Since then I have bought a new car (Toyota Yaris - blue), dyed my hair again (purple at the roots), and just yesterday I bought a new laptop. I also signed a contract as a freelance web developer and have since given myself a crash course in web design. I know lots about html, but not so much about making things pretty. My new client doesn't know how un-girly I am and decided my first job would be a floral website. Oh the irony. She called it fun. It has literally brought me to tears as I've tried to figure out how to make photos of flowers look good/interesting. Oh and that's also the primary reason for me buying a new computer. That and a twenty-something page Math History paper that I had to write 1.5 times because of crashes and data loss. Oh and we also got a printer scanner copier out of the deal too....

Oh and I almost forgot, I finished the bamboo scarf and started the capecho from the cover of vogue knitting in a burgundy yarn. So far so good.

leaves of bamboo

2007-01-21T16:13:00.000-05:00

I decided to try my hand at knitted lace. This being my first foray, I went with knitty Branching Out. I'm using the purple bamboo that I got from my friend Hannah's shop: Windsor Button.

The knitting is amazing. It's definitely not something I can do without paying attention. But it's so magical to knit a jumble of k, ssk, k2tog, yo, and other stitches and then 10 rows later have a delicate pattern emerge.

In other news, classes start next week and the kitchen is far from finished. On Wednesday evenings I'll have 2 classes with a 1 hour break in between so I'll get a chance to use the lunchbox that my mom got me over the holidays. Unfortunately, it seems to only fit together right when the cold pack is between the 2 layers, which pretty much limits me to cold foods, which is not the most appealing on cold winter nights. Maybe I'll try to rig something up. My plan for this Wednesday night is wildrice and artichoke salad, and something else... maybe mixed greens salad and a protein, maybe green beans and carrots, maybe grapes, and maybe if I feel like it a chocolate soy pudding cup. The problem is that I'm not fond of very many cold protein options outside of nuts which can be a no-no food for me. We'll have to see how it goes.

Deq's hat finished

2007-01-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

I ended up using Halfdome from Knitty for the decreases on the top and I worked downward from the provisional cast on for the ribbing. Hopefully it'll fit and he'll like it :)

On the needles...

2007-01-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

This is a hat based on the arrrgyle chart from moth heaven. Instead of socks though, I'm making it into a hat for Deqlan. I'm planning to continue up past the chart in black on dpns, and sew down the seam in the back. The bottom is a provisional cast on that will get taken out and I'll knit ribbing from there down to get the arrrgyle pattern optimally placed on the front. This is my solution for just wanting to jump right in on the pattern before committing to it. I thought about knitting it in the round, but I'm really glad I decided against it. That's 20, count 'em, 20 separate bobbins of yarn to get the pattern. Once this is finished I'll feel like a super knitter. I'm just really glad that the pattern is mostly geometric :)

Primed and ready to paint

2007-01-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

This is the dining room with the tinted primer on the walls and the ceiling already painted.

I think my camera hates blue. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It's sort of a zen periwinkle. Very calming. I can't wait to see the actual paint.

Here is the kitchen with the tinted primer up on the wall.

This is the second coat of primer since it goes up a little splotchy. I think I'll do one more coat of primer and then paint the real color.

Holiday Booty!

2007-01-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

Itching to knit...

2006-12-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in my painting clothes looking at knitting blogs, procrastinating going back to painting the kitchen, wishing beyond hope that I had a little bit of sock yarn so that I could cast on and knit something. I want a pair of socks, for me not to give away. I'm wishing that I had some semi-exotic yarn, not too exotic, just something that can't be bought at Joann's or Michael's.

This one goes out to Jim Miller...

2006-12-20T14:42:00.000-05:00

I dedicate this post to the memory of Jim Miller, though I never knew him in life; he left me all of his math books. Were it not for his passing just before I joined the IT dept at Hood, I may never have acquired his books and saved them for this day when I would need a text on matrices and linear algebra. If it weren't for him I may not have solved the final problem and finished , beyond reasonable doubt, the homework for this semester. So here's to you Jim Miller, wherever you are :)

I'm DONE! Now I can amuse myself with other things like painting my kitchen and dining room and laying bamboo flooring and assembling and installing cabinets and appliances!

Wooo hooo!

Kiss Me I'm Irish!

2006-12-18T15:04:00.000-05:00

I just got a letter from the Irish Consulate saying that my application for citizenship has finally been approved! I had actually given up on it to be honest. Now just 127 Euros and I'll be officially Irish :)

Plight of the Fremen

2006-11-29T11:51:00.000-05:00

This is what drywall sanding makes Paul look like:

I know it seems like it's taking us forever, because it is. Painting the bedroom made me realize just how noticeable all those little imperfections are once it's all a field of solid color. So we're going back over every inch of wall and smoothing everything out as much as possible. It is by far the suckiest part of the job. By Far. I can't wait to be done with the dust and on to the paint. Really.

BAM-boo!

2006-11-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

Well this morning bright and early I dropped Paul off at work so that I could drive up to Manchester and pick it up. I got it home safely and after bringing it all into the house by myself, my arms felt like rubber, but it's here!

Am I old already?

2006-11-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my Official Last Day at IBM. I signed the papers, said my farewells, and turned in my badge.

So to celebrate this momentous occasion we decided to go to see a movie. We picked Man of the Year, that new Robin Williams movie about the comedian who gets elected president. Little did we realize that going to the movies on a Friday night was the worst idea ever. It seems that the local adults have decided to make a rule prohibiting unaccompanied minors in the mall across the street from 6pm Friday until Monday morning. Apparently local mall retailers feel that groups of teenagers are bad for business. So now that there's no real place for teens to hang out and call their own on the weekend, they've taken over our cinema. Which wouldn't be bad. I don't have a problem with teenagers. I do however have a problem with the fact that 80% of the teens there didn't even know what movie they were seeing, who Robin Williams is, or what it was about. You see, they just didn't care, because they just wanted to hang out with their friends someplace where they could act passive and angst-y. It didn't matter to their little universe what was going on around them. So as a consequence they talked loudly through the entire film, acted as though they'd never head a penis joke before, talked on cell phones, and generally disrupted the movie. And I was reduces to being the old lady who "shushes". But only once. And the girl's response "I don't care I'll do whatever I want!" Sensing the futility of the situation I just sat back and wished for subtitles so I could get a sense of what was going on without hearing about who was doing what to whom at Tyngsboro High. And as we were leaving the theater, Paul very loudly said to me, "why would you pay to come see a movie and then talk through it." To which I loudly responded, "because you're underage and no one will let you in anywhere else." At that point the girl in front of us (hanging with the I'll-do-whatever-I-want girl) gasped and exclaimed "They're talking about us!" ... Umm, yeah... We had to sit there and listen to you talk through the whole movie. And we're not talking typical hushed movie interjections, we're talking full on mall-volume conversations but everything and nothing in-particular, sprinkled with whoops every time Robin made an off-color joke. I guess these kids are too young to remember his non-Disney movies.

After that Paul and I vowed that if we ever had children we would impress upon them the importance of not being moronic, regardless of what other drugs, sex, rock and roll, they're into. Being jerks in public is not "cool" or whatever slang word the kids of that generation are using. If you're going to be dark and moody at least do it quietly.

More pictures of paint and a pumpkin

2006-11-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

This picture from my dad's cheap cvs digital camera seems to show the color better than my older (though more expensive) digital camera.

And here's a picture of my sister's amazing carved pumpkin!

The Blue Room

2006-10-31T16:39:00.000-05:00

Well, none of these pictures really captures the color exactly. There is a stark difference in the color in bright light and shadow, so imagine the true color being somewhere in-between.

Lion Brand Microspun sucks...

2006-10-30T23:26:00.000-05:00

I've started these socks several times and it's just not working out. The yarn is too thick and the splitty. The previous socks that I said I made with this yarn was actually a different yarn that I didn't read the label on very carefully.

This sucks and it's pretty much all that I have to work with right now. Boo hoo :(

primer

2006-10-27T20:57:00.000-04:00

We chose a dark indigo for the bedroom so the primer is tinted blue.

And here's a picture of my niece Charlie from the last time she was here. Isn't she the cutest?

ready for paint!

2006-10-24T11:49:00.000-04:00

So I decided to use the materials at hand and thanks to the help of my brand new brother-in-law we got the drywall up on the ceiling last Friday and my friend Steve came to pick up a couple of the leftover sheetrock pieces on Saturday. I spent the weekend making my seams and corners as perfectly smooth as possible and yesterday I picked up the paint for the bedroom and diningroom. I haven't actually gotten started yet though because my math homework was and still is calling to me. Also calling to me are some unresolved work issues that I need to transfer to less fortunate coworkers before I leave for good.

I know I haven't had pictures in a while, but joint compound really isn't that pretty to look at. I promise there will be pictures again soon.

to beadboard or not to beadboard...

2006-10-16T09:29:00.000-04:00

Well yesterday Paul and I finished the last of the carpentry and drywall on the walls of the bedroom and started taping and mudding.

We have 8 sheets of drywall leftover. I estimate it would take 5 sheets to cover the ceiling. The ceiling is only 7 feet high, thus imperfections will be obvious. For this reason I had wanted to cover the ceiling with beadboard. I had also wanted to use the bead board because it is much lighter than drywall, thus easier to hang. But when we went to look at the beadboard selection at Home Despot, we couldn't decide which one we wanted. Now in the fresh light of morning I'm wondering if we should just use up the drywall that we already have rather than buying more of a whole new material and try to make the joints as smooth as possible. The little voice (yankee thrift?) at the back of my head is telling me it's the smart move. The muscles in my neck and shoulders want to be wasteful and get lighter stuff.

Opinons?

It's official...

2006-10-05T12:39:00.000-04:00

I will be officially terminated at IBM at the beginning of November. I'm looking forward to having more time on my hands. First order of business is to get as many A's as possible on my math homework. Concurrently I hope to devote myself to finishing the renovation project once and for all. After that, more school and maybe a part-time job. I haven't really figured out the details. But I have time!

I got an A!

2006-09-27T21:38:00.000-04:00

I just got back my first math homework set and I got an A. Yay!

In the bedroom...

2006-09-25T16:36:00.000-04:00

All that's left is the rough-in for the door and a few pieces of drywall. The ceiling will be beadboard.

Polar Coordinates

2006-09-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

It's been about 10 years since the last time I thought about polar coordinates, so it's not a surprize that I missed it on the homework yesterday. The good news is that I was not the only one stumped by the problem, and the professor even admitted that he had a little trouble working through the problem trying to prepare for class, so he decided to give us an extra week to hand that problem in. Whew!

I'm definitely going to give the next homework a better effort earlier, so that I'm not finishing up the day it's due! I was so tired and my hand hurt from writing out the homework that I could barely take notes. And I was so glad to get home. I also need to find a better route to campus, because a 20 minute drive should not take an hour with traffic.

So my neighbors won't hate me...

2006-09-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

I'm somewhat ashamed to say that all the stuff we've been ripping out of the house or purging over the past year or so has all been hanging out in my yard. Now, it started off innocently enough as just some scrap wood and paneling and random bits stowed into my woodshed. But then the woodshed was full and it spilled out into the yard. And eventually I was accumulating appliances and furniture out there and the weeds were growing up around everything. I finally decided that it was time to clean up the yard and put an end to the embarassment.

In my defense, if my yard were actually visible from the street, I probably wouldn't have let it go this far. Probably.

In other news, I'm 90% done with my first homework assignment for the grad math class. It's due tonight. I'm feeling good about it, except for this one last problem that I just can't seem to figure out. If you know how to use the chain rule for second partial derivatives of multiple independent parameters, let me know before 5pm. If you have no idea what that means, don't feel bad :)

Connect the Dots

2006-09-14T01:09:00.000-04:00

So it's been a while, and I don't have new pictures of the renovation to share. There has been progress. We've done the joint compound and smoothed it over with a damp mop. It's actually pretty amazing how much the sponge mop acts like an eraser or a sanding block to remove the excess joint compound. It's almost finished, but there are still a few places around light fixtures and heating vents that need attention.

I've already bought the paint for the kitchen. It's Rapture by Glidden. Yes, it's really that red. The chosen color for the diningroom is Magic Spell by Behr, but when I looked at the paint chip it looked far more gray than I remembered so I didn't buy it yet. I thought I'd give the paint chip one more viewing in the room first.

So why haven't I been blogging?

I sprained/strained my wrist doing the joint compound and wanted to rest it for reason number 2.

My first Grad class in Applied Math, which lead to reason number 3.

An unplanned calculus review, because I couldn't seem to get the derivatives right. I forgot all about the product rule and quotient rule.

I celebrated turning 3-cubed years old (after a shock to find out that I've been thinking I was already 27, and then realizing that I was only 26!)

My sister is getting married and I spent 2 days trying on bridesmaid dresses to find a style that I could live with in a color that I could live with, and then trying on shoes to go with the dress.

Do I really need more reasons?

Mr. Mick close-up

2006-08-31T19:45:00.000-04:00

Well the renovation work lately has been very slow and boring so I'm posting a cute (if blurry) picture of Mick doing his thing, chillin on the sofa arm.

Drywall, Gypsum, Sheetrock

2006-08-27T21:44:00.000-04:00

After a full weekend of hanging drywall, we're almost finished with the 2 front rooms. All that's left is 4 pieces in the kitchen. Once that is finished, we'll start doing the joint compound.

A Patchwork Ceiling

2006-08-23T20:46:00.000-04:00

Last night, Paul and I got one sheet of drywall up and then decided halfway through positioning the second sheet that it was really a 3 person job. My brother was kind enough to come over and lend both his hands. Hopefully he doesn't have a concussion from when the drywall hit him on the forehead. Also, no matter how careful you are with these things, you will measure wrong (even twice!) and you will get smutz in your eyes. In fact the exhaust from the drill will blow it there at high speeds.

Thank you Jimmy!

And I got to see My String Bean, and her puppy Rocco who did his best to behave despite the very unhappy kitties who didn't want to share their home with him.

Think Pink

2006-08-20T23:02:00.000-04:00

As you can see from the pictures, the furring strips have been added to the ceiling, and the fiber glass batting has been added to every nook and cranny of the room. The only insulation left is the rigid foam around the foundation and the old chiminey vent. Next up is drywall. For real this time ;-)

I'm a grad student!

2006-08-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

I registered for my first class at UML today! I was so giddy, going to the registrar, going to check out the building and the math department. I'm taking Real Analysis.
I had forgotten how nice downtown Lowell can be. Paul and I had a little picnic lunch beside the Canal at St. Anne's. It makes me wonder how our lives would be different if we had bought one of the Mill loft condos instead of this little cottage.

In other news, I'm hating insulation. I have all this lovely drywall in my diningroom, and I'm stuck putting in itchy, scratchy, pink fiber glass into wall cavities that are either too wide or too narrow. I have visions of kneeling on the floor cutting this stuff until September.

48 sheets of drywall in my diningroom

2006-08-14T19:09:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday I rented a van, went to Home Depot and spent about 2 hours waiting for them to bring a forklift around to get my drywall down from the stack. Then my poor dad and Paul loaded them into the house. I'm still prepping the walls but I can't wait for the stack to get smaller as the drywall goes up.

Ode to my motorcycle

2006-08-03T14:16:00.000-04:00

She's my baby. I named her Apple. Most people tell me that I'll want a bigger bike or that I'll outgrow her. Many said that I'd outgrow her within the first season (we're now at the end of our 2nd year together). I think my love for her has only grown.

This past week the car has been at the mechanic more than it's been in our driveway, so I've been toting Paul (all 6 foot 2 inches of him) around on the back. We've also been going through an excruciating heat wave. Yesterday, I went and filled the tank and then worked out the mileage. 72 MPG. I don't know any cars with better mileage and if you know a bike with better mileage, I'd love to buy one for Paul.

I love her so much that I'm planning my future around spending more time with her. I'd like to get a job that won't require me to wear skirts and heels. I know I could always change once I got there, but it's easier if I don't.

long time, no blog...

2006-08-02T12:19:00.000-04:00

I have since finished the second sock and presented them to my sis-in-law who loves them :) I tried to keep it on the down low that they were for her so that she would be surprised. And she was (or at least pretended to be). So I had all this microspun leftover and couldn't decide on what my next project should be so I started a pair of mini socks for the String Bean. Here's a picture of how far I got during our little weekend trip to Cleaveland, Ohio. We went to Bruce's Wedding. I wish I had pics but Paul forgot the camera ;-)

So here's a pic of the mini sock instead (dollar added for scale):

My next project will be a pair of arrrgyle socks for my brother-in-law for his birthday in September. That gives me just about a month. If I can find the right yarn I think that should be enough time. I hope he likes them :)

I finished the first sock!

2006-07-07T14:21:00.000-04:00

I had gotten down to the toe on the way to my in-law's house on Tuesday and was just left with the grafting/kitcheners stitch to connect the front to the back which I accomplished today in my semiweekly needlecraft lunch hour at work. I even had time to cast on and work a little on the second sock. I'll share pictures when I get home to my digital camera tonight. I'm sort of psyched to be back to the fun part of the socks (the going round and round without dereases) again and this time I will be sure to remember all those useful life lessons I learned from the first sock. I'm sure they'll come out slightly mismatched, but c'est la vie! They're just socks!

In other news, it's been beautiful weather for motorcycle riding. A few showers here and there but not enough to dissuade me. Here's a cautionary note to non-motorcycle riders: Even though motorcycles are great at acceleration and getting up to speed quickly, they are lousy at braking. If I leave several car lengths between me and the car in front of me, that should not be viewed as an open invitation to pull out in front of me, especially if your caddy can't do 0-50 in any kind of reasonable time period. It's not nice. And don't ride my tail, that's not nice either.

Oh and last night Paul and I got fed up with the futon and went to BJs and got a memory foam bed topper for it. OMGs. I was rather skeptical that 2 inches of foam would make any real kind of difference, but we had slept on the one that Paul's parents have on their sofa bed and loved how it felt on that. Turns out it works just as nice on a futon. So for anyone who doesn't like their lumpy mattress, go get a foam topper!

San Diego - Graduation Day

2006-06-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

The incoming and outgoing presidents of the college (from right to left in the fancy robes):

The professors (and the back of mom's head):

Nate in the procession:

Cat in the procession (I would have loved to have gotten a picture without her mouth open, but... ):

The Graduates, stage left:

Dad filming this from the second floor balcony:

Nate receiving his diploma:
Cat receiving her diploma:
The courtyard where graduation was held:

Nate's Aunt and Uncle's backyard paradise:

And as you can see all of us are a little extra-crispy-dark at the end of the day because we forgot the sunblock in the bustle of leaving the house:

San Diego Day 3 - The Zoo

2006-06-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

This posting is shamefully late, but sometimes life just gets in the way and I desperately wanted to finish this set and get these pictures out there. This was my favorite day in San Diego because I got lots of exercise and I didn't get a sunburn because I remembered to slather on the sunscreen before leaving the apartment!
Here's Rafferty, my sister's slightly ornery but well pampered kitty:

And here we are at the zoo. Paul is such a sport for letting me take his picture
(^_^)
I'm going to limit these to pictures that came out well and are interesting, since I'm sure there are much better pictures of animals out there on the web.

San Diego Day 2 - Presentations

2006-06-19T19:56:00.000-04:00

San Diego Day 1

2006-06-19T13:08:00.000-04:00

Cat and Nate's workspaces

Nate at his workspace

Cat working on her model

Jimmy, Paul, and the 'Rents using the school's internet connection for work and pleasure

Me, Nate, Cat, and Paul at Por Favor mexican restaurant in La Mesa

Mom, Dad, and Jimmy enjoying their drinks. The bartender was from our hometown in MA and sent us out some tequila and lime wedges in addition to our ordered drinks!

A Brand New 1950 Pontiac!

2006-06-11T13:26:00.000-04:00

So I was ripping out stuff in a closet that is going to become the home of our brand new forced air heating system, and I found 2 things:

There is no insulation in the outside wall of that room

A bunch of crumbly old newspaper from which I was able to recover a scrap with an advertisement for a brand new 1950 Pontiac.

Here's the ad:

If you have trouble reading it, it says:

Pontiac Village

February 22, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.

You Can Buy From Us

A Brand New 1950

PONTIAC

5 Passenger, 6-Cylinder

Streamliner Sedan

Our first peony blossom of the year!

2006-06-06T17:19:00.000-04:00

Here is the first blossom in full bloom.

And Here are more blossoms yet to come.

I'm posting them here now because I'm afraid that they'll all fade before we get back from California and I need the picture here to remind me what they looked like :)

Perling and Knitting Rules

2006-06-04T00:05:00.000-04:00

I was perling today. The computer kind this time. Perhaps it was because I've gotten to the straight part of my sock and all I'm doing is knitting, so I have to find my perling (purling) elsewhere. It was just a little text manipulation script but it made me realize that I haven't done any perl in a very long time. I've been doing Java and XML and a smidgen of DOS batch files and that's pretty much it. It was not pretty. I had to google up some tutorials which are never really what I'm looking for, but I piece together a Frankenstein of what I'm looking for and see if it runs. Truth be told I have never really liked perl. I titled my blog for the alliteration :) Don't get me wrong, I Respect perl with a capital R. I know it's powerful, but the fact that it isn't obvious or second nature enough for me to not need comments is frustrating because no one uses comments. OK, so I'll admit. It's the regular expressions. They make me feel like I'm eating alphabet soup. Let's just string together a bunch of characters and see what happens. I've gotten better with them since using them in some of my Java tools, but since I've never really sat down and "learned" them the way I sat down and learned other computer concepts means that I have to look them up every time. I am not an intuitive programmer. I am a step by step methodical programmer. Probably why I have so much trouble costing future work: because I just don't know how long it will take until I do it. Anyway, that's what I did with my Saturday morning. Why? Because my checking account register is always off by $5. Almost always it's in my favor, but it still bothers me because I happen to have a degree in Math from an accredited University and while I know that no one is perfect, it still bugs me that my arithmetic is off, and that it's never consistent in the amount it is off by. It *really* bugs me. So I decided that I would download my bank history in a csv format. That's comma separated values for those not down with the TLAs. The problem came when I realized that none of the spreadsheet software that I own likes csv format... What?!? I thought that was the point of csv, that it was a generic format that you could import into any spreadsheet application, and presto, have the fabulous beginnings of every type A's dream. Nope, at least not on my machine. *sigh* So I decided to use a little perl script to convert it to a format that my computer would like and there was born my futile quest for the right perl script.

Then this afternoon I went to Barnes and Noble to finish reading Knitting Rules because I suffer from this disease that causes me to pick up books at bookstores and chew through chapters while sitting in the bookstore cafe, until I get a good ways through(let's say halfway), decide that I'd very much like to continue reading the book, pay for the book and bring it home only to never touch the book again, or read a scant dozen or so pages over the course of a month as the book languishes on my bedside shelf because once I get to bed there's pretty much no more brainpower left to fuel the concept of reading. So I devised this plan, to never buy a book at the store without reading it first. If I finish the book while I'm at the store and deem that I still want to buy it then great! But at least I *finish* it. There are a few problems with this plan. The first being that I can't read the book unless I'm at the store. The second being that instead of a bookmark I need some way of remembering where I was when I left the store so that I don't waste valuable reading time once I get back to the store. I've used chapter headings and page numbers both to somewhat good effect. The third problem is the most serious and that's what happened today: the book sells out and they have no more copies left at the store. This happened with Knitting Rules. I picked it up on a lark since I'm vaguely new to the whole knitting thing and found it hilarious and informative, so I kept reading. At about a third of the way through the book I thought it might make a nice gift to my mother-in-law for Mother's day. Something small and not too extravagant, but enough to let her know that I did in fact recognize that she is someone's mother and that I do bother to take note of her interests. But then I had my doubts. You see, she's been knitting for years and the tastes of a relative novice are not always to be trusted in the art of gift-giving, so I put it off. Then when I was about halfway through I realized that it would make a suitable birthday gift for my friend Kemper, and I decided to buy it for her and use the opportunity to finish reading it before I wrapped it to give away. You see I thought that by setting a firm deadline of the very next day that it would foil the book curse. It didn't. By the time I was finished running errands that day I was exhausted and mildly flu-ish, so I took my NyQuil and went to sleep. I wrapped the book without any reading the next day. I read about a quarter more the next time I was at the bookstore, and having read 3 quarters of the book I thought to myself, only 1 last bookstore venture and I'll have read the whole thing and know, for sure whether I want to own it. Today I went into the bookstore and ... It wasn't there. The book was no where to be found. There were a dozen or more copies on the Mother's day display the last time I was in and this time everything was cars and sports and stupid men books (ok, I know that's not fair, just not what I was looking for). I *scoured* the craft book section. I went book by book through the knitting and crocheting books. Then I branched out into the quilting and beading books. Not a single copy to be found. There was Stitch n' Bitch and Happy Hooker and even the One Skein book that my coworker brought in to show and tell. But not a single copy of *my* current read! I know I shouldn't be surprised. It is after all a bookstore's main purpose to sell books, not be a library, but it was still highly unnerving. So... I ended up going to Borders, reading it to the last few pages, and then buying it, because yes, it was that good.

I like the Yarn Harlot. I like her self-deprecating humor. I like that she admits to being disorganized and imperfect. I like that she doesn't take herself or her knitting that seriously. She gives loose general instructions and guidelines on how to accomplish the basic commonly knitted items. This above all else is why I bought the book. I refuse to follow a pattern exactly. I think it might come from living in Massachusetts where traffic laws are guidelines and speedlimits are suggestions. I hardly ever follow a cooking recipe exactly, because whoever wrote it up was either from the Midwest and likes their food bland or without enough vegetables, or they are a spice-lover who tamed it down for a "wider audience". So I guess that's it. Whoever wrote that knitting pattern isn't me. I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, but I know I don't knit exactly like anyone else. And if I don't like the way it's coming out why continue on to have a finished product that I don't like when I can do something about it in the meanwhile? Why be complacent when I can be adventurous and customized. I guess that's maybe the real heart of the matter. I don't like the idea of being exactly like anyone else. I want to be unique, and if that means my socks don't match perfectly, so be it!

Refuse to Choose

2006-06-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

I finally finished reading Barbara Sher's Refuse to Choose. It's interesting. I really wanted to finish reading it before I said anything about it in "print" so that I didn't say a bunch of glowing words about something that ended up being a bunch of bull. It's not even that I'm that skeptical about this book specifically, I guess I'm just skeptical about any kind of "magic pill" sort of thing. I guess living in a society that preys on the naive will do that to you. So even though there're no promises made in the book it has a lot of feel good, be happy vibe to it, which is one of those things that the dual puritan/liberal culture of Massachusetts struggles with, as though being happy in itself is a sin, but oh what a good sin ;-)

Life shouldn't be all serious, or what's the point in living. And she does point out that you don't have to try to make a career out of things that you love. She talks about the "Good Enough" job that basically pays the bills. But the "Good Enough" job can't be too taxing or it takes away valuable time and energy from the things you really do love and want to do. There are different tips in each chapter about how to get the most out of your "scanner" personality (is it my hatred for pigeon-holing people that makes me resistant to this?) by using various techniques to keep track of them, feel a sense of accomplishment, and generally get the most doing for your time so you aren't wasting too much in wheel-spinning mode. Those are all probably useful things for most people, not just scanners, but especially scanners.

But why should I (or anyone else) limit myself to the good enough job? Why should I keep doing what I'm doing, just because it's the only thing I've ever done? I've been very sensible with my life up to this point, and I'm not feeling very sensible anymore. I'm feeling kind of bent out of shape. It's like being on a diet for too long and then bingeing on every chocolate confection you can get your hands on (not that I would know anything about that!). If I don't follow my dreams now, when will I ever? And why do I have to set aside all other pursuits for a career that is slowly killing me, maybe not physically, but psychologically by sucking all of the joy out of my life until I no longer have the will to live. If I convince myself that is the only life there is then what's the point in living? Why should I go into work everyday surrounded by unhappy people, who don't believe in what they are doing outside of the necessity for paying the mortgage. Or for buying new toys. He who dies with the most toys is still dead, and whether or not you believe in an afterlife, there's still no way around the dead thing. If there is Judeo-Christian-Muslim god, then I'm sure the afterlife will have everything you desire. And does all that crap really make you happy? Or does it just put you further into debt so you're stressing out about paying your bills and thus stressing about working?

Here's what I want out of life:

financial stability

a sense of adventure

lots of opportunities to learn new things (but not necessarily have to use them!)

lots of travel and exploration

following my conscience

supporting and promoting the arts

math :)

good food and cooking

working with my hands to create things

... and more that I'm probably just not thinking of right now...

A friend of mine who loves the Franklin-Covey system suggested that I use the things that I want (like being able to spend time with my String Bean) as a source of motivation for doing my current job, but I'm so far beyond that now. My current plan is to enroll in a math class at one of the local colleges or universities each semester until I can decide if and where I want to do my PhD. I figure that the professors at Hood didn't seem to care for me that much because I did my foundation courses at WPI, so I started with 300 and 400 level classes rather than getting vetted through their curricula. I guess maybe I had attitude? Being at Massacademy with all those competitive boys did not exactly prepare me for life at a liberal arts women's college. But at the same time I'm glad I went there for the sake of my social development. I think it taught me a lot about being kind, being a bitch, and knowing how to tell the difference ;-) Anyway I don't think that I want to rely on the Math Department at Hood to give me recommendations. The CS profs, maybe, but then, that's not exactly what I want to be doing... So by taking classes at various local universities I'll get to meet some of the faculty, perhaps cultivate some networking connections and get some references. That way I'll have something when it comes time to fill out the applications. And if I decide that the academic community is not for me, I've only wasted several hundred dollars and a few semesters rather than several thousand over several years. And I know I'll never starve, because I am the budget queen. My frugality is known across the lands! (sometimes as miserliness by certain of my family members ;-)

Sleepy Kitty Cuteness

2006-06-01T10:44:00.000-04:00

There are lots of baby pictures being passed around the internet these days, so I thought I would combat it with Kitty pics. Unfortunately the sound of a digital camera about to fire mere inches from his/her face is enough to wake a sleeping cat, so they're only partial sleepy pics. I guess I need to acclimate them by taking more pics ;-)

Here's Miss Molly lying infront of the refrigerator exhaust vent. Why that's necessary in this heat wave I really don't understand.

And here's Mr Mick sleeping in one of their favorite spots on the cow pillow.

And now returning to sleep after I so rudely interrupted him ;-)

Catching up...

2006-05-31T19:33:00.000-04:00

So it's been a while since last I blogged... I was sick, and then Paul went to Ireland and I got more sick, which I didn't think was possible, but it was, so I spent a good part of that week sleeping in a restless Nyquil haze and eating Chocolate Velvet Soy Delicious because it was the only thing I really wanted, and then eating various noodle soups because I thought I needed the hydration... Then I spent the weekend with My String Bean and her dog Rocco and they both wanted desperately to be held, but an Auntie X only has so many arms. We managed to compromise by me holding Charlie and Rocco lying across my legs so I couldn't go anywhere :) I used my captive time taking advantage of my brother's cable and watching the first 5 episodes of Big Love and thanking the gods that I neither have to share Paul with anyone, nor feel any sort of religious obligation to go forth and multiply :)

Then Paul came back and we spent the week celebrating his birth in various ways and just generally being grateful that he got home safely. This past weekend I weeded, fertilized, and planted some new things in my herb garden. My life is way too chaotic right now to do a full vegetable garden, so I figure as long as I have my most commonly used fresh herbs in my mini garden, my store bought food never has to be boring and I don't have to worry about buying them and then not using them before they get slimey. Here's the pic: From the top left we have a lily of some sort that was there when we moved and survived, a row of Italian parsley, a patch of oregano that is struggling to thrive from last year, a lonely dill plant that I planted this year, and a giant bunch of lemon balm that came back from last year in the top right. In front of that is a bunch of basil plants on the left and a small clump of cilantro in the front left corner. We love cilantro but it doesn't transplant well. The big mass in the front slightly left of center is a purple sage plant that is doing rather well from last year. The front right are 4 creeping thyme clusters, 2 red, 2 white that I'm hoping will fill in that area. Behind those are a couple of clumps of chives that keep coming back year after year, though they're a little less full this year. And last, but hopefully not least are a couple of rosemary plants that I'm hoping will thrive and keep coming back. I'm shooting for a fairly low cost, low maintenance garden.

On Sunday we went up to Paul's mom's house and helped her plant her vegetable garden and strip the sod off a strip of lawn that she just didn't want to mow anymore :) After all the hard work we had a BBQ dinner (boca for me), some birthday cake for Paul (chocolate cinnamon and raspberry go surprisingly well together), and I turned the heel and made lots of progress on my very first sock! I'm using microspun in lilac on size 4 needles. On Monday, Paul had to work, so I slept in, did some more knitting, and then cleaned up the remaining rubble from the hearth and ripped out more of the old felt insulation. We rented a jackhammer over the weekend and Paul did most of the heavy lifting to break up the concrete that was left over after the brick was removed. Here's what's left now:

And just for completeness, here's the sink area:

The past couple of nights I've been ripping up more of my house to make room for the forced air heating system which will eventually go in a closet next to my snazzy new combo laundry machine. It goes "bing!", or rather it makes Zelda noises according to Paul.

Is this a sign?

2006-05-03T15:17:00.000-04:00

I was looking up instructions on knitting mobius strips, which by the way turns out to be more complicated than you might first think, and I came across this page of pictures of female mathematicians with blue hair. Is it a sign that I should go back to school for math and dye my hair blue?

knitting is binary

2006-05-01T07:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was knitting up a swatch of my sock yarn to try out my new double pointed needles (dpns) while I was waiting for the guy coming to pick up my old washer and dryer. Knitting is a very binary activity. All knitting essentially boils down to 2 stitches: knit and purl. Knit is the opposite of purl and purl is the opposite of knit. They complete each other. Everything else is made up of combinations of knit and purl, a lot like machine code is made up of 1s and 0s. In fact, you could conceivably write knitting patterns as rows of 1s and 0s. Of course it would be even more self explanatory to write it in 'V's and '-'s, but essentially it's still binary, one or the other. So a knitting pattern is sort of like a higher level computer language, because instead of lists of 'V's and '-'s you end up with stuff like:
CO 20 sts
k to end of 1st row
(k2 p2) 5 times
...

And a knitter would know what that means. The knitter is the processor, his/her brain is the compiler or script interpreter. The yarn is the data and the needles are the memory. The difference so far between me and the machine is that I can start a pattern and decide that I don't like how it's turning out and tweak it. In order for a computer to make that decision, someone has to program it to, and give it the parameters for when different decisions should be made, and how and *poof* suddenly the computer is no longer making decisions, it's just following through on what someone told it to do.

Enough pseudo-random ramblings for now...

Thank You For Smoking

2006-04-22T16:10:00.000-04:00

Paul and I went to see Thank You For Smoking last night. It's brilliant. Clever, funny, and it was ok to hate Katie Holmes! OK, well not really, we must pity her for getting knocked up "by" Tom Cruise. But I did feel like her character would have been cast differently had the movie been produced in the 90s. They introduce her character by going on and on about how great her "tits" are, and quite frankly, I just don't see it. She does have that perpetually young look to her. Plucky young reporter with big doe-eyes who can seem naïve while still exuding the go-getter, altruist, and slightly twisted qualities that they were going for. But I think, had this movie been made in the 90s, they would have cast this character with someone just a bit sleeker, less round (not that round is necessarily a bad thing!), and little edgier. But overall Katie did a great job.

I've never seen any of Aaron Eckhart's other movies so I don't know what he's generally known for (Or if he's not really known for anything) but I think he did a fabulous job as the main character. I think the stars (the celestial ones) were aligned in terms of him being cast, the writer and screenwriter, and the directing to let him pull off such a likeable asshole. The people from House need to take notes.

I broke the build...

2006-04-21T15:40:00.000-04:00

*sigh*

My manager's position was to chuckle and tell me it happens to everyone. I guess I looked pathetic enough about it that everyone felt pity for me, so I got a lot of sympathetic looks and consoling words. Damn. I know it happens to everyone, but that doesn't make me any less embarrassed and mortified about it.

I need a giant ugly zucchini dressed up in sunglasses to sit on my desk. I wish I could remember which software book that came from...

The good news is that it was quickly fixed and set to rights... but I felt bad about asking the buildroom for anything else all day. Oh and I owe them $1. Apparently that's the going rate for ignorant neglect of the build process these days.

Turn Off Your TV

2006-04-20T21:40:00.000-04:00

I want to invite everyone to observe TV-turnoff week with me next week.

OK, just ignore the really bad graphics on that website for a minute. Now I'm not saying tv is evil, because if that were true I'd be such a hypocrit. I can't seem to go a week without my House fix. And we all know that I wouldn't have nearly as big a penchant for home improvement if it weren't for Norm and the gang on This Old House.

BUT, it is a time sucking waste. That's right, how many hours a week do we all lose by channel surfing because it's only 30 minutes before the next half-way decent show? I know I've watched far too many episodes of Seinfeld waiting for the Simpsons to come on. And it's just sad. And what makes it even worse is the shows that I watch even though I've seen the episode before, or the shows that I watch because it's what's on and I need to numb my brain for a while so I don't have to think about my own problems. And then midnight rolls around (or even 1AM) and I haven't actually gotten anything done. All night.

I grew up in a house where the tv was always on. There was after-school crap and Star Trek with Dinner (which was sort of OK because episodes of the Next Generation still soothe what ails me, no matter how ridiculous the plot-line was...) and then more junk after dinner until it was way past my bedtime.

I gave up TV in college. I made an agreement with my roommates that we wouldn't have one. When I moved to Boston after graduating I lived alone without cable/antenna/etc. It was a good time. I got a lot of other stuff done. Then Paul and I moved in together and we got broadband cable, and that's when it started. At first is was just a show or 2, then it was the ST Next Gen marathons. Then for a little while once we moved we no longer had cable again, and all was good. And then the day Comcast called me up at work and said that I would save $2 on my service if I added basic. "Um, so you're telling me that I will pay less and get more?" Yup. I will get more crap and less sleep. I will discover Gilmore Girls and form an addiction which only eases when House got the same time slot and even I had to admit the Gilmores just weren't who they used to be. If I want someone annoying, I'll watch House, because at least he's supposed to be annoying. And he's good at it :)

But right now in my life there's far too many sub-par shows that I seem to get sucked into watching anyway, so I'll be happy to say goodbye for the week. I may cheat for House, but he's the only one. Oh, except maybe Numb3rs... though I have a feeling I'll be getting it on DVD someday, so maybe I can wait and watch it without all those annoying commercials that are subsidizing my broadband internet connection.

Cats with Huevos

2006-04-20T08:13:00.000-04:00

Who knew that Mick would love a purple plastic Easter Egg so much? Someone at Trader Joe's was hiding Easter eggs among the groceries and Paul found one with a fruit leather inside while he was working the dairy box. He brought it home, I ate the fruit leather, and the egg got tossed onto a table or something and then we didn't think about it again until the next morning when we came down to find Mick zinging around the house chasing it! He was having a grand ole time, too. Now, just for a little perspective, our cats tend to knock things off of horizontal surfaces in order to see them fall and then get bored and move onto the next thing. But I guess the egg has just the right amount of slipperiness and lightness to make it Really Fun (TM). And of course it got him into a crazy, wild-eyed, rolling around on the floor like he's been hitting the 'nip just a bit too hard thing going on.

Here's a pic of Mr Mick McMickleson sleeping in "Chickenwing pose"... it's a new yoga asana for cats ;-)

First Post!

2006-04-18T18:10:00.000-04:00

I've been debating the creation of a blog for a while. I really enjoy reading certain blogs but I'm not sure I have the time to dedicate to it, and then there's the whole concept of theme, and since I'm so all over the map in my interests I wasn't sure how it would work. And then my niece got one and I needed a username to login and post to hers, so here I go, stepping off the edge into darkness. Wish me luck!