"if you want to destroy my sweater, pull this string as I walk away..."

All done!

ok, almost all done. I still have to sew on the pockets and the buttons. And for some reason I've got Weezer stuck in my brain.. ouch!

If you recall when I originally posted about the sweater I thought I might like some vintage minty green shell or mother of pearl buttons. The big box craft store had a huge sale last weekend and all their buttons were half off so I bought a whole bunch, half of which I will probably never use.

I found some green shell buttons similar to what I'd imagined:

Hmm, no, not quite right. A little too boring and a little too shiny. Maybe if they'd been just a touch bigger and had a little ridge around the edge... but these just don't work.

I also found these buttons:

If only I could get my silly camera to focus on them! They're quite lovely and my blurry picture does not do them justice. They're just barely big enough, the patina and the color go perfectly with the yarn and, the detail gives them texture and pop. These buttons rock! I just gotta sew them on.

So, I learned a few things while knitting this sweater:

• Small mistakes aren't that hard to hide, especially in a piece like this, so long as you keep your stitch count right and don't do something really fugly.
• Those cheep plastic stitch markers suck. They constantly feel like they're going to break, they don't slide nicely over the needles, and they feel just plain wrong in your hands. Cotton scrap yarn works much better (cotton so it doesn't shed contrasting fibers on your work).
• Short circular needles have short needle parts. Short needle parts can be awkward.
  
• Ah hah! I'm a texture/feel-it girl. The way the whole thing feels and moves in my hands makes a huge difference in how much I enjoy knitting it. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but I usually think of myself as a process girl. For knitting, it seems, the feel is super important. The process is important, too, but it plays second fiddle. This explains my early distaste for inexpensive aluminum needles and my instantaneous aversion to those nasty plastic stitch markers.
  
• When it comes to finishing a nice warm sweater like this, motivation plummets when temperatures rise. Duh! Or maybe it's just that I enjoy the knitting part a whole heck of a lot more than the finishing work, even when the finishing is minimal. Also, Duh.
  
• There were errors in this pattern. *GASP* The Horror! Ok, no big deal. I've got the mad math skillz. Or at least enough math skills to sort out stitch count errors and the like. I was actually surprised that the errors and occasional vague instructions didn't cause me any real difficulty. Maybe I'm better at this than I thought!
  

So, sweater's done. Or, at least the knitting part is done. That's one knitting challenge down and many more to go. Time to move on to socks!

Actually, I moved on to socks last night. Hey, nice lady from the Whitmore Lake Yarn Co? Ya know that addi TURBO circular needle you talked me into buying when I thought I wanted a bamboo one? Wow! This is truly fantastically amazing. I love it. I want more. Thank you!


... If you want to destroy my sweater (wa wa)
pull this string as I walk away.
Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked
lying on the floor, lying on the floor..
I've come undone...

(ugh! that song is a brain worm! help!!)

Get on your bikes and ride!

This is s my bicycle. She's a very nice bicycle and I like her very much. Today my bicycle and I have a mission. Buster is taking his new boat and a couple of his fishing buddies down the Huron river and we need to "spot cars" for him. This means that we will ride to Hudson Mills Metropark, where they put in this morning, and drive the van and trailer to Dexter-Huron Metropark so it's waiting for them when they arrive there. These two parks are both along one of my usual bike routes. I brought my camera along so I can share some of the sights with you.

About 3 miles from home as we ride along Huron River Drive, we cross the river for the first time just west of Wagner Rd.
It's extra pretty here today looking downstream off the bridge. You probably can't tell from the picture but the river is clean and clear and absolutely gorgeous today.

Another mile down the road we come to one of my favorite places, the East Delhi Bridge. Buster and I got married at the park here and had our picture taken on this very bridge:


This bridge was built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio in the late 1800s. It is now on the books as the center of a historic district (I'm not ntirely sure what other historic sites are in this area -- I'll have to look into it and get back to you). In 2005 the county decided that the bridge could no longer safely handle automobile traffic so they closed it. You can still bike or walk over it but it's closed to motorized traffic. Washtenaw County considered tearing the bridge down and replacing it with something safe and modern and boring but the community rallied to save this beautiful iron truss bridge. According to this website, the bridge will be rehabilitated and probably reopened to traffic sometime this year.

Along with being a really nifty old iron truss bridge, it's also a great place to watch people run the Delhi Rapids:

The rapids are right downstream of Skip's Canoe where you can rent heavy aluminum canoes for a day trip down the river. Skip gets pretty cranky if you run these rapids in one of his canoes.

Upriver a bit more I ride by this house:

I have no clue who lives here, but their front yard makes me smile every time I ride by. It's always in bloom from early spring to late fall. Today it's those blurry orange flowers. In another month or so those day lilies in the foreground will be flowering and something else will pop up in the other part of the yard to replace the orange flowers. This yard is always a happy riot of color.

Ahh, what an idyllic stretch of dappled road:

You may be asking, "you mean 'dappled shade', not 'dappled road', right?"

Sadly, no. Take another look. That is indeed dappled, bumpy, miserable, road -- Yuck!

And this isn't even the worst of it -- the most sinister potholes are hiding in that shade waiting to eat up any poor innocent bicycle tire that ventures too near. But don't worry. The west bound lanes are fairly clear in comparison and I ride a different road heading back east. For bikers in this area, this hive of scum and villainy is on east bound Huron River Drive between Dexter-Huron Metropark and Zeeb road. To avoid it, take Joy road between Mast to Zeeb. Washtenaw County road commission says they plan to vanquish this nest of vile potholes this year. Take with thee my tax money and go forth to slay the evil potholes, I beg of thee!

(sorry, guess I got a little punchy there!)

Just a few short miles left before I reach Buster's van. Check out this nifty car for sale!

I wonder if that antique gas pump offers antique prices!

I'm past the half way point of my ride now and I'm starting to get a little hungry. I wonder if the folks selling that car have any cookies.

Here we are at "Rapids view" near the north end of Hudson Mills Metropark.
You can't see them in the picture, but there are lots and lots of people here BBQ'ing and enjoying the holiday weekend. I wonder if any of them have any cookies they want to share.

And look! Here's Buster's van. Hope I remembered to bring the keys. Maybe Buster left me some cookies in the van.

Darn, no cookies here. By the way, this is Buster's dream car. Normally someone's dream car is some sporty little thing or some big fancy luxury car. Not Buster! His dream car is this lovely Aerostar with a fishing rod rack mounted under the roof and an extra pair of waders in the back.

Once the van and trailer are safely parked at Dexter-Huron Metropark, I head back out on my bike for the hilly part of my ride (if any part of a ride in this part of Michigan can rightfully be called hilly). Along Joy Road right at the top of a nice little hill where I'm normally a bit winded, the sweet smell of a sheep farm permeates the air:

Hey Mrs. Sheep, you got any cookies? no? Too baa-ad.


Oh look! Little baby lambs! mmm... lamb chops... lamb stew... leg o' lamb. Aren't they cute? Such tasty things should not be so adorable! It's just wrong!

Just a few miles to go. Check out this big red barn.

I like barns. I wonder if anyone's home over there. Maybe they've got cookies.

Another few miles and I'm back where I started. I don't have any pictures from my arrival back home. My camera battery died. But I found a cookie!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

What's Next??

I always feel a little lost, a little confused and unfocused and scattered, and even a bit overwhelmed when I am between books. My to-be-read shelf is overburdened to say the least. Actually, it's three shelves and two large stacks of paperbacks at this point -- eep! I'm not exactly sure what would happen to me if I finished a book and there was not another one readily available. I don't want to find out so I keep lots of insurance.

Of course, lots of insurance also means lots of choices. I have a hard time when there are too many choices. I'm frozen like a deer in headlights. If I don't choose I will not be able to vanquish this feeling that something fundamental is missing from my life. But choosing is committing my reading time for the next several days, perhaps as much as a month, to one bit of fiction. For I am (mostly) a monogamous reader. What am I in the mood for? What sort of fiction will satisfy me this week? Do I crave something challenging, thought provoking, and dense? Or something light, entertaining, and quick? Do I want dark and gritty? Or bright and hopeful? Fantasy or Science Fiction or something else? So many choices! I've narrowed it down to the stack pictured above. From the bottom up:

• The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers. I love, LOVE, Tim Powers. I discovered him many years ago and I carefully ration his work. I do not want to run out of Tim Powers. His work is savory and full of texture. It's gritty and dark and ironic. His secret histories are my favorites. I'm not entirely sure what this book is about, but it's Tim, it will be tasty.
• Axis by Robert Charles Wilson. I really liked Spin. Apparently lots of other folks did too -- It won the 2006 Hugo. Axis is the sequel.
  
• Empire of Ivory is the 4th book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. I've read the first three. These are set in the Napoleonic era and the style is similar to nautical fiction. Only, there be dragons. And the dragons are really nifty! I'm not entirely sure what prompted me to pick up the first book. Perhaps it was all the hype. Anyhow, these books are tons of fun.
• War for the Oaks is apparently Emma Bull's best known work. I recently read Territory and, oh boy, is it ever good! Territory is a secret history of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Blew my socks off! I was drawn to Emma Bull because of Shadow Unit. If you have not checked out Shadow Unit yet, you are missing out bigtime.
  
• Maelstrom by Peter Watts is the sequel to Starfish. Peter Watts won my undying allegiance with Blindsight. That book will twist your brain around in painful and disturbing ways and you will like it, nay, love it! And you will beg for more.
  
• Whiskey and Water is Elizabeth Bear's second Promethean Age novel. I discovered Bear a little over a year ago and have since devoured all of her novels. I have this and Companion to Wolves left before I'm caught up with her current published works. She's so prolific that I don't worry about catching up (like I do with Tim Powers). Bear is my hero. Her fiction all has a minimum of eighteen layers with subtext and allusion. It tends to be dense and challenging and the more effort you put into it the more enjoyable it is. I'm anxious to get through this book because I'm really looking forward to the next two Promethean Age books set in Elizabethan times. I suppose I could read the next ones without reading this one first since the Elizabethan ones are prequels, but I get kinda twitchy when I read things out of published order.

Decisions Decisions!!

At least I know what I'm knitting next:
I'm going to learn to knit socks! This will be a nice change from The Sweater which is now only a few days from completion. I picked up Knitting Circles Around Socks at the Whitmore Lake Yarn Co when my super awesome friend Mary (who writes Shazam in the Kitchen -- a very fun food blog) happened to be in town. The people there were very nice and recommended this book for learning to knit socks two at a time on circular needles. Unfortunately I bought only one skein of sock yarn so I'll only be able to knit one sock at a time (I could work both ends of the skein, but then the pattern that the yarn makes would go opposite ways on the socks and that might be weird). I think I could learn with two at a time but for the sake of the socks I will take it slow and do them one at a time.

Now that I've spent half the day indoors writing about books and knitting, it's time to get out in this gorgeous weather and put a few miles on my bicycle! I rode 20 miles yesterday with the local bike club and I hoping to get in 25 or 30 solo miles today. Tomorrow will likely be a few more bicycle miles and a nice long walk to prepare for this next weekend.

Frostbitten

I just finished reading Frostbite by Richelle Mead. I mentioned earlier this week that YA urban fantasy/paranormal romance isn't really my favorite genre, but I go out of my way to read Richelle. I picked up her first book because (a) she's a friend from my Seattle days, and (b) she kindly sent me a signed ARC. I keep reading Richelle because she's fantastic!

Any author that builds complete, three dimensional, interesting, and flawed characters has a very good chance at hooking me no matter the genre. Richelle's got some serious skills in the character building department. Frostbite is the second of Richelle's Vampire Academy series. In this book, the focus tightens a bit more on Rose, the narrator. There's plenty of action and adventure, but the real heart of the story is Rose coming of age.

I recommend this book for adults and teens alike. There's a bit more sexual content than I'm used to seeing in YA books. But, really, I've only read a handful of other recently published YA books and I understand, the times, they are a changin'.

Richelle has at least three more books coming out this year. Check out her website for more info.

A message from the Big Red Dog

Hello, my name is Ginger. Sara tells me that my Momma and Poppa are her Momma and Poppa, too. I don't know if I believe her. I am a happy dog. I love my Poppa and my Momma very much especially when I can hop up in the lazyboy and sit on Poppa's lap. I don't sit on Momma's lap. I'm too big. I might squish her. I am a Michigan fan just like my Momma and Poppa. Go Blue! See:

Every once in a while my Momma and Poppa take me to a puppy spa. They tell me that I need to get a haircut for summer and the puppy spa will make me pretty. They took me there on Tuesday:

I don't feel pretty. In fact, I feel silly. And cold. Please, Poppa, please free me from these awful red bows. For goodness sake, Poppa, these bows are buckeye colored!! And this silly yellow bandanna has to go. If I must wear bandanna, may I please have the maize and blue one? Maybe Sara will knit a scarf for me. I know summer officially starts this weekend, but we live in Michigan! It's still cold here and I'm naked! *pout*

Oh Look! Cat Treats! Yum! Gotta go!

too much distraction!

I'm working. Ok, I'm supposed to be working but I'm very distracted. Can you blame me? This is the view from my office window. Yes, that's two cop cars blocking my little street having a conference. What are those police men doing there?? My best guess? Something is going on with the Naughty Neighbors. But what? They are not not naughty in an interesting way. They are naughty in a noisy unneighborly way. They have loud mean scary dogs that like to dig under their 8 ft privacy fence and chase the other neighbors' kids. They often leave said dogs in the backyard all night long no matter how loudly the poor puppies protest. Their spawn likes to toss his garbage from atop his lovely jungle gym right over the giant fence. Said spawn also likes to hotrod his 4 wheeler up and down our street -- noisy, illegal, and dangerous.

I'm anxious for Buster to get home so he can go visit with the Nifty Neighbors on the other side. They always have the scoop on the Naughty Neighbors (Mrs. Nifty Neighbor is a police dispatcher).

I'm in full nosy neighbor mode. Think of the desperate housewife peeking through the bushes, watching, judging, whatever drama is unfolding because every single thing that happens in her neighborhood is most certainly her business. Privacy, pshaw!

But I'm not peeking through the bushes! I'm sitting in my office and I'm trying to work! Too much distraction!

the sweater!

I mentioned yesterday that knitting is one of my mini-obsessions. Truth be told, I just learned to knit a couple months ago. My mommy taught me. I may be all grown up, but I'm finding that there's still plenty to learn from my mommy and daddy. So I've knitted a few things since Mom taught me how to cast on and knit and purl. I've made some baby stuff for friends, and a couple hats for Buster, and a pair of mittens for Mom, and I've even made an adorable little teddy bear. I decided a few weeks ago that I needed something a little more ambitious and a little more useful, mostly just to prove I could do it. So I'm knitting a sweater. This sweater:

I really like the ribbing at the waist and the whole thing just looks so comfy! The pattern was purchased from www.sweaterbabe.com and I'm using lion brand chunky wool-ease in walnut. I'm about a third of the way done:

There's a story behind the yarn. My husband uses this very same yarn for a fly he ties for fishing. When I started knitting he suggested I make him a hat for him out of this yarn.

(Same hat different lighting) It's such pretty yarn with red and green and yellow highlights. When I found this sweater pattern I knew I wanted this yarn. Now I have to find some nifty buttons... I'm thinking vintage looking, pearly with a hint of minty green, about the size of a quarter... We'll see what I actually come up with.

The sweater should take another couple weeks, perhaps. I think I'm nearly done with the slow parts. I should finish it just in time for the summer weather to kick in. After that I'm tackling socks! That should be exciting, wish me luck!

Time to get ready for Buster's softball doubleheader! Go Arch Rivals!

hello world!

Ok ok ok! I'm blogging. There's the bandwagon, and here's me hopping on.... late, as usual!

So what the heck should I talk about? Most of my blogging friends blog about cooking or about their kids. I'm currently kid free and I'm not all that creative in the kitchen. Most of the blogs I read regularly are about writing science fiction and fantasy. I don't write sff, I read it.

I have no singular great obsession to blog. I have lots of little ones: reading sff, bicycling, knitting, food & weight loss, and my household which currently consists of a husband and a kitty. I don't have any special inspiration at the moment so, quick survey time:

What am I reading? Frostbite by Richelle Mead. Richelle is a friend of mine so I'm a little biased. I read her stuff more because it's her than because I'm into the genre. She writes paranormal romance and YA. Frostbite is the second in her Vampire Academy YA series. Truth is, Richelle is super talented and, despite the fact that paranormal romance isn't really my thing, I love her books. Her style reminds me a bit of Janet Evanovich (another author I go outside of my preferred genre for) -- fast read, highly entertaining, hard to put down, and especially well suited for reading at the gym.

How's the biking going? no riding today. It's sunny, but it's 57°F and windy and I'm feeling wussy (also, I think I'm getting a cold - bleh). I'll hit the elliptical at the gym instead. Also, on the biking front, I'm riding the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure on June 8 -- sponsor me, pretty please!

What am I knitting? I'm working on a top down cardigan. I'm about a third of the way through and it's going surprisingly quickly. pictures later :)

Am I gettin' skinny? The scale is not my friend today.

How are Buster and Alex? Buster, my husband (who's name is not Buster), bought a boat for fishing season and spent the weekend picking up his trailer and assembling his new boat. Now he can add boat trips to his fly fishing guide service.

Alex, the much loved and very aged kitty, got a bath the other day. He's much less stinky and he seems happier for it.

Blog entries are much more exciting with photos so here's a really bad phone-camera-photo of my dearest boys: