Tornados and Texas

We had a tornado yesterday. It was quite interesting. I had no idea we were having tornado watches. For one thing, who expects tornadoes in Washington state in January?! I heard lots of thunder, my internet connection was cut off, and this dog, Shane, kept trying to get into my lap (see below).



My son Kevin lives in the area where the tornado originated, and my other son Tim was driving in the area right after the tornado hit, oblivious to the fact that one was in the area. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the debris, fallen trees and unroofed sheds along the 5-mile path the tornado traveled is proof we had one.

What does this have to do with Texas? Well, my daughter and her boyfriend may be moving there. All I can say is, if the tornado impressed them, and they move to Texas, they haven't seen anything yet! Other impressive things to keep in mind: Scorpions and snakes! Obviously, I don't want them to go. If there are other "announcements" about this move, I haven't heard them yet, but I'll keep family informed.

Finished socks

A nice weekend day. I went to Twisted in Portland to see what they had for sale. I bought some Araucania worsted and one of the new Dream in Color lace weight yarn colors called Into the Mystic. Then we went to IKEA to try and spend our Christmas money on new shelves. We wanted to get the Markor shelves to match the ones in the craft room, but they were out. We were disappointed but it will be restocked. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) we discovered the food section and brought home some desserts like Blueberry Cake (Blaberskaka), Lingonberry mousse, and Lingonberry jam. We had the Lingonberry jam on corn muffins tonight (accompanied by turkey chili and salad), and had a slice of Blueberry Cake for dessert.




Tonight I finished my daughter's socks. These were knit with Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in a color called Deep Seaflower Blue. I love this yarn. The toes were knit with Black Sheep sock yarn, which I didn't love (too splitty). I used the new Knit Picks Harmony needles, size 1.5. I used the Basket Weave pattern from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks, but pretty much used the standard heel and toe that I learned from Betsy McCarthy's Knit Socks. Anyway, the socks feel comfortable. These are socks that were supposed to go in a theme gift for Keri for Christmas. She's on her feet all day at work. We have a shoe store in Vancouver called When the Shoe Fits that encourages people to buy shoes according to European standards (more room in the toe) and to wear shoe inserts and thicker socks. This has made a big difference for me and is one of the reasons I started knitting socks to begin with. I gave Keri a gift certificate to this store for some shoes, and made these socks to wear with them.

Here's another picture with them on my feet. I haven't washed them yet as they just came off the needles. I'll wash them and block them tonight and I think Lyn (husband) will take them to Keri when he goes to play basketball later this week.



Finally, I've been reading Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham. It's a weird experience because I've always thought of this book as one of my favorites. I had to read it in high school eons ago and absolutely loved it. What is weird is that I have no memory of the first half of the book. I remember the fact that Phillip is orphaned and then I remember boarding school, followed by medical school, followed by Phillip's infatuation with a prostitute. I think we must have read an abridged version. At any rate, this is a different book than what I remember and I wasn't liking it as much. He's about to go to Paris now and I'm just now becoming interested in the story again and suspect I'll finish it. I read The Painted Veil in December of 2006, and it is a much better book than Of Human Bondage. An online book group I follow called The Book Group List is reading OHB right now and I'm planning on reading along with the group this year. Next up is The Brothers Karamazov.

Holiday catchup

A belated happy new year to everyone. I'm personally glad the holidays are now behind us. I did not particularly like working both Christmas and New Year's day. I will never do that again. I did enjoy the brief time I spent with the entire family gathered on Christmas Eve. I think the best news I received during the holidays was from my daughter who has signed up for prerequisite classes in nursing. Not only is she moving on with her education, she got her insane work scheduled changed to accommodate classes.



This is my Christmas sock yarn stash. My daughter gave me 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces that she bought from The Loopy Ewe, and my husband gave me a Knit Picks sock yarn sampler in the cool colors. I think that's a year's worth of sock yarn right there, but I also received 3 skeins of Wollmeise a few days after Christmas. I've taken many pictures, but I can't get the yarn colors to stand out because it's been so rainy and dark that I don't have enough light to get a good picture. Therefore, the next sunny day we have, I'll take some pictures outside.

I was able to finish the hat for Christmas, but not the socks. They'll be done this evening and I'll take pictures of both hat and socks and post pictures tomorrow.

I didn't really make many New Year resolutions this year. Knitting-wise, I'm hoping to branch out from socks, but I'm not tired of socks by any means. I'm going to concentrate on stash busting too, so my purchases will be fewer. I did join a sock club (Woolgirl!) and am very excited about that. I'm hoping to continue participating in swaps. I've had a lot of luck with the 3 I've participated/am participating in and would love to do some more. Book-wise, I'm thinking of participating in some book challenges. I read 30 books last year, which is the low end of normal for me, and it was a pretty disappointing year. I'm hoping the book challenge will help me regain some enthusiasm for reading.

I'm also looking at either a certificate program or degree program in coding or cancer registry. I can do most of this on line and either is a logical path after medical transcription.

I'm off to finish socks so I'll have a finished product to post tomorrow!

Is it really Christmas tomorrow?

I'm resurfacing after almost a month of no posts. I've been knitting, but not getting anywhere - the more I do, the farther away my projects are from being finished. So, one child gets a half a pair of socks, another gets a hat up to the decrease point, and a cousin's thank-you gift is 2 repeats away from being done (not a Christmas present, but still). My parents' gifts will come as soon as they can, but they may be delivered in person in late April! I don't think I'm going to knit presents for Christmas anymore.

I have to work tomorrow. This fact has not been happily accepted by me, but at least it's only 4 hours, except I was so ecstatic over only having to work 4 hours that I volunteered to work New Year's too. It will be different next year, but that doesn't make me feel better.

My children will be here tonight and we'll exchange gifts then. My youngest works tomorrow and then he's going to a basketball game. I'd be mad, but the game is also a gift to my husband and they're going together, so he's sweet. My daughter and oldest son will be staying overnight and they daughter boards a plane tomorrow evening to go stay with her boyfriend and his family. We'll be together a short time, so I have that at least.

A cheerful bit of news is that my secret Loopy Ewe swap pal sent me a very lovely and thought gift that arrived on Saturday. She's keeping her identity a secret until the swap is over, so until then she's Loopy Ewe Swap Pal (the one knitting for me).



She sent me a special custom made teabag holder, with a little tea pot bag holder to put used tea bags on, as well as some very tasty tea. The pottery is very nice and is made by Clouds Folsom. So, thank you Loopy Ewe Swap Pal! This was a very thoughtful gift and it cheered me up the day it came.

I need to go back to my knitting corner. Maybe I'll be able to finish the hat and will actually have a finished gift to give someone this evening.

Guest blogger: New! Improved! Portland Friends' Meetinghouse

While your regular editor toils away on Christmas gifts, she invited me ("DH") to post photos of (and commentary about) the recently-completed annex and remodeled main structure of the Multnomah Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) Meetinghouse. (Unprogrammed Friends --the branch of Quakerism we're associated with-- prefer to refer to our gatherings, and the structures where we gather, as 'Meetings' and 'Meetinghouses,' rather than as 'churches.' Quakers have other odd customs, too; an introduction to Multnomah Meeting, and to the Religious Society of Friends, can be found at www.multnomahfriends.org).

After years of consideration and a relatively short period of fundraising, Multnomah Friends decided to sell and move (for the lofty sum of $1-- moving costs borne by the purchasers) a small residence we owned beside the Meetinghouse, to build a new educational annex and entry/elevator housing, and to remodel the interior and exterior of the existing structure. We're very pleased with the results, accomplished with many generous donations of funds and several thousand hours of volunteer (and contracted) labor! Here's a photo of the front facade, with the newly constructed annex on the left (east) side:



The annex has four classrooms and a nursery split between two floors, two accessible restrooms, an elevator (actually a heavy-duty 'lift') and stairs to the second floor, and a downstairs lobby and upstairs skylighted vestibule. The 'old' Meetinghouse has a low-ceilinged basement; an office/small group space, a kitchen, two smaller restrooms, and a social hall on the first floor; and a library and main meeting hall (also skylighted and light-tubed; again, Friends would hesitate to call it a 'sanctuary') on the second floor. Here's a view of the newly remodeled, larger meeting hall; the central skylight, an architectural expression of the Quaker belief in the Light within every person, is visible only as a rectangular shape in the ceiling:


One of the major limitations of the 'old' Meetinghouse was the cramped social hall. We non-nonviolently deconstructed a nursery space, which opened up more space and more light, replaced 20-year old ceiling tiles with a new false ceiling, and laid attractive sheet marmoleum over nondescript linoleum tiles. Every vertical surface was repainted using recycled "Metro" paint (I helped supervise the painting of the annex, throwing my back out in the process!) Here's a shot of the refurbished social hall, looking toward the southwest:



Creating adequate, welcoming space for our children, along with making our building a welcoming place for people with disabilities, was a key goal of the project. This final photo shows a large upstairs classroom, whose south-facing windows let in plenty of light for our 3rd through 5th grade "First Day School" class (there's another Quaker custom, numbering days instead of accepting customary labels).



Thanks to "DW" for giving me this photographic forum, and thanks to Portland architect Liz Williams, Barrs & Genauer Contractors, and the many, many donors and volunteers who made this beautiful, simple, functional space possible!

Four-Day Weekend!

I'm taking the next 2 days off from work and then have my regular weekend so I can concentrate on knitting projects. I'll be working on 2 scarves, a pair of socks, a hat, and some fingerless gloves for a coworker. I'll also be narrowing down the project I'm going to knit for my Loopy Ewe swap pal. Each of these projects has led to another project for someone else. So far I've decided to knit EVERY SINGLE ONE of my team at work fingerless gloves, my supervisor a scarf, and who knows what else. None of this is going to happen, but I have 4 days of unlimited knitting time and this makes me feel like I can do everything. If I'm lucky, I'll finish the scarf!

We have yet to decorate for Christmas. That will probably get done this weekend, too.

Meanwhile, my youngest son has moved back in with us. The house is feels smaller and we're adjusting to a bit more food in the fridge, a car that is often not here, and to some noise intrusion of what my husband calls "rhythmic chest beating" (otherwise known as rap music). The dogs are very happy to have more attention, and I love having late night company when I get off work at night.

I finished 2 books in the last week - The Inn at the End of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis, and Better by Atul Gawande (links in side bar). The first was very entertaining and a seasonal read (sort of), the second a group of thoughtful essays about medical performance. I recommend both books - two of my better reads this year. It's been a mediocre reading year.

From Vancouver to Vancouver

I have a few minutes before work, but had to post a picture of my Coffee Swap 3 package content from coffee swap partner, Chelle! She packed a wonderful box full of very flavorful coffee, 2 roasts from JJ Bean (Inferno and Terra del Sol) and 1 roast from Salt Springs Organic - the Roaster's Special. I just had a cup of the Inferno and it was excellent! She also included a coffee cup with a picture of Vancouver, B.C. on it - one of my favorite cities in the world, a yummy dark chocolate mint bar, and one of the best cookies I've ever tasted (I couldn't wait) - Kambly Chocolunes.

Next, there were luxury items like a bath ball and cocoa butter body lotion.

She also gave me a beautiful Zen calendar - one of my yearly favorite calendars, don't know how she knew that!

The yarn Chelle sent me is wonderful! Two skeins of Koigu (a Canadian company), an undyed Knit Picks sock weight yarn which I think I might dye with coffee, 2 skeins of Panda Cotton in Vanilla and 1 skein of a beautiful blue bamboo.

I also received 2 cards of guide dog puppies. Chelle has a guide dog named Maylee, and I've been longing to raise a guide dog puppy for the same school that Maylee came from. They'll go on my office bulletin board and I'm going to start a discussion with DH soon about at least being a respite care person for puppy raisers!

Thank you, Chelle! I loved my package and you've been a wonderful swap partner. I loved getting to know about Chelle-friendly yarns and getting to know you.

I'm late for work! I'll write later.