Small squee

So, at work today, I met the photographer for Cat Bordhi's books.

He dropped by to help with a small photo shoot we were having at the store.

I was in a knitting celebrity induced *swoon*.

And now, back to my insane amount if knitting to complete before the end of the month.

Here's a shot of the miles of stockinette on my sweater. The color is off, due to using my iPhone camera in the middle of the night.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weekly Update:

Today's weekly update will include:

Webster (of course), writing, knitting and a short segment on transitioning back into civilian life.

So, as I posted earlier, I finally turned in the first complete draft of my thesis. I'm not finished yet, but I am hopefully very close. Now, if we can just convince my advisors to read the gargantuan monstrosity... then we'll be doing even better.

Webster had a good week- we didn't do anything terribly exciting, but I was home for much of the afternoons/evenings this week so he was happy.



Here he is deciding which book to read next- surveying my bookcase making skills.

I'm almost done with my Citron, although sadly I have no pictures. I'm trying to figure out what dto do about my sweater- as there will be a mad rush to finish both this weekend.

I have my next project picked out- the Geodesic cardigan from the latest knitscene. I just happen to have two skeins of malabrigo laceweight in my stash, and the 60 degree weather we've been having lately is leaving me longing for sundresses and lightweight cardigans (I know, the el nino summer here in the PNW is not going to be conducive to that, but... a girl can dream, right?)

And on transitioning back into civilian life and civilian relationships...

I find that I am still highly sensitive to people complaining about their spouses- especially complaining about 'how hard' it is if their spouses are gone for a night or two. Ugh. Give me a break. I truly hope that this feeling never leaves, and that I am able to appreciate that people are around forever. On the other side of this coin, I have a hard time not thinking that people are about to leave all the time. It is very strange to me that ManCandy doesn't need to spend every waking moment with me... because he's still going to live ten minutes away tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. He can also take his cell phone to work with him and tell me about his job. It's totally bizaare.

Also in breaking news about the Civilian World... "stinky" does not mean the same thing. Stinky to me is when you've been in the field for three weeks with only one uniform in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity. Stinky is also the boonie cap that you wore throughout your year long desert deployment and didn't wash because it was unlucky. When you're a merchandiser and you've worn your uniform for two days in a row in 50 degree weather... that does not qualify as stinky to me. Maybe a little less than clean- but "stinky?" Not so much.

Complete draft ... Done!

Drive by post to announce:

I'm turning in the final pieces of my complete draft Right. Now.

Hooray for me!

And now: for some knitting.

Weekly update (minus serious talk!)

Weekly Update:

Since Holly wants to know about Webster, we'll start out with him today!



As you can see by him sitting on my shoulder, he is doing very well. It's been so warm here lately that the birds are coming out (there was a beautiful Blue Jay outside our window on Sunday), so he's been having a great time chasing the birds through the window.

The highlight of last week/this week was definitely taking a trip to Vancouver on Sunday to check out the Olympic festivities. It was awesome! The city was so packed and there was such amazing positive energy (we didn't see any protesters), it was so amazing. There were athletes walking about in the streets with their team clothes on, and it was so awesome to see everything.



The Olympic Flame! Hooray, there it is!

Also, here's a picture (from a ways away) of Olympic Village:



You can almost make out the infamous kangaroo flag on the Australian bloc.

I had an awesome time.

And then, there has been some knitting. Actually, there's been quite a bit of knitting, but I'll just share one picture today:

My ravelympics project/lace KAL project:



Citron in progress, and another Webster shot!

Those are all the exciting bits for now. Have a great week everyone!

The Opening Ceremonies

Warning: Completely serious post ahead with nothing to do with knitting or Webster. I'll post about knitting and Webster in a different post so those who don't want to read about Rwanda can skip this one!

Today I want to write about the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Vancouver is quite near here, and so I think that made it especially exciting to watch, knowing that all the excitement and amazing international cooperation was happening less than an hour away.

I loved the part at the very, very beginning where the snowboarder rode in and jumped through the Olympic Rings. I also love watching the different countries and feeling that maybe it is possible to get along, about some things.

But by far, the best part of the evening came toward the end; when the Olympic flag was brought into the stadium, bore by distinguished Canadians. These were people like Donald Sutherland (I didn’t realize he was Canadian), or others that either played to peoples’ heartstrings or popular culture.

And then, there was one man who wasn’t smiling. And as soon as I saw him, I gasped and jumped to my feet. The Canadians did an amazing thing when they included Lt. General Roméo Dallaire in the procession.

Lt. Gen. Dallaire was the UN chief of mission in Rwanada. He was the man in charge of the “peacekeeping” force that had to stand by and watch the genocide unfold, pleading all the while for the international community to do something and getting turned down by the UN and the US at every turn. When someone finally did do something, the French in Operation Turquoise, it was the genocidaires that were aided, not those being raped and massacred.

If you’re up for it, I highly recommend his book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The failure of Humanity in Rwanda. It’s quite a long book, and if you’re (like me), prone to nightmares… make sure you are prepared. His story is haunting and discouraging, and does not have a happy ending.

Until perhaps last night.

The inclusion of Lt. Gen Dallaire in the opening ceremony was, I feel, notable in a few different ways.

Firstly, it was an incredibly profound way to recognize a man who tried so hard and did so much, but yet saw so little results.

Dallaire has struggled since his return from Rwanda, understandably, with PTSD and related ailments. Some of these struggles have been very public and very embarrassing to him and his family. Recognizing and embracing this man is a powerful tribute to other veterans around the world who may also be struggling with similar issues. It shows that Canada is not ashamed of this man, despite the fact that he is experiencing PTSD. It shows that Canada is, in fact, proud of this man and what he did. PTSD or no. It was a powerful statement to veterans about acceptance and love.

Finally, it shows that Rwanda, at least in Canada, has not been forgotten, it shows that the courageous nature of those that give all of themselves to stop genocides are treasured and valued in the world. That atrocities are not tolerated and there are amazing and truly awesome people in the world that will give anything and everything they can to stop awful things from happening.

Honoring this man by including him as a flag bearer showed Canada honoring all of these things- and was, for me, the best part of the ceremony.

Weekly update, Superbowl edition.

Since I still don't have the internet at my apartment, it looks like I'll be posting weekly when I go to my Dad's to mooch internet off of him.

So, here's my weekly update:

1. I started working on the sweater for the February Olympic knitting challenge with the LYS near my house. I'm about 6 inches into the body, working from the bottom up. I plan to get some knitting done today (football is good for something, I guess...), so I can cast on my Citron on Friday. I've also got an awesomely happy pair of socks on the needles right now, but they're taking a back seat to all of this other knitting goodness.

2. Mr. M. was up in my neck of the woods this week and we went out for drinks. It was nice to hang out with an old friend... but I am very glad that we broke up.

3. The guy that I *didn't* have a crush on in high school, who I am oh-so-affectionately referring to as "Man Candy," and I have been having a good time together. He's not at all like that first facebook message came across- he's actually a decent human being- so I'm sticking to my 2010 goal of staying happy and just enjoying having a boy that's actually around some of the time. It's very strange that he's not about to leave to go somewhere (like a deployment) right away- things can progress much more slowly. I think that's nice. However, if he thinks he's going to stick around for a while, he's going to have to get a lot more comfortable with my knitting. We went out to dinner this last week, and I left my knitting in the car because it was a sweater and it was a little too bulky. We had to wait, and I was lamenting that I didn't have any knitting with me (duh, right? what do non-knitters do when they have to wait anyways?), and he gave me a funny look and said "you don't do that, in *public*, do you?" You all can imagine my response to that.

4. Working at the yarn shop is going well, and so is my other job. I haven't bought any yarn yet, and I'm putting together ideas for classes. My Grandma is coming up to my Dad's today to watch the game, and I'm going to take her into the shop and show her around.

5. I love being able to wear warm knitted things. The weather here has been unseasonably warm for here, but for a girl who's been living in significantly warmer climates recently, it's still pretty cold. So I get to wear knitted socks and hats and sweaters and gloves... it is awesome.

6. The first draft of my thesis was submitted last weekend. I still have the intro and conclusion to finish, along with the rest of the front matter, but hopefully this draft will be approved with only minor changes.


Old FO of the week:



Wanida Socks. Knit with Knitpicks Gloss last November. The pattern was easy enough, but I had to use the chart for the beginnings of every row- you'd think this pattern would be intuitive enough that the chart wouldn't be necessary after a while, but it didn't work like that for me.

I really like wearing these socks. They fit amazingly and they're a neutral color so if I'm trying to tone down the sock-wearing for the day, these are my go-to socks.

Phew. How is that for an update? Weekly blog posts are hard!