I Won!

See the lovely stitch markers? I won them in the Dye-O-Rama drawing as a participant who sent her yarn and had it received by the deadline. Yes, one is "pastel" and the other is dark, it is not the lighting. Please note that I still have not received any yarn from this swap and am feeling a bit put out. Everytime I start thinking about travel projects I dream of taking my swap yarn with me and know that is not happening. Pout.

The markers, however, are happily guarding the ribbed edge of CeCe which I have mentioned many times and never shown. Here she is in a close to finished state. There is one or two more days worth of work in her.

And here is my new dining room table! Complete with hand-woven placemats and our dinner reading material.
If you want to figure out who sat where ... I am reading the hardcover, Papa Squid is reading the sports section, Squidette is rereading some Oz (same side as the paper) and Little Squid is rereading some Hank Zipser. This arrangement proved to not work as both male are lefties and both females are righties. What happened was that all of our reading material wound up competing for space in the center of the table. Tomorrow we will go back to men on one side and women on the other.

(My book is Elizabeth Peter's "Lord of the Silent," if anyone cares. I have been listening to this series and this is the second book that is not offered in unabridged audio format so I am actually reading it. Barbara Rosenblatt narrates this series and I love the voices she puts to the characters, I am trying to keep her voice in my head as I read it. It seems that the next one is also offered only in abridged format so a trip to the library is in order to get the actual text before we leave for Kentucky.)

Tomorrow may see us decide on a new couch. If you are interested in seeing the contestants in this contest, click here. The couch on which both Little Squid and Papa are sitting on is leading in the polls. My sister-in-law thinks that the print is too space-age and I think that the plain fabric on all of the others is too boring. The sofa in question also has a recliner built in to it, as does the matching chair. This should increase the over all amount of seating in the living room as Papa Squid tends to sprawl his lower tentacles all over the couch, taking up all 3 spaces currently available. Check back tomorrow to see if we were able to commit!

Squid On Wheels -- The Lower East Side

Once again, our intrepid Squid family head out armed only with 8 wheels, four bike frames, three bottles of water, two GPS and one camera. Their destination: New York City's Lower East Side, home of our ancestors. (O.k., we are not really sure that any of our ancestors lived on the Lower East Side but hey, lots of Jewish immigrants started out there so there is probably a link somewhere along the line.)

Starting from the usual jump off point on the Hudson River, the Squid (cool how that is plural as well as singular) see a sailboat with a bright, rainbow sail.


That sail seems to portend good and picturesque things for our family and they turn right and pedal merrily downstream.

After traveling down to the southern tip of Manhattan and breaking through the path-blocking line for the Statue of Liberty ferries (rant not written), they continue down and around the tip of Manhattan, passing the hoards of tourists disembarking from buses at the South Street Seaport. There, Momma Squid is tempted to yell at the illegal vendors and tell the tourists to buy elsewhere but, deciding that the vendors might try to knock her off her bike, Momma keeps pushing her way through while guiding Little Squid through the throngs.

Rolling uptown, they pass under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and ride through a lovely, new walking path created along the East River. (Our Squid are more careful on the return trip and ride on the parallel bikepath and not the walkway.) Just before the Manhattan Bridge, the Squid spy the Grand Street Houses (a cooperative built in the same spirit as our own Penn South Houses -- the difference being that Grand Street Houses are now market rate and Penn South is still holding fast to its Socialist ideals (another post)). There they depart the path for the streets and quickly home in on wonderful food.

They stop at the Donut Plant for ... donuts (everyone drag the word out now, ala' Homer Simpson).

These delectable pastries are revealed below including the Square Jelly Donut, the Blueberry Donut and the Butterfly Roll.



































The Squid, having filled the bike bags with Donuts, then proceeded two stores down to Kossar's Bialys for bagels and bialys. Yum.












Then on to The Pickle Guys where Squidette and Little Squid were gifted with pickles to eat while Papa Squid purchased more for home.
















Following the pickle purchase the Squid then got a history lesson. First they gazed at Seward Park High School where Papa Squid got his start as a Teacher. Seward Park has, for a very long time, been the first educational experience for many, many immigrants. As a school for new Americans, it had poor results on the tests by which schools are judged and so it has been closed and the building will be filled with smaller schools. As for the immigrants ... I do not know where they will go now. (Rant on the criteria by which schools are judged, not included.)






Then they stopped at Seward park, a lovely, large, oasis in the midst of the Lower East Side. While waiting for the male Squid to return, the female Squid learned that this was the first Municipally built park in the city and it was a model for its time. It started public programs to get kids playing in parks and off the streets and provided all sorts of social services over its lifetime. Nearby, and not pictured, is a public library that used to allow neighborhood folk to sleep on its roof during the summer as an alternative to the stifling tenements that populate this area.

Across the street is the old Forward building. The Jewish Daily Forward is a newspaper published in both Yiddish and English and was the major source of news for the LES population back when it was primarily European Jewish immigrants. The Forward is still published and has an online presence as well.

Another Yiddish/English paper of which I do not know the history. Sorry.

A row of "storefront" synagogues. (No kidding.)













A former Communist hangout. Mike is trying to remember what the old name was.

















Thus ending our incomplete tour of the Lower East Side, the Squid find their way back to the East River and proceed to retrace their path back to the usual stopping point of Chocolate Haven to pick up more ... chocolate (what else!) and then pedal back home making one more stop for fish at Chelsea Market. Pictured is the Old Homestead Steakhouse -- one of the many famous steakhouses in NYC and within photo snapping distance of Chelsea Market.













And finally, a photo of how well the leaf edging covers the top of Momma Squid's cycling shoe.


















And, for those of you who are still with me ... my spinning wheel (Kromski Minstral) is now back in the living room where it belongs. Yea!!!

Sunday Socks

The first pair was actually completed while I was in Florida. The are knit with Trekking XXL 100 and the cuffs are a leaf edging from "Knitting on the Edge."

Pair 2 is the "Child's French Socks" from "Vintage Socks." Pair 3 are my latest "Plain Socks."














Have a lovely Sunday!

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 3, MGM Studios

Before I tell the sock's tale I must first mention that my dye-o-rama angel commented on the blog the other day. My angel actually exists! One of these days I hope to see hand-dyed sock yarn from this swap. I am so excited!

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Now on to the final Florida tale ...
On our last pre-conference day, the sock once again witnessed it's owner consume a pricey breakfast -- no inexpensive food to be had at the hotel -- and then assumed it's position in the knitting bag.

Off it went to MGM Studios Theme Park (part of Disney). There it was greeted by yet another view of New York City.

The sock was starting to freak out now. It knew it was not in New York (it figured that out during the Guggenheim episode) and all of these incorrect NYC panoramas were making it feel out of sorts. So, it did what any intelligent sock would do, it went on the Studio Tour. There it saw:

Battle ships,

A water tower sporting Mickey Mouse ears,

and best of all, the steamroller from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit!" That was way cool.
















Then it saw the biggest footprints it could ever imagine. And, being a good sock, it tried to cover those poor, cold feet.














After realizing that there was not enough wool in its carry bag to knit it to dinosaur size, the sock started looking around for other feet. It saw these guys ...



















But they didn't have anyfeet and the big mouse in the background just scared the poor sock.

It saw Elastigirl's feet but figured out that maybe one of it's fellow Cascade socks might fit her better.



















These feet looked like they could use some loving wool:



















but Frozone already had a pair of Toasty Toes.

Then it decided to go out of this world and saw the feet on this guy:



















What do they wear under those boots?

Finally, the sock returned to the hotel and took a well deserved rest while the humans attended a cocktail reception.The next day, the sock rested up and in the evening, took a walk to City Walk for the conference dinner. Along the paths it spotted these guys with their tiny little feet.














It also spotted Woody and Dora. The sock was too awed to ask for an autograph.



















Then it got to party at Pat O'Briens. It did not drink a Hurricane but it did have a very nice time.

Back to Reality

There will be one more Orlando post but it is on hold temporarily. Meanwhile, we have spent the last 4 days painting and taping and ... but both kids rooms are now ready to occupy. This is a good thing since they are returning this evening from a visit with my folks. When I am done here, I will take on the satisfying task of making their beds with clean sheets and such.

Our trip to Kentucky and Indiana is finally scheduled and we will be leaving NYC on July 31 with the plan of arriving in Kentucky on August 1. We are aiming for Youngstown, OH as a possible stopping point on the outward trip and have not picked a return layover yet. We will be taking I-80 most of the way, according to AAA, (355.5 miles to be exact) so if you know of any yarn stores close to the highway, pass them on. ;-) Papa Squid has promised that we will be stopping every couple of hours and that I will be doing some of the driving.

That gives me an idea for a contest: How many hours / miles do you think Papa Squid will actually let me drive? There are roughly 690 miles on the outbound trip, 144 from Alexandria, Kentucky to Indianapolis, IN and something like 730 miles inbound from IN. Figure about 20 -- 24 hours of actually drive time from main locale to main locale not counting any "local" driving. Please keep in mind that Papa Squid feels that I drive too conservatively and that we will get anywhere faster if he drives. (This is true but the difference in time over the length of this drive will probably add up to only an hour if I did the entire trip by myself.) When we go anywhere distant, he drives and I navigate / knit.

Put your answers in the comments section any time from now until midnight July 31. I will do my best to keep track and will declare the winner the person with the closest guess. Prize will be a pair of socks worth of either Koigu, Lorna's Laces (the new stripy stuff) or Claudia's Handpaints.

Once I figure out what projects I am taking with me, there will be another contest to figure out what will actually get finished. Keep your eyes on this blog a bit closer to the 31st.

Tomorrow we go furniture shopping. Oh joy. (note sarcasm with a hint of excitement)

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 2, the Sock Does Disney

After watching it's owner devour a too expensive breakfast, the sock started pushing the humans to get moving. It really wanted to meet Dumbo and crew. (The sock doesn't "do" Mickey.) So, after inquiring about public transportation (none), cab fare (ouch) and rental rates, the humans decided on the rental and got a really cool Toyota Matrix that the sock's owner got to drive.

Down to the Magic Kingdom (TM) they flew getting there just as the gates opened for the day. First stop, the Jungle Cruise with its hokey jokes and silly effects. The sock got an inch or so added during the wait and subsequent cruise and got its knitter to be the only person to really laugh at the jokes. The sock felt a bit sorry for the guide as the other cruisers did not even groan at her jokes and puns. The sock wondered if the others understood them.

Sock and crew then met a friend of our friend, there for the day with his son. He was giving his 3 year old a "big boy day" following the recent birth of another child. [If you have positive vibes to send, please send them down to Orlando, FL. The baby in question contracted viral meningitis and is currently hospitalized. The baby is only 2 weeks old.] The sock watched as the child and father rode Aladin's Magic Carpet and then the sock bade a fond farewell and took its owner off to another part of the park.

Always one for the cliche'd photo op, the sock had to pose in front of Cinderella's Castle. And then it saw him. The moment was full of tension and then the sock did it ... it hid in the bag while its knitter snapped a picture of Dumbo ala' topiary with all of the flying Dumbos behind it. The sock, too cowed by the presence of its favorite celebrity, stayed in the bag until after lunch.Following a not so nutritious lunch, our intrepid trio marched off to the Peter Pan ride and the 3-D PhilharMagic show. They then, having missed the worst of the rain, did a bit of shopping (presents for the kids) and headed to Epcot (also TM).

At Epcot, the sock got a glimpse of the future and saw Chinese acrobats. It is almost scary how flexible those girls are. Here we see one of them inserting two bowls in to a stack of four more bowls. The four were held on her head, the two in her feet, all while she managed to get herself up and in to the air in this position. It was only a freak of digital camera timing that caught this picture.The sock was so inspired by the acrobats that it decided to try some clever maneuvers of its own. Here is the sock braving life and limb to climb in to the mouth of a Dragon. You will notice that the dragon does not like socks and has spit it out on to a nice curlicue below it. No accounting for taste. You will notice that the sock is looking decidedly short. It is a new sock -- the old one grew weary in the Magic Kingdom (TM) and decided to have some grafting done on its toe. A new one had to be started immediately. The yarn is my second dye-o-rama attempt. (I still do not have the yarn from MY swap partner ... boo. :-( )Here, just for the beauty, are two pictures of the sunset sky over the lagoon. The sock was suitably awed.And last but not least, Ellen holding the sock just before the fireworks began. I have to admit, Disney outdoes Universal in the fireworks department.

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 1

As many of you know, I joined "Socks for Sanity" and always have a plain sock at hand to work on in odd (or not so odd) moments. The sock that started the trip was one of my Leaf Cuff socks and it did not start growing until just before we landed. I have to admit that I shoved it aside in favor of CeCe during the plane ride -- CeCe was more involved and gave me less brain to focus on the family I was seated with.

When we got to our hotel the sock was awed in to silence. The picture below shows only a small part of this place. It is huge! I got lost several times and never saw the entire thing.
The water in front is the "Harbor." I was standing on the Ferry Landing when I took this and I have to admit that we never took the ferry. While waiting the first time, we were greeted by a pedicab driver and let him take us to Universal Studios. The ride made us realize that we were within walking distance and after that we just walked to the City Walk (where the entrances to Universal's two theme parks meet and where there are lots of retail and dining opportunities).

After checking in to the hotel the sock insisted that we go to the Universal Studios theme park. Compared to the Magic Kingdom, Universal is cozy but it was still overwhelming for the sock. It hid in its bag for quite a while, occassionally poking a needle out to take a peek.

Since I have been to these places (though many, many years ago) I let my friend take the lead. Once the sock glimpsed the NYC skyline however, it started to dictate where we went.
Initially, it did not realize that we were essentially on a movie set and it insisted on going to the Guggenheim Museum. My socks are big fans of Frank Llyod Wright.
The sock was sorely disappointed however, when we got to the other side ...
The we all spied the Subway. Being a proper NYC kind of sock, it was hoping to catch a train heading uptown.Once again, the sock was thwarted. (Pictured is my friend, Ellen. She really tolerated this whole sock thing and even started enabling it once the sock stopped being camera shy.)

And then the sock started getting in to it. The sock insisted on jumping in to my hands on every ride line and even managed to stay there for the entire special effects show. The sock however, remained camera shy until it saw Woody Woodpecker. At that point, the sock lept out of my hands and in to Woody's. If you look closely you will see it on Woody's finger. It is somewhat camoflaged as it is made of Trekking XXL #100.

Then the sock went to the animal show and saw the dog from MIB II. It also saw some cool bird stunts but it was the MIB dog that most impressed it. The poor creature smashed, unintentionally, head first into a set of stone stairs. The sock did not laugh.

After catching a special effects show and being so rude as to insist on being knit while in the first row, the sock directed us to a lovely seafood resturant where we all had a leisurely meal and stayed to watch the fireworks / film clip show. All in all, a lovely day.

Tomorrow -- the sock does Disney and gets to see Pooh Bear but does not get stuck in Rabbits Hole.

Where our Heroine Battles with the Forces of Housekeeping

As the scene opens, we find our heroine as she enters a lovely hotel room. The two queen size beds are made to perfection, the bathroom is three times the size of our heroine's home facilities and the mini bar is fully stocked.

Our heroine decides to unpack fully and even hangs her hangables. She adjusts the temperature upwards and then departs for the remainder of the day to indulge in the decadence of a nearby theme park.

When our heroine returns, she is greeted with soft music, one turned down bed, a chocolate mint and a lowered thermostat. The lady in question turns off the radio, and raises the room temperature. She stows the mint for later.

Running a bath, our heroine luxuriates in the warm water while reading a trashy novel. After the relaxing soak she dries off with the fresh, clean towels and slips into bed. There, she curls up with the four fluffy pillows and quickly departs for dreamland.

In the morn our heroine is not awakened by the usual sound of the bike in the living room, but rather by the soft ding of her cell phone. This was necessitated by a lack of understanding of the workings of the alarm clock by her bedside. After performing her usual ablutions, she then departs for The Magic Kingdom (TM).

Returning to her room late that night, she finds the t.v cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the same bed turned down and two chocolate mints. She closes the cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the thermostat and slips in to bed.

Another day dawns, another theme park is conquered and our heroine returns to her room in the early evening to prepare for the opening reception of the conference that brought her south to begin with. Entering, she finds the room clean and the thermostat turned down. Shivering, our heroine turns up the temperature and transforms herself from her play persona to her work persona -- lipstick and all.

Following an enjoyable evening of networking and free alcoholic beverages, she once again returns to her room for the night. There she finds: the t.v. cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the other bed turned down and two more chocolate mints. Our heroine: shuts the t.v. cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the temperature and rips the bedspread off of the bed that she has occupied the last two nights. She then retires with a good heart.

The next day dawns and our heroine learns many good things at the conference. She also freezes her a** off but that is neither here nor there. After dinner, she returns to her room to find: the temperature lowered, the radio off, neither bed turned down and no chocolate mints. Fade to black.

Coming Soon -- The Adventures of Sock and friends in the Theme Parks

Growing Up

I'm back! There will be several posts over the next few days where I share my adventures. It will take a bit of time though, since while I was away, our construction project fell apart. The stuff we cannot do ourselves is mostly done and arrangements have been made to mostly finish things up using other resources but we will be busy doing the painting for the next few days so my time may be limited. I swear that I once swore never to paint again. See what happens when you swear!

On to my travels ... (Please note, I was traveling with a friend so I occasionally use "we." It is not the Royal We but really does refer to two people and a sock.)

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I am growing up. Our journey starts at Laguardia airport where we watched and wondered about the family with six kids. Now remember, I only have 2 kids so they usually do not out number the adults I must assume that the rules are different when you have 6. The rules, however, should not include one parent napping while the other reads a magazine with the kids left to their own devices. That is what happened on the plane and I was lucky(?) enough to be seated in the same row as the father and one kid and in front of 3 kids under 6 years old while mom slept behind them with the last 2 kids. The kids with the parents mostly slept. The 3 behind me however ...

I did not channel my mother-in-law (but she was with me as I decided what not to do) and I did keep my temper and focused on knitting CeCe for the duration of the flight. I am proud to say that I am growing up.

Squid On Wheels

I have decided that since Female Child is really not so much a child, that all of our names, for blogging purposes are changing. We will now be: Mama Squid, Papa Squid, Squidette and Little Squid.

Today your friendly Squid family took to their wheels again and ventured up to Central Park. We have been talking about this ride for a while and I admit to being a bit concerned about the kids being able to handle the hills -- the Central Park loop is all about the hills. Silly me, the kids thought the hills were easy! The four Squid set out from our usual starting point in Chelsea at the Hudson River and rode north to 96th Street where we hit the streets to get to Central Park. Papa Squid grew up with Central Park as his back yard so the he was riding the loop as soon as he was off training wheels. Papa Squid is also a major cyclist -- the 6 mile loop is nothing to him.

We did the loop from 96th street (west side) to 102nd (east side) as two pairs -- Papa Squid and Squidette and Mama Squid with Little Squid. We tend to pair up this way because Mama has a bit more patience with Little's slower pace. Periodically, Papa and Squidette would stop and wait for us and then at 102nd street we really split with Papa and Squidette taking the Great Hill and Mama and Little Squid taking the shortcut. We were supposed to meet at 96th Street but Little and Mama blew past it and exited at 91st street, riding Central Park West back to 96th. Before we knew it, Papa and Squidette were coming toward us from downtown -- when they did not see us waiting in the Park they continued down to 91st and followed us uptown. Great minds think alike. We then persuaded the kids to ride downtown through the park to 57th Street where we walked to 57th and rode back to the Hudson River and home.

We all had a great time and the smaller squid felt a huge sense of accomplishment. The best line of the day: Mama to Little "you can do it!" Little in response (in a "silly mommy of course I can" tone) "I'm doing it." O.k, it does not translate well in to print but it was funny.

Later, I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the playground and the response I got was along the lines of "leave us alone, we're tired!"

Total mileage: 17 miles (a bit more for Squidette and Papa Squid)

Tomorrow Mama Squid is off to Orlando, Florida for the GE / Brandeis College Bound conference -- and some time at the theme parks before the conference starts on Wednesday. The blog will probably be on hiatus until some time on Saturday -- after a bike ride, of course!

I am in a panic as to how much and what kind of knitting to pack. I just wound a ball of dye-o-rama reject yarn for another pair of "plain" sockettes if I finish the Leaf Edged ones. I think that the Leaf Edged sockettes (now on the all stockinette foot) and the Child's Sock should be my plane knitting but CeCe is calling out to fly in the cabin instead of as luggage. And what if my luggage gets lost? CeCe is being knit out of my precious hand spun yarn ...