Up to date

This is the post where I bring you, dear reader, up to date. It will be long and will change topics periodically so feel yourself warned.

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Our trip to Lancaster, obviously, involved knitting -- in the car, in the corn maze and around the camp fire. When we returned, the results were as follows:

Car and Pool Knitting.

Campfire and Corn Maze Knitting.

Stash acquisition courtesy of Labidie Looms. All hand dyed by the owner and the roving is from local sheep.

It also involved local color, hiking and Yogi Bear.

If you look closely you will see the sock on Yogi's thumb (the lower one).

(The sock is in Ranger Smith's face.)

Now we are back in NYC and catching up on stuff we meant to see but did not have time for like Chihuly at the Botanical Gardens.

Amazing!

Last night, an outrageously good dinner at Bouley with friends.

Today, some quality time with the folks. Tomorrow ... maybe a bike ride if the weather cooperates.

Squid on Wheels -- Lancaster Hills

Squid want to ride in different places and after our wonderful experience in Indianapolis, we decided to see what was happening in the Lancaster area.

After doing a considerable amount of research, Papa Squid made contact with the Lancaster Bike Club and discovered that they were having a D-Level (10 mph+) ride on the Sunday that we would be there. So, we did what Squid do, and brought our bikes to Lancaster.

Sunday dawned clear and cool and, after hooking the bike rack back up to the car, we took off to the meet up place where we were welcomed in to the fold. Off we went and very quickly discovered that Little Squid had not eaten enough breakfast. Embarrassed, we plied him with granola bars and all kept on peddling up and down the scenic hills. After the first major hill we paused to catch our breath and admire the view.

Later we paused yet again for a photo-op by one of Lancaster's scenic covered bridges. We rode through two of these during the ride. Way cool!

Us and members of the Lancaster Bike Club -- faces have been blurred for privacy.

Pushing on, we climbed several more hills and made it through a flat on Squidette's bike, changed in record time by Papa Squid. Both kids performed admirably and we will make sure to feed Little properly before the next ride. Thank you to the LBC members who patiently waited for Mike and Little to catch up to us and steered us the correct way. Special thanks to the ride leader who stayed after the flat to direct us back to the car.

Total mileage -- 15.8.

If you want to see our route, click here. (This is a new feature of Squid of Wheels and will now accompany most of our unusual rides.)

Would the button Cookie Please wave your hand

I know that I acknowledged the button publicly but now I am really confused and a bit embarrassed by which Cookie made the button. I read at least 2 Cookie blogs -- Cookie_1 and Cookie_2 and then there is the Cookie that Ann sometimes refers to without a link attached. I suspect that it is this third Cookie to whom I must address my public thanks. Cookie, whichever once you are, please stand up and be recognized!

Squid do the Corn Maze

*** Correction -- I apparently linked to the wrong Cookie before -- I hope I got it right now! If I am still giving credit to the wrong one, please speak up!***

But before we get to our regularly scheduled blog, I give to you the Squid Knits Button! Created by our very own Cookie. Thanks Cookie! Remember, if you want it, practice proper button etiquette.

If anyone is paying attention to the blogroll on the sidebar -- please ignore it. I am in the process of organizing my bloglines roll and will import that relatively soon. I have added a huge number of blogs to my daily reads and am starting to thin them out a bit to those I MUST read and those that I like reading and will read if I have the time.

Now ... on to knitting content. (Wait, I hear you say, didn't she promise Corn Maze? Ahh ... but there is a Corn maze, and Corn Maze socks!)

Corn Maze
Corn Maze Sock!

Prior to departing for PA, I dragged Squidette uptown to Knitty City (which I have decided is my absolutely favorite LYS in a town full of great LYS's). The emergency trip was because I did not have appropriate yarn to knit a new pair of plain fine gauge socks for Papa Squid. "Why," I hear you ask again, "do you need to knit plain fine gauge socks for him NOW?" Well, he has very large feet which make for good long periods of mindless, carefree knitting. Good for the dim light of campfires and ... for walking around corn mazes.This is not a posed picture. I really did knit them in the corn maze. They were but a solid-colored toe when we started the maze and gained a good two to three inches while wandering about trying to find the out way out.

Early in the Maze.

Much later. (Look on Toucan Sam's thumb for the sock.)The end of the Maze! (The sock is in the corn)

The kids were in charge of holding the map -- except when Papa Squid felt he needed to make an executive decision. I just knit and occasionally offered my opinion.

Our path through the corn -- click here.


After we finished the main Maize Maze we left for lunch at our favorite area resturant and then returned to have some more farmly fun.

There was the right-turn only maze -- I was the only Squid who could not figure it out.Mama Squid, lost in a sea of right turns.

There was the ball maze -- no one followed the directions but much fun was had.There was a lot of other stuff but mainly there was a lot of fun.

Mama Squid at the end of the day.

Squid go Camping

The Squid have moved around a bit this summer and this past weekend found us in the only locale we seem to return to year after year, Lancaster, PA. There is lots of "stuff" to do, good for the Squid who does not like to just "hang out" at the campground. There is outlet shopping with lots of stuff all in one place -- good for the Squid who hates shopping and likes to get it all out of the way at once. There is the Amazing Corn Maze -- good for all Squid involved and there is amazingly good local food both fresh and prepared.

This year we intended to go with friends but at the last minute they could not make it. While we missed our friends, this turned out to be a good thing. The family in the spot that our friends gave up are also now friends. What you really need to know is Squid tend to be asocial creatures so this is a big thing. Our kids hit it off immediately -- Little Squid is the same age as their oldest and their older girl (all of 6) fell in love with Little. Squidette also had fun with them and both Squid kids hooked up with all sorts of other kids despite our only being in the campground in the evening on Friday and Saturday.

This was also the first time we have gone camping on a weekend so it was interesting to see how different, and loud, the campground was versus during the week. That said, it is also the first time we have camped at this particular campground. (We were searching for the perfect balance of distance from "stuff" and ammeneties. I think we found it.) So here are some camping pictures. Pictures of the other "stuff" will come in the following days. Stay tuned!

The Squid Abodes. One for Mama and Papa, one for Little and Squidette.

A rare photo of Mama Squid cooking. (I let two of the ears of corn roll off the grill and on to the ground.)

S'mores!

Squid On Wheels - a New Look

Thanks to Karen Liu for our new logo. I have big plans for this little guy, stay tuned! We will also have new wall paper based on the design at right if I can get it so it will not distract from the text.

I've said it before and I will say it again, Squid are good!

Knitting and Geocaching

Since this is, theoretically, a knitting blog, here is some knitting content. First up are Squidette's newest socks. They are knit using the chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. The yarn is Knitpicks Dye Your Own dyed in a color and spacing pattern determined by Squidette.

Next up are the two newest sets of socks to hit the needles. On the left is the Dye-o-rama sock using the beaded rib pattern from Sensational Socks for moi. On the left is the latest plain sock for Papa Squid. The toes and heels will be green (socka) and the rest will be in a green / yellow colorway from Cherry Hill Yarns. The plain sock is my "walking around" sock and with Papa's big feet, I should be able to do a lot of walking.When we visited with Ann, she asked about the Geocaching that I frequently refer to. So, here goes for the rest of you.

Geocaching is a hobby / sport which involves a GPS device, a web-based database and good sleuthing skills. Cachers hide caches all over the world and post the longitude and latitude coordinates on the Geocaching website. They may or may not provide a description or hints to help you find the cache. A cache can be composed of a tiny container with just a small sheet of paper to log that you were there or a big ammo box containing all sorts of trinkets / toys / swag that you trade for. When we find a tradeable cache, we leave a tiny knit sock with a Z embroidered on it as our calling card. Cachers then log their finds on line and the site keeps a tally of all caches found. You may have noticed the logo / tally on the right side of my blog. We are up to 36 caches with the last 11 being found in the last 2 weeks.

GPS devices come in a variety of flavors. We have two, a running / biking GPS which was purchased for those purposes but can be used for caching using the coordinates along and a larger GPS which can be used on the bike and in the car. The second one can have the cache coordinates loaded on to it and display them in the form of a cute treasure box with an arrow pointing the way to the cache as you close in on it. No keeping numbers in your head with this one. This is the GPS which navigated us to DBILs easily. It does lots of other stuff but the caching and car navigation are why we purchased it.

The caching has lead us to places we might not have gotten to other wise and we have seen lots of neat stuff along the way. For more information, go to http://www.geocaching.com .

Squid On Wheels - Indiana Edition

First -- I have been remiss in announcing the winner of the "how long will I drive" contest. Total hours driven by Mama Squid ... drum roll please ... Zero. Therefore, the contestant with the answer closest to the actual amount is ... Chumly. Chumly -- email me offlist with your snailmail address and your preferred colors and I will acquire and send off your sock yarn.


Now, on to our adventures in Indianapolis.

We started by arriving in our hotel in East Indy only to discover that this hotel did not offer either free or wireless internet access. Blah. We went without for a few days and got on-line at my brother's place. The hotel would also not put a roll-away bed into a room with 2 beds so Little Squid got to sleep on the floor -- it is his fault for being such a restless sleeper. We got the kids a room of their own on the way home.

Heading out to occupy a few hours before my kid brother and fiance' (henceforth referred to as Josh and Jaye) got out of work, we went to the Indiana State Museum. Not only is it not as boring as it sounds, it is actually a really cool museum. Most cool is the steam powered clock behind it and the plaques for all 92 Indiana counties which adorn the museum's outer walls. If you get to Indianapolis, do the museum and see the plaques.

We then strolled for a while up the Canal and had a lovely dinner with Josh and Jaye.

The next day is when we really started having fun. Swooping by their house, we led Josh and Jaye to a bike store in Carmel where we could rent bicycles. Being a proper school of traveling Squid, we already had two bikes in the car. (We decided that for the length of the trip vs the amount of possible cycling time that it was not worth it to bring the two road bikes and only brought the folders.) Josh and Jaye rented individual bikes and Squidette and I rented a tandem. See Josh with the big grin on his face?

That is because after all of these years (Josh is 15 years younger then me) he was finally comfortable on a bike. We took him for a 15 mile ride along the Monon Trail and by the end of the ride he was ready to buy a bike and start racing. Way Cool!

Mike is posing in front of the Monon Train sign because that is what owners of Bike Friday's do.

Squidette and Mama Squid on a tandem. I think I need one of these! Little Squid also got in some tandem time and we all vastly enjoyed the experience. Bike Friday makes folding tandems ... look for a new bike on this site sometime next spring.

Josh, Jaye and the Squid Kids (Jaye did wear a helmet, just not for the photo.) And so the Squid have conquered Indy. Next year we think that a week of riding before grabbing J and J for the weekend is in order. Indianapolis is a great cycling city and has multiple paved trails. It almost makes me want to live there. Almost.

Sunday saw the bike store opening late so biking was scrapped. Instead we did the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Much like the Norwalk Aquarium, this museum rates a Best In Category. It is even worth a single trip for childless adults. It is just that cool.

This is the least of it.

This ranks as the coolest picture taken during the trip.

Chihuly -- can you see the squid?This is a clock. Can you believe it?!Strangest sign seen in Indianapolis. Can anyone out there explain this? On top of the building were what looked like a lot of cell phone receiver / transmitters much like we have on lots of buildings here in NYC. I am very confused.
Found behind the Fine Arts Museum while Geocaching. Caching takes you to some neat places!And last, but not least, Josh and Jaye when we were done with them. Poor things, we wore them out!

Next adventure -- The Squid do Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Expect Corn Mazes, Good Food, Geocaching and of course, more cycling.

DYE-O-RAMA!!!

My Dye-o-rama Angel was Cookie and she ROCKS! Today I received a package of Purpley Goodness. (It actually arrived last week but I was on the road and then I had to spend all day waiting for my neighbor to get home from work. It was a trying day I tell you.)

Funny thing -- I was reading her blog earlier and stumbled upon this post. I immediately knew that she was referring to me and promptly got really antsy as I waited for my neighbor to get home from work. It was worth the wait. THANK YOU COOKIE!!!

I promise a trip update in the morning. Meanwhile, I leave you with these:
finished while driving back from Indy.

Squid on the Road -- Kentucky Bound

The Squid family does not do long road trips. Our trips until now have averaged 4 hours more or less with camping trips being confined to a 3 hour radius. So, to embark on a trip from New York City to Kentucky was a big adventure.

We did not do the "frequent stops and tourist" thing but pretty much spent the first day driving. One Geocache was found in Ohio -- a micro at an I-80 rest stop. It was a quick find which was good because Papa Squid was not hanging around for a long search.

We got pretty close to Columbus, OH the first day and would have made it except that Little Squid got a tummy ache around 8:30 so we decided to call it a night.

The next day saw us put in the last 3 hours to Alexandria, KY. We saw Columbus in passing:

And I mean passing. Maybe next year we will actually stop there.

We then discovered just how good the mapping software in our GPS was as it guided us along some winding roads to DBILs home / farm-in-progress. There, we discovered that they were putting the property on the market and would be moving again -- maybe to Michigan? I guess we will not be visiting Kentucky again any time soon.

Lots of fun was had there with lots of time in the pool,at the aquarium,
(Papa Squid's sister and her kids -- they flew out for this "family reunion.")

(Yes, that is the sock that was in progress. We rescued it before it could be eaten.)

and a day down in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park. Thanks to DSIL, Squidette is horse crazy and had a fantastic time at the Horse Park. Unfortunately, even a miniature horse will not fit on our terrace.

We also witnessed Uncle Steve mowing the lawn

and got to help with the chores.
We introduced Uncle Steve and Aunt Andrea to the pleasures of Geocaching and logged 4 Kentucky caches. (A separate post about Caching is forthcoming.)

After 3 days in Kentucky we headed off to Indiana -- but that's another post!

By the way -- if you ever have a chance to visit the Norwalk-Cincinnati Aquarium, DO IT! It is the best one that we have seen. Please note that despite our extreme New York City-centrism, we completely admit that the NY Aquarium is the pits and really is not worth a special trip if you have access to another aquarium. The Bronx Zoo however, is a different story!