Buildings, Blankets and Friends

Yesterday I set out in search of fiber. My information was flawed, however, and I could not find it, despite walking a block east and a block west of the original designation. Oh well, I did get a nice walk in and snapped some interesting photos for my faithful blog readers.
Would it bother you to learn that One Fifth Avenue is not the lowest address on Fifth?

But I'm pretty sure that One Half Fifth Avenue is the lowest.
And then there are the Mews. Scroll down in the link. Formerly stables, they are now residential and form a quiet, private, street just north of Washington Square Park. They are, by the way, situated between One Half and One Fifth Avenue.

***

I did promise work on the blanket, and 8 rows were added last night. More rows were added to the rib warmer but then there are only 30 stitches per row vs 270 for the blanket.

The evening concluded with a phone conversation with Susan! It was great to put a voice to the blog presence and we talked like we'd known each other forever. Thank you, Susan!

Weekend!

Two weekends ago , with the laundry done a day early, Squidette and I spent a lovely morning crafting while Little Squid was off at hebrew school. I helped Squidette wind a warp for her small loom using some coned lace weight merino that was marinating in my stash and then sat down to spin while she wove.

Fast forward to sometime this week ...

Pink warp (double stranded) with blue weft (single strand). It softened and fulled to just the right amount with washing.

On my end ...
Roughly 500 yards of Cochineal / Osage dyed Corriadale spun to an uneven worsted weight with a nice rustic texture to match the rusticness of the coloring. On top, 320 yards of 3 ply, lace weight (pretty evenly spun after plying) cotton. I'm thinking lace scarf with the cotton.

On the knitting front, Squidette's blanket has 12 rows out of 185 done of the flower. Yea, I did not work on it the last few nights and instead, started a Rib Warmer using my cochineal dyed corriadale from a few weeks ago. I needed to knit something that would quickly use up a ball of yarn. Got to even out yarn out to yarn in with all this spinning and the blanket will not yield a finished ball for at least 50 - 100 more rows with 5 being used at a time right now. I'll go back to it tonight. Promise!

Honest Squid

I am a strong believer in honesty. Lies, even small ones, have a habit of coming back to haunt me, big time. So, I don't lie. I will sometimes shade the truth, but I refuse to outright lie.

So why did a truth come and bite me in the rear yesterday? Ah, it probably wasn't the truth but rather the recipient just being them self. Regardless ... I needed what is in the previous post. At least the raw version once I calmed down a little. I think I need to do some more unraveling today.

Will I ever, really reveal what the heck is going on around here? Nope, not publicly. Unfortunately for this story, this blog is too public. I do promise, however that it has NOTHING to do with any other Squid. Promise. Remember, I don't tell lies.

---

And, an aside to Susan. What you sent me yesterday? I may use it tonight if I can figure out the time difference. Thank you!

Sometimes You Just Need Cookies

Not MY Son!

Summary of a real conversation:

Mr. X: Mrs. Squid? This is Mr. X, your son's Phys Ed teacher. Little Squid has been unprepared for the last six weeks.

Me: Huh? How? Isn't all he requires sneakers?

Mr. X: He hasn't worn sneakers on a Tuesday for the last 6 weeks.

Me: Huh? My son doesn't own any other shoes. Even his dress shoes are too small.

Mr. X: I can describe them -- black crocs with a yellow stripe.

Me: He doesn't own Crocs. He goes to school every day in his sneakers with his road ID attached.

Mr. X: Eveery Tuesday he's been wearing crocs.

Me to Little Squid -- do you own crocs that I don't know about?

Little Squid: No

Me: He doesn't own crocs he only has sneakers right now. (Poking around Little Squid's closet.) I know he's lazy in Phys Ed but unprepared?

Mr. X: Every Tuesday ...

Me: Will you be there for conferences tomorrow? (Thinking that I have to show him Little Squid in order to set this straight.)

Mr. X: Yes, until about 3:00.

Me to Little Squid (With lightbulb suddenly on) What day do you have Mr. X.

Little Squid: Thursday

Me: My son has Phys Ed on Thursday, Mrs. L's Class.

Mr. X: Starting to stress the same point again ...

Little Squid: It could be the other Little Squid

Me: Huh?

Mr. X: Oh! I'm so sorry! There is another Little Squid in second grade. I'm so sorry. I just saw the name Little Squid and assumed the last name.

Me: That's o.k.

Mr. X: And he's been doing better lately. I'm really sorry.

Me: It's o.k., I'm a teacher and have made the same mistake. I'll still come by tomorrow.

Mr. X; O.k.,

Me: See you tomorrow. Bye. (Click)

Massive amounts of laughter in the Squid household tonight. Little Squid has an unusual real first name. It never occurred to me that there was another child with the same name in the school.

The Man I Love

This is the man I love. For the last 17 years we have been joined as one. For longer then that, we have shared each other's joys and sorrows.

When you go to work on your birthday it is almost permissible to be giggly and funny as you let slip that the day is special.

An anniversary is different. You feel special but expressing it to others is tough. Today I tried to wear my love on my sleeve. O.k., not my sleeve, but my fingers, wrist and neck. Four pieces of jewelry, all given to me with love by my husband. My wedding band and engagement rings, which always (except of really long bike rides) adorn my hands. My bracelet, delivered in a cardboard box, to my mentor, to give to me. She said it was from the Superintendent's office. I was skeptical as it was taped shut with electrical tape and anyway, I'd just come back from that office! My necklace, slipped in my purse with the expectation that I'd see it when I purchased my breakfast. The money for my roll was in my pocket so I didn't see it until I got to work. And then cried. Not because of the gift itself, but of the love that I know went into the acquisition and presentation. The love of the gentle surprise.

That is what Mike is about. The gentle surprise. The love. The caring. The reading of my mind. The last 17 years and longer. And, of course, the kids. I pray that the years will just go on and on. I know the love will.

Sunny Day ...

So the clouds are gone but it was still too cold and too windy to ride. Oh well, there is always next weekend.

Let's see how I did with my goals for this weekend:

1. Get on the trainer as soon as this post is done.

Done

2. Spin some more cotton -- only 7 grams left of the colorful stuff.

Finished spinning and plying it. It is now skeined and soaking (and running) in the sink. What can I do with 380 yards of lace weight cotton?

3. Laundry (with some spindle spinning while washing / drying).

No spinning while this happened -- Mike did the laundry while I was doing #6.

4. Take Squidette and her ever growing feet for shoes and other girl stuff.

New shoes and a blow dryer with diffuser (for her curly hair) purchased. And a pretzel at Aunt Annies.

5. Make more progress on Squidette's blanket -- the yellow has now been broken with the purple and there are now 3 skeins of yarn in use, going to 4 by the end of the evening (3 of them yellow).

Ripped back the 3 rows that I had knit and then made actual progress with 4 more rows before abandoning it for a sock. My brain and my head (sinus headache) was hurting. You try knitting with a chart that is almost as big as the blanket on your lap! I'll do a few more rows tonight after my yarn is done washing.

6. Synagogue knitting group.

Done and Done! We finished 3 blankets -- the one I showed a week or so ago, one constructed almost entirely by the other group leader and one more assembled by another group member. I brought the almost completed fourth blanket home and will finish it before the next meeting.

I also plyed the orangy wool that I spun two weeks ago. That is soaking in one half of the kitchen sink while the cotton is on the other side.

There you go. Yup, it was a productive weekend. Now if the weather had been nicer I would not have been nearly as productive but it still would have been nice.

Rain, Rain Go Away ...

It looks like I have been totally defeated on the biking front this week. Tuesday morning, the weather folk were predicting rain for late in the day. Keeping my fingers crossed, I tossed my bike in the car and loaded a bag with appropriate clothing and helmet. Schelped the bag into my office only to see the rain start at noon.

Being lazy, I left the stuff in the car and in the morning heard that it was going to be clear all day -- so I brought the bag from the car back into my office. To be told that my 6:00 ladies gathering had been moved to 4:30.

Today it is raining and tomorrow it is not supposed to break 45 degrees and will be very windy. Thft!

So the weekend plans are now as such:

1. Get on the trainer as soon as this post is done.
2. Spin some more cotton -- only 7 grams left of the colorful stuff.
3. Laundry (with some spindle spinning while washing / drying).
4. Take Squidette and her ever growing feet for shoes and other girl stuff.
5. Make more progress on Squidette's blanket -- the yellow has now been broken with the purple and there are now 3 skeins of yarn in use, going to 4 by the end of the evening (3 of them yellow).
6. Synagogue knitting group.

Yes, I really do expect to do it all.

Tooth Fairy Shenanigans

Seems that a tooth was lost in this family yesterday but I am only just finding out now. Why? My children (and husband) seem to be trying to trap the tooth fairy. I'm gathering the pieces to the story as left in the letter that the Tooth Fairy delivered and as dragged out of my family.

Best I can figure is that Little Squid lost a tooth in school, went to the Nurse and got some sort of container. What kind, I can't tell you since I never saw it.

The tooth fairy apparently appeared last night and, to use her words, "searched high and low" for it. Apparently she even looked under the rug.

Tenacious lady fairy.

The tooth was ultimately located under my pillow.

** blink, blink **

The letter was left at Little Squid's place at the table and the payment was left in the freezer. Where Little Squid failed to see it. But Squidette did.

Despite all of this evidence, they still seem to think that I am the tooth fairy. I'm dumb struck. How could they still believe this? And why would they doubt me.

The two of them are whispering at the table as I type this. Thft!

Oh, and I was woken very early by something moving my pillows around. I think the Tooth Fairy is losing her touch.

Cover Your Head! And Climb that Mountain!

I had to bite my tongue yesterday. It is my habit to, on cold or rainy days, to nag students to cover their heads before heading out. (I also nag them to zip their jackets and put on their gloves.)

As I was about to suggest that they cover their heads, I took a second look at the group I was ready to nag. Religious young ladies. With their heads already covered. D'oh.

***

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of introducing Erik Weihenmayer. Our students had read his book ahead of time and knew what to expect but, I have to admit, I had not.

Erik is a mountain climber. A blind mountain climber. And skier. And ice climber. Dang!

I have to admit that I am a cynic and when I hear that an "inspirational" speaker is coming, I tend to run in the opposite direction as fast as I can. I am so glad that I stayed for this one. It wasn't that his talk was inspirational in the "you can do it, go, go go" kind of way. It was the story. It compels you to look at your own life and say "gee, I can't do that but I can do this better.

The points he makes about setting up systems and surrounding yourself with people who you can trust, about building strong teams -- those are things that stick with you.

The introduction was supposed to be made by someone else. I am SO glad that I had this opportunity.

In Like a Lamb

March March March March ...

It was so nice today that I ran out for lunch without my coat on and even stayed out long enough for my glasses to change color.

Yesterday we took Squidette's bike out for a shakedown ride and she decided that she LOVES it. Then we realized that Little Squid's bike frame is really the same size as the rest of ours and we are now trying to figure out why we didn't get him a Friday when we got his folding bike two summers ago. I suspect that he will not have to wait for his thirteenth birthday for his Bike Friday. And, if that is the case, then I guess that Squidette's bike will no longer count as her 13th birthday / Bat Mitzvah present (yes, many months early). Hmmm ...


Meanwhile, on the knitting front ...I'm 3 inches from starting the centerpiece. That means more interesting knitting. To break the boredom of 2o plus inches of plain stockinette, I give you ... leafy lace edgings. 23 stitches on either side leaving only 224 stitches of boring stockinette.
3 skeins of yellow down ... lots more to go.

A Bit of Family History

While on a double date with my parents the other night (seeing Avenue Q with your father is just a little weird), my father mentioned that my Zedda (grandfather) used to work in 305 Seventh Avenue.Zedda was a furrier back in the days when wearing fur wasn't evil. My dad describes him as a very powerful man who could lift a stack of pelts as easily as you might lift a telephone book.

That's not how I remember my Zedda -- by the time I was on the scene, Zedda owned a stationary store in Queens. We'd go by every so often to visit. I remember the greeting cards and the assortment of general stuff in the store. There was candy, too, but I only really discovered that as a teen when, popping in on my own, Zedda stocked me with some goodies for a youth group trip.

I tried to see what history this building holds but was unable to find much. It is not considered to be architecturally interesting enough for my favorite NYC architecture website and a basic google only gets me some of the businesses in the building. Sorry! It is, however, a piece of family history and I will never walk by it again without thinking about my Zedda.

A Home In New York City

Today's New York Times has a great article on the rarity that is affordable housing in New York City. I am lucky in that I live in one of these "one in a million" apartments.

In the heart of New York City is a bastion of "middle class" housing, the Penn South Co-ops. Just south and west of Midtown. Barely North of the West Village and walking distance to oh so much of this wonderful city.

I am not paying through the nose for this privilege, I just got lucky.

Back when my mother-in-law taught at Humanities High School, she heard about "the list." "The List" was the waiting list at our complex. Our community was built with the backing of what is now the ILGWU. Apartments were priced so that a teacher, a firefighter, a garment worker, could afford to live near their jobs in comfort and dignity. Not only were they priced that way, a covenant was entered into with the state so that you could only get into the complex if your income fell within a certain range. When you left the complex, you sold your apartment back at the same price that you paid. Yup, no profit. As a matter of fact, we took a small loss when we moved from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom. (They called it a "restoration" fee.)

A fly over of our complex shows enough green space to give a modern real estate developer heart palpitations. (Just think of how many more apartments you could squeeze in here!)

Many of the tenants, yours truly included, still adhere to the beliefs that founded our complex -- that there should be affordable housing for the masses. When our current deal with the state runs out in a few years, our family will vote (if given the option) to not go market rate. I want to keep Penn South for the masses. For the people who do the day to day work in this city, keeping it running. My neighbors include firefighters, nurses, teachers, maintenance workers and subway motormen.

On Monday, I will share the Times article with my younger staff members. The ones who have not already moved out to New Jersey in order to find affordable homes. The lists still exist and people still get lucky. I just want to share the "wealth."

What do YOU think?

I think that he looks almost prepubescent.

What do you think?

Speak up now.

We're waiting ...

The New Arrival

We were sitting, quietly eating out evening meal when the doorbell rang ...

What could it be?

A tire?

???

Ta Da!

Let's all welcome the newest set of wheels for the Family Squid. Squidette's new Bike Friday in Candy Apple Red. (With a green adjustable stem to be replaced by late spring with a custom fit Candy Apple stem.)

Rats!

What am I going to do with these guys? I was thinking of wearing them to Purim dinner but Purim is not a gruesome kind of holiday ... so they will probably stay in storage until Halloween.

Or maybe I'll just wear them around NYC and be "avant garde."

Oh, and I had fun saying "just let me finish more more Rat's a$$." I'm easily amused. Kit from Morehouse Merino.

More Spinning

It snowed on Friday. Enough fell that the kids wanted to go sledding. While I love watching the kids sled, the slog to and from the sledding hill (by foot and by subway) and the standing in the cold, really does not do anything for me. So ... when Mike so nicely offered to take the kids on his own, so that I could finish the taxes, I jumped for joy. Sort of. Then I finished the taxes. And then I prepped some spinning ...

We started with 195 grams of osage and cochineal dyed Corrieadale from Handspun by Stefania (found the receipt in the bag). This is an excellent match for the purply stuff (cochineal dyed ccorriadle) from the other day.


Imagine all of this now spun into a lovely, somewhat uneven, handspun looking singles. 2.5 bobbins worth. It is not yet plyed because all of that longdrawish spinning got me hunkering for some real long-draw spinning. So, when I finished the singles, I also switched gears to my charka and some cotton.
Imagine one more spindle full of cotton. About 4 grams worth with 12 to go. The plan (don't laugh) is to triple ply it, after all three spindles are full, and then eventually knit a very light weight summer top. Right now I think I will do a regular 3 ply and not my usual Navajo in order to mute the colors a bit and make for less obvious striping. The color repeats are VERY long and the thinness of the single would make for huge stripes. So, I'm thinking something along the lines of the Trekking yarns with their three plys changing colors one at a time. That said, this will take a long time with lots of dedicated spinning, to finish, so don't look for it anytime soon.

Monsters!

The latest issue of Craft encouraged the creation of monsters. Seemed like a good idea to me so I passed the issue off to my monster (Little Squid) and he got busy. Once the first new monster had entered our home, Squidette got into the act and now we have a whole herd of them!

GOOGLES

Name: Googles

Gender: Male

Personality: Googles is a cuddly monster who likes to read. He loves puzzles and strategy. His favorite game is sticks. This game is similar to battleships except a lot more mathy and each square has a number. When someone makes a guess and they are wrong, the opponent says the answer following equation, x * y ** 2. (x = guess, y = placement of stick) the sticks then would be moved up to 4 squares. Googles would like to have a book to read every night and would like to go outside at least once a week.

TALK-EYE

Name: Talk-eye

Gender: Male

Personality: Talk-eye loves dark places and is very active. He loves to do staring contest and always loses. He communicates in low grunts as he has no mouth. He will get irritable if you do not give him somewhere dark to sleep. and remember, he's always watching ...

SKEE

Name: Skee

Gender: Female

Personality: Skee is a small but determined monster. She always does what she can to get her way. Skee is slow to trust new people but when she does trust them, she never stops. Skee is an outdoors monster. She needs to get outside at least once every 2 days and she loves sports. She loves the snow and will do almost anything to get out in it. She loves to read and wants to read every day, but if she can't, she won't force it. She hates to draw.

Skee's favorite food is ice cream. She could eat it all year round.

NARU

Name: Naru

Gender: Female

Personality: Naru is a quiet monster who is full of energy. She loves to jump around and is quick to trust new people. Naru has an acute sense of things and can tell if something is wrong and will let you know.

Naru likes to be outside, but she hates the rain and snow. She loves windy clear days and if she sees a bunch of dark clouds in the sky and hears thunder, she would run inside and hide under the covers.

Naru likes to draw quietly. She rarely talks, sh o that is her way of communication. She can talk, though, but she chooses not to talk to most people, only to the people or monsters she really trusts and loves. Naru's favorite food is marshmallows. She loves rice crispie treats as well.

Spinning Through the Week

May I present roughly 800 yards of Berrilicious Merino. Dyed as roving by Dave and spun by your favorite Mama Squid.Berrilicious is a sport weight, 3 ply done in my favorite Navajo method. I just love the rhythm of Navajo plying. Plans? I want to find a nice fair isle cardigan or vest pattern. No steeks pleases. Right now I am debating the Spools pattern from Handpaint Country, modified to avoid cutting. I am not afraid of steeking, per se, just of my habit of making things too big and having to go back and reknit -- which is not a possibility if half the yarn is in tiny pieces. Not with my precious hand spun, please. I'll take suggestions ...

Next on the wheel was the rest of the plummy wool.
I predrafted it all, after first dividing the roving into 16 roughly equal parts, and spun it up over 2 days. Pictures of the finished skeins in a day or two when I need room in the bathroom again.
Papa Squid was amazed at the pile of roving and decided to have some fun.

Now both my wheels are empty and next up is the matching orangy roving. I spun the last of the plummy stuff using a modified long draw and it spun up so quickly that I may be deluding myself as to how fast the orangy stuff will spin up.

Meanwhile, I have not been the only creative Squid this week. Look at what Papa made!

(The kids' monsters will debute, probably, tomorrow. They have some text to write up in order to properly describe their creations. But first and foremost, we have snow to play in!)

In Search of the Tunacorn

For several weeks, our family has debated the existence of the Tunacorn. Mama Squid is firmly in the "nope, doesn't exist" camp while the rest of the family are all for it.

With the premise for our adventure now established, your friendly, neighborhood Squid set out to determine its existence once and for all.

Off to the American Museum of Natural History -- a favorite stomping ground -- where we consulted with Dum Dum.
Nope, he doesn't know where the tunacorn is.
We then asked the Elephants ... nope, they didn't know either. So much for the elephants famed memory.Hey! Mr. Whale! Do you know where the tunacorn is? What about you, lizard head?

Maybe the museum's computers can help.Hey guys! Where's the tunacorn?!Nope, cool looking, but not a tunacorn.

The tunacorn!? Or not.Hey! Whale! I thought you didn't know where the tunacorn was! He was right in front of you!

And so ends our search.

End result: three Squid convinced of the existence of the tunacorn. One skeptic still at large.