Just came across Theresa's "Personal Yarns" questions. Sure, I'll answer!

1. Where were you born? What do you know about your own birth? (time, circumstance, etc...)
I was born in Huntington, NY - out on Long Island. June 3rd was a hot day that year, and there was apparently a tremendous thunderstorm while I was being born at 11:19 pm (according to my birth certificate). Mom really wanted a girl (I have an older brother) so being superstitious, she wore only pink to the hospital.

2. Do you have a baby picture you can put onto your weblog? If not, tell us what you looked like as a baby.
Look that way -------> I'm not sure how old I was there, but my Mom says this is her favorite baby picture of me. I have to admit I think it's damn cute, too. There's also these two below. First from best friend Diana's birthday party, and the second with Diana, her brother Greg, my brother Larry (the one tossing the baseball up) and Greg and Diana's mother Georgia, who died in 1995. I figured you would all enjoy the giggle from the clothes and the fact that my pasty white face practically glows compared to the others!






3. What kind of a baby or toddler were you according to the people who were around when you were young?
As an infant, they called me "little miss sunshine" because I was so well-tempered. Mom would come into my room in the morning and find me gurgling happily in the crib. I am not making this up. I am also not quite as cheery in the mornings these days! I was a funny little kid, who taught myself to read secretly at the age of four. At pre-school they thought Mom and Dad did it, and Mom and Dad thought it happened at pre-school. Hehehe. I'm still sort of like that - I tend to prefer to present people with the finished product rather than let them share the progress (particularly the setbacks.) Knitting seems to be the exception.

4. Know any cute baby-related quotes?
Something about how the mountain lion got its spots, which makes no sense since mountain lions don't have spots. My favorite quote isn't mine, though. When I was on the way, my parents went to look at a crib that someone was selling, and they took my four-year-old brother. In the middle of these strangers' living room, my brother smiled sweetly and said "I hate you Mommy!" and giggled. Of course he had no idea what he was saying, but imagine how mortifying it was?! Hmm. I know I must have said many cute things as a child. I will have to check with Mom later and get back to you.

Oh happy day! It's the beginning of my four-day weekend! The past week was so exhausting that this long weekend is even more precious than it would normally be. I stayed up too late last night and couldn't sleep in this morning, but I just don't care because it's sunny and beautiful and I don't have to work until Tuesday.

Got up to the armhole shaping last night on Ginger, and now I am in a quandary over how to proceed. The directions are confusing me. I posted to the ever-helpful knitting bloggers list, so hopefully I will get assistance soon. If anyone reading is a big Rowan fan and wants to know what's getting me stuck, let me know and I'll email you, since I don't want to bore everyone with posting it all here.

The plan this morning is to do a little cleaning-up around here, maybe laundry, a trip to the greenmarket. Later I am going shopping with my next-door neighbor Adrienne. We're hitting Old Navy with my 20% off coupon so we can get lots of cute little summery things without breaking the bank. Yay! I need to stock up on plain white tees, since I seem to have spilled soy sauce, tomato sauce or some unidentified substance on at least half of the ones I already own.

Not much else to say at the moment. So I suppose I won't!

Phew! That was a crazy morning. No internet access until around noon, and it didn't matter because I was slammed with work right up until I ran out the door to have lunch with Ms. Chunky! We had a lovely sojourn on the steps of the Morgan Library, enjoying the (finally!) spring weather.

Now I am unmotivated to do anything but ought to turn to those notes from yesterday's symposium. Time to make my unedited notes into an informative summary. Yipes. Maybe I won't have to work on it too long. My boss is basically waiting on pins and needles for his boss to leave, so he can leave, and in turn, I can leave! I am sending "go home" thoughts Bernie's way as we speak...

Since I had SO many extra-nice comments while I was gone (thanks, guys!) that I figured I'd just post an update. I'm back from Philly, and I decided on the Ginger tank for the train. And yes, Jackie, my plan is to wear it as a twin set. Ginger and Honey seem to go together. The train rides were very comfy and convenient - Amtrak has improved since I last took the train anywhere (4-5 years I guess). I got this much done:



The conference itself was interesting but very tedious, and I took about 15 pages of notes on my colleagues laptop, which I have to turn into a summary tomorrow. Fun fun fun. I'd rather be knitting.

OK, where is that boy? He went to some industry cocktail party and was going to have left 10 minutes ago. I am starving! FEED MEEE!

Ended up staying far later than I had planned at Stitch-n-Bitch last night. Jackie, Marney and Carolyn are absolutely evil! Though it wasn't that tough to get me to stay once I realized that I didn't actually have to get up early this morning. Usually I get up at 7:15 to be at the office at 9, but today I don't have to go in before going to Philly, and I'm meeting my colleague at Penn Station around 10:45. So, I didn't get home until 11 and didn't actually get to bed until after midnight.

Unfortunately, the garbage truck was really loud this morning and I was up at 7 anyway. Argh! I seem to be waking up more from street noise lately, and I don't know if it's just that there's more noise or I am sleeping less soundly. I tend to be a light sleeper anyway, so the latter would not be good news.

But, making the best of a bad situation, I finished up the top of the strawberry cap I started last night. This is going to be for Tracy's new baby girl, born yesterday. I'm not certain about her name just yet, but it may be Lily.



The cap is from the Anne Norling pattern, using Tahki Cotton Classic. When I left last night I was up to the beginning of the top leaves, so you can see this works up very quickly. Everyone at Stitch-n-Bitch kept telling me how cute it is, and since I didn't actually design the pattern or anything, I feel OK agreeing. I love these little fruit caps and seem to not tire of knitting them.

Since I was in photo mode, I also took a snap of the finished Honey cardigan. It's tough to see the detail along the raglan edges, so maybe I will get a better shot later. Wore it to work last Friday and got some compliments, followed by astonishment when I said I'd knit it myself. And made the button out of Sculpey. :-)



Now here comes silliness: I am so close to finishing the Mom sweater sleeve that I know I would finish it in the first hour of my train ride, and have nothing for the rest, or the way home. So obviously I should start something new from my WIM list. It will either be the Ginger tank in the same Summer Tweed as the cardie, or the Flame tank in this pretty black sparkly yarn I picked up a few months ago. You'll just have to wait anxiously to find out which it is!

Hmm, the case of the disappearing blog has returned. Let's try posting and see if it fixes it again!

We've finally gotten somewhere on that sleeve. I finished all the increases last night while talking to Paul, who came over to watch the "Ally McBeal" series finale. Now, I loved that show the first two seasons, and haven't watched it in about three years, since it just got too annoyingly stupid for me. But I hadn't seen Paul in a while and was curious about the show's end, so I watched. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was lamer than the "X-Files" finale. When Ally was saying goodbye to all at the end, Paul was joking around saying "And I'll miss you, Cowardly Lion, and you Mr. Scarecrow" and then Ally gets to the Biscuit at the end of the line and says "I'll miss you the most, Scarecrow." We nearly fell off the sofa. Dialogue should never be that predictable!

Now my dilemma is I don't think I have enough yarn with me to finish the sleeve, but I was planning on going to the gym, then Stitch-n-Bitch tonight, which doesn't really leave enough time to stop at home. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just take it as a sign - I said I didn't want to stay too late tonight, so when I run out, I should leave. Or I could skip the gym and run home for yarn. Or I could buy new yarn at Downtown Yarns and start a new project.

Actually, that third choice is the most likely option. Leanne's sister Tracy is having her baby today (she's a tiny little persona and this is her 3rd C-section, this time they decided to schedule it in advance) and since I am no way no how going to finish those baby blocks in time, I am going to make it a little strawberry cap, and some co-ordinating booties and/or bib. It's already on my list to buy the stuff tonight. Hey, if anyone has the Ann Norling fruit cap pattern on them, can you tell me what the gauge is and how many stitches to cast on for the newborn size? Mine is somewhere at home, but I couldn't find it last night.

Wow, is it Monday already? I suppose it is. I also suppose it is March, and that's why I am wearing this turtleneck? What is up with the weather? 95 degrees in April, then 48 in May.

I achieved a goal yesterday at the 9th Avenue Food Fair: I tasted a deep-fried oreo cookie! I have been wanting one ever since reading about them on Jenny's blog. If you've never tried them - yum! Take an oreo cookie, dip it into funnel cake batter, then drop it in hot oil. A lovely experience, captured in pixels (doesn't quite have the ring as "caught on film," eh?):





In addition to the oreo bliss, Ryan and I had the fun of running into Jackie and Marney along the way! I realized too late that we should have taken a picture, but the camera was in the bag, forgotten, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Working backwards on the weekend, I managed to finish the first sleeve of Mom's sweater, and we spent a few hours at the MoMA. That almost didn't happen, as when we got the museum, there were about 300 people on line outside to buy tickets. We walked into the lobby to assess the situation, and when we looked through the glass, we saw Carla standing outside. Turns out she has a friend at the museum, so she wandered in, got us free tickets, and we sauntered past the line. Oh I love it when things like that happen! It was terribly crowded inside, so we didn't stay too long, but it was nice to see some of the Richter exhibit as well as the "greatest hits" from the permanent collection before it all moves to Queens for three years.

OK, I am all over the place chronologically, but jumping back to Sunday night, I was pretty disappointed in the finale of "The X-Files." It gave a good rundown of the story and some answers and clarifications, but I felt the drama and emotion were sorely lacking and the direction was really flat. A letdown for me, since I have been a big fan for years, and have seen every episode, even had most on tape until a season or two ago. I guess it really was just time for it to end. I know Chris Carter has talked about going the "Star Trek" route and doing movies from here on in, but I don't know if I see that happening, or if they'd even be compelling at this point. He really messed with the story too much in the past two seasons, and got away from the original feeling of the show. It pains me to say that. There was a time when I loved the show so much I couldn't bear any criticism of it at all.

Well, I've bent your ears (eyes?) long enough here. I suppose I will go do some work!

Dinner last night with my neighbors Chris and Adrienne was yummy! We went to Roetelle A.G. - a cute little Swiss restaurant not too far from home. Stuffed ourselves silly on fondue - cheese followed by chocolate. Plus 2 bottles of wine and a shot of kirsch to top off the meal. On the way home, Ryan was all rowdy and trying to get us to go out salsa dancing or to a strip club. Chris was in for it, and Adrienne was like "no way, we are SO going home" so I got to be quiet about it and look as though I was up for it but Adrienne wasn't. Kind of a "good cop, bad cop" routine. Of course, the hilarious part to me was that about 10 minutes after we got home, I went to brush my teeth, and found Ryan asleep. Uh-huh. Very rowdy.

This morning is is 46 friggin degrees and raining. Lovely. Plans are to go the MoMA later, as this is the last weekend before they move it to Long Island City until 2005. I hope the rain lets up, because I'm getting the feeling the place will already be crowded, and rain makes the museums even more attractive to most people.

Tomorrow we're going to my favorite street fair - the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival. I'm very excited because we/I have been away during the festival for the past three years, and I have really missed it! Sunday is also the 3-year anniversary of our first date, and the final episode of The X-Files, so it's looking to be an action-packed weekend!

Hmm, given all that, I think I'll take advantage of the boy's comatose state and get some knitting done. I am just about up to shaping the sleeve cap on Mom's sweater.

Well lookeee here - it worked! :-D

Help! My blog has vanished! Maybe publishing a new entry will make it reappear. [Crossing fingers...]

Shoe news: I am sad to report that though the new red shoes were extremely comfy all day in the office, they did not perform so well during my 20 minute hoof-it-across-town to the Port Authority Bus Terminal yesterday afternoon. We are talking serious blisters on both pinkie toes, the vamp cutting into the top of my foot, and a painful indentation on the bottom of my foot from the lining on the sole near the instep. I was in pain with every step the rest of the night.

I'm not sure if this is a problem inherent in the shoes, or inherent in wearing brand-new shoes for a fast walk all the way across town (just under a mile and a half, according to mapquest.com). I am very disturbed, though. These are supposed to be comfort shoes, so they shouldn't require a big break-in period. Not sure what I will do. Perhaps give them another chance. I think my feet swelled and that was part of the problem, but if they're not going to be comfortable for real walking, they're not going to be shoes for this city girl! I will keep you all posted.

Lots of fun last night seeing Star Wars with Jill and Rob. I think we all enjoyed it except Ryan, who was very critical. Not unusual. I think he may have hated it. I actually wouldn't let him go to deep into it last night because I didn't want him to point out all the bad things and ruin the movie for me. Selfish, perhaps, but that's how I felt. It's friggin' Star Wars and I'm going to enjoy it no matter what!

Man, is Natalie Portman gorgeous. I'm a straight woman and even I can't keep my eyes off of her.

I have never done the Friday Five before, but this week's is just too-too appropriate. I have been struggling with hair issues, as I'm well into the awkward stage of the growing-out period. This is made more apparent by the curliness of my hair. When it was short short short it was straight straight straight, but those days are over. Now it's just moderately short and unpredictably curly. It's been over 2 months since my last cut, and I sort of want to get it shaped up a bit, but I am having that "don't want to lose any hard-earned hair length" thing. So, here's the five:

1. What shampoo do you use?

Right now it's some banana stuff with a French name I got on sale at Sephora. Tres yummy, though that isn't the name.

2. Do you use conditioner? What kind?

Always! Lately it's that Thermasilk stuff, because I'm growing out my hair and during the winter found myself with a need to blow-dry it for the first time in nearly 7 years!

3. When was the last time you got your hair cut?

March 1st. This is the longest I have gone without a haircut in 7 years. And it is still just a couple of inches long. This is going to take forever!

4. What styling products do you use?

Everything, these days. Used to use molding cream when it was really short. Then during the slightly longer stage it was mousse + molding cream on the ends. Now in just the past 2 days I've decided to stop blow-drying and let it curl again, so I'm relying on Kiehl's Creme with Silk Groom - the most amazing conditioner/styler ever, even if I have a major problem with buying Kiehl's stuff these days. (Stemming from getting jerked around for months by their corporate office regarding a job they said they wanted to hire me for, and having zero to do with their products!)

5. What's your worst hair-related experience?

The 80s.

My very first thought upon learning this morning that I need to go to an alcoholism drug symposium in Philadelphia next week: "Ooh, that means I can knit in comfort on Amtrak!"

Yes, boys and girls, we have an addict here. Attending a symposium on treating other kinds of addics. Luckily, no one gets hurt by my addiction (OK, occasionally me if I leave my needles on the sofa) and several people actually benefit.

Got back to the sleeve in earnest last night, and am nearly to shaping the sleeve cap. It always irks me how big sleeves seem to be when you're knitting them. And this is even 8 stitches smaller than the original (huge Rowan sleeve) instructions. It just feels like they take forever! Maybe next time I will start with the sleeves!

Very excited over several things. First, we are going to see Episode II tonight! In 1999, when Episode I came out, I wasn't working full-time, so when my cousin Jill called me in the mid-afternoon and said she and her husband had just scored three tickets for that night, I was able to hop on a bus to New Jersey (40 minutes) and go with them. Since then, we decided it was a nice tradition, so we got four tickets for tonight at 7, same theater. My boss is fine with me leaving at 4 - he's a big movie fan himself, though not a Star Wars fan.

I'm also excited about my new shoes!



I've never bought this brand (Born) before, but I highly recommend them. It's like having little pillows strapped to my feet. I got them in red, and have already gotten lots of oohs and aahs from the other ladies in the office.

Also, it's a sunny, warm day and I'm fairly happy with the work I've done this past week, so I am basically feeling pretty darn pleased with the world. Let's hope it continues!

Hmm, I just wrote Deb a long note explaining what the Parson's thing was like - should've saved it and pasted it in here! Anyway, what I said was it was very interesting and informative, and I think I've made my mind up.

They really seem to push their certificate program, which is something like 10 courses (6 required, 4 electives) which take an average of 2 years if you can do 2 classes per week including summers. Now, the certificate isn't recognized by any official organization - it's really just a piece of paper to make you feel good and to show that you took all these classes. It's not going to get you a job or clients.

Also, I can't imagine spending the next 2 years taking night classes in floral design. I mean, I know people who spend that much time taking night classes for their MASTERS or other higher degree. Plus it involves spending around $6K, which seems an awfully large investment. It's not like I am an empty vessel needing to be filled up with knowledge - I have my own ideas and a general level of creativity, but I need to know the how-to's and get a bit more inspired + comfortable with the medium.

So, I think I am going to take Fresh Floral Design I in the summer, and then maybe part II in the Fall, and maybe a Weddings and/or Event design class. I am betting that the work I do in those classes, and whatever I do on my own, will help me get a foothold that I can use to maybe get a couple of jobs on the side, while keeping my day job for the foreseeable future. My best friend is a pastry chef who does wedding cakes, so I can see some synergy developing there. Wedding flowers are so damn expensive, and if I can do a nice job and save people some cash, there's a start and a good way to build a portfolio.

So, that's the plan for now. No major leaps. Even the Parsons people say "don't quit your day job" even if you're doing the certificate. So, I think I've got a bit of a plan. The worst that happens is I decide not to do it for pay and I just have a new skill that makes my house more purdy.

No knitting after the info session. We had Korean Barbecue for dinner, then came home and did my laundry. Whoo-hoo! Livin' the high life here!

3 more rows done on the sleeve during my morning bus ride. I better get some concentrated time in and finish this sucker up soon.

I must say, Bliss was the nicest pedicure I've ever had. The nail room there is lovely - the walls are painted with tropical blue-green waters fading off into a horizon with a gorgeous blue sky, so as you sit with your feet in the water, you can gaze off into the ocean. And the woman who did my pedicure, Olga, was awfully sweet. She twisted my arm into accepting a plate of snacks (focaccia, olives, cheese, almonds and cucumbers) and a glass of crisp and fruity white wine. I felt tres pampered! Which was extra nice on a really crappy-weather day.

I knit about another 2 inches of sock during my pedicure/drying time, which made me feel extra-productive. Plus all the ladies thought it was so novel that someone was knitting. Though I would imagine Bliss attracts the HYUK crowd, I could be mistaken! Anyway, I have another appointment there in a little over a month (pre-vacation) and I am looking forward to it already!

So the sock is progressing as discussed above. The sleeve got a few more rows on the bus this morning. The baby blocks are sitting waiting for me to have the energy for them again. I may have to whip up something else for Tracy's baby, since these are far more time-consuming than I had expected.

Not going to make it to Stitch-n-Bitch tonight, sadly. I have been considering a (not right-now, but in the next few years) career change, and tonight there is an open house to learn more about the program I'm considering. What I believe I want to do is get into floral design, and Parsons actually has a certificate program, so I want to check it out and possibly take the first class this summer to see if I really enjoy it as much as I think I will.

This move would be a huge change and a ridiculous pay cut (we're talking maybe 1/3 of my current salary to start) so it's not happening anytime too soon, but I'm thinking maybe I could ease my way in with doing stuff on weekends, perhaps for people who are short on budget but want pretty flowers for parties, weddings, etc. Anyway, the boy is going to come with me to the open house, which is awfully nice and supportive of him. And it's at 6 tonight, so no stitching or bitching for me.

I'm just full of questions today. This one prompted by lunch: why are deli sandwiches so big?! I just got turkey and cheddar on a roll, and there were just about 2 inches of turkey piled on this thing. I took out more than half the turkey on each half, and I have more than enough to make another sandwich or two out of it. And we wonder why so many Americans are so overweight - someone has actually come to think of this as a normal sandwich. This has no relation to the sandwiches I make at home. One of these afternoons I will bring my camera and take some before and after photos of my deli sandwiches. Won't that make for some exciting viewing?

OK, here's a little poll. On the way home from seeing Spider-Man (which, to my amazement, I loved) on Friday night, we were talking about how expensive it is to see a movie in NYC. Not an unusual topic, since we really enjoy movies. But it got me thinking - I know movies here are pricier than anywhere else I know, but how much are movies around the country? I seem to recall paying 5 or 6 bucks in Kentucky 2 summers ago. So who better to ask than my geographically-diverse knitblog buddies (and anyone else who happens to read my blog)?

I'll start - here in NYC, most theaters charge $10.00 per adult ticket. And since it's a busy, crowded city and we usually like to see movies on weekend nights, we generally buy advance tickets via moviefone so we don't get shut out of what we want to see. That adds another dollar to each ticket, so it's really $11.00 each to see a flick. What is it where you live? And are you generally able to see what you want by just showing up and buying tickets, or do you do the moviefone thang? Inquiring minds want to know!

Busy, busy as a little bee over here. Mother's Day was nice. First, Ryan and I went down to the lower east side and got the best NYC brunch stuff - bialys from Kossars, lox and cream cheese from Russ & Daughters, and added that to the organic salad I had picked up the day before at the Union Square Greenmarket. Then Mom and Dad came in and we chowed down at my place before heading up to see the 3-D Imax movie, Space Station. Mom is very interested (and knowledgeable about) aerospace stuff, so this was the perfect plan for her. Dad, too, even though it wasn't "his" day. What an amazing movie - the footage from the International Space Station was fascinating, and the 3-D (gotta love those crazy headset/glasses!) really brought the feeling that this is as close as I'm ever going to get to being in space. If you have the opportunity to see this, do it! It puts a really human face on the whole subject and left us all feeling inspired.

I don't think I knit a stitch all weekend, between cleaning and shopping and entertaining Mom. And this morning I couldn't find the sweater sleeve I have been working on! Of course Ryan found it after I had left. But I did bring my sock with me, even though I find it much harder to do that kind of work on the bus. I am getting a pedicure at Bliss tonight, so I figure while my toesies dry I can get some rounds in on that. Since it's rather chilly to wear flip-flops right now, I expect I'll take an extra-long time drying tonight and have more knitting time. Yay!

So I'm up early and want to read the NY Times for a change, and it's not there. Home delivery is supposed to be there at some ungodly hour of the morning, and it usually is. Except when I want it to be. Argh! All I want to do is sit quietly on the sofa and read my paper! I used to do that every weekend before I met that boy, and since he sleeps so much longer than I do, I kind of want to get back in the habit. I feel guilty when it comes Monday and the little weekend newspaper pile has been disturbed only to get the magazine section (which I adore). Even that doesn't get read the way it used to. I used to do the crossword on Sunday nights. I miss that, too. And now when I do, I am not as good as I used to be! These are things I must correct.

Well, I'll go check again and see if it came while I wasn't paying attention. Hold please.

Nope. Grrrr.

I guess I'll go knit.