Bliss

Ignorance = Bliss. And few are as ignorant as I!

Don't worry about me folks, I [try to] ignore what doesn't move me toward a more peaceful, blissful state. I don't always succeed, but with the help of my faithful (and kind) blog readers, I have an easier time than I might. Thank you!

Regret
I didn't mean to hurt you, Rumplestiltskin! I just realized that I didn't mention my teaching there AT ALL! Believe me, that has more to do with my internet access immediately following the shop than with the shop!

I adored my time there - but didn't really have a good chance to sit down and blog about it afterward, and it was lost in the shuffle of moving on to a new yarn shop! My day class there - lace - was a hoot!

I was THRILLED to see Scott in the class, he knit the Zip Front Top (shown on sexy rasta man in Men Who Knit) and a really great guy. He also knit one version of the Wavy Lace Scarf in Romantic Hand Knits. Fab. This guy is hard core - in a knitterly way. Hey Scott!

I was fried, it's true, but if I'd had more sense I'd have asked him to have a beer after class. But I didn't, so I missed out on [yet another] opportunity to drink with a tatooed guy. Damn.

What's the use of being on the road if I can't drink with the bikers?

Instead I went out dining with Julie - an extraordinary student from France and all around wonderful person. We're plotting our duo mother-daughter trip to France (we have daughters the same age) and who knows - it just may happen!

The day class was packed, but the evening class wasn't so full. A shame. The folks there were exceptional, and it was a chance for me to really take time to work with individual students. But I realized after class was over that I really shine when I have an audience. I'm a hog for the spotlight - now you know...

So my time at Rumplestiltskin - which seemed to be an exceptionally well stocked shop of very encouraging folks - was fun and very nice. My only regret was that I didn't take time to visit the tea shop next to the yarn shop while I had the chance. I love tea!

TEA!
Right now I'm in a little bit of heaven. Class today for Knitting Workshop went beautifully (30 women, all cabling like a a a aaaabus-and-truck of Riders to the Sea) and then I was off on my own for a short stroll around Santa Rosa (lovely, lovely place) and a drink at a local restaurant while I wanted for my carry-out dinner. Almost room service. Room service with a Tanqueray & Tonic (with a splash of Rose's Lime)

Life is good.

Now I'm back at my room, in the comfy chair (love the square chair & ottoman - my favorite pieces of furniture in a hotel room!) I've finished my pasta and had a bit of my wine (a dessert wine masquerading as cool-aid - just the way I like it - I'm such a wine idiot!) so I'm ready for bed when the spirit moves me.

And I'm having a cup of Lady Grey tea (I keep calling it "Lady Jane Grey" - not the most restful image for a cup of tea...) and watching What Not To Wear.

Okay - I do love Tim Gunn's show (but what is VW doing there? She's just not doing it for me...) - but WNTW is my favorite "Change your LOOK!" show. Stacey London cracks me up - so there!

But best of all? After my two classes tomorrow - which will be exceptional and loads of fun - I catch a flight HOME! I'm looking forward to that, baby!

Perfect Fit

For a knitter, good fit is prime. There's that great moment when a finished sweater is tried on, the sleeves are long enough, the waist fits, the neckline sits at the right place; life is good! I feel like I'm wearing that sweater today.

Today was a wonderful day - wonderful in the sense that it just feels right to be here. There was nothing particularly special about the day - we dropped the kids off at camp so that we could drive down to Rochester and check out some of the housing alternatives.

EXTENDED STAY
We looked at several places, but hands down the best fit for our circumstance was Staybridge Suites. We have the option there of moving into a 1 or 2 bedroom setup depending on whether Gerry's mom and the kids are able to come down in September, and then moving back to the studio so we can save money by only getting a 1 bedroom when we actually NEED it. And - very important - we can have Atticus with us. Huzzah.

Bonus: They have wifi and cable - we'll get MSNBC (I get to see Mr. Olberman every night), Comedy Central (ditto Mr. Stewart & Mr. Colbert) and Bravo (Kathy Griffin & other fun stuff) My circle of friends.

While in Rochester we popped into a Home Depot for a sink fix. As we look around at bathroom stuff and worked on ideas, we tried to figure ways to save some $ and "express ourselves" in our bathroom and kitchen.

We still haven't locked into one contractor - and against all good advice we may be moving away from Mr. Proven Contractor to Mr. Younger Flexible Contractor. Tomorrow YFC is coming by with his plumber so we can get a final quote from him. You're all on the edge of your seats, aren't you?

We'd looked at some tile for the bathroom a few days ago and really liked the idea of slate - although the $6/sq ft was a little pricier than our budgeted $4/sq ft. But today we saw a very similar tile on sale for $1.25/sq ft (victim of a broken pallet, but the tiles we chose were not broken) So we got the tile for our bathroom for $30!

I haven't been at peace with the idea of a run of the mill looking vanity sink, so I had a brainstorm. It may be idiotic, but I'm going to visit a few Menards & Home Depots and kick the following idea around to get feedback.

THE WACKY BATHROOM SINK IDEA
We all remember The Bowl? The yellowware bowl that was broken in June? I saved all of the pieces because I just couldn't bear to part with it.

We have an old 1920's hutch we acquired when we were first married and living in Brooklyn. It's not in great shape (but not falling apart - it's just been painted too many times and it's a little chipped - shabby chic looking) It's in two parts with a 2-drawer bottom and a glass-door china cabinet top.

The bottom is counter height, so I'm thinking I'd like to create a lip around the edge with some type of moulding. Then I'll take the pieces from the beloved yellow ware bowl, break them into even smaller pieces, and use them to create a mosaic pattern on top on the hutch bottom.

Once that's finished and grouted, I'll cover all of it with bar-pour (like the polyeurethane I used on the dining room table - it's water proof and excellent for counters) to make the top flat and even. The moulding lip will hold the bar-pour in place. I may even toss in some other stuff, other dish shards, pennies, shells, stitch markers...

We'll cut a hole in the top of the hutch to accommodate the drain for a vessel sink. Ideally I'd love to find a sink that resembles a yellow ware bowl. These two are the front runners right now. Both at ebay, both less than the Corianne sinks our contractor has proposed.

Will it work? Who knows. I think so - I'm going to research it. If it does work we end up with a groovy, expressive sink for peanuts. If not, we haven't lost that much...

BEAUTIFUL MINNESOTA
Driving back home from Rochester, with our slate tiles and tile adhesive (for the hutch) squared away in the back of the PT, the landscape was breathtaking. I've never seen corn look as beautiful as it did along highway 52. Lush and tall and 50 shades of green! The sky was a deep, rich Dutch blue. The light on the fields, the wind moving the grasses and stalks, it almost made me cry.

We got home just in time to sign for a delivery, check my email (FLASH: VK is very happy with the shawl - YAY!- and I got the pattern and charts out tonight! It feels so GOOD to be finished! I think it will be in the Holiday issue.)

I changed my clothes and strolled over to The Yarnery to meet some new friends for knitting and dinner/dessert at Cafe Latte.

I have missed connecting with a group of knitters as a KNITTER - not teacher - just Annie. This was lovely.

I miss my group back home - the Yarrrn Pirates - and this was the first time I'd just hung out knitting for a long time. Thanks, ladies, for having me.

The special bonus - one of the women's husband had a stem cell transplant (slightly different from what Gerry's having) five years ago and is doing great after being 'given' three years. Love to hear that.

As I walked home at 9:30, the sky still light with northern evening brightness, I felt so at home, so happy.

Back at the house Gerry was snoring in his recliner, the kids were getting ready for bed, the cat and dog asleep in the living room snuggled next to each other (it's just chilly enough for some good pet snuggling.)

What a nice fit.

It's that good.

The History Channel is running a series on the States in the US. Tonight one of the states profiled was Minnesota - fun for us - prominently featuring Garrison Keillor (rumor has it he lives near us - I'm probably wrong about that - but we don't live far from the Governor.)

At the end of the segment he said,

"The thing about Minnesota is that if you come you'd better be prepared to stay. It's that good."

Yes, it certainly seems to be. Tickets for the PHC show at the Minnesota State Fair go on sale on Monday. Gerry's mom will be visiting from NY, we're going to take a chance and get tickets for all of us, hoping that Gerry will feel well enough to go. Next week we're supposed to have a consultation with someone at the U of M Hospital, where Gerry will get his chemo, to explain the whole process to us (stem cells stuff) and what we can expect.

Appliance Heaven
Last night we went to our local Best Buy to pick out a new washing machine - the one we bought in Feb hasn't worked well since we got it, and it's not even spinning anymore. Lovely. Soggy, wet, nasty, not-clean clothes. We had the third repair person out on Friday - she gave us the magic code that allowed us to stroll into Best Buy and pick out a new (different manufacturer) washer. It's a much nicer one - an LG (to match our LG dryer that Gerry got on sale and would NOT leave in NJ.)

Because of the months of bad laundry we got it for just a few bucks more than we'd already paid for the Frigidaire. If you're looking at a Frigidaire front loader, research the control panel. The one for our washer is backordered for MONTHS because just about everyone who has it is having the same problems.

The annoyance was that the first repair person we had out told me that I was using too much soap, or had too many clothes in it, or too few clothes - but he insisted it wasn't the machine. But it was.

The beauty part, though, is that BB will be able to deliver the new washer on Sunday and take the old one away - so tomorrow morning I'll worship at the alter of the new LG and do about 5 loads of laundry.

We also bought a dishwasher - we don't have one right now - and we got a nice deal. It's a brand we hadn't heard of (Ariston), but in the research we've done we found it was pretty well loved by many who own it.

This was a floor model, and had been reduced twice ($1200 to $699 to $329) but we won't be actually picking it up for a month or so because we have no place for it in our kitchen. Besides, the warranty doesn't kick in until we take possession of it - so why rush?

And finally we bought a ceiling fan today. We looked at attic fans (demonstrating great hopefulness on our part that we'll be able to FIND our attic... How to get up into it is a mystery.) Afterward I took the kids to the library and the park.

We had lunch at Snuffy's and I introduced the waiter to the concept of the egg cream. To our delight he and one of the soda guys made one up and thoroughly enjoyed it (could we be seeing the Brooklyn treat on a Minneapolis menu in the near future?)

Knitting Work Out
Then I came home and figured out some bra shaping. I have a project that I've been working on for almost a year now, tweaking and reworking, and I'm ready to unveil it on Memorial Day. It's not really so great - it's just a pattern (or, rather, a series of patterns) but I'll alert everyone on my email list at the end of May (and may even send out a free sneak preview pattern!) Oh - now I'm committed!

I've found Joan McGowan Michael's book, Knitting Lingerie Style, to be incredibly helpful as I work through some details. I just love her designs, and this is a very well laid out book. Good, clear instructions, easy to follow, lovely designs - it's an excellent addition to a knitting library.

I had a moment of lip biting when I thought this beautiful book might be direct competition for Romantic Hand Knits, but I think - as similar as they could seem (same photographer - oops...) - they really cover very different types of garments.

It's odd that two designers I admire so much - Joan MM, Iris Schreier (Lacy Little Knits) & I all have books coming out this year that share themes. Great minds think alike!

It ought to be an interesting TNNA!