blackmoondogtag:blogs.halibut.com,2010:/chahn//22010-01-04T22:32:11Zeternal moonshine for a spotty mind!Movable Type 4.3-en2010, eh?tag:blogs.halibut.com,2010:/chahn//2.10412010-01-04T21:59:14Z2010-01-04T22:32:11ZDecember ate my brain, as usual. This is what I've been up to in order to remain (mostly) sane:...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com]]>
Happy Halloween!tag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.9872009-10-31T21:57:03Z2009-10-31T22:00:37Zblackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
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Sock Summit, Day 3-ish: Best. Time. Ever.tag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.9172009-08-15T02:35:24Z2009-08-15T04:42:25ZNow that it has been a week since I last blogged, I'm finally back to fill in the rest of the story. There won't be nearly as much detail as the first two posts but better fewer details than leaving...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
I returned to the hotel Thursday night and had less trouble getting to sleep but still woke up at 4am. Since I was not the only one awake, we decided to hop on MAX and hit Voodoo Doughnut. The full moon was lovely and I did indeed get my maple bacon bar. It was full of NOM and then some.
First up on the conference agenda Friday was picking up a ticket for the Guiness World Record Attempt. The previous world record was set in Australia by 256 knitters. The Sock Summit crew had 1600 tickets to give out for our attempt. We had to knit for 15 minutes straight on two straight needles. At noon, I booked it over from my class to get a seat in the ballroom and randomly ended up sitting next to Celeste from Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. The Oregonian (Portland's newspaper) reported that we officially had 935 knitters present. In true Canadian form, Stephanie asked that we apologize to the Australian knitters for potentially blowing their record away. :)
Because I was worried about having enough room in my suitcases, I left my books home and skipped the All Authors book signing Friday afternoon. There was a pang of regret there but it was overshadowed by the fear of not having enough space to bring home the yarn & fiber I bought at the marketplace.
Friday night was the Sock Hop and we arrived after a lovely dinner at Pastini's Pastaria. Mmmm... butternut gorgonzola ravioli in brown butter sage sauce. Also, what is it with Portland & hazelnuts?? Two of the three dishes at Pastini's had them and they were offered with my salad at Burgerville. I'm not complaining, as I quite like hazelnuts but I found it a bit odd. Anyhoo, the Sock Hop was a hoot. Complete with ladies in poodle skirts, a hula hoop contest, and a couple of Pink Ladies. I had no problems getting to or staying asleep Friday night. :)
In the interest of not having a huge post here, I'm going to close the curtain on Friday and pick up with Saturday next. I think I will talk about all the classes in a single post. We'll see how it goes. I'm being paged for bed time duties now.]]>
Sock Summit, Day 2: Made of Awesome, Part Onetag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.9122009-08-07T22:41:51Z2009-08-15T02:30:47ZThis all is gonna start sounding gushy soon but damn, it is way cooler than I could have ever imagined. I'm trying to get this down before today mingles with yesterday but it all is such a blur that it...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
At 1:30 I took my first class, the one hour Hooked On Beads with Sivia Harding. She was super fun to have a class with and we got to play around with putting beads on our knitting using a freaking teeny crochet hook. She was wearing Aphrodite from the current Twist Collective and it was fabulous to see it in person. Abby Franquemont had also given her a handspun beaded shawl to show us. It was truly amazing. I got to see the original Queen of Beads sock too. It had hexagonal beads on it that were really cool.
After class we headed back to the hotel to switch out stuff and hang out until the market preview at 4:30. Despite telling myself I wasn't going to buy any Socks That Rock, I found myself in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth and the next thing I knew there were 4 skeins in my bag and I felt a little dizzy. :) Next up was a visit to Crown Mountain Farms where I got some Corriedale pencil roving (Merlin) and some BFL roving (As Above, So Below). I picked up my pre-ordered skein of Summit Gnome at the Snicklefritz booth and the Kromski bobbins & mini niddy noddy that John from Village Spinning & Weaving brought up for me. Unfortunately, my jumbo flyer didn't make it to the shop in time for the trip to Portland. The other bummer was that Carolina Homespun had sold out their "J Mac" kates (they hold the bobbins at a 45 degree angle to use gravity for tensioning). I'm going to email Morgaine when I get home to see if she can hold on to one for me so I can pick it up when I'm in the Bay Area. On my second trip through the marketplace, I found the spinning wheel tshirts at A Verb For Keeping Warm and decided the blue one needed to come home with me. The biggest line I saw in the marketplace was for the Sanguine Gryphon. Her Bugga Bugga sock yarn sold out in the first *half hour* of the *preview night*. It blew me away. My roomie said there was a woman with EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS worth of Bugga Bugga in her arms.
After my wallet was lightened, I ran into SloBeachGirl and we went over to the Silent Auction that was raising funds for Doctors Without Borders. We also found KiniaCat there. Next up was heading into the ballroom for the opening night reception. We found a spot to sit, grabbed some munchies, and settled in to chat & knit until everyone filed in and the festivities started.
Stephanie & Tina shared the podium and they started off with Stephanie reading the proclamation by the mayor of Portland that declared it Sock Knitting Week in the city. We then heard the story of the origin of Sock Summit which was highly amusing and had the terribly sleep deprived duo in giggles & tears at various points. There was someone recording it so hopefully it will be available at some point. They announced that in one hour the silent auction raised $5700.
Sorry for the cliffhanger here but I'm gonna have to go get ready to head downtown to grab dinner before tonight's Sock Hop. ]]>
Sock Summit, Day 1 Or "OMG *squeeeeeeee*"tag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.9092009-08-06T12:42:59Z2009-08-15T02:24:58ZIt is currently 5:45am here in lovely Portland, OR and I've been awake since 3:30am. I'm taking advantage of the hotel business center computer since my iPhone got plugged into a bum outlet last night and wasn't recharging. My traveling...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
My traveling cohorts & I started our journey yesterday at 7am when I picked them up in the Prius to drive us all from SLO to San Jose to catch our flight. The drive was uneventful just like I like and the airport was mostly uneventful, save some shuffling when checking bags due to wine bottles. We had about half a dozen Sock Summiteers on our flight and we all gathered and rode MAX (lightrail) to our various destinations. After checking in at the hotel and ditching our bags, my roomie & I headed back to the convention center to register.
On our way down the hill, lo and behold, there is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee leading a cadre of helpers up the hill carrying boxes (Yes, she had a box too). We moved to the side to let them pass and made our merry way down the street where we promptly saw Tina Newton headed toward the same hill. Then I tweeted a picture of the Sock Summit banner. :)
At registration, I got my class list, a lovely show book, badge materials and various tickets for the extracurricular events and kinneared Tina from my phone while my stuff was being gathered. Next thing I know, there are Jasmin & GiGi walking across the lobby! Next up was a visit to the swag room to collect the Sock Summit souvenirs I pre-ordered.
Most folks parted ways to head for their various dinner plans and my new pal, KiniaCat, and I decided to stay close to the hotels and hit Burgerville for dinner. Where we promptly ran into the Knitmores again. This time we chatted with them a bit while we enjoyed our cheesburgers. Again, pics to come but Burgerville does something I've never seen at a fast food place: They put the nutrition information right on your receipt. Dude. Good thing I hadn't had much else to eat during the day!
After dinner we delivered some cookies for ST-1 & ST-2 (aka the organizing goddesses behind this whole crazy adventure) to the registration booth and then went for a walk to Walgreens to get nail clippers that we both sorely needed. After toodling around the neighborhood a bit more, we headed back to KiniaCat's room and then to the 9pm mini-skein swap at the Red Lion lounge...where the teacher's dinner was just letting out. We saw Lucy Neatby with an awesome chicken purse by the elevator and others inside included Stephanie, Tina, Rachel H., JoAnn D., Cookie A, Abby Franquemont, Denny McMillan, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, Stephen HizKnits, and probably other folks we didn't recognize. One of the swappers had baked sock shaped cookies for the organizers and we took her picture with the cookies, Stephanie & Rachel before being serenaded by a chorus of "Goodnight Ladies" as Steph & Rachel departed for the ST meeting. I had a short chat with Mark & Zoe on the phone before they headed home from Disneyland where Zoe promptly told me "Mama? I'm hungry." She also went on the Matterhorn for the first time and apparently said "I want to go on the Matterhorn again!" as the ride ended. So they did. That's my girl. :) Not long after I headed back to the hotel where my roomie & I compared notes on the day and plans for tomorrow (aka today). Then I promptly laid awake until about midnight and woke up at the aforemetioned 3:30am. At least I got about 10hrs of sleep the night before I left.
Now it is almost time for breakfast and then a visit to Trader Joe's and probably Voodoo Doughnut (I'm still trying to figure out how to get a Maple Bacon donut back to Mark :). Sayonara!]]>
Testing From iPhone Landtag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.9032009-07-30T06:50:38Z2009-07-30T07:15:11ZIn preparation for heading out on my Sock Summit adventure next week I thought I would see if it was really feasible to blog from Safari on the iPhone. The way has been perilous thus far as I lost the...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
ETA: Well that was tricky and kind of a pain but should be minimally workable. ]]>
Maker Faire 2009tag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.8602009-06-02T22:43:47Z2009-06-03T02:22:46ZOn Saturday we went to Maker Faire at the San Mateo Expo Center (aka fairground). We got there really early to be able to park on-site in case of a toddler meltdown and our spot in line was right next...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
We were also interviewed by a camera crew who said they were from a show called "Extreme Conventions" on the Travel channel. It will be interesting to see if we're actually on the show!
Right inside the big building full of kid stuff & craft demos we ran into my BFF.
Shortly after we found a table sponsored by Crayola. They had all kinds of cool art supplies but Zoe was only interested in one thing.
While she was busy cutting her paper, I kinneared Cookie A after she arrived for her sock knitting demo. Then I learned how to needlefelt!
I was still stabbing away at my fledgling needle felted flower when Cookie started her sock knitting demo but when I finished I took a pic at the demo, where I stood in the back and tried to look like a friendly face rather than a scary stalker or someone who was completely baffled by a demo that only had 30mins to teach knitting a sock. I felt rather silly for hanging around afterward without having a copy of her book to get signed (I did want to look at her sample socks more closely). The funny part was that we both had the feeling that we had met somewhere before.
While I was at the Craft area, Mark & Zoe went to a different section. Can you guess which one? Here's a hint:
After getting lunch and squeezing through the Baazar Bizarre (where I picked up a couple lovely skeins of Wool Candy sock yarn) we went to the Main Stage and settled in to wait for Adam Savage's talk. We were in the back row in case Zoe went ballistic (it was way past nap time).
I had a good time but man it is exhausting to wrangle a toddler in those kind of crowds. I had to a two day ticket and decided that I wasn't going back Sunday so we gave it to Mark's sis who took her boys. I'm sure we'll be headed back next year.
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Oh Haitag:blogs.halibut.com,2009:/chahn//2.8102009-02-17T04:49:42Z2009-06-03T02:22:29ZI'm going to attempt to get a plugin that will repeat my Twitter updates here since that tends to be what I update the most. I'd like to start posting more of my knitting photos here if I can drag...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
Baroness Von Wigglestein is in perpetual motion, as usual. She just hit 26 months and is doing new stuff every day. Her verbal skills are still exploding which is awesome because she can tell me what she needs a little easier every day. She has learned to respect the ocean so we have made several trips to the beach before winter finally settled in (now that it is freakin' February) and I can sometimes even sit down! Woohoo! Now that the weather is cold, windy and wet things have been kinda challenging. One day we cleaned the garage, a few times we ran outside between rain clouds, and today we put on our rain gear and ran errands. It was great that we needed cat litter because Petsmart was a fun place for a kid that loves animals. We walked a circuit from the fish to the cats to the rodents to the birds several times before checking out and heading to Costco.
The garden is green. Very green. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll need to remove another whole lawn from the front yard once the rains finish up. Seeds blew in and, much to my dismay, have taken over. Additionally, I now have a new planter bed to fill with soil so we can plant more veggies this year. Right now I have green onions and peas to harvest and some blueberries that are slowly trying to mature after blossoming during our January heat.
Now I have to get back to my knitting. :)]]>
Because I Can't Refuse the Thought of Free Sock Yarn...tag:blogs.halibut.com,2008:/chahn//2.7122008-10-09T18:54:21Z2009-06-03T02:21:37ZI'm reposting this contest button to enter into a drawing on The Knit Witch's blog. She makes some pretty lovely ceramic yarn bowls and has other goodies too....blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com]]>
Zoe: Month 19tag:blogs.halibut.com,2008:/chahn//2.6152008-07-21T03:27:14Z2009-06-03T02:21:01Z Hoo doggie. Someone (see above) in our house has decided that bedtime is unnecessary. We've tried going earlier and later with the timing and both result in the same big screaming fit. Right now Mark is sitting in the...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
Hoo doggie. Someone (see above) in our house has decided that bedtime is unnecessary. We've tried going earlier and later with the timing and both result in the same big screaming fit. Right now Mark is sitting in the chair in her room while Zoe sobs hysterically at the gate. Last night I fell asleep to her crying in bed next to me. Getting her to sleep is easily taking 45 minutes to an hour (or more) *every night* no matter what. On the plus side, once she does get to sleep she's pretty much sleeping straight through until 6am and then sometimes will go back to sleep after a spot of milkies.
I knit these pants for her and good thing I finished them finally because they just fit right now. Which means they may be a bit small next week. *rolls eyes* That's what I get for taking 3-4 months to finish them. (Oooh, I think I hear Mark which means she's finally asleep). I think I should probably sew clothing for her next time instead, as it should be a faster project to finish.
We've had a number of travel firsts this past few months. First trip to Disneyland (staying at the Grand Californian Hotel onsite no less), first plane ride, first camping trip.
Disneyland would have been more awesome had we not been there during a heat wave that had temps soaring into the triple digits and us nearly spending more time in our hotel room and the pool than in the parks. One of the pools at the hotel had a little water slide that Zoe absolutely adored. She would have spent the whole trip there if we would have let her. We rode the carousels in both Disneyland and California Adventure, Pirates (of course!), the Haunted Mansion, the Storybook Land Canal Boats, the Monorail, the Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Mark Twain Steamboat, and the Sun Wheel. Using the fantastic rider switch feature, Mark & I were able to go on Space Mountain (twice!), the Matterhorn, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, and California Screamin' without having to wait forever. We'll be heading back in December and will have to hit Small World (it was closed for refurb) and Dumbo (lines were too long).
We made it to the family reunion in Wichita this year, despite United Airlines best efforts to keep us from doing so. *sigh* Zoe was a trooper on the wacky trip out that had us at the San Jose airport at 9am on Saturday morning, through security, on the plane, off the plane, waiting around for an hour, on the shuttle to SFO, through security again, on the plane, waiting for takeoff, arriving in Denver late, off the plane, on the next plane to get us to Wichita and finally arriving 3.5hours late at 10:30pm having had no breaks and no real meals. We picked up our rental car, hit the IHOP, checked into our room and finally got to bed between midnight and 1am local time. The reunion was great. My dad had also decided to go this year and 3 of his (4) siblings were present with their families. Plus all the rest of Grandma's side of the family. It was something like 100 people! The next day we went to Hutchinson, KS to visit the Cosmosphere so Mark could inspect every speck of (space!) dust. :) We spent the evening at Grandma's and then were back at the airport bright and early the next morning to fly home. Thankfully, the trip home was uneventful.
We had 3 weeks to recover from that before heading off on our next adventure -- camping at Portola State Park with Mark's family and a bunch of their friends. This was an annual trip when Mark was a kid and last year it was restarted by his sis & another of the gals in the group. We drove up for the day but didn't camp last year. This time we rented a van and camped. Zoe was filthy head to toe and loving it and spent much of her time running around the campground with her cousins. I admit that even as a non-camper, I had a good time and was already taking mental notes for next year before we'd even started packing up our stuff.
With all that travel under our belts, we decided it was time to stay home for a bit. For the 4th of July the street around the corner from our house has a potluck block party and this year they even got a bounce house for the kids. Zoe was hesitant at first but ended up loving it and even going up the big laddery bit to get to the slide (which was the height of the bounce house!!). Thankfully the bigger kids were pretty patient since it took her a while to get up to the top. We headed out before the fireworks started but not before Zoe managed to coat herself in bubble soap and sidewalk chalk. Ah the joys of a toddler!
Number of teeth: 12.75, as the 4 canines are in various stages
Weight: 23.5lbs
Length: 31.5inches
Clothing size: 18-24 months
Mobility: Perpetual. Climbs with no fear. Nearly swims.
Speech: Comes & goes. Lots of emphatic babbling. Some even in English. Has dropped using some signs (like "all done") but is picking up others (like "please"). No means both no and yes and, sadly, "MINE!" has made its grand entrance.
Travel since last update: Tons! Maker Faire the first weekend in May, (Great-great)Aunt Mary's funeral in Hanford, Disneyland during the May heat wave, Wichita, KS for the family reunion the first Sunday in June, and camping at Portola State Park. May well be in the Bay Area for a week about a week from now.
Foods: Berries and whatever Mama's eating are her favorites.]]>
Things Our Couch Atetag:blogs.halibut.com,2008:/chahn//2.6142008-07-20T18:06:20Z2009-06-03T02:20:40ZAfter not being able to find the mega remote that controls our entertainment system we pulled up the couch and found it has velcro panels on the back. Upon opening these panels we found the following: - the DVD player...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
After not being able to find the mega remote that controls our entertainment system we pulled up the couch and found it has velcro panels on the back. Upon opening these panels we found the following:
- the DVD player remote that has been lost for months
- Mark's wedding ring
- Mark's iPod Nano
- a length of parachute line
- a padlock
- two crochet hooks
- a fingernail clipper
- two cat turds (likely dingleberries)
- several receipts
- a business card for iFixIt
- 3 linked baby toy rings
- a sock
- 3 hair rubber bands
- a knitting row counter
- a paperclip
- the gauge swatch for Zoe's sweater
- 2 blocks
- a syringe for dispensing baby Motrin
- lots of dustbunnies
The mega remote was also inside the couch, still being digested.
Zoe: Months *mumble*mumble*mumble*tag:blogs.halibut.com,2008:/chahn//2.5162008-04-10T23:10:00Z2009-06-03T02:20:13ZSo much to post, I have no idea where to start. Looks like my last post was at 11 months. Well, I'm back thanks to another round of I-will-only-nap-on-your-person-or-in-the-carseat. Yeehaw! So while I still have a small person sleeping on...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
Number of teeth: 11, with another on the way
Weight: 22lbs
Length: 30inches
Clothing size: 18 month tops, bottoms need 18 month rise, 12 month waist & length *sigh*
Mobility: On the verge of running. Readying to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Travel since last update: Did Thanksgiving in the Bay Area, Christmas in the Bay Area & Hanford, and headed back to the Bay Area in February for the Stitches West convention.
Foods: Just about anything. Strawberries are a current favorite.
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Sayonara, For Now.tag:blogs.halibut.com,2008:/chahn//2.4562008-02-12T12:34:38Z2009-06-03T02:19:46ZI'm officially taking a break from blogging (She says after not posting anything in the past 2 months). Things are just too crazy with adjusting to the transition from caring for a baby to parenting a toddler and when I...blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
I'm officially taking a break from blogging (She says after not posting anything in the past 2 months). Things are just too crazy with adjusting to the transition from caring for a baby to parenting a toddler and when I have some time where I can actually think complete thoughts, I'm using it for knitting or updating my knitting stuff on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com -- it rocks!). If things ever settle down, I'll be back because I am going to miss preserving memories here. I just can't do it right now. TTFN.
P.S. I am continuing to upload new photos to Flickr, so if you are interested in seeing my little monkey grow up, give me your Flickr name and I'll add you to my friends list there, as I am not keeping any baby pics public there any more. Knitting and miscellany are still public. Also, I will still be reading blogs & LJ and sometimes commenting so I'm not falling off the face of the earth completely. I'm just picking other things over maintaining my own blog.
Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!tag:blogs.halibut.com,2007:/chahn//2.4102007-12-12T16:59:57Z2009-06-03T02:19:21ZI cannot believe my little monkey is a year old already. Today we're celebrating with our mom & baby group at our house. My house hasn't been this clean in a long, long time....blackmoondogwww.blackmoondog.com
I cannot believe my little monkey is a year old already. Today we're celebrating with our mom & baby group at our house. My house hasn't been this clean in a long, long time.
Zoe: Months Ten and Eleventag:blogs.halibut.com,2007:/chahn//2.3902007-11-18T18:37:46Z2009-06-03T02:18:52ZI really feel bad about having to combine months on these posts but this (umm, and last...) month has been all about getting buried in a pile of busy. The major increase in crawling speed coupled with a feverish curiousity...mamahttp://blogs.halibut.com/chahn/
Communication skills are on the rise, though not proceeding fast enough for us or Zoe sometimes. We have had her give us a few baby signs, primarily for "milkies" and "all done". She's a sharp one, as she's given me the "all done" sign on the diaper changer when she didn't want to be there and often she'll sign "all done" in the high chair when she wants to be picked up whether or not she's actually still hungry. The biggie now is that she's started saying "Mama". Her first word was definitely "Hi" and we're pretty sure she says "kitty". Everything else is still babble to the adult ears in the house.
The past week has plunged us into the Depths of Hell that is the one year molars. I still don't know if she actually was sick or not but last week her temp was up around 101F intermittently and peaked out at 103F. She's had congestion but no runny nose and has been pretty fussy and clingy, pulling out the brain melting shriek way more often than usual. Zoe has been tugging at her ears (ped said they're clear of infection) and stuffing her hands in her mouth, as well as nibbling on my arms and legs. During a screaming fit I saw the upper right culprit emerging from the gums. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the perp brought along some friends because she cut the four top center teeth all at the same time. Still only two little lonely teeth on the bottom for now. We are not amused by this teething business.
Tomorrow we head north to visit the Smith clan for Thanksgiving and Zoe will get to play with her cousins, hopefully not eating too many of their toys. And in hopes of posting this before her birthday, we'll now sum up:
Number of teeth: 6.5, center bottom, center top, upper right molar
Number of teeth waiting to burst from the gums: Who knows...
Weight: 18lbs
Length: Not sure.
Clothing size: 12 to 18 months
Sitting up?: Ancient history.
Crawling?: Swifter than eagles.
Standing?: Pulls up, lets go for up to 30 seconds or so
Walking?: Assisted by the LeapFrog walker or cruising the furniture.
Climbing!?!?: Gah! On and off the couch if the nursing footstool is out.
Travel in October/November: Visited Grammy & Grandpa in Hanford and was wary of Uncle Tom. Will visit Nana & Grandad and Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins...tomorrow!
Foods: Decided to keep with circular cereal, squash, sweet potato, gingersnaps.
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I returned to the hotel Thursday night and had less trouble getting to sleep but still woke up at 4am. Since I was not the only one awake, we decided to hop on MAX and hit Voodoo Doughnut. The full moon was lovely and I did indeed get my maple bacon bar. It was full of NOM and then some.
First up on the conference agenda Friday was picking up a ticket for the Guiness World Record Attempt. The previous world record was set in Australia by 256 knitters. The Sock Summit crew had 1600 tickets to give out for our attempt. We had to knit for 15 minutes straight on two straight needles. At noon, I booked it over from my class to get a seat in the ballroom and randomly ended up sitting next to Celeste from Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. The Oregonian (Portland's newspaper) reported that we officially had 935 knitters present. In true Canadian form, Stephanie asked that we apologize to the Australian knitters for potentially blowing their record away. :)
Because I was worried about having enough room in my suitcases, I left my books home and skipped the All Authors book signing Friday afternoon. There was a pang of regret there but it was overshadowed by the fear of not having enough space to bring home the yarn & fiber I bought at the marketplace.
Friday night was the Sock Hop and we arrived after a lovely dinner at Pastini's Pastaria. Mmmm... butternut gorgonzola ravioli in brown butter sage sauce. Also, what is it with Portland & hazelnuts?? Two of the three dishes at Pastini's had them and they were offered with my salad at Burgerville. I'm not complaining, as I quite like hazelnuts but I found it a bit odd. Anyhoo, the Sock Hop was a hoot. Complete with ladies in poodle skirts, a hula hoop contest, and a couple of Pink Ladies. I had no problems getting to or staying asleep Friday night. :)
In the interest of not having a huge post here, I'm going to close the curtain on Friday and pick up with Saturday next. I think I will talk about all the classes in a single post. We'll see how it goes. I'm being paged for bed time duties now.]]>
At 1:30 I took my first class, the one hour Hooked On Beads with Sivia Harding. She was super fun to have a class with and we got to play around with putting beads on our knitting using a freaking teeny crochet hook. She was wearing Aphrodite from the current Twist Collective and it was fabulous to see it in person. Abby Franquemont had also given her a handspun beaded shawl to show us. It was truly amazing. I got to see the original Queen of Beads sock too. It had hexagonal beads on it that were really cool.
After class we headed back to the hotel to switch out stuff and hang out until the market preview at 4:30. Despite telling myself I wasn't going to buy any Socks That Rock, I found myself in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth and the next thing I knew there were 4 skeins in my bag and I felt a little dizzy. :) Next up was a visit to Crown Mountain Farms where I got some Corriedale pencil roving (Merlin) and some BFL roving (As Above, So Below). I picked up my pre-ordered skein of Summit Gnome at the Snicklefritz booth and the Kromski bobbins & mini niddy noddy that John from Village Spinning & Weaving brought up for me. Unfortunately, my jumbo flyer didn't make it to the shop in time for the trip to Portland. The other bummer was that Carolina Homespun had sold out their "J Mac" kates (they hold the bobbins at a 45 degree angle to use gravity for tensioning). I'm going to email Morgaine when I get home to see if she can hold on to one for me so I can pick it up when I'm in the Bay Area. On my second trip through the marketplace, I found the spinning wheel tshirts at A Verb For Keeping Warm and decided the blue one needed to come home with me. The biggest line I saw in the marketplace was for the Sanguine Gryphon. Her Bugga Bugga sock yarn sold out in the first *half hour* of the *preview night*. It blew me away. My roomie said there was a woman with EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS worth of Bugga Bugga in her arms.
After my wallet was lightened, I ran into SloBeachGirl and we went over to the Silent Auction that was raising funds for Doctors Without Borders. We also found KiniaCat there. Next up was heading into the ballroom for the opening night reception. We found a spot to sit, grabbed some munchies, and settled in to chat & knit until everyone filed in and the festivities started.
Stephanie & Tina shared the podium and they started off with Stephanie reading the proclamation by the mayor of Portland that declared it Sock Knitting Week in the city. We then heard the story of the origin of Sock Summit which was highly amusing and had the terribly sleep deprived duo in giggles & tears at various points. There was someone recording it so hopefully it will be available at some point. They announced that in one hour the silent auction raised $5700.
Sorry for the cliffhanger here but I'm gonna have to go get ready to head downtown to grab dinner before tonight's Sock Hop. ]]>
My traveling cohorts & I started our journey yesterday at 7am when I picked them up in the Prius to drive us all from SLO to San Jose to catch our flight. The drive was uneventful just like I like and the airport was mostly uneventful, save some shuffling when checking bags due to wine bottles. We had about half a dozen Sock Summiteers on our flight and we all gathered and rode MAX (lightrail) to our various destinations. After checking in at the hotel and ditching our bags, my roomie & I headed back to the convention center to register.
On our way down the hill, lo and behold, there is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee leading a cadre of helpers up the hill carrying boxes (Yes, she had a box too). We moved to the side to let them pass and made our merry way down the street where we promptly saw Tina Newton headed toward the same hill. Then I tweeted a picture of the Sock Summit banner. :)
At registration, I got my class list, a lovely show book, badge materials and various tickets for the extracurricular events and kinneared Tina from my phone while my stuff was being gathered. Next thing I know, there are Jasmin & GiGi walking across the lobby! Next up was a visit to the swag room to collect the Sock Summit souvenirs I pre-ordered.
Most folks parted ways to head for their various dinner plans and my new pal, KiniaCat, and I decided to stay close to the hotels and hit Burgerville for dinner. Where we promptly ran into the Knitmores again. This time we chatted with them a bit while we enjoyed our cheesburgers. Again, pics to come but Burgerville does something I've never seen at a fast food place: They put the nutrition information right on your receipt. Dude. Good thing I hadn't had much else to eat during the day!
After dinner we delivered some cookies for ST-1 & ST-2 (aka the organizing goddesses behind this whole crazy adventure) to the registration booth and then went for a walk to Walgreens to get nail clippers that we both sorely needed. After toodling around the neighborhood a bit more, we headed back to KiniaCat's room and then to the 9pm mini-skein swap at the Red Lion lounge...where the teacher's dinner was just letting out. We saw Lucy Neatby with an awesome chicken purse by the elevator and others inside included Stephanie, Tina, Rachel H., JoAnn D., Cookie A, Abby Franquemont, Denny McMillan, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, Stephen HizKnits, and probably other folks we didn't recognize. One of the swappers had baked sock shaped cookies for the organizers and we took her picture with the cookies, Stephanie & Rachel before being serenaded by a chorus of "Goodnight Ladies" as Steph & Rachel departed for the ST meeting. I had a short chat with Mark & Zoe on the phone before they headed home from Disneyland where Zoe promptly told me "Mama? I'm hungry." She also went on the Matterhorn for the first time and apparently said "I want to go on the Matterhorn again!" as the ride ended. So they did. That's my girl. :) Not long after I headed back to the hotel where my roomie & I compared notes on the day and plans for tomorrow (aka today). Then I promptly laid awake until about midnight and woke up at the aforemetioned 3:30am. At least I got about 10hrs of sleep the night before I left.
Now it is almost time for breakfast and then a visit to Trader Joe's and probably Voodoo Doughnut (I'm still trying to figure out how to get a Maple Bacon donut back to Mark :). Sayonara!]]>
ETA: Well that was tricky and kind of a pain but should be minimally workable. ]]>
We were also interviewed by a camera crew who said they were from a show called "Extreme Conventions" on the Travel channel. It will be interesting to see if we're actually on the show!
Right inside the big building full of kid stuff & craft demos we ran into my BFF.
Shortly after we found a table sponsored by Crayola. They had all kinds of cool art supplies but Zoe was only interested in one thing.
While she was busy cutting her paper, I kinneared Cookie A after she arrived for her sock knitting demo. Then I learned how to needlefelt!
I was still stabbing away at my fledgling needle felted flower when Cookie started her sock knitting demo but when I finished I took a pic at the demo, where I stood in the back and tried to look like a friendly face rather than a scary stalker or someone who was completely baffled by a demo that only had 30mins to teach knitting a sock. I felt rather silly for hanging around afterward without having a copy of her book to get signed (I did want to look at her sample socks more closely). The funny part was that we both had the feeling that we had met somewhere before.
While I was at the Craft area, Mark & Zoe went to a different section. Can you guess which one? Here's a hint:
After getting lunch and squeezing through the Baazar Bizarre (where I picked up a couple lovely skeins of Wool Candy sock yarn) we went to the Main Stage and settled in to wait for Adam Savage's talk. We were in the back row in case Zoe went ballistic (it was way past nap time).
I had a good time but man it is exhausting to wrangle a toddler in those kind of crowds. I had to a two day ticket and decided that I wasn't going back Sunday so we gave it to Mark's sis who took her boys. I'm sure we'll be headed back next year.
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Baroness Von Wigglestein is in perpetual motion, as usual. She just hit 26 months and is doing new stuff every day. Her verbal skills are still exploding which is awesome because she can tell me what she needs a little easier every day. She has learned to respect the ocean so we have made several trips to the beach before winter finally settled in (now that it is freakin' February) and I can sometimes even sit down! Woohoo! Now that the weather is cold, windy and wet things have been kinda challenging. One day we cleaned the garage, a few times we ran outside between rain clouds, and today we put on our rain gear and ran errands. It was great that we needed cat litter because Petsmart was a fun place for a kid that loves animals. We walked a circuit from the fish to the cats to the rodents to the birds several times before checking out and heading to Costco.
The garden is green. Very green. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll need to remove another whole lawn from the front yard once the rains finish up. Seeds blew in and, much to my dismay, have taken over. Additionally, I now have a new planter bed to fill with soil so we can plant more veggies this year. Right now I have green onions and peas to harvest and some blueberries that are slowly trying to mature after blossoming during our January heat.
Now I have to get back to my knitting. :)]]>
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Hoo doggie. Someone (see above) in our house has decided that bedtime is unnecessary. We've tried going earlier and later with the timing and both result in the same big screaming fit. Right now Mark is sitting in the chair in her room while Zoe sobs hysterically at the gate. Last night I fell asleep to her crying in bed next to me. Getting her to sleep is easily taking 45 minutes to an hour (or more) *every night* no matter what. On the plus side, once she does get to sleep she's pretty much sleeping straight through until 6am and then sometimes will go back to sleep after a spot of milkies.
I knit these pants for her and good thing I finished them finally because they just fit right now. Which means they may be a bit small next week. *rolls eyes* That's what I get for taking 3-4 months to finish them. (Oooh, I think I hear Mark which means she's finally asleep). I think I should probably sew clothing for her next time instead, as it should be a faster project to finish.
We've had a number of travel firsts this past few months. First trip to Disneyland (staying at the Grand Californian Hotel onsite no less), first plane ride, first camping trip.
Disneyland would have been more awesome had we not been there during a heat wave that had temps soaring into the triple digits and us nearly spending more time in our hotel room and the pool than in the parks. One of the pools at the hotel had a little water slide that Zoe absolutely adored. She would have spent the whole trip there if we would have let her. We rode the carousels in both Disneyland and California Adventure, Pirates (of course!), the Haunted Mansion, the Storybook Land Canal Boats, the Monorail, the Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Mark Twain Steamboat, and the Sun Wheel. Using the fantastic rider switch feature, Mark & I were able to go on Space Mountain (twice!), the Matterhorn, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, and California Screamin' without having to wait forever. We'll be heading back in December and will have to hit Small World (it was closed for refurb) and Dumbo (lines were too long).
We made it to the family reunion in Wichita this year, despite United Airlines best efforts to keep us from doing so. *sigh* Zoe was a trooper on the wacky trip out that had us at the San Jose airport at 9am on Saturday morning, through security, on the plane, off the plane, waiting around for an hour, on the shuttle to SFO, through security again, on the plane, waiting for takeoff, arriving in Denver late, off the plane, on the next plane to get us to Wichita and finally arriving 3.5hours late at 10:30pm having had no breaks and no real meals. We picked up our rental car, hit the IHOP, checked into our room and finally got to bed between midnight and 1am local time. The reunion was great. My dad had also decided to go this year and 3 of his (4) siblings were present with their families. Plus all the rest of Grandma's side of the family. It was something like 100 people! The next day we went to Hutchinson, KS to visit the Cosmosphere so Mark could inspect every speck of (space!) dust. :) We spent the evening at Grandma's and then were back at the airport bright and early the next morning to fly home. Thankfully, the trip home was uneventful.
We had 3 weeks to recover from that before heading off on our next adventure -- camping at Portola State Park with Mark's family and a bunch of their friends. This was an annual trip when Mark was a kid and last year it was restarted by his sis & another of the gals in the group. We drove up for the day but didn't camp last year. This time we rented a van and camped. Zoe was filthy head to toe and loving it and spent much of her time running around the campground with her cousins. I admit that even as a non-camper, I had a good time and was already taking mental notes for next year before we'd even started packing up our stuff.
With all that travel under our belts, we decided it was time to stay home for a bit. For the 4th of July the street around the corner from our house has a potluck block party and this year they even got a bounce house for the kids. Zoe was hesitant at first but ended up loving it and even going up the big laddery bit to get to the slide (which was the height of the bounce house!!). Thankfully the bigger kids were pretty patient since it took her a while to get up to the top. We headed out before the fireworks started but not before Zoe managed to coat herself in bubble soap and sidewalk chalk. Ah the joys of a toddler!
Number of teeth: 12.75, as the 4 canines are in various stages
Weight: 23.5lbs
Length: 31.5inches
Clothing size: 18-24 months
Mobility: Perpetual. Climbs with no fear. Nearly swims.
Speech: Comes & goes. Lots of emphatic babbling. Some even in English. Has dropped using some signs (like "all done") but is picking up others (like "please"). No means both no and yes and, sadly, "MINE!" has made its grand entrance.
Travel since last update: Tons! Maker Faire the first weekend in May, (Great-great)Aunt Mary's funeral in Hanford, Disneyland during the May heat wave, Wichita, KS for the family reunion the first Sunday in June, and camping at Portola State Park. May well be in the Bay Area for a week about a week from now.
Foods: Berries and whatever Mama's eating are her favorites.]]>
Tomorrow we head north to visit the Smith clan for Thanksgiving and Zoe will get to play with her cousins, hopefully not eating too many of their toys. And in hopes of posting this before her birthday, we'll now sum up:
Number of teeth: 6.5, center bottom, center top, upper right molar
Number of teeth waiting to burst from the gums: Who knows...
Weight: 18lbs
Length: Not sure.
Clothing size: 12 to 18 months
Sitting up?: Ancient history.
Crawling?: Swifter than eagles.
Standing?: Pulls up, lets go for up to 30 seconds or so
Walking?: Assisted by the LeapFrog walker or cruising the furniture.
Climbing!?!?: Gah! On and off the couch if the nursing footstool is out.
Travel in October/November: Visited Grammy & Grandpa in Hanford and was wary of Uncle Tom. Will visit Nana & Grandad and Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins...tomorrow!
Foods: Decided to keep with circular cereal, squash, sweet potato, gingersnaps.
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