Bonanza

The kitties don't see much of Karl and me on the weekends these days. We've been on roadtrips, like this past Saturday to Virginia City and Reno. Re-no, where we played ke-no at the ca-si-no.

Virginia City is a historic mining town in Nevada, situated on the Comstock Lode, known for its silver and gold mines. In its heyday Virginia City was the richest city in the west, a busy town with a surprising amount of diversity and culture. We spent Saturday visiting museums and riding a short portion of the old Virginia & Truckee railroad. I had fun taking a few photos of the saloon signs.

Bonanza was one of them but the sign that drew the most interest was the venerable Bucket of Blood. We didn't stop in that saloon but I took a picture of the sign anyway.

From the train, aka "Queen of the Short Lines", you could barely make out the steeple of the Catholic Church. The original building burnt down with most of the town after someone knocked over a gas lamp.

One of the most interesting museum visits we made was to a prostitute museum. Back then, prostitution didn't have the same distasteful and dreary reputation that it does now. It was a job, one of the few women could have. The museum was in the basement of a saloon and one of the relics was this, um, vibrator. It looks a bit like an instrument of torture but then again a lot of things did in those days. What I want to know is, what is the guy pictured on the side of the box doing with said Arctic Vibrator??

Oh, but this is a blog about knitting. Sorry for the digression. I finished my first sock! Yay! I completed it during the guild's sock class on Sunday afternoon (after an evening of gambling and such in Reno...OK, I'll stop talking about that now) and then promptly cast on for the sock's mate. To avoid the Second Sock Syndrome, I decided to knit SS on 2 circulars. After a bout of awkwardness with the cuff, I got into something like a groove thing as I started the stockinette leg. And it's going faster than the first. Very cool. I can see where socks would be addicting and can't wait to start another pair. However, there is the matter of the lacy capelet. I cast on for that last night and it's going pretty well too, although not much to show right now. Hopefully next time.

Happy Knitting and have a great week!

Free Yarn!

Doesn't that title make your eyes go wide with anticipation and your heart start beating a little faster? Sort of like love. At the Guild meeting on Thursday night, there was a bounty of yarn that some kind soul had donated. I have learned to get to the meeting just a bit early so I can beat everyone to the new books and magazines to borrow. Then I spied all the free yarn goodies! This is a Japanese yarn of unknown brand but I think it is a discontinued line of Noro. I recognize the tag. Tachibana is 65% wool, 30% alpaca and 5% silk. I greedily snapped up all 9 skeins. It will be enough for a warm sweater this winter. Yay!

No excitement at the guild meeting itself though. I was kind of disappointed because I have come to expect heated discussions from these fiery women. However, we had a good Show & Tell and the stories were entertaining. Alas, I will not be attending the meeting next month...Cyndi or Kaedean will have to report out! Violet is busy, busy, busy with her new store, Frogpond Knits. I can't wait to see it! She and Kaedean are going to have great stuff. Plus, I'm thinking about organizing a group for a knit night. Violet has already offered to host it at her store.

A few posts ago, I mentioned that June's project would be my first pair of socks. Well. Not anymore. We are going to Karl's brother's wedding at the beginning of July so I am motivated to make a little lacy something to wear over the dress I've chosen. The dress is an off-white silk sheath with delicate pink, blue and green flowers. Originally I was going to make a shrug and had narrowed my choices to two. Then I was inspired at the yarn store and remembered the Not-Knit-Round scarf in The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville. It's actually a capelet because you seam the ends of the scarf together. I figured, hey this is something new, it's relatively quick and easy and I have to finish it in time for the wedding. What better motivation than that?

For once, I'm actually going to use the yarn called for in the scarf pattern, Berroco Cotton Twist. I've never knit with it before but having tried a few similar Berroco yarns, I'm thinking the "twist" part may cause a little grief. But, I like it and it matches the dress.

I wanted to show you a contraption that Karl made after he watched me struggle with winding skeins and hanks of yarn into balls. We tried a conventional swift and ball winder but the swift was too big. He went into the garage and an hour later came out with this...

Loosen the nuts and slide the arms out to hold the skein. Tighten the nuts to maintain the tension. Then start winding the yarn!

Of course, this is what happens. Little Kitty loves it when we play the "wind the ball of yarn" game. She is just about to swipe the trailing yarn with her paw.

All right, gotta run. I started this post before the sun came up and now it's shining down into the garden full blast! Have a great weekend.

Answers, Answers

Many of you have probably noticed, but I have been a relative blogging hermit lately...both posting to mine and reading/commenting on my favorite reads. I visited Stephanie's blog today and found out she posted interview questions for me last week! I'm such a dork. Here are my belated answers:

The Interview

• What about photojournalism attracts you?
  I am a shy person but being behind the camera makes me bold and independent; writing is an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. Photography allows me to focus and writing lets me expand. Together I am at my most creative. I'm not the best photograher or the best writer but I am content in my ability to express myself, bring people into my world and share it at the same time. A good photojournalist draws you in, keeps you interested, teaches you something and makes you feel a part of the experience. Those are my goals.


• How did you meet your husband?
  It was a case of several coincidences at work, what I believe to be fate. We are employed by the same huge company...something like 5,000 people on just this one campus and we spend our days in small cubicles. I happened to look up one afternoon 7 years ago to see Karl walk by my cube. I whipped around, poked my head out of the cube to watch him and thought "hey, who is THAT guy?". A few days later in another building we walked past each other in the hallway. I caught a glimpse of his badge -he had a weird last name. A few weeks later, I was temporarily assigned to his group and he came over to ask me some software questions. After that we were inseparable. By the way, we aren't married, at least not yet. Chalk it up to laziness.


• What do you like most about knitting, and what you do like the least?
  I'm not good at most crafts...no patience, no creativity, blah. Knitting on the other hand makes me feel extremely crafty and the best part is that there's enough about knitting to keep me busy for years! I love, love, love learning new techniques. There's so much to be done with 2 sticks and some yarn. And I get to wear/use what I make. I feel accomplished. However, there are tedious aspects to it like weaving in ends. That's probably the worst. No new methods there, and it comes at the end of the project. Blecchh.


• Of all your possessions, what do you value the most?
  This is a toughie. I want to say that I can do without many of my material goods, but I've carted some around with me for over 20 years. In the end what's going to matter the most to me is how I've lived. The best artifacts of that are my journals and my photos. They're stashed away in a closet but every once in a while I take them out to read and remember. They're priceless.


• If you were stranded on a deserted island (think LOST), what 5 things would you want with you and why?
  OK, I've never seen an episode of LOST so I'm not sure if I'm answering this correctly. However, here's what I would want with me:
  1) a solar laptop with a satellite internet connection...this doesn't have to be super realistic, right? I can be satisfied being alone on a deserted island if I still have contact with the outside world. In fact, I prefer this in real life some days.
  2) a camera - 'nuff said about that.
  3) a grill - the easiest way to cook! Or so the guys tell me. A girl's got to eat and I need to learn how to grill anyway. Besides, freshly caught meat and fish taste best on the barbie.
  4) toilet paper - trust me on this one. I've been on enough backpacking trips. You don't want to wipe your butt and other private parts with leaves.
  5) Karl - because I need someone to cuddle.

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The Interview Rules

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me;"

2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions on my blog. They will be different questions than the ones above;

3. You will update your blog with the answers;

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else;

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.

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