Happy New Year!

The tradition with Kevin and I is that we celebrate Christmas together on New Year's Eve and exchange presents then. I just have to share, as it is knitting related.....

In addition to adorable cashmere (of course) Burberry earmuffs, the Best Boyfriend In The World also got me a copy of Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. Oh boy! This will keep me busy for years to come....he sure knows how to pick 'em!

I am appropriately excited, as you can see.

In other news, I finally heard from eknittingneedles.com about my order. Apparently their system didn't get the order from Google Checkout or something, but now they have it and it shipped Tuesday and it's on the way. Those needles cannot arrive quickly enough. I'm hoping they may come before we take the train to Connecticut this weekend so I can work on it during the trip. With no projects going currently, I've been compulsively looking at patterns and yarns and needles and patterns and yarns. I'd like to consider it "planning ahead" as I was focusing on patterns in my Ravelry queue, but, really, it is unnecessary.

Well, folks, back to our New Year's revelries, primarily involving some Tanqueray 10 and tonic, risotto, music, games and raspberry tart.

Side Slip Cloche - finished!

I finally finished the Side Slip Cloche. Finally. I am seriously the slowest knitter ever, but perhaps I can chalk that up to beginnerness. Some photos of the final product are included. I am pleased with how it came out. The wool is not as itchy as it was as I worked it and does not look too fuzzy or pilly. I can totally tell the parts where I added the new skein in, but hopefully no one else can. I learned a lot with this project - M1, sewing knit parts together, ssk, picking up stitches....and I think that's all. The picking up stitches too FOREVER. I did it wrong 3 or 4 times before I found a video on knittinghelp.com and it all came clear. I think the pick up finally came out well. One thing I realized is this hat doesn't look that great with my glasses on. Too much in my face between the frames and the ruffles. New contact lenses are in my future I hope.

Next project will be.....a surprise! It's a gift for someone so information about it will only be on Ravelry for now. Here's the yarn though...bought from Fabulous Yarn. I love the color - it is pretty accurate in the photos. It's Classic Elite Twinkle Super Chunky. I'm looking forward to working with it. Just waiting on needles. As I mentioned, I have given up on big box craft stores and I ended up ordering a set of straights online, plus the circular ones I needed for this project. I have yet to hear back from the company. Grrrr!!! I'm hoping that it's just due to holiday breaks and all that...they haven't charged my credit card, but it's frustrating. I want to start my next project!

Hope everyone had wonderful assorted holidays, joy and peace and love and all that.

Back to the notes and needles

Though this blog was initially intended for the road trip this summer, I did intend to use it afterward. For the last five months or so, however, I haven't given it much though. Partly, I've been reallllllly busy. Finding an apartment, moving, beginning internship, continuing internship, working on dissertation, spending time with family and friends, car stuff, housekeeping stuff, etc., etc., etc. It's been a little crazy, overall.

To begin more or less where I left off (in a much shortened version) - I found a cute apartment about 10 minutes from work. A lovely old Victorian - in lavender - with 2 bedrooms, dining room, living room and a kitchen with a dishwasher. Yippee!!! So far the only downsides are it's old and quite drafty so I can see heating will be a major expense, and the bathtub, while nice and big for baths, was recently re-enameled and I'm terrified of damaging it. So no bath salts for me.....anyway....

Isis moved in. Kevin moved in, went to England, came back, went to Prague and is now back again. Internship is great - busy, stressful at times, challenging and all that, but really

fulfilling. I think I'd like to maintain a specialty in infant/early childhood work, particularly around parent-child dyads, attachment and trauma. Really, there hasn't been all that much else. Far more visits with family and friends than in the last four years. Joined a new gym - eh. Haven't gone much. (I miss Golden Gate Fitness.)

Annnnnd, I started knitting again! Woo! I started with this circle scarf, from a free Lion Brand pattern, to use up some Homespun I had in my stash and for an easy project to get the hang of it again. It came out tolerably well. Apparently there was some turn, slip stitch thing or something or other I should've done in order to avoid holes due to the short rows technique. Huh. Well. Missed that, as it wasn't on the pattern at all (there's a reason some things are free....). But it's okay. It doesn't hang as nicely as in this picture when I wear it - it's a bit all over the place for my taste. But I like the color...and the style is different. And I'm not giving anyone a hole-y scarf, so in my collection it will remain.

I'm currently working on the Side Slip Cloche, from Laura Irwin's Boutique Knits. (A wonderful gift, thank you!) The hat is from the cover of the book - very vintage, classic, etc. I'm doing it in Paton's SWS, a soy and wool blend. The skeins are amazingly soft, though as I knit I am feeling more of the itchy wool. I think it will work out alright. The color is "natural," so very neutral, should go with anything, etc. Currently, I've finished the ruffles and the band, stitched them together and blocked them. It's drying as I write....and hopefully will be dry by tonight so I can pick up the stitches for the body of the hat.

I've become rather absorbed by knitting sites, such as Ravelry (my user name is meditativerose). It is an amazing resource, though I tend to get into a pattern of looking at lovely things and discovering yarns and wanting to make them, so I have a long list of to-dos. I do know my next project will be a late Christmas gift for someone.....Meanwhile, as the hat band dries, I am trying to find affordable needles for this next project. I've given up almost entirely on Michael's and AC Moore. At least the ones near me - they never have the size needle I want! Or if I need several different needles for a project, they only have one. It is not worth the stress of driving in New Jersey to go to these stores for naught. So I'm looking online....right now tempted by the low prices of eknittingneedles.com. I might take the chance and see how they are, especially since they currently have free shipping. So there I go - off to obsess about knitting some more!

Day Eleven - Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Well, dear reader, as you can see it has been some time since I last updated. And clearly this "Day Eleven" occurred some time ago (June 10th to be precise). I think I have been delaying writing this last entry for that exact fact...it would be the last, of the road trip at least. It was such a wonderful experience that I did not want it to end! I loved seeing new places and getting a sense of how huge this country is. Also, the end of the road trip meant the beginnings of many responsibilities: finding an apartment, doing all the change of address stuff (again), new bank account, DMV and all that, moving for real, starting internship and so forth. I really am excited about starting internship and finally doing, full time, what I have been training for these four years. The end of the road trip also signifies how far I am from Kevin and that I am really gone from San Francisco, no longer a resident.

Day Eleven, however, was also a very enjoyable part of the trip. I was somewhat concerned that our tour of an Amish farm would be patronizing or cheapening of the culture, but it was quite well done. The tour guide was not only knowledgeable, but respectful of the Amish culture. His own family background included the Mennonite tradition and he noted that he had many friends who were Amish. He emphasized that although the Amish do have their own particular traditions and lifestyles, they are very much a part of the outside community, banking and doing business at the same places as everyone else, and even answering to fire alarms in the community (arriving via scooter and horse).

The tour included going through the house, which was very old...I think 16 or early 1700s and was generally representative of current Amish homes. Though they do not connect to the electric grid, they do power modern appliances like refrigerators and sewing machines by gas or propane motors, and run modern plumbing in the same way. We saw typical clothing as well, and then toured the farm which I just loved.

The mules in a field were playing as we approached, though stopped by the time I retrieved my camera. A cow grazed placidly nearby, ignoring the mules' antics. There was a windmill, some outdoor stoves used for making soap, smoked meats and fruits, among other items. A large barn housed chickens, roosters, more cows, pigs, a few horses and some visiting pigeons.

We saw a one-room schoolhouse as well. Best of all were the pygmy goats - there was a large fenced-in area with at least half a dozen, many kids. They were so cute! One small, white kid sounded exactly like a loud cat - he was adorable. I so want one or two some day! Actually they were selling some of the kids, but I'm fairly sure no apartment in New Jersey would allow them. On our way out, we saw a horse and buggy.
From there, we stopped at an antiques mall - I was looking for an enameled basin and pitcher, but did not find any I liked, though there were some other tempting items. After that we headed along our way back to Connecticut. By the evening we reached the Valley and unpacked the car. Everything is stacked in odd places in the living room and family room. It was nice to be back someone familiar and stable, though bittersweet to realize how far it is from San Francisco. It is a big change.

Day Ten - Indianapolis to Pennsylvania

So the one place on the Eastern portion of this trip that I was interested in was Pennsylvania Dutch Country since I had a very small glimpse of it on my interview trip in January, but only saw a few farm silos in addition to my interest in the historical and cultural aspects of the area. Day Ten saw us driving almost 600 miles to Pennsylvania, aiming for Lancaster or thereabouts. It was another one of those long driving days, still with very little to see along the way. Lots more fields and flat land for a while. Finally somewhere in Ohio there was a bit more excitement - elevations! Hills! I also saw a high density of anti-women's rights/public health signs which always irks me. Actually that has been going on since about South Dakota (no big surprise there). I'm not sure why such an individualistic culture likes to poke its nose in everyone else's business, but so many people think it's fine to tell others how to live and make decisions. Well, yet another reason I couldn't live in this part of the country. So driving, driving, driving....

We passed through part of West Virginia and started to see real hills or mountains again - all tunnels drilled through mountains to go through. (I believe most of this was in the Allegheny Range.) It was nice to have a pretty landscape again, and lots of trees. Finally, we got into Pennsylvania and decided to set up camp outside of Lancaster, at Elizabethtown. The campground was AAA approved and rated a 2 (out of 3), but it didn't quite match the standards AAA claimed it would. (Yet another letter I will be writing....) The bathrooms were more rustic than the 2 rating stands for and not well maintained at all. It was also really buggy, though that's not something a campground can really control. We set up the tents and went out to get some dinner. We ended up with swordfish steaks, salad and soup and prepared a nice, three course meal! Dad cooked the steaks over the campfire and I made the salad and soup. It ranked pretty high among all our meals on this trip! Since it was so dark and buggy, we tucked into our tents and I slept pretty well, though the humidity was high and just seemed to seep right into everything.

Day Nine - Iowa to Indianapolis

Day Nine was a day of driving. I don't even think I have any pictures from it...it was just lots of corn fields and high winds and clouds. It became quite a chore to keep the car on the road, an even more tedious task with all the highway construction lane shifts and narrowing. We did not have too much farther to go from Iowa to Indianapolis, but it was a long enough drive. We arrived some time in the afternoon and just relaxed for a while, caught up on email and such. Later we went out to dinner with Dad's friends (really delicious pesto tortellini and Chianti) and a stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen for dessert. By then, I was pretty tired, so after a call to Kevin and a little reading, I was fast asleep! I feel that as we are getting further East there is somewhat less novelty to the sights and fewer destinations of interest. Perhaps there are other places we are missing, but there do not seem to be as many excellent national parks through here. For sure there is not much to see by way of the landscape. All that flat land - no hills or trees or mountains - puts me to sleep! I don't think I could live in a place like that. I need forests and hiking, and definitely a coastline. Off to Pennsylvania next - getting closer!

Comments from Dad

My remarks will be short as Barbara has done an excellent job of keeping this trip diary and taking pictures. (Thanks Barbs!) The trip has been awesome! Barbara is great company and we generally like many of the same things. Of course I do have to keep her on track sometimes to make sure we reach the east coast at some point. I would highly recommend this type of trip to anyone with the oppurtunity. Caution about the time of year. I cannot seeing making this trip much further into the summer (dessert and plains heat) or much earlier as Yellowstone was still cold and loaded with snow when we arrvived to camp. They had more snow in the North corner of the park as we left the park.
(Wow, I cannot believe I am blogging, another milestone for this old guy.)
Anway enough for now.

An excellent APM show we caught while driving

At some point the South Dakota public radio affiliate aired an episode of Speaking of Faith. This particular episode featured Thich Nhat Hanh as well as some of his students. I particularly recommend the interview with Cheri Maples, as she speaks about being a police officer and Zen. The show presents teachings about compassion and suffering, especially pertinent in today's world and for us clinicians in the world.

Enjoy!

Day Eight - South Dakota to Iowa

Day Eight was mostly driving, driving, driving. We did have a nice view of the Missouri River from a rest stop. Interestingly, most of the rest stops in Iowa have wireless internet! It's a bit frustrating driving through these areas with more traffic than we've seen since leaving California - lots of people going way too slow on the highway. We'll be through Iowa soon- onto Illinois and Indiana tomorrow, but I imagine this traffic will keep up now that we are in more civilized areas, on the interstates.



We did stop at Corn Palace (probably the most touristy thing we have done and will do this whole trip). It was interesting, but a quick stop along the way.

Continuing along, we finally stopped at Davenport, Iowa for the night, before we reach Indianapolis tomorrow. The weather is pretty bad - I'm hearing rain fall and it sounds like there may be some hail mixed in, with a thunderstorm approaching. In the counties all around there are tornado warnings and sightings, though not here, thankfully. Obviously, no camping tonight given the weather. We hope to camp once we reach Pennsylvania, or perhaps before then.

Day Seven - Crazy Horse/Volksmarch, the Badlands and Wall Drug

We got into the Black Hills area at a particularly good time, apparently. The weekend of June 6th and 7th is the Crazy Horse Volksmarch, a 6.2 mile, noncompetitive hike all the way up to the Crazy Horse Memorial, in areas usually closed to the public. It was a really good hike, especially after sitting in the car so much, and we got to see the monument up close. The final part of the hike was actually the arm, and from there, you could see the face above you. It was a really great experience. The vision behind the memorial is beautiful and moving. After the hike we stopped by the visitor center a bit. Everything there is funded through private donation and purchases, so I felt very compelled to buy most of my souveniers there. I found a lovely porcupine quill bracelet and the artisan herself showed me how to care for it. The son of Ehanamani was there selling his books, and I bought his much published dissertation Mitakuye Oyasin (or We are all related) with its references to Jung, dreams and the oral history of the tribes of the Americas. I can't wait to get into it. We had a nice conversation about work with children (he and his brother also work with kids, at the JDC) and how important it is to have community and ritual for them, and to really intervene on the family level. At the proper gift shop, I found another piece of pottery to add to my collection and of course a few postcards for that other collection.

By then, I could really feel my knees and hips complaining about the hike! So it was kind of nice to get back in the car and sit for a while. We began to approach Rushmore, amidst a heavy, heavy fog. Visibility was a couple of yards, at the most. We even missed the Rushmore visitor center when we first arrived and decided that it probably would not be worth it, since you could barely see a few feet ahead, let alone from the visitor center's viewing area. We continued along in the fog, eventually stopping for lunch at a place off the highway called the Gaslight Saloon - really yummy broccoli cheddar soup that was perfect for warming up in the chill of the fog.

We got on our way and as we got a bit closer to the Badlands, the weather cleared a little, so at least the Badlands were more visible, despite the cold and a bit of rain. The Badlands were really interesting, another strange and beautiful landscape. It used to be an inland sea, and then a subtropical forest, and then a grassland, and finally the plain/prairie it is now. Because of this history, there are lots of fossils and even skeletons of prehistoric creatures found there. The current view of them was formed through sand/mineral deposits and erosion. You can see the different layers of history in the various colors in the rock formations.

Once through the Badlands, we stopped at Wall Drug. There was a lot to see there, but I managed to keep my purchases to a few postcards. I was tempted, but did not buy a mounted jackalope (or figurine). We had dinner there - first veggie burger I've seen since California! I had the famous free ice water...and also a really good, fresh-made donut.

From there, we drove to Murdo to stay the night before continuing on to Indianapolis the next few days.