Greetings from Tokyo!
Monday 6:30 AM hotel lobby, Asakusa. Starbucks up the street opens at 7AM.
We arrived safely, found our hotel, spent yesterday sightseeing locally, lots of cherry blossoms, lots of people.
Sleeve number one was finished somewhere over the Bering Sea. Sleeve number two is about halfway done. Will I finish in time for Takayama in the mountains? Indications say yes. But we will see. If I get too cold, I will just have to bind off wherever and make a fashion statement.
Sunday, March 30
Wednesday, March 26
Sukoshi kanko-ga shitai-desu.
We interrupt blog silence to say so long, we are off to Japan. We have passports, rail passes, hotel reservations, two cameras --- but no laptop or cables, so photos when we return --- and the list of things to do includes at least one yarn store.
I did finish the Victorian Lace Today Large Rectangle and it is large. I didn't block it to its extreme, but to the extreme of my blocking board at 32x82 inches. I could probably have gotten a couple more inches in both dimensions. I love it anyway. And as for running out of yarn, I had 300 grams and used 286 grams. The calculator on ravelry says that is 1359 yards. I am too lazy to double check or to double check my calculations from when I worried about running out. The pattern calls for 1200 yards? I used the same weight of yarn as called for, I knit on similar needle sizes, but my finished dimensions are larger. So whatever, I had enough yarn.
Here's a photo of me trying to get all arty. I am imagining being lost out on the moors in winter with nothing but the pile of shawls I grabbed as I ran away. Would Jane's have been lace?
My latest knitting is a sweater that I really want to wear in Japan. However, it's not quite finished yet. Using Forecast, from Knitty 2005, I did some modifications which I am liking. Details on my ravelry page. Body is finished, button band done, buttons sewed on, ends are woven in, but the sleeves aren't going to knit themselves, so I better keep this post short. We leave in about 36 hours.
I did finish the Victorian Lace Today Large Rectangle and it is large. I didn't block it to its extreme, but to the extreme of my blocking board at 32x82 inches. I could probably have gotten a couple more inches in both dimensions. I love it anyway. And as for running out of yarn, I had 300 grams and used 286 grams. The calculator on ravelry says that is 1359 yards. I am too lazy to double check or to double check my calculations from when I worried about running out. The pattern calls for 1200 yards? I used the same weight of yarn as called for, I knit on similar needle sizes, but my finished dimensions are larger. So whatever, I had enough yarn.
Here's a photo of me trying to get all arty. I am imagining being lost out on the moors in winter with nothing but the pile of shawls I grabbed as I ran away. Would Jane's have been lace?
My latest knitting is a sweater that I really want to wear in Japan. However, it's not quite finished yet. Using Forecast, from Knitty 2005, I did some modifications which I am liking. Details on my ravelry page. Body is finished, button band done, buttons sewed on, ends are woven in, but the sleeves aren't going to knit themselves, so I better keep this post short. We leave in about 36 hours.
Saturday, February 9
Participatory Democracy
Well, the caucus is over. Now I can lose my voice.
Yesterday afternoon I started getting that unmistakable tickle in the throat --- the first symptom of a cold. I woke this morning with inflamed sinuses, but overall not feeling too bad yet. I got to the school gym around 12 noon, an hour before the start time, as asked of the caucus chairs. To my disappointment, I found out that they hadn't asked for extra rooms, all 10 precincts were going to meet in the one space. We had two tables for our precinct, two of those standard picnic-style tables found in elementary schools everywhere. It wasn't long before people started showing up. The early arrivals were very helpful, making sure the sign-up process was going smoothly, going to get more forms, pens, etc. All in all it ran smoothly considering the size of the turnout.
When Gail asked me to be chair, she said that 4 years ago the turnout had been really high, about 60 people. Today we had 129. That's just our precinct. There were more than a thousand people in the room, 10 precincts all trying to get organized, sign everyone in, tally up the votes, choose delegates. Our precinct had the most attendees and also the most delegates to choose (number of delegates is determined by some formula using past voting data) so it isn't surprising that we were the last one done. 99 Obama, 30 Clinton. 5 delegates for Obama, 2 for Clinton.
The delegate votes have to be done on paper ballots. There was no easy way for the 70+ Obama supporters who stuck it out that far to do the balloting. But we managed. Everyone pitched in and it all worked so smoothly. I didn't get to knit much, got too busy right away. Mostly I stood on the bench seat of one of the tables and tried to project so that the whole precinct could hear me.
I had been worried, I had been kicking myself for my inability to say no. But it was great. Lots of neighbors came -- many that I see regularly, some only once in a while. I met some new people, and everyone was truly neighborly. Maybe the size helped. It really was too large and crowded for folks to try to politick. Everyone seemed to have already made up their mind and there was very little changing. Now I have to thank Gail for going out of town and asking me to volunteer.
But first, change into sweats, brew lemon ginger tea with honey, and curl up in a blanket. Pass me the tissues, please.
Yesterday afternoon I started getting that unmistakable tickle in the throat --- the first symptom of a cold. I woke this morning with inflamed sinuses, but overall not feeling too bad yet. I got to the school gym around 12 noon, an hour before the start time, as asked of the caucus chairs. To my disappointment, I found out that they hadn't asked for extra rooms, all 10 precincts were going to meet in the one space. We had two tables for our precinct, two of those standard picnic-style tables found in elementary schools everywhere. It wasn't long before people started showing up. The early arrivals were very helpful, making sure the sign-up process was going smoothly, going to get more forms, pens, etc. All in all it ran smoothly considering the size of the turnout.
When Gail asked me to be chair, she said that 4 years ago the turnout had been really high, about 60 people. Today we had 129. That's just our precinct. There were more than a thousand people in the room, 10 precincts all trying to get organized, sign everyone in, tally up the votes, choose delegates. Our precinct had the most attendees and also the most delegates to choose (number of delegates is determined by some formula using past voting data) so it isn't surprising that we were the last one done. 99 Obama, 30 Clinton. 5 delegates for Obama, 2 for Clinton.
The delegate votes have to be done on paper ballots. There was no easy way for the 70+ Obama supporters who stuck it out that far to do the balloting. But we managed. Everyone pitched in and it all worked so smoothly. I didn't get to knit much, got too busy right away. Mostly I stood on the bench seat of one of the tables and tried to project so that the whole precinct could hear me.
I had been worried, I had been kicking myself for my inability to say no. But it was great. Lots of neighbors came -- many that I see regularly, some only once in a while. I met some new people, and everyone was truly neighborly. Maybe the size helped. It really was too large and crowded for folks to try to politick. Everyone seemed to have already made up their mind and there was very little changing. Now I have to thank Gail for going out of town and asking me to volunteer.
But first, change into sweats, brew lemon ginger tea with honey, and curl up in a blanket. Pass me the tissues, please.
Wednesday, February 6
Is it Christmas yet?
Zach's birthday is in November and this year we decided to spring for a big gift, one to cover Christmas as well. An mp3 player. He chose a Zen 30GB player from Creative. Only trouble was, they were out of stock everywhere.
January 3 I got email from Creative announcing they were back in stock. I ordered one.
January 6 It was shipped.
January 8 It arrived. It didn't work. It was a brick.
January 9 I emailed back and forth with customer service to convince them it was bricked.
January 10 Creative issued an RMA.
January 11 I sent the unit to OK for service or replacement. We paid shipping.
January 28 The replacement was shipped
February 1 It arrived. It was the wrong player. A smaller, cheaper player. It did, however, work.
February 2 I emailed customer support.
February 4 Creative issued the super-duper Advanced RMA --- will ship new unit and a prepaid shipping label to return the wrong one.
February 6 I got email notification that the RMA has been shipped. UPS tracking system doesn't have it yet.
Then there was the December 21 xkcd.com T-shirt order. Zach needs new shirts, he loves xkcd and the mp3 player was not coming yet. Something to open on Christmas? January 16 I got a weaselly apology from Paypal and a more straightforward one from xkcd. It was Paypal's fault but they erred in not contacting us sooner. T shirts arrived January 23rd. (A big hit, too.)
Then we realized Zach's ski pants from last year were a no show. He must have outgrown them so we would have passed them along. SierraTradingPost has quality merchandise at good prices. When I ordered the pants, the website said that a Medium was size 28-30. Sounded like they ran pretty small, but I've always had good shopping experience with SierraTradingPost. They arrived. They are huge. I contacted the friendly customer service. She said "Well, I am looking at the on-line catalog right now and the Mediums are 30-32." Was I going nuts? I got her to check and she called back to say that the catalog folks had "recently updated the sizing." Sigh. The new pants have left the warehouse and UPS expects delivery Friday February 8.
Other news: I've been either too busy or too sick or too boring to blog. Busy includes the bookstore, paperwork for the Board From Hell (yes, I am still in it. According to Mayor Greg's memo, I do my noble-citizen-duty until October 2009) and other things as well, including planning a two week trip to Japan for April. Franz has done a lot of the work, but it still has taken both of us many hours of internet sleuthing to line up accommodations and travel details. I have not knit much, the VLT shawl still needs a few more border repeats and one more corner turned. My last day at the bookstore is next week (yay!) Week after that is mid-winter break and we are going to Utah to ski (double yay!)
Odds and ends: I get so many hits on my blog from folks looking for the Triangle Shawl calculations, that if you Google "trapezoid formula" my blog post shows up on the first page of results.
I'm good at voting but have never attended a caucus. (Recall, I grew up in the last bastion of Taxation without Representation, otherwise known as Our Nation's Capital.) This year I got talked into volunteering to chair our precinct's caucus. It ought to be a zoo. Wish me luck.
January 3 I got email from Creative announcing they were back in stock. I ordered one.
January 6 It was shipped.
January 8 It arrived. It didn't work. It was a brick.
January 9 I emailed back and forth with customer service to convince them it was bricked.
January 10 Creative issued an RMA.
January 11 I sent the unit to OK for service or replacement. We paid shipping.
January 28 The replacement was shipped
February 1 It arrived. It was the wrong player. A smaller, cheaper player. It did, however, work.
February 2 I emailed customer support.
February 4 Creative issued the super-duper Advanced RMA --- will ship new unit and a prepaid shipping label to return the wrong one.
February 6 I got email notification that the RMA has been shipped. UPS tracking system doesn't have it yet.
Then there was the December 21 xkcd.com T-shirt order. Zach needs new shirts, he loves xkcd and the mp3 player was not coming yet. Something to open on Christmas? January 16 I got a weaselly apology from Paypal and a more straightforward one from xkcd. It was Paypal's fault but they erred in not contacting us sooner. T shirts arrived January 23rd. (A big hit, too.)
Then we realized Zach's ski pants from last year were a no show. He must have outgrown them so we would have passed them along. SierraTradingPost has quality merchandise at good prices. When I ordered the pants, the website said that a Medium was size 28-30. Sounded like they ran pretty small, but I've always had good shopping experience with SierraTradingPost. They arrived. They are huge. I contacted the friendly customer service. She said "Well, I am looking at the on-line catalog right now and the Mediums are 30-32." Was I going nuts? I got her to check and she called back to say that the catalog folks had "recently updated the sizing." Sigh. The new pants have left the warehouse and UPS expects delivery Friday February 8.
Other news: I've been either too busy or too sick or too boring to blog. Busy includes the bookstore, paperwork for the Board From Hell (yes, I am still in it. According to Mayor Greg's memo, I do my noble-citizen-duty until October 2009) and other things as well, including planning a two week trip to Japan for April. Franz has done a lot of the work, but it still has taken both of us many hours of internet sleuthing to line up accommodations and travel details. I have not knit much, the VLT shawl still needs a few more border repeats and one more corner turned. My last day at the bookstore is next week (yay!) Week after that is mid-winter break and we are going to Utah to ski (double yay!)
Odds and ends: I get so many hits on my blog from folks looking for the Triangle Shawl calculations, that if you Google "trapezoid formula" my blog post shows up on the first page of results.
I'm good at voting but have never attended a caucus. (Recall, I grew up in the last bastion of Taxation without Representation, otherwise known as Our Nation's Capital.) This year I got talked into volunteering to chair our precinct's caucus. It ought to be a zoo. Wish me luck.
Tuesday, January 1
New year starting out well.
Happy New Year!
Blog was neglected for a busy December. Few random items from the past month:
I just won a blog contest! Kris has been having contests to celebrate her husband Dana's birthday. I was one of the folks who guessed his favorite album from 1979 and I won a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy Sock from her on-line store. Yay for me! and Yay for Kris who just sold her house and yay for Dana for having a birthday. Check out her store. Kris sells a nice variety of commercial yarn and a great selection of Indie hand-dyed yarn.
Most of my knitting time has been spent on the Large Rectangle from VLT. I have only 25 pattern repeats of the border left (out of 82). Each repeat takes me 24 minutes. Therefore, at least 10 more hours of work. And I am thinking of knitting the Princess Shawl? Am I nuts or just very optimistic?
Blog was neglected for a busy December. Few random items from the past month:
- Had a bit of a scare when I tried to get dressed and my jeans wouldn't go past my knees. To my relief, I realized I had grabbed the pair my skinny 14 year old son had outgrown and are destined for the Goodwill.
- My car got graffiti tagged in the driveway one night. Was pretty creeped out by it, then found out that two neighbors had gotten tagged the same time. Then it seemed more random and less creepy. Plus, what seemed to be indelible marker came off easily with Citra-Solve and some elbow grease.
- Working retail in December has its ups and downs. At least there are stories to share. Like the woman looking for a sudoku book for her "very smart" 8 year old granddaughter. I showed her Sudoku for Dummies and she was completely offended. Said her granddaughter was not a dummy.
- December 3rd, I mailed 6 checks including the mortgage. All but the mortgage showed up as received and cashed within a week. I called mortgage company on Dec 17th, last day to pay without a penalty. No check. I paid on-line which cost me six bucks. Then what to do about the missing check? Just in case, I moved enough money from savings into checking to cover it. Sure enough, it appeared at the mortgage company on the 18th. Large mortgage company is fighting bankruptcy. Is it possible it is "losing" checks for a couple weeks just so folks need to pay a late fee?
I just won a blog contest! Kris has been having contests to celebrate her husband Dana's birthday. I was one of the folks who guessed his favorite album from 1979 and I won a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy Sock from her on-line store. Yay for me! and Yay for Kris who just sold her house and yay for Dana for having a birthday. Check out her store. Kris sells a nice variety of commercial yarn and a great selection of Indie hand-dyed yarn.
Most of my knitting time has been spent on the Large Rectangle from VLT. I have only 25 pattern repeats of the border left (out of 82). Each repeat takes me 24 minutes. Therefore, at least 10 more hours of work. And I am thinking of knitting the Princess Shawl? Am I nuts or just very optimistic?
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