I see moose!

The other day, I worked in an office in a small townnorth of Albany, just a few miles from the New York/Vermont border. I finished the office early so I decided to go for a little drive. Hadn't been to Vermont before! So off I went to the nearest town, Bennington, to see what I could see. And what did I see? Moose! Very cool, painted moose to be exact.
And one covered in tiny photos:
Yep, very cool. They have an annual Moosefest and hire artists to decorate a dozen new moose every year. There are more pics of the other moose in my flickr account if you're interested. =) So, if you're anywhere near Benningtong in your travels, stop by and check out the moose!

Organic, Low-Salt, Low-Sugar, Vegetarian...

Why must I choose only one? I was looking at ketchup the other day at the grocery. There were so many options! Now, I can choose standard recipe, thick, low-salt, low-sugar, organic, spicy, the options are almost limitless! Don't get me wrong, I love that the choices are there... but why do I have to choose only one? This is pretty much across the board with all packaged foods. Why can't I choose low-salt and low-sugar and organic??? Does it not make sense that many people who would choose any of these options, might want them all? Frustrating. Any wonder I prefer to cook myself?

It was supposed to be a stress-free weekend...

Does this look stress-free?
Yeah, I didn't think so either. Poor little guy. Had some skin cysts removed a few days ago, wasn't given an e-collar by the vet (really, what is wrong with that vet?!) and he pulled out some of the stitches so had to deal with the mess and have things fixed... with a trip to the emergency vet's 45 miles away. *sigh*
I do think I figured out the inspiration for the first "pill pockets" though!
haha Worked like a charm! Reilly does love his fruits (and veggies too)!
It's been nice having the house to myself this weekend (my mother is visiting her mother and my sis in OH). I've organized the freezer finally. One of the few places in the kitchen I haven't overhauled since being here. I picked up a couple of plastic shoe boxes today to wrangle in the smaller items in the hope that my mother will actually look and see what she has before buying more stuff. I can dream, right?
I also picked up a couple of shallow storage bins to slip under my bed so I could move the large red suitcase (that's been holding a good chunk of my stash) out of my bedroom and into the basement... where I discovered my mother now has THREE bicycles. *sigh* One is older, though I'm sure, still usable as much as she would actually use it if it was cleaned up and serviced. She had a newer model in the garage that probably just needs new tires or something. Now there's a third in the garage... brand new... tags still on. I don't know the last time she actually rode a bike. I guess my attempts at helping her declutter aren't helping...
Anyhoo, I sorted my stash mainly by fiber content and decided my two balls of this:
are destined to become fingerless gloves! So pretty! And will go perfectly with my black wool coat. =) Haven't picked a design yet. I'm open to suggestions...
I also came across this:
Such a pretty, pale lavender and so very soft! I'm thinking baby something. Baby what, I don't know. A sweater perhaps? Or possibly a hat and matching booties? Decisions, decisions. Again, open to suggestions!
Some of the stash isn't making the cut. Once I saw it all together, some skeins just didn't inspire a desire to knit. I'm thinking of putting together a bag to pass on to someone... I've also got a bag full of clothes, shoes and purses mostly, ready to donate to Goodwill or somewhere. Planned to take care of that today, but the little guy had other plans. Ah, well, the longer the bag is here, the more that will end up in there! =) Just gotta get it out of the house before my mom realizes it's donation stuff and decides to sort through it...

Twisty Fun!

Socks! Finally. Here's pair #3 for the year. Yeah, I'm not exactly prolific. heh I started these back at the beginning of February in Indiana. They went to Seattle with me... then to Arizona... and more recently, to upstate New York. Do socks earn frequent flyer miles?!?

Gotta say though, now that they're done... I LOVE them! They're so bright and fun and so very comfy!

The yarn is Beyond Basic Knits Superwash Sock in Lemonade Twist. I grabbed the skein on the way to Knit Night one night, needing something to work on. I cast on, not knowing where I was going with these. After finishing the first toe, I realized this colorway just screamed for cables. I worked out a simple cable pattern that worked with my stitch count and off I went. The first sock went quickly. The second... not so much. =) I didn't keep any notes on the first sock and realized once I got an inch or so into the cuff on sock #2 that I'd begun the cuff ribbing too soon. I hate ripping back! So I put it off. Finally picked these back up on Sunday, ripped back the rows I needed to and off I went, finishing up and weaving in ends Monday night. Now I have one more pair of handknit socks to brighten up my sock drawer. =)

Some days, nothing goes right...

It's been an, um, interesting two weeks in New York. Lots of things have gone wrong. Way more than usual. And unfortunately, it did not end before my trip home last night...

I'm usually SO good about getting to the airport two hours in advance. Yesterday, I worked in an office up in Adirondack Park, an hour and a half from my hotel. I left early after kicking chart butt and headed back to the hotel so I could swap out a few things and head to the airport. Didn't leave until 15 min after I'm usually at the airport. On the way, I nearly forgot to fill up the tank before I actually got to the airport. I get there and there are NO signs for my car rental company. None. Every other car rental co has a sign saying where to return your car. Mine? Nada. I find the kiosk where I picked up my car and ask the guy there. He says, just park it over there and walks away. Hmm. Okay. So I wait 15 minutes while he rents out cars to others before another guy finally wandered over and checked in my car. I'm just putting the paperwork in my bag when I realize... I don't have MY car keys! Ugh! I'd double-checked to be sure I had my ticket for the long-term parking, I'd checked to be sure I had my hotel key for when I returned... completely spaced making sure I had my KEYS in the bag! Luckily, the guy who shuttles cars back and forth was there and offered to take me back to my hotel... luckily again, only 15 min away. I get to the hotel, run upstairs (3rd floor of course), dig through everything... no keys! Back downstairs, dig through my bag again to be sure... no keys! Back upstairs again, more digging, toss the suitcases out of the closet... there are my keys on the floor under the suitcases!! How they got there, I have no idea. Rush back downstairs and hop back in the car and we're off. I start laughing and tell the guy the maid's going to think my room's been ransacked! heh He says he was thinking he hoped I'd remember when I get back on Sunday that it was me who did the ransacking! hahaha Thank God, Albany is a really small airport or I never would have made my flight. I had to stop at the ticket counter to get boarding passes printed (the printer at the hotel's been down for days) and head to security... no line. =) I get to my gate with time to spare before they even start loading the plane! Whew! Way more stress than I needed after the roller coaster ride that was my past two weeks. But it all worked out, I caught my flight (where I got trapped next to the window by a guy who took full advantage of the free drink policy in first class - he passed out, I had to pee. heh The second half of my flight, I got bumped out of my window seat... by a cello. Hmm, definitely the better of my two seatmates! haha I head back to NY tomorrow with a too-short-for-comfort layover in Cleveland. Wish me luck! The next two weeks has to go better than the past two!

Welcome to New York!

Yep, made it to upstate New York last weekend! Checked into my new home for the next couple months. Don't you just love my new view???


It's okay, you can admit it... I know you're jealous!
I'm staying in Albany, but so far have been all over the surrounding area, mostly (literally) in the middle of cornfields...


heh I jest, but really, the countryside is beautiful! And what a change from the Arizona desert!


There are fruit/vegetable stands everywhere - absolutely loving the access to fresh produce!!


Freshly picked nectarines and gooseberries! Yum! I don't think I've had gooseberries since I was a kid!

In addition to my lovely view, I've spent the week getting the hotel staff to fix nearly everything in my room, making me wonder if this hotel actually ever does maintainance unless it's demanded by a guest. I'd ask for a new room, but I get the feeling I'd just be starting over with new problems, so I'm staying put. I've had a few issues in rooms before, but seriously have never had this many in one place! So far, I've discovered I had no hot water in my bathroom sink... none. Turn it all the way to hot and the flow of water completely stopped. Their solution resulted in my sink now dripping rapidly when the faucet is off. Apparently their prior solution to the dripping was to turn the hot water off. heh I was also missing the information folder, two of the drip pans for my stove (making two of the burners unusable) and the phone cord for the desk phone. Who takes the phone cord?! When I called down to the front desk and mentioned this along with other issues, the girl pauses and asks, "um, how are you calling me?" HAHAHA There are two phones in the rooms! Also, my ice trays are crusted with calcium deposits and the door on my dishwasher soap dispenser wouldn't close - hmm, all the soap in the prewash cycle? The ironing board had basically no padding and a large stain on the cover. I think that's been it so far... I'm hoping that's it. I used the oven and though the pans have blackened crustiness that won't come off (I bought foil to cover), the oven at least works. Going to try out the laundry room today... Wish me luck!

The weather has been a total 180 from Arizona! No more dry heat! This week has been rain, rain, and more rain!


Wednesday saw torrential rainstorms in the afternoon and overnight. More pouring rain on Friday. I have to say, I enjoy the rain... but this has caused some major damage and forced too many people out of their homes due to flooding of rivers, creeks and streams. The flooding even shut down some trains into NYC! Hoping for a few more dry days so people can really start cleaning up...

Latest FO - A Mini Media Bag

I had a small amount of cotton left from a couple other projects and decided I wanted to use it up. Wasn't sure how many yards I had left (and I was too lazy to measure), so I decided to just wing it and see what I could come up with. =)

I thought maybe a wrist support for using with my mouse might be useful... but discovered midway through I didn't have enough yarn for that. So then I thought maybe a small bag since that's basically what I had at that point. It ended up the perfect size for my mp3 player and headphones. Only had maybe 1/2" of yarn leftover. It was meant to be. =)


I cast on 32 stitches using the magic cast-on I use for my toe-up socks (16 stitches per needle on US6 dpns) and worked my way up in the round in stockinette stitch until it appeared I had just enough yarn left for a few more rows (lucked out here, eyeballing it really well as it turned out).

At this point, I did one row of *k1 YO K2tog* followed by a row of knit and then cast off.

I left the tail attached and wove it down through a couple stitches until it was even with the holes from the YOs, then made a crochet chain the length of the circumference of the bag and wove it through the holes, attaching the end on the inside of the bag. This created a drawstring without loose ends hanging. I can just pull on a section of the drawstring to close. =)


Basic mindless knitting resulting in a cute, useful little bag and the perfect way to use up a small amount of leftover yarn. I'm guessing I used roughly 15 yds for this bag.