Proof that I really did finish my chosen project for the Knitting Olympics. It's just my laziness in reporting it that's the problem. I even got a gold medal for it (see sidebar)

I had fun participating in this but I will make sure I pick a more challenging project for the next one. I was able to finish this in one week mainly because I knew I was going to be traveling for work and wanted to be done f\before I got distracted with other things. Besides, this thing is actually not a very portable project after it reaches a certain point.

I'm not sure I like the weight of the yarn (Noro Silk Garden) for this one... it's a bit heavy but the colors are very nice. I have some very nice DK weight cashmere in the colorway "Tender is the Night" for the next one that I think will be the perfect weight for my preferences.

We have finally gotten enough snow this season to actually rate a picture! This is the view out the back door. It looks like about 6 inches worth, which is a decent amount for this area. I am very glad I'm not the one who has to shovel this mess ;)

So, when I started this blog I had meant for it to be a knitting blog. BUT, I was very lazy about photographing my older projects and I had it stuck in my head that I couldn't just start posting with the current project! It had to be chronological... starting in 1986... dang my linear soul :)

The knitting olympics seems to have cured me of that. I am knitting a Clapotis, which I cast on last night using Noro Silk Garden in color 8 (progress pictures to follow, really!). I promised the Team Clapotis gang - button on the right - that I would post a pic of the Clapotis I made last year so here it is. It is made from Fillati FF Shine in smoke. I searched Yarndex and it's not listed anymore so it may not be made anymore.

Back to the news cast... they cut to a reporter - one of those poor sods who has to stand out in the [weather disater du jour] and tell everyone not to go out into this horrible [ibid]. She is outside a local grocery store doing snow interviews a full 24 HOURS before the snow is even supposed to start!! You have got to be kidding me! At least wait until the snow is actually falling. Sheesh, the drive to be able to say "You saw it here first on News channel 4" is getting way out of hand.

The other thing I have had to get used to seeing around here is that everyone usually has at least two cell devices with them at all times. In some cases there are three because they will have the company issued cell phone and BlackBerry and then their personal cell phone. As you might imagine there is lots of talking on these cells phones in general around here ;) Having worked at AOL for two years I was used to using IM and text messaging as the main mode of communication. I am now getting used to carrying and using several cell devices.

As a precursor to starting this new job I took a quick trip up to Chicago to visit my boyfriend. While I was being held hostage by United Airlines during the trip home (2 hours in the plane on the tarmac with no AC while they tried to fix the problem) I traded bad flight stories with my seatmates. The older woman to my left won this game hands down. She described a flight during WWII when she was about 12 or 13. They were travelling between Cairo and someplace else (can't remember where) in a troop transport plane. Basically there were benches along the walls where they sat inside this huge plane. She said they had on "Mae West" vests but no seat belts. At one point the engines went out and the pilot told them to get ready for a crash landing. Turns out one of the engine turned back on at the last minute and they were able to land without too much mayhem. She described it as being quite thrilling at the time, to a 12 year old. This is absolutely incredible to me and I thought it needed to be retold :) BTW, they never fixed our plane and had to find a new one for us. I got home about 4 hours after the advertised time but the aforementioned story put it all right into perspective. Until I had to get up the next morning at 6:00 am to start the new job, Blegh!

All of this has reminded me of the gas crisis in the late 70's (yes, I know... I'm old, hehehe) it was during the summer of 78 and all of us youngsters thought it was a party. Our parents didn't want to wait in line for gas so they let their children do it for them. They had implemented an odd/even rule where the last number on your license plate determined what day you could buy gas. All of the kids in the surrounding neighborhoods would get in line several hours before the station opened and we would have these impromptu get-togethers. We'd play frisbee, lay in the sun on the hoods of our cars, mount expeditions out for sustenance from MacDonalds, or flirt and have a good time stooging off. I remember two brothers who had to share their parents old 'family truckster'. It was a station wagon in a revolting shade of harvest gold with the faux wood on the side. Hideous car but they brought the speakers from the family stereo, which were about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, and hooked them into the car stereo so that they could blast music from the top of the car. Nothing like really loud and obnoxious music to turn any activity into an instant party!

I look back fondly on that gas crisis... I am not looking fondly on this one!

Here's my cat, Reilly. She is giving me her death stare clearly meant to coerce me into giving her more food/cardboard boxes/scratches/catnip toys... whatever. This is the first cat I have ever had. We have always had dogs in the past and in fact I have one now, which is a whole 'nother conversation for some other post :) Because Reilly is a prototype in this household I frequently run into behavior that makes me wonder "hmmmm, is this standard cat behavior or the weirdness that is uniquely Reilly?"

Case in point: the cat will suddenly decide that the contents of her stomach must be expelled immediately with great velocity and volume. Now I have come to tolerate these episodes because I think this is how she's dealing with hairballs, ewww. What I cannot understand is her penchant for aiming at 'things'. She can be sitting right next to the linoleum floor in the kitchen but when spewage is about to occur she aims at the carpet right next door. She usually doubles her pleasure by aiming at her cat bed or a pile of toys as though she is trying for the highest level of annoyance to me she can manage.

So, the question of the day is... Is this standard, albeit annoying, cat behavior? Or is it just my weird cat? :::sigh:::

I didn't pick up on this series of books until the fourth one came out. My brother recommended them to me and I said "What?? Read a kids book voluntarily? For pleasure?" It turns out that they are books about kids not just books for kids. All of them are ripping good yarns.

Anyway, I tell you all of that to tell you this. In preparation for the sixth book coming out on Saturday I have reread the fifth book to refresh my memory and man, what a whiner Harry has become. I realize he is now 15 years old and is supposed to be a self-absorbed, put-upon whiner but sheesh! There are parts of this book that are almost unbearable and are definately cringe-worthy.

So, all teenage hormonal spikes aside (Harry's, not mine, hehehe), I am really looking forward to Saturday when the nice UPS man delivers my shiny new copy. I will sit right down and do nothing else until I finish it, which should be sometime late Sunday :)

Is this absolutely the cutest little ballerina on Earth? Well, I think so :) (she will shortly, however, be challenged in that title by her younger sister) My niece had her very first dance recital last Saturday. It was so much fun to watch all the little 'Divas-in-the-making' especially Miss Thing here... she definately has a flair for the dramatic.