Thanks for giving!

A few quick updates on recent happenings. 

First, Tim and I got away to Sonoma a couple of weeks back.  We revisited 2 wineries we've previously liked - Kaz and Imagery.   The owner at Kaz (Mr. Kaz himself) gave us an impromptu demo of how wine is made (by hand).  At Imagery, a place specializing in esoteric wines and local art, Tim was blown away by the blueberry port.

We also tried 2 new wineries.  One of them reminded us more of Disney Land than wine. The other was B.R. Cohn (I never knew the history of this Cohn guy!).  Here are some pictures from B.R.Cohn's front entrance.  Fun!  

We stayed at the local Best Western.  It is a down-to-earth H(m)otel and walking distance to the Sonoma square.  The square is about as "downtown" as a Northern California small town gets.  More importantly, it is where The Girl and the Fig lives.  Yummy.... We ate like royalty.

Some pics from the Square.  Here is Tim in front of the historic Sonoma Mission.

A random (shall we say artsy?) shot taking with my Android phone (NOT the iphone because I can indeed make and complete real calls!)

Lastly, I finished 2 projects recently.  A simple cabled hat for Tim and some fingerless mitts for me.  Both made out of the same yarn (Araucania Nature Wool) and both easy-peasy.  I told Tim I am only going to knit small stuff between now and the end of the year.  I like it!  Instant gratification (at least, as instant as it gets compared to sweaters).  

Happy Thanksgiving all!  Thanks for happy giving!  Happily giving thanks!

Hat no more

Up until 2 days ago I was happily trying a new technique: stranded knitting with 2 colors.  The end result was suppose to be a moose hat for Tim.  Well, attempt #1 at color work did not go too well.  The stitches were puckering and the hat was TOO small.  So, what is a sane woman to do?  Act like a frog and "rip-it" of course!  (!! LOL !! OMG !!  I'm *so* funny.  I crack myself up, right hon? ;-)

Here is the hat's short live, in pictures:

Before (nice new yummy yarn)

During (questionable moose-bottom)

After (nice yummy yarn)

Well...attempt #2 will happen, soon.

What is one thing that made you happy today?

One of the (many) knitting forums I subscribe to posed this question:  

What is one thing that made you happy today?

This being fiscal-year-end-HELL-week-at-work for me, I had to think hard.  But here is my answer in pictures.  How would you answer?

First:

And a lot of others:

http://www.katharinemulherin.com

http://alpaca-yarn-shop.com

http://www.bamboofabricstore.com

http://phoebeontheroad.blogspot.com/

http://theflitterknitter.blogspot.com/

Sweater

This is what I've been working on lately.  The pattern is called "First Class Leisure Pullover" by Katherine Hunt and the sweater is for Tim's step dad.  I used Plymouth Yarn's Baby Alpaca Grande Tweed, and man is it luxurious to work wiith.  Moose agrees too.  In fact I think he wants it to be HIS sweater.

(By the way, I had this sweater laid out for all of 30 seconds before he plopped himself on.  And he refused to budge after finding out how soft this thing is....)

Last night I added the collar to the sweater.  Now the only thing left is to sew the sleeves on and seam up  the body.  Can I just say I LOVE working with chunky yarn!

The word "On"

I have this mild infatuation with the "I'm on a horse" Old Spice guy. OMG he is awesome.  So you can understand why I so appreciate this precious video of Grover. Thank you my dear DEAR friend Heather for sharing!  This just made my day!

Beards

Why grow one when you can knit one!  

 (Originally from http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4816842&fbid=437826519462&id=97925624462) 

Bunch of nerds

I attended Oracle OpenWorld on Wednesday.  Talk about the gathering of a bunch of corporate nerds! At least I got to see some old friends.

From the left:
Tim (old coworker), Me, Sandy (my best friend), Mandar (one of my old bosses)

No (Apple) software!

From the left:
Me, unknown guy who hijacked my conversation with Steven, Tim, Steven (another old boss now friend), Sandy (my best friend), Mandar (who yelled at me once for not prioritizing my tasks right)

Humph

Today was a Humph day. Bad mood in the morning, bad mood in the evening.  Watch out husband!

Scaruffle

Here is the scarf-ruffle I made for Rushan (the newly wed).  After blocking, this lacy number came out pretty nice!  I mailed it to Rushan last weekend; yesterday she sent an email thanking me.  I hope she likes it!

The pattern is from Clara Parkes' "The Book of Wool."  I used a lace-weight yarn of unknown fiber and source that I got from someone's destash.

And now the sun is setting earlier, my walks with Moose usually end with this view of Oracle (see the moon?). I am thankful to live in this town!  (Picture taken from my phone, the HTC Incredible*)

And of course, here is the little Moose with a rawhide bone almost as long as he.

* HTC Incredible - A non-Apple phone that I can actually call people on without having connection problems!

Friend

I have a friend who I'll call Preety.  I've known Preety for a long time and I've always felt she's a special person.  Well, I found out today she's going through hard times with her marriage.  Her husband doesn't want to try to make things better, but she is still fighting to hang on.  And to add to the tangle, baby #2 is in the "oven".

She loves her son, and she loves her husband.  And she is saddened by the state of things.  She keeps saying "if only I can do the right thing, then everything will be all right."  But she doesn't see that she is only 1/2 the partnership and it is not her job to do everything.  When two people agree to meet somewhere, they both have to come forward towards the middle.  One person can make all the effort and go as far as he/she can, but if the other person doesn't budge, then the meeting won't ever happen.

I'm saddened by her sadness.  And at the same time, thinking about her situation makes me appreciate what I have.  Tim is a good husband and he *does* want to work the kinks out.  Our values and world-view pretty much align.  It's a good marriage by all measures and I do take things for granted sometimes.

I am sad for my friend; I hope she comes to peace with her husband and herself.