Concateknit

Welcome to National Elisa Thinks Stuff Month, Version 2.0

Oh hi!

Some years ago, I decided that since every organization, person, or idea seemed to get their own special day and/or month, I should have one too. I've dedicated my month to all the weird things I think, and to all the reasons that the world would run better if I was the boss of everything.

I used to do my public thinking of things in February, since that's the shortest month of the year, and therefore requires the fewest number of posts, however I was in absolutely no shape to share any of the things I was thinking with you this past February.  So here we are, tomorrow is my birthday, and October will be my new month of thinking things. Since I plan to totally kick 37's ass, I figured the timing is right for getting back to blogging and getting back in touch with myself (and you all).

This month, we'll think about the usual things - flogic, my weird dogs, and why I will never support black and brown being worn at the same time, but we'll also be thinking about new things, like how I've developed even more complicated feelings about bananas, and how I'm very concerned that my hair will get too long and I will start to look weird.

So, y'know, it'll be pretty much just like always, with some new crazy thrown in for Super Fun Times.

I hope you'll check back with me throughout the month, and I hope you'll share your own special brand of crazy with me. Should be fun.

Also? I'm in South Lake Tahoe for the weekend with Kim and my friend Amy and my three goofy dogs, and it is Good. We're going to dinner tonight, and later we have a date with some fancy cheese, some hot salami (minds out of the gutter, people) and some sexy gluten free crackers. If we get really adventurous, we may throw a little honey in the mix. Who knows? We're very dangerous.

Photo taken by Kim. Dezi and Zorro helping me blog from our sweet little cabin in the woods.

  

It's Possible That I am Insane

 
I've drunk the Kool-Aid.

I started eating Paleo a month ago, and tomorrow I'm planning to start this.

Probably it's not just possible that I'm insane, probably it's just the truth.

What I can say after a month of eating Paleo is that I sleep better, I have more energy, a more positive attitude, I've lost weight, and I am eating So. Many Veggies. I'm also eating so much more meat than I have in the past 20+ years, but I've stuck with primarily lean cuts and I've actually learned how to make a pretty mean pulled pork. So, whether the diet itself is a fad, I think that in general I've gained some good tips on eating more balanced meals, and so even if I'm crazy, I'm a happier crazy, and being a HAPPY KIND OF CRAZY is my goal for my 37th year.

Goofy girl says "hi!"

 

These are the Days to Remember

My friend Sue and I try to get together once a week for Craftersize: a combination of crafting and exercising. Recently, we've been craftersizing outside and I've been bringing the Goofies with me. It's always so much fun and today was no exception.

Zorro woke me up at 6am for walkies (although he definitely knows the difference between the week and the weekend, he does not seem to feel that his walk should be postponed for anything. at. all.). By 8am the dogs had been walked, I had eaten breakfast, the dogs had eaten breakfast, I had a load of laundry in the dryer, and I had been drinking coffee and spinning for almost an hour. It was really a lovely way to start the morning.

At 9am, I loaded up the Goofies and we went to Sue & Randy's house. Now, the dogs love Sue & Randy and they love going to their house. As soon as I pull up, Zorro starts whining to get out of the car, and he always runs right up to their front door and starts crying to be let in. Once he sees Sue, he's pretty much cool with me doing whatever I want - he has eyes only for her.

Sue and I set up outside, and I knit while Sue spun. The weather was perfect, the skies were a gorgeous deep blue, and the view from her backyard is truly spectacular. Sue's dogs, Max and Molly, are great hosts, too, and do their best to engage the Goofies in a little playing.

After an hour or so, Sue and I hopped in the pool for the exercise portion of the morning, and I couldn't help but try and get the dogs to go in the water with me.

At one point, Sue stepped inside for a moment, and the dogs waited not-so-patiently for her to return.

It's now about 12:30pm and the dogs and I are back home. I've eaten lunch, the dogs are napping, I'm watching the Olympics while I write this, and soon I'll clean my house and do a little packing.

Today is the kind of day I love, when there's just no denying that things are good. I've got great friends, great dogs, great weather, and the rest of the day to look forward to. I hope you are having a great weekend, too.

Thank You

Well, your jokes must have included some good wishes because it has been an exciting week here at Casa Concateknit.

The long weekend started pretty crappily, as you know, but quickly took an upturn. Saturday morning, we went to look at some houses with our friends Sue and Randy (whose opinions we value very highly, especially when it comes to big-time grown up decisions) and we fell in love with one particular house. Saturday evening we went to a great dinner at Five in Fresno with friends to pre-celebrate Mike's 40th birthday and our friend A's 38th.

On Monday, we submitted an offer on the house we loved.

Yesterday we received their counter offer, with very minor counters.

This morning we meet with our loan officer and sign off on the counter offer, and then this afternoon we are heading off to San Francisco for a week's vacation with the doggers to celebrate Mike's 40th birthday, which is this Saturday. We have friends coming into SF to spend the weekend with us at the flat we've rented, and the temperatures, which are supposed to be in the mid- to upper-60s will be a lovely relief from the 100+ degree temperatures we've had in Fresno this week. I might even get to knit and spin a bit.

And right now? Well, right now I am sitting on my couch with Allie asleep on my lap and Zorro asleep cuddled next to me. I'm enjoying a cup of coffee before I start packing and getting ready for the day, and my house is clean, and I'm looking forward to the first real vacation I've had since Mike and I were married in 2006.  Good times, people. Good times.

National Elisa Thinks That It's Time To Wrap This Thinking Stuff Up Day

Wrapping Up Thing the First: I Have a Problem, er Collection:

If you'll notice in the picture above, behind the wheel is my living room, which means that this wheel is in my living room. In fact, this wheel IS in my living room because it lives at my house. Carole, I blame you. It's your fault that I first fell in love with the Lendrum DT back at SPA 2005. Because of your Lendrum, no matter what other wheel I spin on, I always come back to the Lendrum DT. I am in love with my new wheel. Deeply, totally, inappropriately, in love with this (as yet) nameless wheel.

Wrapping Up Thing the Second: I Have a Problem:

I fell down at Stitches. If the wheel isn't enough to clue you in, there's the fiber and the yarn. I'll take and post pictures of said fiber and yarn soon (I promise) but let us just say...ouch.

Wrapping Up Thing the Third: Being Fat Sucks:

Those of you who have been reading for a while (and THANKS for that, btw) know that two years ago I hit 154 lbs, freaked out, and over the course of the following few months, lost about 20 lbs. What you might not know (unless you know me IRL) is that during 2007, I gained that weight back, plus some (A LOT some). I really believed that 154 lbs was it for me - that I'd never let myself get to that point again, and well. I lied, apparently, because I seriously blew right by 154 lbs with nary a pause. For the last two months, I've been working on losing the weight, and getting healthy again.

To give you (and me) some perspective on how my weight loss is going, I present two photos, both taken in my office's bathroom mirror, one month apart:

At the very least, my stomach and my butt have stopped pooching out quite so much. I mean, good lord, do you SEE the butt pooch going on in that first photo? That's just...wrong. I should mention that I am wearing the same pants/shoes combo in both photos.

With any luck, I will stop being fat soon.

And also? If you happen to weigh more than me, please do not think that I think YOU are fat. I do not. I think you are gorgeous and perfect just the way you are (I really do) I just think I am F.A.T.

Wrapping Up Thing the Fourth: Zorro says "thanks".

And also "Please come visit me now and rescue me from the crazy lady who dresses me up in dragon costumes and who may or may not already have planned out my next Halloween costume. In return for rescuing me, I will keep you safe from paper bags, beetles, spiders, deer, Allie when she's being spazzy, strangers, the next door neighbor's dog, Ninja Warrior, and dogs on TV. Sincerely, Zorro. And also? Come soon."

(Does he look like he's in his doggie happy place or what?)

Wrapping Up Thing the Fifth: It's Been Fun

Or, Thank God February Is Almost Over.

To be honest, I really, really love Thinking Stuff. Every year I make progress in the writing of My Manifesto, and every year you all crack my shit up. It's good times, I learn stuff about you that I didn't know before, and I am certain that you learn stuff about me that you wish you DIDN'T. ;) It's been a fun month, and I'm already looking forward to February 2009, which will be the 5th Annual NETSM, and will likely be filled with randomness, rules, puppers, and well, crazy ol' me.

Just hopefully there will be less of me. Much, much less of me.

A Final Note: On Monday I am going to the dentist and he is going to fix my tooth. What does that mean for you? Likely it will mean you will get some kind of loopy "This is Concateknit on val*um" post. Good times, people. Good times.

National Elisa Is Off to Stitches West Today, And Friday Fun Facts, Part II

If we still lived in Boston, right about now I would be in the car with Kellee, spinning wheels loaded in the back of her car, heading for SPA.

Since I do not still live in Boston, let us have a moment of silence for the sadness that is me not attending SPA. I am trying not to dwell on the fact that I can't fall down in Amy's booth, drink my face off with Jackie, lean my head against Juno's shoulder, or eat lunch at  The Friendly Toast in Portsmouth with Kellee.

It is hard, people, this being far away.

But...the silver lining is that I am heading out to Stitches West in just a few hours, and I've had a look at the vendor list, and people...it is good. It is scary good. It is, "I should probably give Mike all my credit cards" and "What was I thinking packing the checkbook?" and "Thank god I'm driving the Miata instead of the Hyundai because even though yarn and wool is squooshy, I can't fit nearly as much in the convertible as I can the sedan."

Today I'm meeting up with my friend and fellow fiber fanatic, Sue, and we're rooming together. Tomorrow I'll be hitting 1) the hotel gym; 2) the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and 3) the Market. Tomorrow night  I'll be on my own, staying at a hotel in downtown San Jose, eating at my favorite taqueria, and bringing back as much crack sauce as the Miata can hold. I will also be stopping at a Lush store (I haven't been to a Lush STORE in about five million years) and doing some driving around the city where I grew up. It'll be good. It'll be fun. It won't be SPA.

Friday Fun Facts:

--When I was 13 I was helping an old cowboy get a filly back into her stall, and when I came out of the stall, I looked down to see the ring finger on my right hand bent at a very odd angle.

I yelled out and the old cowboy, Smoky, came up to me, grabbed my wrist with one hand and the broken finger with the other, said "Grit yer teeth, darlin'" and popped the broken finger back into the socket and back into alignment before I could even think to freak out about the whole thing.

I went to the ER afterwards and all the doctors there did was put the finger in a splint.

You can only tell that the finger was ever broken when I bend my fingers like this, and I'm proud of the crookedness, as it reminds me of Smoky, who has long since died.

It also reminds me that there is often a more interesting story in that which is not perfect than that which is.

--I have an addiction to big sunglasses:

--Whenever I go on a trip, I always bring something along of Mike's as a way to keep him close to me. This weekend I have his car. :)

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

So...Rhinebeck

When I started blogging in August of 2004, I was still recovering from my divorce. Mike and I were very happy and living together by then, but if you’ve ever been divorced, then you know how the pangs and pains resonate long after the ink on the divorce paper has dried. If you’ve ever been divorced, you know how the pain of Being Divorced continues to hurt long after the pain of ending a failed relationship disappears. 

When I left my ex-husband, I left most of our friends as well. In some cases, they left me, but if I am honest, it was difficult for me to figure out how to re-relate to people who had only known me as part of that couple, and it was equally difficult for those people to learn to re-relate to me as part of a different couple.

In part, I started knitting as a way to deal with the grief of losing so much of myself and so many of the people I thought I would know for life. I also began knitting because my G’pa was very ill, and I needed something to do that would occupy my hands while allowing my heart the opportunity to heal.

Not long after I started knitting I found knitblogs, and the idea that there was a community of knitters out there that I might be able to connect with was immeasurably appealing. With this new community, I could forego the awkwardness of teaching a friend how to spell my maiden name.

I hadn’t been blogging for long when something miraculous happened – I made friends. I met other knitbloggers and I felt an instant rapport. As I got to know them better and as my “knitting” friends became simply “friends”, I realized that knitting might have been the thing that drew us together initially, but there were fundamental similarities that bound us together.

As my local knitblogging community grew, so did the number of acquaintances I made, and through fiber festivals, I was able to turn a number of acquaintances into real life friends – people who came to my house, people I emailed on a regular basis, people I cared about deeply.

I count people I met via knitblogging and the knitblogging community as my closest friends, and when Mike and I decided to move to California, it was with no little amount of sadness that I left the safe haven of that community. I know that we said that the fact that we all had blogs would make it easier to stay in touch, but that is only a half truth. There are moments when I feel my heart will break from being so far away from so many people I love so much, and nothing, not the ability to email, or IM, or call, or comment, lessens that feeling of loss.

I’m happy I’m in California, and it was the right decision for us to make to move here, but that does not make the pain I feel being so far removed from those I love any less.

And this brings me to Rhinebeck (come on – you’ve known that I’m a wordy b*tch for a long time…).

I flew to Rhinebeck this year, and was able to spend some amazing quality time with my girls. When Mrs. P. and I rolled into town Friday evening, we were able to hook up with Debbie, and slowly, the rest of our crew filtered in. Friday night ended up being quality time and quiet, which I think I needed, because that quality time allowed me to feel energized and be open to the madness that was Rhinebeck. Without that time on Friday night spent connecting with my girls, I know I would have felt extremely out of sorts for the rest of the weekend.

Rhinebeck is exhausting. I’m not the first, or the most eloquent, to say it, and I won’t be the last. Yet I think it is exhausting because there are simply too many people I want to connect with and too little time to do it. There is only so much time in the weekend that I have to spend with those I love, and the urge to see everyone, hug everyone, have a meaningful catch-up with everyone is intense, especially now that I know there will be no last minute get-togethers and lazy football Sundays at Wendy and Rob’s house, no hotpot and cocktails with Kellee and Rick, no spur of the moment Chinese food and Blue Hawaiians at the Tahiti with Jackie and Eric. Knowing that the in-person time I get with my friends is so limited, so concentrated, makes it seem all the more urgent, and the urgency is wearing and makes me tired in body and soul.

When Wendy and Rob and Sophia left for home before we all went to the Ravelry party, I cried. I cried like I hadn’t cried when they moved to Rochester, because somehow I was able to pretend that they hadn’t really left Boston, that nothing was really different.

But I knew, this time, that everything was different. Every goodbye I said to every person hurt. My heart hurt because there were so many people I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to.

Yet what I know is this: I am lucky to have been at the right place and time to have had this community become such a part of my life in so many meaningful and elemental ways. If Rhinebeck is exhausting, it is because I spend the weekend filled to bursting with love and affection for so many darling, wonderful people.

But the leaving, and the being far away…it hurts sometimes, y’know?

Oh, and yes, I did actually buy stuff at Rhinebeck...but we'll talk about that some other time.

Love you, Mass Sheep & Wool, Part II

I ended my post yesterday by mentioning that I might just have bought a little, er, something, at Cummington. So, let's see just what I bought, shall we?

From left to right we have 8 oz of romney, tussah silk, and alpaca from Fantom Farm (no website, sorry); a beautiful cocobolo spindle from Spindlewood Co. which I purchased from The Wheel Thing; 8 oz of merino/tencel from The Sheep Shed in the colorway "New England"; and 4 oz of merino/silk from our favorite vendor, Spunky Eclectic, in the colorway "Rocky Mountain High".

Not a bad haul, eh?

Oh, wait, that's right, I forgot to include the fleece I mentioned yesterday.

Oh, wait, there might just be SOMETHING else that came home with me.

Once more, my downfall came at the hands of Amy Boogie.

Well, probably it was more like I threw myself at her with my credit card in my hand. And I might have looked a little crazed. Or a lot crazed. And Jackie and Kellee might have just looked on, knowingly, and tried not to laugh too hard while I paid for my wheel (the trying to not-laugh thing would have been due to the fact that I had said, less than 30 minutes before I fell down that I was not buying a wheel. Of course I said that. Just because it turned out not to be true doesn't mean I didn't believe it when I said it - sheesh!)
And then I might have just spent the rest of the WEEKEND grinning like a fool and trying to figure out what my little Louet Victoria should be named. Initially I thought I'd name the wheel Victor, but, this wheel? She is a girl. I think she may want to be named Florence, after one of the charming towns near Cummington, but we'll see. I'm open to suggestions.

Do you want to see the first yarn I made with Florence?
The best thing about this is that I'm not the only person who contributed to this first yarn. So many people who were at Cate's blegger on Saturday night also took a little spin on Florence, resulting in about 550 yards of lovely laceweight. Due to some fabulous advice from Cheryl, I've decided to try knitting a little shawl out of this yarn. It'll be my reminder of Cummington, good friends, warm evenings, new wheels, and well, everything that is good and lovely about this fabulous community. Thanks for being a part of it with me.
(Do I need to even mention that the first yarn I made with my Louet Victoria is made from Spunky Eclectic merino/silk in the Tie Dye colorway? No, of course I don't.)

Love You, Mass Sheep & Wool.

A weekend, in pictures (And words. Who are we kidding here. There are bound to be lots and lots of words).

This past weekend was the 2007 Massachusetts Sheep & Wool festival, commonly known as Cummington since the festival is held in the town of Cummington, Mass. The good times started immediately, as Kellee and I made an, er, brief detour by Webs on our way to the festival. I did pretty well considering that well, it's WEBS.
From left to right, we have 4 skeins of Takhi Cotton Classic, probably meant to be some kind of crazy log cabin blanket. Hey, I already admitted to the crazy, so shush up. Next we have 4 skeins of Rowan cotton - 2 skeins of All Seasons Cotton and 2 skeins of Rowan Handknit Cotton dk. These will undoubtedly turn into ballband dischloths because I can't seem to stop knitting them. The pattern is a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern that Kellee and I have picked up and put down at least half a dozen times. We finally saw a sample knit up and well, that was the end of putting the pattern down. If you don't know about Knitting Pure & Simple, well, I adore their patterns. I really, really adore them. Oh, I may have also bought this, too. In turquoise. Teehee.

While at Webs, Kellee and I met up with our other partner-in-crime for the weekend, our newest New Yorker, Jackie. Together, we went out to the festival. And then the Madness:
At any festival, someone ends up covered in fiber from Amy's booth. It just...happens. At SPA it was me. At Cummington it was Jackie (okay, it was also Kellee, but that involved a short girl interested in sock yarn from up high. No, that short girl was not me). That 3rd photo, though? That's one of my favorite pictures from the weekend - Jackie, Kellee and me, all holding our *cough* just purchased *cough* fleeces at the Ancient Threads booth, where we dropped them off for processing. Seriously - do we look freakin' happy or WHAT? Jackie bought a lovely montadale fleece, Kellee purchased a gorgeous brown romney fleece, and I bought a (nearly 7lb - egad!) cream romney fleece. Oh boy. Good times (and, um, I might have also dropped off 2 other fleeces for processing, too, but who can keep track of that kind of thing).

After the festival on Saturday we checked into our B&B (oh my) and then headed to Cate's blegger, where a super duper good time was had by all. See? Tomorrow we'll talk about the rest of my fiber enhancements from Cummington, and um, something else I might have bought. Ahem. 

National Elisa Thinks She Needs a Vacation from Her Long Weekend Day

Let me first apologize for disappearing. If I owe you an email, it's on its way, I swear.

Let me next just say that the end of last week and this weekend were all of the following:

scary

stressful

upsetting

nerve-wracking

overwhelming

and then

fun

nerve-wracking

overwhelming

healing.

At the end of last week, it seemed that I would not be able to go to SPA and I was upset, although it was a no-brainer that I would need to be home instead of in Maine. At the last minute, though, I was able to take the car and drive up to SPA late on Friday night, and I really, really, really planned on being social and relaxing and spinning my little heart out.

But things didn't work out that way for me, not exactly.

I was social, but on a super small scale for the size of the event - I felt really overwhelmed, I felt a little bruised, I felt twisted out of shape, and well, when I feel like that, I hibernate.

So, I guess I hibernated as much as one can when surrounded by people. Lucky for me, I was surrounded by truly amazing people - people I consider dear friends - people who totally understood where I was on the emotional Richter scale, and rode out my ups and downs with me, never giving me a hard time, always giving me exactly what I needed, whether that was thrusting a spindle into my hands (cough*kellee*cough), or concurring that those 2200 yards of laceweight wool for $20 in fact DID need to live at my house (cough*juno*cough), or totally getting the whole "If I do not eat in the next five minutes I will implode" thing (cough*jackie*cough).

Staying at the other hotel for the SPA event meant that it was kind of a process to shlep my wheel and accessories back and forth to the DoubleTree, where most of the gathering was happening. As a result, I felt a little disjointed, and in that mood, I found it difficult to deal with the crowds in order to stake out a space to spin, which I felt a pretty desperate need to do (it was either that or drink my face off, and the fact that I had to drive back and forth between hotels meant no drinking my face off, of course).

I'm going to do a stash-enhacing recap of SPA soon, because let me just say that I maybe went a little insane, and where Jess says Amy Boogie exploded all over her, Jackie said it looked like an entire shelf of Amy Boogie roving had fallen on me (and I bought all of the things she saw me with. And more. A LOT more). So, y'know, there was definitely stash enhancing...

All in all, this was ultimately a healing weekend for me:  I was surrounded by good friends who became even better friends, and I spent time with people who were acquaintances before but have become friends. It is amazing what this community has come to mean to me, and I am so thankful.