Home for the holidays

Ever seen that movie? Poor little Holly Hunter spends Thanksgiving at her parents house - very entertaining for us, torture for her. Alright, in the end she gets Dylan McDermott, but, oh, at what a price...

What I actually want to say is that I don't get the whole Thanksgiving thing. Forgive me, I am from Germany. We also have a Thanksgiving, a quiet one on a Sunday in October - without the Turkeys, which is too bad, 'cause that part I like. Now, please don't misunderstand, I do know why there's that Thanksgiving thing, I just don't get it.

Ed. to add: Okay, so it might not be Thanksgiving in itself I don't get (dinner with the family is nice, no? at least that's what it supposed to be...) but the whole thing around it - it just seems to be such a big deal.

Is there a story that begins "the week before Thanksgiving"? It should, since that is how and when the second part of the "We go on a road trip" story starts. The part where we actually get on the road and stay there.

Ever met the nice people from ViaRoute? They give you a car when you pay the adequate amount of money because you are desperate and supposed to be on the road to MA. Yes, after a morning well spend with cursing, kicking and screaming we were on our way. In a car that didn't harbour any danger of breaking down and had a CD player.

There are no more pictures - if you think about it, it's logical. Nothing special happened, I had to concentrate behind the wheel - it rained like crazy most of the day and evening, which was worse.

Some time on Thursday evening we went to a yarn shop in the area (don't ask where, there are so many little towns and villages that I lost count and since I didn't have to drive I didn't pay attention anyhow) where I got this:


Two things I have to say: Nadine got me hooked on the Bearfoot Mountain Colors and seeing it in person ready to buy I couldn't resist. Same with the mini dpns. The not resisting thing I mean. No clue what I am going to knit with them (no sock earrings for me, that's for sure) but I had to have'em!

Ever went on a business trip? Then you know how it goes. The rest of ours was, well, business. Though it was yarn business. With warehouses full of yarn involved. Delightful. See:


Meet Dizzy and Charlie from "Jazz" by Artful Yarns. They are 50% Alpaca and 50% Wool. They were also asking me to take them home. Now they are asking me to knit with them but I haven't figured out in detail what. I have more than these two skeins, of course.

Ever brought your camera along and didn't take a single picture? Yes, you got it, this is it about the trip. We came back Saturday afternoon, driving was way more pleasurable without rain, and you can make it in under five hours.

Time After Timeing belt

An overcast day, 10.15 a.m., Route 35 direction Interstate 89, right out of a godforsaken little Quebec town.

Cut to the side of the road, the part where you are only supposed to stop in an emergency. Camera halts on two women, one has obviously a nervous breakdown since she is kicking a twelve year old blue Ford Escort repeatedly, screaming "Fuckin' piece of shit!" and "I cannot believe this!" again and again.

Cut to the two women standing on the side of the highway waving - hoping one of the cars passing by at a high speed will stop. A pickup truck slows down, stops and the blonde woman runs up to the driver's side and tries to explain what happened. In English. The driver - middle aged, wearing a checkered shirt, an overall AND a baseball cap - stares blankly at her till the other woman - a petite with a delicate complexion - walks up and starts talking in French.

He understands and is willing to help. He also has a cell phone. He calls the CAA - luckily the blonde woman's husband thought it would be a good idea to join, the car's a little old, after all - and has them send a tow truck. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur!!

The blonde woman has calmed down a bit by then, she is still upset because the fuckin' piece of shit was just in the shop two days before to have winter tires installed, the oil changed and everything to be done that the car (and its drivers) will make it through the winter, but she is willing to get back in the car, sit and wait for the tow truck which is supposed to arrive in 15 to 45 minutes. The petite starts to knit. The blonde is way too agitated to be even thinking about it.

Barely 15 minutes later a tow truck shows up, a taciturn man gets out and without much ado starts to organize the towing of the fuckin' piece of shit. The two women squeeze in the front of the truck with the driver after it's decided to drive to the next repair shop which is in the godforsaken little town close by.




A very nice looking young mechanic explains in French that the timing belt (not being very car-literate and less so in English the blonde goes: WTF is a timing belt? in her head) is broken, and that, sadly, he is not able to repair the car himself because he has lots of other cars to fix that got to him first. At this time it turns out that the tow truck man is not so taciturn after all - he talks to the mechanic just fine.

Follows a tow truck ride into town to the repair shop the fuckin' piece of shit just has been to - and money for the service of the tow truck changes hands. There will be lots more money to be exchanged once the timing belt has been repaired, though that might take till the weekend.

Here ends part one of the story I like to call "We go on a road trip - NOT!".

Who knew?

Who knew that New Hampshire doesn't have sales tax? (Apart from the people living there and close to it, of course.) Well, I didn't.

Who knew that a timing belt is an important part of a car and it can break without any warning? I didn't know that either.

Who knew that a trip to Massachusetts to meet coworkers and see a warehouse full of yarn would be great? I did!!

HUH?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

I don't know about London, but tomorrow V. and I are road trippin'.

The blue Kroy socks are done - except for the grafting of the second toe which will be done when I am back, that'll happen some time on Saturday. Am going to miss the Knit Thing tomorrow night, darn. Have fun, ladies!

I'm trying really hard...

Seven. Seven single socks (and I am not even counting some that have left my house on a mission) that want a partner finished - or started, depending on how you look at it. The Fair-Isle-Sock is getting really old, it's been sitting there for a while.


I would say that's a major case of Singleitis. Today I am determined to do something about it, tomorrow I might start two more designs...so, sue me!

And I haven't even shown you the sock I ripped out and the one I started toe-up - till I decided that toe-up just disturbs my knitting-sock-order way too much and I don't really like it. I can do it, sure, but I'm not getting jiggy wit'it!

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Mwahahaaa, I have a split personality! I have been working as an administrative assistant in supply chain management, as a librarian and was quite happy with both AND now I am doing the artistic thing. Crap, seems I am useless with these tests...

Whatever. The artistic career type has just finished another single sock. There are about five socks waiting either to be finished or for their partner. I hope none of them feels the need to found the SSA (Single Sock Anonymus) and invents twelve steps to make the second sock happen. Ha!

Fuzzy Marvel

I promised pictures of this a little while ago.


It's mohair, it was grown on Audrey's goats and after having a mill spinning it she dyed and wove the yarn. Just the right thing you want to use to cuddle up on the couch - which I tried last night. It's working and it was totally worth the splurge of the moment.


She really should attach a little tag that says "Hand made in Canada" - which, incidentally, is quite rare and, in my opinion, a statement in itself. A good one, don't you think?

Sadly the Socktoberfest is over, many thanks to Lolly for organizing the first of hopefully lots to come!! (At least I think it should be repeated.)

It started with a kiss wrap

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I feel the need to explain that it was quite useless and wouldn't stop slipping off my shoulders. So I ripped it all out. Mercilessly.

This is how it looks now:

I knit something for myself - and, moreover, I am wearing it. Never mind the goofy grin.

The debut appearance coincided with our knit thing tonight - which was entertaining and where one could find four socks, one mitten, three Clapotis (one finished, two in progress), two hats and a sweater on the needles. Not to mention the two gentlemen who bothered entertained Natalie with lots of questions. Damn, isn't the world used to us knitting by now??