Autumn

The leaves are changing and the days are getting shorter...

 

10 Things You Do To Care For Yourself When You Have a Cold

When I come down with a cold, I try to do everything possible to comfort and baby myself--except maybe staying home from work. (I'm so bad about that!) Here are those things I do to either recuperate faster or comfort myself:

1. Eat breakfast foods--"Regular" food just isn't appetizing when you're wheezing and sneezing and what not. Toast, cereal, and the like are they only things I want.
2. Tea--Always, always, a hot cup of tea. Can't stomach coffee when I'm sick.
3. Eucalyptus scented anything--Perfect for opening up the sinuses.
4. Lotion tissues--A must to keep from looking like Rudolph after a couple of hours.
5. Sleep--Gotta support the body in it's efforts to heal itself.
6. Vicks Vaporub--Again, need to breathe!
7. Orange juice--I would probably be better off if I drank this year round, but I'll take that Vitamin C dose when I'm sick.
8. Soup--Easy nutrition and that sinus-opening steam!
9. Lip balm--For me, at least, chapped lips goes along with all the other cold symptoms.
   
10. Halls Cough Drops (preferably in Cherry flavor)--Again, need to open up the sinuses, and that Mentho-Lyptus stuff does it for me.
    

Eye Candy Friday -- The Impending Storm Edition

The approaching ominous clouds over Jones Beach Theater, right before the scheduled start of last week's Jimmy Buffett concert...



Who'd a thought that a week later we'd be getting ready for significant hurricane! I've got the day off to day, so we'll be battening down the hatches at Chez Elizzabetty. If you're in the path of Irene (and that's one might big path she has), please stay safe!

Random Thursday

What better way to ease back into the blogging thing than a Random Thursday! Here's a look back at the last few months...

• Nice horsey outside the sugar house.

Visiting sugar houses during the Whitingham Maple Festival

• What's the best way to ruin a pair of sneakers? Walk through the snow/slush/mud of early mud season, of course!

• Nothing like spinning by the fireplace in a wonderful Vermont inn...

April knitting weekend in Vermont

• Hanging out at the old watering hole (which has since been renamed and under new management) with Punkin.

Monday open mike night at Bartini, Babylon Village

• The unbearable cuteness of Lily...

...even when she on guard duty!

I'm having a wheely good time...

Sorry, but I just couldn't resist that pun...

Looky what I got today!

That's me, alright, spinning some basic white wool top on my new (to me) Ashford Joy. Yup, mine--not a loaner. Thanks to my spinning agent, Punkin, and Rosie, the previous owner of this wonderful wheel, she's mine all mine!

Isn't she lovely?


Single treadle, which suits me just fine.

And after a little shaky start, my spinning started to even out.

Some of that is Punkin's handiwork. (Of course, she had to try it.) I will definitely be needing more work with it, but I think I got some potential here to not suck too much at it.

Even Punkin's Lendrum welcomed the wheel into my life. My Joy just might be her new BFF--after Punkin, of course.


Being that I only got her late this afternoon, she doesn't have a name yet (nor did she previously have one). We'll see how she feels about it as we spend time together, but for now she will simply be called my Joy!

And now for some proof of what I've been up to lately...

Aside from job hunting and doing freelance work, I've finally after a very, very long time had a chance to start working on another craft--yarn dyeing!

Some sample skeins...

Inspiration for a colorway...

On Monday we'll see how this one (actually, there are two) turns out. Stay tuned...

What I've been up to...

I'm still spending time up in Vermont, although I will be heading back to Long Island early next week. I'm still job hunting (frighteningly few positions--either in publishing or for an entry level paralegal). I did pick up some freelance copyediting. But the most enjoyable thing I've been doing--next to some spindle spinning--is...

Those are some stock solutions for the newest hobby--yarn dyeing! Tomorrow I'll be dyeing some little sample skeins for my color wheels. (While they're being steamed, I'll be copyediting. Am I the multitasker or what?) After that, maybe some test colorways before I go home.

Pictures of the color wheels to come...

What I've been up to lately...

For someone who's unemployed, I've been mighty busy these past few weeks! Given the late hour I don't want to go on and on, but here's a little info for ya...

• For the past two weeks I've been serving as a juror on this trial for this defendant. Today we reached a verdict. And after an evening of Googling, I came up with this and this and this. What an experience! Sentencing is scheduled for next month, and if I'm not busy I'd like to attend.
• My classes have been winding down, but due to my jury service I did not have all that free time to study that I was planning on. Still think I did OK, though (and considering all that's happened this year I'm OK with it).
• Not much knitting or spinning, but I've been working on flags for an event on Saturday.

And this past weekend we did a living history event in Kingston, New York.

The kids really loved the gun--they were doing their own little artillery drills around it. And the adults had an even better time with them.



So cute...

March comes in like a lion, goes out... with a layoff?

Yeah, I said layoff. Last Tuesday afternoon I was laid off from my job. Position elimination as a part of cost cutting due to declining revenue. It was unexpected, but not entirely so. I knew that the job I was in could be considered something of a luxury (no direct reports, no hard deliverables), and with so many of the big law firms laying off lawyers and dropping print subscriptions to our products, it really was inevitable that they would start making cuts.

So I've spent the last few days cleaning out my office, gathering my belongings, and--absolutely the worst part--saying goodbye to my friends. Actually losing my job has not been that upsetting. Being unemployed, yes, but the actual job itself--something of a relief. Today I'm turning in my laptop and BlackBerry, and saying my final goodbyes.

Tomorrow I head up to Vermont for a week. I've already started my job search and will spend more time on that. I've got my final two paralegal classes going on, so I can concentrate on doing well there. I actually have several different options career-wise, and I'm pretty excited about that. So, there will be no staying in bed for me--too much to do--but I will now have the time to stop and look around and embrace all the blessings I have. And no more crappy meetings!

And there will be blogging! And knitting! And spinning! And dare I say it--even yarn dying!!!

The last few years on the job have been rough. Jim thinks that ultimately this will probably be the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I have to agree. So I'm off to tie up those loose ends. Be back in a few days...

So how long does a One Day Beret actually take to knit?

If you're me, it's about a week. It doesn't help if you takes you about a day just to get started on it because:

1. You left all of your circular needles at your house in Vermont (so no Magic Loop for you) and all you have on Long Island are DPNs.


2. You have a difficult time distinguishing which needle comes first as you move each of your 4 cast on stitches to a separate needle, and your knitting looks more like some pointy medieval torture device.


3. You finally get going with the increases and you're going around and around and you've got a hat about 2 inches in diameter when you suddenly realize that you skipped one of you DPNs way back at the beginning and it's now dangling below your 2 inch beret. (On the plus side, your knitting buddies find this very funny and just giggle all over themselves.)

So throw in a few longs days at work, dozing on the train (and at home) the one short night in the office you have, and assignment deadlines for your new Saturday class, and you have the recipe for the One Day Week Beret.

And, of course, I don't have time to take a picture of it. It's so close--just an inch of ribbing and then end weaving! So unfortunately you'll have to wait for an FO photo.

But for now, I'll leave you with an early picture of the beret--and it's body guard.

I can't get into the whole story behind the bodyguard thing right now. Let's just say there was a fibernapping, threats to the fiber's safety, and ransom demands, and I became a little concerned about my Malabrigo...

More freakin' snow

I know that it's still winter, but really--I'm tired of the snow and frozen stuff that's been falling here on Long Island. (I'm also tired of the snow up in Vermont, but snow up there is normal this time of year.) So, since more snow's on the way, I think a new chapeau is in order...

That's the beginning of the One Day Beret, which I'm making in some lovely Yarn Crack Malabrigo I bought last year at The Village Knitter.

Now, there's no way that I could finish this in one day--I just don't knit that fast. But I'm thinking with what I got done today and will probably get done on the train tomorrow, this could be done by Tuesday morning--just in time for the next snowfall.

Today I went to Panera to knit with my Ravelry buddies. Kelly commented on the icicles in my last Eye Candy Friday picture. Some of those icicles would make really scary spears. Well, here's a close up of another one--just for you Kelly!

Need a jolt?

So last weekend I started this Project Management class at Baruch College. It's on Saturdays--9:30 am to 3:30 pm, and it runs for five weeks. (I'm doing this to improve my PM skills at work.) Not too bad, really.

The big catch with this is that Baruch is in Manhattan, so I have to take the train into the city--and the weekend railroad schedule is more limited. But OK, there's a 7:28 train that gets me in by a quarter to nine. Plenty of time for the subway ride to 23rd and to get a cup of tea. And I live 2 miles from the train station. Easy five minute drive to the train. And the next train--about a half hour later--would get me to class maybe 10 minutes late. Again, not so bad, but I really don't want to be late.

So last weekend was the first class. No problems getting to class with enough time to grab a cup of tea. This is good.

This morning I woke up at 6:30. I stirred a little, looked at the clock, and then thought I could close my eyes for another minute. Next thing I know the alarms (yes, alarms) are going off. I look at the clock, and it says 7:15.

Oh crap.

I need to catch a 7:28 train to get to class on time.

--I caught the 7:28.

And I didn't forget to put any article of clothes on, and my shoes matched.

That's 13 minutes from my bed to actually sitting on the train. That's definitely a record for me. However...

Snowy weekends in Vermont

The last two weekends have been spent up at Moose Manor. Poor Jim had a nasty head cold and sinus infection, so I tried to take care of things around the house and let him get as much rest as possible. (Unfortunately, he had to work the whole new year's weekend.)

So, there was soup making. Last weekend it was chicken noodle (my first batch from scratch), and this weekend it was chicken barley.

And then there was French Onion soup. It amazes me how slow cooking can turn onions from this...


...to this.


And there was snow...




lots of snow...

No knitting, though. But New Year's weekend there was a stop at Webs, but that turned out to be a remote shopping trip for Punkin.

Oh well, time to get back to work. Hopefully I'll make it to my knitting groups this week, and even get a little spinning time in. I'd like to try out a new toy that was waiting for me when I got home yesterday...

Vermont Spindle Company American Beauty, Cocobolo whorl, 1.4 ounces

Knittin' update

Even with the crazy schedule, we do have a little bit of knittin' going on...



Jim's socks have heel flaps, and those heel flaps are halfway done. Yay!

And some Christmas knitting is now underway.



Fetchings for both my mother and youngest sister. Done two-at-a-time (i.e., both left ones will be done first, then both right ones), method from Melissa Morgan-Oakes sock book.

Yes, I realize that Christmas is over. The recipients of these fully realized that they would not be done in time for Christmas, and they are OK with that.

I also realize that I am voluntarily knitting with black yarn. Dark, inky black yarn. And under low light conditions. Black.yarn.low.light. Good times...

And there's been a little spinning too, but no pictures to show. Soon.

Over the next few days I'm going to be putting my ducks in a row so that I can head up to Vermont for some extended time in the house with my beau. Unfortunately, it looks like he'll be working the whole time I'm up there. But on the plus side, at least I'll be up there. :-)

Now I'm off to arrange some ducks...

From my home to yours...

...Merry Christmas!

Thankgiving wishes...

As I do every year, I'm sitting here watching my favorite parade of all time--the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums just went by-COOL!). This year, though, I keep going back and forth between the parade and CNN coverage of horrific events in Mumbai, and it drives home just how fortunate we all are to be safe and sound in our homes and communities, and just how fragile that safety can be.

So I wish you and your loved ones a happy and--most important of all--safe Thanksgiving Day.

Yes, I'm still alive...

I know, I haven't blogged in a really long time, which makes me a very bad blogger. And there's all sorts of stuff that I've been wanting to blog about but haven't, which makes me a really suckie blogger. Especially since it's NaBloPoMo, which I was going to do again, but since I've missed the first nine days of the month I've blown that too. Sigh...

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I've got a lot going on at work right now. Like two huge projects that are full time jobs by themselves. And then there's my paralegal classes, and I'm already behind on work there because of problems getting the textbooks and, of course, the work stuff.

Don't even ask about the knitting. It's been replaced with studying (or dozing) on the train.

So, for the next few weeks there won't be much posting. I'll do what I can--maybe a picture or two--but it may be a while.

I'll leave you with a picture of the one thing that I've been able to do in really tiny doses--spinning!


This is some BFL roving I got at Rhinebeck. I'm using the Bosworth mini (Walnut) I got at the Franklin Fiber Twist last year. Little by little I'm getting the hang of it. And I'm really liking it...

Rhinebeck afterglow

Wow! What can I say? My first Rhinebeck was an amazing experience! I was there pretty much for the entire day on Saturday and I'm still processing everything I saw and did there. The animals, the vendors, the people--it was all wonderful. (Well, maybe not some of the crowding, but it was still pretty good.) I got to meet some fellow Ravelers as well as friends from home. I also missed a whole bunch of people that I thought I would see. (Carole? Jess? Lars? Where were you guys???)

I came up to Vermont after Rhinebeck to do some work on the house and now I'm getting ready to head back to reality Long Island. (I start two paralegal classes tonight.) I'll upload some pictures once I have a high speed internet connection instead of this here dial-up thing.


By the way--DSL service will be activated here at Moose Manor by November 1. Woo-hoo!!!

Rhinebeck bound!

After having my plans cancelled at the last minute for what feels like an eternity the last 3 years, I am finally going to to Rhinebeck! Of course, this year's plans were not without a certain element of drama. I was supposed to be spending the whole weekend there with one of my paralegal classmates, but our wires got crossed and now I'm just going to be day tripping it on Saturday. But that's OK, because...

I'M STILL GOING TO RHINEBECK!!!

I will definitely be wearing my hand paint socks and maybe my 4-year-old green sweater if I can finish the turtleneck before Saturday morning. Sadly, there won't be enough time to block it, which would have brought out the true loveliness of the yarn. But that's OK, because...

I'M STILL GOING TO RHINEBECK!!!

I'm not sure what my plan of attack will be for the vendors. I'm planning to curtail my fiber spending this year due to that heating oil pre-buy, two vinyl replacement windows for the attic, and tuition for 2 classes that start Monday night but I've yet to register for (but tomorrow is payday). Can a get a group ka-ching?. But that's OK, because...

I'M STILL GOING TO RHINEBECK!!!

So leave me a comment if you're going to be at Rhinebeck on Saturday. I'll be hangin' with Punkin and my Sunday West Babylon Panera knitting/spinning group, and hopefully I'll see lots of my blog friends--and even meet some new ones. It's gonna be a great weekend, because...

WE'RE GOING TO RHINEBECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend updates

After all that traveling, I got to spend the last two weekends in a row on Long Island. What do I have to show for it?

• A four-year old sweater is nearly completed. Just have to knit the neck and weave in thousands a whole bunch of ends.

• The mate to this sock...

...has been started--and the striping pattern matches!

• Collected fabric swatches at different fabric stores for making more insulated roman shades.
  
• Saw Ironman on DVD. Really good movie!
  
• Got highlights and a haircut--and I had three inches taken off the length.

Feels much better--and blonder.

• Placed an order at Lowes for two vinyl windows for the attic at Moose Manor. Had to be custom ordered because, of course, nothing in the house is straight or level.
  
• Only 12 more days to Rhinebeck!!!