You said drive UP to town, why am I going south?

We have an odd custom for referring to travel direction here in the southern Appalachian area I live. I'm about 30 min. north of a nearby town, and 1000 feet lower in elevation since I'm in the river valley and it's further up the ridge. If I was going to the town, I would say I'm going UP there. And likewise, if a friend in town complains it's snowing, I can reply that we just have rain down here. 


I think it's mostly a holdover from horse/wagon days, when having to climb a nearby mountain was a better indicator of where the next town was than just a compass point. And believe me, every mountain and hill here has a name, and often when people complain of the weather or traffic it's by mountain name rather than towns - seems they're still the default landmarks despite our ease traversing them. Also, it's usually quite a bit colder on the ridges compared to the valleys, and it just feels right to refer to a colder place as ‘up from here’.


Coming from the North originally I found this seeming inversion of direction ridiculous and refused to join in. I'm north of town dammit! Everyone knows north/south! Why say you'll drive up to a town, when you're actually heading south? I argued the point at first, but after I accepted the shift, it seems to fit so much better than something like a compass point. And now I refer to locations by up/down elevations rather than map directions by default. And so does everyone else. Until you have a visitor from the north, and you  accidentally add an hour onto their expected drive time because they thought when I said we'd drive up to town, they thought that town was north of here.

Must share - shopping other ppl's stashes

I just stumbled upon a fantastic feature in Ravelry that is going to save me tons of money. People list yarn from their stashes to sell, and you can search directly within that group for stuff that's a great deal! I needed 2 skeins of a certain brand and color, and found someone selling exactly what I needed for about 40% less than list price. Now I also know what to do with some of my impulse purchases I'll never use.

From the homepage I clicked the search icon (magnifying glass). Then chose to search stashes. There's a click box on the left to select For Sale or Trade. Then you can search for specific names, colors, fibers, yarn weights, etc. Woo hoo!

Gotta run, there's stash mining to be done!

Epiphany

Almost from the beginning, I've always been a sock knitter. I learned to knit on a scarf , then made a pair of ribbed mittens, then I was on to socks. I was such a new knitter I knotted the yarn together on the sole of my first pair! Socks have been my thing for well over a decade. It's always socks.

Then something happened this past year. I just got tired of socks. I couldn't bear the thought of knitting another one. I stopped looking at sock patterns, passed by sock yarn in the store. I unraveled the one I was working on - that's how little I cared about finishing it. Admittedly I've gotten a lot of knitting done since then, but still it's made me pause wondering what happened to my love of socks?

A recent KnitPicks podcast included asking someone how they got started knitting. I turned off the radio and started answering it as if they had asked me. Which turned into a delightfully time-filling interview driving down the interstate. And it uncovered why I abandoned socks - they abandoned me first.

Rundown of my socktastrophe: Last year I knit a pair for my Emah that were mirror images. Only I kept messing up and essentially knit almost 5 full socks to get two that matched. I excitedly started a complex fairisle pair, only I could never get it right - the fabric was always too unstretchy to slip over my heel. The next pair I knit for Emah was a pattern I'd recently used before, but somehow I picked up the wrong needles for the second sock and ended up knitting 3 full socks to get a matched set. Then there was the fiddly modular pair that if I put down for more than a few days I'd have to re-teach myself how to do the pattern - unraveled! Then the final pair - lovely cashmere and wool yarn from an indie dyer, bought on my trip to Vancouver. Easy to knit pattern, but somehow I just couldn't get through it.

At the time I didn't think of all the work that was for naught, but looking back it was a bad year for sock knitting. I think my total lack of interest now, and amazing ability to finish things lately, really stems from a deep discouragement that socks are a finishable project. But that gives me hope, as I think one day I'll dismiss my discouragement and be back to my socks again. Which is good, I have way too much sock yarn to really give it up.

Highly productive (and no that doesn't mean I have bronchitis)

It means I've been knitting (and finishing things) like a maniac! Normally I'm terrible about finishing projects. I get to the 3/4 mark and completely lose interest in the project. I develop an overwhelming desire to knit something else and it's a chore to trudge through the last bit. But I never care since I'm a process knitter not a product knitter. But lately when I get to the 3/4 mark I can wait to get the item finished to see what it's like. Which has resulted in a huge number of finished items lately.

 

The teal sweater was started at the end of March. I have a photo from that insane Maine-DC-Dallas trip the first weekend of April that has the first few inches of the sweater sitting on my lap in the plane. This was my very first successful sweater - which means I've accomplished something that was on my lifetime goals list! The button I used I've had for about 6 years. It's the butt end of an antler, all squiggly and unmistakably natural.

The pink Candy Floss Cowl just came out of nowhere. I can't explain why I bought the yarn, or why I knit this piece. But I like it now, and it came together pretty quickly. It's got a lot of versatility, so may end up being a good item to wear this winter.

The purple sweater is an Anthropologie knock-off. It only took 250 yards to knit! The entire time I was knitting I kept saying No effin' way can you make a sweater with only 250 yards of yarn. And when it was done and I realized not only can you make a sweater with that little yarn, and an ANTHROPOLOGIE sweater at that, but that it's super cute and a great end to a weekend of knitting...uh, I'm not sure how to end this sentence, I think it surpassed run-on into some irretrievably bad-grammar point. But you know what I mean.

This sweater needs a clasp to close, which means I finally get the chance to use my vintage brooch collection!

The final piece is a scarf I knit as a thank you for someone. She really helped me make one of the more difficult decisions I've had to deal with this past year or so, and what better way to say thank you than with knitted goods? I've had this pattern favorited on Ravelry for ages so was glad for the excuse to knit it up.

There are actually a couple other things I've finished but I'm less spectacularly thrilled with them, so I'm leaving 'em off this blog roll. But if you're dying to see them check out Rattlefox on Ravelry.

First day of Fall

I'm a week late in my post - it should be 9.16.11, but I can't figure out how to back-date a post to make it more realistic. At least I wrote the post on paper so have it to refer to. So, let me take you back in time a week or so...

Never mind the equinoxes. Ignore that where we live it could easily be 85° by the end of the month. Just enjoy today. It's 54° out, only 66 in the house. Dry with a light breeze. I'm in jeans and a light cardigan, although after a brief trip outside I may have to put on some socks or house slippers. Drat! How will I keep my feet in running form this winter?? Still, the change in season is exciting. Although it's hard to believe the year is 3/4 finished. Where did it go? Why is it always September that flies away? Ah, that burning dust smell from the first use of central heat, that's a sure sign it's early fall. And baby pumpkins! I love baby pumpkins and always buy one every year. They're just so cute and useless!

Although apparently someone found a use for them!

Contagion didn't catch

The new movie Contagion received great reviews, and we were excited to go see it. The 'chillingly real epidemic' and 'breakdown of society in response' sounded too good to pass up. Despite a renowned cast and obvious scientific background, there just wasn't much to the movie. We were never shocked, disturbed, scared, or awed.  Later on we weren't afraid to touch common surfaces like doorknobs. After the movie someone coughed in front of us and I wished I'd felt a little thrill, an impression carried over from the movie. Did you ever watch The Mothman Prophecies or any other movie where the phone rings as part of the plot? Imagine watching it on DVD and having the phone in your house ring midway through the movie, feeling that quick jolt before you convince yourself it's ok to answer it in real life. That's what was missing from Contagion. It had the chance to really shock and scare us with The Truth, and yet failed to deliver. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I think the movie Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman did a better job scaring people with an infectious disease than did Contagion. Alas!

Speaking of the CDC and a different kind of contagion - have you checked out their page on preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse? Seriously, it makes you appreciate the CDC even more to know they have your back for when Zombies strike. Unless it ends up like The Walking Dead (season 2 starts next month!!) and the CDC is the last place you want to be. Their Zombie Preparedness page has all sorts of useful information like:

"Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast."


I've realized in the past few months that I really like zombies. I don't care how sexy or sparkly or glamour-ous a vampire might be, I'm definitely on Team Zombie.

Gullywasher

Thunderstorm doesn't begin to describe the amount of rain coming down right now. The gutters are literally overflowing and rain is blowing sideways off the trees. There was a long period of thunder before the rains started, and it's been raining at flood-levels for a while now. I can't believe there was this much water in the clouds, given how freakin dry it's been lately. The thunder is deep enough I swear I feel the house shaking. Or maybe that's just Kayla the dog hiding under my desk.

I love playing in the rain, always have. I wonder if my mom still thinks back on those times whenever there's a good storm. In my memory we were always out in the rain except when forced into the basement by tornado warnings. I think we even had rainclothes that were easy to peel out of when drenched. I still love the rain just as much, although one of my favorite things to do now is go running. If I'd known how long this storm was going to last I think I would've played hookie and gone out in it. I told myself it wouldn't last long, then I'd be wet and still have to get back to work. Now I'm regretting it, this is such an awesomely heavy rain.[peeking outside] oh, it's just about finished now. Actually, other than responsibly working, it's probably good I stayed home. Poor Kayla is so thunder-shy she would've been a right mess when I got back. Oh but it would've been FUN! [peeking out again] Dang, the rain is starting up again, teasing me. But the sky is lighter, so maybe it really is ending. Definitely too late now. I'll just sit at my desk and stare out the window wistfully...