Belated Blogiversary

For some reason I thought it was today, but I missed it by 3 days, apparently. Anyway, this little blog is now five years old and ready to go off to kindergarten. Or something.

Today, on what I thought was my blogiversary, I hung out at Spa with a bunch of people whose company I enjoyed. And I didn't take a single photo. What I did do was finish off the gusset, turn the heel and knit up the heel flap on the second of a pair of socks I desperately want to get finished before we leave for Iceland. I finished the first one while waiting for Stephen Fry to receive an award from the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and give a talk (at Harvard, as one would expect) last Tuesday night.*

No photos of the socks yet, since the pair isn't finished, but they're toe up with Sherman Short Row toes, arch shaping à la Oliver (Rav link), and a Widdershins-style heel. I do believe this may be THE sock formula for my feet. At least the first one seems about as close to perfect as I've ever come.

The yarn is merino/possum/silk sock yarn that I got from James. He's now sold off his remaining stock of this yarn, but I managed to snag a couple more pairs' worth from him on clearance. It is so soft that Danielle decided she had to stuff the first sock down her shirt. So now I can say my foot has touched her breast, which is about as rare a statement as it is odd, I believe.

Aside from that, I've also been getting my photographic equipment in order for Iceland. Remember this little camera I picked up a couple of years ago in Montréal?



Well, being plastic and lightweight, I figured it'd be the perfect option for doing some film photography, so I've been stocking up on no-longer-produced 620 film spools on eBay. I dropped the first test rolls off for developing on my way to Spa today, so I'll find out soon what I might be able to expect from it. Meanwhile, these might give you some idea of the type of images that are possible.

Also, I'm taking my digital camera and have been working on my finishing skills using GIMP. Even as a grad student, Adobe Creative Suite would cost me $300. GIMP's $0 pricetag trumps that easily, and it works really well. I've been going back through some of my India photos and have reworked some that I didn't feel had captured what I saw as nicely as I'd hoped. The results have been much nicer.







Since that trip, I've also managed to track down an open source program that can convert Nikon's raw image format into one that can be manipulated by GIMP. That has also greatly improved my overall image quality and capabilities, so I hope to have some very nice shots to share from the Land of Fire and Ice.




*Mr. Fry did not disappoint in his talk and my respect for him is now even greater than I thought possible. This young woman, however, nearly stole the show when she sang this very song to him during the Q&A session afterward. I do believe he blushed.

Four Years (plus a few days)

So my 4th blogiversary came and went on Wednesday, but I didn't post on the day itself because I was in rural South Carolina visiting my grandparents. If it weren't for my phone, I wouldn't have had any 'net access at all there. Not without a 20 min. drive into town, at least.

Anyway, I'm now able to reveal details about the mystery project. They were socks for Josh, whose birthday is today. I was one of a bunch of folks who clandestinely sent gifts off to his David (ignore the warning, unless the occasional bare hiney beefcake photo would get you into trouble) with which to surprise him. And now that I know he's opened his gifts, I am free to share a photo with you.



And it now looks as though my bus is nearly to the Portsmouth station, from whence I'll have a very dark drive home in the snow (our power went out in the storm last night and hasn't come back on yet). So I'll end this here and go into further detail about the socks later.

Three Years!

It's my blogiversary today! Kind of crept up on me, truth be told, but it's neat to think that I've been doing this for three years now and have been able to meet so many wonderful people because of it. Like knitnzu, who sent a package yesterday for the kitties.



It was really sent with Cougar in mind, but Tolo had to be the first to shove his head in, much to his younger brother's chagrin.



Of course, Cougar being the larger of the two managed to shove his way in pretty quickly.



To say he was pleased with his present would be an understatement. In fact, it's already been disemboweled loved to pieces.



He wasn't the only one who was pleased, since there were two mousies in the box.



Their excitement was so infectious, that Tuck ran over and started playing with one of his toys, too.



Crockpot Curry

I decided to make a curry for dinner yesterday and though that it might work well to do it in the crockpot, especially since curries do particularly well when they're given plenty of time for the flavors to meld. We'd gotten a head of cauliflower especially to make a curry, and David thought it might be a good idea to use a big golden beet I got in it, since he's not that fond of beets but likes curries. He also suggested using seitan in it as a protein. It turned out quite tasty, especially served over basmati rice.



It was also super easy. I chopped up the cauliflower, a large onion, and the peeled beet, put in about three tablespoons of curry paste, a couple tablespoons of cashew butter, a can of coconut milk, and a big (20 oz.?) can of diced tomatoes, then set the crockpot on high and let it simmer for about 8 hours. I think I stirred it twice. It doesn't look like much liquid at first, but it cooks down very nicely without any additional water added. Try it!

Thanks to a tip from VUBOQ, I've also been saving up vegetable scraps for the past few weeks and last night put them in a pot with water and cooked them down into yummy broth.



These simmered for about 4 or 5 hours before I strained out the scraps, then added salt and simmered it for another few hours to make a nice, rich bouillion. I'm not sure what it'll get used in, but I'm sure it'll be tasty.

Missed

Somehow I had it in my head that today was my blogiversary, but it was actually back on Sunday. This little blog is now two years old, and I'm hoping there won't be any terrible twos. It continues to be a fun little pursuit, and I sure have met some very fun and decent folks, even if not all of you can appreciate the special thrill that is a fox poo photo (a photo which, I might add, still gets me an awful lot of Google hits.)

Anyway, I promised an accounting of my trip south, so I suppose I should get on with that. As I mentioned before, it was a good visit. My grandparents really aren't in the best shape these days. My grandmother (88) needs a fair amount of assistance, and since a mild heart attack two years ago, my grandfather (93) has been fairly limited in what he can do. Still, my uncle and his family live directly behind them and my aunt lives less than a half mile down the road, so they've got someone nearby to look out for them, and mentally they're both still fairly sharp. My other aunt, my mother's older sister, is mentally retarded and lives at home. At 69, she has health issues of her own, and with a mental/emotional age that's permanently at around 6 or so years, she's never really gotten out of the "Look at me! Look at me!" stage, which is its own challenge. Still, she's relatively functional and is able to help my grandparents out some with household chores.

My job while there was just to visit, and that's what I did. I also did some of the cooking - especially breakfast, though that was somewhat selfish on my part to ensure I got plenty of cheese grits. Mostly, though, it was pure down time. I made progress on the wedding vest and spent a fair bit of time studying Hindi grammar and just generally made myself at home, just as I've done since I first spent two weeks with them at the age of two. I only wish I'd been able to stay longer.

One Year

Today is my first blogiversary. It hardly seems like it's been a whole year, but when I look back on it, there's been quite a lot crammed into the last 365 days. According to my archives, this is post #188, which means I've managed to come up with something to write on average slightly more than every other day. This means I either blather on a lot, or just maybe I've got enough to say to keep me blogging.

One of the things I've enjoyed the most over the past year is getting to know other knit bloggers out there and hearing from people who actually take the time to read this one. This is quite the community, and I continue to be amazed at what a wonderful group of people y'all are - generous, supportive, funny, and just plain decent. I could kvell for days.

Except that it's time for me to get ready for work. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.