ria knits

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lies. And Kabocha.

2005-09-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I didn't mean to lie to you, but in fact I guess I did, because I don't see any piccies yet, do you? Sorry. I'll try to do it tonight. Assuming I don't work late again. I hope I don't - I need sleep badly.

*sigh* I picked a bad time to start this blog.

This weekend I went to a supermarket north of NYC. For those of you that are unaware of it, supermarkets in this city stink. Sometimes litterally. The produce is either not ripe at all, or just about rotted, the variety & selection is ridiculously limited, there is no bakery dept., and the parking lot fits about 15 cars, when there are 45 families shopping down the narrow, dusty aisles. The stores are not cleaned, pre se, unless something spills, and the employees doing the restocking will not only not ask you if you need help with anything, but will actually push you out of their way should they decide you are in it. And don't get me started about the inflated prices. It's a draconian experience. Now, I thought all this was normal until I started travelling to other places & seeing how the rest of the country lives. Outside the city, supermarkets are clean, bright, massive places with a level of selection & variety that makes my head spin. If NYC supermarkets were located anywhere else, they would go out of business within the week. So I hope that you can now understand why I would deem it neccessary to occasionally travel 75 miles to go to a nice, big supermarket.

It was so worth the trip. I am addicted to this Japanese pumpkin called kabocha - I LOVE it. Well, the supermarket had tons of it, and I finally found out that it's called 'burgess buttercup squash' here in the states. The only place to get it in the city (that I know of) is at the Japanese markets, at about 4x what I paid for it over the weekend. I am sooo happy.

I also got my car inspected & a mountain of laundry done this weekend. I did everything I needed to do except install the software for the camera. Grrrr.

Piccies to come this weekend. No, really!!

2005-09-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I meant to post some pics of my WIPs & FOs, but I recently bought a new camera & realized that I still haven't worked out the bugs in the software & camera settings. I am usually technically adept, but I must admit I'm having problems. I'd like to think that the fault lies in the directions in the owner's manual. But I know I've been pretty sleep-deprived lately, too. I begrudgingly admit it's probably me. Anyway, problems or no, the pics go up this weekend.

In 3 weeks time, the Rhinebeck Wool Festival will be in full swing, and I'm planning to head up there to have a little look around. I don't dye, spin or weave, and I'm afraid the only thing there for me will be skein after skein of highly attractive (& probably expensive) wool that I really don't need right now. But since when are yarn purchases motivated by need, anyway? We pause for a moment to take a little look, start to stare, start to drool, and hand over the Amex to anyone who will take it. You know it's true!

I'm still going, though, just to satisfy the ol' curiosity.

I can't believe it's late September. No, I really shouldn't be back at school, it's just too damn hot. This has been an interminable summer, and I'm anxious to see it go. Being a winter person, I'm dreaming of snow & wearing woolly sweaters. On a somewhat related note, my Mother's birthday just passed, and I sent her a pretty, pale blue scarf I knitted up for her. When I started knitting again, she mentioned in an offhand way that she never had a really long scarf. I didn't say much to acknowledge the comment, but I was listening!! She loved it, and I'm so glad. I used an older yarn by Sirdar, which isn't made anymore called Tropica (?). They called it a DK weight, I call it fingerling. On size 4 needles, it took a loooooooooong time. But let's be clear, my Mom is worth it. I didn't take a picture of it before I gave it - I hope to take one of her wearing it. That will be better. How was that related to the 'omigod it's too hot' comment? I also can't believe that I sent my poor Mother a warm scarf for her birthday. Too cruel. Sorry, Mom.

A Heart Warming Thing

2005-09-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

I just saw a heartwarming thing over here. I said (to my DH) "Isn't it wonderful how people who love yarn have such warm hearts?" to which he deftly replied "Well, of course. It's all the warm sweaters."

So, um, hi.

2005-09-21T16:36:00.000-05:00

Hi. So, welcome to my blog.

I’ve been toying with the idea to do one of these for years, but I never seemed to have enough spare time to devote to something like this, much less new & interesting things to share with the world-at-large. But my life has changed in recent years, and I now have a bit more time for myself, and perhaps some more interesting things to share.

In years past each day was just like the one before for me – my work took up every hour of every day & I spent my weekends recuperating. These days the scenery changes a bit more, and I’m trying to find a new way for myself in terms of career & living situation. I got laid off from my horrible job in advertising a few years back & immediately decided that I didn’t want any part of the industry going forward. The work was great, but the people were ODIOUS (not all, but most.). I am glad to be done with it. I’ve been dabbling in other things since then, but nothing I like enough to call it a career, really. I think it’s important to have a career. It means you feel enough passion about what you’re doing that you can give it a name; it is an entity in your life. ‘Jobs’ are tedious things that suck the life out of you. It doesn’t matter how glamorous the job seems, if you don’t like it, it will kill you in time. I think everyone should avoid this at all costs, don't you?

I live in NYC – I always have. And while this is the most awesome city I know, I’ve always wanted to live in the country. My break from the advertising industry means that I am now able to pursue this, so I’ve decided to make this happen. How? Beats me. But you can come along for the ride & see when/if I make it.

So as you may have surmised, I am a knitter, and the main focus of this blog will be knitting - it’s my latest passion, and I’ve gotten a lot of great tips from people I’ve ‘met’ online & I’ve gotten inspiration from the photos of gorgeous projects that they share with everyone. I feel it’s important to keep that kind of positive inspiration flowing, so I’m joining in. I have a few WIPs and finished projects that I will photograph & post here for your amusement shortly.

I’m fairly new to knitting. One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to learn, so I taught myself to knit with instructions I printed up from the internet. My mother tried in vain to teach me when I was little, but I had trouble keeping my stitches on the needles. I spent more time trying to pick up dropped stitches & getting my project back on the needles that I did actually knitting. I gave it up, and rightly so. But I’ve had better luck this time. There are some things we do in life for the first time that we take to so easily, you have trouble remembering a time when you weren’t doing it. That’s how knitting is for me.

I get a big kick out of reading the blogs of others. I hope you get a kick out of mine. Stay tuned…

PS: Happy Birthday Mom!!