Blogsam and Jetsam

Flotsam is the part of the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on the water. Jetsam is cargo or parts of a ship that are deliberately thrown overboard, as to lighten the ship in an emergency, and that subsequently either sinks or is washed ashore. This is my personal blog version of the above. Loot freely.

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Location: The Hinterlands, Upstate NY

I'm annoyed that the world is going crazier faster than it used to be. But it's interesting to watch.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Heck...

...If ya got text ya might as well have pix too, right?


This is the re-started now-singular front to Youngest Duckling's eventual new sweater. You'll notice the unchanged back still in the basket.




A better look. The center diamond panel is "framed basketweave" which she chose herself. Those adorable side panels are Barbara Walker's "Banana Tree" (first book, page 269) although I persist in thinking of it as "Beanstalk." It's an 18 stitch 12 row repeat:


Extreme close-up of cuteness:

And this is the Italian Heirloom tomato seedling which currently represents the sum of "Gardening 2008."

Friday, March 07, 2008

Yeah I Know...

...I never blog any more. These things happen.

In Very Brief:


Mother-in-law has moved out of our house and is back in the Jersey 'Burbs. I probably shouldn't add "and there was much rejoicing" but things do seem to be working out much better with her permanently 300 miles away.

Work is still far too busy of course. We are now at 75% staffing at the doctoral level which means I'm now only doing the Actual Patient-Care Work of one and a third people instead of two but the Boss-Lady part keeps growing...and all the new and shiny has definitely worn off. Which is fine.

Had a Major Knitting Setback: got two-thirds of the right front of an Aran cardigan done before realizing it was sized completely wrong. As I told HBF: "you know that sinking feeling you get when you're pretty sure it's hardware? And then you smell that burning epoxy smell? Yup, it's that one." Had to work through all my Kubler-Ross stages but eventually ripped it all out and started fresh...this time with a single-front pullover concept.

In the interim between "this isn't working out for some reason" and the Big Do-Over I made a whole slew (how many is a slew anyhow? I'm using it to mean maybe six or seven) of headbands. Discovered that they went faster using several strands of yarn held together, that they were a good medium for showing off a single cable design and that I really like the three-stitch I-cord edging.

Baby Duckling is eight today; I think I might be having a midlife crisis. Or would if there were time so I guess I'm glad there isn't.

In the Book World I've been working away at A Great Circle since early January and it's been well worth the effort. That man can write.

Also in the Book World it's our school's annual "PARP" time...that means "Parents As Reading Partners" and is a written agreement that you'll read either to or with your children for a minimum of fifteen minutes every single night for the next three weeks. Yes I have plenty of mixed feelings about that but the bottom line is that we found this book on the overflowing bookshelves which I've been reading aloud most nights...it's turned out to be surprisingly high-quality. Literary references and a plotline engaging enough that I got the "can we do more?" request a couple nights ago.

But now it's time to get back to the morning routine...