Socializing

If you've been a regular reader of my blog, you most likely have noticed that my output has gone down recently. When I had started the blog, it was intended to be a journal of my experiences in the textiles community and some personal observations. For the most part I've kept to that with my intention of posting at least once a week, usually on Sunday. Lately, however, I've been slowly drifting away from the blog posting. Part of it is not wanting to clutter it with drivel or the same ole same ole. Another part of it is I've been more active on other social media, namely Ravelry and Facebook. But I have no intentions of giving up on the blog. It's here that I can keep in touch with those who are not connected with me in those two resources.

The sudden loss of Maisie was difficult

. When you lose a pet that you've had for a while, it's a change in your life that has its ramifications. Maisie was kind of the grande dame of the house, anchoring the feline community with a quiet yet strong presence. Her disappearance left a void that the household had a hard time adjusting to. We are all getting used to the new rhythms and dynamic that multiple occupants work out in a living space. I felt the loss so keenly that I tried adopting another cat to fill the void but it didn't work out and have come to the conclusion that for now there will be two furries.

To cope with the depression that was trying to latch onto me, I decided last week to take a day trip to the beach. I invited Agent D to come along and he leaped at the opportunity. We went down to Tillamook and Oceanside to take in the calm of the ocean's roar. We made stops at the Tillamook Air Museum and the Tillamook Cheese Factory (it was alas closed to the public due to unforeseen circumstances with the water). A trip up to Astoria and a visit with my sister to see how she was doing then home again made for a lovely jaunt. March weather is fickle but we were graced with rainfree hours while we were out and about.

Rhinebeck Day 1

Over the course of my exploration of textile arts I've learned about various events that occur over the year. Some events are local, some regional, and some have a national flavor. Some events have a cachet that attracts folks from all over the world. In my discussions with people from the diverse communities, some of the events have grown from quiet gatherings known by word of mouth to extravaganzas that are advertised in the various media focused on textile arts people. The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, known to the fiber community as Rhinebeck (for its location at Rhinebeck NY), has become one such event.

Rhinebeck, held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, attracts hundreds if not thousands of people to it. When the prospect of being able to visit the booths of 267 vendors from all over the US is available for only the price of admission, people seize the opportunity. And who wouldn't when you have the chance to find something that is not easily found at your local shop? For others it's the opportunity to meet up with friends who share your passion. That was one of my reasons for my going to Rhinebeck this year. People I know online meet up there every year. There was also the chance to finally experience Rhinebeck, an event I had been warned would potentially overwhelm the senses with all of its treasures, and visit vendors that don't come to my neck of the woods with their wares.

My preparations prior to going to Rhinebeck paid off. I did my research, talked with friends who had been there before, and printed out the necessary things I knew would be needed for the event: a map and the list of vendors. The vendor list helped immensely because it not only told you who was going to be there but also where they were located amidst all the buildings of the fairgrounds. I planned to leave early to avoid the traffic as best as I could and get a decent parking spot that wasn't far from the gate. Getting there was easy from where I was staying, Saugerties, and the drive there was beautiful with the fall foliage in full display.

Once at the fairgrounds it was a case of looking for the vendors I wanted to visit early to get the best choice of items. Gnomespun and the Tsock Tsarina were going to be at Holiday Yarns and I knew that one would be popular. On the way I passed by Briar Rose Fibers and saw their booth overrun. When I arrived at Holiday Yarns it was empty of customers so I snagged up a beautiful teal braid of Dorset wool from Gnomespun and a claret colorway kit of the Tsock Tsarina's Vintage socks.

The next stop was to Golding Fiber Tools. If you've been reading this blog for a while you may remember on a previous trip to Vermont I visited Tom Golding's workshop at Saxtons River. The handspindle I came away with is a favorite of mine for heavier yarns and plying, but I was looking for one of lighter weight for spinning thinner singles. Sure enough by the time I got there his booth was crowded with people looking at his wares. It took patience for me to be able to see what he had, and he had some real beauties ranging from his simple RingSpindles of finished exotic woods to worked pieces done in antique metals and stones or painted discs set in wood. He's a true crafter and his spindles are known for their speed and precision. At first I thought I would have to settle for one that was close to the weight of my favorite Spindlewood, 1.5 oz., but then I saw after someone moved spindles done with laser etched wood whorls ringed in brass. They were done in a Celtic cross design that I'd seen on his website and considered getting. Three were left, two in somewhat darker woods and one in a golden brownish wood. I seized the golden one for it really stood out to me and found it was made of butternut with a walnut shaft. Here is the beauty that came home with me and have been spinning on since.

After that it was a case of trying to find my friends. I was to meet up with them around 9:30 but by the time I had made my purchases and went to where we would potentially meet up there was no sign of them. The crowds were getting thicker and thicker as time went on. I took a place on one of the benches in the concessions area, sitting next to a lady who was taking a break from making the rounds. She was knitting on a sock. I took out my knitting and worked on the shawl I had taken on the trip. We chatted a while, watched people with their beautiful and in some cases outlandish knits, and kept warm for while the sun was shining the wind was pretty fierce and cold.

By the time it was around 1 pm I decided I'd make my way to the place, Red Maple Sportswear, where I was to meet up with someone else. As a favor, I had brought with me a stitch counting bracelet that MonicaPDX had made for someone in one of the groups we are in on Ravelry. She had conveniently put the Ravelry name of the person. Foolish me had forgotten to bring my Ravelry pin so it was going to be a challenge to meet up with this person. I wasn't going to be meeting up with her until 2 but who knew when that person would show up, so I found a place where I wasn't in the way of the booth's patrons or in the aisle.

While I was there, I ran into a fellow knitter, Jeri, who wasn't in her customary blue but wearing her lovely creation Ingrid. She told me she saw the people I was looking for heading toward the booth slowly. At last I would see them! Sure enough, the crowd parted enough for me to be able to recognize Joe, Marilyn, and Carol, all making their way slowly through the madness to get to David and Mel's booth. I waited as they looked at the goods and watched as Marilyn slowly made her way through. As she started to leave the booth, I said, "You can't leave without talking to me." She looked at me blankly. When I told her who I was she let out a squeal of delight and hugged me. It was like two friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. Joe and Carol saw the commotion and came over to find out what was going on. Carol didn't know me but Joe did from our years of online correspondence. I suggested meeting outside the building where there was a place to sit and talk (I still had time to wait for my other meetup) and they agreed because it was truly insanely crowded in there.

Outside, I was able to give to Marilyn and Joe the swag I was carrying for them: dyed fiber and Tillamook cheese, as well as a package I was delivering for StitchJones. Unfortunately, Marilyn found that the Golding spindle she had purchased earlier had vanished. She was heartsick because it was a beautiful spindle, one of a kind, and when she went back to Mel and David's booth to see if it had fallen there there was no sign of it. The swag took the edge off the loss, but I felt for her. Chances of it turning up amidst that crowd were small. I talked with Marilyn and Joe for a short while, then Joe had to leave for a meeting with his Men's Knitting Retreat peeps. I needed to go back in to meet up with my Ravelry person. I got information for the diner where Marilyn and Carol were going to meet up with others for dinner, then headed back.

Back at Mel and David's booth, I resumed my post, holding up the bag with the Ravelry name displayed like a sign held by an airport driver. In that mayhem it was necessary. It worked because a young gal came by, looked at the bag, and said, "That's me!" The bracelet reached its recipient, I met a fellow Raveler, and my deeds were done. Tired from the crowds and the effort of getting around, I decided to head for my car and drive back to the motel. It was a good decision because the traffic was starting to build up with people leaving the event. I managed to make it back and get in a short nap before going out to dinner.

Finding the diner was interesting. I had taken my notebook computer with me so I was able to look up directions to the place. Before going back to the motel I had done a dry run to see if I could find the place. No luck. So armed with instructions I went on my merry way. I saw a sign saying "Diner" but it didn't have the name of the place I was looking for. I went in, hoping that perhaps I had been mistaken and had found the place. While I was looking around to see if my group was there, the proprietor came up and invited me to sit down and eat. I told him I was looking for the Olympic Diner. "This isn't the Olympic Diner but you want to eat here." I told him I was meeting people there. "Tell them to come here." I asked him if he knew where the Olympic Diner was. "No," and the attitude from him I was getting was more like forget your friends come and eat at my place, not helping out someone who looks lost and is trying to find a place. I left, feeling annoyed at the guy. I commend him for trying to drum up business because the place was pretty empty, but if someone's trying to get directions it's a lost cause.

I did find the diner at last and got to meet folks from the Knitting Retreat group as well as friends of Marilyn. As the evening progressed, we got sillier and sillier. Marilyn had gotten a call from someone who had found her spindle and wanted to get it back to her. By the end of the evening we were exhausted but happy and fed. A fun night with new friends.

Clearing my throat

A couple of weeks ago I ran out of my anti-depressant medication. At the time cash was a little low, so I held off having it refilled. During that time, I thought "What would happen if I didn't have it refilled? I went on it because of my hormones and stress. My hormones are settled and the stress is not as high." My symptoms are mild: mood swings, mild depression, some anxiety. Stress heightens these to where my interactions with others are affected. When I went on the meds I was going through a very stressful time at the office where I would come home and cry. Monthly I would have days where it took little to turn me into psychobitch. The meds made the emotional roller coaster smoother and for a while it appeared I would have to be on them for the rest of my life. My partial hysterectomy changed things for the better. It was followed a year later with my changing job roles. I stayed on my meds like a good kid.

The ending of the meds was an opportunity to take stock of what my body is able to handle. Going cold turkey is a risky proposition with the potential of creating mental mayhem. That didn't occur to me until I mentioned it in my tweets and got responses with those warnings. By the time I got the warnings, however, I was already a couple of days off the meds and committed to my experiment.

I can say that my experiment did not create any major problems. The most radical change was a manic period where my creative energies exploded into a whole new take on a world I've been writing about since high school. It was during that time that I tackled my kitchen's mess. I was joyful and my senses were sharpened. For a while it was going well. Then one day one of the cats was doing something normal and I snapped at her because it was distracting me from what I was doing. A couple of other incidents happened at work during a stressful time that made me realize that I still needed the meds if I was to be able to act appropriately. With my job I had to be diplomatic and able to manage my time well. If I wasn't able to handle quick changes of priority it would create problems. So I called in my refill. To make the return not so radical, I halved the dosage and so far that is working for me. If that's what it takes, then all the better. I see my doc later this month and will discuss this with him.

Sunriver in October

Some things are serendipitous. One of the things I wanted to do this year was attend the Spin Off Autumn Retreat (SOAR) which was going to be at Sunriver Oregon. I applied for a scholarship but didn't get one, so was not sure if I would be able to go at all. But looking at my finances it worked out that I could go for at least the retreat portion. I worked out my rooming situation and chose my classes. So the last weekend of October I will be off to my first SOAR. With me will be folks that have been to SOAR before so I'm really pumped about this.

New Toys

Another thing fell into place this week. I've been hankering for an updated PDA that would be able to access the Internet via wifi. For a while I'd been eyeing the iPhone, but the prospect of having another bill for a function I would rarely use was not attractive. I could have opted for a BlackBerry but that also involved a monthly charge. Where I live there are many free wifi hotspots I could access so I was more interested in something that could pick up the hotspots. Well, a week and a half ago I spotted a PDA for sale in the company newsletter. It was an HP iPAC Pocket PC h4350, which isn't as popular but as it turned out had everything that I wanted. Even though it was originally built in 2003 it had many functions that work well here for the model was a high end item at the time. My researching found new ones retailing at over $400 and this was for $125. So I leapt at the opportunity and so far have been well rewarded. The wifi connection isn't working properly and I'm waiting for a synchronization cord to arrive so that I can update the software to try to fix that, but I am a happy happy camper. How much joy did this generate? For the first two days I had my iPAQ I didn't knit a stitch. That didn't last long. I couldn't find a case for it, so I made one that will protect it from the bumps of everyday use. The flower pattern's from Selbuvotter glove Annemor #15; the case pattern is my own.

Beyond Routine

I like my routines. In the morning I get up, turn on the stereo to listen to NPR news, do my ablutions, feed the cats, let them outside, dress for work, skim my email, let the cats back in, then go to work. I arrive at work half an hour before I start, fetch my breakfast from the cafe, then return to my desk to read blogs before I start my shift. There have been times when a change to my routine affected me (waking up late, being asked to start early at the last minute). I would feel shattered and recovering from that would take longer than the actual routine itself. I've gotten better over time, but I still like my routines. Part of it is being single and not answering to another.

The weekdays have their structure. The weekend has its own. But unlike the weekdays where work demands that I maintain a strict structure, the weekends are much more flexible. If I have no obligations planned, I can take a weekend and go do things at the drop of a hat. Aurora was one of those weekends. This weekend was too.

Friday I had a business trip to Salem. As part of my kit I included a knitting project: a pair of socks. It got a few kidding remarks but I'm used to that, and being able to knit on the drive down (I was pooling with three others) made the time go by quickly. At lunch we went out and as a matter of course I took my knitting, which I worked on as we waited for our pizzas. I dropped my bag of knitting into my handbag when the food arrived, but apparently I didn't drop it securely as when we left for home that afternoon I found it wasn't in my handbag. It was too late to go back. A phone call later confirmed that I had left the knitting at the pizzeria.

If you're a knitter, you know what it means to lose a project. Some things you think, "Meh, it's part of the risk." Some things aren't recoverable, like projects left on the bus or plane. But this project had two Addi Lace needles and Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock. Not a cheap thing to replace. Plus I knew where it was. I could have contacted folks from Confluence to go pick it up but then they would have had to either mail it to me or try to send it north with a Portland member -- something I felt was too much for me to ask. I opted to go fetch it myself.

Now the fun. When I posted to the Knitbloggers I was going to Salem to fetch my knitting, one of my buddies asked if I was going to the spinning going on at the Mission Mill Museum. Apparently there's a monthly meeting there that I wasn't aware of. I had originally planned to spend the day in Portland then head down in the late afternoon as the pizzeria didn't open until 5 pm. With this though I had the opportunity to meet some other folks who love to spin. They started at 10 am, so I figured I'd go down and play it by ear.

The ladies in the spinning circle were very friendly and as it turned out included Helen, with whom I had had a previous encounter at the Super Bowl weekend knitting party a year ago. While I was there I plied some merino/alpaca/silk blend that Susan of Abstract Fibers gave me for making a sample for her. Further conversation with Helen included an invitation to join her and her fellow knitters at the Blue Pepper. As the spinning group came to a conclusion at 2 pm and I was in need of a place to linger further in Salem, I went to the Blue Pepper. There I not only made my acquaintance with members of the Salem Ravelry group but also renewed my acquaintance with a lady (whose name unfortunately escapes me) I had known through my visits to Unraveled Yarns in Vancouver. I also met a local dyer, Stephania, who had come to drop off some fiber for some of the Ravelers and came away with some lovely Australian merino superwash top. At last the time came and I fetched my errant sock from Christo's Pizzeria and returned to Portland.

Dear Miami

Dear Miami,

I wanted to write to you because your city was an adventure for me. But I have to put in the caveat that anytime I leave the safety of my beloved City of Roses it's an adventure for me. It makes the experience open for possibilities both negative and positive. When you embark on an adventure, you have a few expectations that you have taken an active role in making sure they are met, but there is always the unknown that makes a trip an adventure. So don't take my description as a diss.

Having said that, I would recommend that you take a hard look at your infrastructure of the downtown area around your performance venues. You have hotels but no restaurants. The sidewalks are in terrible disrepair and filthy with dead chewing gum and litter. The MetroMover, despite it being free and fairly reliable, is nearly impossible for someone in a wheelchair to access. For this you invite groups from out of town to visit your city. I can't say that I would relish coming back, even if I was physically more fit to walk about.

At the same time, I experienced rain that did not leave me cold. I met people from all over the Caribbean and sampled great food. People were friendly and helpful when I needed assistance. So you have much to go on that would make that part of the city great.

I saw towers of condos being built and wondered what those folks would do for entertainment. Would they leave the core for other places, or would they stay, walking to a restaurant to have a nice meal then go on transit to the venue to see the opera or the symphony? It's something you need to consider.

Anyway, thanks for the adventure. Take care.

Scenes from a Festival

I have one question for those of you who live below the freeze line and go through summer with humid heat.

How do you do it?

Sweet mercy mother, it was hot in Miami. Hawaii was warm but nothing like Miami. If I had to do the tropics again, I'll do Hawaii. But I survived the heat and the sun without getting burned or heatstroke. Thank goodness for Mr Carrier and the air conditioner. Otherwise you'd find me passed out under a palm tree from too many mojitos.

I'm glad I went though. The music was fabulous and the atmosphere of the GALA festival was so welcoming. Someone described it as a big family reunion, and in many ways it is (without having to bring cole slaw). This time though many of the women didn't come. I don't know if it was due to the cost or lack of interest, but there were far fewer women's choruses there than usual. So many of my conversation partners were men: singers, spouses of singers, support, and directors.

I have a ton of pics left to sort through but I wanted to at least share some that to me speak of the experience. So enjoy!

It was the music.

The young and the young at heart all making music together.

Of course there was audience participation.

The directors got a workout.

But the rewards were incredible.

There were storms and sunshine.

And a lot of cameraderie.

For love and peace.

And warm feet.

Heading Southeast

Just a note that I'll be away from the blog until at least the 20th. I have an early departure tomorrow for Miami and the bags are all packed. The children have a sitter, the garbage is out, and the hair has been cut. I promise pictures and stories. While I'm not doing the Tour de Fleece, I'm taking my Turkish spindle and the Bright Red Bug wool with me to try spindling on the road. I did it tonight at knit night with one of the other spindles and found I couldn't resist the allure of the spindle. So maybe I'll do up the entire 4 oz of BRBW. We'll see. I have knitting with me too. It'll be another adventure. And that's what makes it fun.

Retreat (continued)

I'm home with the crud that someone's loving child probably passed on to me while I was at the beach. Unlike some who have had this it's so far not lain me so low that I can't get out of bed. I'm hoping today's day off from work will conquer it.

My adventure at the beach didn't end with my departure from South Beach. Since I was alone, I could take any route home I wanted. So I stopped at a local fish joint, picked up some fish and chips (halibut, salmon, and albacore tuna -- yum!), and headed to Devil's Punch Bowl at Otter Rock, a favorite stop at the beach for me. It's between Depoe Bay and Newport and features a formation formed from a sea cave whose roof had collapsed years ago, forming a bowl that the sea flows into and churns. When I got there, the tide was out and people were wandering inside the bowl, so I missed the wave action. But there were a few surfers out on the water doing their thing.

While I was munching on my fish and chips, I noticed squirrels coming out to forage. Naturally at a state park like this the squirrels are more tame than most wild squirrels thanks to the droppings left by humans during their picnics or handouts given to them. What struck me was their coats compared to those I see in the city. The centuries of life at the beach have generated a coat more grizzled and capable of hiding in sandy areas. Compare these guys to ones you see around your place.

Yesterday I was listening to the taping I did of the retreat and we don't sound too bad. A little polishing and we'll be ready for concerts in June. They will be the weekend of the 14th in Portland and Salem. The last rehearsal session break saw the completion of the Noro brioche scarf, nice and long for those days when the east wind blows.

Back to bed now.