My nose was buried . . .

in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . . . which I greatly enjoyed. I think I will go back to the beginning and read the whole series at once.

Dance Time

Doin' a little happy dance . . . cuz I made pickles! They won't be ready to eat until August 10th or so . . . so stay tuned for taste testing results.

Getting a Grip

I'm starting to get a handle on things now, what with the new job, and the new schedule, and developing some new habits. It's keeping me busy (can't ya tell?). I have some garden pics to share - not terribly new ones, but they're pictures.


The cucumbers are starting to come, mostly from the seedlings I'd bought, the vines I planted as seed are really close though. The "True Lemon" cukes are starting to make male flowers, so I'm hoping to be able to show some of them off soon.


The green zebra tomatoes seem to only grow to about the size of a plum, but they have great flavor - AND . . . I've figured out how to tell if they're ripening - the light green bits start to turn yellow (I could also give them a gentle squeeze, but I try to avoid that one). The sad part is that parts of at least one of the green zebra vines seems to be suffering a bit, either from the dryness and heat or from some kind of pest or disease. I've started adding a little milk to the fertilizing mix, which I should have done a long time ago, so I'm hoping to see a little good come of that.



This tomato is growing on a vine that I stunted. (Ooops! Shame on me!) I was picking off suckers, like a good kid, and I accidentally mistook the growing top of the vine for a sucker and snapped it right off. It seems to be recovering nicely, but it took a while.


Growers notes for '08:

Add 1/2 cup milk to fertilizer mix for tomatoes and peppers - use weekly
Add Bone Meal, Granite and Cow to the soil Spring '08
after that just bone meal and cow, maybe some blood meal
Some lime might be good . . . not too much, but some
Make more room for zucchini
Design a layout, making space for all the fun veggies
Start more tomatoes from seed, that was fun
Tomato "patch" needs more nasturtiums, marigolds, basil, and thyme

What's up?

Well, I had my first day at the new job today. My head is only a little swimmy, and I think that has more to do with being up so early than it does with the training. I've done a lot of what I did today before, though their automated decks and software are a bit unfamiliar.

I played a little dumb today, to make sure I didn't miss anything. To that extent, it worked, but it was a little trying on my patience - so tomorrow, I'm going to be smarter.

No earth shattering news on Seth's job front, but he may have lined up a new interview today. Here's hoping.

Garden Cuteness

As promised, pictures of itty bitty vegetables! I'll tell ya though, I had to hunt for a while to find a tiny cuke - all the tiny ones I'd been watching have grown up considerably.

For scale comparison - the stems surrounding this baby squash (yellow zucchini) are about as bit around as my thumb, which, it should be noted, are likely bigger around than yours because I have fat fingers. But still - the squash isn't even as big around as a #2 pencil yet!



And this is the baby cuke - he's so tiny! And see? No flower yet - they grow to a point before the flower blossoms to be polinated. I saw a bee making the rounds in my cucumbers yesterday, so I'm hopeful for a decent crop. I want to get a picture of my other cukes - the lemon lookin' ones - but they are not quite to this point yet.



Mmmmm, pickly goodness! Yep, that's right, I'm makin' pickles! Sadly, I don't think my dill will be far enough along to use in making said pickles, but that's ok. I'm also hoping that I'll have cukes late enough into the summer that I can make some hot pickles with a jalapeno or an aurora pepper tucked into the jar. We'll see.

You learn something every day!

I was wandering around inspecting the plants in the vegetable bed the other day when I discovered something strange. While my cucumber and squash plants had been flowering for a couple of days, now there were flowers with miniature squash and cucumbers growing behind them. Now I expected to see this, eventually, as I knew that's how the squash and cucumbers developed, but the thing I couldn't understand was why the flowers growing on the ends of these tiny veggies were either new, or hadn't even opened yet.

Now, my vegetable growing experience consists mostly of tomatoes - and tomatoes flower, get polinated, the flower dies and a small green tomato forms where the flower had been. So these squash flowers were confusing me.

Enter the internet - answerer of many questions. I hit wikipedia and found this little tidbit:

"the flowers come in pollen-bearing male form, and the ovary-bearing female
form, with both forms being present on the plant."

So there you go - those first flowers were all males, and now my plants are starting to make female flowers. And let me just add that the tiny little yellow zucchini are really adorable. I will attempt to capture the cuteness this weekend.

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire - Second Years

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?

Gryffindor - I must be a tough sort, I was a Ravenclaw last time

2. Shoe size? Foot length? Foot circumference?

Women's 10 1/2 - 10 inches long - 9 inches around

3. List your three favorite sock yarns.

Fleece Artist, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, Knit Picks Bare Superwash Fingering

4. Would you like to try a new brand of sock yarn? If so, which brand?

I haven't tried any Regia yet, but the silk and bamboo both look really fun. And I want to try Koigu someday. I'm still new at this, so there are lots of yarns I haven't "tasted" yet.

5. Do you prefer variegated or solid sock yarn?

I like variegated for simple patterns and solid (or heathered, yummy!) for lacy or cabled patterns.

6. What colors would you like to add to your sock yarn stash?

Oh . . . I dunno . . . blue, gray, green, purple . . . cool colors

7. What kind of sock patterns do you gravitate toward? Lace? Ribbed? Fair Isle?

My fair isle skills are not up to snuff - I knit too tight and things pucker, so I'm not up for fair isle socks yet . . . but I'm game for anything else.

8. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, animals, etc.)

Nope . . . bring it on!

9. Will your socks be exposed to cigarette smoke or animals as you knit them?

No cigarette smoke, and while we don't have any pets, my mom has two cats and we do visit her house fairly often, but I can promise to never take these socks over there if I need to.

10. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?

Absolutely!

So there you go, my Hogwarts Sock Swap answers. Does it sound like fun to you? Want to play too? Take this portkey to the new blog and sign up!

Sign up's for first years start July 14th! Come join the fun!

A Knittiversary

As I was photographing the yarns in my stash for record keeping purposes, I found these two balls from my first pair of socks. I realized that it's been about a year since I started knitting that pair of socks. I can't remember the exact date, so I'm adopting the first of July, since I think it was July when I started.



Sadly, in the last six months or so, I accidentally felted those socks to the point that I cannot wear them anymore. It was a great pattern, one that I really enjoyed knitting and wearing. I will need to knit another pair someday. Maybe this time I'll make them a bit taller.



Like these. I just finally finished these this past week. I started them as travelling socks, good for plane and car trips, but eventually I just wanted to finish them so I could wear them.

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's Basic Sock Recipe, from Knitting Rules
Yarn: Trekking XXL, colorway 140? 104? it's blue
Details: roughly 1.5 inches of ribbing, an eye of partridge heel

I've moved on to taller socks as time has passed, although I liked my anklets. I've also discovered some neat knitting things on the web, like swaps.



This is what my awesome Hogwarts Sock Swap pal sent me - lovely socks, awesome sock needles, lavender soaps and a candle, a bit of Eucalan for washing woolens, stitch markers, and a dpn holder for keeping my projects together in my backpack. I was sorted into ravenclaw for this swap. Man what fun that was! They're going to have another swap (part II) and sign ups open July 14th. I can't wait to do it again. It's pretty nerdy - but then again, so am I.

I think I've come a long way in a year, and I look forward to seeing where I go from here.

When you're not looking . . .

We had supper at Mom's last night, because my aunt and uncle and cousins were in town. Great stories were told, and good times were had by all.

Anyway, I had a chance to step out into the garden while there the sun was still up, and wow, it had been busy while I was gone. Seriously. We found a tomato nearly the size of two fists, that we hadn't noticed at all before. I had to snap off the ends of the bean vines and some of the tomatoes, because if they kept growing they'd be too big for their supports. Sadly we also have one tomato plant that seems to be dying a slow death, but I'm hopeful to get a couple of tomatoes off of it before it goes. And the squash plants are getting huge; they may flower soon. The cucumbers are flowering already, and the beans shouldn't be far behind. It's exciting.

What's been going on . . .

So, I was hoping to be bubbling over with great news that we've both got new jobs and all is well, but that's not quite true.

I have a new job. I start the 10th of July at WAVY, which is our NBC affiliate, as a Full time (yay) Master Control Operator (also yay). For starters, it's a step closer to engineering, which makes it more fun for me, and it's 4 days a week, and likely, once I'm done training, it's the same 4 days every week. I might just have a regular schedule soon, it's exciting.

The boy on the other hand, hasn't yet secured a new job. He has applied with both UPS and FEDEX, and we're hopeful he'll get a job with one of the two. He's also applied at a Marina, and a bunch of other places that I don't know what they are. He's getting a might disappointed at this point, but he's still hopeful. I would just be nice for someone to hire him in the next week or two.

Anyway, that's where we are. More updates soon, I hope.

Swallowtail Shawl

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl, Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Merino Fingering Weight, dyed by me with Jaquard dyes
Mods: Added two repeats of the first lace pattern, which resulted in four extra stitches that I had to distribute into the pattern.




I think it turned out pretty. Still too girly for me, but thankfully it's not for me. And for the record, the purl 5 togethers are a pain in the butt when you knit tightly like I do.



In other news, I reskeined some yarn I dyed a while back - and now I like it! Ok, backstory - I dyed up two skeins of DK weight merino trying to achieve a colorway that reminded me of pansies, and as of yet I still haven't achieved this. In their original hanks with big chunks of color, I didn't like how these had turned out at all, but now that I've seen the colors blending together, I've got some hope for my skills with dye. And for the record, the first skein's color is a bit more accurate, though a bit darker in the picture - the second one is a little washed out in the photo.

Bad Blogger . . . No Cookie!!

I have gotten an invitation to join the group of beta testers over at Ravelry. I'm very excited about this new resource. If you knit or crochet, and haven't heard of it - go check it out.

Anyway, in the process of setting up my little space on the site, I noticed that I had completed a project, and halfway completed another without taking any pictures of them! For shame! I am now in the process of rectifying that problem.

I've also noticed a habit developing in my posts, wherein I take pictures of garden progress and then allow them to ferment for two weeks or more before sharing them. So, I'd like to note that I took most of these pictures yesterday. It's getting pretty exciting in the rabbit prison.



The tomatoes are getting out of hand, at least as far as green and leafy stuff goes. They're getting a bit thick!


Just for comparison, the picture above was from yesterday, and the picture below is from the weekend after mother's day, when we planted the seedlings. It hasn't really been all that long, only 5 weeks. What you don't see is that there are a lot more weeds in the bed now, but I've relaxed a bit in my weeding, as the tomatoes are shading the soil so much that the weeds seem to be struggling. I just hope the basil, thyme and nasturtiums that I planted amongst the tomatoes and peppers will get enough sun.


There are blossoms all over the place. It seems I'm picking off extra blossoms more often than I'm picking off suckers!


My first Zebra tomatoes are showing their stripes. I had assumed that the stripes wouldn't come in until the fruit was ripe, but aparently I'll need a new way to determine ripeness.


And if ever there was a happy plant, it would be my italian sweet pepper. So far we have 7 decent sized peppers, and they're not done growing yet. When they're ready, they'll be red. No red yet, still time to grow!

A Quick Update

It is officially "Get A Job" week here in the apartment. The boy lost his job Monday, and has been searching for something since then. Things have gotten decidedly nutty at the station, so I've applied for a position elsewhere - which surprisingly enough, is full time, with regular hours - and I should know Tuesday if they'll hire me.

Prayers and crossed fingers are appreciated. Life's an adventure, ain't it?

So, about that garden update . . .

Once again, I'm behind, and these pictures are a little old . . . but it's progress.


The bed is shaping up nicely. The tomatoes are filling out; the beans, cucumbers, and squash have sprouted and are coming up nicely. The viney plants will be growing on those three tee-pee's in the back.


This one has two different kinds of cucumbers on it, though they're both supposed to be smallish green pickling cukes.


The green zebra tomato won the race for who was going to set fruit first, and when I checked them this morning, they were starting to show the telltale stripes.


I'm really hoping I've done better by the paste tomatoes this year. Last year they were planted in a spot that got too much shade, and they never really recovered. I really want to can or freeze as many of these as possible for use over the winter.


This is my little herb box. I wanted to get the herbs up higher, both for easier picking and for increased drainage. I've got rosemary, thyme, chamomile, two kinds of parsely, chives, and lavender. I transplanted the lavender from the window box I had at the apartment. It just wasn't happy there - it was getting swamped too often with winter and spring rains. I hope it likes it better in the bed.


But as you can see it bloomed despite the less than ideal conditions. I'm excited to see what the two varieties I have will do if I can get the conditions the way they'd like them. We'll just have to see I guess.

Seriously

Tell me, oh great blog-o-sphere, what it takes to find a good job.

I'm a 25 (and a half) year old, college graduate with a degree in Media Communications from a school that though smaller than my high school sends students regularly to work for the Olympic Broadcast and ESPN - while they're still in college. I am a hard worker, reliable, honest, and eager to learn new skills. I'll admit I'm highly introverted, and I have a hard time understanding, much less maneuvering the chess game that is "corporate" operations. I'll also admit that I don't think myself much of a writer; however, I am a damn good speller and a bit of a grammar nerd. My current boss seems fairly fond of me . . .

I'm familiar with both Mac and PC platforms, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, ProTools, many DV format cameras, both live and recorded sound production. I could be up to speed on Avid editing very quickly, as well as linear editing. I'm good with a hammer, saw, and paintbrush. I've stage/floor managed television and theatre. I spent four years of college doing theatrical lighting. I actually like soldering cable ends. I'm not supposed to admit to that. I've done field audio work for the Olympic Broadcasting company - and I never even got yelled at.

Why on earth can't I land a full time job???

All I'm asking for is 40 hours a week - and a few more here and there are no big deal - preferably the same 40 hours each week, or at least a relatively predictable schedule, benefits, and a pay rate that acknowledges the fact that I have a college education in my field. It would also be nice if said job made it possible, mostly in terms of scheduling and time, for us to start a family . . . but that's just gravy. Oh, and I would like to achieve said position based solely on my merits and accomplishments, and not on my ability to sweet talk, as I have no such ability.

Meanwhile, I work 40+ hours a week, and this is a vast improvement over when I was only working 25-30, but I'm still technically part time. This week is 52 hours, I believe, or was that last week? They're all starting to blend together. Being still part time, my pay has not changed, and there are no benefits. I never know what my schedule looks like more than a week or two in advance, and my hours vary widely from day to day. And while I knew that this would basically be the case even before I arrived, I'm fairly tired of working in a department that is treated daily like the bastard step child of the building. I should mention, I've been where I am for a year and a half now.

Now, I realize that a large part of my current status is my own fault, as I have made some bad decisions, mostly out of naivete. But to some extent, I'm caught in the classic catch twenty two - everyone wants experience, but you can't get experience without first getting a job. I'm horrible with networking, and schmoozing just makes me feel dirty.

I'm fairly certain that a job that suits me is out there - and that I would suit it quite well - I just don't know where to look.

**as a side note, a large part of this rant stems from the fact that we have a new guy starting at the station. Well, he's only semi new - he used to work there a long time ago. He's since worked in NY and a couple other places. And the basic impression I've gotten from talking to him is that I could go anywhere else, have a far more pleasant and slightly less stressful job, get paid a lot more, and probably work less. Problem is I can't move, at least for now.

Ok, rant over . . . garden update soon, I promise!

He's gone Xanga

The Boy has started his own xanga - Misplaced_Hoosier when you get a free minute, go check it out. I think he's going to post mostly pictures . . . so far so good.

The answers

1. "Under a lover's sky, gonna be with you and no one's gonna be around. . ."
(Can't Fight the Moonlight, Leanne Rimes) Galen who even knew the soundtrack it was from

2. "Time to let the rain fall, without the help of man, time to let the trees grow tall, now if they only can . . ."
(Ally Ally Oxen Free, Kingston Trio)

3. "She's got a way about her, don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without her . . ."
(She's Got a Way, Billy Joel) Stephanie

4. "Pages filled with a holy message, sealed with kiss from heaven on a scroll long ago . . ."
(Red Letters, DC Talk)Galen

5. "I will never underestimate what can be done, don't be fooled, someone is listenin' or watchin'"
(Mind What You Say, Buppy)

6. "She was walkin' in the garden one day, when a snake slipped around her feet . . ."
(The Devil is Bad, The W's) Beth

7. "Pardon me, your epidermis is showing sir, I couldn't help but notice . . ."
(Color People, DC Talk) Kari

8. "Strangely out of place, and there's a light filling this room where none would follow before . . . "
(I Need You, Jars of Clay)

9. "Yesterday, all my troubles seems so far away . . ."
(Yesterday, The Beatles) Beth

10. "This a song for the brokenhearted, a silent prayer for a faith departed . . ."
(It's My Life, Bon Jovi) Kari

11. "A lonely child, alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son, his hands were made for different work, and his heart was known to none . . ."
(The Leader of the Band, Dan Fogelberg)

12. "You can play the game, and you can act out the part, but you know it wasn't written for you . . ." (Shower the People, James Taylor) Stephanie

13. "I was sittin', waitin', wishin' you believed in superstitions, then maybe you'd see the signs . . ."
(Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, Jack Johnson)Galen

14. "All our tears have reached the sea, part of you will live in me, way down deep inside my heart . . ."
(Please Remember Me, Tim McGraw)

15. "The Jordan was waiting for me to cross through, my heart is aging I can tell . . ."
(Elijah, Rich Mullins)

16. "I met a guy on a red eye, he spotted my guitar and said 'What do you do?' . . ."
(Songs About Me, Trace Adkins) Curly

17. "Let me be for I am now free and I can feel so let the children be born . . ."
(Broken, 3rd Root)

18. "This thing called love, I just can't handle it . . ."
(Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen) Beth

19. "It's a saturday afternoon romance between a cowboy and a full moon . . ."
(Cowboy Romance, Natalie Merchant)

20. "I'm strange, and you're strange, don't want you to change, no way . . ."
(You're So True, Joseph Arthur) Ben

Way to go kids! This was really fun!

I totally stole this

from Ben.

It's a game, the rules of which are pretty simple. I have let iTunes play through my entire collection of music at random. I have listed the first lines of 20 songs (a test of my transcription ability). I skipped any tracks that weren't in English, and any from Carbon Leaf, since I'm usually the only one who knows those. Your job is to guess the artist and song title of each one. As you get them correct, I'll cross them off. And since this is going on both blogs, I'll post the correct answers after 48 hours or so along with credit for any correct answers. In the mean time I may post any humorous guesses I receive.

Now, googling the lyrics is definitely illegal, but searching through your own iTunes or CD collection is acceptable (as it "hey, that's a John Denver song, I just don't know which one), though deeply frowned upon. Making guesses when you don't know is also acceptable, since that makes it more fun.

Here goes . . .

1. "Under a lover's sky, gonna be with you and no one's gonna be around. . ."

2. "Time to let the rain fall, without the help of man, time to let the trees grow tall, now if they only can . . ."

3. "She's got a way about her, don't know what it is, but I know that I can't live without her . . ."

4. "Pages filled with a holy message, sealed with kiss from heaven on a scroll long ago . . ."

5. "I will never underestimate what can be done, don't be fooled, someone is listenin' or watchin'"

6. "She was walkin' in the garden one day, when a snake slipped around her feet . . ."

7. "Pardon me, your epidermis is showing sir, I couldn't help but notice . . ."

8. "Strangely out of place, and there's a light filling this room where none would follow before . . . "

9. "Yesterday, all my troubles seems so far away . . ."

10. "It's a song for the brokenhearted, a silent prayer for a faith departed . . ."

11. "A lonely child, alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son, his hands were made for different work, and his heart was known to none . . ."

12. "You can play the game, and you can act out the part, but you know it wasn't written for you . . ."

13. "I was sittin', waitin', wishin' you believed in superstitions, then maybe you'd see the signs . . ."

14. "All our tears have reached the sea, part of you will live in me, way down deep inside my heart . . ."

15. "The Jordan was waiting for me to cross through, my heart is aging I can tell . . ."

16. "I met a guy on a red eye, he spotted my guitar and said 'What do you do?' . . ."

17. "Let me be for I am now free and I can feel so let the children be born . . ."

18. "This thing called love, I just can't handle it . . ."

19. "It's a saturday afternoon romance between a cowboy and a full moon . . ."

20. "I'm strange, and you're strange, don't want you to change, no way . . ."

** just a note, I let iTunes keep playing while I edited and formatted the post . . . and it played a lot of my "better" music . . . oh well!

** also, the reference from the last post - "You spin me right round baby, right round, like a record baby, right round, round, round." [/BIG DORK MOMENT]

Crazy 80's music and stuff . . .

Allow me to properly introduce my little friend, he's from Maryland. He needs a name, any ideas??



And this is the booty from that trip - 80/20 Alpaca silk. It's so soft, and since I think it's sliver (or combed top) it spins up into nice smooth thin singles.



Thus far I think I've spun up about 1/3 an ounce of the 4 ounces that came in the bag. I'm kicking myself for not getting two bags, as I'm trying to spin this up as lace/fingering weight to knit myself a scarf/shawl for Spun Stitches (check out the link on the left towards the bottom of the page, we may be insane, but we're all insane together!)



See? A happy little football of yarn-to-be. I hope I like the final product, but if it turns out too girly . . . I think I know where it needs to go.

** points to anyone who names the reference in my title.

JMU Socks . . . for lil' sis

Here they are, in all their glory (wet and on sock blockers) . . .



I'm definitely in love with this pattern: it's quick, it's simple, the combinations are endless, and it makes for comfy socks.

I think the heels turn out kinda cool - see?




Since I figured these guys out from a looking at them on Eunny Jang's blog . . . I'll share what I know.

Most basically:
Using your favorite toe construction method, make a toe in color 1 for a 64(68,72, however many stitches fit your foot) stitch sock. Work 4 rows in color 2. Continue up foot changing colors every 4 rows.

Do not break yarn in between stripes, just carry the strand up the inside of the sock, the stripes are narrow enough that this shouldn't be a problem. Use a jogless striping method if you like (I used this one - the first one on the page).

When the foot is long enough (in my case, after nine stripes of color 2) make a heel of your choice (I did short row). Work the same number of stripes - or more if you like - up the leg. Work at least 7 rows of 1x1 rib and bind off loosely.

Repeat for sock #2, reversing the colors if you like.

Two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport works great for these. For JMU colors I used Sunshine and Blackberry. Asbury colors would be Blackberry and Natural. Louet Gems Sport would also work well.