finally, a restful weekend

Ahh.

Happy birthday, Mom! Happy Pride, everyone! Happy 4th of July!

1. My mom turns 65 this year. My sister wanted to get everyone together down in Florida for a celebration, but my travel schedule for work didn't really allow it. So we got together and bought her a three day cruise to Nassau and back. My sister will stay at home with Mom's husband, George, who is frail and house-bound, and not able to travel any longer (he's 20 yrs older than my mom), and my brother and I are flying in and taking my mom on the cruise. She's really excited about it. Me, not so much. I'm pretty against cruising and the environmental impact the boats have, and the culture of sun-worship and consumerism they engender--they're like the worst of America, inflicted on other cultures. But I'm going on this one, and I have to try to keep all of this to myself, so that my mom can enjoy herself. I have to say, it's going to be pretty heroic if I can manage it. We're all sharing one room, and both my brother and my mom have the ability to drive me absolutely crazy like no one else. Enough said. I leave for Florida on Wednesday evening, and I'm coming back on Sunday. Just a short trip, thank god.

2. My final work trip for this summer just wrapped up: ALA, the American Library Association's annual conference in Anaheim, CA. I don't normally go to that event, as I'm not a librarian, nor do I interact with them much, but I was invited to do a panel on feminist publishing, so I decided to go to as many of the other panels as I could while I was there.

I also got to see my brother, since he lives in Los Angeles. We took a day and went to Knott's Berry Farm and also saw Wanted, which was pretty great on the big screen, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the very flimsy plot. It was a great way of spending a summer afternoon, that's for sure.




I am kind of bummed that I missed Pride in NYC though. Everyone has events or parties, and there's always the March. We've gone less and less over the years, but I do enjoy the atmosphere around the city during Pride.

3. The fourth of July weekend was just what I needed to recover from the red-eye I took back from California. I got into Newark airport at 5:30 last Tuesday morning, and I've been trying to recover my equilibrium since then.



My friend Travis, who is, interestingly enough, a librarian, was here for a visit. I got to talk over the ALA with him (he didn't go), and we went out to eat a lot, and generally just caught up. He's very special to me, and I'm glad we get to see him every once in a while.

4. On the knitting front, I've been busting through the projects. I finished the Jyri scarf, from Nora Gaughan's volume 1 book on the plane out to Anaheim, so was able to start the deep breath sweater from Webs, with their Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca-Silk while I was there, and on the way back. I'm just now starting the second sleeve. I wonder if I'll be done with it by the time I get back from the cruise...



The deep breath sweater is one of the last few projects I have left over from the FIRE element from Project Spectrum. There is just one more sweater left and a pair of socks, which I'll probably never finish. After these projects, I'll finally get to move on to EARTH, although you could say that the Jyri scarf, with its luscious green Mission Falls 1824 merino, was an early shoot, pushing its way forth.



Pattern: Jyri Scarf, Nora Gaughan, volume 1, Urban Layers
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Merino, 4 skeins (I bought five, but only needed four...)
Needles: 32" US 9
Notes: I really didn't like knitting the scarf sideways, although the long rows did make for good airplane knitting, because there was less turning of the work. The pattern was pretty easy also, as long as you didn't lose count, which I tended to do, since I would zone out during the long row, and forget by the end of it which one I was on. It's lovely though, and I haven't even blocked it. I don't think I'm going to. I like it the way it is, all bumpy and curling. I think the curl brings out the bumps a little bit more. This will definitely be well-used come this fall!