I can't believe I did it again...

I had to rip out the Botticelli sweater again.

This time it was my fault - I was cruising along on it and didn't notice that at 31 cm I was supposed to start the armholes. So I got almost to the top of the intarsia section before I thought, maybe I should see what I'm going to be doing next.



See the pink pin? That's where 31 cm is. Compare to how far I have gotten. <sigh>

Before I got very far with the ripping out, I put in a lifeline by running a piece of yarn through the stitches across at that point. I had to take out my contact lenses because I can't see that close up anymore with them in. :(



Some time later - I'm not sure how long it took - I ripped it all the way down to the lifeline. I got the lifeline right, mostly, except for a bit in the middle where it was hard to tell what stitch was next to which. Then I got the pattern back out and had to figure out which row I was back to. Then I made sure, stitch by stitch, all the stitches on my needle were from the same row.



As you can see, I'm back almost to where I was when I last posted, seven weeks ago. See the big pile in the upper right corner of the yarn I pulled out? Grrrr. I guess that will teach me to read the damned instructions once in a while while I work.
 

Progress on Botticelli

I posted a few weeks ago about finding out from a fellow Raveler that I was using an erroneous chart for the Botticelli sweater from the latest Rowan magazine. I have to reiterate that for the money they charge - both for the yarn and for the patterns - they really should get their books right on the first go. It took a lot of the fun out of the project to have to rip out all the intarsia work I'd done up to that point, and I was close to just scrapping the thing altogether. It's a lovely sweater, though, so I have persisted a row or two at a time while watching TV. I'm finally back to where I was, in fact I might be a bit further along than I was, when I had to rip out. So here's a shot of the thing's progress so far. This is the back.



Also of interest to intarsia knitters may be the simple tool I broke down and made out of half of a 3x5 index card (cut lengthways) with holes punched along one side and labeled A-H (and the corresponding symbols in the chart) with lengths of each yarn drawn through the holes. I got tired of juggling the balls of yarn, which I wrote the letters on, to figure out what a square with a small dot in it was as opposed to a square with a large dot in it, etc. This has already proven quite helpful and I recommend it if you have more than a few colors to keep track of.



You can also see that I use a post-it note and cover up rows as I go along. Honestly, I really find intarsia to be much more work than I enjoy in my knitting. You have to pay too much attention for it to be especially meditative or soothing.
 

President-Elect Obama!

I am, of course, very gratified that the candidate I voted for was elected President yesterday. We watched the returns come in and the speeches at the end of the night. I was struck by how gracious Senator McCain was, how carefully the camera avoided Governor Palin until cued in Sen. McCain's speech, and how much humility and grace President-elect Obama displayed. It was deeply satisfying, not least because after the past 8 years I've become afraid to hope. To say I was "relieved" is not exactly right - since it suggests fears of riots or whatever if the outcome wasn't the way it was; I know there were people who darkly prophesied those things if Obama lost, but I wasn't thinking about that. I don't know the word for when your hopes come true when you have seen them dashed in the past and are afraid to hope again, so I guess "relieved" will have to do.

I gave some money (small amounts a few different times) to the Obama campaign, so I have gotten a lot of emails from them over the past few weeks, not surprisingly. But I was delighted to receive this, sent late last night:

Barclay --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...
All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,
Barack

I think this was incredibly gracious and humble. A thank-you note for helping him get elected!

I certainly do hope that we will see improvements in the economy, in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, etc. in the next few years. I liked that Obama stayed sober in his speech, focused on the hard work to come and emphasized that things will take a while to turn around. I liked that he used the words "service" and "sacrifice"; I think that Americans as a whole don't like to live within their means and tighten their belts and hunker down, but we can do it if we know we must.

I love that we elected a smart, educated, erudite person as president; I love that the prevailing climate of denigrating intelligence and education will be swept out in the next few months. I am looking forward to a president who requires great things of people - blacks, whites, reds, blues.
 

Halloween costumes 2008

First, Adam made the supreme sacrifice for his costume of shaving off his facial hair! Here's before:



and here's after (he looks like a different person!):



Now, here's the object of all that work - Archie Bunker:



And his faithful Edith:



Wigs are incredibly uncomfortable - hot and itchy - and they always feel like they are gradually coming off your head.
 

Wedding News - We Have a Venue and Date!

The date is November 13, 2009!!! and the venue is ...



We're super excited about this place, which has terrific food and is gorgeous, old, historic, and grand. It should be a wonderful place to get married, and we expect our friends and family all to have a terrific time at the celebration.

You can also check our wedding website for news and (for those working on the wedding) planning tools. I'm also working on setting up online RSVP, which should be online by the time it's needed (which is not until, like, next year some time anyway).
 

In His Own Words

Source
 

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

“The Vet Who Did Not Vet”
Source: Peltzmaniac at Open Salon
Words: Adam Peltzman
Pictures: Dave Palmer
Narration: Steve Burns
Music & Sound: Nick Balaban, Nathaniel Reichman, Larry Wineland
Editing: David Bouffard
 

Treasury West on Etsy

I was included again in a treasury on etsy:



It's another great treasury by washmycloth. Check it, and her shop, out!
 

Halloween decorating and a wedding venue visit

I dragged out the Halloween stuff I bought last year and put it up, bought a couple more pieces, and got the house all deckyrated for Halloween. Here are some pics:



My favorite method of compositizing a bunch of pics together, of the front of the house, above. I'd like to draw your attention to the newest additions, the two skeletons who are trying to climb up the house:



Also worthy of focus are Adam's pirate flag:



The growing collection of lifelike carrion birds:



Davy Jones trying to climb the side of the front step:



The unwelcome mat...



And the grim wreath. (I'm torturing the English language trying to get "grim wreath" to "grim reaper," but can't quite make it.)



* * * * *
In other news, Adam and I went up this afternoon to Castle on the Hudson, in Tarrytown/Westchester, for a tour of the place (a possible wedding site) and lunch. Adam postulates that any chef will bring his best work to his regular restaurant and will have to dial down quality when he is cooking for 85, but I'd take this guy's B (or even C) game for my wedding, that's for sure. Lunch was fantastic. The place is gorgeous and very castle-y and I know we'd have a wonderful event there. I don't even want to look anywhere else - though we have a lot more research to do, and a few more site visits, before we make a final decision.
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ADAM!!!

My baby's all growsed up! He's all growsed up and he's all growsed up!

Love you sweets.
 

Adam's mom's memorial service

This weekend we had the memorial service for Adam's mother, Jane Gugliciello. Adam's aunt Cathy brought a lot of pictures to share with everybody, and I scanned them in for people to download if they like, and put them up in my Flickr photostream, here.

Adam's and my friends from the city came out for the funeral - thanks so much to Pete and Jenny, Audrey C., Tom and Renee, and Kelly and Holly. It touched me so much to see them all coming in to the church, that they showed up to show him support. Spencer and Anna sent flowers, because they had stuff going on this weekend they couldn't get away from to be there in person. Adam's got so much love surrounding him and it made me happy and also brought more than one tear to my eye. They are wonderful friends and we're lucky to know them.

My family (my parents and sibs and sibs-in-law) also sent flowers, which I thought was really sweet; Adam's sister Tammy told me it made her feel very supported.
 

The Cruise in pictures and journal entries

I finally put up pics and scans of my journal pages from the cruise! Here are links to each of the day's entries:

Day 1: Embarkation
Day 2: Turbulence Tuesday
Day 3: Wednesday, clear sailing (ENGAGEMENT DAY)

Day 4: Y.A.T.D.A.S.*
Day 5: St. Thomas, USVI
Day 6: Tortola stopover
Day 7: Long (homeward) day at sea
Day 8: Bored at sea and ready to go home

I also put up lots more pictures in my Flickr photostream on the subject, here.
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Hey Rowan, try a little pre-publication fact checking whydontcha

I got a note from somebody on Ravelry telling me the flowers are upside down in my Rowan sweater. It's not my fault - apparently Rowan has now posted a pattern correction on their website and the whole chart is wrong. For those lucky enough not to have already gotten more than halfway through the back before discovering this, here's the link:

Errata sheet

I don't know if I can muster the give-a-damn to start over, honestly. What a pain in the neck!
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A whole lotta shakin' goin' on

I haven't posted because I've been on vacation - and I will post pics and journal entries soon, I promise - but, as I ride the bus into the city, here's a brief summary of recent events:

* Adam and I went on a cruise to nowhere (sort of), but it was fun;

* Adam and I got engaged;

* Adam's mom died.

If that's not enough for one fortnight, I don't know what is.

More info to come!

Love,
Baba

Cruise: Day 8: Bored at sea and ready to go home

Cruise: Day 7: Long (homeward) day at sea

Cruise: Day 6: Tortola stopover

Cruise: Day 5: St. Thomas, USVI

Cruise: Day 4: Y.A.T.D.A.S.*

Cruise: Day 3: Wednesday, clear sailing!

Cruise: Day 2: Turbulence Tuesday

Cruise: Day 1: Embarkation

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