To gusset or not to gusset

     I'm cranking along with my mitts and loving them, then I get to the thumbs. The pattern states that it calls for a peasant thumb, which I didn't give much thought to, just "whatever, I'll follow the pattern". It turns out though that a peasant thumb has no gusset. I've only made 2 pair of gloves and both have had the gusset, so I don't know how I feel about this. Ordinarily it wouldn't be a problem to get one from another pattern, but these are top down and so it makes things more complicated. The other confusing thing was the instructions for putting in the waste yarn for the thumb. It took me quite a bit of Googling before realizing that you had to knit the stitches on waste yarn, then put those stitches back on the left needle and knit them again. That part was omitted. I decided that I'm going to do a few rows, then put the thumb in and see if I like it. Otherwise it's back to the internets to try and put a gusset in going the wrong way. I found a site called Knit Freedom with Liat which has great tutorials, including breaking down the different types of thumbs.

     It was another sick day around here, but I did force myself to get out and take a walk. I went down to Main St. in Santa Monica to the Muji store. I first went into one of these in JFK airport with my son and we were smitten - adorable Japanese office supplies! Well, we were walking in our own neighborhood and, lo and behold, there's an enormous Muji there I never knew about. It's amazing what you find when you walk around, and new stuff is opening around here all the time so I don't always notice it. The have all kinds of stuff in this store and my husband noticed me oogling over the aroma diffusers, so he ended up getting me one for Christmas. It's the big one though, so I went over to see if maybe I should trade it in for a smaller one. I studied aromatherapy in massage school and have a pretty good collection, and these diffusers are great, super quiet and have LED lights.

     Other than that I got nothing done today besides one load of laundry, making a rather strange Hungarian dish called balushka, and watching a mini Revenge marathon - my last guilty network TV pleasure.

On my way...

     Everyone's been sick around here for a few days. My husband works in the ER and is usually immune to everything and so are we, but he managed to bring home a bug and we all got it. Between taking care of a sick kid, I've been trying to solve the puzzle of the Gathering of the Clouds that I've been having. It turns out that the version I was doing with all knit stitches was curling too much, so I decided to try it as written in the pattern, with purl rows on either side of the eyelets. This was very pretty, but much too large compared to the stockinette section. I looked around Ravelry for the second or third time trying to find another pattern, but nothing was clicking. I really wanted to let the colors shine and didn't want anything too textured. I also liked the idea of top down, because then I could use every bit of the yarn. I was tempted to just change to a ribbed edge, but that would take away the defining feature of the pattern. I finally decided that I would cast on 52 stitches instead of 58, then increase 6 stitches evenly on the first row of stockinette. Success!  I really think that this is going to work. I'm looking forward to watching the colors transform on these mitts. So far the fabric is gorgeous, and the plied yarn has held up beautifully after being worked over several times.

     The other day I as listening to my favorite podcast 2 Knit Lit Chicks. Not just my favorite knitting podcast, but favorite of all podcasts. Episode 84 was their year in review. Hearing what they've managed to accomplish in both knit and lit over the last year is beyond belief. It adds up to about 1.5 projects and 1.5 books per week. Some of these projects are sweaters and shawls! I am just in awe. Total fangirl. Personally, I'm a slow reader and an even slower knitter. Not that I do these things slowly but I just don't spend that many hours doing them. I've always been a little antsy and hyperkinetic and my body starts to feel weird if I don't move often. This means I spend a lot more time obsessing over yarn and books that actually being able to use them. So I'm giving a shout-out to the super inspiring chicks. My current knitting project Hitofude and current book Apple Tree Yard are straight out of their podcast.

     While our TV still is not repaired, our repairman did give us a loaner, so we're back in business trying to clear out the build-up on the DVR. Last night we watched the season premiere of The Americans. This was one of our favorite shows of last year. Great performances, production design, music, and eerily relevant to current issues. It's also got a strong nostalgia element for those of us who remember this time and what was going on. I'm also loving the final season of Cougar Town, which has moved to TBS. This is a show that has really flown under the radar because of it's terrible name (which they're always making self-depricating reference to) and silly initial premise, but quickly became a charming and warm family/friend comedy. I'm glad to see that they'll be able to get to 100 episodes and go into syndication.

Decisions, decisions

     Last night I cast on the Gathering of Clouds mitts. Since I’m working with a gradient, I had to decide whether I wanted the darker color on the wrist or the hand. At first I thought it was a no-brainer to have the darker color on the wrist, but after looking around at various projects, the reverse is pretty cool looking, so I decided to go that way. These mitts are unusual because they start at the hand and move to the wrist. I was a little concerned that the purled edge would be a little too bulky but liked the eyelets, so just knit those rows instead of purling.

Knitted rows on either side of eyelets

Eyelets with purl ridges

The problem that came up was curling, which I didn’t think would be a problem because of the eyelets. I’m not sure if this would happen if I was knitting in the other direction or if it will block out. I’ll keep going for a little while and see how it looks. A curling edge on mitts would be pretty annoying and the gauge is so fine that maybe the purl ridges wouldn’t be that bad. The other problem I seem to be having is fit. I got stitch gauge perfectly (there was no row gauge) at 8st/in. Trying it on though, it feels very roomy, and I have huge hands. This might be another thing that I have to work more to see for sure. I’m knitting these on a US 1, but did a long-tail cast on with a 2 to give a little more stretch. It seems like getting going with a project is never easy because of all the decisions you have to make. The more I learn, the more perfectionist I get about all the little details.

     

     Today my son got his music in the mail from LA Opera for their Community Opera Program, which brings together student and adult performers from the community with professionals from the opera for free performances at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown LA. Performances will be March 6 and 7. The production is Noah’s Flood and he plays violin. It will be conducted by their music director James Conlon, so I’m sure it will be an inspiring experience. We’ll also get to check an LA landmark off our list. The cathedral has only been open since 2002 and has a striking, post-modernist design. Look at this interior

I’m usually pretty old-school when it comes to churches, but this is amazing. It reminds me of the Scandinavian design you sometimes find in Lutheran churches. I especially love the lighting. Speaking of the LA Opera, this is a world class experience in the gorgeous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We went there a few years ago and saw Tosca, conducted by Placido Domingo. The productions have supertitles in English which brings your appreciation to a whole new level. One of the great joys of living in LA is being able to enjoy a rather laid-back lifestyle and enjoy culture that rivals almost any city in the world. 

     I received an email yesterday from a place called Unplug Meditation in West LA, which was offering a 3 week series for children led by a UCLA Mindfulness facilitator. I had never heard of them before but the concept sounds intriguing. It’s a drop-in meditation studio, much like a yoga studio, and they have several different classes which they’ve developed which run either 30 or 45 minutes. I know there are many benefits to meditation, but as I’ve mentioned before have struggled with being able to clear my mind. These classes are guided, which is a big help when meditation feels like facing an empty page. There is an introductory offer of $40 for your first class/one month unlimited. 

Gorgeous gradients!

     Today I received my yarn from the Vivid Fiber Arts testing pool on Ravelry. Amy is an indie dyer specializing in gradients and has put together a group of testers for her various colorways. I am in Group 3, round 2, and we are doing fingerless mitts.

    



































This yarn is called Gemini XL MCN, which is fingering weight, 80% SW Merino/10% Cashmere/10% Nylon, approx 33g/145y/133m. I was one of the lucky few who were sent the yarn free of charge, so I really have to do this project justice. I'm going to be doing Gathering of the Clouds by Christina Cartwright. It's a simple, elegant design that I think will show off the yarn beautifully. I found another edging stitch that I prefer so I'll be using that instead. This is my first experience with test knitting and also with using gradients, so it should be a fun fibery adventure. 

     The other adventure I embarked on recently was to sign up for the tech editing course at Joeli's Kitchen. I read through the course materials, but then the holidays happened and I put it aside. She is an experienced tech editor and offers an online course with optional email support. It's one of those things that I think I'd be good at because I'm mathematically inclined, have done lots of copy editing, proofreading and page layouts, and am all-out grammar nazi. She only offers it every so often, so if it's something you're interested in you can get on her email list.

     On the media side of things, there is something going on that just might be the death of print magazines. Have you heard of Zinio? It's a site and app where you can download magazines to your devices. Here's the thing - if you have a library card, you can do it for free. We are talking about Interweave Knits, Knitscene, Interweave Crochet. Cloth Paper Scissors, tons of jewelry and quilting  magazines, and so many others. I use the LA Public Library, and as far as I can tell, once you download them, they're on there for good. Another way to clear out the clutter in your life.

Arts & Crafts

     Tonight my son and I went to the opening of City, a solo exhibition by my college friend Ed Burgess, or "Edsy" at Stone Malone Gallery on Melrose, running until February 5.

     This collection was mainly of his cityscapes. This is the one that my son picked out. It's painted on a small piece of wood

     I liked that he chose this word among all the others. Ed explained to him that it's the most important word in improv, and I would say in life as well. I got to see Ed's studio a few months ago and it was very inspiring. He works a lot in mixed media which I'm obsessed with. You can see more of his work at Pastey Whyte on Instagram.

     Ed invited my son, an aspiring cartoonist, to come visit some time. I know I'm biased but I think his art has a wickedly unique perspective. Here's one he did on vacation. 

Indeed

     On the crafty side, while he was in ballet I made use of my Craigslist app and hit a yard sale promising yarn. Nothing good in that area, but I did score a stack of mostly crochet magazines. I don't usually read any of these but they're fun to look through. 

     I had just enough time to go to the Copper Willow Paper Studio in Culver City that was having a relocating sale. They seem to do a lot of letterpress. I picked up a motley assortment of things as it was a "make an offer" kind of day. 

     I got the hemp cord because I used it for the Vogue Wrap Cuff #1 and it was very easy and cool looking.

     The scrapbook paper I collect but don't know why, because I think it will take a miracle to ever do any scrapbooking. I have several decades of pictures from traveling and living, plus my son's whole life, and I collect everything, all kinds of ephemera. Anyway, I still like to have it, and I was very excited by the Amy Butler, which I had never seen before. I'm very familiar with her fabrics as I spent weeks looking online for fabric for my aforementioned, still unmade bathroom curtains. I went with another brand, but I picked up a placemat kit of hers that I made for my mom for Mother's Day. It seems that I don't have any pictures of them but they turned out beautifully. I also got some of her fabric on sale when a local store was closing and used it to line my Market Tote with.

     Like all of her fabrics, it's gorgeous and brings a ray of sunshine into your life.

First theatre of the year

     Last night I went to see the opening night of the latest production at my old theatre company, City Garage

This was a really entertaining play with wonderful performances all around. I first joined the company in 1999 and did several productions with them before motherhood made long hours of rehearsals...tricky. I've stayed to close to the company though and try to see every production. They've always had a very particular style in terms of visuals and movement, and both were on display in extraordinary fashion in this piece. Like many of their productions, I predict it will be in for some critical love. Congrats to everyone involved.
     I had gotten to Bergamot Station early so that I could hang out and see some art at one of the many galleries there that always seems to be having an opening. To my surprise I couldn't find anything, though there is usually something on the schedule. This arts complex is in a state of transition, as half of it has been demolished in order to make room for the light rail line. I am all in favor of mass transit, but this is a really unique place and the future of it is in question. City Garage was pushed out of its long-time home, which was at one time an actual city garage located off the 3rd St. Promenade. I think it's some kind of storage facility now. Go figure. They then moved to a space at Track 16 gallery, which was among those demolished, then moved across the way. Track 16 has moved to Culver City. I still get emails from them, and am planning to go to one of their Tuesday night play readings starting February 17. The first one up is a comedy called The Latest Mrs. Schiller. Tickets are free and can be reserved on their site. I will try to bring them men with me but they will probably balk.
     Speaking of men, I noticed that my 12 year old son is so blithely unconcerned about what others think of him that he has no problem walking around town in full-on ballet tights, which he does because he's so typically male that he's too lazy to change into pants before and after class.

     On the crafty side of things, tomorrow starts spirit week over at the Craftsy blog.

It looks like a week of giveaways and such. You can subscribe receive notifications about entries each day. Lots of fun stuff over on the blog.

     In the spirit of this, I'd like to do my first giveaway! I have 3 skeins of lovely Manos burning hole in my stash. 

    It's Wool Classica in #37 brown. I've worked with Manos before and it's great, although I don't get to use a lot of these rustic wools in LA. If you'd like to win, please subscribe to my blog, follow me on Google+ or leave a comment to this post. The contest will close midnight PST on Jan. 31. Good luck!

Day blogging

     I missed posting last night for the first time this year. I thought it was time to change to day blogging for so many reasons. Writing at night about the day makes a lot of sense as long as you give yourself enough time to do it, which is not always the easiest thing to do. Today I think I'll post twice so that I end the year with 365 post. That's the goal anyway.
     My good friend Mary is always joking that I’m obsessed with kitchen gadgets. This is actually #54 in the list of Stuff White People Like, which is also a book. According to these very amusing lists, I am very, very white. So it would come as no surprise to her that my latest acquisition is the incredible Kitchenaid 5-Speed Hand Blender. My son’s fencing club is right near Bed, Bath & Beyond, so I take that opportunity to trade in gas considers on my Sodastream. This day, however, I was armed with abundant 20% off coupons and some gift cards I picked up at his school. I wanted to replace the hand blender from my bridal shower in 1997 that recently died, but I saw this and could not resist.

Here it is with my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, Cuisinart Food Processor (also from wedding), water boiler and Waring Pro Blender (she is not kidding). It can pretty much do everything, even crush ice. The problem, or course, is where to put all this stuff. At least now I’ll be able to do something with all the butternut squash in my fridge. Ordinarily I wouldn’t buy squash coinciding with the breakdown of all my blending appliances, but I get a farm box delivered every other week from Farm Fresh to You. The quality is really great and you can customize what comes in the box. The great thing is that it makes you eat more fruit & veg and forces you to be creative with it.
     Today I went down to Crafted at the Port of LA for the Restoration Hardware Warehouse Sale. Apparently this is a first of its kind. I’m a big fan of sample sales and there are no end to them here in LA. I get email blasts from Warehouse Weekends and Bargains LA. The stuff they had at Crafted was mainly furniture, which I wasn’t in the market for, but the rest of the sale was at their outlet store in Long Beach. I scored a set of 602 gram Turkish Cotton towels that I thought were a good bargain, but later realized they were another 40% off. I also got some sweet percale pillow cases. They had a ton of those super-luxe blankets for super cheap, but we already own a few of them. The sale is going on until this Sunday and I highly recommend it. If you go, you should really check out the Crafted part itself. If you haven’t been there it’s a handcrafted marketplace with individual vendors. It’s open Fri-Sun and usually has fun events, food trucks, and even The Yarn Over Truck visits from time to time.
     Over at the Australian my beloved Roger Federer lost in the 2nd round to Andreas Seppi. He was a few points away from taking the 4th set tie break, and I’m sure would have pulled out the match if he had. This was only the second time in more than a decade he’s been out of a slam so soon. I never count Roger out, but we never know how much more of him we’re going to get. We’re really going to try to see him live this year at Indian Wells for that reason.

Undying

     As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to start dying this year. My mom sent me this Jacquard dye kit from Knitpicks. As soon as Spring has sprung I'm going to try it in the backyard. In the meantime, however, I am more concerned with undying, my hair that is, because it's not working for me and it has me a little freaked out. For all my wild thing tendencies I'm actually on the conservative side when it comes to things like hair (natural looking) tattoos (none) and piercings (one in each ear). Having ruled out a drastic, do-it-yourself solution, I figure there has to be a way to tone this down. Sure enough, there's a whole Wikihow on how to fade hair dye. That means I have to go jump in the shower and start scrubbing while they dye is still fresh. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be looking more humanoid.
     I went to listen to Fiberhooligan, which of one of my favorite podcasts. I'm about 5 episodes behind and accidentally clicked on the latest one, only to hear that it's the final episode. I couldn't believe it. I haven't listened since the beginning but there's 70 episodes. Listening to Benjamin is like spending an hour with the nicest person you know. He has this very soothing, mid-west manner that really takes the edge off in LA traffic. I'm sure one I listen to these last episodes I'll find out the story, but it's one podcast I'll definitely miss.

Magenta

      I went to Toni & Guy today to get highlights and a cut. These are beauty academies across the US and there's one right here in Santa Monica. They offer incredible value, especially for someone like me with out-of-control curly/frizzy hair for whom haircuts are not really a thing. Color has become a thing for me, though. I am a redhead. All my life I've had wild, fiery hair. This informs so much of your life and personality, you'd have to be a redhead to really understand it. In the last few years, however, my hair has gotten darker, so much that it's hardly not red anymore. Until a few years ago I had never died my hair, except for one film role. I mean, why would I? But maybe 10 years ago I discovered highlights and really came to like them. Just some blondes and reds here and there to punch things up. So a few months ago I bought a Groupon for Toni & Guy. If was $75 for two highlight/cut services. Highlights themselves are usually about $100. I got the first one in October and it was great, really lightened things up. This time I was going for sort of the same thing, maybe even lighter. I showed my stylist a photo for the cut, but we ended up going for the color as well, which was kind of dark with bright highlights in the picture. If there's one thing I'm really not going towards it's artificial looking color, like magenta or burgundy, or blue. In my younger days I was definitely one of those gothy, combat boot types. I’ve been trying to purge myself of all that and move into a more sophisticated, elegant style. But here we are. This is nothing against my perfectly lovely and devoted stylist, who spent 6 hours with me. Just a lack of communication I guess. It really is pretty, I just don’t think I can pull it off. I'll have to see what my girlfriends think and take it from there.

     On a positive note, I was in the chair so long that I was able to finish Life After Life, and get well into Apple Tree Yard. Life After Life was a really confounding book for me on several levels. I wanted to read it because it was on so many best-of lists last year. It was on the top of many lists. When you keep seeing something being held up as the best fiction of the year, there has to be something to it, but I just did not get it. First and foremost, it did not bring the feels. I mean, no feels for me. I'm always ready, willing and able to get emotionally swept up in a book, movie, situation, anything really, and this book was about war, and death. Nothing. And it was pretty boring. There were no compelling characters, or situations, or surprises, or life lessons. I gave it 3 stars because the writing was lovely, and it was pleasant enough, but it was 529 pages. At that length you really need to be saying something, and packing an emotional wallop. I got through it because I didn't hate it, and I kept waiting for something to start happening. I was waiting up until the very end. I really don't know how to avoid this. I made this same mistake with two books I read recently, The Execution of Noah P. Singleton and Defending Jacob. I won't link to them because I don't want you to read them. They both got a lot of hype. The former was just bad and the latter was disturbing. I mostly get my book recommendations from reviews, podcasts, Amazon and Goodreads. I think I'm pretty discerning and I have to be because I am not a speed reader, and I already own a literal crap-load of wonderful books that I'll probably never get to, and there's new ones coming out all the time. When I spend so much time on something that leaves me cold, I just don't know what to do. I will however probably give this to my mom because I think she might like it. I pass a lot of books onto her. Some of my most cherished ones leave her confounded, but you know, everyone's different.
     Lastly, it's day 3 of the Australian Open. I don't know how this happened without me noticing, but it's probably because of all the traveling and the TV not working. I've been a tennis fan since 1991 and the first slam of the year is something that I usually greet with a lot of anticipation. There was time when I would watch every day of the 4 televised slams, each one lasting a fortnight, which if you do the math, is 2 months of TV and it's on 10 hours a day. I can't do it anymore. I think it started changing with the advent of laptops, then mobil devices, and suddenly there's so much distraction. Also, the major part of my fandom was the days of the giants, The Sampras/Agassi 90s, Then the Federer/Nadal 00s. There's been a real changing of the guard in recent years and it's hard to keep up with it. Having said that, as always I will be pulling for my all-time favorite player Roger Federer to win his 18th slam, and my girl Maria Sharapova to win her 6th.

     There are so many reasons why I love these 2 players. Hopefully they'll be playing till the end of the fortnight and I'll be able to expand on that.

Slug-tastic

     I celebrated MLK Day in the traditional way - sitting in the Subaru dealership watching The Price is Right. What happened is, my husband threw a rod. For a second time. The first time it was under warranty and we had oil change records, so they replaced it. This time, not so lucky. Being the Italian-American that I am, and one of those who grew up with many cars in the driveway in various states of repair, I impressed upon him the importance of checking the oil. Being the professor's son that he is, he was indignant at this prospect and ignored me. Disaster ensued. He declared the car a lemon and that was that. When they brought the car in, I asked if there was oil in the engine and was informed that there was not. How do I know what throwing a rod is? By ignoring my dad's admonitions to "check the earl", of course. So I know from what I speak. DH feels that this routine maintenance is beneath him, so has no qualms about trashing a 5 year old car. It did have a lot of miles though. So I spent the morning waiting on the donation truck. We are donating it to KCRW, my favorite radio station. We did this with another car and got a really great donation value for it. If you don't live in LA, KCRW is one of our local NPR stations that is very influential on a national level when it comes to music. Probably the reason I'm so out of the loop when it comes to music is that instead of listening to Morning Becomes Eclectic I'm listening to podcasts. I do listen to the streaming channel at home a lot, but seems to blend into the background more. When I look at the music we've collected over the last 20 years, almost all of it has been influenced by this station. We've been to a lot of their events and have been members for  along time, so we feel like this is a very worthy cause that improves the lives of people in LA and a lot of musicians here and beyond.
     We didn't do much today beyond our obligatory trip to Ruby's and Tutti Frutti. I've been a pescatarian most of my life so I've had quite a few veggie burgers, but I think Ruby's are the best. I'm sure the regular burgers are pretty good too if that's your thing. Tutti Frutti is up there with Pinkberry as the best FroYo. Speaking of Pinkberry, they are having a 10 year anniversary, and on Jan. 30 from 7 - close you can get a small with toppings for 10 cents. You don't want to miss this one, though I'm sure the lines are going to be pretty long. Got home pretty quickly considering it was the end of a long weekend and that can sometimes be brutal. Watched some Knitting Daily TV which I've just gotten into recently. I knew about it from the web, but never could figure out how to get it, so I searched for it on FIOS and there it was. Learned a new technique I've never heard of called shaped intarsia. I'm not big on intarsia but it was pretty cool looking and easy to do. The only time I ever tried intarsia was with cotton, and that did not go well. In fact, I ended up ripping it out and doing the design with duplicate stitch.
     The ghetto birds are circling overhead, so I headed over to the Venice 311 Twitter feed. Apparently there was a guy a block away from my house with a rifle and some kind of domestic disturbance. Currently on the loose in my neighborhood, though the cops have the gun. You can Google/hipster/gentrify this place all you want, but Venice is still going to be Venice for the foreseeable future.

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful

     

     Palm Springs was in the 70’s today. A nice day here - a bit chilly and cloudy, but lovely if you’re taking a hike or playing tennis. I was doing none of those because my son is a slug and wants nothing but to spend all day on his computer. I think about all the things we used to do - Children's Museum of the Desert, The Living Desert, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs Air Museum, libraries, parks, just walking around. Now? Forget about it. He didn’t even want to go to the pool, but I went, took a jacuzzi and called my poor mom in NY while I was there. She proceeded to tell me her tale of woe about the ice and rain and cold and misery. I felt a little bad, but that’s why we don’t live there anymore. 
     It was one of those days where I could not get off the computer no matter how I tried. Mostly, it was taken up with trying to put a downloaded library book onto my Kindle. The book is Apple Tree Yard, and the 2 Knit Lit Chicks were raving about it. This is usually a straightforward affair if it’s in Kindle format, but his one was in ePUB. You can read it on the computer but not Kindle. Through series of Google searches, I then went down the rabbit hole trying to figure out a way to Kindle it. First, I downloaded a program called Calibre which converts various file formats and imports them onto your devices. It supported everything but the weird extension this book had. So I had to get Adobe Digital Editions, which turns this format into an ePUB, but could not open it because it had DRM protection. So I downloaded ePUBDRMRemoval. That did the trick. I was then able to open the new, DRM-free file back into Calibre and voila, load it onto the Kindle. I’m not sure if it’s still a library book or if I own it, but I'm really looking forward to starting this one, if I ever finish Life After Life. I swear it gets longer the more I read. While I was on the library site I saw I book called People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jenn Mann. This is the best title ever. The subtitle is Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges. Being in the Pacific Palisades school track, I've encountered a few of those. I am not familiar with this writer's blog, but I am sure to be checking it out.
     After that I decided to take a walk on the bike path that meanders through the golf course nearby. I wanted to try and get close to 10,000 steps. At the very least, the Fit Bit is a reminder of of much a slug you’ve been on any given day. Once my husband got home we went to an early dinner in town. We tried to go to a new place called Birba but there was an hour wait. It looked pretty cool with lots of fire pits and outdoor tables. The desert is especially hopping right now. We fell back on an old favortite, Matchbox, also very busy. The food was great and the waiter hooked me up with an extra glass of wine which is always much appreciated. We had wanted to go to the movies but DH had a short turn around between shifts so we decided to punt. They really wanted to see American Sniper, but I am really torn about if this is really appropriate for a 12 year old. I went on a website called kids-in-mind.com which really breaks it down for you, scene by scene. After reading it, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. Violence is something I’m really sensitive to and I don’t believe in exposing kids to things that could be traumatic.
     When we came home we thought we’d watch The Killing on Netflix. We’ve always liked this series and we only have 2 to go until the end. Could not get Google Chrome to work once again It was taking its sweet-ass time on some kind of upgrade, so we gave up. Watched a Dateline and did a few rows of knitting, though not the several repeats that I had planned. The other thing I’m always meaning to do out here is scanning the many books here onto Goodreads, and pulling out the CDs here that still need to be ripped. Maybe a dozen or so at a time this year and then I’ll have it done.

In the desert

     Today my son and I took the drive out to Palm Springs to have our annual holiday dinner with our long-time faithful assistant. This was supposed to happen about a month ago but we had to put it off. It took 3 hours to get here, which is really unusual for a Saturday afternoon. Just more of what I was talking about with the traffic. It's always hectic when I need to leave the house because I really hate to pack. I just unpacked from our trip and I still had no clean clothes for us despite doing laundry all week. Anyway, I managed to get my self together in between taking my son to and from ballet. On the way to the freeway I stopped by Jennifer Knits in Brentwood to check out their sale. This shop is known for their custom designs. Their sales feature many bags of yarn and kits. I know full well that I don't really need any yarn and I managed to get out of there without buying any. They did have a whole container of project bags and needle cases by Della Q and Chica. I have a collection of Della Q   cases, and the one that I'm missing is the straight needle case. They had one for the 10" needles, but many of mine are longer than that. Even though I rarely use them, I still have quite a few and would love to corral them. I did nab 3 adorable project bags, though. I own exactly one project bag, so they will come in handy. They also threw in the red needle case which will handily hold quite a few straights and some notions. Very satisfying to make a non-yarn related score. The staff there are super friendly, plus there were mimosas and chocolate. Nuff said.

     For dinner we finally went to Lord Fletcher in Rancho Mirage. We've been passing by this place forever, every time saying "Lord Fletcher!" in a haughty British accent. It seemed like a goof to go there, but it was really impressive (and packed) inside. It was like being transported to the UK, with cozy furniture and amazing pictures and artifacts on the walls. The bar area features a collection of tobies, or ceramic mugs of famous faces. The food was really good and piping hot, just what you would expect of British comfort food. It was spendy but really nice for a special occasion.

Too much traffic, not enough knitting.

     I live in Los Angles and it's Friday. That means I have to pick up my son, grab him something to eat and get him to his fencing studio and hour earlier than usual. This is in several miles of horrific traffic. I've lived here a long time but something is going on. It could be the never-ending  construction of a light rail line that will be finished...maybe never. Whatever it is it's getting really bad around here, and it was never that good to begin with. They just keep building and the cars have to go somewhere. But what to do, I love LA. Once we're home it's all good.
     Maybe because it's Friday I just really wanted to get down to chilling early and was tired of the continued lack of TV (still broken), so I moved the little one from my DH's office in front of the big one. It looked like it had a baby. Not what I want to watch anything really good on, but it did the trick for a mini-marathon of Datelines and 48 hours while I got back on track with my Hitofude. I was not willing to do any research about that missed SSK, so I just tinked back maybe 200 stitches, fixed it and got on my way. 7 repeats done, 5 or 6 to go plus grafting and then I will have the sleeves and upper back. We are going to spend a few days in Palm Springs tomorrow for the long weekend, so that might be good for one or two more repeats.
     I finally put my Fitbit back on. I had worn it for a week but didn't want to take it on vacation because I knew I'd be in the water all the time. I was also concerned that the lights weren't lighting up, and finally wondering if maybe I should upgrade to the Charge because it shows the time and I've been wearing it on my watch hand. I went to Best Buy (in said horrific traffic) to try it on but it's way too big. It feels weird enough wearing the Flex at night. So I put it back on and will try to figure out the light situation tomorrow. I haven't been good about tracking diet and water intake but that kind of thing really does work.

Home bound

     My son woke up feeling sick today and refused to go to school. This after only 3 days of the new semester. This worried me because any missed days of school seems to cause a mini catastrophe. In his school they seem to be graded mainly on organization and compliance, not on intellectual capacity or understanding of material, and certainly not on creativity. If you have a boy of a certain age I'm sure you can understand how much of a challenge this can be. The whole time he's been in this school has been a process of me ripping my hair out. That's why I refer to "our" school breaks. Whatever it was that he had I seemed to catch the headache part, which I rarely get, so today was a bit of a wash. We did manage to get the holiday stuff in the attic, so I feel ready to go. When I look around though, I really don't know where to begin. I don't know if I've mentioned the psychotic level of procrastination that I have, but I will let things slide for years and years and years. I have over 75,000 emails that I have been meaning to weed out for, oh I don't know, a decade? That's just for starters. So I think it's time to put down some intentions about getting this house in order, because an unorganized and chaotic environment is a major obstacle to creativity and productivity. And many of them are crafty!

     1. Find architect. We have been wanting to put a skylight in this place since we bought it 4 years ago. If there's one thing that's crucial to my mental health, it's sunlight. It's why I live in SoCal. Most of the house is sunny except for the most important place, the living room. We also want to do a little bit of expansion and reconfiguring. Once we do that we can get new furniture. What we have is 10 years old and from a much larger house, so never really worked here. I also want to find a storage solution for my library. In our old house we had a gorgeous mahogany library built in the formal living room. I don't miss my old neighborhood but I pine for that library. My books are now shoved into a my ginormous china cabinet, which lives in the garage (sigh).
     2. Curtains. Speaking of sunlight, what's the brightest room in the house? Why, the bedroom, of course! At some point in 2013 I ordered some blackout fabric to line the rattan shades that are up. Several months ago, I took said fabric (enough for 3 windows) and clipped it to the shade on the window with the most sunlight coming in using binder clips. Problem solved! I am realizing that maybe the white trash look is not the most inspirational though. There are also stacks and stacks of books and photo albums that live there because there's no other place for them. It would be so nice to more them out and put in a a. vanity b. dress form c. spinning wheel. Thank goodness my DH doesn't have any makeup or hobbies. In that same fabric shipment was some lovely linen to replace a roman shade in the bathroom. Still bare.
     3. Speaking of those photos, most are still in boxes, along with tons of memorabilia from our world travels. These were the days before kids and digital cameras. The thought of compiling all this stuff into albums and scrapbooks is daunting but would be super fun once I got started doing it. Then we get to the digital stuff. I have dozens of videos of my son's life on mini DV that is hard to get onto the computer, VHS from our wedding and old films, plays and classes of mine, cassettes of music I've recorded, and even some old family film reels from the 60s I rescued from my mom's basement. All in need of digitization, and some in seriously fragile state.
     4. Get rid of crap. I've been doing pretty good at this for the last few years as my son has outgrown tons of clothes, books and toys. I managed to sell most of them at LA Kids Consignment which holds about 4 sales per year around the area. It's extraordinary to actually realize the thousands of items that the average American kids owns in their short childhood. What I plan to do it this - completely empty out my closet. Like most of you, that's where my yarn lives, along with all the other crafty stuff, some books, wrapping paper, gift bags, boxes, yoga supplies and a whole bunch of other crap. I'm going to clean it, and then fill it back up with just clothes and accessories, and just the ones that fit and that I like. There are clothes in there I haven't worn in a decade and are completely out of style or are no longer age appropriate. It's a small walk-in closet which is bound to be pretty empty when I get though with it, which could be a pretty liberating feeling.
     5. Deep clean, repaint and fix what's broken. By that I mean sending the rugs out, which is major. The walls really need some zazz. I had to paint them white to keep the front of the house as bright as possible, but it's boring. And did you ever notice how everything seems to break and wear out at the same time? That's so happening here, inside and outside.

So that's my mini punch list of stuff. The best part of getting your house in order is that you can then just live in it, enjoy it, and spend your energy on things that have a higher calling. 

Still no yoga

     I have been practicing yoga for over 20 years, and in 2009 I did a teacher training course at Yogaworks. My yoga practice is somewhat hit and miss, however, due to various and sundry musculo-skeletal issues that I won't bore you with. Oftentimes yoga can help you with these issues and even help to heal them, but other times you just have to lay off or you'll make things even worse. Today I checked the schedule at an awesome place nearby called Yogaglo which I go to frequently. It offers online streaming classes, but the studio is just a short drive from my house. It has some of the best teachers in the business and the classes are free. The schedule is jam packed this month with classes every single day. Hopefully a nagging problem will soon subside enough for me to go on a regular basis. If I were healthy all the time I would be doing  a pretty vigorous class every day because I really feel you need to for optimal health. As one teacher said and I never forgot: "feel the pain now or feel it later".
     Now might be a good time for a list of physical and health intentions for the coming year:

     1. Do something everyday even if I don't feel up to it. There's all kinds of yoga and pilates that are restorative. Many years ago I picked up a book called Somatics by Thomas Hanna, and it was life changing. Through a series of subtle movements you can teach your body to let go of accumulated tension and stress that causes all kinds of chronic problems. Hanna is the founder of the Novato Institute here in California, and one of my longer term goals is to get up there to do some training in these techniques.
     2. Fitbit! I finally got one and was wearing it for a week or so over break. Since we were being hard core house potatoes I usually hit around 5000 steps, but all it took was one shopping strip to bring it up to 10,000. I elected not to take in on vacation but would have logged a whole lot because of the size of the resort. I am thinking of trading it for the one with the watch, because I'm wearing it on my watch hand and I miss telling time. I think that a reasonable goal would be to try to reach 15,000 a day, not so hard in our ultra-walkable town.
     3. Get out of the food rut and cook a new recipe every day. I can't tell you how many cookbooks and magazines I have, not to mention the plethora of stuff out there on the web. Do I use them? Rarely. I started today by bringing up a recipe in last month's Food Network magazine for tortellini with a vegetable bolognese. Despite growing up on pasta, I try to limit it these days, but I was just in the mood. You break down veggies in the food processor until they're finely minced, and mix them with crushed tomatoes. It was really very good and satisfying in a way that only deeply nutritious food can give you.
     4. Meditate and restore. I have never been good at sitting meditation, and I can't even relax into shivasana after a hard practice. Knitting is the only way that I can clear my mind. I have a nice bolster and have always liked doing restorative practice and pranayama, so I want to start doing those at home.
     5. Teach. I am fully certified to teach yoga but have a terrible lack of confidence. I've never had a problem getting up and performing in front of large crowds, but the thought of teaching a class is very intimidating. I know there are many worthy organizations where I can volunteer my time and gain experience, so now might be the time to finally do it.
     6. Get social. Just like with crafting, it's more fun with other people. There are a lot of great groups on Meetup.com that do all kinds of fun things. Anything beats the gym.

     Well I'm exhausted just writing that list. Most important it to get enough sleep, which is an ongoing struggle but the best thing you can do for your health.

No TV

     I am still trying to get settled into this year. The house is kind of chaotic with Christmas stuff still around, one of our cars broke down and we have to donate it, the garbage disposal is leaking, and I have so much I want to do I don't know where to start. But it's all good! Except the TV is broken too. It was acting weird before we went away so we had a repair man out, and for some reason he forgot to order the part. So here we are after not watching for a week, thinking about the poor DVR filling to the brink, and there's nothing to be done but wait. It would be tempting to get one of those snazzy new smart TVs but this one is only about 6 years old. We're seriously tempted to cut the cord on FIOS - it's great and all but there's really no reason for it anymore. Between Netflix, Hulu Plus and HBO Go I think we'd barely even miss it.
     We were just on vacation with my cousin and his wife, who've been married for 30+ years. She was talking about their wedding vows and how she changed them. Instead of saying she "promised", she said, "it's my intention". I was there but it was easy enough to miss. I think intentions are a good replacement for resolutions. Resolutions, like promises, are hard and fast, and when we inevitably fail to keep them we beat ourselves up. So instead, I have intentions for the year ahead. I'm going put them into categories. The first is arts and crafts related. Here we go:
     1. Finish up everything on the needles. Take photos of projects that are missing them.
     2. Start my first quilt. I have a kit from Craftsy that I ordered in August.

Stacked Fats Quilt Kit

     Is this not adorable? I'm making it for our condo in Palm Springs. I also ordered some Aurifil thread to go with it from Amazon. While we're on the subject:

     3. Take more Craftsy classes. If you're unfamiliar, Craftsy is awesome. I watched one of their free quilt classes and I was hooked. They are very well produced and the platform is innovative. I even took a TV production course last year because I was so inspired by what they're doing. I bought the spindling class which got me started spinning. I have a bunch of free classes to watch on various topics, plus I'd like to take one of their knitwear design classes, maybe Lace Shawl Design with Miriam Felton or Shawlscapes with Stephen West.

     4. Break out the wheel. As I mentioned, I am the proud owner of an Ashford Kiwi 2. Looks like Craftsy has a few wheel spinning classes, plus there's plenty on You Tube. The important thing is to get it out of the box.

     5. Make art, specially mixed-media art. I have been obsessed with this for years and have collected and read many books on it, but have done almost none. This is the year to break out the art supplies and play. 

     6. Get better at photography. I am also in possession of a new macro lens for my Nikon. I love macro photography, and I live in a great place for it. All I have to do is go outside any day of the year. I really hope to be sharing some of this with you.

     7. Upgrade my Schacht Cricket loom and start making stuff. I got the 10" a few years ago, and a few months later they came out with the 15". This is the story of my life. I made exactly one thing on that loom, and that was the starter project. Here's my cutie modeling it.

Modeling is the operative word, because kids don't wear wool scarves in LA. What I really want to make besides scarves and spa washcloths are placemats, and you do need the wider width for that.

     8. Dye. My mom sent me the Jacquard Acid Yarn Dye Starter Kit  from Knitpicks. I've always wanted to try it, and who knows, I may have an indie dyer in me waiting to get out. I have dyed fabric before in the Shibori method and that was super cool.

     9. Read. I also received several reference books that had been on my list for a while, including The Principles of Knitting, Circular Knitting Workshop and Knitting Without Tears. The first two are pretty impressive tomes with a lot of detailed information. And I will admit right now that I have never read E. Z. I know, right? Time to remedy that.

     10. Be social, both online and in person. I'm not a social knitter, mostly because I don't want to drag my son around and my DH is not always here, but it would be great to get together for crafty pursuits with other people. I love going to festivals and fairs and plan to hit the LA Yarn Crawl and Vogue Knitting Live in Pasadena this Spring. I also want to start getting the word out about the blog, networking and making it bigger and better. And if there's any time left, starting a podcast.

     Well, that's a lot, so I'll stop at a nice even number. I'm not one for making lists but I know that there is great power in writing things down to manifest your intentions and put them into perspective. It's the starting point for prioritizing and seeing what's realistic in your life.

New year, new you blah, blah, blah

     Well we're home and I had a glorious night's sleep, thanks to my husband who took our son to school today. It was all about de-Christmassing and laundry today, plus catching up on phone calls and what's been going on in the world. I have always liked this time of year, a time of renewal when you are getting aback into your routine and are primed for all the possibilities of the new year. Usually those feelings and intentions don't last for long, and before you know it it's February, and then it's just life. But for these next few weeks it's nice to bask in that glow of anticipation and good intensions. I am thinking a lot about those and I've already put a few into place, this blog being the first among them. I'm actually quite amazed that I haven't missed a day yet since I've started. Last year I was doing the 365 photos, one every day, but that seemed to peter out a few months in. You would think that taking one lousy picture a day would not be that big a deal, especially since I'm much more comfortable with that than writing, but maybe it's because I over-thought it too much and put too much pressure on to make a great shot. When I blog I come to it not thinking that very much happened or that I have nothing to say, and things just start to occur to me and pour out. Here's another thing that's very clear - if you skip a day, that day is gone forever. You will never be able to capture it again. I have never been a journal keeper until now. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to have a little snapshot of what I was thinking and feeling every day 20 years ago and the things that happened. That would be pretty awesome, needless to say. One thing I always found weird about journal writing was that it was private, like you were talking to your self, and that you were keeping secrets that someone could discover. As an actor I love an audience, but have always hated doing monologues. This way I am talking to you, wherever you are, and that feels great, like we're hanging out in the kitchen.
     There was no knitting going on today. I usually only knit at night and when I'm watching TV, but ours is refusing to start and we're waiting on a part for it. I look don my FIOS mobil site and there is so much great stuff I have recorded. There's the return of Downton Abbey, which might be a problem because I never finished last season and don't know how to find it. Parks & Rec is back, and so is Revenge and Cougar Town. If you haven't watched this, it is a wonderful, goofy, feel-food friend comedy in its last season. Portlandia is on there too. I have resolved to watch less TV and more movies, or better yet to get out of the house and see theatre and hang out with real people. Having a kiddo, though, does mean I'm pretty much stuck here most of the time. I plan to make the most of it once I get the hang on the new spinning wheel. I like to knit while watching news or crime docs, but not narrative TV. I have a feeling that it might be easier to spin because you don't have to pay such close attention.
     

Back to Life

     Post from 1/11:

     We’re about 2 hours outside LA and I’m fading fast, just like the power on all our devices. We’re on one of those antique planes without outlets. This is the first time I’ve flown American in a while and it’s not so hot. The flight from the island was delayed because some engine that cools the plane wasn’t working, plus they were out of water so we were delayed an hour. Not a big deal unless you have to go through customs and catch a connection. We were on a seriously mad scramble once we got to Miami. Once we saw the passport line we said to our son that he might not make it to school tomorrow, which perked him up considerably. We got to the gate in the nick of time, no time to buy food, and then once we’re flying we’re told that there’s no fresh food for sale, just salty snacks. You can’t tell me that’s not entirely preventable. My poor kid had to eat Chex Mix for dinner. The last couple trips we took were United and they were pretty good.
Today there was no time for anything but packing, buying a few last souvenirs and picking out photos, which were gorgeous, although I look like a cow. The guys look great though. I ended up getting 23 of them, and seeing them of course I’m so sad that we weren’t doing this from the time he was little. It’s just so much more of a procedure anywhere else - at this resort is was so was so easy. A few of these might be the start of my son’s modeling portfolio. We managed to see everyone on the way out and say goodbye. All in all we had a nice time. The people in the Dominican Republic are really friendly and fun.

While we were on the tarmac waiting to take off in the D.R. I did the finishing on my cowl, which I’m now wearing as a finished object! It will be fun going through the submission process for various places for the first time, and if I strike out I’ll be happy to put it up here for everyone to enjoy. I was working on Hitofude before and was almost done with an 8 row repeat, when I realized there was an extra stitch between 2 markers. How this got past me I don’t know because I count every time. It was the ssk that I missed, so I turned it around to see if there was a way to fix it, but I couldn’t figure out what to use as the working yarn. Is there a way? I will probably just have to tink, but not on the plane. The flight attendant came by and admired it which is always nice. Well I’m almost out of juice and stuff to do. Time for a nap.

Photo shoot

     We had a family photo session today that was our first one ever! We live at Venice beach, and every California family that I know of has beach portraits, but we've never done it. You know the ones - everyone's wearing white and looking gorgeous. It's one of those things you swear you're going to get around to, but I never did. Well, the first day here they were all over us wanting to take our pictures, so I said we're going to do it the last day. We went to the beach at 6pm tonight and he must have taken 100 shots. There was no way we were going to see them tonight so that's what we have to do before we leave, and hopefully they will be gorgeous. At $10/pop we might go broke, but really, never a family portrait in 12+ years? Luckily our kid is still in that cute phase where he'll play along.

     I worked some more on Hitofude. It is really enjoyable but taking forever. Another joy I've experienced for the first time is having to undo some stitches to fix them but the mistake happened right near the life line, so that messed the whole situation up. The thing is, on the wrong side rows it's pretty easy, mostly purls with a few knits thrown in. The problem with that is that you start day dreaming and you forget to throw in those knits. That's happened a few times so far and it's not a big deal if you (a) catch it pretty quickly and (b) don't do it near a lifeline! My provisional cast-on was done in red which was great for contrast, but the lifeline is a little blendy. I highly recommend sticking with a high contrast yarn so that it doesn't get caught up physically and visually with what you're doing. And no, I didn't finish my Macinack or do the finishing on my cowl. Oh well, maybe on the plane.

Adventure Time!

   

     We decided to finally get out of the resort today for a little excursion. Since we thought that a boat trip was still a little too much sun, we went for the dune buggy/cave trip. This was an extremely bumpy trek for quite a few miles, going from the beach to a plantation to a cave. It wouldn't have been so bad but they made you go really fast to keep up. Kind of fun, though jarring, and no permanent damage. The annoying thing was that they took no end of pictures that they wanted to sell you. I don't even like taking selfies unless I'm looking good, but there's no way I would pay for a picture where I'm not wearing a least makeup, not to mention the state my hair must have been in. We got to buy some domestic coffee, cocoa, honey and vanilla, which is the kind of stuff we love taking back, plus it directly benefitted the people living there. Then off to a little cave with a pool that the hubs and I jumped into and that I barely was able to climb back out of.
     Back at the ranch, we met up with my cousins and aunt/uncle for dinner. The service was really slow but we had a great time just laughing and talking about family history. My mom and stepdad were supposed to be here too but had to cancel at the last minute because of health reasons, which is too bad because they're a real hoot and can really throw down. Tomorrow we are chillaxing, shopping, getting a nice photo done, and gathering for one last dinner before heading out on Sunday.
     No knitting today, but I will really have to do the final finishing on my cowl design that I wore on the plane, because it just looks weird otherwise.

Foam party, or where we consort with Millenials

     

     I got pretty burnt yesterday, so any water adventures were out. It was mostly trying to stay out of the sun under the umbrellas. I did try to snorkel a bit but not much to see on the shore. We ended up by the pool when they were having the "foam party". I made my son check it out but he soon retired to the room for his so-called "signature bath" in the jacuzzi which includes frosty drinks and Pringles. Then I dragged the hubs reluctantly away from his book to partake in this youthful ritual. He asked who was in there and I said a bunch of douchebags. He came anyway. If you're over 30, basically it's a bubble machine filled with soap that they aim at the drunkards gathered near the swim-up bar to create a ginormous bubble bath, accompanied of course by EDM. This was some goofy-ass fun, and I'm convinced that this generation has much more fun and takes themselves less seriously than ours ever did. We only regretted that we let our son get away with not experiencing this with his parents, because I imagine he wouldn't soon forget it. The next time it happens, we're there. Also, I've discovered that pretty much the best threat to a boy is having his mother threaten to twerk in front of him. This shuts everything down right away. Here in the DR, there is a lot of twerking going on.

     More Hitofude knitting. I now have half the sleeves done. At this rate it will take me a year. An appreciative waitress asked me "how much" which was confusing until I realized she was asking how much I was selling it for. I considered that and realized that I wouldn't even sell it for $1000, since that would still be way below minimum wage. And who would by it? But of course, there has to be someone who would, especially in LA, like at GOOP or something. I really don't think you could buy anything like it in a store - a hand knit lace cardigan from a Japansese design made by hand with hand-dyed merino, all from USA artisans? The only place would be a sample from a knitting store and it would be a lot. Maybe not a grand but still a lot. We knitters have to get ourselves on Gwytheth's radar.

Mr. Sexy

     This pretty much sums up the cultural life at the resort.

That and the Michael Jackson show. This was the Mr. Sexy contest, and I think the right man won. 

     I just cannot get enough of this ocean. I went in twice today, and my skin is really starting to hurt, because the sun does not respect sunblock on me. I also forgot to put it on my face so there's that. My husband and son went on one of those seats that are dragged behind a boat. I took one look at that and said no thank you, I don't need to break my body. My son wanted to go slower so he asked dad how to say it in Spanish and he said "arriba!". So off they went, but they're men so of course they had to. They even paid extra for more time and speed. Weird. I took that opportunity to do beach aerobics. Usually it's a dance class and this looked pretty silly , but I couldn't think of a reason not to exercise a little (except for sunburn I realize now). I was actually fun. 

      Today was all about missed connections. My cousins were supposed to meet us at a spot on the beach. Everyone was there but they were looking on the sister property next door which is a mirror image of this one. They even tried to go in their room's doppelgänger over there, but there was other peoples' stuff in it. I would have started to wig out right there thinking I was in the Twilight Zone or maybe 1Q84. I wonder if there are 2 moons hanging in the sky over there? 

     Then when we were leaving for dinner they decided to be tricksters and hide when I turned around for a minute to get my sweater. Then I couldn't find them, so I go ahead to the restaurant and they weren't there. I look and look and wait 15 minutes and started to get really upset, so I said screw it and left, walked around the rest of the property, found my cousins and friends, and had a great night with them. But I was still mad, and promised everyone that they had to carry their phones at all times and be subject to potentially exorbitant international roaming calls in case of any potential future pranks.

     Oh, and I did a few rows of knitting, too. No drama there.