Two Black Sheep

The Mall and Misery

The thing about birthdays is that they come around every year (usually, at least). Since the last post, there have been four . . . four . . . in that time span. Gus turned five on the 8th, Betty and Veronica turned 19 on the 15th, and SK turned another year older today (truthfully, he turned 35). And the thing about birthdays and blogs is that once you've extolled the virtues of the person in question, you've pretty much said it all. That being said, I'm pretty sure that everyone had a happy birthday although I wasn't with any of them when they celebrated it.

This is the first year that the Girls and I have been apart for their big day. Sure I posted birthday wishes on Veronica's Facebook wall and texted them much love and affection, but it's just kind of weird celebrating without them. I did, however, use their birthday as a chance to grab a burrito at Moe's and some ice cream at Baskin-Robbins afterward. For some reason, I wanted Chocolate Mousse and World Class Chocolate on the day of their birth, and the Flyer was a very obliging husband-to-be at that point and trudged off to B-R to grab me two scoops before he went to work. Six hours later, the Girls made their debut. For the record, he suggested Baskin-Robbins on their birthday . . . but I happily went along for the ride.

Since we weren't with the girls for their actual birthday, we celebrated a week early in Philadelphia. Prior to them attending Temple, Philly was the forgotten city for me. I went there rarely, cursed every minute of the travel, and couldn't figure out what all the hub-bub was about. In November 2008, my girlfriend Mary and I saw Kings of Leon at the Electric Factory, and she made it her goal to make me love the city. I'll have to admit, the flirtation with the City of Brotherly Love might have begun that evening. Of course, with all things romantic, it could have been the alcohol. I texted her last weekend and told her that I was giving the Flyer the abbreviated Mary tour of Old City. We walked a fair bit (translation: a lot) and then popped in to Triumph for dinner and drinks, but the Girls and their sweeties met us later that night at the Franklin Fountain for ice cream.

The next morning, we checked out early and walked and walked and walked. The nice part about where we were was even with lots of walking, you never really felt tired. So, one water bottle, two pairs of Toms, an Etsy shirt, some Starbucks cards, and cash for a new tattoo later, the girls went on their merry little way to their first birthday without us. Lucky for them, their friends thought of cupcakes . . . and I got my World Class Chocolate. 

The knitting is slow going. Whereas Mabel started out like gang busters, I've started up an affair with the treadmill . . . so far, it's been fairly discrete, but I sense things getting more serious in the next few days. Don't worry, Knitting, I'll be back in no time.

Ava, who's pretty sure she has a sister out there

(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

Let's see . . . since our last post, the following things have occurred:

1. I attended my first ever Stitch and Pitch along with several of the ladies I knit with on Tuesday evenings. We were going to take two cars but wound up only needing one . . . best thing ever to happen. It truly helps when your driver, the fabulous husband of one of the ladies in question who always calls to give us our estimated departure time on Tuesday evenings, is a former New York City cab driver. Enter car, sit down, laugh a lot, arrive at Citi Field without causing an accident. There were about 200 or so knitters in left field in the promenade (which sounds glamorous as all get out until you realize that it is a nice way of saying "nose bleed" section) all knitting away, which is probably what the Mets were doing, too. There is no other way of excusing the 10 run lead that the Braves had at the bottom of the 3rd. I knit on my EZ moccasins from The Knitter's Almanac; they might be one of the few patterns by EZ that I just don't get . . . truly not liking this pattern, but at least the girls will have a comfy pair of socks when I am done. Oh, and if you ever want free stuff, make sure you have Maryann with you . . . and by free stuff I am talking about books from Nikki Epstein that Nikki autographs to you right before she hands them to over (thanks for the Harding book, my Italian guru).

2. Owing to my crap skills of cabling and chatting at the same time, I crossed a cable the wrong way three times - it looks very, very drunken - on my latest project, so I had to drop down 18 rows and knit up the correct cable. I sure as hell was not going to rip out 18 rows just to fix four effing stitches. Then, to add insult to injury, the last cable that I knit that night after I actually got to knit was wrong. Maybe it's old age setting in.

3. Awesome segue . . . the Flyer turned 40 amid suffering from the flu. Sure it wasn't the flu, but it sucked ass nonetheless especially since the girls were home for the weekend. I debated whether I should get him a card that lamented what a pain it was getting older with the health issues or one that explained that he was just a few years away from making crap up . . . and chose the last one. Luckily he is on the mend, but between the two of us, we've been sickish since August 14.

4. Beth Brown Reinsel visited Mountain Knits and Pearls again for another workshop. This time, she demonstrated different gansey techniques with a small sample sweater. And, shockingly enough, I actually finished this one. Granted, it will never grace a person, bear, or Barbie, but I know of a really nice bottle of wine that has been longing for a hand-knit merino sweater.

5. Probably the best part of the blog silence, Lola had business in New York City earlier last week, so I hopped on a train (missing my first train by 30 seconds - I counted!) to visit with my sister for a day and a half. I treated her to her first Indian meal, which was excellent by the way, after which we both needed the ten block hike back to the hotel. The following day, I successfully got us to six different shops from the Midtown to the Upper East side to Soho and back again with only one wrong turn . . . and even that wasn't really a wrong turn since I simply didn't read the address on my print out correctly. Even Lola will admit that she was subtly impressed. Hits: Amma for dinner, School Products for the birthday yarn and yak, Knitty City just because. Misses: 'wichcraft for not living up to the hype, the R train for not having its schedule labeled better, and Purl for not having anything that piqued my interest (but I'll let that slide this one time). 

6. And finally, we bought a new mattress. We actually bought the box springs as well, but they wouldn't fit up the stairs . . . just another charming example of why living in a house that was built almost 100 years ago keeps you on your toes.

That's it . . . nothing major, nothing really new, nothing exciting . . . just life. I have several "obligation" knits that I have to get done before I can tackle anything fun and exciting. But all in all, fall is looking to be a pretty interesting season.

Ava

Wicker Chair

Ummm . . . so, a few weeks have passed and the girls and I went home to Ohio and I never mentioned it. I guess when you realize that your kids leave for college in two weeks (yup, 14 days from today), the blog kind of takes a back seat. Here are some high-lights from the trip home:

• family reunions will inevitably occur on the hottest day of the summer in a building with no air conditioning. Corona will be used in place of water since the family forgot to pack water;
• all little boys are obsessed with cars around the age of 18-months. No matter how many times one is seen, each car is identified with a point and the question, "Car?";
• who knew such a beautiful park existed in Wheeling, West Virginia? Oglebay was amazing;
• only two skeins of yarn can be purchased during a trip. It takes some doing, but it is completely possible to spend less than $25 on yarn;
• the Ohio State Fair is a pretty big deal. Nothing makes a bunny lover happier than seeing bunny after bunny after bunny. Nothing amuses me more than seeing my sister push a stroller through a pile of cow poo (until I remember that the stroller is going in my car);
• mothers embellish (deal with it);
• dinners with an old friend should occur more often than once every ten years. It makes catching up a bit easier;
• the end of the Asian Expedition a the Columbus Zoo will reduce a 4-year-old to tears every single time. Next year it will reduce a 5-year-old to tears . . . I think it's because he doesn't get to pet the tiger;
• Ohio really does have the best ice cream in the world;
• being away from the political "issues" for almost two weeks takes a while to catch up (and makes for a lot of head scratching);
• two weeks is a long time to be away from your bed (and the person who sleeps in it . . . especially when you leave on your 18th wedding anniversary - love you, honey); and
• it's never a good idea to listen to sentimental music while driving eight hours when your mind is clearly two weeks in the future.

The knitting has kind of slowed for the time being. I'm in the process of knitting a Fair Isle stocking for a class at the shop. It's all sorts of fun (using the colors from my Great American Afghan), but I left it at here when I went to Ohio. The Cable Sampler Scarf is almost done (yippee!), and I think I have about two more inches on the Barfly Pullover before I begin 7 inches of mistake rib stitch (oh, joy! oh, loveliness! oh, open a bottle of riesling).

I'll try to get a shot of the pullover (as boring as it is) and the scarf (when it is done) in the next few days. I'm sure that we will be hitting Target and Walmart with school shopping, so I am not sure how much time knitting will receive for the next few weeks.

Ava (who starts back to school in two weeks as well)