Travels with Swatchy™

End of the Road

2010-11-03T10:52:00.003-04:00

Well, my friends, Swatchy has reached the end of the road. I have been able to share so many wonderful trips with you vicariously through the Swatchys, and you have also been generous to the Botswana Project (Ravelry link).

But traffic both to and on the blog has slowed, and so it seems a logical time to wrap up the project. We will keep the blog here as an archive, so you can flip through all the places Swatchys have gone, and all the wonderful people they have met. I hope you have all enjoyed the journey as much as I have!

This project started at the suggestion of Noricum, and I am eternally grateful to her and to everyone who has been a part of Swatchy. Swatch On!

Sheeples

2010-07-07T14:49:00.004-04:00

Dear Knittah,

The day after we went to the Ex, we went to Sheeples, a sheep farm near Inwood, Manitoba. Did we tell you about the last visit a couple of years ago? I can't remember if that's one of the things we kept meaning to blog, but never got around to. (Sorry, we've been slackers!)

Sheeples plans their lambing season to happen when it's warm: it's easier on the lambs, and since they don't have to worry about having the most weight come slaughter time (these are fleece sheep, not meat sheep), that's what they go with. Noricum *loves* spending a day at Sheeples during lambing season. (Frankly, I think she'd love to spend more than a day there!)

We took a bunch of photos so that you'd be there in spirit too.

We even got a demonstration of sheep shearing this year!

Did you know that when sheep are upside down, they can't burp/fart? The gas can build up, and essentially suffocate them! They try to do the shearing as fast as possible, and also check the sheep several times a day to make sure they haven't tipped over. (They're like turtles, and can't right themselves... especially when they have their full fleeces.)

Now, you might be wondering where I am, since I'm not in any of the photos? Well, I was there, but hung out incognito all day... Noricum says it's too hard to hold a baby sheep, take photos, *and* hold me up too.

I was kind of jealous... but how can you compete with a face like this?

One of the boys:

If you ever manage to visit us in Manitoba, make sure you come during lambing season... Noricum says she'll catch you a bottle baby lamb to hold in your lap. :)

Love,
Swatchy

Red River Ex

2010-07-02T02:20:00.003-04:00

Hello Knittah! Swatchy here. Noricum took me to the Red River Ex last week, so we thought we'd invite you along too!

We went on Friday, so we could help Noricum's mom carry stuff in for her demo. Here she is, demoing:

The other person is Noricum's step-dad. He's cool!

Both Noricum and her mom got art in the art show at the Ex. The theme was "Manitoba Homecoming", so everything had to have something to do with Manitoba. (Although some artists seemed to ignore that rule.) Noricum entered her Great Blue Heron:

and Forest Chickadees:

since both are present in Manitoba. Both paintings got accepted. (As you can probably see.)

Noricum's mom entered four paintings (the maximum). Only three got in, but one won a prize! Here's her prize winning painting... it's the one with the brooms:

Isn't that buffalo awesome? It was done by a *teen*! (There were three categories: teen, amateur, and professional. Noricum entered as an amateur, and her mom entered as a professional.)

Noricum really liked this painting of mushrooms, but it wasn't for sale:

Another cool painting:

Okay, enough art... let's show you the fairground! (Note: if you're wondering why there aren't many people in these photos, it's because we went during the workday.)

Look, a pig on a spit!

This guy was carving logs with a chainsaw:

Yep, it's a fair:

Whoa... *fresh* fruit? Not candy coated?!? Must be because it's operated by the Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg, an organization which raises funds for charities:

Noricum remembers this fun-house from when she was a kid:

This is new, though:

(Or maybe she just wasn't tall enough?)

Hee! A little train!

I wanted to ride, but Noricum said that I was too small to ride without her, and she was too big to ride. Oh well... she took me to the petting zoo instead. (We were too busy petting the sheep, alpacas and goats to take any photos, though.)

We hope you enjoyed the tour! (And you didn't even have to pay admission, or get sore feet walking on the pavement!)

Love and hugs,
Swatchy

Wine tasting

2010-02-07T22:10:00.001-05:00

Hi Knittah.

Todd, Robyn, Eliza and I did a little overnight road trip up to the Hunter Valley for wine tasting.

After visiting a few wineries, we shopped for dinner. We stayed in a little cottage with a nice patio and grill and such. And wildlife.

Todd grilled lamb chops and Robyn did a lovely spread of salad and cheese and fruit.

Todd's "g'day mate" flip flops (purchased to spare his zjuji prada loafers abuse):

We stayed up playing manipulation, snap (Todd is wicked), and go fish.

And Robyn impressed us with her fancy karate kid moves:

The next morning, we had company for breaky:

And then we enjoyed a scenic drive on the back road to Wollombai and back to Sydney. The bridges are rustic:

and vibrate a lot when you stand on them while a car goes past:

Cricket!

2010-02-05T21:22:00.002-05:00

Hi Knittah.

Todd took Eliza and me to the cricket!

Aus was playing three tests (what they call the serious, old-fashioned, multi-day international country-to-country cricket matches) with Pakistan and the second test was being played at SCG--the Sydney Cricket Ground. Apparently Australia has been the best team in the world for, like forever, and beat Pakistan handily in the first test. There was a lot of rain overnight and it drizzled on the morning of the first day and the Australian captain made the unorthodox and soon-to-be very controversial call to bat first (when the pitch is damp, the bowls get wonky and it makes it that much harder for the batting team. So batting first was a...curious...choice).

We got to the match a little after play had started and Todd was shocked at the start--already 6 wickets and only something like 10 runs. Cricket has two innings. One innings (always with the "s") is 10 outs. Outs are when the bowling (pitching) team catches the ball on the fly or hits the wicket on the bowl. And Aus was doing poorly:

Our seats turned out to be in the Pakistan supporters section.

They were very polite (always sat down before a play) and oddly cheerful, regardless who was doing well: when Pakistan got an out, they cheered like mad and waved the Pakistan flags; when Australia got a four or a six (sort of like home runs in baseball--automatically four or six runs), they cheered like mad and waved the Pakistan flags. And whenever Asif, one of the Pak bowlers, took his outfield position hear where we were seated, they went absolutely nuts. Almost disturbingly so.

You can't make it out in the photo, but the blue sign being held by the guy in the lower right reads, "you are one sexy bowler."

So the pitch is now completely encircled by stands. The two original, old stands are the Members' stands--very chi-chi (or "zjuji" as Todd and Robyn would say--although I'm not sure how they would spell it).

(that's the ladies stands on the left--although apparently the members' stands are now fully integrated. not sure how recently.)

So some of the fans in the "normal" stands would try to get the wave going (bizarrely, they call it the "mexican wave" there--and the authorities don't like), it would go all the way around the stadium to the Members' stands. Most of the Members don't do it so as soon as the wave reaches those stands everybody else automatically boos until the wave reaches the normal stands again and then everyone cheers even more. And then it goes around a couple more times until people get tired of it for the time being. It's hysterical.

Cricket is very very big in Australia--an everyman's game. And everyone just knows it--there's almost no announcing/calling of the game. So Todd just knew (and explained to me), when the umpires started talking at about 6:45, that they were gauging the light. Aus had gotten out a little after 6 pm and clearly wanted to keep playing to force Pakistan to bat under the same difficult conditions, with the pitch still damp from the rain. Pakistan faked an injury to kill time, hoping to just resume the next day when the pitch presumably would be dryer and they'd have an easier time batting. So the umps called it for the day, the fans all booed, and everyone went home. But everyone was walking off the field before the announcer came on and said, as an after thought, that the game had been called for light and play would resume at 10am.
Anyway, after the cricket, we met up with a friend from school, Brett, at a pub near the SCG. He and Todd have both served in senior levels of the New South Wales government and are active in the Labor Party. So for them apparently it's not unusual to have a beer with the premier (governor) (well, former premier--he got ousted in December). So Eliza had a nice chat with Nathan Rees before he got cornered by a couple of drunk yobs who apparently are very big fans.

Sydney

2010-02-03T13:29:00.005-05:00

On New Year's Day, Eliza and I rode with friends of Todd's (lovely Johanna, Angela, and Jason, of whom Eliza stupidly failed to get a photograph) up to Sydney while Todd guided Diana and her parents. We met up with them in Sydney and had a bit of a driving tour of the Sydney before Ken and Judy had to go to the airport. Here we are in Watson's Bay (I'm pretty sure that was the name of the neighborhood) enjoying the sunshine and some very large prawns:

And the view back across the water to the city:

The next day after brunch with friends...

...Todd, Robyn, and I walked around Sydney, across the Harbor Bridge and around the Rocks and Circular Quay.

In the 1970s (?), Sydney built a public housing tower in the Rocks, right next to the Harbor Bridge and with amazing views of the harbor and the Opera House:

By the time we got around to the Opera House, a storm was moving through:

Here are Todd and Robyn as the rain eases:

Here's the view back towards the city:

Up close at the Opera House:

As Robyn leaves her mark (she wears bold lipstick):

Botswana Project 2010

2010-02-02T10:08:00.004-05:00

What beautiful things you have sent me for the Botswana Project!! Since my last post, there has been a knit avalanche coming in!

Sweaters donated by Anne Marie, Shaz, Beverly, Patricia, Jill, Sally, Angie and me:

Scarves/shawlettes from Patricia, Shaz and Anne Marie:

Legwarmers and slippers from Anne Marie and Sally:

Two dozen hats (!!) from Vickie, Bev, Beverly, Debbie, Maria, and Patricia:

And a blanket from Regina:

My photos don't do justice to your beautiful work.

Our grand total for this collection is:

28 hats
18 sweaters
5 scarves/shawlettes
4 blankets
2 slippers/leg warmers

You are all so incredibly awesome! Thank you!

Out and about in Canberra

2010-02-01T12:27:00.003-05:00

Hi Knittah.

We had such a nice stay in Canberra with Eliza's friends. One day, Eliza and Cath and I went shopping briefly and Eliza found the meat counter fascinating:

Rissoles? Meatballs anyone?

Cath's parents and sister Justine live in the area, and sisters Trish and Jane were in from the Brisbane area and Melbourne for the holidays. For Mr. Riordan's birthday, the family had a picnic at the park on the lake in Canberra. Aussies it turns out take their picnicking very seriously. Eliza had been impressed when Cath pulled out an honest-to-god picnic basket (at which point she looked at us as if, well, doesn't everyone?). Then we got to the park and she was right, EVERYONE has honest-to-god picnic baskets.

I met a black swan, found only in the southern hemisphere:

Here's me with Cath's sister Trish and Issie, with Canberra in the background (the brightly colored building on the left is the art museum):

Issie and I are resting with full bellies:

Here I am with Charlotte, who's making a face at Kilian, then there's Cath, Issie, and Eliza:

On New Year's Eve we made our way to Goulburn (pronounced "goal-bin") for Todd and Diana's engagement party. A visit to Goulburn would not be complete without calling on The Big Merino. Here's Cath and me and a big sheep:

And another view:

Just checking. Although I was later reminded that the horns are a clue...

And here's a view the next morning before we began the trek up to Sydney:

G'day mates

2010-01-30T11:44:00.011-05:00

Dear Knittah,

Eliza and I travelled to the land of Oz to visit Eliza's friends and see friend Todd's country before he relocates to the US. We flew to Sydney and took the train down to Canberra to see friends Cath and Kilian and their lovely daughters Isabella and Charlotte.

We had a lovely stay. Besides hanging out at home and doing much long overdue catching up, we got around Canberra a bit and visited the Australian War Memorial.

Here's a view from the Memorial back across to the old and new Parliament buildings.

I'm not aware of the US having a comparable museum--this one had all of the wars and all of the branches of the service. Really an impressive museum--we could have spent days there. Eliza had a hard time getting proper photos inside but here are a few:

The memorial has an incredible research section open to the public. Eliza learned later that week, from Todd's uncle at the engagement party, that the memorial has collected and digitized extensive records (including photos and letters and telegrams) from citizens. Todd's aunt has used it extensively to research the family's participation in the wars.

A view of the memorial:

The Navy mosaic inside (apologies for the poor photo quality). There was a mosaic for each service branch and for women serving:

Remarkable faces:

Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli:

So simple yet so practical (do you think we did anything like that in Iraq?):

The Korean section had a remarkable exhibit of telegrams and letters, which didn't turn out well in our photos. We didn't realize that POWs actually could get mail--it seems very Geneva Convention but really? in the Korean War? There was a wrenching series of telegrams notifying a mother first, that the government thinks her son is a POW but isn't sure yet and to stand by; second, that they think he is in fact a prisoner at a particular POW camp but that they don't have more information and she should contact the red cross; and then third, informing her that he'd been released and recovered and was on his way home.

In the children's section, which was very hands-on (with a trench with siting scopes; a helicopter; and a gadget where you could put your foot in and see what it would like with trench foot (this was REALLY gross)), there were some pages of 1940s magazines. This was funny: a women's magazine offering recipes to "spice things up," including Mexican chili burgers. Really. In 1940s Australia. Seemed funny.

We Kinneared Gord Leclerc

2010-01-24T21:59:00.003-05:00

Dear Knittah,

Gord Leclerc is a local celeb... he's the anchor on the CTV Winnipeg news. January 6th, we were on our way to knitting (late, due to having to make a trip home to pick up something Noricum forgot... silly Noricum!), and Gord Leclerc got on our bus! It took us a moment to recognize him in everyday wear, rather than his suit. Noricum doesn't often run across celebrities, so she kinneared him:

He's the one behind the silver pole... sorry for the motion blur, but using flash would break the rules of kinnearing, as it would alert the subject. Given that he looked asleep, she risked a second shot:

After that, she stopped trying. I wanted to be in the photo with him (actually, I wanted to run up and get my photo taken with him for real), but Noricum said that kinnearing didn't work that way, and that we shouldn't bother the guy after a long day at work.

Love,
Swatchy

PS: For those who haven't heard of kinnearing, see here, or here, or here.

First Ones In!

2009-12-08T14:58:00.002-05:00

The first two donations for the January 2010 Botswana Project collection have arrived! Check out the two hats and two scarves that I received from niftyknitter:

And Eliza brought three baby blankets with her when she came for Thanksgiving!

Thank you to niftyknitter and Eliza for such lovely gifts!

The Singing Revolution

2009-10-31T23:29:00.001-04:00

The Singing Revolution

Dear Knittah,

Tonight Noricum and I watched "The Singing Revolution". It was a truly amazing and inspiring piece of history. We were both very moved by the lack of violence in the face of angry mobs and the Soviet Army. Plus the singing is beautiful. If you haven't seen it, I really recommend you try to find a copy to watch!

Cheers,
Swatchy

In which Swatchy gets some Canadian action

2009-10-19T07:00:00.013-04:00

This morning, after the kids were off to school, I went looking for Swatchy. I found him here, still sleeping at 9:30.

Poor l'il Swatchy. He was tuckered out, after a weekend beyond his wildest imaginings...

It all started so innocently. He climbed into the car and settled himself on the dashboard, perhaps thinking that this was going to be a wholesome weekend, seeing as he was traveling with a suburban, station-wagon-driving soccer mom.

The drive up was quick (relatively speaking) and uneventful. Swatchy enjoyed seeing the autumn foliage, and was fascinated by the gossip, although he tried not too look too interested.

He was happy to arrive at the hotel, quickly selecting a lovely color-coordinated skein of Black Bunny Fibers Canadian Luxury sock yarn to nestle down in for the night.

I think Swatchy figured, once everyone was in bed by 10:30 p.m., that his traveling companions were nice, if a bit sedate.

He was a good sport as we awoke early the next morning, bundling up and arriving at the show not long after the gates opened at 9 a.m.

He was quite excited to be hanging with knitting designer Laura Grutzeck; I heard Swatchy whisper excitedly to passersby, "See that lady with the pretty curly hair? She has a sweater in Vogue Knitting!" He found faithful traveling companion Jim to be delightful and eminently civilized, too.

Swatchy enjoyed seeing all sorts of beautiful fiber and yarn, and although he found the llamas and sheep a little intimidating, given how big they seemed to him, he quite enjoyed snuggling up to the bunnies, like this one:

(The bunny, on the other hand, disapproved.)

I was having a great time seeing old friends and making new ones, buying some roving, fondling the wools, but then I saw Swatchy surreptitiously yawn. I decided it was time for the big guns. So Swatchy got to meet Jess, of Ravelry fame:

and Clara Parkes, of Knitter's Review and book fame:

and Dr. Mel, of kilt-wearing fame:

I must say that Swatchy was very well-behaved and extremely polite to all the knitterati that he met, except when he mistakenly thought he heard Kristen Rengren

say that she knew a woman with Chronic Fatigue and it was all in her head, and then he threw himself at the table where she was book-signing, screaming stuff about "people who need to go to the CFIDS website before they start shooting their mouths off about stuff they know nothing about" until I was able to pull him off and tell him that she said "I know a woman with Chronic Fatigue and she has to stay in bed" and then he got all embarrassed and I had to leave the author's tent before Melanie Falick kicked the shite out of me.

At that point, I whisked Swatchy away, and we retired to our hotel room for a brief cooling-off period before dinner. Swatchy wasn't very impressed with our favorite Rhinebeck diner:

But he cheered up immensely when he met our dinner companions, including Mindy

(he was all over poor Mindy!); the wild and wooly Ali P (I need your blog link, Ali):

and last but not least, Vé-vé.

I think that those wild Canadian minxes were a terrible influence on Swatchy, because last night I went up to Little Miss's room to kiss her goodnight and I found this:

Oh, Swatchy, lolling in the hot tub with the Barbie twins? What have I done?!

Botswana and Beyond!!!

2009-10-17T15:15:00.005-04:00

Some of your gifts to the Botswana Project, delivered last spring.

You have all been so generous and loving in making gifts for children that we have more than our volunteers from Penn can carry to Botswana. The good news is that Botswana is not the only place that Penn sends doctors and nurses.

I am thrilled to announce an EXPANSION of The Botswana Project to Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. This hospital is the only hospital serving the Kibera slum in Nairobi. There are approximately one million people living in Kibera, and less than 500 healthcare workers at Mbagathi. Thousands of children are HIV positive, and thousands more have lost a family member to AIDS. Mbagathi has a large pediatric clinic with a number of children's programs, and some of your future donations will be carried to Mbagathi by doctors from Penn's Global Health Equities Residence track. This video will give you an idea of what conditions are like in Kibera, and the amazing work done at Mbagathi Hospital. NB: the video was made by the group Physicians for Human Rights, not by Penn.

We need hand made hats, sweaters, blankets and toys for children of all ages. Sturdy wool, cotton and acrylic fibers are all welcome. The deadline for this collection round is December 31st. Your donations will be carried to Botswana and Mbagathi Hospital by volunteers from Penn. Please email Knittah with questions, or for the address to send your gifts. Thank you thank you thank you for showing these children that you care.

September Botswana Project

2009-09-24T11:05:00.004-04:00

Once again, knitters and crocheters have buried my house in an avalanche of beautiful hand made gifts for children in Botswana! In just three months since our last collection, I received almost 45 POUNDS of lovely things from 19 people in 3 countries. Here's what you sent:

2 ponchos
7 pairs socks or booties
8 blankets
18 scarves
21 sweaters or vests
31 toys/dolls/playing cards
49 hats

I thought you might like to see a few pictures of the items. Your generosity is such that I can't keep up in photographing it all! But believe me, each item is equally beautiful.

I am packaging all your gifts for volunteers to deliver. I'll have another update very soon, and two lucky donors have prizes in their future too!

Maine!

2009-07-05T14:10:00.003-04:00

Howdy Knittah!

We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and take a trip up to Portland, Maine. Have you ever been there? It's a cute little city, and very laid back, with some lovely scenery. We had tried to find an alpaca farm (but the Garmin did not think the address existed), and we were going to go on a tour of a vodka distillery (but they were closed for the 4th). We did get to see a neat lighthouse though!

This is the Portland Head Light, and it's much prettier in person. (Someone managed to charge all her camera batteries, but leave the camera at home, so we were stuck with a cell phone and a disposable.) We arrived after the museum closed, but there were still interesting things to see there.

Hope you had a nice 4th!

June 2009 Delivery

2009-06-23T10:57:00.004-04:00

I took all your beautiful gifts to my doctor yesterday, and laid out a few for him to see. The rest were in a huge box! Our final tally was:

6 blankets
9 sweaters
3 shawls
15 scarves
8 hats
8 pairs mittens
5 hat sets (with either matching scarf or socks)
1 hand made toy

He was thrilled, and we talked about some ideas for the future as well. He happily posed for a picture, but I caught him while blinking. Sorry Dr. G! I didn't notice until this morning!

Thank you to each of you who donated for this round. Information on the next round will be posted this week!

Big Fat Generosity

2009-06-19T19:03:00.005-04:00

You've overwhelmed me with your generosity once again! Today was the deadline for the latest Botswana Project collection, and I've got to cram a lot of gifts into this one post!

Sweaters, by Vicki, Anne Marie, Lara, and Bev:

Here's a better look at the ones at the bottom of the pile (Lara's and Anne Marie's):

Thank you for all the gorgeous gifts. I'll be taking them to my doctor on Monday, and I'll have an update for you next week!

Lisa sent shawls and blankets:

Hats by Maria, Corinna, Yasemin, and Carol:

Hat/scarf sets by Maria and Corinna:

Baby hat and bootie sets by Corinna, and a toy from Bev:

Mittens! Courtesy of Bev and her Monday night knitting group:

A whole mess of scarves from Anne Marie, Maria, Laina, Clarissa

More scarves from Clarissa, Maria and Anne Marie:

Eliza and Me

2009-05-30T12:39:00.003-04:00

The June 19th deadline for our next Botswana collection is fast-approaching. Too fast. Where did May go? Anyway, I made this blue pullover:

And Eliza made two baby blankets like this one:

AND she made another baby blanket:

AND she made three scarves:

Rock on, Eliza! Just a reminder that gifts for the Botswana project are due to me on June 19th. We've been asked especially for sweaters and scarves. Email me if you need more info.

Rocca, Bagno Vignoni, and San Quirico

2009-05-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Knittah.

From Rocca, we hiked over to Bagno Vignoni and on to San Quirico. Bagno Vignoni is a spa town with thermal waters considered very beneficial for bone ailments. There are now, still, 2 big hotels that attract people, and certainly on Easter weekend the town was crazy busy with Italians on a day trip. Here's the view from Rocca towards Bagno:

En route, we encountered a Tuscan Serpent!

OK, perhaps not on a par with the Hungarian Horntail or whatever, but still, it was about 2.5 feet and really active and threatening spread out like that across the tail...well, actually, no, it was completely still soaking up the sunshine.

We came to the river Orcia and had to make the crossing. The nazis bombed out the bridge during the retreat...

and it's never been properly replaced...the wooden suspension bridge only lasted a few years before that plan fell apart, as it were.

So we had to walk across the spillway (which you can see in the lower lefthand corner of the above photo). Which means stripping off boots etc. The water came up to Eliza's ankles, about the limit, according to the hike instructions. Of course, the instructions also said that the moss isn't slippery. Yeah, maybe not, if you're wearing crampons. As it was, Eliza almost lost it--And ME--on the second step. From then on, she took baby steps across.

Approaching Bagno Vignoni, we saw a family BBQ'ing. Note the easter egg center piece on the picnic table:

The water and geology felt a little reminiscent of yellowstone:

At some point, the Italians built a grain mill within the hill you saw above, taking advantage of the steam from the water to power things.

Eliza needed to phone her life line, the local contact Paolo, from Bagno to figure out how to get out of town, because the directions, "...follow along the street into the village. After you've finished moseying about...go to the loggia at the end of the pool. Facing the pool, turn left and then right..." etc. made no sense to her. How embarrassing to get lost in a small town.

From there, we walked on towards San Quirico. In San Quirico, the town's gentlemen presided:

Swatchy C a fiori

2009-05-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Knittah.

During grad school, Eliza had an Italian roommate, Emanuela. Ema's mother doesn't speak English. Eliza doesn't speak Italian. Anyway, finally, when Ema's mom visited for graduation, it dawned on them to converse in Spanish, and it would have really simplified things if they'd thought of that sooner. But until that point, it was challenging. Ema's mom would call and Eliza wouldn't know how to explain that Ema was out. Ema finally coached Eliza on how to explain to her mom that she was out. Eliza, however, heard it as "Ema a fiori" which made Ema laugh hysterically because that means "Ema's in the flowers." What Eliza was supposed to understand was "Ema a fuori" meaning Ema's out and about.

Anyway, so my point with this little preview is that Eliza has a...mischievous streak and she delighted in putting ME, Swatchy C, "a fiori":

But finally, Tuscan poppies. And are those wild delphiniums?!!

This post has some random snaps from the hiking. This is a lovely home near Rocca, and don't you just want to hang out on that patio?

Believe it or not, Italy has boxed wine. Which Barbara, Bill, and Eliza decided was a good idea for hiking. Here I am enjoying a much-deserved break on the trail, pizza bianco (basically a plain thick-ish crust) with some prosciutto:

There were tons of lizards all over the place but they mostly moved like lightning so you could never get a good look at one. But here we got lucky:

Rocca d'Orcia

2009-05-09T13:52:00.004-04:00

Hi Knittah!

We spent 2 nights in Rocca, the first after the walk from Castelnuovo dell'Abate and the second after a walk from Rocca to San Quirico (from which we got a ride back to town by the local contact, Paolo).

The walk from Montalcino to Rocca was beautiful. We kept seeing the Castello di Ripa d'Orcia, of the Piccolomini family (of Pope Pius II and other infamous personages), from different angles:

Here Barbara and Bill enter Rocca:

Rocca is considered a great example of a medieval borgo (hamlet). The fortress on the top of the hill was built about a millenium ago. The old town piazza, around the well, dates from the 12th century:

Our hotel, San Simeone, was just below the fortress.

Elements of the hotel were built right into the hillside. Here's Eliza's bathroom:

We ate both nights at the town's only restaurant, Il Borgo (the hamlet), a lovely restaurant whose proprietess, Marta, spoke English and French fluently, in addition to Italian. (Apologies for the fuzzy photo--Eliza had the camera settings all wrong.) Marta was a lovely hostess and was incredibly patient in explaining the menu:

Here you can see the view across the rooftops of Rocca, towards Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico, the hike for the 2nd day:

Making a Difference

2009-05-08T15:08:00.003-04:00

I thought you would enjoy seeing pictures of one of the families you have helped with your donations to the Botswana project. Look at the smiles on these beautiful faces:

You put those smiles there! Your generous gifts of time and knitting have made a positive difference in the lives of this family. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next collection deadline is June 19th. I hope you'll join me, again.

Montalcino to Castelnuovo dell'Abate

2009-05-06T12:01:00.013-04:00

Hi Knittah.

We stayed 2 nights in Montalcino. On the 2nd day, Good Friday day [I know, I posted the evening scene on the last post...sorry, bad planning], we hiked from Montalcino to Castelnuovo dell'Abate. This hike included instructions like:

"You arrive at a driveway lined with cypresses (the tall skinny trees). Just past the second cypress on the left..."

and

"Stay with the main road where it turns left at the farmhouse on your right. There is usually a chained barking dog here."

The countryside is practically littered with agriturismos--farms of various types that offer a twist on the bed-and-breakfast model. Here's an intersection outside of Montalcino with signs to all the local attractions and agriturismos. [The recycling bins are positioned there so that the residents in the area can deposit their recyclables there--no curbside collection.]

Just outside of Montalcino are the ruins of an Etruscan settlement:

(Yeah, I'm not sure what all it says, but basically there was like a fortress part of the settlement for defensive purposes. And the image that came to mind was of Legolas and Gimli...)

Probably about a mile and a half before reaching Castelnuovo, up in the hills, Eliza and I came upon a large group of what appeared to be an Italian version of boy/girl scouts (there were both), in uniform, aged in the mid-teens maybe (Eliza can't tell any more), sitting in a circle on a hilltop around a crucifix and a priest (monk? Eliza can't tell that either) wearing full length white robes. Eliza didn't take photos, obviously. Anyway, proceeding on past the group and down the other side of the hill, we saw yet another group sitting in the shade off the trail, holding a service of sorts. And they were being passed by yet another group coming up the trail. This group was curious: there was a strict looking teacher in front, with a boy in civilian clothing, a girl in civilian clothing with a head scarf over her head (sort of like a hijab), and another girl wearing a super tight white t-shirt and a little black mini skirt. A boy right behind them bore a crucifix. They were followed by maybe 50 more scouts in uniform. Eliza was puzzled by the civilian clothing, especially the seemingly inappropriate mini skirt. And then she realized: the 3 in front were Mary, Joseph, and Mary Magdalene (the mini skirt).

Anyway, it turns out that there's a big Catholic student/scout center just outside of Castelnuovo because of the abbey there. But it was quite a display--all those students schlepping crucifixes up a rugged farm track up steep hills for Good Friday services of sorts.

The Abbey of Sant Antimo apparently was initiated under Charlemagne in the 9th century. The abbey became really powerful over the next couple of centuries until Pope Pius II "reorganized." The abbey was unoccupied for over 500 years until it was re-populated in 1993 with a small community of French Cistercian monks.

In Castelnuovo, I spied a monk loose from the Abbey. Is that allowed?!

And then back in Montalcino, for dinner...Eliza ordered pasta. There's a hand-rolled pasta from that area called "pici." Because it's hand-rolled, it's thick-thin (Knittah perhaps would compare it to a hand-spun) and in this case it was prepared very simply with tomatoes, garlic, and a bit of basil. Eliza says that it was heavenly. And is it not beautiful?!

Montalcino

2009-05-04T19:49:00.002-04:00

Hi Knittah.

Arriving from Buonconvento, we spent two nights in Montalcino, due to logistical challenges with the Easter weekend--we took the next leg of the trip as a day-hike and caught the bus back.

Montalcino is a lovely hilltop town that seems to thrive on the regional agriculture and tourism. There are lots of wine shops and wine bars where you can sample brunellos and the local cuisine. Eliza tried a flight of brunellos (2004, 2003, and a 1999):

Eliza couldn't resist trying the spaghetti there on the menu. First the waitress brought out the crostini in the previous photo. Then she created the pasta dish by presenting a plate of plain noodles, then in front of me drizzling the oil over it, then grating fresh parmesano, then grinding fresh pepper. It was absolutely the kind of thing Loretta would fix herself while preparing a bloody steak for Ronny.

The town's bookstore had the following offerings:

(Patricia Cornwall...Marley and Me...Letters to Obama from Children...felt like home...)

We were there on Good Friday. The town holds a procession from one church to another, winding through the streets and stopping at each major "intersection" for what Eliza interpreted to be one stage in a mass (there was a combined Catholicism/Italian barrier to overcome). The procession included life-size crucifixes and a large bier borne by citizens of the town. So many townspeople Much of the town followed in two columns behind the priest and the band. The band was made up of brass and drums and played a dirge of sorts. Eliza didn't take photos of the procession, but she did capture the lights beforehand:

Gardens with the Girls

2009-05-02T06:53:00.000-04:00

Hi Knittah.

This is a Very Belated post, as Eliza finally discovered photos on her camera from last summer. We had gone on an outing with friends to see an orchid exhibit, butterflies, and gardens.

Caroline's got style:

The girls were delightful as always. I was jealous of Grace's t-shirt. Oh, to have a Marauder's Map...

And then we explored the gardens:

Hiking Buonconvento to Montalcino

2009-04-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Knittah,

The first leg of the hike was from Buonconvento to Montalcino. To preface the post, I should explain that Eliza arranged the trip through a US-based company with local Italian "coordinators" who were available for SOS calls to send you a taxi or whatever if you found yourself hopelessly lost. We weren't following a defined trail, like the AT or whatever. It was much more inventive than that. The company provided us detailed notes explaining each little bit of the walk.

For example: "Soon, you come out into the open at a large umbrella pine. Note on your immediate left the field divided by a hedge. Follow the farm track which you'll find running along the left side of the hedge. You should also see a crenellated castle tower straight ahead and then at 11 o'clock as you follow the farm track. The tower is set within a row of trees which extends considerably further to the right than to the left. You want to make your way to the far right end of the row of trees. While doing so, you pass through a windbreak, then between two fields and eventually, the path curves along a wooded area and hedge on your right."

See:

Obvious.

Two other Americans were taking the same route at the same time. Bill and Barbara live in Salt Lake City and have hiked in many exotic locales, including, for example, Bhutan. We did several of the hikes together and shared some delicious meals.

And after much more walking...the promised land:

And so we reached Montalcino and Eliza got a room with a view:

Botswana Update

2009-04-27T11:13:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone!!!! Our gifts are winging their way to Botswana, and I have new information for you.

The program that uses our gifts is part of the University of Pennsylvania's partnership with Botswana. You can read about the program here. The program also has a Facebook page.

I would like (with your agreement) to change our deadline for the next collection. Winter came early to Botswana, so I don't want to wait until our fall, their spring to send more gifts.

So our new collection deadline is June 19th! We've been asked especially for sweaters and scarves in all child sizes. Laina also suggested that we make shawls for the volunteers who work with the children, and Dr. G said that would be very welcome.

Email me with questions or for the address to send your gifts. And there will be prizes again!

Heavenly Val d'Orcia

2009-04-23T18:32:00.003-04:00

Hi Knittah,

After Florence and Siena, Eliza and I took the train to Buonconvento to begin the hiking trip. Buonconvento is in the Val d'Orcia (Orcia Valley--Orcia is one of the rivers) near the southern extreme of Tuscany. [Note to movie lovers: apparently the Italian parts of The English Patient were filmed in different parts of Val d'Orcia]

It's gorgeous. It's been designated an "Artistic, Natural, and Cultural Park" intended to promote the local economy consistent with the traditional way of life and environmental protection. As part of that, they're promoting "the nature train," the use of the train line from Siena as a way for bicyclers and hikers to get around, jump on, jump off and go, get back on somewhere else, etc.

The terrain was remarkably varied over the course of the walk--some volcanic rock in some places, limestone, sandstone, marble quarries, and then apparently very different soils, some suited better to crops and some to wines--I mean, grapes.

(don't you just want to move in?)

I never did figure out any of the crops (besides the hay and the grapes, duh). Like, what's this:

For wine-lovers and foodies, the valley is known for the Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, and I think a bit of Nobile from Montepulciano, as well as olive oil, honey, and cheeses.

And for yarn (or lamb?!) lovers, there were sheep. A few. Actually, I only saw two small flocks. But they wear bells! (which you can't see in this photo because man do they need a shave)

Siena

2009-04-21T13:00:00.003-04:00

Hi Knittah.

After a couple of days in Florence, Eliza and I travelled to Siena for a day/night. Siena apparently was a rival of Florence during the middle ages and is the scene of the famous (infamous?) Palio, the crazy horse race around the piazza. Take a look at the piazza (and then watch the opening 10 minutes of Quantum of Solace) and you'll see what I mean:

The piazza is a great place to hang out, watch people, and, as it turns out, eat gelato and knit (not, however, at the same time):

Wandering about the town, we came upon this shop, filled with imaginative possibilities for D&D or your other favorite RPG, although I don't imagine that was the intent...

We visited the market with Americans from Portland, OR, Mary and Nina, whom we had met over breakfast at the hotel. Here's Mary:

In honor of Knittah's gardening efforts:

The flowers were gorgeous:

The place was packed, mostly with locals and precious few of us tourists, who had a bit of a hard time navigating the crowd and booths:

The young

2009-04-20T11:47:00.003-04:00

It was fascinating observing Italian youth in Florence and Siena. There were school groups all over Florence, many Italian.

Now, as context for this post, Eliza and I don't hang around teenagers much (at all?). There's a high school nearby, though, and Eliza will see them walking to school from their cars. And then there's late spring, when you're at a restaurant and suddenly feel under-dressed when you turn around and see decked-out girls and boys pile out of limos for prom night. The girls always seem older and more put-together than the guys. They seem to put more effort into it.

In Tuscany (at least, in Florence and Siena), it seemed quite the opposite. The girls just seemed "normal" (the usual low-rider jeans (I think that's what the kids call them now?) and such but nothing much beyond that) while the guys seemed to really be making a lot of effort. There were snazzy jackets, ball-caps in stand-out colors, and these huge sunglasses. In particular, there was this thing happening with the hair, where they'd gel the hair around the crown of the skull so it stood straight up. (do they do that here now, too? to the same extent? if so, we haven't seen it) Apologies for the awkward photos, a byproduct of surreptitious photo-taking of moving targets.

You can't really make out the hot pink sunglasses in this one:

The sunglasses are a bit more apparent here:

The contrast with American teens (or what Eliza and I recognize with American teens) just seemed really dramatic.

A roof with a view

2009-04-19T06:57:00.014-04:00

Hi Knittah!

Eliza and I are back from Tuscany. We spent a couple of days in Florence before continuing on to Siena and some of the hilltowns in the south.

Because one should have a view upon one's first visit to Florence...we almost got one. Our hotel, south of the Arno, about a block from the Ponte Vecchio, right next to Pitti Palace, had rooftop terraces with lovely views of Florence's city scape and of the Boboli Gardens (alas, not of the Arno).

The rooftop terrace proved to be a sanctuary, as Florence is, erm, a bit busy and crowded in high season, it turns out. It was amazing to be sitting a stone's throw from urban chaos and instead be listening to birds singing. Below is the scene on Ponte Vecchio, about a block from the hotel:

Views along the Arno:

We spent a lot of time people-watching. Here's the view from lunch over in Santa Croce:

And sitting in the Piazza della Signora, we were visited by some...unique tourists:

Apparently Italian restaurants have to serve you some food if you're drinking. They presented the following selection when we ordered a glass of wine:

And yes, those are corn nuts. I know.

The gelato, however, speaks for itself:

It turns out Florence is a fashion center, the home of Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo (or however that's spelled) and Roberto Cavalli. It even has fashion police: (get it? fashion police? ...never mind)

But here's some men's fashion for you. I liked these suits:

Ferragamo occupies a full block of Florence, in a beautiful building. I appreciated the juxtaposition of the sacred and the profance:

I'm Back!!!

2009-04-08T23:54:00.003-04:00

Yay! I can finally access the blogger dashboard again, which means I can start posting here again! (Which means that when I don't post, it's due to me being a slacker, not blogger's fault. Swatchy is still disgusted with just how many posts I'm behind on...)

Final Count, and Prizes!

2009-03-16T14:23:00.002-04:00

Our final tally of handmade gifts for Botswana is impressive: 2 bags, 4 blankets, 5 pairs socks/booties, 7 sweaters, 8 toys, 11 scarves, and 47 hats! More hats and gloves were purchased and donated by you, as well. My husband and I delivered everything to my doctor this morning, and he says thank you thank you thank you! He was amazed at how much you gave, and where the gifts came from!

I promised prizes, and my husband did the honors of pulling three names from his (Eagles) hat:

Our winners are Anne Marie, Lizzie and Laina! Congratulations! I've already emailed or messaged you about sending your prize. What did they win? In order, clockwise from the right: 4 skeins of Classic Elite Paintbox, 1 skein of Great Adirondack sock yarn, and 2 skeins of Fearless Fibers worsted.

Thank you everyone for your generosity. We will do this again, if you are willing!

One Last Box

2009-03-15T16:46:00.003-04:00

To my delight, I received a box yesterday from Amy in Kuala Lampur!!! She sent these hats and adorable children's sweaters. Thank you!!!!

Finish Line

2009-03-14T10:59:00.004-04:00

The last donations have arrived, and I've got a mountain to show you!

These adorable Bobs are from vismajor. Freaking adorable!

Turtleknits sent this blanket and 5 hats. The yarn is very squooshy, too.

The scarf, 8 hats, granny square blanket AND super cute socks are from tiniestmonkey.

This bright pink blanket is from DianaW. She did a secret agent hand off to my husband in the lobby of his building to turn it in. He may be 6'4" tall with a buzzcut, but the man is not embarrassed to carry a bright pink blanket around (in a shopping bag).

Finally, these two funny guys are from Clarissa68. I think these are the first toys she's made, and they are fantastic!

Thank you to everyone who contributed items for this round of the Botswana project! I did promise prizes, so I'll be posting about that tomorrow! And your lovely gifts will be delivered to Dr. G on Monday!

Raking it In

2009-03-05T11:36:00.016-05:00

Last night was Knit Night, and you can guess what that means! The ladies loaded me up with their generous gifts for the Botswana project.

Laina made this adorable crochet poncho and hat, and the hat, bib and booties.

Debbie made this hat. It's stranded knitting, y'all!

Debbie made this hat and sock set too!

Rosemary came through the pretty pink scarf, plus the hats and gloves. How cute are those snowball hats!?

All those sweaters? Anne Marie made those sweaters. ALL the sweaters!

Anne Marie made the hat and scarves too. How completely wonderful are all these gifts, and how completely wonderful are these knitters? Pretty freaking wonderful, in my book.

If you want to contribute, you have until March 13th. And there will be prizes!

Cuties!

2009-02-25T11:25:00.002-05:00

These absolutely adorable booties, made from handspun, arrived yesterday from Leslie for the Botswana project. Thank you!! You still have time to contribute. Our deadline is March 13th, and there will be yarny prizes!! Get in touch if you would like to mail in a few warm, handknit items for the kids.

Circle of Hats

2009-02-21T16:20:00.002-05:00

Check out these adorable hats! They came from Otiva in the UK. She and her mum knit up these nine hats for the Botswana project.

You still have time to send me your own contributions to the project. Our deadline is March 13th, and every participant will be entered to win free yarn!

Three by Three

2009-02-13T14:14:00.004-05:00

Another day, another package!! This time, the goodies came from Blizzy.

Three scarves . . .

Three hats . . .

Three fish toys, and a bag!

Thank you for these beautiful gifts, Blizzy! And remember everyone, there will be at least three prizes for contributors (selected at random). The deadline is March 13th!

Long Way 'Round (with prizes!)

2009-02-11T15:42:00.001-05:00

cross-posted to my blog and the Swatchy blog

By now, you know all about the Botswana Project and that our next collection deadline is March 13th. My doctor personally carries all donated items to Botswana for distribution to children in need. So many generous knitters and crocheters have contributed items, including friend magnusmog.

How much do I love getting packages addressed this way!

Magnusmog lives in Scotland (lucky!), so her hand-knits are taking the long way round to Botswana via my house in the United States. She sent me two scarves and 6 hats for the kids!

It seems to me that since all of you have been so generous in your support of this project, I would return the favor. Everyone who sends me items for these children will be entered to win a prize from my own stash! I won't tell you exactly what yarn (because I haven't quite decided yet), but I will give at least three - count 'em, three! - yarny prizes to three of you (selected with a random generator thingy by Mr. Tumblyday).

What do you need to do to enter? Send me one or more hand-knit or hand-crocheted warm item, sized for children. You can email me for an address. The deadline is March 13th, and the prizes will be announced on March 16th.

First Batch

2009-01-22T13:15:00.004-05:00

The wonderful ladies in my Knitting Group gave me the first batch of donations for this Botswana round last night:

Anne Marie made the blanket, green bag and yellow scarf. Laina made the two large hats and red scarf. Bev made the adorable little pink hat.

I've heard from a number of people, promising knits by our deadline of March 13th. Thank you thank you to each and every one of you!

ETA: Anne Marie made the blanket, green bag, yellow scarf and red hats. Gina made the red scarf. Whoopsie!!!

Skating

2009-01-11T17:35:00.003-05:00

Dear Knittah,

Today Noricum and I went skating. Well, Noricum skated, and I took in the view from her sock bag. Before we started skating, she bought some new skates:

These ones are much better than her old ones, because her feet don't hurt in them. She was able to skate quite a bit before her feet started to ache a bit, and then they only hurt a bit. Plus, the wire "laces" with the dial to tighten them are a lot faster to put on and take off, or even to adjust when necessary. Plus they're insulated. That's a necessity for outdoor skating!

We also had some hot dogs and hot chocolate that he Knights of Columbus were handing out.

We hope you're keeping warm.

Love,
Swatchy

Botswana Time!

2009-01-06T10:47:00.003-05:00

We've done it before, now it's time to do it again! Readers already know that my doctor, Dr. G, founded an HIV/AIDS clinic in Gaborone, Botswana. Last year, I asked him if they treated many children. He said that treatment for pregnant women who are HIV+ is widely available and effective, and so not many children are born with the virus.

Dr. G then said that there is an orphanage near the hospital, and that 85% of the children there are "AIDS orphans" having lost a caregiver to AIDS. Did they need anything, I asked. Everything, he said. This was the beginning of our Botswana project. Friends, relatives and knitters joined me in making warm things for Dr. G to bring to the children.

And let me tell you, we've impressed them! The last collection was a true tower of love - eighty-six hand knit and crocheted items, including twenty-six blankets! Dr. G told me that the children (and adults) in Botswana are amazed that someone in America would make something just for them, by hand. They treasure every item we send, and put it to good use.

Botswana is in the southern hemisphere, so the seasons there are the opposite of where I live in the north. In winter, it falls below 40 degree (F) and no one has heat. Outside Gaborone, it is can be especially cold. So will you join me in making a gift for another child?

What to make: Hats, sweaters, socks, mittens, blankets and toys in bright colors
What to use: Warm, easy care fibers - superwash wool is a plus, but I'll take anything
When is it due? Our deadline for this round is March 13th

Email me for the address to send your items or to make other arrangements.

Finally, a big shout out to my knit and crochet group! These ladies rock hard core, and are largely responsible for the avalanche of gifts last time. Mwah!!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2008-12-15T15:39:00.001-05:00

Christmas Tree Hunting

Dear Knittah,

Yesterday Noricum and I went Christmas tree hunting. It was *cold*, but it didn't take long for us to chop down the ditch tree using a pair of pruners. You can read more about the tree here.

Love,
Swatchy

PS: Noricum still hasn't found my tuque! I'm going to pester her to make me a new one, before my hair freezes off!

Manitoba Art Expo

2008-11-10T12:20:00.003-05:00

Dear Knittah,

On Friday, Noricum, her friend, and I went to the Manitoba Art Expo. There was lots of lovely art there. I mostly hung in my travel pouch, but Noricum remembered to bring me out to introduce me to Linda Glowacki:

She does lovely needle-felted artwork, and got a real kick meeting me. She seems like a fun person!

We enjoyed looking at all the art, and Noricum saw lots of people she knew... some were from the art club she belongs to, and others she took workshops from.

The driving to and from the show was really scary, though. The roads were really icy! Plows and sanders were out, but they were having trouble keeping up with the conditions. Noricum's friend is a really safe driver, though, so we made it there and back without any accidents, although one red light we weren't sure if we'd manage to stop before the intersection. (After that we watched the walk signals, and slowed to stop if they turned red. That method had us stopped at a green light once, though. We felt a bit silly... but safe!) We saw one accident happen when someone couldn't stop for a red light, and another where someone slid all the way through a red light. In that second case, we were really glad there was a clear lane beside us, because that person *had* been in our lane. Had there not been an empty lane, we would have been rear-ended!

Driving was much better on Saturday when Noricum took me grocery shopping. We were both very relieved that the roads had improved so much.

Love,
Swatchy

Winter Wonderland

2008-11-08T01:24:00.002-05:00

Dear Knittah,

Winter has arrived. Please send warm thoughts.

I wonder where I put my tuque...

Love,
Swatchy

Vote Early!

2008-10-31T11:35:00.003-04:00

Dear Swatchy,

You probably know that Election Day here in the U.S. is Tuesday, November 4th. The voter turnout is expected to be high with long lines, and Knittah just can't be wait in a line for very long (especially if it means sitting in her wheelchair outside). Luckily - did you know this? - she can vote by absentee ballot.

I got to check out the ballot before she filled it out. She said you are supposed to fill in the ballot all by yourself with no one around, so I had to go back to my shelf when she got out the pen.

But pretty cool, huh? Knittah says: "No matter who you vote for, make sure you vote in this election!"

Love, Nori

Rhinebeck 2008!

2008-10-28T22:34:00.007-04:00

Howdy Knittah!

I've been pretty quiet lately, huh? You can blame Vicki - she keeps having work, and life and stuff get in the way. Ridiculous, I know! She even went to see the Yarn Harlot in Boston, and forgot to bring her camera!

That's not to say that I haven't seen our dear Stephanie recently though..

(That was the second picture, taken after she said that she had dorked up the first picture, and requested a do over. The first wasn't that bad, but it did look like she was at the tail end of a crazy book tour..)

We went to Rhinebeck again! We weren't such good knitblogger stalkers this year, but in our defense, it was really really crowded!

There were also a lot of people at the Ravelry party. They were less blurry than this in person.

I was quite taken with this guy. His name is Thor, and he kept smiling at me. I couldn't tell if it was a happy friendly smile, or a get away before I bite you smile, but still, he was impressive.

How many more days until Rhinebeck 2009? We can't wait to go back!

Manitoba Military Tattoo

2008-10-26T21:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Knittah,

I'm sorry I haven't written much lately! Noricum and I have so many posts to write, but life has been so busy. This post couldn't wait though... because we met Fred Penner, and he said he'd look for our post!!! Do you know who Fred Penner is? He's an *awesome* singer of children's music, and Canadian, and Noricum has an autographed record of his from when he sang at her elementary school. He even had his own TV show!

Anyway, I suppose I should give a wee bit of a back story (before Noricum hares off to that silly desk of hers that she's trying to refinish).

Noricum's dad is in the Winnipeg Male Chorus, which was singing today as part of the Manitoba Military Tattoo. Fred Penner was the Master of Ceremony. After the performance there was a dinner, and Fred Penner (and the recently retired Chief of Defense for NATO) were sitting at the next table! After the speeches were over, Noricum twisted up her courage and asked for a photograph:

(Don't mind Noricum... she's a little star-struck, and didn't think to straighten out her vest.)

While we were taking photos, this one is of Noricum's neighbour, Don McCrae, who is the grand-nephew of the poet, John McCrae, who wrote "In Flander's Fields":

And this photo is of one of the handsome fellows from the 402 Pipes and Drums Band:

Noricum was a big fan of the pipe band performances in the show, and also loved the purple tartans. :)

We also spotted an RCMP officer in full formal dress while we were waiting in the car to figure out what entrance to use before the show, but Noricum was slow to think of me and her camera, and he was already half a block away (on a *cold* and *WINDY* day), so she didn't chase after him. Also, she was delegated with making sure Don made it to his seat, and didn't want to abandon him. Sorry! Next time, Noricum promises to think faster.

Well, I'd upload a few blurry photos of the show, but Noricum is complaining that she needs to do a tiny bit on her desk before dark. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up on some of the backlogged posts soon!

Love,
Swatcy

PS: No, Noricum didn't have the guts to pester the former NATO Chief of Defense for a photograph. Plus he had wandered off, talking to other people while Noricum was busy with Fred Penner.

PPS: We're getting kind of low on postcards... do you have more of them?

Botswana, The Next Round of Knitting

2008-10-05T20:16:00.002-04:00

I saw Dr. G this week, and he is recently returned from Botswana. He told me that our gifts were a tremendous hit with the volunteers and children.

There were so many beautiful things, that the staff divided them up. Larger items went to the orphanage near the hospital. As I think I mentioned before, 85% of those children are AIDS orphans (meaning their primary caregiver(s) have succumbed to AIDS), but only 15% of the children are actually HIV positive. All of the baby items went to the pediatric ICU at the hospital. Dr. G said over and over that our gifts were so deeply appreciated, and that the care you put into making them means so much to the recipients – much more than a donation check ever could.

So let’s do it again! Weather is getting warmer in Botswana right now, so I suggest we aim for sending knitted items as our spring approaches. Here’s the essential info:

What to knit: All items are needed, and I’m waiting for an update on any specific requests.

Fibers: Think WARM, so wool is better than cotton. Think DURABLE, as most items will be washed by hand in a tub, and hung to dry on a wire fence or similar.

Colors: Any and all colors, especially bright colors.

Our deadline is March 13th. Email me for information about sending in your donations.

Alpacas!!!

2008-09-27T23:25:00.002-04:00

Dear Knittah,

Today we got to see alpacas!!! And other furry critters! We petted lots of soft things, both living and processed. :) Noricum is being a stick-in-the-mud, and hasn't even taken her photos off the camera. (She said that she *had* to do laundry. Harumph!) Anyway, another member of our tour group is obviously much better organized than Noricum, and has her photos on Flickr. :) Hmmm... let me see if I can get this slideshow thingy to work...

Did that work? At any rate, I'll work on getting Noricum to do something about her photos, and the cabin post, and the Toronto post and... *sigh*

Love,
Swatchy

After all that...

2008-09-07T16:52:00.001-04:00

We were just wiped. It was time to end the sleep over by actually getting some sleep. I got in to my PJs, and Swatchee and I cuddled down for a snooze, under a lovely afghan that Pele's human crocheted for me, and sent all the way from Arkansas!

I hope Swatchee will keep in touch with us all

Thanks for the visit (and your patience listening to the ramblings of a bear

After the game..

2008-09-07T16:51:00.000-04:00

.... time for my music. I'm a real rock'n'roll bear.!! :) Swatchee was right into it and can do a pretty mean percussion in his boot, by hopping up and down on the desk. We ROCK!!!!

FINALLY!!!

2008-09-07T16:47:00.002-04:00

We finally get to do our real man-thing, beer, nuts and football games. Well, I shouldn't say "man-thing" because my human is the football nut in this family, and she ends up screaming at the TV! Go Bombers!! Win a game, once in a while, will ya?

We had fun hanging out.

After all that running around..

2008-09-07T16:46:00.001-04:00

.. we had to toake a little break on the deck swing. We're pretty good friends at this point! It was nice to relax for awhile and listen to the deck pond.

After being yelled at...

2008-09-07T16:45:00.000-04:00

We ran around to the front of the house and tried to hide in the flower bed there. My human found us of course, but she wasn't mad at us anymore. We're both there -- can you find Swatchee?

BTW, that a first-time chrysanthemum behind me. Isn't it going to be fabulous when it blooms?! It's huge!

One of those "QUIGLEY!!" moments ;)

2008-09-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

"You boys get off the grape trellis!! What are you thinking??? "

Well, she is right. The grapes aren't ripe yet.

High Flying Swatchee

2008-09-07T16:43:00.002-04:00

I guess it's a super-boot, because he was able to jump really high on to one of the birdfeeders. He hung around for awhile hoping the birds would come back so he could say hi, but I guess he was scary looking or something.

DON'T PANIC!!!

2008-09-07T16:43:00.001-04:00

Hippo was just horsing around. Startled Swatchee at first, but they both ended up giggling. Swatchee was glad to be having some adventures. Not very often that you get to be "eaten" by a hippopotamus. BTW, Hippo is Gnome's friend, and spends that whole year outside too.

Swatchee REALLY like his boot!

2008-09-07T16:41:00.000-04:00

Not only was he able to get close to the the Vomiting Frog on those slippery rocks, he was able to get right into one of the flower gardens, and meet one of my favourite buddies, the Garden Gnome. He doesn't have a name either -- wel, he does, but he says it's secret. Gnome names are something special that only other gnomes know (?). Anyhow, he stays out all winter and disappears under the snow each year and hibernates. We really know that spring is coming when his cap starts to peek out thorugh the snow. Swatchee and the Gnome really seemed to enjoy each other's presence.

Out by the pond.

2008-09-07T16:40:00.000-04:00

The water lettuce did really well this year. Maybe TOO well since it covers most of the surface of the pond! Swatchee was quite impressed by the Vomiting Frog. That frog has never told us his name. He just sits there and spits up all the time. My human started calling him the Vomiting Frog some time ago. She had been hoping to get a fountain in her pond kit a few years ago, but ended up with a frog. She was going to replace him, but the Vomiting Frog has kind of grown on us all, even if he doesn't talk like me.

Finally outside!

2008-09-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

It's been a weird day, alternating with heavy rain and hail, and sunny blue skies. We got out while the weather was good. Swatchee and I were going to see if we could pull some carrots, but the garden was too wet, for too much playing around. Swatchee preferred standing in the flowers anyhow. My human plants marigolds around the vegetable garden to help keep the rabbits out.

Before we got outside...

2008-09-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

Swatchee had to check out what my human was doing. She and her male human were peeling apples for apple pie and also for freezing. He is standing beside some jars that are all apple stuff too. That might have been and adventure for Swatchee, but my human has been playing with apples for a couple of weeks now, so I thought it was rather boring. I was polite though and didn't rush him.

So then I got this brilliant idea...

2008-09-07T16:37:00.001-04:00

And lent Swatchee one of my rainboots! He was much happier and less shy at that point. Not only could he stand up on his own now, but he would be protected if we went outside for some adventures!

So we hopped down from the top of my human's desk...

2008-09-07T16:33:00.000-04:00

Swatchee seemed a little afraid of me at first. After all, I am quite a bit bigger than him, and I have arms! He commented on what big feet I have but I explained that I have normal feet, but the big shoes help me stand up on my own. He was jealous.

Swatchee found me.

2008-09-07T16:18:00.002-04:00

I was just hanging out at my usual spot with my little buddies, when Swatchee appeared and introduced himself. I was so surprised, but pleased to have a visitor around here. It can get a little boring.

Greetings From Quigs...

2008-09-07T16:16:00.001-04:00

Well Helloooo......!

I hear that I'm going to be a star on another website! How cool is that?! And what a surprise and treat to have a weekend visitor. Swatchee is a pretty cool dude, and it's been SO fun to have someone to play with. :)

Let me introduce myself. My really name is Quigley, but almost everyone calls me Quigs. When I get into trouble, my human puts on a stern face and says "QUIGLEY!!" but I'm usually a pretty good bear.

I came into existence in 2003, but my story actually goes back before then. My human became friends with another human, way down in California. This human was quite ill, but my human (Karen aka Mum) knew that Katie, liked and collected moose. (meese?) Karen found a cuddly stuffed moose at a local shop, that would be good to snuggle going into chemotherapy sessions. Or at least that was thought! Off the moose went courtesy of the postal system, and what a surprise Karen got when she opened her email a few days later, to find a picture of the moose in a Hawaiian shirt, sitting by the pool with an umbrella drink! He had told Katie that his name was Mort, and so Mort the Moose was born.

He DID go with Katie to some sessions, and Karen even sent him his own scrubs, so that Katie would always have an attending phyisician. Lots of up and downs for Katie, but she is still with us, so Mort just might be the Magical Moose!

Mort started to do some travelling. He even got to sit in the cockpit of a jet and help fly the plane. He had a lot of fun in Disneyworld.

Not long after that, my human bought a whole bunch of new bedding at Quilts, etc., here in Winnipeg. The lady there said that she had bought so much she could have a free collectible teddy bear -- first in a series. I was put into this human's arms and jsut snuggled right in. I was home. I had been adopted. And Mort now had a competitor.

Mort's human was THRILLED that I had joined the family here, and she started sending me tons of clothes and toys. I have big box of STUFF, which is no mean feat since I"m smaller that than the average bear, so clothes often don't fit. Still, we adapt, and I'm glad I've got my own underwear, sunglasses, swimgoggles, winter jacket and many T-shirts and pants. I even have bunny slippers.

Well, naturally I had to start to travel too, and the competition was on. I've been to Mexico (where I discovered I really like margaritas and beer, though preferably not at the same time), and I've been to Italy where I discovered a few good Chiantis. I loved exploring Pompeii and seeing Vesuvius, and have the photos to prove it! I even got to fly the 747 home (bigger plane than that one Mort flew -- nanner, nanner, nanner!!! ;))

The biggest buzz for me though is chasing aging rock and roll stars. I've had my photo taken with Mark Lindsay (former lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders), Burton Cummings (Guess Who), Peter Noone (Herman's Hermits), Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent (Zombies, and Argent), Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night). I've also had my picture taken with the President of the University, and whoever I can weasel my way to. The thing that is funny is that my human is terribly shy and awkward, but not much stops me. I'm trying to figure out how to see Neil Diamond and Elton John when they come to town in a couple of weeks. Boy! Would that be cool for my album.

Since then, other folks have joined our furry family. There is Pele, in Indianapolis (moved there recently from Arkansas), Moose in Oregon (who just managed not being a dog toy), Percy (a dog) in New Hampshire, Buddy, Samson, Catherine, and TWO Bellas!

In the meantime, I have another star here!! Swatchee!! Yee-ha!! My human had a hard time keeping up with us this weekend, but we had fun! Thanks very much for the visit AND ALL THE VERY BEST to Swatchee's human!

Thanks for letting me say hi!

Love,

Quigs.

PS - Photos to follow.

Swatchy and Quigley

2008-09-07T16:11:00.002-04:00

Dear Knittah,

I've started hearing from Swatchy and Quigly, so I'll start posting the messages. Sounds like they're having fun!

Cheers,
Noricum

I Knit Day, and the Yarn Harlot in London

2008-09-07T05:23:00.015-04:00

Oo Now I know why everyone went to bed early last night... We got up again at four to have a quick breakfast and a drive through the darkness to the airport. This time I got to travel first class by being warmly wrapped in a cardigan, snuggled into a hand-luggage backpack and left a half-open flap to look out through. Not that Aberdeen airport is particularly worth seeing...

The flight was uneventful, and Gatwick was funny because Hreow followed the signs for trains and ended up taking the transit-train to the North terminal, only to find out that the actual train-station (the one with the Gatwick express) was back in the South terminal which we had just left. She has the most giggle-inducing grumble. : D

After getting back on track, the correct one this time, she finally remembered the camera. Here's me with the travel-pattern.

Chosen because Hreow had the right yarn and the right, old banged-up needles (kitten toothmarks) for it, so that if anyone objected to the knitting, we could afford to lose the needles. Thougtfulness is a trait of all us Swatchies. ^^

Despite the little detour, we were the second to arrive at the gates to the Royal Horticultural Halls. As a matter of fact... we were a bit worried that we were in the wrong place as Hreow was expecting hordes of knitters, packed like sardines around the building and baying "Yarn Now!".

Just five minutes later the queue had grown a bit, there was some knitting going on and we spent the time matching patterns to what various knitters were wearing.

and then the delegations started to arrive. Some one by one or in pairs, some by the dozens. I suggest that we bring flags and march to the halls in true Olympian style next time.

When we were finally let in (the man with the keys jingled up to the gates a few times, but I think the sight of hundreds of knitters scared him off until he had found enough backup and the courage.

Here is a dark-and-fuzzy shot of the main hall.

No livestock, bar one angora rabbit, and much less fresh air than I saw on my last outing. Hreow spent some time running around and squealing over yarny and fibery goodness, didn't find the right drop-spindle though, and when she tired and finally though of me again we had a rest by the Great British Sheep.

Meet George:

He's covered in swatches, bits of knits and i-cords of pure British-bre(e)d wool. And one crowning-glory Swatchy who is no such thing, of course. :-) I don't think George minded a short-term rider.

(And doesn't he have a very fetching anklet?)

For (very late) lunch, we took a stroll through London looking for the right place. I wanted to try this place,

but Hreow said that it wasn't breakfast-time, she would find me a proper pub breakfast when we got back home and that that sort of breakfast would probably kill her.

She exagerates, but I'm willing to trade a full English for a full Scottish Breakfast.

We had this instead:

because it is her very favourite food and I'm generous.

I will only show you two shots from out touristy travels:

New Scotland Yard (and how much better would it be if that was an 'n' at the end, not a 'd'). I wanted to be in the photo, but Hreow said I wriggle too much to get any sort of focus. What she really wanted a photo of, but was uncertain if it was ok, was a police-scooter with policeman just outside. For some reason she found the police scooter incredibly funny. Must be a biker thing.

And

How to get an architecturally worth-while building, a pillar-box (post), an old-style telephone-box and a red bus or two into the same photo. Winchester cathedral is very pretty and very WOW.

For some proper shots of the sights of London, see the Yarn Harlot's blog. She has a camera that does not need to be stuck together with sticky-tape and hope, and is better at finding treasures.
Speaking of which...

When we got back, it was time to queue up for the main feature of the day, the Yarn Harlot in person!! We waited for a very long time. When it started pouring with rain for the *third* time, a brave woman marched to the head of the queue and explained to the people inside how bad it is to keep hundreds of knitters with 2mm-or-less needles waiting outside in the rain (and thus not knitting) (or at least that's what I assume she said). In any case it worked and she was applauded on her way back.

Included for evidence...

It is obviously not any wriggling on my part that causes the blurriness, but Hreow bouncing up and down! I agree that her camera has seen better days, though.

The YH was just like her blogs and better and just as thought-inducing and very funny and... well, you all read her blog so I need not explain really. During the Q&A she said she wasn't averse to coming back next year. Brilliant! Can we petition for next year to come sooner, please?

I believe her when she says she's shy as well, even though she obviously knows how to pretend not to be and can prod herself to still climb a podium and charm the masses. I wonder if all great performers are? It may be a requirement, to enable you to stay that connected with your audience. She had us in tears with laughter and nodding so much in agreement that Hreow had to put her knitting away, lest the skein of laceweight escape and cause tangled havoc.

Here's a photo of just YH, but it does NOT prove Hreow's point about wriggling...

After having wiped the tears of laughter off our faces, gathered our scattered belongings and Hreow having foisted some seaweed wool on a gracious Harlot (and feeling like a bully in the process. Poor lass had just escaped the podium) we went back to the main hall for the book-signing.

The woman is amazing... She makes everyone feel that they have received special attention while signing their books and still manages to work her way through a sizeable queue.

She has seen through your plan to take over the world by Swatchy though, Knittah... Proves she's clever as well, I guess. :-)

Hreow says: Thank you for letting me take your Swatchy Green to met the YH. It made an adventure and a goalpost all the more special. (Only... what *do* you stuff them with? They all seen to be a touch cheeky. Not in a nasty way, just really not the quiet, retiring sort. :-))
I had a wonderful day, talked to complete strangers in the queues and mobs, and felt wrapped in a warm blanket of knitter-to-knitter (crochetter, spinner, fibre-artist...) friendliness from beginning to end. What a contrasts to my usual quiet solitude. (Better Half doesn't count in this case, he's part of me and vice versa.)

I've added some IKnit buttons to the collection and after I have shown why Swatchies should not have a full any-nationallity breakfast, I will send your travelling reporter back home to tell you what really happened and to show off the swag. I saw him sneaking off with my creditcard on more than one occasion. "Ooooooo, look! Yarn!!" and then stealthing for the horison only works so many times...

It was worth having my wings back for a day and something to remember for a long time.

(Sorry about the misuse-of-whitespace. I'm knackered and they like the places they've chosen the way they are, thank-you-very-much, and refuse to budge. :-/ If you're on Ravelry, there is a readable version there. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/knittin-with-swatchy/316917/1-25#13 )

I fiddled with the whitespace. And added a title and tags. ;) -Noricum

Making Friends

2008-09-07T01:42:00.003-04:00

Dear Knittah,

Noricum here. I took Swatchy with me tonight to knit with some friends from work, and Swatchy made new friends too! He met Griz there, and now he's off for a sleep-over to meet more friends! I'll have more to report when Swatchy is back.

Cheers,
Noricum

Pollock's Hardware

2008-09-06T19:02:00.003-04:00

Dear Knittah,

Sorry I haven't blogged about my recent travels yet... Noricum has been busy refinishing her desk, and I need her to type what I dictate.

Today we went to Pollock's Hardware to get some more stripping chemicals. Pollock's is an independent hardware store in the North End of Winnipeg, within reasonable walking distance of Noricum's apartment. It made the news recently when the family-owned business couldn't find a buyer when the current owners wanted to retire. To prevent the store from closing, the neighbourhood banded together to form a co-op. The story was even on CBC's Vinyl Cafe! Noricum doesn't have a share in the co-op, but her dad does.

Noricum is back to stripping the desk tomorrow, but I'll see if I can persuade her to put up another post or two.

Love,
Swatchy

Boldly Onwards! :-)

2008-09-04T16:11:00.005-04:00

Finally here! You wouldn't believe how dull it is to travel by box. *No* windows! No complimentary meals and all sorts of turbulence.

Here is the resident fuzzy. I got an extensive nosy-check and may have found a staunch admirer. I hope it's *me* he likes, not the pinball potential...

After a cuppa, I found some alpaca and knitted a scarf. It took away the worst styrofoam-peanut aches. It's a checker-board mesh which was much admired.

Here is a bit of the garden. I had to climb a tree to get a better view of the sweet-peas. I must say they've gone to some lengths to make this the perfect camouflage corner for me. :-)

Can't say I can tell it's Scotland yet (not even the promised rain and ha'ar), but I'm sure my hosts will find something to show me while I'm here.

Back, and Gone Again

2008-07-26T21:32:00.003-04:00

Swatchy Green made it home from Maryland Sheep & Wool, if a bit delayed. I think he may have made a few side trips. Not surprisingly, he came home with plenty of goodies from MDSW.

Aren't the buttons great? And those Swatchy-sized yarn skeins are from Black Bunny Fibers (the blue) and Artsygal (the yellow). Thank you to both of those friends, and Karen for taking such good care of Swatchy.

Swatchy Green is now off on a secret mission across the pond, but I can't tell you about that. You'll have to wait and see!

Fiddlin' Around

2008-07-23T20:08:00.000-04:00

Eliza and I met her parents in Tennessee for the 4th of July--the 37th annual Smithville Fiddlers' Jamboree. Eliza's parents stumbled upon it years ago on one of their road trips and wanted to return, so we flew in and met them in Nashville.

The jamboree brings together guitarists and banjo players and mandolin players and cloggers and buck dancers and all sorts of things. There's the stage with the formal competition and then lots going on elsewhee in town, under the shade trees, with the "shade tree pickers".

Clogging is sort of a cross between Irish step dancing and tap dancing. There doesn't appear to be a dress code:

This guy was an absolute entertainer, such charm:

And here bluegrass meets...punk...?

Meanwhile, the politicians work the crowd offering fans (it was Very Hot and Steamy):

And under the shade trees, musicians and dancers who have been meeting here for years jammed:

Including the dogs:

One of the coolest instruments was the washboard and brass thimble:

And Eliza's mom inquired about the boston butt sandwich (apparently it's pulled pork):

Meanwhile, back on the main stage, there was the novelty competition. These girls were adorable:

And this lady did a rif (sp?) on stereotypical crazy southerners:

And yet again, we don't know what the heck happened with the photos of Moi! Because, of course, it's all about Moi! And Eliza really did take pictures of Moi. Or so she says.... Personally, I think Eliza's technical prowess stinks--although she puts it down to the poor interface and functionality of her new camera (she's all about "interface" and "functionality"...).

Anyone want to play?

2008-07-23T17:41:00.003-04:00

So, Swatchy and I will be in southern Ontario for the labour day weekend. We arrive in Toronto Saturday, August 30 at 9:20 am (leaving at a horribly early hour in order to do so... but that's what was available to fly with points). Sunday we'll be in St Catherine's for the wedding, and then we leave Toronto at 4:15 on Tuesday. Other than the wedding, arrival, and departure, I think we're pretty flexible, limited only by what our mooched rides and accommodations dictate. (So if you can provide cat-free and cigarette-free travel and/or couch for sleeping, our flexibility increases beyond what my family will provide.) Anyone interested in hanging out and/or visiting yarn shops with us? Or doing other things with Swatchy so Knittah can travel-by-proxy? I think my dad and his fiancee are planning on spending Monday in Niagara Falls, so get-togethers around there are possible too.

My motivations:
1. I can't stay and/or visit with one branch of the family, because there's apparently a feud going on. (I'm only involved by proxy, but since the wedding is on the other side of the dispute, I'm thinking I should avoid causing the two sides to come into contact.)
2. The side of the family on the wedding side of the feud that is in Toronto has severe mildew problems in the house, so my health dictates that I don't sleep with them, but I can spend time with them.
3. The third option is staying in the camper with my dad and his fiancee... and frankly, the more privacy I can give them, I think, the better. ;)
4. Visiting yarn shops and/or doing other touristy stuff is fun.
5. I imagine my dad and his fiancee would prefer to see "romantic" places like Niagara Falls alone, rather than me hanging on as a third wheel.
6. I imagine my Toronto family that is on the wedding side will have wedding stuff (prep before, or clean-up after) to do, and I'd probably be in the way again.

Anyway, if you think you might be interested, send me an e-mail, and we can discuss details.

PS: I'll be out of e-mail contact (and pretty much any other form of contact) August 9-28, so we should arrange details soon.

Grasmere, Rydal, and Ambleside...and there-abouts

2008-07-22T20:48:00.009-04:00

OK, so apparently Eliza did a crappy job on the photography. We don't have much in the way of photos from Days 4 and 5 (we're really not sure what happened there, because we remember taking lots of photos...). On Day 4, we took the bus up from Windermere to Dove Cottage (Wordsworth's former home) outside of Grasmere, and hiked up to the Alcock Tarn, which was a relatively short, somewhat steep climb up to a lovely view west over Grasmere, south across Rydal and down towards Windermere. (Not that you'd know it due to the darth of photos...) We had grand ambitions of climbing back up and continuing on to Great Rigg, further north, but our legs didn't cooperate (literally--right leg kept collapsing). So we opted for a stroll around Grasmere village, and then continued on around Grasmere and down around Rydal Water.

So the next day we took the bus up to Ambleside and trekked up to Trout Beck. The cows were a bonus:

To our great disappointment, we didn't see a single one. (where were they?!)

But it was a pretty hike up:

And a nice view down to the valley:

We walked through some lovely farms on the way down, passing a couple of wells like this:

Here's our hotel in Windermere, the very lovely (inside and out) Applegarth Hotel (we recommend it):

Day 3, going to Windermere

2008-07-13T20:14:00.003-04:00

On day 3, we were tired. A couple from the hotel (Eliza stupidly didn't get photos...) graciously dropped us in Windermere where we were to stay for the next 3 nights. We opted for a lake cruise and lazy day. It was overcast and threatening but never rained.

We sailed to the north end of the lake and had lunch at a lakeside pub before catching the boat back. We enjoyed the scenery. A swan:

Ah yes, such graceful creatures.

And a cowboy family:

Pink cowboy hats and butterfly nets? Must be an English thing.

Walking through Windermere, we passed the local Italian restaurant. Too bad we were going to miss Frank Sinatra night, I was really disappointed:

Windermere boasts its own cross stitch and Christmas shop (ye old shoppe, I should say).

We walked out of the hotel to find dinner on the first night and stumbled upon a spectacle in the square. We had to run back to the hotel for the camera but managed to capture the last few minutes of what, it turns out, was a group of Morris (sp?)dancers. With pipe and squeeze organ and fiddle and...lots of bells...

But the juxtaposition of the Morris dancers with the Disaffected Youth was priceless:

Coniston Part 2

2008-07-13T19:51:00.004-04:00

On Day 2, we opted for long and flat(ter). We walked the length of the lake and around the hills and farms near the sound end of the lake before making our way back. Another beautiful day in the Lake District.... A perfect day for a lake cruise (which we didn't do):

At various points we could see down and back up the lake. We could see where we'd hiked yesterday:

...and were happy we'd done it, and were happy we were doing something else today.

We found happy, peaceful goats:

and sheep of course:

Lovely valleys and farms:

And the view we enjoyed back up the lake:

The Lake District: Coniston

2008-06-29T01:01:00.003-04:00

Eliza and I took the train up to the Lake District, staying the first 3 days at a country house hotel by Lake Coniston. Monk Coniston turns out to be a National Trust property let and managed by a vacation company that organizes group holidays around different activities. We arrived on a Friday afternoon as the odd chicks out amidst the ballroom dancers, the digital scrapbookers, and the afficionados of the Scenic Railways of the Lake District (yes, apparently there are multiple railways, and yes, many are tres scenic). It proved to be a colorful weekend.

Here are the grounds:

And looking out towards the lake:

We went to the Lake District to hike and researched the Ordinance Survey maps to select hikes. Eliza and I decided to do a challenging hike first: the Old Man of Coniston, an 800-meter climb above Lake Coniston, with 360-degree views around the lakes, south to Morecambe Bay. Like several of the days in the lakes, it began sunny and then gradually clouded over. We hiked up through farms:

Up where the real climb started, we encountered a small group of school kids on some sort of outing (on a Saturday). About a dozen 11-12 year olds, a teacher, and a professional guide. The teacher and guide were clearly Very Brave Men. And it turns out Eliza has the stamina of a 12-year-old--which is either a very good thing or a very bad thing. It was a Slow Climb. But we made it:

At the top, we asked one of the students for a photo--she wasn't too thrilled, but she complied:

Here's the valley below:

And another:

This is one of many abandoned slate quarries in the area. We couldn't figure out what the tunnel/cave was for:

And then we stumbled down the mountain. A good first day: dramatic scenery, good weather, no falls!

It's a Purl Man Podcast!

2008-06-27T15:01:00.004-04:00

Not So Swatchy was interviewed on the It's a Purl Man Podcast during World Wide Knit in Public Day in Boston! Vicki translated, although it sounds like Not So Swatchy made a grab for the microphone. There's also an unfortunate story about bird, erm, droppings. Anyway, check out our fabulous podcast debut on Episode 52!

Sunny London Part 2

2008-06-20T16:53:00.005-04:00

Hi Knittah!

I begged and pleaded with Eliza, so we had lunch at the Tate Modern (lovely restaurant--and got to watch the graffiti artist paint the glass--from inside the glass) before proceeding.

We caught the "Tate Boat" down the river--it runs between the Tate Modern and Tate Britain (think JMW Turner!!), stopping at the London Eye en route. So of course, we stopped off. Daunted by the long line, we sat in the park and watched people until a later boat arrived.

Here's the Eye:

And the park alongside:

The ride along the river was gorgeous. I wish we'd had time for a longer one, like up to Greenwich or something. As it was, we saw some pretty and funny sights.

Eliza liked the Lifeboat Pier: she could picture someone like John Cleese running up to it in a panic to rent (let?) a lifeboat for some crisis. It just seemed very...English and orderly...

Here's the King's Reach. (don't ask me--that's what it says)

I love all the bridges:

and more:

Lots of development along the river. Here's a quasi-Dubai-on-Thames:

The boat arrived at Tate Britain at about closing time, unfortunately, so no Turner this visit. (I know--it's like sacriledge or something.) So then we walked. And walked some more. Around Westminster. Buckingham. Green Park and St James' Park and White Hall.

So I saw the sights. And the pigeons. And the results of the pigeons:

Damn pigeons.

But then we got to Buckingham Palace...

and the lovely Queen Victoria's Memorial: (well, the Memorial, at least)

But then we got to Parliament:

And here I am with beloved Big Ben:

At this point, we were pretty much on fumes, looking for a) a Waterstone's (bookstore) and b) a restaurant. Please. And as we wandered almost deliriously, we saw this stunning bus:

Then we stumbled across this memorial:

...which I'm not really sure what to make of, as the women of WWII are all apparently disembodied uniforms...?

and tripped down the street and had a fright:

Is there no escape???

I was sort of relieved when I realized it's just (?) a restaurant.

And then we found a thai restaurant. And there was much rejoicing.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the main lifts weren't working properly, and we noticed this on our way up and down the stairs:

Isn't that backwards? I mean, the opposite of how it works here? One of the fascinating things about travel is all the opposites. Like, going through security at Heathrow, your laptop must be left INSIDE the case, not outside like here (they have better equipment). In Norway, the dial telephones start with 0 and work their way counterclockwise around the dial down to 1, the opposite of the US. And in the UK, apparently, some lifts only work in fires--again, the opposite of the US. I think a time-motion study is required. Or something. Maybe they're on to something and this would account for the weakness of the dollar...?

Anyway. Stay tuned.

Love, Swatchy C

Sunshine in London

2008-06-17T21:52:00.004-04:00

Really. I know. But there was lots to be had.

On the first night we went to Kensington to Mr. Tumblyday's favorite Persian restaurant. We sat outside next to this lovely family:

The next day, Eliza and I walked for hours. Really. My feet were killing me. First we walked from the City to the Tower of London. Here's me:

And me again, a different angle:

One of the many great things about London is the juxtaposition of new with Olde (the official term) development. Look what's on either side of the Tower:

I made Eliza take this photo of the weather vane. I particularly like the fish gargoyles... ??

We continued down the Thames and crossed the Millenium Bridge, with a view back towards St. Paul's:

The Bridge crosses the Thames to the Tate Modern, which was the scene of some fairly, erm, large graffiti-in-progress:

I love that they have their priorities straight:

The artist at work:

And the resulting foot:

And it's not even lunch-time yet...Phew. Stay tuned...

Tower of Love

2008-06-16T11:11:00.007-04:00

I promised a picture of all the Botswana gifts piled together, but I could barely fit it all together! So here's our final tally:

Three pairs mittens, 2 pairs socks, 1 pair slippers and 5 washcloths (last two not pictured).

Twelve scarves.

Four baby sweaters.

Hats? Oh yeah, we got hats. Twenty baby hats and eleven large hats.

An amazing twenty-six blankets. TWENTY-SIX!

This picture does not do it justice. I crammed everything together in this massive stack, all EIGHTY-FOUR gifts that you have entrusted to me. This is a big ol' pile of love, and I will be taking it to Dr. G on June 23rd. I think he'll be surprised!

I am deeply grateful to each one of you for sharing some of your precious knitting time with the children in Botswana. Each of your gifts will be cherished.

Thank you.

Swatchy's WWKIP Day

2008-06-16T00:55:00.003-04:00

Dear Knittah,

I can't write much, since it's past my bedtime, but I wanted to say we had a great time at the local WWKIP Day event. Here are some photos:

We even taught a nice student to knit:

Noricum got to bring home some yummy new yarn, too, but I don't have a photo of it yet.

Noricum wrote a bit more at her blog, here.

Love,
Swatchy

I Spy

2008-06-15T11:58:00.001-04:00

I spy iSwatchy in my brother's "vacation dump" photos.

Knitting in Public!

2008-06-14T22:52:00.003-04:00

Howdy Knittah!

So today was World Wide Knit in Public day! We met up with a bunch of Boston area fiber enthusiasts and enjoyed the lovely weather.

Though I am well dressed in my fancy knitted attire, the lack of arms means that I cannot join in the knitting fun. I made a new friend today, and he more than makes up for my lack of limbs.

Check out those arms! (Legs?) And that cape! Amazing! We meant to take more pictures, were having such a good time meeting people that we forgot all about the camera.

Cheers!

iSwatchy Update

2008-06-08T23:32:00.004-04:00

Hello Knittah,

My family needs more training in blogging. Yesterday I received the following in an e-mail from my brother:

Mom, Bob and I had lots of fun driving around the hills and down the coast to Monterey to see the Aquarium there.

I responded that I looked forward to seeing photos. His response?

I took iSwatchy but not my camera, so Mom and Bob have all the photos.

Well, at least *someone* had a camera! (And it's cool that he remembered iSwatchy. I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on him.)

My mom sent the photos today. Now, normally when she sends trip photos, she sends great, blog-quality descriptions of their travels. The photos she sent to my brother came with the message:

Here are some photos to send.

The e-mail was sent to both me and my brother, so I responded to all, asking for something descriptive, saying I could put together the post if someone sent the pieces to me. I got:

iSwatchy was at the Monterey Aquarium. That is the only descriptor.

*sigh*

Well, here are the photos:

(From the other e-mail they sent, this is part way up the 8 mile long hill my brother cycles up - a 2000 ft rise. It takes him 1 3/4 hr to ride up and 30 minutes to ride down.)

Perhaps my brother will feel inspired to write something more exciting to go with the photos?

Cheers,
Noricum

Hanging Around

2008-06-08T20:15:00.001-04:00

Dear Knittah,

I think I'll just hang around at home for a few days, to recuperate after my exciting weekend.

Love,
Swatchy

Sheeples!

2008-06-08T18:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Knittah,

Sheeples was so much fun! By the end of the day we were pooped, in more ways that one.

We had to get up early, because our ride was picking us up at 7:30. Although the trip wasn't very long, we took two breaks, because we ended up making better time than expected... well, until the very last bit, that is... we took a wrong turn and ended up on some rather deserted, ramshackle "gravel" roads (more like slick mud, after yesterday's rain) that didn't match the directions we had. We did eventually make it there, and even beat some of the other cars.

When we got there, other knitters were already there. We got to play with the bottle babies (lambs whose mothers had rejected them) while we waited. And we got to pick them up!!!

There were five little lambs for us to snuggle: two black, two brown, and one wee white one that had only been born the night before.

Ouch! One little guy thought I might be good to eat!

The little white lamb was really weak, and rather touch and go. When we got there, she looked like a rag, and about to die! When she stood up, Noricum couldn't resist the shivering little princess, and held her to warm her up.

Um... note the position of my carry-bag in this photo. Sheep are not toilet trained. I'm sure she didn't mean it...

...and how can you stay mad at something so sweet?

The ground was really muddy and full of puddles from all the rain on Friday.

It was tricky walking around, but Noricum managed to keep her feet dry and not mucky.

Here's a bunch of the ladies:

The boys were rather stand-offish:

More ladies:

Random farm photos:

This year there were some spotted lambs for the first time:

More sheep:

The ewes need to be shorn as soon as they lamb, otherwise they can't feel their lambs nursing, and get worried about where they are whenever they aren't directly in front of them. However, if you try to shear a sheep before the weather gets warm, the lanolin is still deep in the wool, and so you need to wash the clippers in hot, soapy water between each pass... I imagine the sheep would get a little annoyed at how long that takes.

Then we went into the workshop, and saw how the fibre gets prepared. Most of the skirting is done when they're shorn, the rest and the picking gets done here:

This is the machine that does the carding:

They always do at least two passes on the carder. They can either take it off the carder as a big batt, or as thick roving. Here it's coming off as roving:

Pindrafting and combing is done by this machine:

(Notice Princess getting the royal treatment... she stayed with us nearly the whole day, with just a brief break for lunch.)

Here's the roving going into the pindrafter:

This machine does the spinning:

Somehow, Noricum forgot to take a photo of the giant machine for skeining the yarn.

A photo of our group, plus the bottle lambs:

Speaking of bottle lambs, that's how the farm got it's name Sheeples: bottle babies that believe they're people, not sheep!

Then it was back indoors for a spinning lesson:

There were only two wheels, so most people learned on spindles. People could try on the wheels if they wanted to. (Noricum brought her wheel to bring the number up to three, but apparently her wheel is a single-woman wheel... see her blog for more details... she'll add a link after she's written that post.)

Here's the yarn and roving Noricum bought, with her tiny spindle-spun skein:

The brown yarn is sooooo soft. It's from a yearling, but Kim couldn't remember which one. The green yarn is from Charlie, and was handspun by Kim. The pin-drafted roving is from a dyed "melon" roving combined with some roving from Monkey.

*sigh* ... I'm looking a little worse for wear, but I had *such* a fun time!

...and a bubble bath cures many ills. ;)

Love,
Swatchy

PS: Noricum will be posting even more photos on her blog.

Random Sights in Winnipeg

2008-06-08T16:11:00.002-04:00

Dear Knittah,

Coming home from school one day last week, Noricum and I saw a bunch of vintage cars congregating on a street in downtown Winnipeg. We didn't get a very good photo because Noricum didn't want to risk missing the bus... so this photo is all we have to show:

Noricum has no idea if this is something regular, or a special event. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't random. Not with that many vintage cars.

Love,
Swatchy

And Ravelers Too!

2008-06-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

Several Ravelers have made lovely donations to the Botswana project. They don't know me, and just read about this project on one of the message threads on Ravelry. But they have been so kind, and sent lovely things.

tiniestmonkey sent these hats and socks in various sizes. I love the colors!

All of this came from greenxzebra. Slippers, hats, a scarf, washcloths and two blankets - thank you so much!

YOKathyYO stopped in for a visit bearing these pretties. Bright hat, scarf and mittens; an adorable color work sweater; and the blanket with a zigzag design mirroring the traditional motif in Botswana blankets.

Now that I've shown you everything individually, I'm going to pile everything together and take a picture of our whole batch of gifts for children in Botswana. You won't believe what all this stacks up to be!

Finally!

2008-06-04T21:22:00.015-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to finally catch up with Swatchy blogging!

My sister Celeste (above, on the left) is the proud owner of Swatchy here, who has been to China among other places with her on her many voyages. Celeste and I relocated from east coast to west this past May, when I brought Swatchy along on the 11 day cross-country trip to get to Portland, Oregon. This was my first time on a road trip like this, and away from the east coast at all! The above photo is the hand-off, Celeste on the left (she is pregnant with twins and ended up having to make the trip via plane), me (Laurie) in the middle, my friend Phil on the right.

For the first three days of driving my photos were pretty boring, you won't miss those, right? We made our way from Cape Cod, Massachusetts (where my parents live) to Adrian, Michigan (where Phil's parents live)... but it was raining and we didn't stop much. So, I'll skip all that and hop right into Chicago, our first major destination.

Phil had been to Chicago quite often, having grown up in Michigan, but for me this was the city that marked having left familiar territory. I really loved it, though the weather was raw and cold. Swatchy had a good time, too, though we had to rush a bit through the city. Here we are at Millennium Park. Behind Swatchy and below: the Jay Pritzker Pavillion, designed by the architect Frank Gehry.

Warming up over coffee and dinner:

Above is the Lurie Garden, designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel. Below, sadly, we didn't have time to take the train... there's always next time...

The Chicago Tribune building is very beautiful, with all of these strange adornments :

Wow, so much to see in Chicago! Next time we will visit the Art Institute and go further into the city, but for a couple hours in the afternoon Phil and Swatchy and I enjoyed getting to know a new and beautiful city. Sorry for such big photos, I'll get better about that in my next post. ;)

Next Up . . .

2008-06-03T13:01:00.004-04:00

My local Sit n' Knit adopted the Botswana project with fervor. I'll try to cram ALL their donations into one post!

Scarves from Gina and Jen.

Scarves from Maria and Shaz.

And one more from Ann Marie.

Gina assembled this blanket from squares that Michael's Craft Store was going to discard.

Ann Marie assembled this one.

Sally crocheted this big granny square, large enough for a baby blanket.

Maria knit this pretty blanket in a lovely shade of rose.

This super adorable blanket was knit by Debbie. How cute is THAT?

These blankets were donated by Shaz's neighbor. I love the Charlie Brown look of the zigzag blankets.

Sally made this cushy blanket, and these next pictures are a blanket and hat set that Sally made.

I could not resist having a bear model the hat. Did you notice the braided detail on both the blanket and hat?

Believe it or not, I've got more donations to come!

Hello From Swatchy

2008-06-02T16:08:00.002-04:00

Dear Knittah,

I'm still here. I'm sorry I haven't blogged much, but Noricum has been crazy busy, and so hasn't been able to help me. (I haven't nagged her, because I know she'd rather be blogging, but has to work to keep us housed and fed.)

But!!! Can you guess where *I'm* going on Saturday?!? Sheeples!!!! Somehow Noricum is making time. Hopefully we'll manage a blog post not *too* long after we're back. There's a Sheeples pamphlet at the Wooly Bullies blog, and if you poke around there a bit, you'll find a description of our field trip.

Oh, and we'll be at the Winnipeg WWKIP day event too (see the Wooly Bullies blog for details again)...

Love,
Swatchy

First Stack

2008-06-02T13:51:00.003-04:00

Knitters are nice people. My proof? The fact that my house is overflowing with gifts for children in Botswana! Here's some of what's come in (more posts to follow):

An adorable stack of 11 baby hats from my very own Mom:

Eliza, who hosts Swatchy C, made her very first blanket:

Turtleknits came through in two ways. First, she finished my own garter stitch blanket that had bored me to tears:

And she also sent along two Baby Surprise Jackets:

hats and mittens:

AND another blanket!

The items that have traveled farthest are these scarves and hats from Magnusmog in Scotland.

Thank you Mom, Eliza, Turtleknits and Magnusmog! More to come . . .

Yoga for Swatchies

2008-05-21T20:19:00.001-04:00

And now for something completely different…

We spent the month of February in the warm, sunny Bahamas, training to be Yoga teachers at the Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island. The course was great – we learned so much about Vedantic philosophy and the ancient, great yogis.

It was like college and summer camp combined, but with more yoga and at the beach!

It was very spiritually enlightening. We also met some great people from all over the world, and vastly improved our yoga skills.

Here are some of my yoga pics:

This is Savasana, or Corpse pose. It’s also me doing Forward Bend. And Fish.

The backbending series: Cobra, Bow, and Locust. Also Child’s pose.
The piece de resistance: Sirshasana, Headstand.
Mountain pose, Standing Forward Bend, and Triangle. And the Warrior series.

The beach platform

Our Teacher Training class – 64 people, plus the teachers. I missed the picture because I was doing Karma Yoga.

Chillin’ at the beach.

Deep meditation. I can do it with my eyes open!

Our tent – the messy side is Devon’s.

I knitted that yoga bag!

She sure did.

A visitor to our tent.

Getting my Starbucks fix… shhhhhh… don’t tell Swamiji!

Visiting Atlantis Resort, which was right next door to the Ashram. After Week 3, we NEEDED a spa day.

Another visitor – he was the size of ME!

That’s me!! Doing tripod headstand! Which is TOTALLY as hard as it looks, I swear!

(It’s so not)

How would you know? You don’t even have arms!

Swamis Brahmananda and Sadasivananda. Don’t they look great in orange?

Even their SOCKS are orange!

Sunset Yoga class… oooo, ahhhhh….

Check out that TAN! And the Crow, of course. You can’t tell in the picture, but my feet are off the ground and I’m totally balancing.

So overall, it was just a really fabulous experience and we learned loads and practiced yoga (not that Devon has kept it up at ALL) and met cool people and chilled on the beach. In FEBRUARY. Good stuff indeed.

Journey for Max

2008-05-21T11:32:00.001-04:00

There are a lot of things that I cannot imagine doing, healthy or ill. One of them is running across Death Valley in July.

But Connie Karras will do just that, and this year she is running to honor a friend with CFS.

Last year, Connie ran her first Badwater Solo and it was her friend Max Gordon who helped her do it. Despite her illness, Max stayed with Connie as part of her support crew. Connie credits Max with helping her finish. So this year, Connie will run another Badwater Solo to raise money for the CFIDS Association.

I've made my pledge in support of Connie's run. Will you do the same?

Remember Me?

2008-05-19T14:22:00.003-04:00

Dear Swatchy,

I haven't forgotten you! I hope you didn't think I got lost in the wilds of Africa. I've been living with a wonderful family, and they took me to see the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls in Zambia. I think I'm the first Swatchy to get a ride in a helicopter, too! Wheeeeee! I hope you like these pictures! (and don't worry - they didn't let me get wet at the falls)

Kisses,
SwatchGrrl

Not Again

2008-05-17T15:38:00.001-04:00

Remember how I couldn't see the Yarn Harot last fall even though I was less than an hour's ride from her? It's deja vu all over again.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will be speaking at the Philadelphia Book Festival tomorrow and then signing books. I was hoping that I could go, despite the fact I'm still recovering from the trip to DC. My husband was pretty determined that I should go, and was willing to wrangle the wheelchair and try to get special accommodation from the Free Library folks (who have been friendly).

But I'm too ill. I would be in a full crash before I even got to the room filled with several hundred rowdy knitters. And waiting in line for her autograph would be completely impossible, even in my wheelchair. The noise and crowd is more than I can handle, let alone the strain of the outing itself.

I love Stephanie and I love her new book. She has been so kind to me and the various Swatchys that my friends have taken to her events. I would like to tell her in person how deeply she has touched my life with her humor and kindness. But I cannot.

Once again, CFS has interfered and stolen something from me. Once again, I have to tell myself that I can't do something even though I desperately want to do it. I have to give this up in order to safeguard my health for the next week. It doesn't matter how fun it would be; going to see Stephanie would put me in bed for several days and extend my current crash for a week or more.

My blog-friend Sue recently observed that coping with CFS takes incredible strength. It takes strength to stop yourself from doing something you would enjoy because you know how severe the consequences would be. I don't know, but maybe it is like the strength that is required by an alcoholic to say no to a glass of champagne at someone's wedding. You know you cannot take part in small, happy thing because of the consequences that will follow. You have to tell yourself no, and find a way to be ok with it.

Can you understand what this feels like?