Sep 30, 2005

You feed your daughter with that soup?!

I bought some Amy's 'no-chicken' soup to cure my cold. Most of their stuff is good, but this soup is crap. Meh. I feel sorry for poor little Amy when she was sick as a child. The saltines and 7-up I got look like flourless chocolate cake in comparison...

SO. The reason I'm posting this is to show you the order (and gifts) I just received from Dani. I ordered the Watermelon flavor, and she also sent along some more yarn and some very dear, green stitch markers that don't photograph well.

Sunshine Yarns

Thanks, Dani! I'm so excited to start knitting it up.

Sep 29, 2005

A Day On Earth

Another Day on Earth, thank goodness.

Forgive my absence and silence, I have been/am really sick. I actually thought my lungs were going to turn themselves inside-out and just leave my body in rebellion. I really need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sep 25, 2005

Mum's the Word: Nursery Booty

Happy Fall.

On the way back from visiting Natalie, we stopped at a nursery to look at fall annuals. Look what I scored!

Mum's the Word: Happy Fall

When I returned home, I had some leftover pizza, watched crime dramas, and finished the first of the pair of Rock Star Hiking Socks:

Rock Star Sock

Notice how the foot looks way different than earlier? Well, I was winging the toe-up knitting method, messed up the gusset, and decided to rip out those cute stripes in a moment of impatience. I expect to reknit them in the next sock, since he likes to wear mismatched socks anyway. You'll see, it's gonna be cool.

Sep 22, 2005

I know it's been a long month, but...

... I also know a lot of us have been touched in some way by breast cancer.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

My friend Natalie has made a huge lifestyle change and has been training hard for the Philadelphia 3-Day this weekend. If you have it in your heart (and wallet), please consider donating to support breast cancer research and my friend.

You can read more about Natalie on her blog and donate to support her efforts here.

Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.

DISCLAIMER: Looking over my blog the past month or so, you may have noticed an outpouring of charity on my part. Rest assured that because I been spread thin, people near to me are not benefiting from my good graces.

UPDATE: A friend and I went down Saturday (Day 2) of the walk to meet Natalie in Ambler and cheer her on. She was nearly 1/2way finished and still going strong. She rocks.

Breast Cancer 3-Day, Ambler PA

Sep 20, 2005

Ready for Shipment (almost)

Drying Time

After they dry, these mittens and socks will be heading out to SFO droppoint for afghans for Afghans along with this hat:

.

According to their website, green is a "beloved color of Islam." Fortunately, it's also a beloved color of amandamonkey.

Sep 19, 2005

Bamboozled

Here's a photo of the sock in progress. It's a little big for me, but it fits Rock Star fine and he really likes them, so the pair will go to him when it's complete (cig butts not mine, they belong to my neighbors, just in case you were wondering, Mom and Dad...).

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

I love love love the teal stripe with the citrus colorway.

On second thought, maybe we'll share them.

bamboo
You are bamboo.
Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and
enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You
love the craft and beauty of traditional
things, and you value the comfort and
experience of knitting as much as the results.
But while you are reveling in your warm cozies,
don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is
the whole wide world!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Sometimes I need the kind of objective view of myself that only a blog quiz can provide.

ATTENTION, Sock Knitters!

CNN image

For everyone who wants to quit after knitting the first sock, this one is for you.

(b)itchy

amandamonkey

Here's my button. If you want to post it, feel free to grab it from the left sidebar. Um, obviously I still haven't posted anyone else's on this blog yet (sorry about that).

I just dropped Rock Star off at the airport. There's too much traveling and too much time apart and too much to do before we're togetherforever. The wedding was beautiful, but there were lots of mosquitos so I'm also itchy.

::sigh::

At least my afghans for Afghans shipment is almost ready to go. Tomorrow little mittens and little socks and one little hat will be winging toward San Francisco.

Sep 16, 2005

Tiki Time

The sock from my previous post is coming along nicely. It's looking mottled, like a really cool clay. I'll post some photos when my camera, computer, internet connection, and sock are all in one place.

In the interest of posting photos and keeping a record of what I've made for myself, here's a photo of my dear friend, for whom I made a Tiki apron a few years ago:

tiki

I never got a photo of it when I sent it to her, so I was very happy it was readily available for modeling while she made mojitos from coconut rum. I used a Sublime Stitching pattern. It's supersimple with a chain stitch, but I loved her designs and I'm always happy to help a new business out (FYI: I'm sure most of you have heard of her by now, so she really doesn't need my advertising!).

Rock Star is in town. We have a wedding on Cape Cod this weekend. I keep trying to remind myself that I'm so lucky to be able to travel so much before I start bitching about how. tired. I am. I'll look for some good textiles while I'm up there and keep you posted when I return.

In the meantime, check out Dani's new hand-painted yarn. Yummy.

Sep 13, 2005

Indiana Corn and Bred

Back Door View

Yep, I was gone again this weekend... I went home to see the folks and the old folks and the old dog and Rock Star was able to drive down from Chicago with Yuck Mouth. It was a great weekend with excellent food (thanks, Mom!).

While I was home, we went to the White River Valley Antique Association Show, described to me as the 'tractor fair.' Because of this description, I didn't bring any cash, which was really disappointing when I saw Sara's booth for handspun yarn. With minutes to spare before closing, I 'found' some cash (thanks, Dad!) and was able to purchase some 50%wool/50%llama handspun in 'Citrus' for some socks:

Local Hand Spun from Spiderweb Specialties

This stuff is yummy and soft and Sara is supernice. If you like her stuff, hop on over to see her.

You can see more photos of our adventures if you're interested. Highlights include 'Feature Tractor,' lots of close-up insect photos, and juxtaposed shots of Barley (aka Yuck Mouth) and Barney (my parents' dog).

Sep 8, 2005

Tibet

In answer to Moe, yes, I work in Tibet. Unfortunately, my work is mostly on remote-sensed data, so I haven't been able to join my group members on their many trips. I was, however, able to go in the Fall of 2003 for a month. If you wanna see an album of my favorite photos from that trip, go here.

The countryside is full of stunning colors and the Tibetans I met are strong and gentle. They have virtually nothing, but are always happy to invite you inside and share a cup of yak butter tea and 'conversation' that mostly consists of shy smiles.

Which reminds me of the power of a genuine smile....

View from Camp at Base of Layo Glacier

Sep 7, 2005

"Well I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well, And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help"

September

1986 was the year of the Challenger explosion, complete nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, and Quaddafi. I was in sixth grade and that year was catastrophic. I started my period (and I know my mother told her stupid friend Connie about it even though I begged her not to). I was vaguely aware (hopeful?) that I would grow out of caring what the mean girls thought about me – but their effect on my day-to-day was trumped when I learned of something so horrible that even a gas mask couldn't save me or my family. I was horror-struck.

At 17, my brother, mother and I took the City of New Orleans from Effingham to New Orleans and back – she for a conference and me to nominally look at Tulane. A highlight of the early part of the trip was sitting in the solarium car with my brother, listening to Beastie Boys on our shared Walkman, and making up alternative lyrics to ‘No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn.’

Soon, however, it became clear that we were traveling in a place much different from where we came. It’s easy to see that when you’re traveling through the South on a train. Poor in the South is a much different animal than poor where I grew up, and the shacks that lined the railroad tracks through Mississippi and Louisiana really drove that point home.

Now, southern Indiana is not known to be a bastion of progressive thought, but I had lived up until that point without actually hearing a grown man called ‘boy.’ On the ride home, a whole private-school fifth grade of Mississippi white kids were upset when a woman ran into the train and was killed until we found out she was ‘just black.’ Then it was just back to laughing chatter about who kissed whom that day on their trip to the Statehouse. I was revolted.

My last post was 30 August. I knew it was bad in NOLA then, but nothing like it turned out to be. I, like any geologist or frosh who’s taken ‘Rocks for Jocks’ or its equivalent, has known that New Orleans would be hit someday – and hit hard. It’s preserved in the geologic record and we have over 100 years of historical data to see that hurricanes affect the coastline. I’ve known it intellectually. But now, even more than a week later, I feel impotent and angry. I feel 11 now, 17. How can this be? How can my country have agencies that are so overtly racist and discriminate against the poor – now, in 2005?!

amandamonkey’s World of Stitch is not primarily a political blog, but honestly, I am a very political person and even 'coming out' a few years ago as a feminist who does needle arts was a political decision. (Warning: if you don’t like this one, just skip the post I’m going to make on women in science next week).

Ashley has a great post on keeping the events of the past week and a half in perspective.

I wish I could say that I am optimistic.

I wish I could say that finally Americans will actually see the invisible members of our society and help them get ahead.

But instead I fear that the recently liberalized definition of eminent domain will allow developers to sweep up vast quantities of the Delta and turn New Orleans into a sterile, Disneyland version of its former self.

But instead I feel hate for those who voted for Bush & Co because of the gay marriage issue (no one was going to make you marry a gay person). Thanks a lot.

In future posts, I will probably make little mention of Katrina or of the massive, needless suffering of our brothers and sisters that live in this so-called democracy are experiencing. But be sure it's on my mind.

Before I go, you should be aware of suffering here in the Northeast as well:

Freshmen suffer...

Well I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgement of all those public action figures
The cowboy presidents
So loud behind the bullhorn
So proud they can't admit
When they made a mistake
Well-poisoning spews from a speechwriter's pen
He knows he don't have to say it so it
it don't bother him
Honesty, accuracies just popular opinion
And the approval rating's high
And so someone's gonna die

-Bright Eyes