Twilight Zone Knitting

I went to see "IronMan" yesterday afternoon. I took along mindless knitting. My usual wristwarmer pattern. I cast on during the pre-show commericals for coca-cola, TBS, and the new Sprint phone that just won't really compete with the iPhone. (What happened to the movie quizzes and pop culture stuff??) I was knitting along, watching things explode and appreciating the fact that not all of the foreign language dialog was subtitled (only the parts you couldn't figure out by watching them point at the door or shake their head "no" or point a gun with threatening motions... or the "I don't speak Hungarian, I don't know what he said.") and that dude really did bulk up to beat on that hot iron plating with the hammer. (And, no, I'm not giving anything important away - it is IRONMAN, after all.) At some point in the last third of the movie I put away the knitting because I wanted to count the rows before I got too close to the place I need to start the thumb gusset. (More things exploding and crashing and flying and what not.)

This morning I checked. I went 1 stitch too far.
Not one row, one stitch. I think it might be possible that I've made so many of these things my knitting memory knows exactly how many stitches to knit. Weird. Cool.

And, Pictures from Greece.

Enough of nothing...

... or why I've been AWOL.
Winter is hard on me. I don't like being cold. I must have SADD or something. My creative flow stops flowing. I don't want to do anything. I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to sit or sleep.

How do I fix this? I go on vacation. I just got back from a week in Athens, Greece. (Pictures will follow as I have time to upload and sort.) It was exactly what I needed. I barely thought about work. I spent much quality time either sitting on a rock, on the beach, or asleep. I'm now relaxed and tan and happy. I met some wonderful people. I did my best to avoid the tourists. I didn't actually make it to the Parthenon, which just means I need to go back. Which is now on the agenda for probably the end of the year. There were a few things I still need to process before I can talk about them, let alone write about them here, but it was all good. Except for the part where the security chick made me toss the Addi Turbo Lace needle. That part sucked.

It's now 4 am and I'm still on Athens time. Jet lag is such a weird thing.

I love my Credit Union

I joined a gym last week. (NY Sports Club)
Last night I signed up for a Personal Trainer package. The guys at the desk didn't know how to do that... so of course they screwed it up. They rang it up under a different person, Leon something. I'm a nice person, but I don't want to pay for someone else to get a personal trainer. So then they reversed it. I hope. And then they couldn't recharge the amount to the debit card because it went over the daily limit.

Anyway, the reason I love my Credit Union is that today they called me at work to verify I really did mean to charge only one transaction at the gym. I've had them call before to verify large amounts. Once, it was so fast I was barely out of the store before they called on my cell phone. Good customer service is so nice.

The gym thing, not quite as nice. I'm so out of shape that it hurts to move and feels weird to walk. Give me a few weeks to see how I feel, but if it stays like this, I'm in trouble. I'm walking like a drunk trying to not look drunk. Very deliberate and pausing at steps up or down. It might be amusing later, right now it is a little srange. I'm just reminding myself that it will be worth it in the long run. (Not that I'll be running...)

Wow

I can hardly believe the Giants are going to the Super Bowl. I'm nearly speechless.

I watched the first half of the game at a bar down the street until I started to feel unwelcome. Which was very odd since I watched a hockey game there earlier in the day and a football game there last weekend. First, the bartender told us we couldn't knit at the bar. We thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Then we practically had to force him to take our food order. Then he took away my water before I was finshed with it. The final straw was when he refused to give me a new glass of ice water. It wasn't like the place was packed. I found it odd in a very negative way. Ravi thinks it was either racism (which I have to say I've never really had to deal with or at least noticed pointed toward me) or possibly they thought we were gay (which again, I've never had to deal with since I'm not) which I find odd since we were obviously there to watch a football game. We didn't have anything like the obvious crappy service when we were there earlier in the day to watch the Rangers lose to the Bruins. The service was lousy, but because there was only one waitress for the floor and she was busy, not because she didn't want to give us drinks and food. We even got refills of ice water. I'm wondering if it was the manager or the bartender. I can't really figure it out. It's a shame the hamburgers are so good because the service and management sucks.

Go Giants!!

Stupid Cough and other not so stupid things

I've got the cough that won't go away.
Rumor has it this thing can last for months. Great. Will my voice sound weird for months? Will I get addicted to cough syrup? Will this affect my knitting?

Speaking of knitting. I finished some. I finished a shawl on Saturday, but I don't really like it. The ending seems lame. I think I might undo the 6 rows of garter stitch and do a better edging. I've got plenty of yarn and I think it's too short anyway. Hmm.

I also got some yarn this weekend. I forget the name, Julia or something, but it is a wool/alpaca/mohair blend that I really like working with. It is a very nice shade of red (a blue red, not an orange red) that wants to become some sort of cabled something. I think it might even be the same shade of red that is all over my house...



***

Go Giants! I don't think they have a chance against the Packers at Green Bay, but maybe the game won't suck. The Giants always play better on the road for some reason.

Not quite Chicken Noodle Soup

I've caught whatever it is that is going around this season and seem to be coughing and sneezing and blowing and... well, I'm sick.

However, I have soup.

One Pot, Not Quite, Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken Stock
Better Than Vegetable Stock (because I didn't have enough Chicken Stock)
Water to make 2 Quarts

Fresh Direct Soup Greens - includes the following:
1 Parsnip
1 Turnip
1 Fennel
2 Carrots
4 Celery Sticks
2 New Potatoes
1 Onion (which I left out, because I don't like them)
Fresh Dill
Fresh Parsley

To that I added:
1 chicken apple sausage (left over from New Year's Eve dinner)
Egg Noodles

I cut/chopped/sliced everything into bite size or smaller pieces.

Bring stock to boil, turn down to low, add all ingredients, cover and simmer until vegetables are soft enough to cut with a spoon.
Add Egg Noodles and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat. Let sit for a couple of minutes, eat.

Yum. I feel better now.

Happy New Year! Goodbye Old Year!

The streets are already blocked off and the NYPD is out in force. Everywhere I looked on my way home was either a glob of tourists taking pictures and blocking the corners or a police officer (or 6) out walking the streets of midtown. I'm curious to find out if I can see the Liberty Island fireworks from my apartment or not. If so, that will be very nice to know. If not, well, so what. I'm at home relaxing with friends and I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

Maybe I'll even take some pictures... or not.