Craftiness!

Look! I designed and knitted this blue top! It's done in bamboo, which feels wonderfully soft and is fun to knit with. Unfortunately, it also seems to stretch due to gravity over the course of the day. I needed to make some modifications to compensate for this stretching! I also crocheted the white flowers. And I sewed the skirt! Wheee!

In other knitting news: I'm nearly done my first (two!) sweaters. The one for me is done in gaudy crayon colours in cheap acrylic. The other is superwash wool for my brother, Ed. I have been developing an allergy to wool, but it seems that this superwash stuff is not really itchy at all. Hurray! Just to be sure I'll be able to wear it, I'll take some leftovers from Ed's sweater and make myself a hat. If it doesn't bother my forehead, I should be fine wearing it as a sweater, mittens, scarf. It is also wonderfully soft, this superwash wool I've been using! Also on needles: silly fun scarf for a friend, and a baby sweater for another friend. I can't believe I only have two projects on needles! Of course, I have nearly a dozen almost-completed projects off needles, but let's not count those!

I was also quite intrigued to learn of a technique called card (or tablet) weaving. One of the knitters in my knitting group was weaving one day. This was appealing in its simple construction (no need for a loom) and its protability. I got some books out on the subject from the library and tried it out!

The idea is that you use cards to hold the threads for weaving, rotating them to get a pattern and texture. I made my cards from leftover paper pad backings:




The thread ends are tied to some sort of posts; I used C-clamps (whee for equipment used in furniture construction!).




Once set up, you just go with the weaving, passing some thread back and forth to "lock" in a sequence of threads.




Here is my finished product. I just used some yarns and embroidery threads I happen to have around. This is my second attempt, coming up with the pattern myself. Not too bad a final product, if I may immodestly say so myself!




This type of weaving has 4 layers of yarns so it is quite thick and durable. I envision making my own straps for hand-knitting bags in the future. It's an exciting prospect!

Alas, craftiness will be pushed on the back burner over the next little while as my semester gets busier, my students start demanding more time, and I am applying for jobs, as well as working on a research project myself! Eep! In some ways, I am thankful for my long commute as some days that is the only time I have for knitting!

More crafty photos to come in the future. (I just have to remember to take photos of finished pieces before sending them away!)

Happy Caturday!

When I grow up I want to be this:

Aquarium!

Back in early August, Ed and Denise came out to visit for a week or so. Hurray! I was teaching, but did have Thursday afternoon and all day Friday free. Plus, Monday was a holiday. So while Ed and Toby worked lots and lots, Denise and I got to hang out. We went to the Central Park Zoo and watched the snow monkeys and the cotton-top tamarins and the polar bears! We also went to the NY Aquarium and Coney Island! We had to have Nathan's hot dogs, of course. And fought with day-camp kids for good views of rays and sharks and fishies. I'm still amazed that the sea otters aren't a bigger hit here! I mean, they're so furry and adorable, what is there not to like?! We got front row viewing for the otter feeding, while munching on watermelon that Denise had brought. It was a lovely day! These photos were taken by Denise (her camera was obvious better suited for indoor tank photos!).

I'm not sure how much longer Coney Island will be around. There has been much talk about development. I haven't really been following the debates, but there is definitely an old-world gritty charm to this amusement park as it stands now!


Approaching the Aquarium from the Coney Island Boardwalk, you get to see this amazing mural on the back wall of one of the Aquarium buildings!


Anenome are such weird and beautiful creatures!


Rays are so nifty! Did you know that they're closely related to sharks? And that they and sharks have only 5 gills (unlike the 7 that most fishes have)? Thankse Denise for telling me that factoid! Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what happened to the two other gills - did they fuse and become jaw bones? Hmm....

Zoo Photos!

Here are some photos from our anniversary. We decided to bring Zebra-the-bumble-tiger along, to make these memories different from previous trips to the zoo.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast at our neighbourhood Cuban diner. Plantain and casava and cafe con leche and eggs and bacon and hot sauce....


Then we hopped onto the subway for the ride up to the Bronx.


The Children's Zoo part wasn't just a petting zoo! They had cute fennec foxes!


And a prairie dog colony! I wish I could animate photos; the food dish started with just the prairie dog on the left, then the middle one joined in, and finally a third came along! Party in the food dish!


One goat wants to be king of the castle!


Toby likes the gorillas; they are creepy to me! Luckily, bunnies hang out in the gorilla enclosure!


This was the first time we saw the polar bear do something other than pace neurotically along the wall of its enclosure!



Awwwwww, red pandas have the best faces!


I can't get over how adorable the tree kangaroos are! The mother still moves around awkwardly, but the joey has much less fear, climbing to the ends of branches and hanging by a claw! (This zoo visit, though, the young'un seemed really sleepy, and mama-roo kept sneezing and coughing. Maybe they had a virus?)


Zebra-the-bumble-tiger with his namesake.


We had the whole subway car to ourselves coming home! HULLO TOBY! WHY ARE YOU SITTING SO FAR AWAY?


I'm admiring my Dr. Marten's - my current favourite pair of shoes! Hey, when no one else is in the subway car, what am I to take photos of?!

Anniversary!

Well, near the end of August was our anniversary! We had originally planned to spend the day on Governor's Island. This is a historically significant island (and most recently had housed a military academy) just between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Now it is open in the summers for visitors, the buildings being mostly abandoned. A free 5-minute ferry ride gets us to this small island with no traffic and relatively few people!

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the day predicted a heat index of 100F; translation: hot, hazy and humid. Not exactly the kind to be enjoying picnics outdoors! So, a last minute change of plans was in order. We ended up at one of our favourite places: the Bronx Zoo! We spent lots of time communing with the young tree kangaroo (it's so cute!), the red pandas, and the silly squirrel monkeys! There were bunnies in the with gorillas, and we finally visited the Children's Zoo area. Surprising for us, it wasn't just a petting zoo, but had wallabies and lemurs and otters! So that's where my favourite creatures had been hiding!!! If only we'd known earlier!

Afterwards, we came home for a shower (it was a hot and humid day, after all) and a change of clothes, and headed to Greenwich Village for a lovely dinner! We went to Antica Venica, one of the fanciest places we've been to. There were few tables, lots of professional, tie-wearing waiters, and a lovely decor. We were seated, and served drinks, and once settled, menus presented. The daily special list was longer than the menu itself! We had to get appetizers (the most delicious calamari I've had in a very long time!), and were brought out a plate fresh tomato with hard cheese on toast, and a basket of fried zucchini, "on the house" as they say. Lovely to try! Toby had a lamb shank with risotto, while I had soft shelled crabs. Yummy! Though, the shells weren't quite so "soft" as I had expected; more like shrimp shells really. Other than being overly salty, our dishes were very tasty! We finished off with coffees and chocolate mousse cake. And Toby got to try the in-house infused liquers.

It was wonderful to be able to have a meal out like this! The restaurant had lots of neat presentation things: a wine cart, which they'd use to decant a bottle of red wine into a crystal carafe over a single candle; there was also the liquer cart, which had the liquers in large glass jars, ladles and snifters all at the ready. Each of these carts would get wheeled to each table as needed, then wheeled back out of the way when finished. If you spilled onto your tablecloth during a course, when clearing the plates, two waiters would appear with a fresh table cloth, roll it up, then place it over your old table cloth quickly and unobstrusively. It was fun to watch this happen!

Afterwards, we waddled along the piers of the Hudson for a bit, but i was really too full to do much more than lounge! So we headed home and lounged with our extremely full and extremely satisfied bellies! It was a fun day!

Time Flies When...

Wow! Has it really been over a month since I last posted?! Where has all that time gone? Oh right, we've been busy! Just a quick update:

I finished teaching my summer course August 20, and my fall semester began August 27. Hence, I didn't really get a break, which makes keeping my energy for my fall courses a challenge! I've taught the material for both my courses already, so it's just a matter of incorporating new teaching strategies to prepare for this semester. Of course, there is always the constant meeting with students, answering emails, scheduling appointments, creating quizzes and assignments, grading quizzes and assignments, and on and on and on... I wish I weren't so tired all the time! My classes begin early, which means I have to leave home even earlier. Being not a morning person, this hasn't been easy! I'm trying to leave by 7:35 am, and Toby now walks me to the subway station (about a 15min walk) which gives us a little time in the mornings to spend together beefore rushing off to our busy days!

I've changed my commute route, and it has made a huge difference. It still takes a long time (about 80 min vs the older route's 90 min). The advantages are that: (a) my train is super-express, so we spend less time at stations, where stinky hot air gets blown into the subway cars; (b) my train now avoids downtown, and with it, there are fewer Wall-Street-types with big expense budgets and even bigger egos - instead, the passengers tend to be more regular folk and regular attitudes - definitely a nice change!; (c) we go over the Manhattan Bridge, which means I get to see daylight during my commute - this makes a much larger difference than I would have expected! Hurray! The downside is that I do have that 15minute walk. It isn't a big disadvantage, as I have missed being able to walk to work. And I think Toby enjoys being able to stretch his legs a bit more by having a reason to make a detour instead of walking straight to work.

In addition, I'm applying for jobs now. I'm looking for a full-time, permanent teaching position. We're hoping to land in a smaller community, and have both of us employed. Not sure how that will work out, but we can try!

Meanwhile, Toby is busy at work, as usual. On top of his usual crazy business, he's also applying for academic jobs AND teaching a course this semester! So it's extreme craziness in our household these days! I spend long days at work 3 times a week, and Toby, well, he spends long days at work every day in the week.

Let's all hope this is a temporary situation and that soon we will be in a place that is quieter and less crowded! Please? I think we've paid our dues now.