« September 2007 | Main | November 2007 »
I have nothing Halloweenish, so instead I give you a bowl of broccoli.
Against all odds, what with the wild and wacky weather weirdness (sorry, I couldn't resist the alliteration), not to mention my overall garden neglect this season, it's been a banner broccoli year.
If I were Charles M. Schulz, d'ya think I'd have been a success?
"I got a piece of broccoli"?
Anj got some of my homemade Motherwort tincture a couple years ago. Recently, she wrote to ask if I had made any this year, as she'd like some more. I didn't make any this year, but I had a couple of bottles left over from last year, and they keep for two years, so I told her to consider one of them hers. I knew I'd see her in Rhinebeck, so I said I'd bring it there. Naturally, I forgot to bring it; it was sitting on my desk at home. I promised that I'd send it to her after I got home.
In the meantime, Anj made an offer: Since I've sold my spinning wheel, so therefore I cannot spin any yarn unless and until I get a new one (except on my spindles, of course, but we all know my spindles are mostly just table art), she offered to spin up something that I love in my stash in exchange for the Motherwort.
DEAL! Next task, deciding what I'd like her to spin for me. I wanted it to be something special, that she would enjoy spinning, too. After some consideration, I knew what it should be: 5 ounces of some exquisite Icelandic lamb mixed with tussah silk that I bought from Frelsi Farm Icelandics at the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival, not this year, but LAST year. (remember, Judy?) It's gorgeous stuff, and it's time that stuff was spun up! I know it will take a good bit of time to spin this up, so I've put in a bonus bottle of Motherwort for ya, Anj. It's in the mail.
----------------
P.S. I loved all the thoughtful comments over the weekend. One way I am trying to manage my blog time nowadays is that I am not responding to each comment, as I have done in the past. I'm trying to get around and read more and make comments more, and with my busy work schedule and myriad interests, I just can't do it all. But rest assured that I read and cherish each comment. You all make me think, and make me chuckle and smile. I love that.
1. Reading Sandy's Ode to the Eveready this morning made me nostalgic. And hungry. Perhaps a bit thirsty, too.
2. My earlobes hurt. I got them pierced yesterday. Re-pierced, really. Not anything radical like holes going up the entire lobe or anything. No belly-button rings, no tattoos. Just an old-lady kind of piercing, like the conservative middle-aged woman I am. (stop laughing) The original holes were too low on the lobe, and that, combined with the added effects of gravity, well, it really limited the type of earrings I could wear. Wires were really all I could wear, or very tiny studs, and they sometimes looked like they were going to rip through the bottom at any moment. Not a great look. So now I'm going to have two holes in each ear, perhaps looking a bit ridiculous, but there you have it.
3. For the ear-piercing adventure, I went into the mall. I have not been in that mall for a long, long time, and I felt very out of place. However, I did buy two new pairs of boots. Two-for sales can be wonderful things.
Like these (Tommy Hilfiger Miranda 2), one pair in each color. (black and brown) These fall somewhere between the "take me now" boots and the flatter riding boots I often wear. One must have a full wardrobe of boots. That's my new rule.
4. Why am I telling you about ear-piercing and mall misadventures? I've become beyond banal. The Bloglines subscriptions have been dropping like flies, and it was not an unusual event at Rhinebeck last week to have people approach me, having seen my Blogger Bingo button, to ask who I was. When I said "I'm Norma," the response was often an "Oh," coupled with a blank stare -- the kind that says, "Never heard of you." The best tipoff, for the few of us whose names are a part of our blog names, is when someone says, "And do you have a blog?" Hee. While the return of some level of anonymity is somewhat lovely and freeing, as compared to past years when it seemed that I knew everyone and everyone knew me, it just goes to show how tenuous and fleeting it all is, and how huge the whole phenomenon has become. Of course, I know that if I would just knit once in a while, this being a knitting blog and all, that might help. Assuming I want to be helped. Hmmmm...Do I?
5. I came away from Rhinebeck with the thought, "Blogs are out, Ravelry is in." I'm redundant.
6. I'm currently reading Extreme Chocolate in The New Yorker. I bet someone has put together a gourmand chocolate adventure trip. If so, please don't tell me about it. I'd rather not know.
7. After completing this post, I went to read Cookie. From there I ended up here, and yeah, this about sums it up:
(click for bigger) Apparently I should not take on any intellectual pursuits in the next few weeks. Don't even ask me my name or telephone number on November 3rd. I'm sure to be unable to answer. Cookie just said: At least you'll be happy and feeling good. Sadly, you may not be smart enough to enjoy it. Bitch. Hee-hee.
I have a little Red Scarf Update for you.
Yes, the OFA is full-up with red scarf love. Doug (pictured above in the purple with Jim Foti, modeling some of "the more conservative submissions," he tells me, ha!) says that they got more than enough scarves, but not the overwhelming number of last year (phew! we did it!) and they were deluged in the last week, after the 15th.
Doug also tells me the quality this year is fabulous. Everyone is so pleased. The Red Scarf Fund has had no activity in a while and seems to have topped out at $5,440.
We deserve to give ourselves a big pat on the back. Yay us! Get ready for Red Scarf 2009, but let's give them a bit of a breather first, okay?
Xianglian (a/k/a Shelly) is her name. Motor neurons is her game.
Xianglian and I have a wonderful working partnership. Sadly, she is a graduate student near the end of her academic career, so I won't be working with her much longer. We're only half done the semester, but I'm already sad that it's going to end. But now Shelly has a new scarf to keep her warm this winter and to remember me by.
Specs: This scarf is identical to the "Gwen" scarf. Cascade 220 Superwash, Really Red, in Anne's lacy rib pattern. (linked and reprinted in this entry.)
I love gmail. Where else would I get all those delicious and healthful Spam recipe links? Somebody must eat that stuff or they wouldn't still make it. Who? Who! Come out of the closet, you Spam-eating freaks! I bet Ann Coulter eats it, which would explain a lot.
I'm supposing you'd like to know what I bought in Rhinebeck. In truth, I did not support the festival economy as much as in past years. Except for the food vendors, that is. And I did support the infrastructure and the greater local economy a good bit.
The sweet and hilarious woman who tended one of the bathrooms got lots of my dollar bills. You just gotta love her. Now, there is a woman who knows how to have attitude. She alone was worth the price of admission to the fairgrounds -- am I right? I wanted to take her photo (she was beautiful, too), but didn't want to exploit her in that way. There goes my naivete again: She's probably an actor/model/comedian with an agent and performance schedule. I bet she'd have posed for a photo in a heartbeat, and she probably has her OWN blog.
But wasn't she fabulous? I know a lot of you know what I mean. "If you can't see feet, go ahead and take a seat!" "If you tinkle on the seatie, wipe it off like a sweetie!" "The lady in blue is keeping it clean for you!" I wish I could remember more of her -isms. She never stopped, all.day.long. She was a hard-working comic and deserved the money she was raking in. And there is nothing better than clean bathrooms to make a festival enjoyable.
I also gave the Metro-North Railroad money for train tickets for Abigail and Ryan to join a group of us for dinner, and of course I paid for the starving artists' dinners. Someone must have photos of Abigail and Ryan. How I managed to not have some is beyond me. (see "cocktails" below)
Yay for Sandy! She sent these commemorating the event of Carole, an honest-to-goodness As The World Turns fan, meeting the new soap star, Ryan.
I had more cocktails this weekend than I've had in a long time. A cute story: The waiter on Saturday apologized for taking so long to bring my Margarita. He had to go to the liquor store to buy some more tequila. I swear I did not drink the whole bottle the night before! We were a little disappointed that the Eveready did not serve their wine and their cocktails in Ball canning jars for the kitsch factor, but man, did I need those Margaritas.
So, about the shopping: Aside from some gifts, this is all I bought:
1. A skein of Brooks Farm Acero with a simple lace scarf pattern that came with it. Brooks Farm is worth buying because it can't be easily found elsewhere. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
2. 2 skeins of Foxfire cormo-silk blend. This is truly exquisite, and it was almost gone. Sandy and I each bought two skeins. We have both attempted and failed, due to technical difficulties with our respective yarn choices, to make those wonderful Aran Island Mittens from Folk Mittens, like Pat made so beautifully here. I think this might be THE yarn to give us success.
3. A Lisa Lloyd scarf and hat pattern that I thought was nice, and it was made in the above-mentioned Foxfire cormo-silk blend, so if the mittens don't work out, there is always the scarf to make. As if I needed an excuse.
Holy crap, how about those Red Sox? As I'm writing this, it's the bottom of the 8th, 9-2. BUT. It IS the Red Sox. I love those guys, but like most men, they fall short of goal on a regular basis*. And the fat lady has not yet sung. (*am I maybe being too harsh? nah. hee)
Oops. I had not yet finished writing that sentence and now it's 11-2. Okay, so perhaps the fat lady is warming up her vocal cords.
Sorry, that was just a little baseball aside. You didn't know I liked baseball, did you? There is a baseball story in my past. You don't know everything about me yet. And you can take that to the bank.
Let's talk more wool festival, shall we?
I promised photos, and I've got photos.
A woman and her mini. This has nothing to do with sheep and wool, perhaps. But a woman needs transportation, doesn't she? Okay, then.
Not the fat lady, but they're singing. They were adorable performers. (P.S. The Red Sox fat lady, she IS now singing. Cool.)
Artichokes French, my verdict: Worth the always-long wait.
Funny women Ann (another Mini-owner) and Vicki and fab chicken pot pies. (Have I mentioned the food at the New York Sheep & Wool Festival is the best of any event ever, anywhere? I'm not kidding.)
Favorite food-related conversation of the weekend:
LEIGH: I've never had bread pudding. What is it?
SANDY: It's made of bread and eggs and cinnamon and sugar and ...
LEIGH: So it's sort of like bread meatloaf?
Vietnamese spring rolls from the Culinary Institute tent. Yes, you read that right: Culinary Institute tent. I need a bigger stomach. Not a bigger abdomen -- a bigger stomach. 
Gorgeous Cara. (those were her spring rolls up there)
My lamb chops, spinach, and lamb ravioli. (so.freakin'.GOOD)
A woman's gotta have a bag. (My signature is on the bottom right corner. See it?)
Orange Shirts A-Go-Go. Jess, Rachael et moi.
Hello, my name is Norma. I'm a Ravelry Flunky. (but lovely Jess gave me a button anyway)
Says Sandy: "Norma, this is not-Not Plain Jane." At least that's what I heard. I thought it was a double negative, but I was wrong. She was just stuttering. This is NOT Plain Jane. 
A photo especially for Dave.
This was my favorite Rhinebeck festival ever. Favorite! I think it was because I didn't focus much on the shopping, but on taking it easy and enjoying the people and the atmosphere and not trying to attend everything that was happening and not worrying so much about other people. As always, I did not get to see and do everything, and I did not get to see everyone I might have liked to see, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. I got to spend some time with lots more people than I have photographic evidence of, and built up many more lovely memories.
There's much more to tell, but I'll save that for another day.
Of course you know what I'm going to say: I'm almost too tired for words. (too much fun, too much food, too many cocktails, not enough sleep going on here) But here are some images from last night and today, with pithy captions. [Sunday night: Links completed, and additional notes in red. You do know that you can make the photos bigger by clicking on them, right?]
The jeans. The boots.
Steek-Cutting as a Spectator Sport The venerable MamaCate, who is nearing completion of her gorgeous Autumn Rose sweater, cuts the neck steek. We were all well fortified with wine to steel our nerves. At least that was the excuse. Look at her smile!
Sarah, The Fish Knits. Can you get any more gorgeous than Sarah?
The Eveready. Not Your Grandmother's Diner. Filet mignon, leg of lamb, sauteed spinach, herb-crusted salmon, lobster ravioli, seafood risotto, killer cocktails, stupendous desserts -- I wasn't able to get a reservation at the CIA, and I'm not sad. The Eveready delivers gourmet quality at probably 1/3 the price, fast, and in a super-fun atmosphere. Oh, and if you want real diner food (burgers, pot roast, meatloaf, French fries, breakfast all day?), they got that, too. And you can wear jeans.
Tip: Always trust Sandy for restaurant recommendations. She was the one who urged trying the Eveready for dinner. She watches the Food Network and they featured this place. Trust Sandy.
Chappy's Mom and Grandma
Kris, who gets extra credit for asking me where my camera was.
Most creative button placement. (Lucia) [I've run out of steam with the linkage. I'm going to come back and finish the links another day. Ta-ta!]
More with the blogger baby boom.
Kilt Watch The boxers underneath were grey plaid on Saturday, and olive green plaid on Sunday. Not every guy would lift his kilt for me, but Mel was more than happy to on both days. Glad he changed his underwear.
When you hug Rachael, the sun shines on your head. Hug-A-Go-Go.
Something pretty. Needle-felted log cabin design on wool. (in progress) And that's all I really know about it. I saw it at a vendor's booth and was struck by its beauty, so I photographed it.
More to come soon!
a) The wheel has been sold. It's on its way to Rhinebeck and that incredible multi-tasker Ruth. I'm betting that her beautiful older daughter ("Her Ladyship") might be trying it out at the hotel, too. Mazel tov, Ruth!
2) Rhinebeck for me this year is all about the people, not the yarn or the fiber. Well, all right, I will LOOK, but not BUY. Too much. Unless there is something that I simply MUST have. *cough* I am going to do my damnedest to not have camnesia this time. If you see me and I don't have my camera out, ASK ME WHY NOT! For the people keeping the home fires burning, I will bring my laptop and try to send you a missive from the field at the end of the day on Saturday.
Third) I'm a square for Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo for both Saturday and Sunday. I might not be there for long, if at all, on Sunday, so catch as catch can. I should have one of those big tote bags that announce, "I'm a square!" but I don't. All I have is a button. Apparently it's going to be too warm to wear a heavy wool sweater, and it might be rainy. If so, I'll be wearing a yellow slicker, I suppose, and like all of us, I imagine I will be having a really bad hair day. Maybe it will be the right weather for my Summer Tweed Chamomile sweater.
This is what the sweater and I look like:
There is only one possible complication: I seem to have misplaced the lace-up tie thingy. The hunt is on. Perhaps a shoelace will be in its place.
Last year I missed the big noontime blogger meetup because I was standing in line for food. (What?!) But after that, I came up the hill and around the corner, and I heard Stephanie announce, "There's Norma," which allowed someone to spot me and shout out BINGO! and start jumping up and down like a crazy happy person. Apparently I was the last square needed on that person's card. It felt slightly surreal. Only slightly.
Next) If you see me anywhere, don't be shy about coming up and saying hi. I'm not nearly as scary as I seem, especially if you're offering me truffles.
Recent Comments