Between the Stitches

Day 2 - Why I love where I went to school.

I was lucky enough to attend college right down the street from Rhinebeck in Poughkeepsie at Marist College right on the river banks of the Hudson River.  For 4 years I got to take views like this for granted.  I was thrilled that Rhinebeck fell in time for me to enjoy a day in the area for my birthday.  A bit of solitude and gorgeous scenery is just what the doctor ordered.

I loved the fact that right out my dorm and classroom windows I got to enjoy views like that, especially in the fall when everything was just awash in beautiful colors.   (This fall, while still beautiful, has been a bit lacking.)  Fall is one of my favorite times of year, and back when I was in school one of my favorite things to do on a beautiful fall day was walk up to the Roosevelt museum and home and spend the afternoon on the grounds.  It was a three mile walk up to the site, with unfortunately no real sidewalk from most of it.  I loved taking the walk though.  Occasionally when I got up there I'd spring for admission to the house, but most of the time I'd wander around the grounds which are free to anyone to use. 

In particular, I loved to wander the trails in the woods behind the house.  The picture above is of the view from the back veranda of Springwood (FDR's home).  To the left is a map of the trails.  (Click on any pictures to make them bigger).  Last Sunday, I managed to hit almost all of the trails.  It was so beautiful and relaxing I was glad to have my camera with me to snap a few pictures.

All the trails start with the Cove trail.  The trail starts at the back of the house, and leads down into the woods and follows all the way down to the water.  It's probably the best marked trail of the four trails, although I noticed that the trails where all much better marked  this year than in prior times I've walked them.  I started with the Cove trail last week and followed it all the way down to it's end right by the river's edge.

It was just gorgeous down there.  Thanks to all the rain we've been having parts of the trail were very wet and muddy.  Occasionally they were a bit flooded, but never impossible to pass.  If you ever deciede to walk the trail, just be forwarned that if you want to walk right up to the water's edge you do have to cross the railroad tracks.  (The water is right on the other side of the tracks.)

Luckily you get a great view to see if any trains are upcoming.  I always try to cross the tracks as quickly, but as safely as possible.  I always have to walk right down to the water though.

From there I retreated back up the trail until I hit the point where the Forest trail intersects with the Cove trail.  After the Cove trail the Forest trail is probably my favorite.  The Forest trail makes a big loop through the woods, begining and ending in the same place.  Of the three trails I walked last Sunday, the Forest trail was probably the most poorly marked trail.  There were a few times that I was hoping that I was still on the right trail.  The forest floor was so covered with leaves, it was sometimes hard to tell.

See.  Very, very hard to see the trail path.  The yellow leaves on the trees were just gorgeous, and one of my favorite sights all day.

Me at the half way point on the Forest path loop.  At this point I could have branched off on the Hyde Park trail (which is not marked on that map above, but is there).  I love walking that one, but it trecks a bit over 3 miles up to the Vanderbilt mansion one way.  I would have had to make the trip round trip to get back to my car, and didn't have the time to make a six mile hike.  I had to be on the road again by 1 o'clock or so.  Next time though.  There are stone walls like the one I'm sitting on in the picture all over Hyde Park.  Some of them are right along route 9 in Hyde Park.  I love that fact that they have taken the time to keep them, and not destroy them in the name of progress.  Along route 9 there are also some great old mile markers that mark the distance to New York City that I just love.  I know there is one right in front of the Roosevelt grounds, and there was another one in front of my college.  I love trying to see the rest of them when I'd walk up to the Roosevelt house.  Some of them were a bit overgrown, but still there peaking out of the brush.

After following the Forest Trail back around to the Cove Trail I followed that until I reached the Meadow Trail.  The shortest of all the trails, it's probably my least favorite.  There just isn't much to see on it, but I do like ending my hikes with it because at the end you come around a curve and see the Roosevelt home up on top of the hill across the hay meadows.

It was a wonderful walk, and it really helped me to clear my head.  I didn't even realize until I got back that I had passed two hours without worrying about my job situation, money or anything else.  All I thought of for two hours was how beautiful the scenery was, and just enjoying every moment of that.  It was wonderful and just what I needed.  It was some great exercise too.  I don't know what the total mileage I walked was, but it was several miles.  The forest trail is 2.5 miles from the begining of the cove trail, around the loop, and back to the top again.  The other two trails are a mile and a half round trip so I don't know exactly how much it was to do all of them because of the overlap that's involved.  Plus there is a lot of hill climbing involved.  The sign at the begining says that over the course of any of the trails there is at least a 200 foot change in elevation from the home to the river's edge.  I wish I such a wonderful spot for hiking and walking here at home.  I hardly even realize that I'm getting such exercise in when done this way.

The rest of my birthday went by just as wonderfully.  The drive home went by uneventfully, but in gorgeous weather, and when I got home my mother took my father and I out to the Stonebridge Restaurant for dinner.  I had some fantastic grilled tuna.  I love seafood when people more talented than me cook it so it's a treat to have out.  I tend to stick with chicken most of the time.

Unfortunately my wonderful relaxed mood only lasted until I had to go back to work again the next day.  Ugh!

Day 1 - Knitter's Paradise

I wouldn't say that I'm feeling much better today, but I'm working to try to shrug it off.  My day didn't get off to a banner begining when I over slept and ended up late for work.  I spent a large portion of my morning focusing on job searching which added a bit to the mood, but nonetheless I'm trying to stay as positive as possible.  I'm hoping that actually not having to come to work anymore helps my mood.  It's just really rough having to come in every day to a place you know doesn't want you anymore.  I'd rather have the time to spend putting a 100% effort into job searching.  Two more weeks.

This past weekend though was wonderful though.  Friday I took a half a vacation day and picked up Susie at the train station so we could hit the road for Rhinebeck.  Other than one downpour while crossing the dam on rt. 34, the rain was light for most of the drive.  Just about when we crossed into NY the sun came out and was actually quite glaring on the road, of course my sunglasses were packed and not accessible.

Saturday we hit the road and were at the gates just before 10am and found the gates already open.  We made a quick beeline to our first stop - The Fold's booth for some Socks that Rock.  Just after opening the booth was already swamped. We fought our way through and I managed to come out with three great colorways - no limbs lost in the process.

From right to left that's Waterlillies, Highway 30 and Love-in-Idleness.  Then we joined the paying line.  Huge.  The one good thing about the line was that we got to talk to some wonderful women, and check out what colorways everyone else was picking up.  I would have loved to pick up some more colorways myself, but I had to keep reminding myself that I'd be jobless soon and had to behave myself.  (Susie made out pretty well too!)

Then we skirted around the rest of building A.  I was tempted by a few things at the Brooks Farms booth, but managed to come away with nothing.  I did pick up this beauty at the Skaska Designs booth.

3100 yards of the softest, prettiest laceweight yarn in a merino/tencel blend.  I love the color it's the greatest light aqua blue color.  Very me.  Lace yarn was on my "to buy" list for Rhinebeck as none of the LYS's near me ever carry any lace yarn.  It's earmarked for a Lilly of the Valley shawl.

By the time we completed the round trip around the building the Socks that Rock booth looked like this:

I think's that about one skein of the medium weight sitting there all by it's lonesome.  At this point there was still other stuff left, but by the end of the day when we made a second trip through the building they were wiped out.  The line to pay looked like this:

We spent the rest of the day roaming through the rest of the buildings, buying a few more things, and things I probably shouldn't have.  I didn't buy anymore yarn though I was tempted by some wonderfully soft bleached alpaca that I saw on the lower level of the two story barn.  I did buy a few more gadgets:

From right to left size 2 stretchy circulars for socks, size 1 ChiaGoo dpn's that I want to try, size 2 Inox dpn's (again that I've been wanting to try - I have lousy LYS's), and a row counter.  I also picked up a few sock patterns that aren't shown here.  Not to bad overall.  I spent more than I should have given my situation, but not awful.  Besides, if I'm out of work I'm going to need some projects right?

We went to the knitter meet-up too.  I hadn't signed up for the blogger bingo and felt too shy to really go up to people.  It was a bit overwhelming.  I saw Margene (who had a gorgeous Starmore sweater), Cara, Stephanie (with her fabulous wedding shawl) and Amy there, but I kept thinking that just because I read these people's blogs doesn't mean they have any clue who I am so I didn't say anything.  I am also pretty sure that I saw Vicki, but wasn't 100% positive and my shyness got the better of me yet again. So if she saw someone in an orange sweater looking at her strangely it was probably me.  I think what everyone needs next time are buttons with their blog names on them.  Would help immensely!  I really need to get over my shyness!!!  It's so pointless.  Everyone I met over the course of the day while in line or elsewhere was so friendly and wonderful.  I heart fiber and yarn people.

We headed out about 4.30 so I could get Susie back to the train station.  I stayed another night, but I'll save a recap of day 2 for tomorrow.

Maybe Later

I was going to write a post about my wonderful weekend at Rhinebeck and in Hyde Park, but I'm just not feeling it today.  I don't want today's yucky feelings to color my write up of my great weekend.  I'll try again tomorrow.  Today I'm just feeling overwhelmed with depression related to my impending unemployment and just want to go have a good cry.  I'm at work, so that's not possible so I'm doing my best to hold it together.

I really did have a wonderful weekend!

Hours and Counting

I'm sitting at work watching the clock creep by waiting until I get to leave at noon.  I need to run a few errands before picking up Susie at the train station and we hit the road for Rhinebeck.  I need to clean the insides of my car window, gas up my car and pick up some bottled water for the trip. 

I have this horrible feeling that I forgot something and can't quite place what it is.  I'm normally a very organized packer, but I ended up doing it at the last minute last night when I got home from my part time job.  I nearly forgot to pack a knitting project with me.  How does one forget to bring along a knitting project to a wool festival?  There really wouldn't have been any excuse for that one.  I tossed a sock and my shawl into the bag so I'm all set now.

I drove into work today instead of taking the train in so I could get home faster.  Of course the one day I drive in it's rainy and miserable.  Took me over an hour and a half to make the 32 mile drive.  Ugh!!  Good reminder to me though that I don't want a new job I have to drive too.  I'll stop complaining about the over crowded dirty trains now.  It's still much better than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic all morning.  Hopefully the drive home at lunch time will go much faster.

Anxious

I'm getting terribly anxious to go to Rhinebeck.  My mother called me today from Hyde Park where her and my father were enjoying the scenery up at the Vanderbilt mansion.  She had to tell me she thought of me while they were listening to the radio and heard an ad for the festival.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow for the drive up, but for what they are saying Saturday should be nice.

I finally got around last night to dragging out my overnight bag.  Baring an unbelievably warm day, I'll be wearing my Vogue sweater.  Say hi if you see me!  I look more or less the same only I've lost about thirty lbs since that was taken, and I have a slightly different haircut with bangs.  If it's too warm for the sweater, I'll be wearing either my Charlotte or Fern (Charlotte 2) shawl.

Eek about the haircut.  I had a real urge to do something different with my hair, and last week brought a picture of a real cute hairdo to my hairdresser.  A week later I'm still trying to deciede if I like it or not.  It's exactly what I asked for, so it's no fault of my hairdresser, I just can't get used to it.  I keep looking at myself and keep thinking I've got a wig on or something.  I think it's the bangs.  I can't even remember the last time I had this much bangs.  When I was in college I had bangs, but always wore them hairsprayed a mile off of my face.  I'd post a picture, but I haven't even had the heart to photograph them.  Everyone else seems to like the haircut more than I do.  My mother says it makes me look more sophisticated.  I think it makes me look older - as in a dowdy, frumpy mother hairdo.  Worst thing?  I have to go to DMV to get my license renewed tonight.  I'm going to be stuck with my hair looking back at me for 4 years.  That will teach me to cut my hair before I renew my license.  It's really not all that bad, I'm just not feeling the love.  I think I just need a better way to style it - that or some cool highlights.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's off to Rhinebeck I go!  At least Friday I will be.  I can't wait.  I had been arguing with myself about spending the money on the trip when I'll be unemployed in less than a month, but in the end said screw it, I'm going.  Hopefully the change of space will help me clear my head of the malaise that seems to have set in lately.  Besides when I'm unemployed I'm going to need some yarn to keep myself busy, right? 

If your going to be going to Rhinebeck let me know!  I'm staying in Hyde Park, but I'm pretty sure I'm only going to attend on Saturday.  My birthday is Sunday, and my mother is going to take my father and I out for dinner that night to celebrate both of our birthdays.  (My father's is the week after mine).  Depending on the weather I think I may go wander the grounds at the Roosevelt Estate Sunday morning before heading back.  The grounds are free of charge, and it's a nice walk through the woods down to the river's edge.  When I was in college in the area, I would walk up to the mansion sometimes and just wander around the grounds and enjoy the peace and quiet down by the water.

I need to spend some time with the vendor list and map out what I really want to check out.  The only thing I know that I absolutely want to hit is the Socks that Rock booth.  First thing.

I actually have been knitting lately.  The urge to knit has slowly been coming back to me.  Maybe it was just waiting for the cooler weather.  I packed away the two half finished tank tops I had been working on.  I really wanted to do something with wool.  I cast on for two projects.  The cashmere finally became too tempting and I had to cast on for the Wing O Moth shawl.  So far I'm having no problem with the pattern, but the yarn is proving to be a bit tricky.  I like working with a long tail of yarn pulled out of the ball, and the cashmere loves to twist back on itself as I'm working with it.  A bit challenging, but nothing too difficult.  No pictures yet, but I'm working on it.  It just looks like a mass of green thread anyways at the moment. 

The needles for the shawl were yet another challenge.  I went to one of my local LYS's to buy some pointy circulars for the project and the best they had to offer was Crystal Palace circulars.  After just a row or two, I knew they were never going to last with this project, or I'd lose my mind.  I dove into my needle collection, and way at the bottom of the storage bin I found some Balane circulars in the right size that I didn't even know that I had.  So far I'm having good luck with them.  The points are nice and pointy and the yarn slides easily over them.  My only issue with them is the slight bend in the needles and the join.  I don't mind a bend in circular needles when I'm knitting something in the round, but I always find it annoying when knitting things straight.  The yarn overs always manage to snag on the join when I do. 

What are all of your preferences for lace needles?  Any ideas on a better choice?  These are fine right now, but I'm concerned about how annoying the bend will be as the shawl grows.  Right now I don't have that many sitches on the needles, and I can keep most of them off of the cords.

I want to cast on for a sweater as well, but I haven't been able to get guage for anything I've tried yet.  I really wanted to use the Rowan's Kid Classic in my stash for the Vintage Pink Cardigan that was in Interweave Knits maybe a year or so ago.  Try though I might I couldn't get anywhere close to the required guage.  It was very disappointing as it would have been the perfect yarn to use for this sweater.  I'm determined to start a project using something from my stash so I'll be swatching for awhile.

Also, YarnYenta's having a little contest.  Here's my answers.

1. Where is your favorite knitting spot? I used to get the most knitting done at my part time job, but since I can't do that any longer my favorite spot is on my living room sofa while I'm watching my sports event of choice.

2. If you suddenly could never knit again (shudder) - what would you do instead?  I'd probably start cross-stitching or quilting again.  I've actually been missing both lately and was thinking of starting a project.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world - where would you go and why?  Italy.  I'd love to see where my family came from, and get to see some of the beautiful art and architecture there.

4. When you were little - What did you want to do "when you grew up?" Are you doing it?  I wanted to be a rich and famous actress.  Nope - I've been too shy to even think about getting up and performing in front of anyone.  Never managed to get rich either.

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Haagen Daz Carmel fudge brownie, hands down.  A close second is Eddy's Girl Scout Cookie Samoa.  Yum!

Naked Knitter

I have been a woefully bad blogger lately.  I apologize.  I'd be amazed if anyone still reads me at all with my lack of posting.  I've been overcome with an overwhelming case of apathy lately - not just with my knitting.  I know it's been caused by losing my job, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.  I haven't knit or done anything terribly crafty in awhile, at least nothing of any substance.  Sadly I haven't done much cleaning either.  I guess I'm falling apart a bit.  I occasionally pick up one of my projects and do a few rows, but I quickly lose interest and end up like a zombie sitting in front of the television.  I have been winding my beautiful cashmere yarn into balls.  It's been taking forever to do it by hand, as the cashmere loves to cling to itself but the motions of winding the balls have been soothing.

Luckily, I've had a few events that have forced me to move and spend my nights out and about, and not sitting around thinking about what I'm going to do after November.  Two weekends ago I went to NYC for the Knit Out.  I had planned on going for quite awhile, but after finding out about the job termination a few days before going, I was going to just forget about it.  I finally deceided to go anyways, and am happy I did.  It felt good to spend the time by myself and forget about everything for a few hours.  I got there early so I could get my free needles from the clover booth (and watched the people nearly trample one another to be one of the ones to get a pair of lighted needles).  I checked out the rest of the booths relatively quickly and didn't really want to stay around for the rest of the events.  I hit the Union Square Sephora and picked up some lip plumping lip gloss (which I really didn't need) before catching a subway back up to midtown.

There I finally got to see a classic New York institution that somehow in all my trips into the city I had somehow managed to never see.  That would be the Naked Cowboy.

Watching the tourists waiting in line to have there picture taken with him (including the little old ladies) really made me laugh, and cheered me up immensely.  Only in NY would a guy standing around in his undies in the middle of a street be a tourist photo op.  My opinion is he needs to carry around something smaller than a guitar though, something like knitting needles.  Although I don't know where in the world he would carry around his yarn.

I did finish a few immediate gratification projects before this malaise settled in.  I'll post those tomorrow.