Amigurumi

My cousin had surgery this past Tuesday and my mom will be having surgery on Wednesday (hopefully. She's been waiting for almost 2 years for this surgery). I crocheted each of them a little amigurumi animal, which I wasn't able to post on here until they both got them because they read the blog.

So here's my cousin Amy's bunny, which she tells me she named "B":
And here's my mom's, well, mouse or Hello Kitty:
The pattern was actually for a Hello Kitty, but the ears turned out more rounded than planned and I thought she looked like a mouse, which was still adorable. But my mom recognized her as Hello Kitty, so I guess she's whatever she looks like to whoever has her.

I made these last weekend and then they sat on our dining table for a couple of days before I mailed them out. Once they were all packaged to go out, Jason said in a sad voice, "Oh, no more bunny and mouse..." I asked him if he wanted me to make us a bunny and mouse and he said maybe. After Christmas presents are done.

Update to Providence's Idiotic Recycling Plan

Yesterday was trash day. A girl in Jason's lab diligently put out her trash with 2 recycling bins per trash can.

Her recycling bins were promptly stolen.

Shocker.

Basket Story

Last night I went to Michael's to try to find some doll eyes for an amigurumi creation. FYI, googly eyes are the extent of Michael's doll eye department. However, they do have a giant bead inventory and I found these flat, round, black beads that work perfectly for eyes.

I've observed that Michael's strategy during the economic downturn has been to put everything in the store on massive sale all the time. Judging by the amount of super cheap yarn that now resides in our guest room, their strategy is working. While I was gazing down the aisles, looking for doll parts, I noticed all the baskets were 40% off, so I thought I would give them a perusal. Then I saw a basket that I have been eying since it first appeared in July or August. It's a large light-colored basket with faux leather handles, 2 stripes of chocolate brown, tan and sage green, and a fabric lining.

Only, it was $27.99. I'm not prepared to pay that for a basket that I don't really need. I was kind of tempted when it was 40% off a couple of months ago, but it still seemed like too much. Last night, it had a clearance price on it of $12.99. I did some quick math and decided that if it was 40% off that $12.99 I would be dumb not to get it.

Well, it wasn't 40% off the clearance price. Instead it was 90% off the original price. I got it for $2.79. Ta-dah!
While I was standing in the aisle, wondering how to justify bringing home a large basket when we are supposed to be in the process of decluttering, I saw this cute little one.
I had noticed this basket in the past too. However, there was no clearance tag and at 40% off $12.99, I could maybe justify it. Maybe. But if the first basket, which I loved, needed a purpose, then this one REALLY needed a purpose.

Then it hit me. I always have yarn projects cluttering up my side of the couch. Maybe I could keep my works in progress in this little basket, like so:
Fabulous!

Also, the little basket was 90% off as well. That's right, $1.29.

As for the big basket, it will now be the new home of my overflowing yarn stash. Justification is a beautiful thing.

Don't Get Cocky

I was all cocky after making a few hats that, hey, this knitting thing isn't really so tough. That'll teach me. I have started and ripped out (or frogged as the knitters say) this one project no less than 5 times. I was working on it on my lunch hour and realized that I'm going to have to rip it out again. For one, even though I made a swatch for the gauge and had it all correct, I tried it on and realized it is way too small for the recipient.

For two, I can't seem to increase via the "M1R" or "M1L" stitches without leaving gaping holes underneath the stitch. According to the folks on Ravelry, the stitch is supposed to twist somehow so that there is no hole. Well, I've watched 4 videos and read explicit directions and I am convinced I'm doing exactly what they say to do and it's still not working. I think I'll have to get one of my knitting gurus to explain it to me at our craft night this week. Good thing that's tomorrow night.

I guess this is what they call the learning process. These are Christmas presents though so I need to have learned this by, say, next week at the latest.

Asininity

[Local rant to follow]

Recently, our fair city of Providence has implemented probably the stupidest trash pick-up policy ever conceived. Their new plan is to only empty your trash if you put out your recycling bins.

OK so far, right?

But here is how they have morphed that simple plan into something that's going to make our city smell pretty bad sometime in the near future.

1) They will only empty your trash if you have two recycling bins (one for paper, one for everything else) per trash can. So that means at houses like ours, where we have two trash cans and two recycling bins, only one trash can has been emptied for the last 2 weeks. Last week they slapped a bumper sticker with "Green-Up Providence" on the trash can they didn't empty. Oookaay... That doesn't really tell us anything. Jason thought maybe they didn't empty it because the lid wasn't on tight enough...? Then I saw a news report about the new policy and everything became clear (one week after the policy was implemented).

2) The city didn't really do anything to tell us about the policy, and the things they did do didn't include all the relevant information. In this article, city employees say they sent mailers and blanketed the community with information. Um, no. We didn't get anything in the mail and as I already mentioned, I only found out about it by watching the news a week after the fact. Plus, none of the materials said two bins per trash can. Yesterday after not taking our trash, they taped a piece of paper to the trash can explaining that in order to get our trash picked up, we needed to put out our recycling bins. Nowhere on the piece of paper did it say two recycling bins per trash can. Mind you, the trash man was standing RIGHT NEXT TO OUR RECYCLING BINS as he taped that piece of paper to our trash can telling us we needed to put out our recycling bins.

3) Recycling bins get stolen ALL THE TIME. We used to have 4. Now we have 2. I'm worried that when we put our 2 out next week someone who doesn't have any will drive by and snag them because you see...

4) The recycling bins cost $5 each. Now the new policy is starting to make sense in our cash-strapped city. According to this article (which seriously missed the overall point), "The Department of Public Works sold 2,000 of the $5 bins on Monday alone and another 1,000 on Friday. By way of comparison, the city sold 5,600 recycling bins in all of October." Hmmmm...

5) The new policy doesn't take into account the numerous leaf bags that people also have sitting on their curbs. I don't know if the mayor noticed, but it's the end of Fall here in New England, and people are raking the leaves out of their yards in preparation for Winter. Last night on my drive home from a meeting, I counted about 30 leaf bags still sitting on the curbs. I know other cities have mulching pick-up for the leaves, and I would solidly support that sort of initiative in Providence, but so far leaves get picked up by the garbage man. Though not anymore, apparently.

6) The new policy also doesn't seem to consider that most houses in Providence have 2-3 families living in them. As the only people currently living in our 3-family home, the two of us never come close to filling up our recycling bins, but I'm sure a full 3-family home could fill them both. That same house would probably generate 5-6 cans of trash, considering some weeks Jason and I can generate enough trash to fill 2 ourselves. So that one house is now supposed to have 10-12 recycling bins in front of it as well?

I am all for recycling. I'm recycling's biggest fan. Jason teases me sometimes because of how diligent I am with rinsing out our plastic and glass containers and making sure the maximum amount of stuff gets recycled. Every week we put out our trash cans and our recycling bins. We're doing it right. Yet, for the past two weeks, one of our trash cans has not been emptied because we don't have 4 recycling bins.

The lack of clear thinking and planning that went into this policy just boggles my mind. Anyone with half a brain could see the flaws, though I suppose they're hoping a few thousand dollars in recycling bin revenue will solve all of their fiscal woes. Maybe there's a reason Rhode Island in general is rapidly declining if these are the sorts of great minds we have working in our government.

As other people have suggested in the comments to articles about this, maybe the best place for our non-emptied trash is on the steps of City Hall.

Ward Party

Saturday night we went to a ward party and I made a trifle for the dessert contest. Want to know how it all went down?

Creme Brulee

For Jason's birthday I used one of my birthday presents to make him his favorite dessert. My parents got me a creme brulee set (complete with blowtorch) for my birthday and I was excited to try it out.

I made Vanila Bean Creme Brulee from Cooking Light. It made a lot, and was a little liquidy and took a long time to set. I think next time, I'll use less milk.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 crème brûlée)

* 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
* 3/4 cup nonfat dry milk
* 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
* 1/2 cup sugar, divided
* 4 large egg yolks
* Dash of salt

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil), stirring occasionally. Remove milk mixture from heat. Cover and steep 30 minutes. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture; reserve bean for another use.
Preheat oven to 300°.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolks, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
(Reserve egg whites for breakfast in nearby bowl)

Gradually add milk mixture to egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.

Divide the mixture evenly among 4 (4-ounce) ramekins, custard cups, or shallow baking dishes. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake at 300° for 25 minutes or until center barely moves when ramekin is touched (NOTE:This took about 45 minutes actually). Remove ramekins from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Sift 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over each custard. Holding a kitchen blow torch about 2 inches from the top of each custard, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until sugar is completely melted and caramelized (about 1 minute). Serve crème brûlée immediately or within 1 hour.
With this recipe, I filled up all 4 of the little white ramekins that came in the set, plus 2 more. Yeah, I think there was too much milk.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Happy birthday to my husband!
um...and the cat...

PS For those of you who have met Jason in the last 2 years, this is what he really looks like, sans beard.

Quiet Time

Unless I'm meeting someone for lunch, I usually eat sitting at my desk. I catch up on blogs and email and just peruse the internets while I eat.

Last week, I discovered a better way to use my time that I've determined is good for me. I listened to a podcast and knitted on my lunch hour. The first day I did this, I had planned to go outside and sit by the river (my building is just across the street from the Providence River, which, according to wikipedia, is the confluence of the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers in downtown Providence). Only, as I started to cross the street, the sky started spitting little raindrops on me.

So instead I went into the large lunchroom on the first floor of my office building, sat on a comfy leather bench, and knitted. Then yesterday it was warm and sunny and I actually got to go sit by the river. Today it was cloudy, but warm, so I did it again.

I think this has been very good for my mental health the last couple of days. I get away from my desk and the office and the glaring light of my computer. Plus, I get a little bit accomplished toward my knitted Christmas presents. Mostly, I think it's just good for me to get away and have a little quiet time not in my desk chair.

Heavy Duty Cleaning Time

A couple of friends are coming to stay for an evening next weekend and Jason and I have faced the fact that the guest room is a disaster. It's been a disaster basically since I moved in, or rather since Jason moved in a whole year and a half before any of my stuff joined in the mess. We've managed to get it straightened up enough to allow people to stay in the room periodically, but it's never really been what you would call tidy.

So today we started. Well, I had to go to work for several hours, but as soon as I got home and ate dinner, we started. I've switched out my Spring/Summer wardrobe for my Autumn/Winter wardrobe finally and have made inroads to organizing my stuff in the room. I'm impressed with how much Jason has gotten done. He's cleaned up the area around his desk and now just has to clean the desk itself. I'm trying to impart to him the idea that if we do a little bit every day, it's not insurmountable.

He's just had me come look at what he's done tonight so I can oo and ah and be encouraging. Now we're going to have ice cream. Hurrah!

Friends

I'm going to look to NaBloPoMo as a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule. Even after Sara reminded me to post last night, Jason and I got to watching TV and then we got sleepy and I was also trying to knit a hat pattern that is giving me issues and so ultimately I forgot to post.

Last night we had craft night at my house and had a really bustling group for the first time in a long time. The stars aligned, I guess, and there wound up being 7 of us total. I really enjoy that weekly time to get together with other ladies and talk, even when it's just me and one other person. I'm a big believer in couples not being joined at the hip and hanging out with their own friends sometimes.

The only problem is, Jason's friends have all moved away. So Jason, the extrovert of the couple, is left to hang out with me and to go to parties with me. Not that he doesn't like me, but everyone needs a break now and again. I know it makes him sad sometimes. When we first met, Jason had a giant group of friends and siblings to hang out with in Cambridge. Even after moving to Providence, we had several parties at his (now our) place that were a rousing success. He added buddies from his lab and had some lab parties at his place. There was always someone to call up and do something with on the spur of the moment.

Now, most of the friends in Boston have moved away, as have his brother and sister. Plus, his two closest friends in the lab quit their post-docs and moved. One is in Connecticut, so we get to see him occasionally, but it's not the same as just hanging out and going to the Palace after work.

I know he has lunch sometimes with some guys from church who are also on the Brown campus, but it gets more difficult to hang out with them as the day wears on because they all have kids. We don't have a problem hanging out with kids or people with kids, it's just life is more complicated when there are bedtime rituals and schedules to work around.

Anyway, I feel bad for him, especially when he comes home from work and sees me surrounded by a gaggle of ladies, having a grand old time. Maybe we should try to set up craft night play dates for the husbands...

When Did I Get So Old, Exactly?

I don't think I've mentioned on here that Jason is teaching Institute for the Brown/RISD/URI students. The exciting news is, there are actually enough kids interested in attending Institute to have a pretty lively group. Usually the college kids around here just kind of fade away. The ward gets their records, but never sees their faces. So not only are there probably 7 or 8 regulars, but the fact that they all need rides has gotten a semi-active Junior coming to church every week. I don't know if he's enjoying it, but he's nice enough to give rides and not complain about it.

They're all really smart and fun to hang out with. We had them over to our house last week to carve pumpkins and I made mulled cider and caramel apples. And it occurred to me that I'm the Institute teacher's wife. Granted, all my Institute teachers' wives had piles of kids, but the other thing I remember about them is that they were motherly and matronly and - older.

I was talking to one of them last week about our hideous former neighbors and I referred to them as "kids." She asked, "There were kids living upstairs?!" I said, "No, I mean college kids..." then trailed off because I realized that those neighbors were about 4 years older than the person I was talking to. Because, see, she was born in 1991.

I kind of laughed it off because the kids in our dining room that night seem about forty-seven thousand times more mature than our former neighbors, but it made me feel very old all of a sudden.

Turning 32 didn't do this to me. Now that I'm 33 and hanging out with undergrads, oh my gosh do I feel old. Matronly. Past my prime.

Someone lie to me and tell me that at least I don't LOOK 33.

Knitting Nerd

So I meant to blog last night, but didn't because I got new knitting needles and was all excited about starting a new Christmas project. So I'm just going to call November 1 a wash and blog until December 1. Sound good? Okay then.

(WARNING: Knitting nerdiness to follow. I am a new knitter, and am having fun trying all the new exciting things. Jason just rolls his eyes.)

About those new knitting needles. Maybe I should be more snotty about it, but after spending $10 on a pair of circular needles and $15 on 5 double pointed needles (!!!!*) I decided to look into my options for cheaper needles.

*I was making a hat and needed the dpns, but couldn't find the right size at Michael's. So I wound up buying them at this cutesy yarn store near my house, which, you know, I love supporting local merchants, but those were pretty pricey.

I thought about getting one of those sets with the interchangeable needles and cables, and found a big set on major sale, but then read all these reviews about the cables untwisting and ruining projects and decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Then I went to ebay. As someone who bought my wedding dress on ebay, I fully acknowledge that you can find some fantastic things on ebay. There are a ton of actual businesses that sell their wares on ebay for a lot cheaper than you can find in a store.

And did I ever find a deal. 6" dpns, sizes 0-15, 5 of each size in bamboo (my preferred needle medium) for $20. That's 75 needles for $20. Then I found 16" circular needles, sizes 0-15 in bamboo for $20. That's 15 circular needles. Considering I bought ONE 16" circular needle for $10 a few weeks ago, I thought these prices were pretty amazing.

The needles arrived yesterday and I immediately started making a hat that I had been planning for a Christmas present. So far I am very pleased with the needles and definitely think this was a worthwhile purchase. Also, the seller has circular and single pointed needles in all different sizes so if I ever need other sizes, I'll just go buy a set from her. If I only ever in my lifetime use 2 of the needles from the set, it will be worth it.

NaBloPoMo

I'm just going to throw it out there that I'm cheating right off the bat. I did not, in fact, write on November 1, although I'm going to date this as November 1 because I am a big cheater. I promise all other entries will be for reals.

I was thinking about participating in NaBloPoMo this year since I've been so hit or miss with the blog writing lately. Then I promptly forgot about it. THEN, I read my friend Sara's blog this morning and it reminded me again.

So here we are.

November 1.

First off, I am a little freaked out that it's November 1. Seriously, where did this year go? The leaves got blown off most of the trees on Saturday when the wind barreled through Providence. October, my favorite month, is now over, and it's time to start hunkering down and getting ready for winter in New England.

Sunday, I was reflecting that it's pretty cool to live in New England. It's the archetypal place for seasons. There are times when it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting around here.

I love the history. Lately when I walk to and from work, I walk down Benefit Street. Benefit Street is a lovely tree-lined street with old-fashioned street lamps. Walking along it, I feel taken out of the modern world. Every house has an historic placard on the front, with some as old as the 1600's. It boggles my mind to think how long some of those houses have been sitting on that hill, looking out over Providence.

It's funny how moving away to DC in 2005, and then coming back and absorbing the area anew from a totally different angle results in me being so happy to be here.

As we were driving to a friend's house for dinner, I said aloud to Jason how nice it is to be here. He agrees.