Friday, August 29, 2008

It's 100 Degrees, so Bring On the Wool!

I hadn't mentioned the thing with the sticks and yarn since I finally finished the 2007 Christmas presents, mostly because I hadn't progressed much past rectangles.

And seeing that it's summer in Los Angeles, I can't imagine why anyone would be interested in long sleeved wool sweaters.

Except me, because... IT DOESN'T SUCK!



I know, I'm thrilled. (Excuse the lumpiness in that picture, but that's actually me and not the sweater... and yes, I really am that pasty white).





For those of you who are still reading this far, that's the Gathered Pullover (that's the Ravelry link...) from Interweave Knits Winter 2007 issue, design by Hana Jason. Knitted in a teal/emerald green bamboo-merino superwash blend yarn.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Independence Day

LB and I have spent much of our 9 years or so together slogging through one crisis or another. Not things we've done to each other, mind you. But you can't hit the middle of your life without running headfirst into some sort of drama, be it family or financial or The Ex or medical or employment or friends or house or... Anyway, after nine years of slogging, we were ready for some fun. Hence the Maui trip.

Coming back and jumping into the chaos has been harder than we thought. If you'll pardon the analogy, it's kind of like dancing in pointe shoes. During the performance, your toes stay pretty numb. It isn't until you stop that the pain kicks in. And the next day is the worst, when you have to squish your sore, battered toes back into the same shoes for more abuse. We knew all along that we were working ridiculously hard, but we hadn't had the time to step back and notice how little fun we actually have on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. So here we were, back after too-few-days of nothing but fun, and work was being... particularly work-ish.

And then 4th of July weekend came along, and we were - I admit it - complaining that we wished we were snorkeling somewhere. I won't admit how long it took us (me) to realize that some people do actually come here, to California, to snorkel. Cue the heavenly-revelation music. We didn't even have to get on a plane. So we staged our own mini-rebellion against the current reign of chronological tyrany, and off to Catalina we went.



The best part was, our local dive shop (Hey, we have a local dive shop? Wow) had a great deal on an Olympus Stylus 1030 SW, a little point-and-shoot digital camera that was waterproof to 10 meters /33 feet.



It has 4 different macros for underwater shots, although LB just set it on one and handed it to me, and I snapped away.



I'm sure you can tell I'm not a photographer. I've never had a decent camera, and so have never taken any pictures I like. But these shots make me smile. The kelp is beautiful, and the Garibaldi fish just glow against all the blues and greens.



And then after we got through paparazzi-ing the fishies, we did this:



You really can have fun in Southern California. Who knew.