Success!

Our kitchen is unsafe for those under 3!

New Homeowner

Andy de-babyproofing our cabinets

The Single Sock Liberation Movement

Kathleen Feet
Originally uploaded by ciaobellabella

My sister and I have been wearing mismatched socks together for years. It all started when I was about 14 and she was about 7 -- acceptable ages not to match socks. But now she is 26 and I am, oh Lordy, 33. But it's hard to stop.

We try to make them match in some ways -- thematically, or with complementary colors. I always want them to be the same thickness. [I'm short already -- I don't have to be lopsided! Steph is 10 inches taller than I am so she has no worries on this front.] Yes, we are total geeks.

But this means when I started to knit socks, around age 16, I never had to knit the second sock! Brilliant. And yesterday I learned about the Single Sock Liberation Movement. [Check out this post -- she's got a gorgeous array of sock photos there.]

We've been liberated all our lives, without even knowing it...

Del Ray, Neighborhoods, Fiber

We move into our funny house next month and I was looking for a painter on the Visit Del Ray site.

I'm really excited about our little community. We have lots of friends within just a few blocks, and already most of our non-work activities are in or around Del Ray. Andy did a lot of the work on his book at St. Elmo's and for a long time I was going to Caboose (a nice little cafe that, out of the blue, has fantastic Ethiopian food) every Tuesday night with a group of women. Ooh, can't wait, can't wait.

And I'm not sure but it looks like Del Ray may actually have a yarn shop or presence of some kind: Knit-A-Gogo. Exciting news indeed! And a great name. They're featuring a company I've never heard of, Neighborhood Fiber Company. Their site has a few patterns and photos of some amazing yarn.

The Rug Continues...and a Shawl!

That's a lot of squares.
Originally uploaded by ciaobellabella

Seriously, I'm not sure any more what my problem is. The rug still seems ugly. Am I a perfectionist? Entirely possible. Do I just have a problem completing things (knitting projects, self-improvement plans, writing careers)? Absolutely.

Nevertheless, I think it looks weird. I really, really want to do something to make it better. But I'm a little stuck. It may be that I should just sew the squares together haphazardly, felt the thing, and see what happens. But once it's felted there's no turning back! Ah, the drama.

Meanwhile, to prove to myself that I can indeed finish knitting projects, I sewed the ends of my shawl from the winter, and blocked it (OK, way too late to wear it, but still). Ta-da!

Evening Commute

Scarf getting pretty long on the ride home. One thing I don't appreciate about these cell phone photos, though -- doesn't my one leg look enormous, while my foot (orange splash below) looks tiny? It's like a funhouse mirror.

Morning Commute

Colinette diagonal scarf on metro

After taking this photo with my cameraphone and sending it to be posted to the blog, I realized that I was on the wrong train. Indeed, I'd been on the wrong train, happily listening to the "Once" soundtrack on my ipod and knitting and occasionally taking photos of the Future Farmers of America who were taking the train into the city, for a good 20 minutes. Clearly I should not be allowed to multi-task on my commute.

I'm making this scarf for Eileen (she who told me the truth about the rug), for her spiffy trip to Thailand. Not totally sure why one would need a scarf there, but it's turning out pretty well. I'm knitting on the diagonal. Eileen will not be impressed, but I am (a little).

Broken-Hearted Hoover-Fixer Sucker Guy

We saw this amazing movie on Saturday night: Once. [Go to the website, because you can listen to the soundtrack from the movie there.] It's been touted as the salvation of movie musicals, and indeed it was wonderful. The characters felt real and the plot did, too -- particularly the ending, which I of course will not divulge.

Most of all, it reminded me of the first few years after I decided I wanted to be a Real Writer, when the world seemed full of possibility and I was collaborating with friends, living in England and then New York.

Funnily enough, though, it's about two people who reclaim that sense of possibility. So it seems there's hope for us all. Oy, that sounds cutesy. Pardon me while I go bathe in treacle.

On a lighter note, the Fox Searchlight website has a little animated video for one of the songs, "The Hoover Guy Song."