Crud

Brax,

Well, here I am, home sick while you and Josh work your butts off on the secret project. It sucks! Who gets sick in summer? Seems all wrong. I don't know how, but sometime last year I became a person who is extremely susceptible to stomach bugs. Little achey ones, big revolting ones, they all find a comfy home in my gut. I used to never get sick. Huh.

Anyway, I wish I was helping you with stuff today, but I am really in no condition. I'm going to try and get myself together to at least go meet up with Miss Tyler tonight, since she is visiting from Arizona and I'd hate to miss her. I'll probably have to miss out on all the usual Tyler insanity, though. I shouldn't drink or stay up late. Or have any fun. Or eat dairy. Joseph P. Bummer IV.

The other awesome thing is that I can't knit because we went kayaking on Sunday and it hadn't occurred to me that four hours of paddling would pretty much destroy my weak, sad little right wrist. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. It's been 4 days, so it's getting better, but seriously. BOOOOOOO. So yeah, you heard right, I'm stuck in the house sick and I can't even knit. Total waste.

We had a nice KPH this week. It was my last activity before I was stricken. Here's a cute picture of you knitting on your squishy green awesomeness.


Other knitters included Mr and Ms Cabbage, lookin' like the cutest couple in towne. The couple that knits and drinks together stays together. (I am personally totally destroying her headless veneer. Haaaaaaah!)


Tome was practicing his K's and P's. He's getting a refresher course, since he hasn't knitted in a long time. He'll be off his practice swatch and onto a big project in no time.

His t shirt says "Save a horse, ride a cowboy." Brax and I agree that this is hysterical.

Of course, Matt and I were there too but we both look stupid in the pictures. I think I knitted a total of 15 stitches that night because of the wrist.

Labor day! I'm leaving Saturday morning to see what nature has been up to lately. We're heading to Red River Gorge for the long weekend. Hiking! No kayaking, though. I would really love to kayak, but, you know, the wrist.

You don't think about how much you count on your wrist until it tells you to take this job and shove it. Right at this moment I'm thinking about how I need to wrap up this blog post before I make it worse. Other things that are suddenly difficult include: carrying around my coffee cup, holding my book, text messaging, blow drying my hair, and chopping veggies. I'm not sure when it starts being a doctor thing. I am pretty sure the doctor would tell me to try not to use it very much, take ibuprofen, wear a brace at night, and ice it when it swells up, all of which I'm doing anyway, so why even bother?

longing for the days when I was young, healthy, and robust,
Bruce

Early Towne

Bruce,

So I was lying in bed this morning, finishing up "Jamaica Inn," when I heard a knock on the door. A knock on the door? At 8:30 AM? The following thoughts ran through my mind:

1. OMG, it's the Vicar!
2. Who knocks on doors at 8:30 AM? Some sort of early-morning serial killer?
3. You know, I used to get to work by this time. What have I become?
4. Oh no, what if it's my downstairs neighbor and there is somehow water leaking into her apartment again?
5. Oh god, what if it's my landlord, here to deliver another stern lecture on the importance of keeping the shower curtain ALL THE WAY OVER by the wall....What if he's here to evict me for the leaking water??

By this time, I had pulled on my bathrobe. I answered the door in my crazyhair, and it turns out it was the Fed Ex guy with a BOX! And guess what was in the box..............

My new laptop! Hooray, I have rejoined the land of the living! I can stop living like a vagrant, switching between borrowed laptops to get any work done. (Yes, I have since changed the background from the creepy bamboo) The early arrival caught me off guard. I got an email saying it had shipped yesterday, but according to the tracking number, it was still in China last night before I went to bed. Thanks, tracking number!

In other new-technology news, I also got a new camera. The new camera has more mega pixel whatsits, so it takes better pictures In Theory, but I think I'll have to work on the ol' picture taking skills. It also has a rechargeable battery! Ooooooh, high tech!

I've been working on a new scarf for ME for fall!!! Here it is:

(see what I mean about my picture taking skills?)
It's the Here and There Cables scarf by Norah Gaughan, out of "Scarf Style." This pattern is awesome! It's reversible cables, and it's so freaking fun to knit. It also calls for 800 yards of yarn! It's a squishy, beefy, big ol' scarf. I'm knitting it out of Malabrigo worsted.
That's pretty much all I got. I'd better go get some more work done on this scarf, and then maybe eat an apple or something. Fall! Get ready, everyone.
Love,
Braxie

bloop

Brax,

Look at this baby!

Apparently this is a character from a video game of some sort. I don't have to know what it is to know it's awesome. There are some very good uses for crochet, people.


Sister never seems to be able to get enough attention. She walks around on top of me while I'm sleeping, and sometimes she wakes me up by wedging herself under my arm and walking back and forth so I am forced to pet her. Also, if you were to come to my house and pee, she would push the bathroom door open with her nose and then jump onto the sink and meow until you turned on the tap, and you had just better pet her while she's getting her drink.

However, when you pick her up, she gets all psycho looking.

Look at this! She is literally about to claw his eyes out. Better sleep with one eye open.

Furthermore, Lucky Lucy is maxin' and relaxin'.


Oh, and I finally found something I like about the Olympics. In the men's parallel bars, they wear little outfits with feet, like jammies. I like that.


He doesn't need slippers.

Luv,
Bruce

Some self-reflection, aka what Brax has been up to!

Ok, guys. I know I haven't blogged in a long time and have been generally slacking this summer. Part of it was because I went through a big ole life change and moved and had technology problems, but part of it was also because I got really lazy about blogging. Brucie, I'm sorry! But from here on out, I vow to be much more on top of the blogging stuff!

Overall, I have been treating this summer as a big vacation, like we used to have in school. I have been working a little bit, but I've mostly been slowing down, going for walks, knitting, and drinking wine on porches with friends. It might not have been the most responsible decision to quit my job and move to Columbus, but it sure feels like the right one.

I spent two years in Toledo, doing nothing but working. At the time I took the job, it was really important for me to move away. I had graduated from college and worked 2 jobs for about a year, and I was starting to worry that I would never have a "real" job or generally amount to anything. And while I really loved my friends here, I was experiencing that thing that happens inside of every recent Bachelor of Arts graduate: the furious recognition that I wasted $40,000 on an education that may very well have me waiting tables forever, and the urge to jump in the car and drive it straight to the ocean. So when I was offered this job, it was like a miracle.

At first, I was so excited! I worked 50-plus hours a week, turning that office from a disorganized free-for-all into something I could be proud of. I got SO much experience running a business. But after work sort of plateaued, I was just left with a job I enjoyed less and less as the months went by. I didn't have any support system, and I really began to realize how bad I am at making new friends. I'm really shy and I have trouble talking around big groups of people I don't know very well, and this always tends to come off as total snobbery. Of course, my solution is usually to just get really wasted, which doesn't win me any friends either. Nobody wants Conceited Obnoxious Girl at their party. After about 6 months I sort of decided that if I DID meet someone I could be friends with, I would have to explain to them that I had lived in this town for 6 months and didn't have any other friends yet. That fact alone embarrassed me into giving up on meeting people in Toledo.

Of course, there were some pretty awesome people in Toledo who I'm discounting here. Abby, a totally cool girl I served with in Columbus, was living in Toledo and going to school while I was there. Sarah, of Skeins and Beans fame, is a super sweet and super fun sock-knitting diva. Both of those girls were amazing and genuinely tried to draw me out of my shell. But I think that I eventually just had my heart set on moving back home.

Over Christmas my Grandfather passed away, three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was a very sudden blow, and I felt completely alone for it. It sounds trite, but a few weeks after the funeral I sat down and made a list of things that are important to me, and things I want to do with my life. My list didn't include anything about having a lot of money, and it didn't include anything about having a job with an impressive title. It didn't include any of the reasons I had moved to Toledo in the first place. I decided then and there to stop living my life with the idea that "someday" I would make a move toward friends, a job I enjoyed, and generally being happy. That was basically when I decided that come summer, I would quit my job and move.

Obviously, just changing locations doesn't fix everything in your life. There's still things I need to work towards. But I think that if nothing else, the past 2 years gave me the perspective I needed to begin to improve myself, and to believe that if there's something cool I want to do, I should just DO it! In the next couple weeks, you will all start to hear more about Bruce and Brax's Special Project, which is (for both of us) a huge step in that direction.

Anyways, sorry for the big long post with only one picture!

Love,

Brax

bumping down last night

It is a beautiful day today! Hot but not humid, sunny and happy. Buzzing insects, shining sun, etc. It is definitely summer, but there is the slightest hint of fall in the air. Lucy is back in her usual window spot. She loves to lay on her back in the window. It is freaking adorable.

It is a little too warm for wool, although I am working on a super bulky cabled sweater with that stash of Magnum I've got laying around. I'll show it to you later. At the moment I'm making a lot of cotton dishrags because if my hands sweat while I'm knitting they won't just felt. Also they're not a giant heavy wool thing in my lap. (The obvious solution here is socks, but guys, I tried so hard and I don't think I can do it. I can't focus on socks! And then when you're done you have to make a whole other sock!) Anyway, I like my dishrags. Functional!

OK, I've got some book writing to do...enjoy your day, everyone!

Bruce

a lot before my coffee.

Brax,

1) There are 22 year olds running around my neighborhood selling magazines and pretending it's for a good cause, because it's for a contest or program or something that is for young entrepreneurs. A young man in a hemp-and-seashell necklace knocked on my door when I was puttering around in my pajamas, pre coffee, hair standing straight up, and really incredibly groggy since I had bizarre sleep last night (details in a minute). He started off by saying that he wasn't collecting donations so I didn't need to punch him. I was so confused. Then he went into this big thing and kept handing me things to look at and finally I said, I don't understand, what is it again? And he said it was a "communications contest" for young entrepreneurs to see who is the best communicator. And I said "I still don't understand, are you asking me to buy a magazine?" And he said "yes. I know you don't need any magazines but you should buy one just to help me win the contest."

Then he started asking me questions to try and tie my life back to one of these magazines but I was crafty and didn't answer with anything that was magazine-related. like "what do you do for fun?" I answered, "reading." No magazine! At least not on his list. "Do you like to work out?" NOOOOOOOO. "Huh! Coulda fooled me!" Then he asked if I had kids or whatever, and I said no, and so he asked if I had a husband or boyfriend, and I said yes. And he said, "what does he do for fun?" And because Matt just told me last night that he wants to learn to sew so he can make himself ties and vests, and because I knew that it would weird out this little Douchbag In Training, I said "he likes to sew." WELL.

"No way! Wow. Does he like to cook and clean too?"
"I don't need any magazines."
"No one needs magazines! Just buy one to help me out."
"No."
"If you buy one I put a tag on your door so that none of the other people doing this will knock on it. If you don't buy one they'll be knocking on your door all day."
"No."
"Is it because I'm a jerk or something?"
"No, I just don't want any magazines."

Then he turned around and swore like he'd just missed the big touchdown. He was seriously pissed off.

So now I'm hiding in my office with the downstairs all locked up in case more business majors try to sell me things that I admittedly don't want or need but which I should buy "to help them out." I would also like to note that he called me "Ma'am" at least 150 times in the 5 minutes he was at my door.

I think those kids are in the WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD. You know who does really well on my street? The HRC people, and the Obama people, the union people. This is not a neighborhood full of people who want to "help out" business majors. This is not the kind of neighborhood where we want to "punch" people collecting for charity, but are happy to buy some crap we don't need so you can win some communications prize that I don't understand because you have not communicated it to me clearly. Huh. Look, it was just a lot before my coffee.

2) It is an excellent day for lounging in your window seat.



3) My bed is a horrible nightmare. I never sleep through the night and the right side of my lower back hurts all the time because the bed dips down in the center. We can't afford a new bed right now because of that time I quit my job to find myself and I didn't have any income for a month and a half and then started a big secret project which will mean money soon but not right now. This whole bed situation came to a head last night around 3 AM, when I got so frustrated that I woke Matt up to bitch. We moved to the futon in Matt's office. I had forgotten what it felt like to sleep deeply. I slept so deeply that it took an hour to really wake up, and I felt like I'd been sleeping for days but I hadn't. My back feels a whole lot better too, after only one night. ON A FUTON. That's how bad the bed is--the futon was like a temperpedic to me. Sucksville.

4) MADCRAFTING! For one thing, I signed up for a sewing class so I can learn how to sew correctly. For another, a few weeks ago I went to the national quilt show with Matt's mom, and while I was there I kind of randomly picked up a needle felting kit and a bunch of pretty roving. Now I'm going to totally needle felt something rad onto this bat fabric I picked up the other day.

Look at how awesome this bat fabric is. LOOK AT IT.


If you live in central Ohio, and you like fabric, then you need to go to Sew To Speak. They've got bat fabric, man. It's the cutest, friendliest shop. Go there!

5) My office chair needs a cushion. Cascade Magnum! I'm lookin' at you. I don't want my cushion to be a whole big thing. I want it to be knitted in an evening, stuffed full of fiber fill, and cushioning my butt tomorrow. So maybe I'll start that. If it works out I'll share the pattern with you guys.

End transmission--I'm starving.
Bruce

Visual stimulation

Brax,

The Columbus Knit Purl Hurl will now come to order.



Cabbage got her sweater mojo back.



The Science Pirate is making a beautiful fuzzy sweater!

You couldn't make it that day. You'd better clear your calendar for next time!


Pabst was there. Pabst always makes time for KPH.

Back home: I caught Lucky Lucy getting crazy with some wool.


Look at those back feet! You can tell she's about to do that back leg kick thing they do when they're really going to town.

Happy Saturday! I'm working a 12 hour day, but I'm happy for those of you who have the day off. Enjoy yourselves.

-Bruce

Oh, August

Brax,

Holy Moley. August. I love how alive and colorful everything is in summer. I love not having to wear a bunch of clothes to leave the house. By the end of winter, every time I leave the house I am fighting the urge to throw an all out tantrum. I want to rip off my stupid coat and scarf and hat and mittens and boots and sweater and undershirt and just throw them on the floor and stomp on them. I don't wanna wear my coat! I want to be freeeeeeee! Free like now, when I can run outside in my underpants and still be plenty warm.

Yep, all in all I think summer is pretty rad. August has it's own unique characteristics. All the energy of June (beginning of summer! hooray!!) and July (July 4th! party party!) has petered out into a general attitude of "it's still freakin' hot. Man, it's hot." American advertisers stop trying to sell you hot dogs and pool toys and start with the back-to-school stuff.

People in general, meanwhile, are feeling lazy due to the heat. Interestingly, heat also makes people both passionate and violent. August is like the orgasm of the year. Insects, plants, animals--everything is so alive in August, and you don't need me to tell you that everyone's mating. It's like the whole year leads up to this month, when the insects are buzzing and the veggies are popping off the vines. If you think about it that way, the Pagan new year (October) makes a whole lot more sense than January. It's right after the orgasm ends, when we start the incubating, germinating, and cultivating process all over again, and we eat a bunch of big pregnant pumpkins in the hopes that next year will be just as fertile. (Everything's sex, you guys. Don't tell the Christian Coalition, they're happier not knowing.)

I am anticipating fall already, but at the same time I'm entranced by what's going on outside my window. In DC the summer felt harsh and concrete and blistering. (Probably because of my neighborhood. I bet it doesn't feel that way to the people who live in those houses on Rock Creek Park.) Here it feels wet and energetic and mossy. Negative Ions, man.

OK, I promise: On my honor, my next post will have lots of pictures of neat stuff. No more asking you poor people to slog through my brain unaided by illustrations. I just need to find my camera charger is all.

Later!
Bruce

A new magazine!

Brax,

Twist Collective is new and pretty and shiny. Lookit! Lots of nice patterns by good designers available for purchase (I am totally making "little birds"), and techniques articles by, among others, Cat By-God Bordhi. (As usual, Cat's article is like, "WHAAAAA?" I'm itching to try out this Mercurial Colorbands thing.) Also Ann and Kay have an advice column in this magazine! Excellent.

I'm glad that someone has finally stepped up and filled in the hole that Magknits left when it died. Actually, Twist Collective is overflowing the Magknits hole, since it is so much bigger and more content-rich.

It's August--that means that September is not too far away, which means soon it will be knitting season! Hooray!!

Bruce