Later, news articles started to show up stating that the epicenter was in Ontario. Or else it was Quebec. Nobody was really sure yet. But they were pretty sure it was either a 5.0 or a 5.5. Really specific, right? Still later, they finally narrowed it down to the Ottowa area on the Ontario/Quebec border. The consensus seems to be that it was a 5.5. It is amazing to me how far away the quake reached. Down to Cincinnati! That’s quite a distance.

Earthquakes aren’t totally new to me. We got a couple in Oregon when I lived there. It was, of course, nothing like what is experienced in California, but we got a few. I remember one that was strong enough to merit evacuating our school until they could assess whether there had been any damage that could endanger our precious teenage lives.  It was otherwise unremarkable. We stood on the football field, whining and bored until they deemed the school safe for us to re-enter. This one wasn’t even that remarkable. Being on the third floor, we experienced some swaying, but people who were on the ground floors of buildings sometimes felt nothing. Johnathan was driving at the time and didn’t feel it at all.

The little earthquake was kind of a fun diversion. There was no real damage to speak of, even, apparently, closer to the epicenter, and nobody died as a result of the shake. We did get a little excitement with people texting friends and relatives to find out whether they felt it or not, and scouring twitter and google for results that would tell us the epicenter and more about how far-reaching it was. Nobody was scared; we all got excited instead. It was kind of like a birthday distraction from the average humdrum of everyday working.

The theater was pretty full for a Wednesday night, probably owing to the celebrity draw and the well-known and loved show. The seats are still tiny, but I’m working on becoming tinier so that it’s not quite so much a squeeze. There was a family next to me, and thankfully they were willing to seat their small-ish son in the seat next to me so I didn’t have guilt for being fat and taking up a little more space than a normal sized person. He was too precious during, too, taking in so much of the show as well as the mechanics of it. At one point, he had a conversation with his dad about how it would be a nice place to take someone on a date. I just about melted after hearing that. Yes, little boy. Take someone to the theater on a date. That is a fantastic idea! I didn’t jump into the conversation, but it was very touching.

Harvey Fierstein is an interesting Tevye. He is not Topol, that’s for sure, and his voice… took a little getting used to. The actresses who played Tseitel, Hodel and Chava were very good. They had reasonably strong voices that blended very well together. The acting was pretty strong, which was nice. All in all, what is there to say about Fiddler on the Roof? I love it from start to finish. It’s long, emotional, and entertaining. Harvey Fierstein’s portrayal of Tevye is very interesting in that it is much more loose than I am accustomed to seeing. There was a certain… flair to it that is a bit hard to describe.

Johnathan says he was unable to get past Fierstein’s voice as far as the gravelly sound and really low pitch. That did make him hard to understand on occasion. At least I already knew what the lines were supposed to be! This could usually be a disadvantage, in that I could get bored, but he delivered the lines differently than Topol did in the movie, which made “old” jokes new again. It was, for me, a different version of the same thing, and I loved that. There have been other shows that I’ve seen twice or three times and it has been the same experience each time, because the roles are played in exactly the same way. I think it probably takes a truly good performer to take an established role and perform it in a different way, while still maintaining the core of the character.

I loved the show. It reminded me why I love Broadway and the theater to begin with. I had those thrills of the “curtain” going up, of the orchestra starting and just in general of enjoying a musical. I sometimes forget exactly how much I love going to see shows. It was a wonderful “gift” for my birthday.

As a side note: the spell check in Firefox really doesn’t like anything to do with this show! Lots of red.

Tonight, we’re going to see Fiddler on the Roof with Harvey Fierstein. That’s all I asked for this year. I asked for some posters to be framed last year, but we still haven’t managed to go and make that happen, so it’s still outstanding, and that’s okay. (It’s a couple of Singin’ in the Rain posters that I’d like to hang either in our bedroom or our computer room.) Other than that? Low-key. We’ll get a half-cake from Giant Eagle, maybe, and Joyce brought in brownies for everyone to celebrate my birthday.

I love my birthday. It’s the one day of the year that I feel absolutely okay with making demands for things and being absolutely selfish. After today, I’ll have to turn around and be normal again, because it won’t be my birthday anymore tomorrow. It’ll be someone else’s. But for this one day of the year, it’s all about me!

Here’s to another year and more!

Late in April, I was inspired to join in on a test knit call for a scarf. I’m not totally sure why – every time I make a scarf, I swear it’s the last one, because they take so damn long and there’s a feeling of hopelessness somewhere around 3/4 of the way through. But this one apparently was calling to me. So I ordered some yarn (none of the stuff I already had would do!), and on the second of May, off we went!

The result was 29 days of on-and-off knitting that was sometimes very satisfying – in that it was a pattern that was easy to memorize and didn’t require too much attention to accomplish – and also very maddening – because, well, it’s a scarf! What was I thinking?! What I wasn’t thinking was that I would end up with something so singularly gorgeous. The pattern and the yarn got along very well, and I’m very, very happy with the end result.

The end result is 87.5″ of scarf, made from approximately 98.5 grams of Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Queen Anne. It is light-weight and soft, and will make a wonderful spring/fall scarf for Johnathan’s mom, who I decided some time after I started knitting it would be the ultimate recipient. Her birthday is tomorrow, so if she spoiled herself by reading our blog — oops. The scarf was easy to knit with an eight-line repeat done approximately a zillion times until I finished. If I were to make it again, I would push it just one more gram (up to 4g left instead of 5), which would probably make one more pattern repeat and use up the entire skein of yarn, save a few inches, most likely. For a one-skein project, this is pretty fabulous!

The front side of the scarf

The back side of the scarf

Best of all, the pattern for the scarf is reversible, so it won’t matter what side is showing while wearing it, as with other scarves I have made.

Now, I’m ready to profess that this was my Last Scarf Ever, but that would be a bald-faced lie. I have a scarf planned for my brother and maybe, just maybe, someday I will knit a scarf for myself. I’m not holding my breath, though. A year and four scarves after I picked up knitting again, I have yet to actually knit one for myself, or even actually plan one for myself. So, until the next time I knit a scarf, this is the Very Last One.

So this week, after Johnathan got a little fussy at me about wanting to buy even more yarn, I decided to destash a little. I gave away all of the Simply Soft yarn that I’ll never use (two pinks and a purple; liked the purple but can’t ever see myself wearing that particular color myself, and I can’t keep giving Allison only purple things!), and some red heart that I bought thinking I could swatch with it, only to realize that I hate knitting with it, and my proof of concept wasn’t going to look the same on it anyway. I still have some Plymouth Encore for two aborted Harry Potter scarves that’s free to anyone who wants it for the cost of shipping. (In other words, you pay what it cost to ship, and you get the yarn!)

I also committed myself to finishing the things that I have in progress. I had a bag that I was working on that I finished knitting last night. It needs to be washed, blocked, lined and have the handles sewn on still, but the knitting is done. Today I finished a cowl that I started in January and set aside because I needed my big crochet hook to fix some stitches and didn’t have it with me at the time. It came home and sat on the table next to the couch for three months. I fixed the stitches, knitted the five remaining rows, and even learned a new bind off!

Next up: The other flip-top mitten for Johnathan, started in November and postponed because I didn’t feel like knitting the second one yet. Sadly, the pattern was semi-improvised, so I will have to try very hard to recreate it, almost six months later. But, it’s the next project I have committed myself to making, and make it I will! After that, I have another fingerless glove to make, again with an improvised pattern, this time for myself. I finished the first and cast on for the second, but set it aside when I got sick in the fall and never finished it. So, two gloves to make. There’s also the Selbu hat that I started, even got halfway through making, but later realized was going to be way, way too small for me. I ripped it out and haven’t had the patience to start again. I will be starting that after the other two, and then I will have no WIPs left!

As far as my queue goes? I have another Retro-Style Knitting Bag, this time in Harbor instead of Pomegranate,  to make for myself, Grove mittens in Saffron, Space Invaders socks for Johnathan, two more robots for Johnathan’s birthday present (incidentally, his birthday is today! Happy birthday, Johnathan!), a scarf for my brother (that I’m going to design) in Forest Heather, and a test-knit that I’ve committed myself to make by June 1 in Queen Anne. Plus a lot of other stuff that’s on the list and that I have the yarn for but which isn’t so immediate.

I’m glad I’ve committed myself to getting these WIPs done. I want to knit all these other things, so if I finish the WIPs that have been languishing, I can start on the new things that I want with  reduced guilt. That is ALWAYS A+.

Alright, back to knitting.

1. It’s not as hard as I had it worked up to be in my head. I made a scarf to learn cables, and quickly learned to love them. I made a neck warmer to learn how to do herringbone stitch and did a practice swatch of what appears to be daisy stitch (according to some – elsewhere called a diagonal knot stitch). I’ve learned how to cast on in the middle of a project, create stitches where once there weren’t any, do a gusset for the thumb of a mitten… I know there are a lot of techniques that I have yet to explore, and I look forward to learning them as I go. No beginner projects for me – I’m learning new techniques by doing them.
2. Hobbies can get expensive, and knitting is no exception. There are some really gorgeous colorways out there, some handspun, some themed to interesting things (like Harry Potter themed yarns among other things), and lots of them incredibly expensive. I’ve found a happy spot where I get good yardage for my dollar, but yarns that aren’t scratchy and inflexible (like the Red Heart Superwash tends to be in my still limited experience). I do have to keep reminding myself that while it’s nice that some knitters can afford to spend upwards of $50 on one hank of yarn, I just can’t do that and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I will.
3. Elitism is everywhere. It’s there in all aspects of life and especially in each and every hobby or interest I’ve pursued. I haven’t found anything yet that was free of it. There are some knitters who refuse to use anything but natural fibers, or even better, handspun natural fibers (which can get very expensive) and are fairly vocal about those who use anything man-made. Others swing the other direction and are fairly judgmental of those who don’t use man-made fibers. It’s inevitable that this would happen. It’s not a very nice thing to witness, but I think I’m getting better at blocking out the elitism.

I’m really enjoying knitting things up. I stayed up late on Saturday night to finish the mitten, and it was absolutely amazing to see how it ended up shaped like a mitten, without any truly complicated techniques. As far as finished objects go, here’s what I have:

• Sharfik for Allison: Nine feet and one inch of scarf pre-fringe. -faint- It took me just under three weeks to actually finish the scarf, mostly because I think I was losing motivation for it. Scarves take a long time. There’s no real sense of reward when it’s done becasue it takes so darn long to finish. I still need to attach the fringe, but I was waiting for it to dry after washing it. I should do that soon since she’s visiting this weekend. [Pattern]
  
• Coffee Cozies [1] [2]: Johnathan got coffee pretty much every day at his old job (he started his new (old?) one today, yay!), and I figured that since he wasn’t taking his own mug to get the coffee, it was ending up being pretty unfriendly to the environment. I had about half a skein (give or take) of yarn left over from the scarf that I made for his mom’s birthday, so I figured, why not make a coffee cozy? Can’t be hard, right? I made the first one in the same woven cable pattern that the scarf I made his mom used. I seamed it up very badly, and put a pretty button on it. Where the seam is, the cozy gets pretty bulky, so I’m a little disappointed with how it came out. The second one was much better. It was a herringbone stitch pattern (which I had just made a neckwarmer out of – more on that to come), and it knitted up just as quickly as the first one, but because the edges were more straight I had an easier time seaming it. I seamed it up while watching an episode of chopped, left off any buttons and called it done. It is less loose than the first one because I made it just a little bit undersized, to let it stretch. So, all in all, #2 was much better than #1. I still have probably a quarter or more of a skein of that blue yarn, so I figure I’ll make some more, unless I can figure out something else to make with it. Any ideas? It was nice making these, though, because I didn’t use any patterns for them, so I felt kind of original in doing it. (Even if both stitch patterns came from another pattern that I originally followed.)
  
• Herringbone Neckwarmer: I’ve had this pattern bookmarked for a long time. It was one of those “someday…” projects that I had no idea when I’d be able to actually make it. I bought yarn with my birthday money from Johnathan’s mom, and had no reason, at that point, not to make it. I started it on Tuesday night, and by Thursday night, it was totally finished, including buttons and buttonholes. The buttonholes were an interesting part for me. The pattern calls for binding off, then picking up and knitting fifteen stitches with doubled yarn. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make it work the way the pattern called for it to work, so ultimately I ignored the instructions. I looked up how to make a one-row buttonhole, and worked it into the pattern instead. It turned out pretty well! The buttonholes were a little bit big, so the buttons don’t like to stay put, but I figure I’d rather sew them smaller than have to un-knit and redo the buttonholes because the buttons won’t fit through. I really like how the neckwarmer turned out. Now I just have to wait four more months until it’s cool enough outside to actually require it! Aw, man… [Pattern]
  
• Mary Sue’s Bella’s Mittens: I am not a Twilight fan. I read the book last year and more than once wanted to throw the book through a window. It’s horrible. However, when I saw a picture of a pair of look-alike mittens that a friend on LJ made, I couldn’t help myself. I was in love! These mittens are great. They’re long, which I like, and have a neat horseshoe cable going up the top side. I started the first one on Friday night, after acquiring a longer cable needle so that I could do the magic loop to make the mitten. It took me a few hours on Friday night to make most of the cuff, then a few hours spent on Saturday got me the rest of the way finished with the mitten. Unfortunately, I stayed up until 3:30AM to finish it, because I just wanted to see it completed. As such, I didn’t get much sleep, so didn’t knit at all yesterday. As of this moment, I have exactly twenty of the requisite forty-three stitches cast on for the second mitten, so today’s looking like a knitting bust, too. Maybe this is second sock syndrom, but for mittens? I’m not sure. Either way, I’m really happy with how it turned out. I just need to finish the second one now. [Pattern]
  

Before I started my mitten, I also threaded beads for and cast on for an Odessa hat (another pattern I’ve had my eye on for quite a while), so that’s “in progress”as well. Coming up, I have plans to make a couple of pairs of socks (my first self-made socks!), a couple of things for my mom for Chirstmas, a couple of things for a friend who is moving to a colder climate at the end of the year, and a pair of Space Invaders socks for Johnathan (don’t worry, he already knows about them!). I should have plenty of projects to keep me busy until I find a new job. (Hopefully longer than that, too!)

My only real wish is that I could subsist on knitting commissions. I have exactly one so far, and that one won’t start until finances are in the right place for her, so I’m not sure when I’ll need to start on that. I’m excited to do it, though! So, uh, want something knitted? I’ll do it for you! If you pay me, of course.

June also means that summer is here. It’s summertime, whoo! It means that we’ve been alternating between (or coping simultaneously with) thunderstorms and 90+ degree weather. The humidity some of the days in the last week has been unbelievable. It’s a marked difference, however, from what I was dealing with this past winter, when it came to figuring out how to survive the cold and still have skin that felt human. My skin feels quite normal again and it’s wonderful. I think I’m going to have to decide through the course of the summer, though, whether it’s worth the heat to have the beautiful feeling skin.

Another glorious thing that June has brought to us is the opening of the apartment complex pool. We went for a swim on Sunday and it was wonderful. I was very tired after we got out of the water (likely a side-effect of my treading water – gently – for an hour or so), but my skin felt wonderful, my muscles felt wonderful and I felt that I was exactly in my element. I think, had the pool been a bit less packed, I would have been willing to spend more time in the water. Unfortunately, there were boisterous children and even more boisterous twenty-somethings hanging out about the pool which made it difficult to have peaceful enjoyment. We were constantly getting splashed by a thrashing child or nearly getting hit with a football because the twenty-something guys decided to throw one around, in and out of the pool. However, the pool being open will provide us with some opportunities for low-impact exercise and relief from the heat. It’s also given my skin some color, as we were out in nearly direct sunlight for that hour, in the water. Despite the 55 SPF sunscreen, I did get a little bit of color. I don’t look quite as sallow as I have all winter!

June also means that we’re starting the apartment hunting process. Our lease is up in a couple of months, so we’ve decided it’s time to move. We’ve already looked at one place and put feelers out at a few others, so we should hopefully be able to narrow down our options by the end of June or early/mid July. I’m excited to look at these places. They’re all going to be easier on our budget, and hopefully we can find one that better suits our immediate needs. I’m getting pretty excited about the move, even though it’s still a couple of months away. It will be a place that we’re able to pick together, rather than the current place we’re in, which was where we ended up out of convenience more than anything else.

At any rate, I’m happy that June is here. Summer isn’t my favorite season, but I’m glad it’s here. The trees are green, the roads are mostly drivable and I’ll be spending more time out-of-doors than I did through the winter.

For the first part, it’s Johnathan’s birthday! He gets older tomorrow.

For the second, we’re leaving for New York City as soon as I get off of work tomorrow. I’m pretty pleased about that! We are planning to see Curtains while we’re there (since it closes in June), go to Coney Island (since it’s Astroland’s last season), and do some other touristy type things that we didn’t do last year when we went. I won’t promise a blow-by-blow update of the trip while we’re there because I don’t know exactly how long we’ll be out and about and how tired we’ll be when we’re done traipsing about the city.

New York City, here we come!

In January, I went back to Scattergood MOO for the first time in probably almost a year. I went back at just the right time, it seems like, because when I did, I met Johnathan and after a series of really unusual conversational circumstances, we started talking quite a bit. My mom and I went to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Keller theater. I loved it.

In February, I went to Kansas with my stepmother and my two half-sisters to see my dad. It ended up being a trip to see the inside of hotel rooms while I worked on homework and my dad lavished attention on the two little girls. I was the babysitter, they were the daughters. I came back sicker than I’ve been in years because my stepmother had the forethought and consideration to take two sick little girls on an airplane trip and expect someone who was not their mother to wipe snotty noses, change diapers and generally play mommy for the weekend. I do not have fond memories of the weekend. That month, Johnathan and I calculated that we logged approximately fourteen hours on Skype.

In March, I broke up with Jimmy, who was my boyfriend at the time. It was a long time coming and I think I put it off far longer than I should have out of fear and uncertainty. It had been over for probably six months already at that point. In late March, I flew out to Ohio for the first time to spend a few days with Johnathan. The trip was planned on a lark, but it ended up being one of the better vacations that I can remember.

In April, I was still in Ohio. We went to New York City and it was the first time for both of us. I met some of the original cast of The Drowsy Chaperone (which sadly closed on December 30 after a year and a half on Broadway), we rode the Cyclone at Coney Island and the Wonder Wheel in Astroland. We saw Avenue Q. It was a wonderful day, and let us both know that we travel and vacation well together. I went home to Oregon and took classes up again, only to have to drop them about a week later in order to move back in with my mom. My mom and I went to see The Light in the Piazza at the Keller theater. In late April, I started work at Comcast.

In May, I did very little outside of work at Comcast. My time was spent packing, cleaning, talking to Johnathan on Skype and on Gtalk, and working. It was in May that we decided that October would be the ideal month to move. I saw Chicago at the Keller theater with my mom.

In June, Johnathan came to visit me for my birthday. I turned 22 and we had a cozy few days. He explored Portland all on his own and discovered that it is nearly impossible to get lost as long as you can get to a bus or a train. We had dinner at Gustav’s, one of my favorite German restaurants and wandered down 23rd street, taking a detour into Moonstruck chocolates. Pear truffles are to die for. My brother, my mom and I saw Spamalot at the Keller theater.

In July, I worked. I did little else outside of work. I packed boxes and kept working toward the cleanliness of my room. I got very sick toward the end of the month and had to take time off of work for the first time. Johnathan and I created Bits of Existence and I revived The Golden Road for the second time.

In August, I went back to Ohio to visit Johnathan again. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Amish country and it was there that we got engaged. We toured a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of the same building he was already living in, and by the end of the month, Johnathan had secured it for us to move in on October 1. At the end of August, I began shipping boxes of my things to Ohio. I bought a new car – a 2003 Chevy Malibu – and traded in the Jeep Wrangler that I had driven for five years.

In September, I continued to pack and clean, and by mid-September, I had cleared out all of my things and shipped everything that I knew I could live without for the rest of the month. I began to clean up the bedroom and pack the things that would go into my car. I purchased cat carriers, had the cats checked up at the vet – Beethoven was 19lbs and Isabella was 12lbs at last weigh-in: proof that my cats are fat! – and finished up most of the final preparations for the move.

In October, Johnathan flew out to Portland. We had lunch at Todai and spent the afternoon finishing up final preparations for the move. We played Mario Party 8 on the Wii with my family and at 5AM the following morning, we drove out of Portland. After three days of driving – during one of which we spent 21 hours traveling – we arrived in Ohio. Three days later, I was fully unpacked. The job hunt began in full force. I had one interview which came to nothing but continued to search. I met Johnathan’s dad for the first time.

In November, I met Johnathan’s stepmother for the first time. Allison and her brother stayed with us for a weekend and were the first overnight company we had. I met Johnathan’s friend Matt from Iowa who now lives in Pennsylvania. We had Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with his mom. I continue the very discouraging job hunt.

In December, I continued the job hunt. I had an interview at Borders which came to nothing. I had lunch alone with Johnathan’s mom for the first time. We decided that we were definitely getting married in April of 2008. A bunch of friends of mine from livejournal, namely Hogwarts_Elite at livejournal, sent me a large package of Christmas decorations, candies and other Christmas-themed goodies. Allison sent a small artificial tree and we had Christmas decor in the apartment where we had feared monetary limitations would prevent our being able to have any. We spent Christmas day partially at his mom’s house. We had lunch there and I ate homemade pirogies for the first time. We spent the evening at home, hanging out and playing video games together. On Christmas Eve day, we picked out engagement rings and ordered them. New Year’s Eve was spent playing video games, eating Chinese food, drinking a wonderful Riesling and some French sparkling wine. We rang in the new year by drinking wine and watching Toy Story 2.

And here we are. We have twelve months ahead of us, just waiting to be filled with memories. Overall, I would say 2007 was a good year. I found a man I love very much, someone with whom I have a great deal in common. I found new interests and continued to cultivate old interests. I made the biggest move I’ve ever made without my family and am now living farther from my family than I ever have in my life. I learned a lot, I grew up some, and I’m generally happier now than I was a year ago.

My resolution for next year? As Johnathan would say: to suck a little bit less this year than I did last year.

I wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope nobody got so smashed last night that they don’t remember what happened to them.