knitting in the dark

This is my sad left hand and wrist:

There won’t be any knitting for me anytime soon… well, at least until I figure out how to wedge a needle more securely between the fingers of my left hand (I give myself about three or four more days)! I got hit by a car (a van, really - one of those big cargo/commercial types) Tuesday afternoon. I was (amazingly for a New Yorker) in the middle of a crosswalk, crossing with the light, and not talking on my cell phone! The driver and I saw each other right before impact, so he was able to hit the brakes and I was able to put my hands between the rest of my body and the hood of the van. Right as he hit me I jumped down the street in the direction he was traveling so I managed to stay on my feet and not go flying onto my ass or head - I find it astonishing how quickly the body will respond to this sort of situation in order to save itself without any prompting from one’s brain! The only thing I remember thinking before impact was: “he’s going too fast - he’s really going to hit me - asshole!” (and my mother says I’ve been in New York too long…) After the adrenaline wore off, my hand started hurting a lot… which makes sense considering they think I’ve fractured two metacarpals!

Except for that whole getting-hit thing, I feel really really lucky. It could have been just so much worse; I’m quite happy to have walked myself out of the street to sit down on the sidewalk to collect myself and wait for the paramedics. And the driver stopped and called 911 and didn’t run! And it’s my left hand and not the one I write with! The little things for which I’m thankful just keep coming… Now, there are plenty of things about this experience that are frustrating and upsetting - and I’ve cried at the strangest times - but I am trying to remain positive, which is pretty easy when I consider what could have happened!

So I’m going to visit an orthopedist/hand surgeon Monday morning. The PA, xray tech, and radiologist from the ER visit and the doctors in my primary care office don’t seem to think I’ll need surgery or anything more than to wear a splint for the next month or so, but they want a hand specialist to go over the films and confirm the fractures and supervise my recovery. They gave me some big-dose painkillers, but I mostly just need them to sleep and only take them otherwise if my hand is swelling up.

My box from The Loopy Ewe turned up a few days after I posted about my missing packages! In it was two skeins of the Regia Kaffe Fassett collection in the Landscape Storm colorway… and it is even better in person than on the screen! I’m not one to order yarn off the internets without seeing it (and mostly touching it) in person first, but I sure am glad I made an exception:

I have a few ideas for this yarn - it’ll probably end up as Rainbow Socks, but there’s a lot of catching up to do before I can start a new project.

I am just so so glad the box showed up as I have more yarn on the way as we speak…!

I think there is a mail thief in my new building, which is so depressing to me. I live in a small (only 16 small studio units) apartment building in a decent neighborhood. Since I moved in at the beginning of August I have had two packages delivered via USPS go missing. The first was just after I moved in so I chalked it up to change of address post office confusion. But I ordered something exciting from The Loopy Ewe exactly one week ago and it shipped two days later and the tracking information indicates that it was delivered the 15th at 2:55pm. It is now the 18th. I checked with some neighbors and my super to see if anyone knew anything, but it’s nowhere to be found. Seriously, folks - really? When Mr Mail Thief opened the package did he (or she, I suppose) say - “Oh goodie! Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape in the Storm colorway!” That’s what I would have said… but they probably actually said - “Yarn? Bummer.” And then what? Why not just tape the box back shut and put it in front of my door? I would be glad to have it…

I think what the US Postal Service does on a daily basis is pretty amazing… but the lady I spoke to this morning about my missing package was significantly less than friendly. She took my information and told me someone would call me back tomorrow. So after that I called my local branch and asked them not to leave packages at the building anymore. The man I spoke to was very nice and he took my building address and said he’d speak to the carrier and the truck driver and advise them to leave package notices instead of the actual packages. I guess it will be sort of a pain to have to make the trip to the post office whenever I have a package, but it’s far better than never receiving it because it was stolen off my doorstep!

Despite the recent cooling of temperatures here in NYC, it is still officially summer for another week… we still have a little humidity, but we’re down to the mid-70s during the day and pleasantly cool low-60s overnight. I almost need to put a blanket on the bed, but not quite. But the impending autumn weather makes me look a little less crazy for knitting wool socks (and let’s face it, sometimes I need a little help looking sane). Earlier in the summer (maybe July?) Stitch Therapy in the northern end of Park Slope had a super deal on their sale corner (but they always have good stuff in the sale corner) and I picked up three lovely skeins of sock yarn at 40% off each. I got two different colors (my favorites - blue and grey) in the Trekking Pro Natura, which I hadn’t knit before:

And I’ve already knit up the blue - FO pictures to come shortly (just as soon as I fix Photoshop). I also picked up this lovely skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, in colorway “Steelhead”:

I <3 Bearfoot. The first time I knit with it I was concerned about the mohair-itchiness factor on my feet, but after a few wearings and washings my Bearfoot Hedera’s are as soft as soft can be and super warm. Now to find a pattern for this yarn - Bellatrix socks, perhaps? I think it may work well with the amount of color variegation… thoughts for other patterns? I will have to consult Knitting Sutra’s “no pool” sock pattern list for other ideas…

In honor of the beginning of the Tour de France, my friend and I took a bike ride out to the Rockaways to play on the beach yesterday. We actually take a day-long ride almost every other week, but we can pretend it was for the tour. It was the perfect day to sit on an ocean beach; hot but breezy - the water was warm enough to play in - after the initial shock, of course - but still cold enough to keep you comfortable for a bit after getting out. I remembered to give myself a liberal coating of sunscreen so I managed to avoid all sunburning (I am REALLY fair-skinned and will burn every time if I don’t pay attention). I might do the ride again tomorrow by myself (thanks freelance schedule!) since it is supposed to be ridiculously warm again here in NYC. After riding out there (only about 14 miles) and playing on the beach all afternoon we were quite tired and rode the subway back home to Brooklyn…

So there was no progress made on my Tour de France knit along socks since the race started until this morning. This is where I began, with one complete (and completely annoying) sock of my own design for my father’s Christmas present (for 2007 - I’m very early and not very late)…

Side view:

Because I have such small feet, I am always surprised by how long I have to make his socks… last year I made his socks toe-up, which I should always plan to do in the future because there was less than 2′ of yarn left from the first skein after completing the sock - eek!

And in the background of that last shot is the start of the second sock (no Second Sock Syndrome for me, thanks…) Let’s get this pair over with so I can move on to something fun:

I’ll do a finished object post (hopefully) soon, but for now I’d like to say I am not enjoying knitting with this yarn except for maybe the intense color and reasonable price.

I know it was a whole two weeks ago now, so I’m not going to bother telling you that Renegade was cool; I’ll just show you my loot. It appears I’ve started hoarding fabric this year as well as yarn… I never used to do this until I started reading craft blogs! Yikes! There’s just so much inspiration out there. Anyway, I spent a reasonable (mostly affordable) amount of money at the reprodepot.com booth:

The cherries are on cotton stretch jersey - I have plans for a t-shirt quilt to take to the park and beach and I think this will make a cute accent!

And these lovely flowers are on heavier weight upholstery fabric - perhaps for the back of a pillow or to recover the cushions on my comfy chairs…

And I just couldn’t resist (slightly less affordable) new art for a wall in my new apartment (apartment yet to be found):

It’s one of a kind and very cool up close. I love the red and icy blue details:

Speaking of new apartments, you’d think that a person could find an apartment for herself somewhere in Brooklyn with a reasonable commute time into the city for $1000 or less per month, but apparently not. It’s not like I want to live in Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope or anything (well, I want to, but I know I won’t be); I’d be very happy staying in Sunset Park or moving to Greenwood Heights. And small is okay (I think I could live in about 250 square feet), but it has to be a fairly clean building and there has to be decent natural light in the apartment since I work from home quite a bit. I just can’t bring myself to move even further away from Manhattan - not only does that make the commute longer when I have to go in, but it also makes a taxi more expensive on the nights that I need to take one.

Brilliant! I love the idea of a photo scavenger hunt… this one is over at My Best Friend’s a Dork. I’m missing one photo: a knitter other than myself knitting in public. I didn’t go out of my way to look for someone (there weren’t any organized knitting events for Knitting in Public Day last Saturday in NYC), but I carried my camera everywhere for two weeks in case I saw someone. Here we go:

An ice cream truck. I live in Brooklyn, so they are everywhere all the time. This one is near Coney Island…

A sock, handknit or not. This is in the window of PINK in Copley Place, Boston…

A library card. These are my two NYC library cards - you need one for the regular branch libraries and one to enter the research libraries (I use it to watch the taping of theatre shows)…

A ball of green yarn. This yarn is destined to be socks for my father for Christmas, but it’s currently just torturing me…

A bicyclist. This is my father at Coney Island earlier today; I took the photo while riding my own bicycle…

A street sign. I never spent much time in the theatre district of Boston while I lived in Andover, but I just remounted RFK at the Stuart Street Playhouse…

A flower. These beautiful paper flowers were found in a window on either Newbury or Boylston…

A public work of art. Strange stone chairs just south of Boston Common…

Your reflection in an unexpected place. When I went out on the balcony of the hotel in Boston to photograph my ball of green yarn I found a beautiful reflection of the Hancock Building and the Prudential Building behind me…

Someone in a catalog pose. This man was highly suspicious of me and my camera…

A funny billboard or sign. Upon first glance I thought this said “EYES”…

I would ABSOLUTELY do this again - it was so much fun! Maybe I’ll organize one myself someday…

My spring cleaning is well under-way and I have come up with a pile of things that I no longer need or want. The books that are still worth a little money I am selling on amazon.com and those that are no longer worth much I have listed on paperbackswap.com. (If you don’t know about paperbackswap.com, go check it out now!) Appliances and other such items I will eventually put on craigslist, but what do I do with the clothing and electronics that no longer work? Good news: the NYC Department of Sanitation 2007 Spring Cleaning Events are coming up soon!

Unfortunately, the Brooklyn event is way out on the border of Queens and not centrally located, but the Manhattan Electronics Recycling and Clothing Donation Event takes place on Sunday April 22 from 8am-2pm @ Union Square’s North Plaza, which is fairly easy to get to from the closer parts of Brooklyn.

They will be giving away free compost (I still can’t bring myself to compost in my apartment, but if you have a garden bring a scoop and containers), collecting used electronics for proper recycling/disposal, and either Goodwill or the Salvation Army will be on site to accept clothing and linen donations.

Electronics accepted: computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, tvs, and cell phones.

Clothing and linens should be clean, gently used items. “Place items in plastic bags and tie securely to avoid moisture contamination. Tax-deduction receipts will be available upon request.”

I’m encouraging all my family and friends (that means you!) to find new homes for their unwanted belongings instead of just throwing them away… and year-round, not just in April because of Earth Day or whatever.

This is what I’ve been working on this week instead of my quilt and mittens:

tomorrow, March 10, for one night only: Taylor Mac, Scotty the Blue Bunny, and NakedGuyNYC perform at DUMBOLIO - hosted by the lovely and talented Ed Schmidt and lit by yours truly

It’s not a lot right now, but maybe it will stick and we can have a real winter for a little while…

Do you like the slightly ghostly streetlight photo?

Not like in Seattle, where my parents live - they’ve had plenty of snow:

Enough that my mother made some snowmen (which her dogs tried to eat):

One of whom got chased off by some neon alien finger puppets (my mother is hilarious, or at least I think so):

Then she sent me an email, subject: SnowBodies - The Exhibition:

“Celebrate the wonder of the snowform. A phenomenal look at the phenomena we call The Snowman.”

I wonder how many other young ladies similar to my age are such close friends with their mothers… it’s a very different friendship than those I have with other young ladies my own age, but my mother and I talk on the phone nearly every day. She gave up on “mothering” me a long time ago. And our senses of humor are nearly identical and shared with very few other people…