Alexis for the win!

So a few weeks ago the package from home with all of my yarn in it finally made its way to Timor. Since then I have been a knitting fiend. In about a week and a half I knit a sweater. A cute little spring cardi with three-quarter length sleeves. Now I'm starting on the next one and have almost finished the back panel. I'm not going to tell you what the latter one is, just in case I don't finish it and then I'll forever be hounded with questions like: "What about that one sweater you said you were knitting that one time?" So instead it will be a surprise. As for the one that I already made? Well here you go.

This is Miette.

 I used Kashmira Sensations 100% Wool in Color #57. Not the best name for a color, I admit, but the yarn worked up nicely. The only little thing was that I had to be careful while blocking not to agitate it too much because this stuff is super felt-able. That's something I'll have to keep an eye on whenever I'm washing this sucker.

Please ignore the messy ponytail and the bare feet. I woke up about five minutes before these were taken and I was running late for a Skype chat with my mom. Pay attention only to the sweater.

This was an attempt to capture the eyelet pattern that highlights the neck, sleeves, and bottom edging.

Connor told me to "do the model hip-sticky-outie thingy" and I did my best to comply without laughing in his face.

So that's my latest conquest. Stay tuned for the next installment of "Neat crap Alexis has knitted with limited resources".

P.S. Many thanks to Connor for sucking it up when I threw the camera at him this morning and said: "I've got three minutes before my Skype date, take pictures of me in the sweater, hurry, hurry! The lighting is best in the hallway, come on, hurry up. No, no, not yet, I have to button it!" You are the best my love. Thank you for putting up with me and helping spread my crazy to others.

 

Not feeling very wordy today.

So I'm just going to show you some pictures.

I've been busy. And yes, that was a Hufflepuff sock.

Tragedy

Sometimes things happen that you just can’t control. It’s no one’s fault, there is no one to blame, and there is no place to justifiably direct your rage. It’s just life, and bad things can happen to the best of people. Anyone who has lived more than a handful of years on this planet and isn’t totally self absorbed knows this. But how do you deal with it? How do you handle the tragedy? How can you move past it and grieve when there is no one to blame?

Some people blame anyone they can. They get angry and try to tear down the world for not being angry with them. Some people curl up and cry until everything is out and then there’s no hurt left. Some people have a drink, have a smoke, pop a pill until they’re numb enough not to care.

Do you know what I do? I knit. When the world is deconstructing itself around me, I construct an object of love. Because that’s what knitting is, love. It must be if you can spend sixteen hours winding string around sticks until you have socks. When I’m so upset that my hands are shaking, and I feel like I want to scream at the sky until it falls down on me, I pick up my needles and I make something beautiful. Even when all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch as the moving sun changes the shadows around me. I do it because knitting makes my grief more manageable.

I’ve done it ever since I started knitting. When my high school boyfriend cheated on me, I made a scarf. When I didn’t get accepted to a four-year University straight out of high school, I made a pair of socks. When all but three of my friends forgot my 20^th birthday, I made a kick-ass winter hat with ear flaps.

And now tragedy is rearing its ugly head again. The beast hasn’t bitten yet, but it’s in the process of deciding if it’s going to. I find that the threat of loss is almost as bad as loss itself. You know that something really bad could happen, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. It’s like I’m sitting on a hillside, watching as a wildfire creeps from the forest, closer and closer to the city. I know that I can only watch in horror and pray that it’s either put out, or that everyone makes it out alive.

So while I’m waiting on the outcome, I knit a scarf for someone I love. It’s almost winter back in Oregon, and I intend to be home by Christmas. With every stitch, every row, I am one step closer to sanity, one step closer to getting my emotions reeled back in. It won’t help me to be sad now, I can only be positive and wait for the beast to either bite or go back to sleep.

My grief is productive. My grief becomes love. That’s about as good as I could hope for. 

Remember the good ol' days?

I was puttering around the house today feeling kind of blue, missing my family, when I perked myself up with the thought of: "Well don't worry, you'll be home in time for Christmas!" which got me all happy for the next thirty seconds until my brain caught up and I went: "Oh no. Christmas. Oh crap, I haven't knit anything for Christmas!" Remember that whole Christmas 2012 thing? Well I sure didn't. I haven't made one gorram thing for my fantastic list of Christmas buddies, and that is a bad, bad thing.
For those of you who don't know, Knitters are notoriously terrible planners. If you read this blog then you'll know that I've been thinking about this years Christmas since January. Now it's September and I haven't gotten one single thing done. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, I would just swing by my LYS (Local Yarn Store for those not in the know) and pick up some fun yarn. But I can't do that. Know why? Because the nearest yarn store is over 600 miles away. Yeah, I googled it.
My mom did send me a care package a few months ago (it only arrived last week) and it had some tasty bits of yarn in it, but I need a lot more. She sent another one that hasn't quite made its way here yet, and that one is supposed to be mostly yarn. I might still be able to Jerry-rig some semblance of a knitting Christmas together. Wish me luck lovelies.

P.S. Another shining example of how bad I am at remembering stuff? September 5th was me and Connor's two year anniversary. Guess who forgot? Well... We both did actually. Good thing neither one of us assigns any ridiculous importance to anniversaries. It's cool, it's a good mile-marker, we still adore each other, but if one of us forgets, that's okay too. We're going on a date to celebrate this Sunday. I wonder if he'll let me bring my Christmas knitting?

I feel like little Miss Muppet meets Jack Sparrow.

I know I haven't done an honest to goodness knitting blog in a while, but...

I'm back in black baby.

This is my tough "back in black" face. I should probably work on it.

This right here is the Neon Ski Bonnet by Lacey Volk and it can be found here:

 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/neon-ski-bonnet

This is the fun, funky little project I mentioned in my last blog but wanted to keep secret.

I don't ski and mine isn't neon, but it was a hoot and a half to make. You just take some fun cabling, a simple rib stitch with some twists, a giant pompom, and voila!

 The picture doesn't do it justice, there's a bunch of cabling going on around the base. I even knit this one to pattern without taking any liberties (which, if you know me and my knitting tendencies, is rare). Well, I did take one tiny liberty in that I didn't do the hat band in the round, but that's only because I didn't have enough yarn to do so. On this tiny island, where sheep don't really exist, you have to save yarn where ever you can. So instead of doing a double band, I just did a one layer thing on straight needles.

All in all, I'd say it turned out pretty well. Perfect for a crisp Fall day in Oregon. You know the only problem with that? We're not in Oregon anymore Toto. This type of adorable bonnet doesn't have a place here. A place where it's 85 degrees out and you think: "Ooh, it's getting a little chilly". A place where if the cerulean waves get more than half a metre high, then it's a "crazy storm". This place was not meant for wool bonnets. Into my suitcase it goes. Believe you me, this sucker will be out of my luggage and atop my head the second we land in Portland come November. I'm counting the days.

Are you there Blog? It's me, Alexis!

Hello everyone! I know, I know, It's been too long. In my defense, I was in Bali. In your defense, I got back a week ago and am just a terrible blogger. But, I'm here now and that's what counts. Bali was awesome, thanks for asking. We had a bunch of super fun time adventures like surfing, and walking through the sacred monkey forest, and biking down a volcano, and zip-lining through trees, and seeing The Dark Knight Rises in theaters. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so we have very limited documentation of all this excitement. We have some pictures that the surf school took of Connor (none of me, because the guys at Big Kahuna Surf School are less than honest about what their "photo package" covers) and then a few photos of us with our friends Adam and Jan that we met on the bike ride, but I don't think Adam has sent those to us yet. We also have a few of us zip-lining but those are in print form and there is not a scanner to be found in Dili.
So what have I been knitting lately? A whole lot of everything. I can't keep my mind focused on a single project. I keep starting new things and then frogging them when I get bored. It's a bad existence for a knitter, not finishing any projects, but we all have our rough patches. Right now I'm working on something that I just might stick with because it's so funky and fun, but we'll see. I don't want to tell you and get your hopes up, just to dash them with another scrapped project.
Something that's seriously cramping my knitting? The lack of yarn. It simply doesn't exist here. I've found a substitute for lace-weight or cobweb, but if I want to make something chunky or worsted, I'm SOL. My mom sent me a few care packages filled with yarn and treats and the newest Nancy Drew PC game (I'm a huge ND nerd, don't judge, they're awesome games), but they haven't arrived yet. Carrick thinks they've either been lost, or more likely stolen. It's not a pretty thing to suspect, but when a package comes into a third-world country with a big sticker that says: "FROM AMERICA" it's more likely than not that it won't reach its final destination. Won't they be disappointed when they come to find that it's mostly just string? I hold out some hope that it's just sitting at the post office, waiting on some kind soul to make it out to this end of town.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, sorry it's not more intriguing, or with fancy pictures, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. Hope you all are doing well!

Home is... Where again?

As you know, lately I've been feeling pretty down. Missing my family and my friends, basically missing everything. That feeling of loneliness and isolation has increased ten fold in the span of one day. Why, you ask? Because today is the 14th of July. It is both, my older sister Adaira's 23rd birthday, and my oldest friend's wedding day. Being so far away on a day that is so incredibly important back home is actually physically painful. So I'm not going to complain or whine, I'm just going to show you a little bit of my life, a little bit of my family. Maybe then I'll feel a little bit less alone.

From left: Adaira, Jesse, myself, Connor

 Adaira and our dad Mark at her University graduation

 The incredibly talented duo of Sarah (left) and Lauren (right), my baby sisters.

 LaRhonda, my ethereally gorgeous stepmom.

  My incredibly hard to get a picture of stepdad Don, and his lovely sisters Toni and Julianna.

Me and my oldest friend Stephanie, way back in high school.

  A more recent picture of her and her soon to be husband Marc.

Part of our Sign Language Family. At Deaf Nation Portland last year with Ian, Annmarie, and Connor.

This is only a small portion of the people in my life that I depend on and look up to. Just a handful of those that I'm missing so badly. I love all of you and I can't wait until I'll see you again.

P.S. Mom, the only reason you're not up here with the rest of them, is that I couldn't find a single damn photo of you. Curse you and your photophobia. It's like you're a vampire or something, seriously. Know that next time I mean to write a heartfelt blog about my love for my family, I will find a way to get your smiling face up here with the rest of us. Even if that means I have to hire Don to sneaky sneak get a photo of you when you're not looking.

 

Grumpy Gus.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've either been planning for, going on, or recuperating from this trip to Ramalau that happened last weekend (Ramalau is the tallest mountain in Timor, people regularly hike to the top). The whole thing was a giant debacle and a festival of errors. Luckily for you, I had my camera ready.
The whole thing started off fine enough, Connor and I were up and ready to go at 8 Saturday morning. It's about a six hour drive so it made sense that we'd get up early and make it to the Posada (hotel) at the base of the mountain early. The plan was to leave the house at 9 in the morning and have all day to drive there, or at least that's how the plan was described to me. What actually happened was that Connor and I were ready by 8:30 and the others weren't ready until 9:30. Then we didn't leave the house until 10:30. Then we stopped to pick up someone who was going with us, that neither Connor or I had any idea about (Her name is Jaquelin and she's quite a lovely person but that aside...). These are all minor irritations, I get it, but six hours in a tiny mitsubishi "4x4" with only a couple seat belts... You can see why I may have been a bit grumpy. We finally get out of Dili around 11 and then it's just bumpy roads and crazy drivers, all seemingly out to kill me.
The trip really didn't have a good side for me until we stopped here for lunch.

It was a tiny little restaurant up on this hill in a place called Mobessie. It was the last "big" town we would hit before we turned on a dirt road and headed up into the mountains. It was a nice little place, had some tasty rice, veggies and chips. The owners of the place did try to stiff us a bit when they said we had ordered three meals instead of two. We only ordered two but used three plates to share it among ourselves. They didn't like that. Sharanya and Connor talked them down until it was just two dollars over what we should have paid. It sucked, but that's just the way it is sometimes.
After eating, we walked around the garden.

And then we spent some time just happy to be out of the car, gazing out into the magnificent hills.

(Connor is the one standing atop the crumbling wall. My little mountain goat...)
Breathtaking as these views were, we soon had to pile back into the car. The hills and cliffs were still gorgeous, but I find that they can loose a little bit of their majesty when you're worried that your little car is going to pitch over the side of one.

Yeah, four more hours of roads that look like that. That is, if they're even there at all and haven't been washed away by heavy rains. It was incredibly nerve wracking.
 Especially when we actually did go partially over the edge of a cliff a little while later. I would have taken pictures but I was too worried about not being in the car if it went over, and then once I was out I was worrying about the car crushing the home that was at the base of said cliff. So was the woman who owned the house, because a few minutes after we got the car stuck, halfway over a cliff, she came up to remind us that we could have crushed her house, and then oh so helpfully tell us that we would never be able to push it back onto the road.
Sharannya called the Posada and told them what had happened and they said they would send someone, but not when. So in case things didn't work out, we flagged down a truck that was going to the base of the mountain anyway, and Jaquelin and myself hitched a ride. It was a long crazy process, but eventually they got the car unstuck by having about sixty young men, lift it from various angles and deposit it back onto the road. Meanwhile, Jaquelin and I were safely snuggled in at the Posada, waiting for them to arrive
When they finally did, it was about 8pm, and as the others wanted to catch the sunrise from on top of Ramalau, we were getting up at 3am to start the hike. We didn't end up getting to bed until about 11, and I was pretty pissed.
Four hours of iffy sleep later, the alarm goes off and we wake up, put on our many layers, and meet the guide outside. It was absolutely freezing. But that was soon forgotten as we started our trek and the heat our bodies were making became so unbearable that we shed our layers and continued climbing in silence.
About a mile up, I was sick. I was sick into some bushes, I was sick into a ditch, and I'm pretty sure I was sick into someone's front yard. Come to find out, that we hadn't even gotten to the mountain yet. We were just on the road up to it. I'm not ashamed to say I couldn't do it. Connor walked me back down to the Posada, being super great, contributing my illness to a combination of poor sleep and altitude sickness. I don't know what it was, but I'm sure glad I didn't go all the way up.
After jogging to catch up with the rest of the group (Yeah, my guy's a champ), they caught the sunrise from the peak and had a good long rest while I lay in bed and nibble on bread far below them. When they finally made it back to the Posada at noon, I was up and feeling a bit better. Connor told me that he was glad I wasn't there with him, because it would have been miserable for me. What we had been told was a mild, three hour hike there and maybe two back, was actually more like a five hour hike up, and four hours back. Yeah, forget that.
After everyone rested their legs for a while, we piled back into the car and headed back down the mountain. back in Mobessie we stopped for gas. I can tell you now, that getting gas from a dark container sold by some guy on the street, was not a good idea. As soon as we were out of town the car started acting funny. Jolting and barely creeping up hills, and making this awful coughing sound. The return trip that should have taken six hours, took eight. I was pretty grumpy by the time it was all over.
It was pretty alright, but does that make up for a trip where I spent a total of 14 hours on the middle hump in the back of a tiny car with no seat belt? Does it make up for a trip where I spent at least 60% of all the time in the car thinking that we were going to skid right off a cliff? Does it make up for altitude sickness and going to a mountain just to sleep at it's base and then going home?

Oh yeah it did.

What a Game...

I have to apologize for my serious lack of blogging lately, but I've been in a ridiculous funk. I never really thought about it before moving, but in Timor I have exactly one thing. I have Connor and that's it. Don't get me wrong, I adore Connor, he is my love, but when you're in a different world one person can't be enough to hold you there. Every day it's like I'm in a fishbowl, swimming in circles going no where. I know the whole deal about home sickness coming in waves, and culture shock taking it's toll and whatnot, but it's more than that.
Imagine you were picked up and dropped off in a foreign country with three things you held dear, three things to keep you happy for your entire time there. Do you know what my three are? Connor, my knitting, and my Jurassic Park Trilogy set. How sad is that? I can't even site the internet as making me happy because the coverage is so shotty here and once you run out, you're out for a week at a time until you can drag your keister to the Timor Telecom office that has a 50/50 chance of being open.
To put it simply, I am incredibly lonely. Because of this, I have been feeling sorry for myself and not blogging like I should, so I apologize. I will try and be better.
On a pleasant note, I might teach Mana Angela how to knit soon. It might be a bit difficult because we don't speak much of the same language, but if we can manage it, it might give me a little bit of purpose. She said she could maybe give me some yarn for my trouble, which is a big deal here because there is not a single knitting store on the whole island of Timor. Just my luck, huh? I'm actually almost out of yarn and without enough yarn to make one solid project I've been working on an entrelac blanket entirely out of scrap yarn. This is what I've got so far.

Not bad, right? It's only a few inches long now but so far I really like the way the scrap colors are working together.

I like the kind of "patchwork circus tent" vibe it has thus far. When it's done it'll be about four and a half feet wide and about seven feet long. It'll be a good blanket for napping on the couch. The sad bit is that I won't get much further without more yarn. My stash is running dry and the care package my mom is sending (full of treats, Nancy Drew games, and yarn) won't arrive for another few weeks. Oh woe is me.

Working for the man.

So for this story to make sense to you all, I'll need to give you some background. The place we're living in here in Dili is a two bedroom, two bathroom flat that is the second story of our landlord's home. In the house below ours there are essentially three families. Six children that I know of, and countless adults. One of the adults living below us, Mana Angela, is our housekeeper. She does our laundry, washes dishes, sweeps, and is basically a godsend. When she's not being amazing, she makes Timorese flags for soccer matches and festivals and such.
The other day I was walking up to our flat, after a run at the beach with boyfriend. I had the Sea Glass bag tied around my waist because the beach we ran at had piles of the colorful shards and I loaded up. As I approached the stairs Mana Angela came out from her house with her adult son Colbain (apparently he was supposed to be named after Kurt Cobain but "Cobain" is a tricky one in Tetun). Mana Angela told her son that I had made the bag around my waist and he asked me how long it took me.
"Eh, a day or two."
"Could you make me a hat? Black hat?"
"Yes, I could do that."
In exchange for my hat making services Mana Angela promised me a Timor flag to hang on our living room wall. So over the next few days I chipped away at a simple ski-cap for Colbain. I for one, did not see the appeal in having a hat where the average temperature is 85 degrees with 75% humidity. But it's what he wanted and I was more than able so I knit him up a neat little cap over the span of a few days.
This afternoon when the Mana came in to drop off some finished laundry, I told her that I had the hat for her son all finished and ready for his wear. I gave it to her and she left quickly, showering me with praise. A short while later Colbain himself came up to thank me and tell me that he very much liked his hat, and that I was a very good "crafter" (I don't think the word for knitting translates very well).
Later this evening, after Connor and Carrick were back from working out, and Sharanya was back from work, we all settled down to watch some t.v. and talk about our days. The doorbell rings and when Connor answered it, I hear Colbain's voice from the other side of the door, along with a few others in the background.
"I am uhhhh.... Like to speak with... Alexander?"
"Do you mean Alexis? Yes, she's right here."
I step out onto the porch to find Colbain and five others from his family. One older woman and her young son, two teenage girls, and a boy who looked about my age, all talking in hushed whispers and pointing at Colbain's hat.
The older woman started: "You make hat or sell hat?"
"I made the hat, but Angela is going to make me a Timor flag for it, so I did kind of sell it as well I guess."
"You make hat?"
"Yes, I made it."
"Oh..."
Everyone's quiet for a while, and then the older woman spoke rather carefully:
"We can all have hats?"
Now the seriousness of the situation struck me in an odd way. Here are six people on my front porch, looking at me dead-serious, waiting to see if I will be offended by their request. I smile softly and say:
"You all want hats?"
They nod.
"You want a hat too?" I ask the little boy tucked into his mother's side. He smiles and says "Hat!" and touches his head.
"Yes I can make you all hats. It's going to take me a few days, but I can make them for you."
Suddenly the tension is gone and everyone starts talking at once about colors they want and if maybe I could do stripes, and how much I charge, and the little boy asks Colbain if he can have his very own hat. Colbain translated for me and I nodded and smiled to the boy. I wrote down requests and assured them that as soon as they were all done, I would give them to Colbain to hand them out to everyone.
I'm pretty sure the family down stairs adores me.
I let you know how everything is going once I dig my way out of this pile of hats.

Anyone want to see what I've been working on?

 The many fiber-related things I've been working on since first arriving in Timor!

 First, the spinning:

I've only done a few batches from the raw wool I brought with me here. I haven't set the Purple or the Green yet, but I'm hoping to spin some yellow and some pink and work it into a traditional Timorese pattern.

 This is a scarf that I worked up in about a day and a half using the "Snowdrift Mobius Cowl" pattern that you can find here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/snowdrift-mobius-cowl
(While looking up this pattern on Ravelry I found this one, also called "Snowdrift" and I want to make it! I'll add it to the list. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/snowdrift-2)

This guy, I call "Fire Ant". Mostly because it's small and red, but also because I'm watching a Planet Earth documentary and insects are the main focus of the episode. This little shawlette was a project I worked up because it was simple and I was incredibly bored. The only really interesting thing about it is it's scalloped edge.

See? It's not especially fancy, but I like a little flared edge to spice things up.

This is "Sea Glass". It's a little draw-string bag that fastens around my waist so that when I'm frolicking about on the beach (be it snorkeling, wading, or just lounging), if I find an interesting piece of sea glass or shell, I can just toss it in the bag and bring it home with me. I am an avid sea glass collector so an accessory like this it just what I need.

Now the next things I'm going to show you are not my work, but in the interest of the fiber arts, I must show you what I got.

These little beauties are called Taiis (ty-es). It's an incredibly beautiful and complex form of weaving using tiny silk threads. There's a Taiis market not too far from our house where women have stalls where they sell their gorgeous works. I'm afraid and excited that I might build up quite the collection while I'm here.

So that's what I've been up to lately, not a whole lot, but you know how it goes. I'll keep you guys updated with new knits and crazy stories.

P.S. I've tried to write this post like, four times, but each time my computer has crashed or I get booted off the internet, or my battery dies, or something else that causes me to lose the entire post. Fifth time's the charm?

Busy busy busy...

Hello my lovlies, I'm sorry that there has been such a delay in my postings but I've been busy doing... Nothing really. There's so much to tell you about that every time I sit down to write it all out, it just seems like way too much work and I play a Nancy Drew game instead. Let's do a brief overview of my activities, shall we?

-I've been knitting like a fiend. Churned out a mobius scarf, a wee coin purse for my coins, a belt-bag to collect seaglass in (who's pattern I designed and may very well put on Ravelry), and a slouchy hat that I only just started today but that should be done by the time Connor gets home. I also have a passport cozy on the needles for Carrick, but that will have to wait until I have enough motivation to pick it up again.
-Connor and I went to the East Timor equivalent of the DMV. It. Was. Awful. Almost worse than back at home if you can believe it. Carrick's fiancee Sharanya told us it would only take forty minutes or so, but it ended up taking several hours. We would have been there even longer if a helpful Timorese man hadn't come up to us and said: "Sim?" Which is a permit to drive. We nodded and he whisked us away to another window, filled out all the paperwork for us, and took us through every step of the way, thereby putting us in front of himself and making his trip to the DMV twice as long. After we got our permits, I tried to hand him some money for his trouble (before anyone gets offended, that kind of behavior is customary here. Help someone out, get a few bucks) and he shook his head and said: "Just to help." What an awesome guy!
-Missed my skype date with my family on Monday due to an unfortunate miscommunication with Sharanya about when she was leaving for West Timor (taking the internet stick with her, as was agreed upon). I was super bummed all day, but Connor went out and got another one, so hopefully I'll be able to talk to my family soon.
-I don't know if it's a children's week festival or something, but for the last few days, whenever the sun goes down, children gather in the streets and start chanting something in Tetun and then break into song. This lasts all evening and well into the night. It might be cute if it wasn't so... creepy. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a strange aversion to children singing. It's too much like the shining. When kids sing, I get a wicked case of the hee-bee jee-bees.
-I've been reading like a fiend too. I've been a fast reader my entire life but in the last few weeks I've broken some of my own records. I read Stieg Larson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in just a few days, I re-read one of my favorite romance novels whose name I will not divulge due to embarrassment, I read Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" yesterday, and I read a fantastic book by Stephanie Bond called "In Deep Voodoo" today. I need to either get more books on my kindle or start reading slower. All I have left that I haven't read are "Mocking Jay" the second of the Hunger Games trilogy, "The Girl who Played with Fire", the second of the Melinium Trilogy, and Jane Eyre. I'll probably be through those by the end of the week.

Well that's all I've got for now but next time I'll definitely have pictures of my latest knitted goodies.

P.S. If you have a Kindle, like mystery novels, and want a new read, then you should take a look at "In Deep Voodoo". It's incredibly good, totally blew my mind in terms of what I was expecting it to be. Plus it's free for Kindles! I don't know about Nooks though...

Chicken vs scooter

Alright, so remember how I promised you a story about a chicken and a motor-scooter? Well here it is:

So on my second day in Timor, Carrick (Connor's older brother, if anyone missed that) approached me and said: “Would you be interested in learning how to ride a scooter while you're here?” I told him that I was very interested, that I had always wanted to learn how to ride. He said: “Good, let's go!” This, I was a bit taken back by, for I didn't think he meant right that instant. But off we went into Timor's intense sun, in helmets and protective clothing.

Carrick drove us out to a large salt-flat where it was open wide and the ground was soft and silty. He hopped off, and I slid forward on the scooter so as to be in the driver's seat. He went over all the controls and mechanics of the thing, showing me how to change gear and break. I asked way too many inane questions, mostly so that I could drag out the classroom session before it switched to on the road time. Carrick quickly grew wise to my games and told me to just try it out in first gear and if it got too scary I could always just bale off the bike and into the sand.

I honestly can't say what I was so scared of because by the time I had finished my first lap of the salt-flat I was feeling great. The tricky shifting was still giving me some problems but I just seemed to absorb everything else. Round the flat I went, weaving in and out of prickly, sun-bleached skeleton trees and avoiding large ruts from riders past.

Carrick finally flagged me down and I quickly went to him. “Now try it with me on the back!” and I responded with an oh so elegant: “...uh. What?”

“Don't worry, you'll be fine!”

So he hopped on and I tried to take off like I had been before, but let me tell you, having another person on the bike completely changes the dynamic. It changes the balance and the way you pick up speed, it changes the way you shift and drastically alters how much you have to turn the handle bars before you change direction. The answer: not very much! One tiny alteration from strait and you find yourself headed towards a tree or a giant manure pile.

After the practice we decided to head to a nearby shore line and walk the beach for a bit before heading back. It was at this point that we checked our phones to see the time and found that we each had several missed calls, all from Connor. I call him back to find out that he got back from his work orientation early and has been locked out of the house for three hours. He was not very happy. As we walked back to the bike Carrick said: “I'll get us back to the main road, but then we'll switch and you can drive us home. After so little practice I didn't want to drive the main road and so I used Connor as an excuse. “Connor's pretty mad that he's been locked out for so long, I think you should just drive.”

“Oh it's okay. You don't drive much slower than me, you'll be fine.”

So we shot off to the main road and when we arrived there, Carrick hopped off and I slid forward, just like before. Honestly, it wasn't that scary. Smooth beach roads with the occasional pothole, but plenty of room to maneuver around them. I like to think I was doing pretty well. That is until we approached the corner of chicken doom.

We were just passing a row of quaint little houses with stone fences, coming up to a turn that first went out slightly to the right and then a hard left around a blind corner. I was just approaching the soft right when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and heard and horrible “BUCAWK!”. That's when the attack came, not from the front, but from the side, from a chicken that I didn't even know was there.

I was mostly dealt a glancing blow off my left shoulder, but Carrick caught most of the feathery furry in his left shoulder. The ordeal had me flustered and I hadn't seen them until it was too late. Two gigantic potholes around the blind left corner, each about the size of a manhole cover, each a few inches deep. I only saw them just before impact and didn't have time to avoid them. I hit them both, doing about 30 miles an hour. Carrick almost bounced off the back, we were jostled so hard.

All the bouncing and slamming had kicked the bike out of gear, so when I tried to accelerate the bike through the rest of the corner, I got nothing but a revved engine.

At that point I calmly pulled over to the side of the road and Carrick said: “I have never heard of that happening before to anyone. Do you want me to drive?” To which I calmly replied: “Yes thank you, I'm a bit too flustered right now.” So he took over and drove us home.

What a fun first riding experience! Not one I'm likely to forget.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get taken out, mid-air, by me on a scooter.

Hope you liked my story! I'll have to tell you of my battle with the ants in the new house next time.

P.S. This is the view from our balcony at the new house.

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In Timor!

Hello friends and followers! Long time no update, I know. In my defense I have moved to another country since my last blog post and I believe that should allow me some lenience in my online-ness. Let me tell you, the internet situation here in East Timor is absolutely bonkers! There aren't really any hard lines unless you're somewhere fancy like the US embassy, the President's palace or an internet cafe, so everything is done wireless. To get access to the 3G you need, you have to get this little USB stick and a special SIM card. You buy your internet before you use it at a place called Timor Telecom and they apply it to your SIM card which you then put into your internet stick. Once you hook it up to your computer it then connects you to the internet via satellite. Because of all this rerouting and satellite connecting, the internet speed here is equivalent to dial-up from ten years ago. For any of those who are really dependent on the internet for happiness, DON'T COME TO TIMOR!

One of the many interesting things about this place is that you basically prepay for everything. Internet, electricity, air-conditioning, gas, water, it's pretty crazy. The power grid is also pretty messed up in that sometimes the power will go out for absolutely no apparent reason for an undetermined amount of time. Sometimes for three minutes, sometimes for three days. I've only experienced one of these so far, it lasted for about eight or nine hours. Because there was no power, the AC was out as well, so Connor, Carrick, Sharanya, and myself woke up sweaty and annoyed. The whole day was sweaty and dark (opening windows can let in more heat and mosquitoes) so it was better to just sit, grumpy in the cave.

Mosquitoes are especially dangerous here because many of them carry the virus known as Dengue. It's a slow-burning sickness that causes your skin to become painful to the touch and discolored, it causes fever, joint pain, and headaches that could shatter your teeth. It, in general, is a horrible thing that, unless treated, will result in death. It actually killed around thirty locals and one Australian a few months ago when there was a bit of an epidemic. Carrick is super concerned about our health and always asking us how we're doing and feeling. I've gotten a couple of mosquito bites since I've been here, but so far no death virus for me.

So that's just a few things I've learned so far while here, but I know why you all come here to read my blog (… pity... support...), the knitting!

Knitting is basically all I've been doing so far here (which I'm totally happy with Carrick!). It's a great way to spend days while Connor and Carrick are at work (Sharanya is currently in Bali with her sister and her sister's new husband). I've just been lounging in the AC, watching all kinds of shows and movies whilst working on various projects. Thus far I've finished a shawlette that's basically Holden with a scalloped edge and I'm about half-way through a “Snowdrift Mobius Cowl”. You should look it up on Ravelry when you get a chance. I'd post a link but I'm currently not even online! I'm really writing this on a word document while offline, so that I can copy and paste it onto blogger later and not use up three dollars worth of internet!

That's just a really quick rundown of what's up in Timor currently, I'll have to post again soon with more stories and real live pictures. I even have a story lined up for you about a chicken and motor-scooter. Guesses? You'll hear from me soon!

Tokyo!

What an adventure. When I have more time I'll have to fill you guys in on what happened during those crazy seventeen hours. For now I have to board another plane, this one to Jakarta. 8 hours but the airline is ANA and I've only heard good things about them (apparently their economy class is like United's first class). So I have to go for now but Connor and I are safe and having a blast. With love!

The End of an Era.

You as my loyal followers may or may not remember that Boyfriend and I are moving to East Timor for five months so that he can teaching English and I can... Do something I'm sure. Well that adventure starts tomorrow. Our first flight leaves from PDX to LAX at six in the morning, and then it will be a fun four days of flying and traveling until we finally get to Dili, East Timor. Our itinerary is as follows: Portland, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Jakarta, Bali, Dili. That is a lot of time in the air. I shall spend it knitting, sleeping, and freaking out over the fact that I'm miles above the surface of the earth in what is basically a tin can.
But besides all that, I've been spending the last few days with my family, convincing them over and over again that I will, in fact, be fine. I also taught my mom how to use skype so that she can fawn over me, even if it's only through a webcam image. That should keep her from missing her baby too much.
So last night, almost as if it was a grand send-off for Connor and I, the whole family went to Cirque Du Soleil, ovo. Not sure what Cirque is? It's basically the most amazing thing that is ever to be experienced. It's not a circus like you'd think; smell of popcorn and elephant poo, claustrophobic tent, and sticky floors, no. It's an event that combines the most skilled athletes in the world and puts on a show that will absolutely blow your mind. Here's a taste:





Yeah, three hours of that. Plus we were VIP's so we got to go into a fancy tent before the show and during intermission where they fed us treats and liquor for free! Can you say, "open bar"? We had an amazing time, and I thank my mother and step-father endlessly for taking us on such an adventure. I even dressed up fancy for it! I'd give you proof but my computer does not want to cooperate with the photo, and keeps telling me that it doesn't exist...
Anyway, we set off first thing tomorrow and communication after that might be iffy depending on the internet in Dili. I want all of my friends and family to know that I love them and I'll be missing them every day until I return. It doesn't matter if I'm seven miles away or seven thousand, my heart is always in Oregon.

What was that about dread?

Went to the dentist today; wasn't as bad as I remembered it being. In all likelyhood, that is probably due to the Diazepam I was on. I'm not a fan of mood altering substances (besides chocolate of course), but when it comes down to it, I would rather be a bit loopy and calm than be constantly on the verge of jumping out of the chair and fleeing the building as if I'm on fire. Good thing I found something that works for me too, because I get to go back again for more work on Wednesday! Now doesn't that sound exciting?
Fun news everyone, Holden is back on the needles and almost finished! Yay! Just a wee bit longer and I'll have beautiful pictures of her up for you to enjoy. That's all for now, I know it wasn't much but I'm still a little loopy and don't want to say anything I'll regret later.

Dread.

Hello my lovelies, I am sending you this post from what's left of my boxed and sorted apartment. That is also the reason I have taken so long to post anything. All of my waking hours recently have been spent packing, or laying on the ground, wishing I didn't have to pack. Let me just tell you, the latter is not productive at all and those who want to keep packing (namely Boyfriend) will remind you of that. A million times.
So I don't have any pretty pictures for you to look at, mostly because I can't find a suitable backdrop in these shambles of an apartment for any of my photo shoots. I can't do it in the bedroom because of clothes currently being sorted into piles of "keep" and "donate" (those piles just happen to be on the floor), I can't do it in the kitchen because we haven't done dishes in forever and a day, and I can't do it in the living room because it is now a sea of boxes. I could go out onto the back deck and take pictures where it is sunny and only slightly damp, but who am I, Dorothea Lange? Besides, photography isn't really my bag.
Anyway, no pictures for you. At least not now. I will let you know though, that I have been spinning my own on my drop-spindle and I made a passport cozy with my first batch of hand-spun! Well actually, my very first batch of hand-spun was so completely rubbish that it went to the bin. But my second batch now cradles my wee little passport, warming it before it's long journey ahead. I'll put pictures of it up next time. I've also restarted Holden. The hurt could only last so long and I need a transportable project for "on the road" knitting. I'm about halfway done with the stockinette stitch section and I cannot wait to start the lace. Last but not least, I started a pair of entrelac socks. Socks totally used to be my thing, but I haven't cranked out a pair since Mexico and that was almost five months ago! I need to get back to it.
Anyway, so you may or may not have noticed the title of this post is "dread". Why, I hear you ask? Because there are about two weeks left before we go to Timor and I need to see a dentist before we go. Guess who has a crippling fear of dentists? This gal. Last time I went to the dentist, I started crying before the doctor even took a look. I'm pretty sure my dentist thinks I'm a nutter. Dread is just kind of my go-to emotion recently. Wish me luck, I'll have pictures for you next time.

Remember that discontinued yarn thing?

Well as it turns out, I had just enough to finish what I was working on. And by just enough I mean that I had to fudge the stitch count and skip the edging and still only ended up with about half an inch left over. But that's all okay because I absolutely adore the product. Would anyone like to see?

Any guesses? This, my friends, is a Kindle cozy.

Taa daa!

This project was surpisingly simple. Some entrelac in the round, a litte bit of grafting, a couple of I-chord ties to keep everything together, and voi la! I really do love it, and it's about time that I do something nice for my Kindle. It's been all over the world with me. To the Virgin Islands, to Mexico, and now it's about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with me. From Portland, to Los Angeles, to Japan (we've got a 14 hour layover in Tokyo, I'm pretty stoked), to Jakarta, to Bali, to East Timor. Reading my favorite series' on this little guy is the only thing that is going to keep me from absolutely losing my mind during all these flights. I deserves a nice home.

Alright, so that's what I've finished, but can anyone guess what I'm about to start?

That is a top-whorl drop spindle (hand made my mom and myself, go team!). Drop spindle as in spinning 101. Yup, it's time to make my own. Wish me luck!

You know the one thing I hate about discontinued yarn?

It's discontinued. I've been scouring the internet for the last forty minutes looking for just one skein of Noro Silk Garden in colorway 268 B. Do you know how much of it I have found? Exactly zero balls. They still make colorway 268 B in Noro Silk Garden Sock but that will not work for what I'm trying to accomplish.
Let me explain to you what has happened.
After the crushing disappointment of dismantling the Holden shawlette, I went to Youtube in order to drown my sorrows in a new technique. Entrelac. For those of you who do not know the way of the wool, entrelac is just a fancy complicated way of manipulating yarn to make it look like a bunch of wool strips woven together in pretty colors. When done properly, it looks like this: This is not mine! I wish I was this good, but alas, Google handed this to me. When entrelac is encorperated into other parts of knitting you can get really cool things like this vest (again, not mine):Or this hat (once more, not mine):
The point is, it is really beautiful and can be quite complex. And I taught myself it last week. I am now in the process of knitting a Kindle Cozy for my e-reader (in entrelac naturally) and I got a skein of Noro Silk Garden from the Yarn store thinking that it would be enough to finish the project. Not the case. Now I come to find that the yarn is discontinued. Curses to the fickle goddess of knitting! She says: "Oh, you think you have enough for this project? I think not!" And discontinues the line. If I didn't have a final in 15 minutes, I would spend all afternoon scouring the interwebs. I'll have to continue the search another time... Bah!