Blizzard of 2005

This is a picture taken of a neighbor's house through one of my windows. This was taken at around one in the afternoon and yes, it really is that dark outside.

These are actual quotes from an actual local weather forecast:

... Blizzard Warning remains in effect until 6 PM EST this evening for Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts...

Thirty inches has already occurred in parts of the warning area near Boston and amounts may exceed 33 inches by the time this storm tapers down tonight in Plymouth and Barnstable counties... along with 7 foot (!) drifts.

Any travel is strongly discouraged. If you leave the safety of being indoors... you are putting your life at risk.

Well that's quite blunt.

Call it a hunch, but I don't think I'll be going to work tomorrow.

Paging Michael Moorcock

Has anyone else read Elric of Melnibone and watched yesterday's Daily Show? Did you catch the Elric shout-out in the description of the inauguration from Stephen Colbert? Please tell me I'm not the only geek who noticed it.

Math for Knitters

As I mentioned earlier, I don't know when my round shawl will be big enough and I can't hold it up against myself because it's all scrunched up on circular needles.

But I think I can work it out from the following,

I'll stretch out part of the shawl on one of the needles and measure several inches worth. Gauge is often expressed in terms of how many stitches in four inches of knitting, so I'll try to measure four inches worth.

With a straight spiral shawl, you start with a number of sections separated by yarn overs. (I started with eight sections.) You then alternate knitting with yarn overs to keep adding stitches with regular knitting with no increases.

I did it a little differently in that I periodically added additional sections with yarn overs. So at this point, I have eight sections that spiral out from the very center, plus sixteen additional sections that spiral out, but not from the center, for a total of twenty-four sections.

Each of the twenty-four sections has an equal number of stitches. So, I know how many stitches are in the total garment. (Count the stitches in one section, multiply by 24.)

So if I establish how many stitches are in four inches worth, I can easily work out the circumference of the shawl.

Once I have the circumference, I can use this handy tool to find out the diameter. I've heard people say that for a nice, comfy shawl, the ends should be fingertip to fingertip.

Sound like a plan?

Truth to tell, I'm getting bored with this shawl. There's enough stitches in it right now that it takes forever to add a single row. I just hope I finish this thing while it's still cold enough to appreciate it.

My Mom just called...

My great-aunt died.

She was generous and smart and funny and compassionate.

Relationships within my family are tainted with arguments and interpersonal difficulty and alcoholism. She rose above all that with a sweetness and generosity of spirit.

It caused her pain that her older brother (my grandfather) was "never the same" after serving in World War II.

She loved to travel and meet people all over the world. I remember when I was a kid she sent us presents from Singapore.

She was an old time "limosine liberal", in the very best sense of that term.

She had ideals and put her money (and time) where her mouth was.

I will always associate her death with George W. Bush's inauguration. It seems sad and appropriate that her good spirit leaves us at this time.

Spiral Shawl Closeup

This is the very center of the spiral shawl I'm working on, draped over a lamp so you can see the design.

When it's done, it will look something like this.

Yes, it's a circular shawl. I hadn't heard of such of thing before reading about lace knitting, but a shawl in the shape of a giant circle is actually a comfy and flexible design.

The only daunting thing. I wasn't given any instructions other than to increase until it's "done". In other words, when it's big enough to work as a shawl. It's all scrunched up on circular needles, how do I figure out when it's big enough?

Did I mention that I've never really internalized the whole "gauge" concept in knitting? I just follow directions exactly (socks) or I knit until it looks right (scarves).

Guess I've got to start figuring it out.

Bush Mulls Over Things He Might Not Say Again

Doesn't that sound like an Onion headline?

Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?

"You know...the bad guys...what's the bad guy's name again? You mean Osama? Yeah him. What's to stop Osama from planting a charge and making a big explosion to cause a tsunami in the United States?"

Gimme Some Hot Hot Scone Love

No one bakes anymore. This is sad, but this is also good, because people go nuts if you take the time to bake. "You MADE scones!?" Yes, I made scones. It's not difficult at all.

People think it's the recipe. It's not the recipe, it's how you mix the ingredients.

The butter should be kept cold. And it must be "cut" into the flour, not stirred, not kneaded. The cutting and the resulting mealy texture of the flour/butter mix make for deliciously light quickbreads, as opposed to rocks in bread form.

The cutting is greatly faciliated by a device known as a pastry blender. It is currently impossible to purchase a pastry blender in a grocery store. I don't know why, you can buy biscuit cutters and you need one to get to the other. But you can make do (as I do) with a pair of knives or a large-tined fork.

Buttermilk is a common ingredient in scones. Rather than buying buttermilk and having an exotic item taking up room in my fridge, I prefer to sour ordinary milk with lemon juice or vinegar. Digs Magazine has instructions here.

I've never made their scone recipe. But I've made the following:

Cape Cod Cranberry Scones

These are amazing. Delicious cranberry taste, perfectly tempered with citrus.

Cheese Scones

Addictive and a great accompaniment to minestrone soup.

One of the things I found in my scone research is that the dough freezes well and the scones themselves freeze well, which suddenly explains why you always see them for sale. It's a food product made for a commerical kitchen. But really, give it a whirl. Do some baking and blow peoples' minds.

I was browsing through the lamest online listing of jobs in the world (Cape Cod Employer) when the following sentence caught my eye.

30 hours per week, $9.75 per hour plus excellent benefits including retirement, insurance and generous paid leave.

"Generous paid leave" must mean, "we give you a lot of time off, because you're going to need a second job".

They're looking for someone with one year of experience, excellent interpersonal skills, typing and data entry skills and bookkeeping experience.

Let's hope they're not expecting to actually *fill* this position.

First Post of the New Year

I have to post something as a starter and I found the most incredible blog entry today:

How I Lost My Religion in the Holy Lands

It's long, but read to the end. It's worth it.