My Summer, So Far (part 3)

After Encinitas, I traveled to Riverside, CA, where the Riverside Knitters Guild graciously hosted me.  We made stranded colorwork hats, discussed what knitting has taught us, and had a fashion show.  Let me tell you: Not only do the knitters of Riverside know their way around String, they really know how to have a good time.  Pat, Vicki and Diane entertained me in grand style during our free time, doing all my favorite things:  Antiquing, movie-watching, and of course, eating!

Before catching my flight home, I had just enough time to take a walking tour of historic downtown Riverside:

The beautiful Chinese Pavilion honors the first Chinese settlers in Riverside.

Exquisite marble lions ensure good fortune and prosperity to visitors.

A Chippendale Chair of Unusual Size.  For reference, the chef statue on the left is taller than me.

The Former servants' quarters at the famous Mission Inn.  The inscription reads "A good head and a nimble hand are good as gold in any land".  Words to live by.

I chatted with a  Macaw named Napolean.  I think his vocabulary is better than mine.

And then I was off to the airport, where this was on every TV monitor in the place: Link to Story

Officer in North Hollywood standoff, courtesy of LA Times

The students and staff of Oakwood school were menaced by an armed gunman on their final day of classes.  While police in full riot gear encircled the building, he brandished his weapon from the rooftop.  Unable to evacuate, the teachers and children cowered in their locked-down building for over four hours before the gunman was finally apprehended.  

We watched the live broadcast in horror.  A woman next to me said "I have kids in school not far from there.  This is my worst fear."  I told her my kids are school age, too, and that my husband is a teacher.  I knew exactly how she felt.  All I could do was be thankful that I would soon be on my way home to them, and that their schools would be out for the summer in just one more day.

When I got there, I may have hugged them all harder than was strictly necessary.

My Summer, So Far (part 2)

I hit the road, pretty much as soon as my new cast was dry.  First stop: Beautiful Encinitas, CA, where the members of San Diego's North Coast Knitters Guild welcomed me warmly.

After a full day of talking and teaching and knitting, I recharged at the hotel, whose driveway looks like this at sunset:

Encinitas is home to the famous Swami's Beach, where I got to see actual surfing happen for the first time.  It was such a surprise to realize that even though I've spent most of my life on the West Coast, I'd never seen people surfing before.  The Northern Oregon coast, where most of my ocean time has been spent, is freezing cold, treacherously rocky, and sometimes even Great White shark-infested.  Not ideal conditions for most surfers.  This is more like it:

My new friend Karen, who took this photo, was kind enough to crop out my casted hand.

The knitters showed me a fabulous time, and I left them with a few new sexy party tricks. We talked at length about yarn substitutions.  When you knit where it never rains and the temperature rarely dips, special considerations apply to all your yarn choices.  Cotton?  Yes, please.  Wool? Sorry, no thanks, Sheep.  Turtlenecks? Nope.  Lacy shawls?  Yep!  

I really enjoyed the the challenge of wrapping my head around the knitters' climate issues. While I can't imagine living in a world without woolens, I'm so happy these clever beasties have figured out how.  And of course, they've made the trade so they can live like this:

California dreaming, indeed...

My Summer, So Far (part 1)

Aside from relaunching my website (So happy you found me again!), here's what I've been up to. When last I checked in, there was a bit of drama concerning my favorite pinky (the one I tension the yarn around, when tension is required):  Thanks, Exercise! That's what I get for drinking the Physical Phitness Kool-Aid.

Here's an artistically-enhanced closeup (humor me - it's my first ever broken bone):

I dutifully reported to the Cast Man.  He told me that the good news was I wouldn't need surgery after all.  And the bad news was I would have to wear an unremovable cast for 3 weeks.  Cast Man didn't really see a downside, even after I explained to him that I had 18 knitting classes to teach in the month of June.  That people had signed up for, months in advance.  He was equally unimpressed that I had a book deadline to meet.  Like, right away.  Frankly, I think the whole concept of "I have to work with my hand right now" was eclipsed in Cast Man's world by notions like "Will she be deformed for life?" or some other such nonsense.  Nothing personal, just a case of divergent priorities.  He had no idea that I am already deformed in ways that only Knitters understand.  Politely ignoring my pleas for leniency, Cast Man called in the expert to immobilize me.  Meet Tony:

Look closely into Tony's experienced and unimaginably kind eyes, and you'll know that I found mercy in an otherwise scary dark alley.  Tony and I agreed that he would use his mad castmaking skills to construct for me, the Brazilian Bikini of casts. By which I mean: A cast that covers only the barest of essentials, and leaves nothing to the imagination.  A cast which lets almost everything hang out.  An indecent sort of cast.  And in exchange, I promised to keep the infernal thing on for the prescribed number of days (hours/minutes).

First, Tony fit my digits with (guess what!) some KNITTED tubes of soft stuff that would protect my tender flesh from the ravages of the cast.  Nice tailoring, Tony!

Then, in the wink of a hummingbird's eye, Tony constructed my Brazilian for me.  It's made of heat-malleable poly-somethingorother, with no plaster involved at all.  The uber-stiff parts surrounding the actual broken bone are made of extra layers of poly-whatever-it-is. It's activated by soaking with hot water, then sculpting by (Tony's) hand, to wit:

Tony carefully wrapped my hand in hot water-soaked (KNITTED!) bandage, molding it exactly to the shape he required.  Note the Egyptian-Mummy criscrosses.  Tony is a (possibly reincarnated) Artiste.  Once cool, the outer bandage was removed, leaving a perfectly rigid Knitter-Imobilizer.  Stiff as a board and twice as ugly.

Once I got home, my associates lent their approval.  Bailey, in particular, appreciated Tony's handiwork.  After that, all I had to do was learn how to knit with only three exposed digits of my dominant hand.  What could possibly go wrong?