ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

It was just short of 2000 last night when I had a blinding flash of the obvious. I didn’t have to pack liquids in my suitcase. I was taking the train. Yes, I know that it should have been in my mind early on but you have to remember that I normally take the train to the airport so train in my mind is normally an intermediate form of transportation, not the definitive one. In this case it meant that I could toss my toothpaste, sunblock and hand lotion in my backpack without fear of loss at the first security point. What security point? I am taking the train. Or rather – trains.

Today I am headed to Maastricht in the Netherlands for the ISTM Conference on Travel Medicine (19-23 May).

Just in case you cared – by road it is 343 km which means Google maps estimates driving time around 3:10 ( I will spare you the 23 steps of the driving distance). By public transportation (now also there complete with numbers of changes) the estimate is around 5:19 from Google.

This is what the Bahn had to say:

Heidelberg Hbf	Sa, 18.05.13	ab	08:25	5	IC 2216	Intercity Bordbistro
Köln Hbf	Sa, 18.05.13	an	11:15	5
Umsteigezeit 28 Min.						Umsteigezeit anpassen
Köln Hbf	Sa, 18.05.13	ab	11:43	6	ICE 16	Intercity-Express Bordbistro
Aachen Hbf	Sa, 18.05.13	an	12:16	9
Umsteigezeit 16 Min.						Umsteigezeit anpassen
Aachen Hbf	Sa, 18.05.13	ab	12:32	1	RB 11912 RB 11962	Regionalbahn Fahrradmitnahme begrenzt möglich
Heerlen	Sa, 18.05.13	an	13:06
Umsteigezeit 10 Min.						Umsteigezeit anpassen
Heerlen	Sa, 18.05.13	ab	13:16	4	32044	Regionalzug Fahrradmitnahme begrenzt möglich

In actuality, it is going to take me slightly more than 6 hours because  I have to take an alternate method from Koln on since all the seats are sold out on ICE 16 and I need to take a regional instead.

It doesn’t bother me – I save money and enjoy the the Bummelbahns. Besides, it leaves me more time to knit.

Speaking of same – I finished the simple cotton scarf to go with one of the hats knit in March.

Allegedly the hotel has WiFi.

1600 Update

Yes the hotel has wifi – no charge! I am ensconced in a most comfortable room after having trucked across the city (ok, only 1,4 km) to get here. I am about to go out and wander around including finding some supper, but first wanted to finish up this note.  Now I have to just decide what is next on the project list for those between lecture times….

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the scene. It is the middle of the afternoon with the sun shining down on the pedestrian zone of downtown Heidelberg. Bustling with people, there are shoppers, tourists, children and adults.

On the right just after Kaufhof in the direction of Kornmarkt is a mime dressed in elegant Victorian garb with grey face, velvet cutaway jacket, silver embellished cuff above lace ruffles on his frilly white shirt. Without missing a beat (or tumbling off his pedestal) he executes a formal bow to a young child dropping coins in his basket. Further down the street are dueling sax players. One of which likes the Pink Panther theme while the others melody tears into your heart.

Just as I am dropping off more books at the Neugasse bookshelf I hear the sounds of bells and chanting. Snaking through the crowd comes a cheerful line of orange dressed Hare Krishna happy to be spreading their joy to all around. Not to be outdone, a heavy metal group raucously starts playing in the Darmstadter Hof – drowning out all thought.

At this point, my ears have had enough. It was time to walk through the back streets and home. The one time I didn’t read the Ravelry forum before coming to Red it turns out the group had made other plans. I still had a nice coffee and piece of kuchen, but I was more than ready for home.

Somewhere in the back of my mind keeps running this little phrase of “hearts and flowers…”

Oh, wait – I remember, it was an expression of sympathy – Hearts and Flowers on a miniature violin accompanied by a small circular motion of the index finger above the thumb like you were playing a bow.

Given that we have Google – I went looking. Sure enough there is such a thing. The original piece (according to Wikipedia) was composed in 1893 and became associated with silent movies. The connotation was then made through usage to the melodramatic, sentimental, and tragic with cloying overtones.

If you don’t believe me – listen to this YouTube clip. If you want a bit more humor – you can always enjoy this clip.

Of course, all of this is a distraction from reality. Hats –

and flowers – added to the front because the dirt just looked boring.

Me? I would have just planted grass or waited for the weeds to come up but George really wanted some color. I think Germany has infiltrated his brain….

Today is the last sea day, but not the day before we dock. Instead there are two ports to go, just to make sure that I am out of sorts and not packed on time. If nothing else, it gives everyone whining time..

Leaving Funchal, Madeira late yesterday afternoon I tried to get myself motivated.

Failing that, I went up to the lounge and hung out with everyone else. That left me today to figure out where everything goes in the suitcase and what I want to wear for the next couple of days.

Not finding any of that interesting, I invited people in to knit and chat instead!

This post is pre-positioned. There is no other source of internet on this private resort other than what is controlled by RCI. Since I don’t really care for either their prices or bandwidth, I don’t use any beyond the 30 minutes that they give me for free.

And since I have been here (Labadee) more than a couple of times, I decided to just relax in the solarium on the ship without fighting to get on or off ship. There isn’t much actually to do on shore without putting more money in the RCI coffers and BBQs are just not my thing….

other than that -
I went ahead and bought the rest of the related hitchhiker patterns. I am trying out the hat, then will move on to the mitts and wrist covers.

I am thinking I might just possible burn myself out on hats. They are quick, easy and I am having a good time.

I thought I might just have possibly used up all the gradient with this hapt only to find afterwards that I still have a full ball left.

I am contemplating shifting back to shawls for a while, but I have managed to use up a significant bulk of yarn in less than two weeks! I have sincere hopes on not having brought too much along this time!

This is the first of two sea days. I get to knit.

In the Spring Jane Austin is this hat pattern which is constructed from a cable band grafted together in a circle followed by picking up stitches and knitting a slouch topper.

again – Schoppel Gradient on size 4,5mm needles.

just managed a few more rows on the shawl. Unlike the hat – it is not mindless knitting.

To keep myself entertained, I have been listening my way through the Eve Dallas series….

or maybe a shawl. I brought about six balls of the Schoppel Gradient with me.

started it a couple of days ago and just finished it up along with a hat. In worsted weight it seemed to take more time to do a picot bind off than knit the edge pattern.

After waking up at a perfectly reasonable time – for Heidelberg I gave up on sleeping and puttered around till catching the 0430 shuttle to the airport.

The United Club is hands down (way down) a sad excuse for a Star Alliance Gold Airport Lounge. I think it has to do with all the free passes, the willingness to sell passes and the awarding of passes with United Credit Card Usage. Anyway – it was a mix of obvious business people with many who could have easily competed with the slovenly dressed and behaving of last week….

But the WiFi was blazing fast for the first hour which let me salvage a significant number of old purchases off of iTunes which the nice person had reloaded for me (one time download).

But then there were the flights.

I wound up sitting next to a couple of Coast Guard people which was fun. But more fun was when one of the cabin attendants stopped by and commented about my knitting. When he stopped a second time and showed me a couple of shawls he had knit for friends (iPhones make wonderful photo galleries) I happily handed him the package of crazy zauberball (greens) that I had sitting in my lap. I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do with, and it obviously had been waiting for a chance to go be a shawl for a red-headed woman.

Later when I went to the back to get a glass of juice one of the other flight attendants said – oh, you are the one! He has been showing that yarn to everyone and is just thrilled.

So in spite of a long day complete with lounge in Dulles packed to the gills, full flight of screaming kids to Florida and all the transfers involved in shuttle bus->Tri-Rail->shuttle bus to MIA -> shuttle bus to hotel it was a good day.

After almost hysterically discussing the situation with George, I elected to take a different suitcase. Of course, the clothes that I wanted to take are no longer available all tucked carefully and safely packed. The good point was that there are neither yarn nor prescription drugs inside that suitcase.

Oh, sorry, one partly completed hat on a really good needle but it is not like I don’t have a squillion other needles in every size anyone could ever want. Even a pair of 35mm needles that I don’t remember buying or needing.

Anyway, checking on the website – it says “take it to a dealer” which is simply not possible at 2200 at night nor is there one closer than Frankfurt or Stuttgart. If I take it, the only chance of getting it open would be if a TSA6 key might work. But if it doesn’t I have hauled along a suitcase that I can’t open. Clipping off the closure tags voids the warrantee (5 years, any and all repairs for defects or damage not caused deliberately) and leaves me with twist ties holding the tabs together (stupid).

He swears that he will take it in sometime in the next month and bring whatever I want to California in March. Thinking about it after I packed the second line of clothes, there are only about a dozen things I really want (second swimsuit, flip-flops, two shirts and a great pair of hiking pants). The list will be short. I can take the neglected clothes to Australia as a consolation prize….

So I have the carryon and the small yarn duffle and my backpack with electronics (cameras, laptop, phones, charges, mini, chips and cables….)

Cab to train station (hey, I am not walking at 0500 in the morning and besides it is really cold out there), train to Frankfurt, lovely time in the shiny lounge, plane flight (spent some of that hard earned mileage for an upgrade which means I probably have enough to get me to the UK and back this summer for a trip up to Iceland).

On the plane I finished a hat in fingering weight yarn, 1 1/2 audio books, a ZuZu’s Petals in worsted weight Schoppel Ombre Reggea Rainbow and started a matching hat.

La Quinta bed looked pretty good this afternoon.

A friend of mine and I staged an escape today. I decided it was a reward for having made it through a morning of being literally frozen in more than four dozen places by my favorite dermatologist, getting a number of on post errands run and managing to get two smashed up pairs of glasses turned into one functional pair.

Shanda & I headed to Schoppel. Now I will acknowledge having been there last week and buying yarn but I just couldn’t resist especially since I won’t be around for a couple of months and she is PCSing in early June. Headed to Colorado, her husband is retiring.

So anyway after stopping at her house for a warm soup lunch we hit the road. Not even bothering with the GPS we just headed off, me driving and she knitting.

Some kilometers after the Weinberg Drieck, not even sure where, the traffic started to slow to the inevitable stau. Not being completely stupid, I switched it on and we headed off road carefully following directions. Crossing back over the A6, we could see traffic extending as far as we could see.

And then I forgot about the whole thing figuring that it would be over when we headed back especially since there didn’t seem to be any problem with the west bound traffic.

We shopped, chatted and otherwise had a great time stuffing our handbaskets with yarn, then the bags in the car.

The traffic, however didn’t clear out as we found to our dismay on the return journey. Stupidly we got on the A6 only to slam to a stop about 3 km later. The GPS meanwhile saying absolutely nothing. My iPhone (lovely browser that!) informed me that there was a mulitple vehicle accident and that A6 was closed in both directions for hours. Remember what I said about no problems with on coming traffic?

Anyway, we managed to get out the back gate at the next rest stop followed by over an hour’s worth of traipsing across the back country of Germany somewhere between Bavaria and Bad-Wuertemburg attempting to by pass an area of autobahn without parallel local roads. Meanwhile, the stupid lady kept trying to send me back to the autobahn. She didn’t even bother to tell me about traffic when I had been in the first stau for over 45 minutes.

It was dark when I got back to PHV. It was even darker when I made it home only to find that I had left my purse at Shanda’s. Forget it – I am going to bed!

All knitters are yarn aficionados. Some of us have an affinity for certain weights of yarn others for a particular style of knitting. Fiber content is important to somes and to others, eh? good deal is critical. For sheer fun – you can’t beat Zauberball if you are a sock or lace knitter.

A couple of years ago, Nanawolf (go see Ravelry) and I took an expeditionary drive to Wallhausen on the far side of Crailsheim to check out Schoppel’s outlet at their factory. We had a great time and I brought home more than I could possibly use. The other day I checked the stash and found that I was down to one package of sport weight yarn and a couple of weird lace color combinations.

Accordingly, another field trip was in order. Since yesterday just happened to be Faschingdienstag, two of the women from the Saturday Red Strikkgruppe just happened to be available. In one case, the office was closed. For the other – no school. And we found lots of pretty things.

We weren’t the only one’s hunting on the bargain shelves. One young woman had a huge shopping bag to fill. Apparently she is the only knitter in the family who lives near the outlet so before she heads home for Easter she had a list from mother, sisters, aunts and various others to fill. I know this because I over head her explaining very patiently for the fourth time over the phone that, yes, she was at the store. But no – they did not have that color in the remainders. Did [fill in the person] want to pay full price? No? Ok then what would they like instead? And around and around.

So anyway, I bought treasures all of which but that at the end are sock weight long color repeat yarns

The other yarn I picked up was worsted weight for a couple of hats & Scarves

Great day – I think I will go again in May (grin)

of us made it to Red today. I had been watching the discussion on Ravelry over the last few days and was starting to believe that I was the only one with any interest at all. After one other person posted that she was going to be there, I asked George to drop me off. As it turned out, Shannon had just moved and being without internet access had not been able to let anyone know that she would be coming.

So there we sat, Brigitta, Shannon and I for a couple of hours. Then imagine our surprise when one more member of the group (Elke) arrived. Pregnant with her second child she is hoping that her daughter will consent to come out by this coming Friday. Not surprisingly, she is pretty weary of being pregnant.

After a day spent knitting in which Dani’s scarf is more than finished –

the yarn is a sock weight merino. If I tackle this one again, I will definitely cast on with a larger needle…. the basic pattern is Song Thrush and starts at maximum number of stitches (somewhere close to 300 and then decreases).

and I completed the body of the C&C

before taking a deep breath and tackling the ruffle which turns out to have a bijillion stitches and takes a lifetime to knit even a single row. Let me not mention that purling back takes even longer and the needle I have is only long enough to tackle one color at a time….

Anyway – there is also Stromboli which in this case does not refer to the ice cream but to the active volcano.

Viewed from the ship starting right before 2145 it was amazing to watch the eruptions of lava flung up in bright reds and oranges against the night sky. If it hadn’t been raining and cloudy, maybe my photos would have been better. Maybe considering that otherwise it was pitch black, and you couldn’t see the mountain. But between the weather and the not particularly smooth sailing, I did what I could.

Since I will be headed past the volcano again on Thurs – this time at 0500 in the morning, I am going to give the photos a shot once more!

Did I mention that ports on Sundays in Europe are often less than fully fun? Somethings are open, but a lot of places aren’t. Since I am not a “look at the church” person, at least the inability to wander through those buildings due to the presence of worshipers and religious services doesn’t bother me. Wish I could say the same for a couple of the rather loud tourists from the ship.

Anyway – we bailed off the ship fairly early and had a chance to wander around. There are old fortifications and modern stores. There was a Starbucks which was overloaded with people needed in the internet after not too long.

The tourist shops were full of Minotaurs but featured few mazes.

Since the weather was lovely, just walking and looking seemed like a wonderful way to spend the day.

It was a day at sea – aka a knitting day.

But first – did I mention that one of the perks of the cabin is treats every night?

Every other day it is a few lovely treats – and the alternate days it seems to be hand made chocolate…… which along with the coffee maker (complete with bean grinding) in the cabin makes for a lovely relaxed afternoon.

I took a break from the shawl

and knocked off a quick scarf which Dani will take with her back to Chicago for Alex. Starting it late yesterday afternoon

(pic 1)
and finishing it and blocking it today.

At the end – it has a wide part for wrapping around the nose and almost 2 meters to wind around

the yarn is Schoppel two ply Zauberball (seconds) knit on 3.75 mm needles made up pattern as I went. The seconds might also explain why there was only the one bit of white in the entire ball.

Then I started a scarf for Dani given than I had a yarn along that included purple….

which was 50% done by the end of the day. It actually might not have been that close to done according to the pattern,

but she wants a scarf to go around the neck, not something to flop around on her shoulders.

Tomorrow we dock in Crete…..

Because the Dolphins are swimming.

And then there is the extremely useful information I learned yesterday about ships orientation. See the Dolphins in the carpet? They swim forward. Eliminates an incredible amount of confusion since if you know where you are and where you want to go, which direction to hike is now really obvious.

Salt

Taking a break from all the silly fiction (escape reading is me) I am listening to Mark Kurlansky’s “Salt.” Tracing the history of the usage of this simple subject from the prehistoric times to the present, the first few hours of the audiobook are also an excellent review of Chinese History. Like many of us who were western educated in the 1960′s – World History was really a misnomer. What we were taught was Western History with a mention of other civilizations.

It is rather humbling to realize that recorded history in China goes back centuries further than western as well as early use of iron, natural gas, bamboo pipes for both industrial processes and in home plumbing as well as gun powder well before the West was stomping across what they deemed the civilized world on the way to Jerusalem in the first Crusade with horses, sticks and a few swords.

Knitting

and beautiful scenery

There were some new women at Saturdays Strikktreff at Red. Two of them had a version of the following scarf. I am thinking that it most closely resembles scarves by Martina Behm of Hitchhiker and Leftie Fame. The two that I saw seemed to be out of sport weight yarn. The idea seemed simple and quick.

Comfy Neck Wrap

Supplies – 100 gm of sock weight yarn. Any will do, ideal for two 50 gm balls.
Size 3.00 circular needle minimum 80 cm.
gauge is not critical.

Directions:

Cast on three stitches.
Knit back

Body Pattern
R1 Increase one stitch by casting it on, knit three, cast on two more stitches
R2 Cast on two stitches, purl across, cast on one stitch

Repeat these two rows until you have used 50% of your yarn.

Ribbing Pattern
change to ribbing pattern and maintain ribbing as the increases are added
R1 Cast on one stitch, 2×2 Ribbing, cast on 2 stitches
R2 Cast on two stitches, 2×2 Ribbing, Cast on one stitch

Repeat these two rows until you have used up ~50% of the remaining yarn.
Continue in ribbing without further increases until about 6 meters of yarn remain. Bind off in ribbing.

Block, wear. Enjoy.

In spring of 2011, right after I retired (or at least I think it was about then) I saw a knitted scarf in a yarn shop.

Ok, there are a lot of scarves in yarn shops knitted as samples in an effort to sell wool, patterns and encourage knitting. Now this particular scarf was knitted in Zauberball and was only available if you bought the yarn. The idea of buying a German made yarn in the US at twice what I think of as normal price just didn’t make sense to me. The idea of the scarf, however as a good use for long repeat self-striping yarn sort of hung out in my head for a while.

I knit a sample in Aug of 2011 – my Ravelry project page even notes some basic directions and used Zauberball. The idea of actually writing up the directions formally has occurred to me a couple of times. But hey, that would tramp along the edge of work – not something terribly high on my agenda at the moment.

Sitting in Istanbul with a husband suffering (not silently – he is a real guy on this one) from a bad tooth, I really needed something pretty mindless to knit. With two skeins of Roedels 4-ply Color in greys, revisiting this pattern seemed like just the thing.

Downtown Scarf

Supplies – 100 gm of a long repeat variegated sock weight yarn.
3.00 mm circular needle minimum of 80 cm long. (range 2.75-3.25 mm. Not particularly critical). Gauge is whatever you get.
5 stitch markers (useful but not required).

Finished scarf is ~ 2 meters long. To be worn in what ever style you wish.

Pattern -

Cable cast on 300 stitches. (Note, you do not want a tight edge here, but flexibility).

Knit 10 rows. Designate one end as the wide end and the other as your narrow end.

Knit the wide end pattern x1
knit to narrow end picking up wraps and turns while removing markers as you go
Knit narrow end pattern x 1
Knit to wide end picking up wraps and turns while removing markers as you go
knit 9 rows

Repeat this sequence 4 times or till yarn runs out. Bind off loosely, Weave in ends.

Wear how ever you want!

Wide end pattern –
Knit 20, pm (place marker) wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 40 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 60 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 80 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn,
knit to end
Knit 100 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
Knit to end
Knit 80, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 60, wrap and turn,
Knit to end
Knit 40, wrap and turn
Knit to end
Knit 20, wrap and turn
Knit to end

Narrow End Pattern

Knit 25, pm (place marker) wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 50 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 75 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 100 (picking up wrap & Turn as you go), pm, wrap and turn
Knit to end
Knit 75, wrap and turn
knit to end
Knit 50, wrap and turn,
Knit to end
Knit 25, wrap and turn
Knit to end

The Ravelry Link is here

This is not about Paris and the Left Bank – nor is it about people, handedness or whatever you first thought. Unless you are a knitter – then you already know what is coming next.

Leftie is a pattern designed by Martina Behm. She is the designer of the also frequently knit Hitchhiker.

I knit one -

and, other than dealing with a ton of ends which needed to be woven in I had a good time (the natural colored Louet Gems had been a bit chewed by moths).

So – I knit another

out of sock yarn again going to multicolored in the scarf body and solids for the leaves.

Then, when I was in Reno I found just the perfect contrast yarn for a skein of STR. Oh – and beads. I decided that the scarf really needed some beads in the leaves.

I have one last one started for me, rust colored semi-solid for the body and the rest of the Louet gems for the leaves. I am using up the last of the golden color beads from the third iteration.

Now, I just need to toss a couple in the mail so I don’t have them all just sitting there….

Knitters, contrary to popular sterotypes, are not all elderly grey haired ladies sitting in splendid isolation needles clicking while they chat with Moggie. Most of us in fact are pretty social creatures who enjoy an appreciative audience and a chance to talk with  others of similar mind.

Hence the popularity of knitting groups.  It is why many of us organize them when we cruise, go find groups to visit when traveling to different cities and just enjoy the companionship when we are home.  Most of the time family just doesn’t appreciate the details involved in the knitting – just the comfort in the wearing. We also bring along things to share and show – like new knitting mags and books or needles or stitch markers or drop spindles.

In spite of four regulars not being able to attend, at the high point 14 were gathered at Red. There were enough of us to take over two sets of tables, talk a lot, eat cake, drink tea, coffee and just generally have a great time.

I finished a hitchhiker for Miriam to pass along to a friend -

knit out of sport weight yarn (two balls at 135 meters each) which makes the total scarf about a meter long and 25 cm at the widest point. 4.0 mm needles really make the knitting zip along.

I won’t make next Saturday but planning on the 5th ….

One of the most popular patterns on Ravelry – Hitchhiker is fast and easy which makes it ideal for travel knitting. You start with ~ 100 gm of sock yarn and keep going till you run out – what could be simpler?

So I knit one.

And then I knit a couple more while traveling (this does not count those I made last spring) for a couple of our friends

Each one of which used a skein of Socks that Rock -lightweight.

I adore the pattern – garter stitch which makes it almost idiot proof for airplane knitting – and without a fixed width or length which makes it ideal for 100 gm single skeins of sock yarn.

Oh, and the name? Betina named it for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Why? Well, the bind-off makes for little thumbs sticking up. Her original scarf had 42 of them…..

Once I am completely done with the booking I have outstanding on the Indie I am off ships this large.

Traveling with 3800+ of my very best friends appeals about as much as living with 499 others in a large warehouse with overhead lights burning 24/7. Just poke my eyes out now and get it over with.

[Can you tell that I don't always do change well?]

But there are noticeably more people on this ship than before. It is not just the presence of all the children, it is the overwhelming numbers of loud people, scooter people, bragging people.

Ah, yes. The source of my irritation is the 2500+ members of the Crown & Anchor Society. 19 Pinacles (sailed more than 700 days on RCI) 1100+ between the Diamond and Diamond + (81-699 days) all of whom are trying to jam themselves into lounges never meant for that size group. Their purpose is, of course, to make sure that they get their share of the free booze on tap.

Me? I am thrilled that they consistently have diet Sprite and chocolate covered strawberries every other night.

I am attending those shows I missed the first two cruises and will have pictures when I marry up the camera and USB cable again. Meanwhile, I have laundry to do and a shawl to knit…

more fingering weight wool – this time in denim. Pattern passed along from Treena (Canada) and originating with Lion’s Brand.

There are about 225 of us left over from the crossing. The character of the ship is changing around us so naturally we are getting together in the Diamond Lounge in the evening. Complaining doesn’t help but venting seems to be doing a few of the people some good.

I am hanging out with 5-6 British couples. In fact, most of those I know left on the ship are Brits. It is not only the effects of the change, but the whole character of the ship has changed.

US rules are now in force. That means no alcohol for anyone under 21, even with a parental waver. It means that once again smoking is allowed inside the Casino. The desk personnel continue to be helpful and friendly even in the case of totally obnoxious guests (the ugly American can easily be found on cruise ships). The average passenger weight is also up significantly with the departure of all the French, Portuguese and Spanish.

I will most definitely not talk about all the rug rats and ankle biters. It would be much worse without the kid programs.

The dining room – what can I say? We are all too familiar with the menus. Arriving this evening for dinner I found that I had been eliminated from the table. Probably for the best considering that (given the size of the first two people there) there was simply no room for a seventh chair.

I can now have curry, sushi and soup in the Windjammer without guilt!

Lady Russell Shawl

knit from two skeins of Araucania sock weight on 4 mm needles. The pattern comes from the Fall 2012 Jane Austen Magazine. I finished it on the 4th but hadn’t gotten around to showing you.

Unlike on the Vision or Jewel, the knitting group was a lot less structured and the participation a bit more fluid. Part if it was that we had to change venues a couple of times (due to noise, lounges and a need for light) the rest was the individual peoples. Never the less, we had a good time.

People floated in and out as it worked into their schedule. I have already mentioned the cruise director’s staff as not being the most together group of people. They heavily loaded activities into the morning which created conflicts, mostly with trivia. This is not a Bingo playing group.

I managed to finish another Leftie. Frogged a second scarf that I started and knit a complete Lady Russell Shawl which I will block on the balcony.

five phone calls, eight people and 90 minutes, but I did it! Successfully managed to get a standing payment order cancelled at one of banks.

Way back in Sept, I walked into a branch of Capital One. Used to be Chevy Chase Bank, but that was a different lifetime. After going through a lot of effort to prove that I was me – the particular me who had had an account at the (former) bank since 1984 – I updated address, phone numbers and checked on the balance. Oh, really? Turned out to be several thousand less than what I expected. Seems like a standing payment was still running. Could they help me?

No – I had to do it myself, either over the phone or on line. Since Carmen and I were on the way to Baltimore with the Enchantment of the Seas firmly in our sights, I put it off. The August damage was done; the next blow would not land till end Nov.

Fast forward a few weeks. Ok, a couple of months. I try, once more unsuccessfully, to log in to the account. Nope – it says to call customer service. We go through the verification process and then get stuck – how much was your last deposit? No clue says I, it was several years ago. Dead silence on the other end. Seriously, says I, it was a long time ago – go look. Klicking of keys – I don’t see any deposits for the last 18 months. Yes – what I said.

Moving on, the first couple of security questions are no problem. The third one throws me for a loop – something about a Nancy someone has property in what state. No clue – I have no idea who you are talking about. That is certainly not a question I put in my profile. No – it turns out they use questions from a third party provider which are generated from details against my SSN.

Oh, goody. Someone has tried to jack my ID again. Seems like the last three times I tried to clear out garbage from the credit bureau were unsuccessful. Have you ever tried to prove that you didn’t live somewhere? Stupid people didn’t even believe deployment orders as proof that I wasn’t in Nebraska even though I was obviously in the Balkans….

After finally getting through all of this, the young man can’t get to the right area of the computer system so transfers me to a colleague.

“May I have your first and last name”

Taking a deep breath, I go through the whole thing again. No, I am calling because the system locked me out and told me to call customer service. I have a payment that needs canceling. No, I was the one who set up the original account, yes I am aware that my husband’s SSN is first on the account. That is the way that Chevy Chase did business in the 1980s, even though I was the one setting up the account and providing the direct deposit income stream. The whole thing proves too much and I get transferred to a supervisor. Who transfers me, and … you get the idea. Anyway, it is suggested that I just register over again. Ok, and get walked through the process.

Well, guess what? I no longer have access to the bill paying list. I get put on hold after explaining once again that calling the other party isn’t going to help. It is a push payment, not a pull. The bank is mailing a hard copy check, not doing an electronic payment. Oh – just a minute.

I am on hold forever it seems, then the line goes dead. I call back again and start over. Not surprisingly, things go a bit more smoothly now that I have the account number and the amount of my last deposit. However, it seems like this person can’t deal with what I need. Once again, I get transferred up the line. The new woman starts at the beginning. I stop her and ask if she can stop a payment for me. Oh, yes, no problem as long as we are more than four days out from mailing.

In less than three minutes, she has verified who I am, identified the payment and has it cancelled for good. Very properly, I am sure, she says it wasn’t her with whom I spoke in the first place so she can’t answer why the first person just didn’t cancel the payment for me.

So, a number of customer service representatives, 90 minutes and 760 words to tell you the tale.

PS. I rewarded myself with a trip to Jimmy Beans Wool

wends its way from San Francisco all the way to Chicago. The journey is neither instantaneous nor as quick as a fight. It follows its own way up into the foothills then across the broad plain of the central valley before entreating the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Stops along the way let passengers alight in Richmond, Davis, Sacramento. Baggage service is available to some depending on starting and stopping stations. For others, they have to jam their cases in the compartments located on the lower level of their particular car.

I am headed to Reno for no other reason than it seemed like the thing to do for a couple of days. George flies back home today and I don’t leave until Wednesday. When I made the plane reservations those many months ago, I had no idea of his actually travel schedule so made the best guess based on guess and price. As it turns out, I am not exactly the only person taking a break from the Bay Area by traveling to Reno. The train to Sacramento followed by a bus to Reno would have been a bit faster and cheaper, but this seemed like the way to travel especially with the weather.

For whatever reason, I have a seat in the lower coach. It is raining which really limits my visibility from the train window. Not that the walls of pines wouldn’t be obscuring my view of the distances should there not be either rain or the dense fog. Perhaps some of it in this particular stretch is low lying clouds? I thought about heading to the observation car, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. In any case, I have the Amtrak booklet next to me in order to follow the journey along the rails and through history. As a result it was easy to identify the main cities for the first three hours of travel along with rivers and the former McClellan Air Force Base (now a commercial/private/military cooperative airfield).

Repeated tunnels through many of the hills speak to the increasing elevation and the amount of work, dirt and rock that was involved in establishing this rail line connecting the west coast to the rest of the country. Along the track, the leaves have long since turned color and most have fallen while others are stubbornly clinging to branches providing a a rich golden accent to the green of the pines and firs. the occasional flame of sumac flashes bright in the undergrowth too fast for me to capture on camera.

Going over the same area as taken by the ill fated Donner party, there is snow on the ground. Scattered patches in some areas show the last of summer green while others are already covered thickly.

It’s a nice ride for watching, reading and of course, knitting.

Staying with a friend overnight, we have a lovely walk around town yesterday including lunch.

Place has as many intersting restaurants as Berkeley (without the panhandlers on every corner). A stop at the major local yarn shop left me amazed. I had absolutely no clue that there were actually that many cotton, linen and glittery novelty yarns in existence. The A/C is blasting, it is freezing inside most buildings and here we have yarns that require broomsticks or larger to knit.

Not a sock yarn and almost no wool insite. Humpf!

The near-by labeled Flee Market turned out to be a European collection of market stalls under one roof featuring jewelry, clothes, tailors, shoes, Tschockes and bit of this, that and the other thing. The overflow stall from the yarn store had more novelty yarns. More importantly, there was a basket of bamboo circulars in tiny sizes for $3/each. I happily left with size US 0,1,2, &3. Doesn’t seem that anyone else wants them at all.

I have a flight this afternoon via O’Hare (lovely) to San Francisco where it is on to find the DH who hopefully will be waiting for me somewhere along the line.

and my last day on this ship. Probably forever. Not a complaint per se about the cruise line which I reasonably like but rather the acknowledgement that I appreciate more the familiarity and slightly less frenetic feeling of the smaller class of cruise ships. I like the atrium, I don’t like the center promenade. This particular layout makes the commercialism just that much more obvious. There is a definite lack of lounge space.

Ok, done whining.

What made this cruise great for me was this bunch

which is most, but not all of the group.

Managed to get this picture on Wednesday

What it really meant was getting together every sea day morning with a great bunch of people. We discussed everything from yarn, needles, cruises and family to health education in the schools and surviving aging parents. Mostly the conversations ran in English (UK, US, & Aussie versions) with the occasional detour into French or German depending on the person. Rosemary finished a fabulous baby blanket (have to mention this as she held out with her crochet till the very last day). We had two with more interest in needle work than yarn.

But mostly it was relaxing fun. I have forwarded the two pictures to everyone in the group for whom I have email and hoping it gets to the additional four people. If not, I can go hunting on Ravelry.

Meanwhile, I put in my last four miles on the treadmill for Walk for Wishes right before they closed down for the cruise. Made a last run at the Sushi in the Windjammer and have my suitcase packed and in the hall.

I might even be ready to get off the ship!

Well, not just knitters. We also have a couple of needlework types and a woman wielding a most excellent crochet hook. But in any case, we started on the first sea day down in Boleros and have managed now to relocate up to the 4th floor dining room where we have table, light and a definite freedom from the smokers.

Getting together about 0930 and breaking up about 1130, the membership varies over the time as people come and go. Countries represented over the day include the US (highest number), Canada, France, UK, Germany and Australia. Don’t think that I have missed anyone, but could happen.

The scarf/shawl pattern is called Leftie by the same woman as designed the Hitchhiker.

The rest of the day will be fine – friends, food, treadmill and some more knitting. This is day ? at sea. Five I think. Losing track of time is more than easy!