Los Angeles

Cedric has had a fantastic time visiting LA in the past two months. He loves LA--everything about it. The first trip down he posed, as you can see, with some of his favorite new acquaintances. (I keep telling him there's nothing like a dry martini, and he finishes every single one I offer him, then orders another single malt.)

This last trip, he helped out on the set of Gary Mairs' Hemingway Night. We couldn't get a picture of him on set because he wouldn't keep still--that's our story and we're sticking to it. Paul put some pictures of the shoot up, and maybe next time we help Gary out with a movie, Cedric will sit still long enough for us to get a photo of him!

Old Foghorn

Anchor's Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale is Cedric's new favorite beer. This is really saying something. Cedric enjoys his beer and is partial to ales, and has been trying many of the brews available from around the world at his new favorite store, Ledgers Liquors--he had heard Ledgers called the adult Disneyland, and they weren't wrong. (He's also amazed by Ledger's selection of single malts--in fact, he gets emotional about the single malts, and can't yet speak openly about them.)

In his quest to not only support local businesses, he, like any traveler, has been trying to experience a new culture through the local food and drink. So he had a martini made from Anchor's Junipero Gin, and was transported. When he watched the online video of the bottling of Junipero Gin, he wept openly. It may have been the martini, but he's been walking around with a suppressed joy ever since.

Baking soda to the rescue

The merino wool sweater that I found at Goodwill for $4.99 has become my favorite biking sweater--it fits well while allowing full movement while biking, looks decent at work, and, most of all, keeps me warm around dawn while biking into a headwind on the Embarcadero. I found, though, that it was spending more time at the dry cleaners than at home.

So I decided to try washing it. Some gentle detergent, cool water, and no agitation, and I had a soft, lovely sweater. Mostly. Because I wear this sweater for heavy exercise, the armpits were, shall we say, still seeming fresh off the bike.

I tried searching the Ravelry forums, and a few of my usual online resource haunts, but everything that talked about deodorizing wool seemed to be concentrating on unfortunate incidents involving pets and wool rugs. Keeping in mind the few weeks I spent in chemistry, I didn't think that methods for removing odors from mammal excrement could be used for removing odors from human sweat--maybe I was wrong--I hope I'll never know!

So I turned to the manual for all things domestic in my abode: Home comforts : the art & science of keeping house by Cheryl Mendelson. Her recommendation: baking soda.

Keeping my chemistry in mind, I double-checked: baking soda is alkaline, and my detergent is alkaline. How does it work? As with everything in the book, she explains:

As a deodorizer, [baking soda] works neither by perfuming or masking odors nor by absorbing them. It chemically neutralizes odors ... most unpleasant odors are caused by strong acids ... or strong alkalies ... Baking soda reacts with the odor molecules to bring them to a more neutral pH ... the deodorant effect is also present when baking soda is dissolved in water ...

Of course I have no idea if that's what actually happened in my basin, but with a much-darned sweater from Goodwill, I was willing to experiment. (I would never try any of this with my handknits--those go straight to Sam's Cleaners!) A few tablespoons of Bob's Redmill's baking soda and some cool water in my small basin, and about ten minutes of soaking, followed by adding some gentle detergent for another soak, and, voila! A completely deodorized, fluffy, soft, sweet smelling sweater!

It's a back

Introducing the completed back of Paul's sweater! Of course, it won't look that shapely on Paul--my dress form isn't set up for his shape--but pinned on the dress form you can really see the detail of the vertical stripes.

This sweater is different from others that I've made in that the neck is knit onto the pieces, so the seams will extend from the shoulders up the neck. So this also shows the real neck height.

I've started the front, and am almost finished with the bottom ribbing!

Poem in my pocket

Happy first national Poem in Your Pocket Day! I love carrying around poetry--usually favorites such as Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" or Carroll's "Jabberwocky." Today, though, I wanted to discover something new, and since one point of today's celebrations is to share, check out e.e. cummings' "the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls"--it mentions knitting.

And the yarn

This is the wonderful 2-ply worsted Jacobs yarn that I bought at the Meet the Sheep day from Robin at Meridian Jacobs. It's wonderfully tweedy-looking, due to the colors of wool on the sheep that she's woven together--it's not dyed--it's as the sheep grew it. I bought a bit of a darker color in case I don't have enough of the gray.

And this is the beautiful Fiber Creations yarn from Colleen; I'm thinking a big, warm scarf for winter bike rides to work along the Bay, and to wear in the repurposed warehouse where I work, and where the heat fails as often as the wind blows.

Meridian Jacobs

We had a great time at Meridian Jacobs' Meet the Sheep & Fiber Fun 2008 in Vacaville. After two really intense weeks, we didn't make any commitments or any plans for today; we decided that if we woke up feeling like going, we'd go. It was a beautiful spring morning, so after waffles, we went.

I was not only interested in meeting the lambs, but after reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and hearing Michael Shuman on Alternative Radio discuss local economics in his book The Small-mart Revolution, I've been more interested in finding local yarn. Meridian Jacobs is only 54 miles from home, and the drive up there was almost worth the entire trip; the hills are not only green from the recent rain, but they're not sprinkled, they're sprayed with colorful flowers--the deep, red-purples surrounded the brilliant orange California poppies before fields of mustard yellows.

Robin was there telling us all about the sheep and the goats, and the kids who were there got to help bottle feed the baby goat (who, I believe, is two weeks old). The goats were incredibly friendly, licking and nibbling your fingers while you pet them, and her dogs Bonnie & Rusty were lovable, too. Some of the sheep didn't mind some attention and some petting, but some were shy. Robin's sheep are all Jacob sheep, and her friend Colleen was there with incredibly fluffy Romney and CVM sheep (Mopsy and friend!). Cedric loved watching the sheep in the open field, the sheep and goats in the barn, and even the two pigs.

Near the shop spinners and weavers were patiently explaining their craft to kids and adults alike, and Colleen was there with her Fiber Confections yarn. Many folks hung out there also with their picnic or takeout lunch. Did I buy some yarn? Oh, yes, thanks to the fortuitous arrival of our tax refunds (taking the sting out of having overpaid our 2007 taxes!).