Whole lotta weaving going on.

I'm making progress as a weaver. I'm working on my first set of dishtowels, all the while asking myself why I'm doing this when they sell perfectly good towels at the store. My conclusion is that it's challenging, satisfying, and (most importantly), while I'm weaving there is not a single glowing rectangle anywhere in my line of vision unless Rob is trying to play "Words with Friends" with me on the iPhone. It's also good to be a total beginner at something once in a while, and to be reminded that impatience will only get me broken warp threads that will cause even more frustration later on.

I decided to tackle a log cabin pattern as my first real project, a project that has a pattern and everything! As so many other weavers have said, log cabin weave does seem magical since the weave structure is just plain weave (one over, one under, one over, one under ... rinse and repeat). The magical pattern blocks of stripes that appear to be rotated comes from the order of the warp and weft threads. That means I have to attentively count weft threads while I weave, or the pattern will switch on me before I am ready.

Those are 457 individual warp threads, each 5.5 yards long, to give me four dish towels.

The work in progress

See the magic!

The last picture is of the fruits of my impatience, also known as broken warp threads. Since they're not connected to the back beam anymore they have to be weighted in order have the same tension as the rest of the warp. The key works well, and so do pill bottles with a couple of screws in them. These bobbers fascinate the kitties, especially when I am actively weaving and the threads dance a bit. All the more reason to keep it all covered up when I'm not around.

Gratuitous Cat Post

It's time ... as "totes adorbs" as the kitties always are, it's always good to put more cat photos on the internet. Cat photos, as we all know, are what the internet is made of.

I took this picture of Mr. Pumpkin napping in the sun while I was home resting after a bad day at the doctor. Someday I want my own sunning basket, complete with handles to facilitate my being moved to a better spot without even having to ask.


Shortly after Rob and I moved into our new apartment last summer, Miss Giselle terrified and amazed us by jumping 13 feet from the loft railing down to the living room floor below. Rob says she bounced, but I didn't see her hit the floor. She shook her head, shot us a "What??" look, and sauntered off. Realizing that 1) she has concluded that stairs are for clumsy bipeds and 2) as a cat, she is going to do what she is going to do, we decided to install wall ramps so that she can climb up and down from the loft in a species-appropriate manner. (Landlord be damned!)

Now that she's mastered climbing up and down, she likes to pace on the railing and sometimes she'll just sit on the railing and watch us. I call her my tree-trunk kitty, but she's not very well camouflaged in this explosion of apartment-white. She doesn't seem to mind.

And just like that, it's over.

Rob's retirement from the Air Force is finally upon us. He's not officially done until later this spring, but they had the official ceremony last week. Rob's mother, three of his siblings (all of his sisters), two nephews and a niece were here to celebrate with us.

The whole gang

Receiving the Defense Meritorious Service Medal

The retirement pin makes it official! But wait . . . It's not a going-away party without presents and cake! In addition to two very good bottles of wine (which we haven't opened yet), they got him a unique and thoughtful gift to enjoy long after the wine is gone. We now have a set of eight special wine glasses -- seven of them are engraved with a rank (and date) that Rob attained during his 24-year career, and the eighth is engraved with his entering and retiring dates.

We are all very proud of Rob, and excited for the next phase of his adventure.

Spring is here, for reals!

Check out these daffodils peeking out at Claude Moore Park! I'm calling it -- spring is here in Virginia.

Yay, another day in DC!

Rob's family is in town to celebrate his Air Force retirement on Tuesday (more on that later). Today we visited some monuments and a museum -- not bad for one day, considering breakfast was at 10:30.

Sometimes the signs in museums are more interesting than the objects they describe, no? This one was in the American History museum.



While we were walking back to our car (such an inconvenient mode of transportation, since you have to put it somewhere once you get to where you're going) we saw this guy and his sweet ride. He even has a trunk!



This is the side of the Reflecting Pool they don't want you to see, or rather the bottom. They are refurbishing it, making it all fancy-schmancy. The signs didn't say when it would be done. The bummer was that the Reflecting Pool also pours water into the World War II Memorial, so that was also dry when we went to visit. It's much different being here on a warm-ish winter day, rather than a summer day where the tourists are as thick as flies.




Whenever we go into the city, I always tell myself that we need to come here more often. When we see the monuments in different seasons and at different times of day, they always look different! This is the Lincoln Memorial.