A Life of Science and Craft

An open letter to real estate agents

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:10:00 +0000

Dear Real Estate Agents of the World,

I know that you have a tough job, sometimes clients are demanding, you work crazy hours and deal with all kinds of weird stuff. I know that you probably know more than many of the clients you work with and that most don't listen and that you may find that frustrating. So your MO may have slipped into something akin to bullying aloofness. But during "these tough times" we all have to adapt, and most clients don't find your I-know-better-than-you attitude all that appealing. I sure don't, so I have some advice that might make life a little bit better for everyone.

1) Get over yourselves. You were not the victims of the housing melt-down. Yes, you suffer with less commissions since less houses are sold. But, you were also complicit in creating the housing bubble, wether you knew it or not, you drove part of the frenzy that made people buy houses faster then they could learn how to spell escrow. So stop blaming the homeowners, who are after all the ones who pay you those commissions. They don't really want to hear it, they're actually pretty tired of hearing it. Generally the rules of the sandbox are that people are more willing to negotiate and listen to your advice if you didn't start off by throwing sand in their face to begin with. Take a step back and remember what it is you are trying to do, not what it means only to you.

2) Stop lying. I know. It's hard. You probably don't even know that you are doing it anymore because you've started to believe your own BS. But, if you don't have comparable to help decide on a price, just say so, don't pick random houses out of thin air and claim they are comparable. We're not that stupid, and if we are, we'll catch on when two months later you suddenly want to adjust the price by $20K. Just be honest from the start. It's less frustrating that way.

3) Shut up. I know. This one is hard too, you like to talk and so may clients don't want to listen to all the knowledge and experience you have. Yet somehow, you are going to share it anyways, you may feel the urge to continually remind clients that you know best, you have the experience. Suppress that urge. No one has experience in a market like this, there has never been a market like this. So just shut up, we know you don't know what you're doing and we're tired of listening to you say you do.

4) Listen. Again, not a skill you have necessarily honed over the years. But, here's a little hint. If someone is trying to sell a house, that means at one time they bought the exact same house. They are in effect the very same kind of people you want to market the house too. Trying to find out why they bought the house in the first place might give you some clues on what aspects of the house to market. If they say it's a quiet and safe neighborhood, then for crying out loud put that in the listing. Even if you think you know better, you might not, and the process would be a lot smoother if the clients felt that you were actually doing what they asked you to do to earn that 6% commission rather than just phoning it in.

5) Show a little compassion. Almost every seller is facing the same harsh, terrible reality that they are going to lose tons of money. Life-savings levels of money. Knowing that it's happening to everyone doesn't make it suck less. Maybe sitting at closings all the time where large checks are written has made you numb to numbers in the tens of thousands changing hands or vaporizing into thin air. Most people only write checks that big once or twice in their lives, so they aren't quite as numb to it as you might be. Try not to forget that you are delivering the kind of news that brings on anxiety attacks and soften the blow a little.

There you have it, 5 simple rules to a more pleasant client/realtor relationship. Let's face it, this process is going to suck, so the least you can do it try to make it suck less!

Sincerely,
A homeowner just trying to get by

Here we go again...

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:37:00 +0000

Remember this. Well I've finally worked up the courage to try again. A friend got sick recently, and it reminded me that I needed to get a checkup. I related my experience and she told me what a wonderful doctor she had, so easy to get an appointment with, really nice and respectful and what great care she was getting. Call him she said. You won't be disappointed.

So yesterday I called. Here's how it went.

Call #1: There is an automated system, you pick numbers to get you to the right person. When I get to who I think is the right person there is a voicemail box. I start to leave a message and the system hangs up on me.

Call #2: I call back and choose the option to "speak to a person". Someone answers, I tell her my plight and she transfers me to the same voicemail box that hung up on me 5 minutes before. Hang up again.

Call #3: I call press 4, press 1, I'm in and this time, it let me leave a message!

I sit in my office by my phone for an hour. During lunch I go for a walk. During the hours that the automated message say is lunch for the whole doctor's office. I miss the return call.

Call #4: repeat call #1

Call #5: repeat call #3

Wait, 30 more minutes and I have to go to a meeting that lasts the rest of the day.

Return to a voicemail that says: "I have tried to call you several times today to make a new patient appointment with no success, please call us back" -that is a direct quote, I have the google voice transcript to prove it.

GRRRRR. Here's what I think:
When I've had to leave as many messages as you have you don't get to express any type of annoyance.
When part of your job description is to answer the phone and you don't, you certainly do not get to imply any annoyance when I don't answer the phone. I don't get paid to do it. In fact during your working hours, I get paid to work, not hang around waiting for you to call me back.

Well, call #6 was placed to the voicemail box again this morning, I (possibly not so) politely asked if there was a specific time I could call and expect to reach a person since I have many appointments and meetings today.

If I don't have an appointment by the end of the day I guess I'll just randomly start calling doctors from the phone book.

Hello, April

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:05:00 +0000

Well, it's been a super busy semester and teaching two new classes is keeping me quite busy. So busy that I don't have time to read, write, knit or even sit. I'm most definitely not complaining. It's been a long, but good semester. I mostly have good students and I'm enjoying the new job.

So, to give you something to ponder I'll just comment on a few things that I have read about in the last few weeks that might be of interest.

--> FSP writes about this Ms. Mentor column. My first impression was very negative. Based on what I read over at FSP I thought: Fantastic, Ms. Mentor just freaked out a bunch of already stressed out PhD students by telling them they now need voice training. And that pissed me off. Being a formally invisible female assistant professor, myself, I know that often the problem has absolutely nothing to do with the pitch of your voice, or the ageing ears of your colleagues. I wasn't invisible just in faculty meetings, but in email correspondence and other written communication. My thoughts or just about anything related to me was also invisible, even it was spoken by the correct timbre of a male colleague's voice. The bottom line, if you are invisible, go get another job. Then I read the article and I was less angry, it's not as bad as what I was expecting, but I still don't think that it was exceptionally good advice either. My (untenured) advice would be the invisibility is indicative of a bigger problem that needs to be addressed in whatever way it can get resolved. In my case, that was leaving. If that is not an option, find the ombudsman, let people know what's happening, find an advocate, or a real life mentor. (Ms. Mentor is good for somethings, but I don't think she'll argue your tenure case for you) If they are ignoring your voice, they are also likely ignoring your publications, grants and teaching reviews, and that's a dangerous situation come tenure time.

--> Dr. Isis tells us about extremists. Yikes, just yikes. Here's the deal, extreme activism is not ok. I'm not saying you shouldn't stand up for what you believe in. Stand and be heard. Speaking out is one thing. Bombs and threats of violence are another. That crosses the line and these people should be arrested for impinging on the civil rights of others. Period.

--> Jezebel reports on a new study finds why women leave engineering. Really? Seriously? Get with the program people, this is old news. I left 10 years ago for these reasons, I was 22, "family" didn't have a thing to do with it. I guess, it's good we finally have some numbers to back up what most women who've been through it have been saying for years...maybe now we can do something about it.

FO Friday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:09:00 +0000

It's done! Well, it has been done for a while, but I've been too lazy to take pictures.

Here she is. A whale of a tale!

This is my first completed project from New England Knits, which my sister gave me for Christmas to remind me of home and I want to knit everything from it!.

I had one ball of the navy and one ball of the white that I had purchased to try out for a different project, but decided it wasn't right for that. It's knitpicks Palette. The teal is a little - a very little - bit of Online Supersock 100 leftover from my Pomatomus. I didn't have a fourth color like the pattern calls for so I just did a little row of navy at the edge of the chevrons. Looks great, but it meant that there were a couple of rows that had all three colors floating around, which was a bit of an annoyance.

When it was done, it wasn't quite as floppy as I wanted, but blocking it flopped out a bit more and in the end I'm quite happy with it. Of course it was 80 degrees here today, so it will be a while before the whales see the light of day again!

Real women have curves

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:46:00 +0000

So, just in case you missed the memo: women have hips. Yup, hips and sometimes boobs too. Today I'm just talking about hips - we can talk about boobs some other time. Hips don't follow straight lines, they have curves. This inherent, non-linear, feature of hips is a direct consequence of the shape of a women's hip bones. Now, I know I'm a physical scientist, so my knowledge of biology is well, lacking, but last time I checked, no diet in the world is going to change the shape of your bones.

Women have hips for a very good reason, a reason that is required by the biological imperative to preserve the human race. Hips are curvy to carry babies.

At least that's what I thought. I was happily going through life with my curvy hips thinking that it was normal. Until this morning, when I decided to peruse the Sunday flyers and this caught my eye.

This is a page from this week's Target ad. In general, I like to shop at Target, they have good products at a good price, they donate some of their profits to education, it's a pleasant shopping experience as far as big box store shopping goes, etc. Truth be told, I buy clothes there too. Professional looking clothes that I often get a lot of compliments on. So typically, pants on sale at Target is a good thing for me.

Then I read a little closer. Target is following in the footsteps of some higher end clothing stores and starting to sell pants by "fit". This is a phenomena that has appeared in the last few years. Different pants come in the same "fit" so, theoretically, you don't have to try on every pair in the store, but just the ones that have the waist where you want it and the legs the shape you like. Sometimes the fits have numbers - Target is calling theirs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and other times they have cutesy names like "The Lolita" or "The Kate". I would tend towards the "Kate" since it evokes visions of a classy princess-to-be and avoid the Lolita - given that it will most likely show more of my butt then is appropriate at my age. (Men: if you have read this far and now find yourself dumb-founded, go ask your wives - this is true - shopping for pants these days practically requires a PhD in psychology)

So there I am, in my blissful curvy-hipped existence, thinking that I might be able to find some new pants at Target this week. Until I looked a little closer...

Fit 1: Just below waist & relaxed hip/thigh
Fit 2: Just below waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 3: Mid waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 4: Mid waist & curvy hip/thigh
Fit 5: Low waist & straight hip/thigh
Fit 6: Lower waist & straight hip/thigh

WHAT???? 4 of the 6 fits have "straight" hips? Dear god, should we all fear for the future of the human race*? Do women not have hips anymore? Those curves serve a vital purpose, if on average - which I assume is the target demographic for Target - 4 out of 6 women don't have those very important curves, we're in big trouble.

Now I know that no one really thought this through. I know that "straight hip/thigh" is fashion speak for "form-fitting slut pants" and that's what's in fashion these days (seriously - can we be done with the damn skinny jeans already?). I know that "relaxed hip/thigh" really means "baggy pants for the days you feel bloated" and "curvy hip/thigh" means these pants will likely fit you appropriately enough to wear to work. I know there is a similar coding for the "waist" - mid = appropriate, low = not so much, high = grandma style. So I can still go to Target and get some pants. Curvy - mid waist - average american women pants.

But, I am a grown women, with a healthy body image. I know that I could stand to lose a few
extra pounds, but I also know that I am healthy and that there is a right way and a wrong way to lose them - and really if I want to keep them there's nothing wrong with that either.

BUT:

I am not a teenage girl, or a young women even, who is still vulnerable to the societal pressures of conforming - although some days I was.
I am not a girl who's lost some weight and still feels it's not enough. - although some days I am
I am not a girl whose parents insult her - and I am lucky that I never was and I never will be!
I am not a girl who gets teased - although some days I was.
I am not a girl who has low self-esteem - although some days I am.
I am not a grown women with a healthy body image who just happened to feel "bloated" this morning - although some days I am.

If I was any one of those women, the message here is that I shouldn't have curves, that I should work harder to be "straight". If I was one of those girls, I might find myself crying in a Target fitting room and checking out with a pair of sweatpants and a box of Oreos instead of real pants.

If I was any one of those women, I'd likely be a grown version of one of 70% of teenage girls in America today.

Some of you have young daughters. Tell them they are beautiful. Tell them that every day.

Some of you have sisters, some of you have friends. I think everyone of us knows one of those girls, or worse yet, everyone of us hides one of those girls way down deep inside at some point or another.

In the end, I'm not going to boycott Target or anything like that. If I did I'd have to boycott every place else where I can buy pants too, or clothes at all really, and while I have the skills to make my own clothes, I certainly don't have the time! I'll proudly go get a pair of those curvy ones, they look really nice and at $20 you can't be that with stick.

But, I am still sad that not everyone can recognize the bull and be proud of those curves!

*we probably should fear for the future of the human race, but I certainly don't think that it's because we have evolved past the ability to bear children. It is much more likely because we have too many children and are going to overpopulate the earth - but that's a whole other matter.

How my healthcare is shortening my life

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Today I called a doctor's office to set up a physical. 14 minutes and 27 seconds later, I hung up the phone. I was in tears and I didn't have an appointment.

This seemingly simple task, which should, in theory, be making me healthier in the long term, has now added stress and anxiety. I'm sure that the stress is killing all of my cells just a little faster than nature does on it's own.

What happened? Why is it that, I, an intelligent well-educated women, can't make a doctor's appointment? Well, I'm not entirely sure of all the details, but it was something about the insurance doesn't cover it, and the cost, and but when my husband came we didn't pay that, but that's because he had another condition so it wasn't just a "physical" and the bloodwork at our lab (>$200) versus the lab across campus ($15-and you pick up the results on the 2nd floor, we're on the 3rd). Finally when I said I would pay whatever, we got to picking a date, there was a question about birth control and well then, if you get pregnant we can't take care of you would need to see an OBGYN instead and that's two new patient visits in a year and that's not allowed and ?!?!?!?!?! I can recommend and OBGYN, you should call them instead, what hospital would you like to have your baby at if you did get pregnant? Huh? What?

Before you all freak out, I am not pregnant. I'm not planning to be, we've been batting around the idea. Let's say that we have always known we wanted a kid "someday" and "someday" is starting to seem closer. Right now, I just need a doctor to check my blood, bang my knees and look down my throat, or whatever a physical constitutes these day. I know most people don't do these things, but I have enough family history and friends with freaky illnesses that I think it's worth doing it every now and then.

To be honest I'm so confused and there are so many things wrong with this situation, I don't even know where to start. My blood pressure is raised, I want to cry more and I feel pretty crappy, all from trying to make sure I was healthy. We live in a stupid world. I had really bad experiences with doctors were we lived before this. I thought that it was just the particular location, my "northern" accent, or something else- but maybe it's just me.

Given my past experiences, I had a lot of anxiety about even picking up the phone, which is why I waited so long to do it. This time, I did my research, my husband has been seeing this doctor, many of my colleagues have been seeing this doctor, so, I bit the bullet, called the number and said exactly what everyone told me I needed to say to access the services I wanted. Yet still, I'm not getting those services.

We don't have stellar insurance here, I work for the state, and there is a substantial out-of-pocket amount (~$2500 per person) that you pay before you get covered. They cover really big stuff, but not the stuff most people actually need in order to avoid getting to the really big stuff. That's sucky model, but at least it's something. I suppose something is better than nothing. Although until I actually see a doctor, I feel like actually I have nothing.

I'm rambling, I know, but there has been a lot of talk lately about "healthcare reform" and "access to healthcare". If you don't think that we need it in this country, if you don't think that it's important and that really it's only going to help poor people and screw over the rich, you are wrong.

So healthcare naysayers take this nugget of information: I'm a university professor in my mid-30's with a "good health plan" and it seems that even I don't have "access to healthcare".

World Kidney Day

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:48:00 +0000

Today is world kidney day.

This seemingly random fact turns out to be not so random in my world. Yesterday, my husband was diagnosed with kidney disease. Likely it's not too serious and it can be slowed down with some medicine or at least that's the hope. It's nice to finally have a diagnosis for the weird blood test results that have been coming back for several years, and we'll move on with our lives and a few more trips to a pharmacy.

Before today I didn't even know that there was an International kidney day. I happened across that tidbit when doing some research on the new diagnosis this afternoon, and so right now I think it's kind of important. I probably always will.

Here's the thing, we actually need a day like today. I don't remind people about national cancer day*. Everyone knows about cancer, everyone knows we need a cure. Until 24 hours ago, I only vaguely was aware that people had kidneys, and somehow just assumed since it wasn't something anyone ever had asked me for a donation about, that modern medicine could fix them. In the past 24 hours, I have become painfully aware that that is not true, turns out we actually need International Kidney day. Because really, when it comes down too it, we know squat about how to treat and prevent kidney diseases.

Hub has had weird labs for ~5 years. Just this fall this doctor decided it might be related to his kidney's and should be checked out. Doctors need to know about kidney health. Now that we know what's going on, there is very little information about what might happen. As a scientist I'm pretty shocked about how little we know about the diseases that effect this rather important organ, despite the fact that we've been able to transplant them for years, we don't actually know how to keep them healthy. The world needs to know about kidney health.

So there you have it, my bit to get the word out.

*I'm not anti-cancer day or anything. Cancer is horrible, and I've walked the walks, I donate, etc. I just think that cancer awareness has made it mainstream, so the need for a special day to make people aware is no longer strictly necessary.

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:23:00 +0000

I think I got someone fired.

I hate the feeling that goes with that.

But, no matter what way I think about it, it needed to be done.

This is another one of those sneaky things that you don't really learn in grad school and just have to navigate through once you jump on the TT. You are a boss. I never wanted to be a "boss". I just want to do some science. I just want to teach my classes.

It's a bit different from the "real world" because sometimes you are directly a boss to student workers on a particular project, similarly technicians or other wage-based employees and sometimes you are indirectly more a boss/supervisor/mentor/teacher/advisor all-in-one combo to graduate students who you pay off of a grant or someone else pays them to TA or RA for you. Every situation is different and when everyone does what's expected of them the situation works out just fine.

But, sometimes it doesn't work out. That's where it gets sticky. When someone doesn't do their job they have to be let go. Conflict of this nature isn't in my personality, but when need be I try to confront it. These situations can get even more complicated, in large projects where there can be several PIs, several technicians, and multiple graduate students. Everyone has an immediate supervisor, but often you work for more than one person, or find yourself in need of the services of someone who your colleague "employs" rather than you directly, but still you are a "superior".

This is what I found myself smack in the middle of last week. A technician employed by a co-PI decided hat he was my boss and felt the need to advise me on how to run my field project, in a very disrespectful and passive aggressive email. I had to stand up and get a bit bitchy. In the end, I don't really know exactly what happened to him; I just know that he is now "out of the picture".

The objective side of me knows that a) he didn't do his job which is why there was a conflict to begin with and b) he was disrespectful and combative to a "superior" and that in a real world that behavior isn't tolerated.

The girlie side of me feels like crap.

I also feel quite conflicted, because on some level I believe that the whole fiasco stems from a false sense of chivalry - coupled with a little sexism. I'm a petite girl. It's a moderate size field installation. I say moderate, because it is larger than my collaborators have implemented before, but relatively simple by my standards (which is why they asked me to be on the project to begin with-oh the irony). But somehow, no one wants me to be in the field. I get a lot of "we'll take care of that", and then it's not ever done, so when I finally put my foot down and insisted on getting something done by a specific date - all hell broke loose.

In the end the project will get done. I'll likely not work with this particular team again for reasons that extend beyond just this incident, but I do wish I wasn't forced to be the bad guy, when really I was just using my past experience to get the job done.

In the meantime, I've just received a copy of "The Art of Being a Scientist" and by first skim it looks like it might have some good advice on how to navigate some mentoring waters a bit better.

Rediscovering my roots

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:18:00 +0000

I've fallen in love again. I feel a bit like I'm cheating, but I just can't help it. Please don't tell on me, I know my knitting will be sad, I've taken up with my crochet hook. We've run off together for a little tryst. But don't worry, it's only a fling, when I run out of yarn I will return....

WIP Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Sadly I have no pictures to post today, so I'm going to infect your brains with something else. I'm making the Whale Watch Hat from New England Knits with some yarn that I had purchased to test out as sweater yarn for a hub's next sweater (likely you'll hear that story next week). In any case, it's super cute and I just finished the second row of whales. But every time I work on it this just keeps running through my head:

Ahh good memories. Hope you enjoy it!

the biggest lie - part 2

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:18:00 +0000

I feel a little bit like I should apologize for that last post. It was...well....a bit angry. But, then when I think about that I get even angrier. Because the second part of the big lie is this: people make you feel like somehow it's your fault. Sure they express some sympathy, often coupled with some mumbled words of encouragement. But it's more then readily obvious that what they are really thinking...and likely what you are all really thinking is either a) this crazy ass-b**^$h clearly made some really bad choices, I'll nod and smile, but really she dug this hole for herself - that could never happen to me. or b) why is she whining so much at least she's the one who choose to move, really it's her fault.

Well world, stop lying to yourself. This could happen to you too. It was not our fault. In fact we were guilty of nothing more than bad timing. Actually there is a whole cohort of people who just happen to have bad timing. That's not our fault. We made the best decisions that we could. Based on this huge lie. A lie so big that most of the world holds it as truth - as I once did. The simple sad fact is this: we will never have it as good as we were raised to believe we would. We won't retire when we thought we would. We won't be able to send our kids to college like we thought we would. In fact, we might not even be able to afford kids at all. Straight-up we just got screwed. A whole damn generation of us. If you are part of my generation and you didn't get screwed, it's time to wake up and realize that you are just lucky. One different decision, one different perfectly rational viable choice and you could be me. It's just dumb luck, that's all. Dumb luck that I thought that maybe I would try to contribute to the world by teaching the next generation - so that they could find jobs.

And when it comes down to it that's what's really eating me. That universal belief that the lie perpetuates and the world or people I meet project right back at me: That I've done something wrong. Or if you believe in Karma or fate or whatever I must have brought this upon myself. Well I'll admit that I'm not a saint, but I'm certainly not the devil either. And if I get another life - man I'm going to whoop it up and make every bad, irresponsible choice I can think of, because it certainly doesn't seem to make a difference to keep making the rational ones.

So here it is:

Dear World,

I know that we all live with our choices, and I live with mine everyday. I don't regret them and 90% of you would have made the same ones in my shoes. Yes, I chose to become a professor and I knew that would require me to move. Yes, I chose to move again, because the financial nightmare of owning two houses is actually preferable to the horrid sexual harassment and all around just crappy treatment I received at my old job. I know what I've done to myself. Sometimes I get a little b*(%chy about it and for that I apologize. But just shut the hell up because I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG.

Thanks,
Dr. Rini

P.S. Just so you don't think I've lost my sparkling personality entirely - mostly I'm just all out of anything good on this particular issue - I leave you with this fantastic link found via ashpags on pinterest today. I'm trying to track down a way to buy it for my office - cause you know I teach all about air being "something".

The biggest lie

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:32:00 +0000

I've decided that the biggest lie that has ever been told to me is this:

"Real estate is always a good investment - you are building equity - rent is just throwing money out the door"

If you say this to someone, or something similar you are a Big. Fat. LIAR. Even if you believe this to be true - or by some miracle it was true for you - it is a LIE.

7 years ago we ventured into the realm of homeownership under this seriously misguided notion. The rent was going up, we were less and less happy with our landlords, interest rates were low, housing prices were reasonable. The conventional wisdom was that with 20% down you needed to stay in a home for ~3 years to balance it out and we were planning to stay in the area for at least 4 more years so it all made sense. I calculated it all out, we looked at a lot of houses and finally we went to the bank and gave them everything we had (and some we didn't) for the down-payment on a cute, little bungalow. Yea! - We were grownups! - Living the American dream. And if I'm going to be completely honest I loved that house - loved everything about it - it's old house quirks and tiny spaces - it was our home and it felt great to know that every penny I had saved during my working life was safely over our heads.

That is what you do. This is what we condition people to believe they are supposed to do. You by a "starter home" and "start" your life. "Real estate is always a good investment - you're building equity and not just giving you money away to some landlord"

5 years later, two PhDs in hand, we had to move, and we put our house on the market. About 30 nanoseconds later the news broke that there was a "global financial crisis" created by some a-holes somewhere. Turns out real estate was not a good investment - prices were down - way down. But we were so stupid that we just kept believing the lies the world kept feeding to us. Over the next 9 months we heard it all:

"starter homes are keeping their value" - LIE.
"small homes are still selling" - LIE
"it's picking up this month" - LIE

And so, still being brainwashed by that mantra "rent is a waste - your building equity" and believing the lies, we did what was quite possibly the stupidest thing ever and bought another house. The house we were going to live in forever - I was going to get tenure - we were going to have a baby - it had a spare bedroom for people to come visit. We were making this move in good faith and thought that we were on our way. It seemed important on many levels to have a real home - rent was more than the mortgage payment unless we wanted to live in a ghetto and the people at the bank gladly gave us the mortgage - "oh you're small house will sell soon - that part of the market is doing fine - you have so much equity in it that it's no problem"

Six months in, two mortgage payments became a burden, and this was turning out to be a giant disaster. These were the worst times of my life. The stress was unbelievable and somehow people just kept telling us this was our fault. Our fault - we did what we were supposed to do - we had 20% down - we made all of our payments - we weren't flipflopped - but if you were having housing trouble somehow you were part of the problem and not just a victim. Turns out the world really does love to lie to you.

Finally, we threw in the towel and reluctantly became landlords - we kept "building more equity" - in both our homes. Since we were still just starting out, equity in our multiple houses was really all we had, savings were quite limited and we were contending with that damn two-body thing so they weren't growing at any rate to speak of. But it was ok, we were building equity in real estate! I was optimistic that it would all work out. We were just investing our money someplace else, some people invest in stocks and bonds and mutual funds. We were investing in real estate (reluctantly) but "real estate is always a good investment", "real estate is how all the rich people got rich" LIES! LIES! LIES! They are all lies.

So here we are - 6.5 years after buying our first home. We own two houses - we don't live in either of them - in fact we are living in someone else's house -essentially we are squatters. We are two people who are addressed as Doctor on a regular basis and we don't even have a home of our own.

For most of you this is not really news, so why am I bitching about it. Well, our renters are leaving, so we're putting the first house back on the market and trying to find a renter for the second house and to be honest, I am officially out of optimism. I'm no longer beleiving the lies, and you shouldn't either. Real estate is not a good investment - we were not building equity - and I've run the numbers - 6 years of rent just about equals what we stand to lose by selling our two homes at "fair" market value. That is if we can find someone to offer us "fair" market value. If we took the last offer we would lose even more because it was so low we wouldn't even be able to pay of the mortgage - it would cost us MORE money. Building equity my butt. Yup you read that right. I would have more money in the bank if I had just "thrown it all away" to rent.

Many of my older acquaintances have said - well that just the way it is - cut your loses and run. Which is likely what we'll end up doing. That, however, is a very hard thing to swallow. I know that everyone is losing money - investments are shrinking - retirements are being delayed. But here's the thing - we made our "start" by giving it all we had. We're not talking about losing some money on paper - or retiring a year later - or not taking a vacation. We're talking about losing everything we have. We'll be better off then some, I know that and I'm grateful. We'll find another roof to put over our heads - likely an apartment smaller than the one we started off in years ago - We'll put food on the table - and we'll start all over and save every penny so that in a year or two - in our mid-30s we can buy another starter home. Maybe. Right now the only benefit I see to home ownership is that you can paint the walls - so I'm not so sure I want to do it again.

But one thing is for sure - I'll never ever again believe that "real estate is always a good investment - that we're building equity or that rent is just throwing away money".

Maybe our luck will change - maybe in 6 months I'll be doing what I'd like to be doing and settling into a home - a home were we can think about having a kid and living our life and growing old. But for now all of those things are on hold. So, I think the whole world should do the next generation a favor and JUST STOP LYING. I know I not singing that song anymore.

I don't regret my choices, I made them in good faith and I believed at the time that I was making the right ones. I'm just hoping that someday I'll no longer be haunted by them.

ETA: I almost forgot the best part - a few weeks ago it looked like we were going to have renters in both houses - so just out of curiousity we called a bank to see what the possibility of getting a third mortgage would be given the other two essentially become investments. The kind lady told us they would approve us for a loan up to. Wait for it.

$400,000. That, my friends, is more then we paid for the other two houses - combined?! A loan of that value - the purchase price would be higher. So all that BS you hear about no one giving mortgages and that's killing the housing market...it's a lie too.

FO Friday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I didn't do much Christmas knitting this year, but I was inspired to make one garment for my sister. When I was home over fall break it was a bit chillier than she had expected and she borrowed my Pteryla shawl one day, she really liked its size and weight. Then I got that sock yarn book, then I uncovered some yarn purchases I made over the summer and it seemed the fates aligned.

This yarn:

desperately wanted to be this shawl:

for my kid sister, who always had a thing for the sparkle.

WIP Wednesday: Spinning Edition

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

While most of our stuff is in storage, while he was supervising the movers, hub did managed to snag the spinning wheel before it got buried. In fact, it was one of the first things to get un-boxed, and it was here all set up for me when I arrived. The first few weeks we were here the family who actually owns this house was also here and we all lived together. The two girls age 9 and 6, are super duper smart and just a tad hyperactive. They fell in love with Hub immediately, and were really intrigued by my wheel, so they asked if I could teach them to spin and knit and crochet all in one night. Since hub also knows how to work the wheel we tag teamed them and an hour or so later, there was bits of wool and yarn all over the living room, we were exhausted and the kids were on to something else. Turns out one of them is left handed-which no one bothered to mention before we embarked on this endeavor. It was a lot of fun, and it did spark me to start spinning again. I spent the fall spinning up the fiber they started.

I'm a slow spinner. In fact, I'm slow at just about everything. Finishing my PhD at 27 was just about the only thing I've ever done "quickly", so it's taken me a whole semester to spin 4 oz into singles. Hopefully they'll get plied next weekend:

This is from the Hello Yarn fiber club, June 2009 - I was only in the club for 6 months because fiber was piling up way faster than I could spin it - colorway "Sour Fig", Shetland wool top.

FO Friday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Did I mention I went to SAFF this year? Hub was nice and took me there, we had a lovely day trip that included fall colors, yarn and antiques. It wasn't as big or diverse as Rhinebeck, but I did find a few unique yarns that were new to me. One of which was a sock yarn called Cool Wool Sock, from Carriage House Woolens, which I can only assume is a very small company because that webpage seems to work only intermittently.

I was intrigued by this particular yarn because it was a mix of Wool and Coolmax. I even looked it up on the web browser on my phone before purchasing since I had never heard of it. What got me about it was that my mom loves the socks I make for her, but sometimes says that the warm woolies are a little too warm. I thought this might make a pair that could be a little more versatile for her.

Combined with my signed copy of One-Skein Sock Yarn Wonders* I was off to the races with a new pair of socks.

I started them at a knit night and they went pretty quickly. I brought them with me on my field trip in November and turned the first heel when I visited my old knit night. Unfortunately I was in auto-pilot mode and didn't really read the pattern. The gusset decreases are not standard and I tried to fudge it, but it just wasn't working, so I had to rip back all the way to the leg again and start over with the heel flap. At this point they went into time-out for a while, to be picked up again shortly before the holidays when I was determined to finish them for Mom's birthday (Christmas Eve). I finished the first one at a knit night and was terribly disappointed to try it on and discover that it was really tight at the ankle. So it just got thrown in the suitcase. I brought it home and Mom tried it on on her birthday and said it fit her just fine. So I finished them up on the two post-Christmas snow days we had in New England and left them there with her. At last report, she loves them!

Pattern: Eyelet and Feather Socks by Anne McClure in the above mentioned book
Needles: US size 1.5 (2.5mm) Susanne's ebony needles (mad love for these)
Yarn: Carriage House Woolens Cool Sock

* I highly recommend this series of books. I have the original, the designer and the sock yarn versions and I've used them extensively.

Loving my Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:00:00 +0000

A while back I bought a kindle. First let me say I LOVE THIS THING! Probably the best gadget bang for my buck in a long time. Since purchasing I've heard many different opinions, mostly you should've bought (insert competitors reading device or tablet-like gadget here) . Why did I buy a kindle rather than any of those other devices? Well, there were several reasons. Let me summarize:

1) It can read PDFs. You will find many complaints/reviews/misconceptions about this on the web. What finally convinced me to buy it was some you tube videos reviewing this exact feature. (It will take me more than 10 minutes to find it so you'll have to google them yourself). Simply put I'm an academic. I read a lot of PDFs. I care about the environment. I hate printing them. I also find reading them on the screen to be useless. 5 minutes in I'm just scrolling on through, not blinking and not absorbing any of the information. The kindle has solved this for me. I like it. There is a caveat on this however. Not all pdfs are created equal. I have found most will easily convert to the native Kindle format. I can highlight and bookmark to my heart's content. Some won't and then I have to use the clunkier pdf interface, which I don't find awful as some reviews would lead you to believe, but it's a personal tolerance level thing. I find more do work than don't so it's a definite net gain for me. In addition I found the highlights to be gold when I actually went to write the paper I was reading the pdf for so it had definitely been a winner for me.

2) Cost. The price point was right for me. It was about what I wanted to spend on a device that might not work or become a staple use in my life. $139 was worth the risk. The cost of an ipad was not at this particular point in my life.

3) Weight. I lug a bunch of stuff around. The kindle is lighter than any of it's main competitors, and while the weight difference doesn't seem like much, for this gal every ounce counts.

4) Availability. I just hopped on over to my nearest best buy and picked one up. Just like that easy peasy. Plus we had some best buy gift cards, so cost went down a little.

Now that I have it, I've actually been reading more. I really enjoy reading on it. Hub and I are fighting over it sometimes and we may need to buy a second one for him. We got my Mom one for Christmas and she's happy with it as well.

There you have it, my 10 minutes on the kindle.

Side note. I reactivated my google ads and this "amazon associates" program through blogger, mostly just because I'm curious about it. Likely it will go away sometime soon because I'll feel guilty about it, but for now they are there. To balance out my corporate karma I will say I got an awesome sleeve for it from Rouge Theory on Etsy.

Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

It's academic interview season, so here are a few words on the process.

Last Saturday, I came into the office for a few hours to work on some lecture material. In the hall I ran into one of our about to be a PhD students. I haven't been here long enough to know him really well, but he is our student rep at the faculty meetings and I only hear good things about him from other faculty, so I assume he is top notch. This was confirmed by the fact that he came by and said: "Can I ask you something?" and then told me that he had an interview for a TT job at a MRU this week! To not have a PhD in hand yet and get an interview like that definitely means top-notch. (This is the second of our PhD students in this situation this year - it's really great to be in such a great department!!!!).

In any case, his main question was "What's the purpose of meeting with the Dean?" Which is a good question.

Here's my take on it. I'm hoping some other academics may have some further advice in the comments that I could pass along.

The purpose of meeting with the Dean is to get any questions answered that the department actually has no control over, or questions the department won't answer for you. In nearly all my interviews the meeting with the Dean was near the end of day 2, and there are a couple of things that happen here.

1) The dean just wants to meet you, ultimately they are your boss, so they want to make sure that you are a sane, functioning individual. They have veto power over what the faculty decides, so making bad impression could harm you.

2) The $$. The Dean has control over the money, so things like startup funds, salary and the like may come up. My approach was always to feel this out. They may ask outright for what kind of numbers you are thinking about, or they may put limits on the table. Ultimately these funds are decided at the Dean's level, so I think they like to know in advance what they might have to prep for should you be the Department's top pick.

3) University wide policies. The deans are usually the ones who implement things like spousal hirings, tenure clock stopping policies, tenure decisions, etc. So if you have questions or concerns about these things, particularly if you haven't found them written down anywhere or they haven't been shown to you already, this is a good time to ask them.

4) Anything someone tells you "this is a good question for the Dean" during the rest of your interview. Remember it and ask it.

FO Friday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Remember this Rhinebeck yarn:

Well in just 8 weeks it became this:

Pattern: Drops 119-25 (Terribly long pattern name here)
Yarn: Bartlett Shetland Sport Cone in color dark jade heather - Probably a little more than half the cone. I think there is enough left for another sweater!
Size: Modified Large. I followed the size large pattern, but after I went 4 inches past the underarms I realized it was way too big, so I ripped back and didn't cast on any of the underarm stitches. This required some changes to the sleeves which ended up being somewhere between the medium and large size at the start and decreased down to the medium.
Needles: Awesome Ninja needles size 4.

WIP Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:00:00 +0000

I finished a few things up over the holidays, each will be revealed on my FO Friday's to come, so here's the WIP list:

Adult surprise jacket: ripped out and has now started to become an Epaulet Jacket
A new sweater for Hub: 10 inches into the body
New socks for Hub: halfway through the first cuff
Ying Yang Cowl: to match my endpapers. 1 stripe done.

Hibernation list:

Fern Garden Scarf: row 99: still haven't found ANY quiet time to knit on it, even dragged to the field and back with the hopes of quiet hotel time, but I was too pooped to bother.
Charade Socks: 50% complete: Haven't bothered to look at it.
Fingerless gloves: Three fingers left, I'm getting nervous that I'm going to run out of yarn.
Sabine: Ummm I kind of forgot about her.
Decimal: hibernating due to missing yarn.
Shawl in progress: Still needs some decision about what to do.
Mittens: one complete, but it seems a moth ate through the tip...

Drive by blogging

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Well, It's been awhile since I've blogged about anything. This is mainly because I've been quite busy and never seem to have the time to sit down and write a full-on post. So I'm going to try something new this year. I will only write what I can write in 10 minutes. Hopefully this will lead to more posts and less lengthy reads. If I feel like I really want to go in depth on something I might, but I won't put it off until I find the hour to do it. Instead I'll do the 10 minute version. This has been inspired by my friend who just started her first blog. She is attempting to walk more miles then she drives her car this year and is only going to commit 5 minutes a day to any particular blog post about the experience. (As a side note: I might join her in this venture, or at the very least keep track of how much I bike/walk in comparison to how much I drive this year).

So in the spirit of my new drive-by blogging style here is the list of things I wanted to blog about in the last few months but didn't because I never really felt I'd give them justice.

1) The GQ "rock stars of science": many, many, many, many people have many things to say about this campaign. I for one applaud the effort but am mighty offended that GQ and Geoffrey Beene seem to think science = medicine. Let's clarify that: Medicine is a subset of science. If we want to encourage young people to enter science we should show them that. Let's face it, there's never a shortage of people who want to become doctors and make money. But finding those who want to save the climate, clean the air we breathe and the water we drink, learn how people relate to each other, grow our food better....or about a billion other issues that area really relevant to society to day...we have a severe shortage of candidates for those jobs. Science is bigger than the medical fields. WAY bigger. And all of it is just as important and saves just as many lives, although in a less tangible way. Where are those rock stars?

2) This guy. I could rant for way more than 10 minutes about this. Since the average american doesn't even understand what science is (as evidenced by #1 above), how about we just leave the peer-review process to the actual scientists. NSF is really respected and has one of the most rigorous review processes around. Actual scientists regard it as some of the hardest funding to get. Ugh, just Ugh America.

Times up for now, but man I really had some stuff to say about those science cheerleaders too...

WIP Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Here's a quick WIP Wednesday just so you all know I'm still alive (I went back to the field last week and that just generally messes life up)

Last time we left with 8 projects in the mix. Now we're up to 10. I have no self control.

Here's where we are now:

Fern Garden Scarf: row 99: still haven't found ANY quiet time to knit on it, even dragged to the field and back with the hopes of quiet hotel time, but I was too pooped to bother.
Charade Socks: 50% complete: Haven't bothered to look at it.
Fingerless gloves: Three fingers left, I'm getting nervous that I'm going to run out of yarn.
Sabine: Ummm I kind of forgot about her.
Decimal: hibernating due to missing yarn.
Shawl in progress: Still needs some decision about what to do.
Mittens: one complete, but it seems a moth ate through the tip...
Adult surprise jacket: still increasing (about 2 inches done). Considering frogging in favor of an epaulet jacket from knitting workshop.
Xmas gift #1: 25% complete
Jade Cables: Cast off the body portion last night. Neckband and sleeve to go. This is my current obsession and I'm going to try to finish it by December 1!

In addition there has been some serious swatching and prepping for hub's next sweater. Crazy me thinks I'll finish by Xmas, although the yarn hasn't arrived yet! Ha! I crack myself up!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Rhinebeck Wrap Up

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:47:00 +0000

So, I'm like a month behind, but whatever. I think it is the fate of a busy academic to always be one step behind herself.

So Rhinebeck! This year for me Rhinebeck wasn't really about the event, but it was one thing I did over my fall break, right there along with line-dancing with mom, museum and apple picking (we hit the macouns in season-woohoo!) with my nephews and sister, and hiking with my parents. It was a busy four days, but just the right amount of new England fall fun to soothe my soul. The worst part of moving far from home is, well, being far from home, I have a wonderful family and I love spending time with them. I miss then terribly when they aren't close. The last two years we didn't make it home too much, and when we did get home it for for specific reasons (like weddings) and not much just chill time. Last year we didn't even make it home for Christmas because plane ticket prices were out of control. No one was able to come visit us either for the same reasons. Being "easier" to get home was one of the deciding factors in the move and I am determined to take advantage of it. This year, Rhinebeck coincided with our fall break so really it was just gravy.

The event itself was fun. It was great to spend time with my family and friends. I love walking outside in the fall weather, even it if was a bit chilly for a southern gal. I did find, however, that there were many more people then when we had gone three years ago. Last time, Ravelry was brand new and no one really knew what it was and now, if you knit, you know. If you knit and you don't know you live under a rock and probably wouldn't ever go to Rhinebeck anyways. So it was much more crowded and for me that makes it less fun. Some booths I didn't even see because they were so packed and it just isn't worth squishing in. After all it's just yarn it's not worth getting stepped on or something, which is generally what happens to me in crowds. (I also have an awful fear of large crowds. There was an incident at DisneyLand when I was a child. I get flashbacks. It isn't pretty.) This meant no Socks that Rock or Sanguine Gryphon for me. Aside from the crowds, I feel like alot of the stuff was more mainstream than it was last time. It's good and bad. Good=more options, bad=less intimate/local feel. Another aspect of Rhinebeck is getting to see people you are "friends" with online but don't know in person. That just messes with my shy side, so I don't do it unless it's prearranged somehow, which I didn't do. But I had a cute baby to play with most of the time so I was cool.

I did buy yarn and I'm back to knitting and spinning at a pace I like:

Shetland sport on a cone from Bartlett Yarns. The color is dark jade heather. I've used some of their yarn a long time ago (I bought it at the big E probably in 2004) and it was nice. This is the start of this sweater from Drops, and it is my current obsession. I also bought some roving from them, in color blackberry (8oz for $7.00 seemed like a good deal).

This is some standard wool from Apple Hill Farms (I can't find a link, they are from Hudson, NY). It's destined to become a sweater for me but I can't decided what. I'm debating between a ribby cardi, a roam or a bramble jacket. But I also have some other ideas percolating.

This was a total impulse purchase, but it was just sooooooo soft. Sock dream from the periwinkle sheep shop, color hydrangea.

I also bought a kit from Gia Maria (also linkless) to make a scarf for my MIL. This was really more about the awesome shawl pin then than yarn.

Next year, the festival and fall break don't happen at the same time, so I likely won't go again, but I will likely take my fall trip home, yarn or not it's a great time to visit :)

Go Vote

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:03:00 +0000

This morning, I was thinking about what I should post today. I annually remind you to vote, and list lots of reasons why you should. Those reasons haven't changed and I still believe in them. If you need some motivation read the archives, or better yet, just GO VOTE.

I had decided to write just that small snippet above. My yearly public service message, but this morning I took my own advice and went to vote, and it seems I have yet another polling place funny to tell you. I guess this is one benefit of moving around, a normally mundane task, like voting, can be new and exciting all the time!

We did the motor voter thing when we got our new licensees, so I knew I was registered. I had actually been quite impressed with the speed and efficiency with which our voter registration cards came in the mail. The location where you vote is printed on there, nice and clear, "you vote at: Local High School" is what is says. We live a few blocks from there and drive by it every day, so I knew exactly where to go. Yesterday I had also received several flyers from various candidates with YOUR VOTING LOCATION IS: LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL printed in bold letters on them, so I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to carry out the basic task of voting, which I've been doing for nearly 15 years.

This morning at 8:09 I showed up at my appointed voting location, pulled into the parking lot, right under the sign that say "Local High School", parked my car in a very sparsely populated lot and started to get a little nervous, it was awfully quiet. Hub and I got out and walked up the steps under the big granite engraved letters proclaiming "Local High School". We marched on up to the front doors: Which were locked.

Yes. Locked. Not a soul in sight. No sign of voting or people or anything. A small yellow sign on the street corner had said "vote here", so I was pretty sure that we were in the right place, but yet, the doors were locked.

We were in the middle of deciding to drive around back (in the manner of a married couple, early in the morning, slightly annoyed about this situation and without enough caffeine might do), when another women popped up behind us and said, "Are those doors locked. There is a door back there propped open with a chair maybe we go there."

So we did.

And we found, an empty gym.

We pressed on.

We found basketball tryouts.

Thankfully, the coach (?) was kind enough to show us the way. At this point we parted ways with the other voter, we opted to return to our car and drive around the building, while she pressed on through the hallways of our (very nice) local high school.

In the end, we all voted (on those new electronic machines) and no harm was done. But thinking about it made me really upset. What if someone else comes to vote and doesn't find their way back there? Access to the polls is the only way the process works. I did my best to do my civic duty and inform the polling people of what had happened and encourage them to fix up some signage for the rest of the day. But by that time I was pretty agitated and just wanted to vote, so I'm not sure I got my point across. I don't know what will happen and I'll likely write a letter to the county voting commission to let them know they can do better. I wasn't able to find an email address for them, or I would be doing that instead of writing this.

I don't think that this was intentional. It was merely a case of election officials assuming that everyone knew there was a back entrance to the high school. I guess it's an honest mistake, but still frustrating. I can only hope that everyone finds there way back there and doesn't just give up and go home.

So go vote, maybe you'll learn something new. Like your local high school mascot is the blue devils (emblazoned on the gym floor), or that you have a really nice high school. Or that the voting gatekeeper guy lives down the street...if you can get over the fact that it is a little weird that he asked what house I live in. I'm slightly suspicious that he wouldn't have let me in if I said a certain one that has certain political signs in front of it, but maybe I was just jumpy after the locked door thing.... Hub ensures me that he was just a nice old gentleman practicing good southern manners....

How my knitting was saved

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:39:00 +0000

So, if you remember correctly, I was all settled in, with nothing to knit, expect those socks. My yarn stash problem was going to be solved because fall break and Rhinebeck were conveniently the same weekend, so I had long planned a trip home for a visit. My needle problem, however, was a little more challenging. I first decided that I would just buy cheap needles as I needed them, but a trip to my small LYS store came up empty in trying to find a pair to finish Pteryla. Then I decided it was going to be a really big PITA to have to run out and buy new needles every time I needed a different size. I remembered reading about getting whole sets of needles really cheap on Ebay, so I did a little bidding. Eventually, I won a full set of 24 inch circulars...from China.

They took forever to come, and I fully expected that for ~$1.25 per pair (including shipping) they were going to be pretty crappy needles, but I figured they would get me through. Once they did arrive, I was pleasantly surprised.

I opened my metallic-bubble mailer (looked something like this) to reveal a handy wallet of needles:

Other than the 0-16, which refers to the needle sizes, I have no idea what this says. I'm going with "surprisingly awesome ninja knitting needles" because that is exactly what I found when I opened the snap.

There was a bit of confusion on my part because that particular pouch was labeled as size 15, which it clearly was not. So I busted out my handy Susan Bates Knit-Chek and discovered that in US terms I had a set of 12 needles ranging from size 0000 to 7. Plus a small needle sizer and a darning needle to boot.

You can see here where I attempted to sharpie the correct US sizes on the pocket sizer, I'm still attempting to locate a slimmer sharpie. The needles themselves are very lightweight. I was expecting very heavy stainless steel needles, but they are light as air, smooth and fast. The joins are really smooth and while I don't think they cables are flexible enough (or long enough for that matter) to magic loop, I hate magic looping anyways.

I quickly transferred Pteryla over to give them a try and WOW. She flew to the end with no problems. A truly enjoyable knitting experience.

Enter the sock

noreply@blogger.com (alh) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Near the end of the summer, hub flew back to take care of all our stuff and there was some confusion on his flights. The first time we were quite lucky that I had come into the airport with him because he had to come back with me and stay an extra few days. The second time I dropped him off, and I was ~10 miles away from the airport when he called to say he wasn't entirely sure if he had a seat on the plane. So I pulled into the nearest yarn shop to kill some time. A few hours later he was in the air, and I was on my way to a concert with a good friend and a new pair of socks on a new pair of needles. Sometimes I have no self restraint.

In any case, they became my traveling companion socks and were finished up on my plane ride home to visit my family and go to Rhinebeck.

The yarn is from libertyfibers an independant dyer who sells on etsy and it was very soft and squishy to knit with.

I'm really quite happy with them, and it is just becoming sock weather here in the south so I'm happy to have a new pair to wear.