(no subject)

[htotheh]

Something I'm finding helpful in the process of learning to knit is treating it like An Adventure! Adventures aren't supposed to be perfect. In fact, there really isn't a right way to go about having an adventure -- you just sort of keep going until you run out of adventure. Considering the issues I've had with perfectionism and how much that got in the way of me learning to knit, it's a useful way to think about the process.

I should post a picture of my practice knitting when I finish with it. There's a lovely hole right in the middle where I did something weird, and it randomly started increasing and I'm not sure why, so I tried stiching things together at the ends (which worked, incidentally), and right now it's about an inch of garter stich and an inch of stockinette. But it looks like knitting! Which is exciting.

• I still have photos to post from the end of my trip. Four days, no moose. They're all over the place in summer. On the last day, on the way to the airport, what do we see but a mama moose and her two calves. SO CUTE. We stopped so they could cross the road, and also so I could attempt to take pictures.


• My aunt and uncle's dog is the bestest dog ever. She's a pointer of some sort; she and my uncle play a game where she finds squirrels, and then he tries to shoot them with a bb gun. This is the weirdest thing to me, because they do not strike me at all the kind of people who would have any sort of gun or would attempt to shoot anything. Anyway, dog! She's not friendly per se, but she loves skritches. She refuses to let any members of the household out of her sight when they're outside, which gives her great internal conflict when different people went in different directions. Dog is also relevant because of


• There was apparently a bear hanging out around the property. My uncle saw it one morning; Gracie (the dog) intimidated it while he retreated to the house. I did not see the bear, and was somewhat saddened.


• Went to the Girdwood Forest Fair, which is a place for crafty people to sell stuff, and people to buy overpriced food, and also there was a stage -- I have a picture of the stage. I bought earrings. Aunt Jude had a friend there who was selling mittens she had made by cutting them out of old sweaters.


• Spent more time hanging out in bookstores than anywhere else outside of aunt and uncle's property. There's an amazing used book store called Title Wave, which our family has been frequenting since close to its founding, through two or three moves -- it keeps having to change spaces to places with more room. I bought two books from them for a total of $7. Especially considering that one of them was Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is a brick, I was pleased.


• Uncle makes Best Ribs Ever. I now know the secret to the family secret sauce. What is it? Can't tell you, it's a secret.


• Flying first-class was... interesting. I think I still prefer economy, if I have a window seat. It's just no fun not having a window seat, even if it is possible for me to completely curl up in a first-class seat. Okay, that was nice. So were the complementary snacks. I dunno, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been a red-eye.


There are things to say about Alaska, and how different it is from anywhere else I've been, but I have to go make dinner, and go to Lindy Groove! I'm planning on bringing my knitting, which makes me... something, I haven't decided yet. Yeah...