my new phone takes much worse photos then my old phone did - which makes me even more glad to have a decent digital camera. But for now, this is what I've got:



My setup when flying (I even avoided spilling the tomato juice on the white lace). Not pictured is the cell phone masquerading as MP3 player with knitting podcast.



Half a sock. These were supposed to be for me, but this was the first time I measured it, and it's much too big. Oddly it's just the right size for Neil, lucky guy. This sock is now finished, but I'm thinking I may knit something else before I start the second, just for variety.

The conference it half finished, and I clearly won't be finishing extra socks. But again, that one pictured is bigger then I was expecting, which means it takes longer to knit. Also, see me surfing the web and posting instead of knitting in the evenings. wheee!

So it turns out that rather then being internet-less on this trip I have a cute little net-book type thingy on loan (thanks mom!)  I was going to give you some bad cell phone photos, but I can't seem to navigate to them for uploading, so you've been spared.

I hate traveling, and the stress of it is starting to get to me. But soon it will be over! In the mean time, some pluses:
1) I finished clapotis, but it's officially poor lighting season, and even with a decent camera I'm having a really hard time catching the jewel tones
2) I did get a decent picture of my cashmere cowl that goes with my mitts:


3) I now have three sets of matching knitwear. The cashmere mitts and cowl, the blue and white hat and scarf combo, and the orangey/pink hat and scarf pair. I love matching sets of knitwear, what do you think?


4) I have a bag of pink M&Ms here at my desk
5) My new (free) cellphone came from Verizon in time for me to take it on my trip.

Finally, I really do need help with my sock pattern choices, and no one is giving me any opinions! I don't even care if you knit or even look at the links. Vote early, vote often!


Poll #1478020 sock poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

Which socks should I knit at the conference?

I have a work conference coming up next week.  The educational opportunity is good, I really don't look forward to eating restaurant food for a week, and overall I'll admit I prefer staying home to business travel.  On the other hand, I reeeaaaalllly look forward to the available knitting time.  As this is a national conference I prefer small projects I can hold in my lap, put down easily for note taking, and that don't require much attention.  In other words, I knit a lot of socks.  In fact, last year I finished a second sock, knit an entire pair, and started a forth sock all during one conference.  This year I intend to knit a certain lace shawl during the flights there and back, so I really just need sock projects for the conference itself.  Given that I knit 4 socks last year, and it's not unreasonable to think I might knit faster now then I did then, I think bringing 3 projects is totally reasonable.  And of course I'd hate to be stranded in an airport without knitting, so I'll bring 4 projects, just in case.

All that being said, I have narrowed down my project choices to ELEVEN and I can't seem to choose just 4.  So I'm leaving it up to you!  My criteria are that the sock project be simple enough that I don't have to look at it or the pattern much, but I dislike plain stockinette socks.  Patterns with 1-4 round repeats are great (and stockinette rounds don't count) and lace and cables are ok in small doses, but not all over.

I'm quite certain I'll be knitting some Leyburns.  I've had the yarn chosen since I bought it at VT sheep and wool this fall.  Here are the candidates for the other three slots:  Pembrokshire Pathways, Hermione's Everyday Socks, Outside In, Froot Loop, Blackrose, and (because I just got the book last month) Glynis, Kai-Mei, Lindsay, Sam, and Sunshine from Sock Innovation.

So!  Vote for your favorite pattern(s) choose up to 3, and I'll accept write-ins if they fit my conference knitting criteria!  I'll chose yarn for the top three winners and knit as many of them as I can :-D

Also, if anyone is going to be in the Washington DC area next week and wants to meet up in the evening, I'd love to have an excuse to explore!

The Green Mountain DNA conference went very well.  The speakers were all quite interesting, which isn't always garenteed since some scientists just aren't good speakers no matter how interesting the subject matter.  The two that stick out most in my head (while not totally applicable to what I do) were:

The talk given by the woolly mammoth guy - he leads one of the groups mapping the woolly mamoth genome.  He had facinating stories about digging mammoths out of the permafrost as well as having a really interesting insight into DNA preservation, extraction, etc...  It was also interesting to hear his questions to several of the other speakers as he knows all about DNA extraction, amplificaiton but little about the specifics of applying it all to forensics.  The factoid that seemed really interesting to me is that in working with coprolites he's isolated DNA from woolly rhinos in alaska more then a few times - the catch - archeologists have never found wooly rhino fossils in north america and thought that it was an asia-only species.  It's a really strong reminder of how little information is actually in the fossil record - a lot happened that was never fossilized!

I was facinated by the talk on Optical Tweezers (dude!  tractor beams on a cellular level!  crazy...)  Basically, they focus a laser down to a narrow point and use the physical properties of light to trap things at that point and move them around.  Yes - they're moving stuff around using a light beam.  It's pretty non-distructive and they've seen yeast budding while trapped and the sperm they trap and move around can swim away afterwards.  If you have time watch the videos at the bottom of the wiki.  It's really cool!

Along with taking real notes I broke down and took notes on silly references made by the speakers
1 spinal tap "this one goes to 11" reference (just one, but it happens at EVERY dna conference)
1 monty python reference
2 shakespeare references
5 (yes FIVE) star trek references (and 1 star wars refernece)

Meanwhile back at the farm:
"green" beans are starting to produce. 

I'll probably freeze the first few batches, and make some pickled green beans when I really start gettting buried.

I racked the tart cherry/apple wine into a secondary container and set up another:

Cranberry/apple/mystery berry (red, from the CSA last year, currant shaped, but way to sweet to be currants)  This is the "cleaning out the back of the freezer" wine.  There's a lot of berries in there still, I might do another...

I got a call from Neil on tuesday during lunch about how he'd looked outside to see something chasing reggie (Reggie's the dominant yard animal, things don't chase him)  Then it broke off and chased Jake, then Peanut.  Then Neil noticed Moxy cowering in the tall grasses.

The missing chicken is missing no more!  She only hatched 2 babies, which is a perfectly respectable number for a first time mama chicken.  And besides, I already don't know what I'm going to do with all the roosters from the first batch...  She's a bit feistier then our first mama hen.  Also, Neil's already spotted one of the babies riding on mama's back, so I'll go back to stalking chickens with a camera in hopes of catching one in the act!

The yarn for my deadline project has finally arrived! Hooray! Now I'm going to have a little knitting race with myself.

Sorry, I can't give you a better picture. But isn't my new project bag nice?

And we still have no news on potential new baby chickens. Since I don't remember exactly which day she started nesting I'm not too worried. And since the first mama hen was on the nest for about 48 hours after the first baby hatched I just have to accept that if she's still out there she'll come home when she's ready.

My plans for this weekend involve a LOT of knitting. Maybe some canoeing (Neil can do the paddling) and definitely a trip to the yarn store (because I don't own all the needles in the world yet) Oh, and I need to re-rack my apple/tart cherry wine so the big glass jug will be available for something new! Wine making doesn't take much active time, just lots of patience.

Next week I have a DNA conference in Burlington for three days. It's always fun to hear the latest new techniques, and this conference tends to have a lot more discussion rather then just the speaker speaking, which adds to the interest. Three days of conference knitting should be good for my project too.

When did Amazon start selling scientific plasticware?

I don't talk much about my real job. It's mostly just the confidential nature of being a DNA analyst combined with my deep seated personal fear of being mis-quoted by a defense lawyer or journalist. No offense to any professionals - most people are just trying to do their job the best way they can. But there's a small subset of any group of people who are less genuine. My other worry is of offenders using my personal info to track me down.

But oh well. This morning I was directly quoted in an article about DNA backlogs and funding. And so, here it is.

Crazy, huh? It's actually a very good article. I can say this, sitting on my high horse here in VT, as we are just about caught up on our DNA backlog (ok, I'll gloat, I'm ALL caught up on my offender backlog) Just like when the National Research Council came out with their report we could say "ok good, we're already doing most of what they recommend"

I have heard bits and pieces of the issues with lobbyists and funding, especially the part involving ABI. Like most government employees I think I generally try to avoid the political stuff and just focus on getting the job done. I really appreciate the way the article manages to criticize some issues while still recognizing the important work done in forensic labs.

And they didn't horribly mis-quote me, either.

And in completely un-related new: Happy Birthday to my little brother!  Not that either of them are little anymore...  Happy Birthday Aaron! (who may not actually read this)

That first frame sums up what I do just about as well as anything.  At least we don't have to stick around while the machine runs overnight.

during my lunch break. I don't usually knit AT work except for meetings. I don't know why, I have three co-workers who knit during their 15 minute breaks and lunch but not at meetings. Actually, I do know why, it's because I only have internet at work and I use my breaks for it instead.

But I need to get what's on my needles finished, and start the next thing and I need to do that in the light (which I won't have any of on the bus ride home, so I need to be already started by then) So the present started Tuesday will be half done soon - and the other half won't happen until after my next paycheck because I'm all out of yarn (no not ALL OUT that might give me heart failure - I'm just out of this color yarn). Supposedly I was knitting this without buying more yarn, but I overestimated how much washable blue I had and underestimated how much I would need all in one fell swoop. Luckily the first of the pair only took 6 hours so the second will absolutely be done by christmas, yay!

And last night I knit these for the work yankee swap. The price cap this year was a mere $5 and as Becka said when I told her my handmade gift plan, "you can buy a lot of chintzy crap for just $5, and those are not chintzy crap."



Three old, paint-chipped glass globe ornaments transformed into shiny new ornaments. Red in worsted weight bamboo, white in kid silk haze, and green in merino sock yarn. These take maaaybe 25 yard to make, perfect for the leftovers from other projects. Pattern: Knitted Christmas Ornament Covers modified for my smaller ornaments and random yarn scraps.

As much as I like travel I like being home again more. And travel for meetings is not as much fun as travel for vacation (that goes without saying, right?)

My conference was good, slow at first but the pace picked up as the days continued. Lots of DNA technical stuff was discussed and it was interesting and educational although as always there are some talks which seemed useless and other topics I wish they'd cover more of. In other words a standard work conference. I could tell you lots about software updates, audit documents, the incoming ISO accreditation, quality assurance accreditation, NIJ updates, etc, etc, etc but I don't actually want you to fall asleep.

( knitting and monuments behind the cut )I did spend my whole trip looking for very important people that I could ask to hold a sock.  No such luck in the meeting - but on my plane flight home Bernie Sanders was in the seat behind me!  He was a very nice guy about holding my knitting, and he managed to identify it as a sock all on his own:

I'm leaving Sunday for the annual CODIS conference in DC. It's really not as exciting as it sounds. In fact, the piece I'm most excited about (this won't surprise you) is the amount of knitting I plan on getting done.

I'll be knitting on the plane, knitting at the conference. It's a room of 300 people, not a small enough gathering for a small sock in my lap to cause distractions. All the comments I've gotten at previous conferences are along the lines of "Gee, I wish I had something to keep my hands busy too." I'll be knitting in the hotel room after the conference. I usually make a point of riding the metro in and seeing the national mall and statues at night, but otherwise it's dark and I have to be at a conference again the next morning - so I don't do much in the evenings.

I'm very excited because this year I'm bringing oatmeal and an electric kettle. I really, really hate eating breakfast at a restaurant every morning. The options are always either eggs-from-powder or overpriced and overdry baked goods. I'm even packing raisins for myself. Yeah, the security guys will think I'm crazy but that's not my problem. I'm also planning on wearing my DNA scarf as an accessory under my blazer on the first day. It's a great combination of my job and my hobby/obsession. I'm sure I'll take a picture, I'll also count if I start getting comments.

I think I'm ready. I packed my business clothes and travel knitting yesterday. I have a printout of the Burlington buses that will get me to the airport and a place to park my car AND a ride away from the airport at the end of it all (thanks Jenny!) Once in DC the conference is in the hotel I'm staying at, and the metro runs through the same complex. I could go 4 days without stepping outside if I were that kind of person.

Of course first I have to get to Sunday: tomorrow I have morning errands and in the afternoon I'm sitting for the artists again, there might even be more then two of them! Oh, and I should get some easy food assembled so Neil doesn't go hungry while I'm gone. He's a great cook when I'm around, but on his own it'll be 9pm before he starts thinking about dinner.

Wow, where did October go?

We'll be voting in 11 days.  I wonder how close it will be...

I'm leaving for my annual work conference in DC in 16 days.  I'll be there from the 9th to the 13th.  Anyone going to be in the area and want to meet for dinner?

The specials from Knitty's fall issue are out.  That means the fall designers are getting paid, and the decisions for the winter issue are being made.  I haven't heard from them yet, and no news is good news, but I'm having trouble being patient...  3.5 weeks until when they recommend designers e-mail them if they haven't heard yes or no on the pattern.

We had a meeting yesterday to discuss the state of the budget for our corner of state government, let's just say it wasn't a happy meeting.  The lab has vacant positions we'd like to fill but the answer is firmly "no."  In better news I got some serious knitting done on my next sweater.  I knit up the last 3/4 of the ball of yarn I had with me - I wasn't expecting to run out!  Something funny happens.  When I'm knitting stockinette without paying attention.  I start the row, watch my hands and think "yup, looks good" and look away.  I get distracted, especially at meetings where I have other things to pay attention to.  Then I glance down and see these hands knitting milesperminute.  Really, I don't think those are my hands knitting...  If I focus on them they screw up and/or slow down, it's really weird, I think muscle memory has taken over...  I cast on for this sweater Tuesday night:
( photo under here )
I have 7 inches of fabric (size 4 needles, about 100 stitches across)  I wish I could knit cables at this speed!

It's supposed to be rainy and cold on Saturday.  I hope to spend most of the day with knitting and tea and movies.  I can't decide if I want to work on my sweater, any of my other 7 projects, or maybe I want to design a 1 skein scarf...

Also, I really like that frosted leaf in my photo.

It's been a busy (and long) week at work.  The bad news is our department is loosing 3 people (RIFs reduction in force) along with the 11 vacant positions they have to shut down (not firing anyone but not filling the position) and probably twice that in vacant positions that they aren't allowed to hire anyone into (so the position doesn't stop existing it just doesn't get filled)  And since the state has already said they're not reducing the police force that keeps the public safe all these reductions come from the civillian side of the department.  Luckily, the federal grant funding that buys all my supplies has been approved so I should be good for another year.

Other then that fall is a busy time of year.  We're preparing for the winter and trying to fit in all the things we wish we'd done this summer.  We've got a storm window and a chainsaw to fix, we need to get our furnace inspected and clean our chimney and stack the last of our firewood.  This weekend we're going apple picking and making apple chutney, apple wine, apple sauce, apple butter, and probably apple pie.  Apples may be one of my favorite fruits (oh let's face it, they're all my favorite fruits, just like they're all my favorite seasons)

And of course I've been knitting.  I'm mostly done with my bug hat, I've started on a hat for Neil that will probably be a free pattern.  I'm still working on the cables in the tangled yoke cardigan (the sweater is big enough it mostly stays home now) I have 1/2 a sock in my purse at all times, and I have more yarn coming (which should arrive today!) even I don't know how I kept all this organized pre-ravelry...

And now I'm going to sit in the sun for 30 minutes with my knitting, a book, and an apple.

I don't ususally spend time on YouTube at work.  But I was searching for a company name to give to our fisher sales rep, and a link came up...  This video shows the exact machine that I use to quantify how much DNA each of my samples contains - except our model is blue not red.  This video makes my job look like the coolest thing ever...