Tuesday

LOTS been going on in these parts. LOTS. Sunday, we had a wee earthquake (whee!) at 7:32pm. A 5.1 temblor centered around 35 miles off the coast about 10 miles north of here, in Trinidad where I once called home. All we got here in Sunny Brae was that truck-backing-into-the-house sensation, lasting only 1-2 seconds. Nothing broken, just lots of frisbees dancing on the walls. Felt as far north as southern Oregon and as far south as the Bay Area, Cole and I love these little reminders that we're not in charge. Very exciting, as long as shit doesn't break and the walls stay up. It was fun logging on to the USGS website and recording our experience.

Earthquakes notwithstanding, today was MUCH more exciting. About two weeks ago, we had a mountain lion in our neighborhood, about 4 blocks from our house, and today it was a black bear about 1/2 mile away. I went in to town to pay some bills, and riding in to town I saw 2 black-and-whites pulled over and two of Arcata's finest kibbitzing with Kevin Hoover of the Arcata Eye and a couple of civilians. As I rode slowly by, Kevin called out to me that there was a bear downslope in the creekbed. "Wow! A bear!", I thought. Pedalling on, I am loathe to loiter and get in the way while the professionals do their jobs. But after completing my errands, I stopped on my way back home to see where things stood, re: The Bear. By now, about 1.5 hours later, in addition to the original 5 or so folks roadside, there are now the rest of the print media contingent (bringing the total to three); two more cops; several sheriffs, including the animal control officer; my friend Heather's husband Dave, who is the wildlife biologist for California Department of Fish & Game in Arcata and whose job it is to respond to animal calls in the area; and several onlookers. After stopping, it becomes apparent that the plan is to tranquilize the bear, which remains holed up in the blackberry bramble copse surrounding the creek where it has been seen. Mind you, this is approximately 15 feet from the road, and only about 100 feet from Highway 101, our interstate artery connecting us to the outside world. At this point, only the 2 dudes that reported observing the bear cross 7th Street have actually *seen* the damn bear. I've watched Dave fill his syringes full of tranquilizer, and load his, I swear, blow gun (it was a piece of freakin' PVC pipe) with the syringes. Now we - the cops, the press, Dave as the official Humboldt County Bear Darter, and me - all wait for the poor bear to come out of its hidey hole into darting range. And this sad picture shows my friend Dave, about 1.2 seconds after he darted the bear. Notice how there is NO BEAR in this photo. Despite the clear shot, I was worried that tripping the shutter on my camera would spook the bear, and I waited to take the photo. But I waited too long. I got a great shot of Dave with his blow gun after the bear showed his cute, blonde face, but no fuckin' bear. Doh!

Much less dramatic but still fun, check out the beads Cole picked up for me Saturday at a garage sale. Although I fear he overpaid, the thought was appreciated. I am now officially beadalicious. You can *definitely* expect to see these beads appear in some of my handspun in the coming weeks.

Speaking of handspun, I've been plugging away on a series of coordinating yarns this week. If you like purple, these yarns have YOUR name on them. Here's a teaser: one has tassels and slubs, one handmade felt bead-baubles, one coils, and one is fulled. Doesn't that pique your interest?

Also over the weekend, the newest installment of the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts arrived. I am in LURVE with this colorway, dubbed 'Firebird'. Could it *be* any more Velma-colored??? I am so enamored of the warm colors, and this orange-pink-buff combo is right up my freakin' alley. Since I have yet to finish the last pair, the April colorway, this skein went directly into my stash, which, as we all know, is well into SABLE (Stash Amassed Beyond Life Expectancy) territory. Not to worry, this yarn WILL become socks, this I can confidently promise you.

So you know I have become an afficionado of freeform knitting/crochet, right? (No? Where've you been??) I've been coveting a copy of the book you see here, The Crochet Workbook by Sylvia Cosh & James Walters, and I can now say that I am the proud owner of one. The thing holding me back was the cost: this slim, paperback volume from 1989 commands upwards of $50, used mind you. Penned by the folks that coined the term "scrumble", it is one of the essential volumes in any freeform artist's library, and I was fortunate enough to acquire a copy for $24 on eBay the same week I saw one go for $60.

Finally, today I put a huuuuge dent in the project that is Cleaning My Studio. I showed you the before pictures, so you know what a task it is I've set for myself. Lots of stuff recycled, more stuff put into the unload-on-eBay pile, still more crap dropped into the trash, and a bunch of stuff filed, sorted, or otherwise dealt with. But this, this is what remains of my recent graduate student experience: one 13x16x7 inch box of thesis materials and a 16 inch stack of class notes. Bah. Note the pamphlet on the top. 'Nuff said.

Tags: humboldt, arcata, earthquake, bear, yarn, yarnporn, rockinsockclub, socksthatrock, BMFA, freeformknitting, freeformcrochet, graduateschool