Bordercrossing: there and back again

Greetings from Gnorm! Oh, the adventures I've been having lately!

Immediately upon my arrival here in the Great White North the fun began. Emily picked me up from my hideout at the postal station (had to be cautious, given my recent run-in with the law!), and from there we quickly blended ourselves into the bustling crowds of Toronto's Chinatown. Minutes later, and there scene changed completely as we headed into Kensington Market, and into the cozy warmth of Lettuce Knit.


It was knitnight, and I was just getting acquainted with some of the knitters (and checking out the sock yarns) when I had a brush with knitting celebrity!


Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was kind enough to share some of her Big Fat Burrito (a Lettuce Knit tradition, I'm told), and let me get a photo with the Yarn Harlot herself.

What more could Toronto have to offer, you may ask? Lots! From the University of Toronto campus, where I got to sit in on a "Stitch & Lunch" (and cuddle up to some cashmere!)...


...To the government buildings at Queen's Park...


...To the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ontario College of Art and Design...


And of course, the CN Tower was always there in the background!


I would have toured Toronto further, as I was enjoying getting "out and about" as the Canadians say, but I was beginning to get a bit lonesome for my homeland. Could I ever return?

Emily concocted a plan -- we daringly ditched my arrest anklet and smuggled me back across the border with a family vacation as our disguise!


Next thing I knew, I was dancing at her cousin's wedding in Richmond, Virginia and taking in the sights at Colonial Williamsburg! I rather enjoyed the shopping...


But may have had a bit of a scare with the local (if 18th Century) law!!


I think perhaps I should keep moving on, but am happy to be back in the good ol' U-S-of-A. It's rather hot in Virginia, though... maybe going northward again would be nice...

~Gnorm

Gnorm hangs out with some gnitters

Freed from the confines of his traveling box--and liberated from the clutches of a two-year-old--Gnorm accompanied me to the (nearly) weekly get-together of my local knitting group. Last night's location: the cafe at Barnes and Noble. (Coffee, tasty desserts, and a place that stays open until 11 p.m.--a great combination!) First, he surveyed some of the treats arrayed on the table.


Then he helped Katie count rows. She's in the homestretch of a Wonderful Wallaby hooded pullover sweater for her daughter, and Gnorm shouted some encouraging words: "It's placket time! You can do it! This is going to look great!" After that, there's just the hood to knit and two little underarm seams to graft, and then the sweater will be all done--just in time for autumn.


All of that cheerleading wore him out, though. Fortunately, Linda has been knitting ball-band washcloths like crazy since she discovered them a month ago. She brought a stack of ten of them (each in a different color combination!) to show everyone, and they provided the perfect place for a quick snooze. We thought about seeing if "the princess and the pea" was also applicable to "the gnome and the pea," but he woke up before we could put something under his bed to test the theory.

Rejuvenated after that catnap, he stopped by Beth's end of the table to examine the moebius scarf she'd just started. She's using Rowan Kid Silk Haze, the absolutely luscious stuff that the Yarn Harlot famously nicknamed Crack Silk Haze. And for good reason: once you touch this yarn, you don't want to put it down. Just look at Gnorm here. We had a hard time peeling him away from this skein of it...


A new knitter, Aimee, joined us for the first time last night. Gnorm offered lots of encouragement as she cast on for a gauge swatch: "Lookin' good!" He started to warn her about the dangers of becoming a knitter and developing serious Stash Enhancement Tendencies, but the rest of us shushed him and whisked him away...


...down to Ruth, who's working on an adorable baby sweater. "Very nice pattern," Gnorm said approvingly, as he looked it over. "That's one lucky baby who'll be wearing that!"

Gnorm had a great time meeting everyone and playing with their yarn, but by the end of the evening he was pretty tuckered out.

He enjoyed his stay here, but he's been traveling for several months now and is eager to get back on the road to get home eventually. So this morning I bid him a fond farewell, packed some luggage for him, and sent him off to his next destination!

Gnorm arrives in Exton, Pennsylvania

After a long journey, Gnorm has arrived in Exton, Pennsylvania, which is about forty-five minutes west of Philadelphia. (Technically, we are part of the Philly suburbs. But if you go another forty-five minutes west, you're right smack in the middle of Amish country. So, to be fair, I should say we are part of those suburbs, too!) He arrived in style, in a lovely purple box that looks like it's seen a few miles but is still doing a great job keeping him and his luggage safe.

Crammed into the box with him were lots of wonderful goodies from Lia, who did a fabulous job of choosing items that were just right for me. (Chocolate? Check! Yarns made from interesting natural fibers--in this case, bamboo and corn? Check! Sock-knitting accessories? Check!) Thanks, Lia!

He spent the day at my home. As you can see, my two-year-old daughter has taken quite a shine to him (in this case, "shine" is defined as "toddler death-grip on the knitted gnome").

"Can I keep him?" she asked. I explained that I was going to send him to someone else in a few days, and she was rather bummed about that. But then I added that I could knit one for her soon, and that cheered her up. The first order of business: stuffing the gnome into the "trunk" of her toy car. She was rather annoyed when the lid wouldn't close (Gnome is a bit too stout to fit comfortably in this vehicle)...

...so she transferred him to the "trunk" of her tricyle. "So he can watch me ride my car," she explained. And so he did.

Tomorrow evening, Gnorm gets to meet my local knitting group!

[NOTE: I've moved my blog since this swap started. My old blog links to the new one, but if you want to get there directly go here.]

Gnorm is En Route

Gnorm is on his way to his next destination. I mistakenly sealed the package without the card introducing myself, but, it's Gnorm, so he'll introduce himself. He was a great guest.

Gnorm Again

Then we spotted an R2D2 mail box.
And next, we went to the Old Post Office building. Here Gnorm became a bit of a star, attracting the attention of some friendly women and a cute little boy.

Our next stop was the Navy Memorial. (Yes we are quite fond of statues and fountains downtown. Gnorm and I just hit a few.)



Gnorm took another peak at the Washington Monument.

Gnorm in the City

Saturday, Gnorm and I went to downtown DC. We took the bus.

The bus runs down Sixteenth Street so Gnorm got to see the sights along the way. There are quite a few churches, embassies and other interesting buildings.
Our first stop was President's Park, where we took a peak at the White House.

And then a closer look.

And then we went to Pershing Park where Gnorm sat and looked at the Washington Monument.

Pershing Park also has great fountains.

Gnorm goes to Rockville

I will probably break this up into a few posts since Gnorm and I went a bit picture crazy.
Thursday, by some strange coincidence, I found my knit discount card for one of the LYS's. It was a convergence of events since I had to head to Rockville, MD for a hair appointment that afternoon anyway. So, Gnorm came to the yarn shop with me. He drove for a little, then I took over.

Gnorm took a little break before we went inside.

Gnorm helped me pick out some great stuff.

Gnorm - Stuck Inside

Well, what with work and the weather Gnorm didn't get to see a lot of the city today. But here's what did happen.
First, Gnorm met my cat. (Since Gnorm, as I typically do, sported some animal fur himself, I felt confident this meeting would be successful.)

There was some minor, yet polite, sniffing on the part of my cat, but the meeting went well.
I telecommute now, so today Gnorm helped me work a bit.

He thinks I use too many post-its.
Gnorm wanted to go play outside, but the weather was a bit rainy.

So, then Gnorm went up to the fitness center. I told him, unfortunately the center didn't really have gnome sized equipment, but he seemed to make it work.

Gnorm is in DC

Well, Gnorm arrived yesterday, but the Post Office wanted me to wait until today to retrieve him. After one trip that was aborted due to severe weather, I made it to the post office, which fortunately for Gnorm, was freezing cold. The rain had cooled down the weather, so I opened up the box in the Post Office, so Gnorm could see the post office. No, really, it was so he could appreciate the ride home.
We stopped and took a peak at Rock Creek Park.

And I showed Gnorm the lions on the bridge on 16th Street. A passerby called Gnorm a muppet, but I told Gnorm that gnome appreciation was something we are all working on. And really, muppets are nice. Anyway Gnorm thought they looked more like tigers, so we looked it up - and he was right - they are tigers, not lions.

Well, then we came home and I unpacked the goodies that Gnorm brought with him from Heather.

Wow, yarn, a hat pattern, yummy fine fabric wash - which may have been what helped Gnorm smell so great, and Mallo Cups!
Stay tuned for more adventures!

Water and Heights!

What a gorgeous day! After the storms blew through yesterday (while we were in the movie theatre) the humidity dropped and the sky cleared and we awoke this morning to a gorgeous sunny day with some moderate winds. It was a great day for viewing the sights of La Crosse.

Teej explained yesterday that while she lives in Caledonia, MN, a town of about 3,000 people, she works and her husband goes to school in La Crosse, WI, a much larger town about 25 miles east of Caledonia. To get from Minnesota to Wisconsin, we have to cross the Mississippi River; there are two bridges - one on Cass Street and one on Cameron Street - that take traffic across the river and I was driven across both of them yesterday and then again today. The Cameron Street bridge is new - it was just built a couple of years ago - but I think the engineers did a great job of fitting it into the form of the Cass Street bridge.



The Cameron Street bridge is the front one and it's the rounded middle "peak"; the Cass Street bridge is the one in back and it's the two end "peaks". I think it's sort of neat that the trees on the other shore are Minnesota, but I was in Wisconsin when we took this picture!



We were at a little park that sits along the edge of the river to the south of the bridges and I was a little surprised at how small the river seemed up here. I've been told about "the Mighty Mississippi" and I always imagined it much bigger. Teej assures me that as the river wends its way south it gets much bigger, but that there's a place in Itasca, MN where even I could just step right over it in one stride!



Teej tells me that the two "attractions" in La Crosse are the river and the bluff and just in driving from her home in Caledonia into La Crosse I can see why. The bluffs are gorgeous - though Teej says they're even more impressive in the autumn when the trees all change colors - and I even got to go up to the very tip top of the largest one in La Crosse - Grandad's Bluff.



It's quite a height! It was windier up on the top of the bluff and I was a little nervous that I'd get blown over the edge, but Teej kept a good hold on me so I could get a look over the edge at the city of La Crosse spread out beneath us.



Teej pointed out that we could see the building she works in on campus - where I met all the people yesterday.



A little ways out of town is the marsh, which is a natural wetlands area that is home to lots of waterfowl. Teej says that's it common for her and her husband, Jack, to see herons and egrets on their commute into town, as well as lots and lots of falcons and eagles. I don't think I saw any, but I have to admit that I tried not to look - I would be just the perfect size for lunch. *shudder*



Teej needed to stop at her local yarn shop - Fitting Knit Shop - to get a couple skeins of black yarn to make swatches for a DNA scarf she's making for a friend and while we were there, I got to meet Mimi, who showed me how to knit while we were waiting for Teej to pick out the yarn she needed:



Mimi said that she thought one of my cousins might live in her shop, and sure enough, it turns out that Sven and I are related:



Sven is Norwegian and is originally from Vanberia in Decorah, IA. Mimi said that the Vanberia store had patterns for both Sven and his wife as well as for an Irish couple.



On our way back to Caledonia, Teej had to stop in quickly to Houston County Women's Resources, where she is the Board President, to check in on some planning for one of their upcoming events and chat briefly about the preparations for next fiscal year's budget.

Now I'm tucking away the goodies that Teej is sending along with me for my next host and pretty soon I'll be off on my way again! I'm looking forward to my next stop - Teej says she's been watching the blog of my next host and knows that she's just as excited to have me as Teej was!

Take Your Gnome to Work Day

Whew! I had a pretty busy day today, checking out Teej's office and meeting her co-workers.



Teej has two computers in her office - a desktop that is her primary computer and a tablet laptop that is her travel computer. As an extra bonus, her tablet has quite a lot of music burned onto it, so I got to check out some new-to-me tunes by Rusted Root, the Cowboy Junkies, Sweet Honey in the Rock and a few I didn't catch the names of. I grooved out for awhile with Wilcoxon, Teej's moose, enjoying a cuppa the fabulous Market Spice tea that Stephanie sent. Teej is right - it's really, really tasty!



Deb - a professor in the Women's Studies and University Honors programs - came by to say hi...



...and took me on a quick tour of the office while Teej went to a meeting so I got to meet the folks who work in the Provost's office:

Chandra
Carmen
Betsy
Karyn

They were all really nice about showing me around. Once Teej got back, though, we were off again, this time to Samulnori rehearsal! Samulnori is a form of traditional Korean drumming and Teej plays the Janggu, which is a double-headed, hourglass shaped drum that is played with two mallets, one held in each hand. Emily - a professor in Psychology - showed me how to play the Janggu:



One of the other types of drums used in Samulnori is a Buk, which is like a small bass drum. Ronda - a professor in Communication Studies - held her Buk for me so I could try it out:



After Samulnori rehearsal, Teej's husband Jack came to get us and we went to a theatre to see the new Pirates movie. It was pretty good, but all that water made me a little nervous, so I was kind of relieved when it was over! We had a quiet dinner at home and are now chilling out watching some television. Tomorrow we're going to do a little more site seeing around the bluffs in La Crosse and spend some time in Teej's garden before I have to jet off to my next stop.