Field Trip!

So we went on a field trip around Provo on Monday. We went to Heindselman's again, but only got one good picture...stupid flash camera!

This is the Provo City Library. The building is over a hundred years old; it was originally the building for Brigham Young Academy, which later became BYU. Now the building is the property of the library.


So Provo is a college town. Heather moved to Provo for that very purpose (with graduation looming this August!), so you're going to get to see us at work and around campus!

Heather works for the math department as a research assistant studying Pisano periods and lattice reducing algorithms. Here's the computer she works at.

Heather also works for the Chemical Engineering department as a research assistant translating Fischer-Tropsch related documents from World War II. The Germans were trying to make fuel from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, so she gets to read all the technical papers and boring German patents.

McKay, Heather's husband works computer support on camps and also a research job in the computer science department.

So onto the fun part of the field trip!

This is the Maeser building. It was built on top of a cemetary, but Heather promises me they moved all the bodies out before the construction. I'm in the flower bed, if you can see me! I don't think the flower bed was haunted...

This is the pendulum in the Eyring Science center. It has a strange history of being stolen.

All college campuses have modern art. Here's the Tree of Wisdom sculpture.

And no college campus is legitimate without the mascot!

Here's the Carillon. It rings on every hour between 8am and 9pm, and dings every half hour in between.

And of course, no university can be without the token, barley dressed, American Indian statue! This is Chief Massasoit of Wampanoags Tribe of Massachusetts. See me in his hand?

We finished up our field trip at the BYU Creamery. Mmm... Cherry Limeade sherbert!

It was a party!
-Gnorm

Gnorm has been sent off and is on his way to his next destination! I had so much fun with him, and I'm sure he'll enjoy his next adventures! -Heather

Hiking the "Y"

Why the "Y"? There's a Wikipedia article that explains a little bit of the history of the Y on Y mountain. The BYU class of 1907 attempted to graffiti the mountain with their class year. However, the class of 1906, the graduating class at the time was quite upset. Eventually, the perpetrators of the 1907 class were caught and disciplined. Not wanting to destroy their spirits, the president of BYU, George Brimhall, decided to allow the letters BYU be placed on the mountain. The land was surveyed and plans to construct the letters went into action. In 1906, men of the 1906 and 1907 graduating classes, lined up a trail, every 8 feet, to pass lime, salt, and rocks up the mountain. Thinking the job would only take a couple of hours, they hadn't planned for the day, and by 4 o'clock when the Y was finished, many of the young men had fainted in the heat for lack of water and food! That's probably why they decided to just leave the Y on the mountain and not bother with the other two letters! The Y is whitewashed every 2-5 years to keep it shining and bright.

Here I am at the trail head. (that's me in the middle of that gate!)


I didn't thing the hike would be too bad. Here's a picture of Heather and me (don't worry. We remembered our sunscreen!)

But by the end of the hike, I was tuckered out! It was only a mile hike, but it was a HIKE!
But the view was worth it!

Here's Heather and I pointing to her house in Provo.

Here we are next to the Y. It was huge!

And here I am on the "Y"

Getting back down from the mountain took about half as long as it did going up (and I'm glad, too!)! The Y on Y mountain is the largest collegiate letter in the world!

The Y is not the only letter on the mountains in Utah, there are 50 letters on mountains in Utah! In Salt Lake City, there is a "U" for the University of Utah. Cities have their own letters, too, such as a "G", which Heather says if for Pleasant Grove. I think it ought to be for Gnorm.

-Gnorm

In Provo now

Greetings from Utah!
So I arrived in Provo, UT on Friday afternoon, all tidied up in a box (I'm in the bottom box).

Heather was trying to hurry home to get her laundry done, but was very glad, she said, to have an excuse to not do laundry (aka, open up all her wonderful goodies) Thanks, Jae! Now we need to find a beautiful project for that beautiful yarn! You should have heard Heather's excitement! She swears to me that she hasn't acted that girly in a long time. She is in love with the yarn.


But because laundry was imminent, we did stop by the laundromat.

Heather had to go to the yarn store, too. So we went there. Heindselman's is 6 blocks from Heather's house and it's the oldest yarn store in the country.
When we went inside, the first thing the ladies asked was to see me!
"Can we see your doll?"
Ack, they called me a doll! I'm a very serious (albeit adorable) gnome! NOT a doll! Ugh!

Heather had taken some pictures in the store, but for some reason, she couldn't find them on the camera! Alas! I guess she'll have to make another stop there this afternoon or Monday (oh woe is us! haha!)

We had a great and adventurous morning this Saturday! We hiked a mountain! This one to be exact. More photos later!


And yes, that is the letter "Y" on the mountain.

-Gnorm

Out For A Long Walk

I had a great time visiting Jae. Thursday we went to the LYS where she teaches knitting occasionally.

The store is known locally for it's wonderful hand dyed yarns. Each of type of yarn is named after a Michigan city and the colorways are named Michigan terms or places - like River Rouge, Trout, Up North, or Bois Blanc Island.

While I was there, I took a ride on a fancy yarn carousel ride. Jae called it a swift, but I thought it was more like an amusement park ride.


Saturday morning, Jae and I went on a walking tour of Clarkston. The downtown area is small and very old. She told me that in the 1980's the village of Clarkston was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The first settlers arrived in 1830 and some of the buildings date back to the mid 1800's.

Originally, part of a land settlement for soldiers in the War of 1812, Clarkston had an early history of lumber mills. The mill pond still exists and runs through the center of town.


We also saw the old school house that Henry Ford converted into a factory. On the third floor, Mr. Ford used to hold squared dances. Now it is the building for the city's local government.


Across the street from the town hall is one of the oldest homes of Clarkston. It used to belong to Nelson Clark. Nelson and his brother Jeremiah were important characters in the history of Clarkston and the town is named after them.


I had a great time seing the city. Although, all the walking around town really wore me out. I'm glad that Jae packed my things and made a nice place for me to rest on my journey. I can't wait until I see what wonderful places I'll go next.

I (Jae) need to add that my husband mailed Gnorm to his next destination but failed to put enough postage on him. I don't want to give away the surprise, but if he arrives postage due - I promise to make good on it. Please forgive my husband. He is truly sorry and doesn't want to face the wrath of knitters. ;)

Gnuman in Everybody's Hometown

Hello from Media, PA!






















I arrived at Dana's house last week, but managed to get put in a hiding spot (a.k.a. the living room) until someone told her to look! When she freed me from my suitcase, she was thrilled to find that I arrived safe and sound with these goodies from Debbi:

There was a skein of Trekking XXL in a great colorway, some tea and other treats. She loved the Cool Crochet yarn, the Yarn mug (now holding pencils on her craft table), stitchmarkers, and even the little gnome on a bunny figure. Dana loved them everything, but really fell in love with me. Unfortunately, she was a bit laid up with some family stuff and her approaching knee surgery (6/27/07). Things were really crazy for her, so my arrival came just in time to cheer her up. Even with the limp, she managed to show me a good time over the weekend.



We started a beautiful Saturday morning at A.C. Moore, where she went to pick up a couple balls of cotton for dishcloths. Can you spot me hiding among the cotton?










It was off to start a dishcloth from that cotton while getting a little mani-pedi action. Don't we look relaxed? Just what I needed after a long trip from MA.






Next, we stopped at Dana's LYS, Finely a Knitting Party, to visit Cathy (the shop owner and Dana's knitting teacher) and the other knitters there. What a great little shop! The "Starbucks Corner" is the newest addition at the shop for friends to sit and knit, and I got to stop for a spell there and do some more relaxing while Dana knitting a bit.









We got up bright and early on Sunday morning (6:45AM) to sneak off to Dana's favorite knitting place: the Plum Street Mall in Media. We stopped for coffee & a muffin at the Seven Stones Cafe, then knitting as the town woke up. Media is such a great little town, just 12 miles outside of Philadelphia. Did you know it is the first Fair Trade Town in the US? And the last suburban town in America with a trolley running down the main street?















I really had a great time with Dana in Media. Even her 2 dogs, Dizzle & Mini enjoyed my visit.





















Uh oh... looks like I'm going back into the trunk for another adventure! Where am I off to next?

Public Service Announcement: Please warn your loved ones of my pending arrival so they don't bring my package inside off the front step and put you in an inconspicuous location.

~Gnuman

Home Again, Almost

Hi, It's Gnorm! Jae was so kind to free me from my comfortable surroundings. She told me that I was in Clarkston, MI. She showed me on a map that I was only an hour from Rae, where my adventures began. I started in Lansing and Clarkston can be found just above Waterford.

Of course, I didn't arrive empty handed. Teej sent me off with some wonderful gifts. Jae thinks Teej might be slightly psychic because the Springbreak colorway of Claudia Handpaint is a color that she almost bought during a recent yarn shopping spree.

I arrived with Eucalan wash and there was also some soap and a candle - apricot freesia and beanpod. That explains why I kept smelling such delicious scents during my journey. Jae said that the keychain sweater was a little too small for me and that she would use it for her keys to the house. I was sorely tempted to break into the nutella hazelnut spread (a gnome can get mighty hungry from all the traveling) but in the end I resisted. Jae has never tried this before but her husband assures her that it is very yummy. Infact, Jae immediately hid it so her husband (and I) wouldn't steal it later.

Tomorrow Jae is taking me to her LYS. I can hardly wait! The people at all the yarn stores have been so nice to me. I'm sure this one won't be any different.

P.S. Jae says that she wants Teej to know she is very thankful for all the wonderful goodies that I arrived with!

Knit Yourself A Gnome Buddy!

I know when Rae first set up this swap there were a lot of people that asked her where she got the pattern for Gnorm and his buddy Gnuman. I just wanted to let all of you know that there is currently a special issue of the British magazine Simply Knitting, called "The Big Book of Family Knits", on shelves at Barnes and Noble that contains the pattern for these cute little gnomes. It's kind of pricey ($19.99) but there are also a lot of other really nice patterns in here and if you don't regularly buy Simply Knitting, there's quite a few from the regular publication also. So hope this helps all those knitters who are feverishly searching for the pattern! I'm sure Gnorm and Gnuman would love some new friends, so knit on everybody!

Gone but not forgotten

Well we took Gnuman to the post office and bid him a fond farewell. He was a wonderful house guest and will be missed. I hope that he and his new host family have as much fun with him as we did. Here is his very last photo op. It just so happens that Mary's sister Jeannie works at the US Post Office in Nashua NH, so of course we had to take Gnuman there for his trip to ........ Jeannie is as great about these things as everyone else has been so she agreed to pose for a picture.

My oh My oh My

Last night Debbi took me to meet the knitting ladies, Julie, Crystal, Christine and Kathy. We met at the hotel that they knit at and we enjoyed some beverages and dinner and did some knitting and Julie was kind enough to make some origimi book marks to send with me when I leave here and go to my next destination. Debbi and I hope that my next pal will enjoy them. I am looking forward to traveling again. I believe that I will be leaving here on Saturday (if Cheryl will take me to the post office) and I should arrive at my next destination on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Debbi, Mary and the kids will miss me (according to Debbi) and I them.

Friday A.M.

Today I was kidnapped (or Gnomenapped as the case may be) by Debbi's sister Cheryl. She is a lovely lady who works at a school for goodness sakes. She decided that the kids and the teachers and the workers at the Thompson School in North Andover would love for me to visit so off we went. Here I am in front of one of the sweatshirts. Thanks be to God, the Tiger is not real or I would not be making it to my next destination.

I had lots of fun with the kids and with a wonderful woman named Amy that runs the office of the school. She and Cheryl are great chums and laughed a lot at the thought of a Gnome at school. After meeting Amy, Cheryl and I went into the Cafeteria which is where she works (she is a lunch monitor and runs the cash register. Here I got to share her salad with her and she even gave me a few sips of her iced coffee (I would have preferred a pint but it was a little early in the day)

I thought that was all for the day but some of the children wanted to hold a real live Gnome so Cheryl let them.

The only problem is that ice cream and knitted Gnomes don't really go well together (I am clean now). The custodian John Mullen needed a little help in the clean up department before lunch time so I obliged him as I wanted to make sure that everyone was happy during my little visit. So I showed him how to push the broom around to make the floors really clean. He seemed to like my way of doing it.

After I finished up my work with John, I had to help in the kitchen. Here I am opening the oven door so that they could put the pizza in for lunch for the kids. I have to say when I got home it was nice to lay down and take a little nap.

Tomorrow it is off to the Post Office so watch your mailboxes ladies, I may be coming to your town next.