Jann Mouer's invitation is awaiting your response

Jann Mouer would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond? Jann Mouer Director - Contracts, Risk, and Records Management at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Confirm you know Jann You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

Jann Mouer's invitation is awaiting your response

Jann Mouer would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond? Jann Mouer Director - Contracts, Risk, and Records Management at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Confirm you know Jann You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Jann Confirm that you know Jann Jann Mouer Director - Contracts, Risk, and Records Management at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Washington D.C. Metro Area You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe Learn why we included this. If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

Chptr 68: Oldie but goodie (did he graduate HS yet?)

What is not being said here:

(song by Jason Mraz)

Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but your so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, now I'm tryin to get back
before the cool done run out I'll be givin it my best test
and nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

But I won't hesitate no more,
no more, it cannot wait
I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music at the moment people dance and sing
Were just one big family
And it's our godforsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved

So, i won't hesitate no more,
no more, it cannot wait i'm sure
there's no need to complicate our time is short
this is our fate
I'm yours

Scooch on over closer, dear
And I will nibble your ear

I've been spendin' way too long checkin' my tongue in the mirror
and bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
and so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'd be sayin' is there ain't no better reason
to rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
it's what we aim to do
our name is our virtue

But I won't hesitate no more,
no more it cannot wait
I'm yours

well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la one big family
it's your god forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved

open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la happy family
it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved

it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la peaceful melodies
it's you god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved



And I am Loving Em from Here.

Chptr 67: The Other Other Woman

Chester has two mommies now, kind of.  As Meredith and I get closer to The Big Merge, she's definitely mommy-ing him.  Which basically means she gets to discipline him as desired, rather than grit her teeth through behaviors that she really wants to correct, and know that I'm all good with that.

There is ANOTHER woman, though, for my guy:  Mary B.  Chester has an unmistakable, embarrassing to watch, utter and complete, no holds barred crush on my dear friend Mary.

To wit:

I can't really be jealous.  I know folks in committed relationships have crushes and attractions and sometimes make fools of themselves without really cheating.  I know that Chester seeing Mary and smelling her and then throwing (THROWING, I tell you) himself at her feet - and you've seen what happens if she wants to sit on the couch - I know it's not about me.  And please tell me why I'm anthropomorphizing any of this?  I guess the short answer is because I'm human.

God bless dogs.  They make love so simple. 

There is lots and lots of love.  More than enough for us all if we can find it - 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chptr 6?: In Which We Admit that Microsoft Paint Just Ain't Photoshop...

song for waking up still dreaming, still dreaming, still dreaming (with thanks to Josh Ritter)

I had a dream last night
I dreamt that I was swimming
And the stars up above
Directionless and drifting
Somewhere in the dark
Were the sirens and the thunder
And around me as I swam
The drifters who'd gone under

Time, Love
Time, Love
Time, Love
It's only a change of time

I had a dream last night
And rusting far below me
Battered hulls and broken hardships
Leviathan and lonely
I was thirsty so I drank
And though it was salt water
There was something about the way
It tasted so familiar

The black clouds I'm hanging
This anchor I'm dragging
The sails of memory rip open in silence
We cut through the lowlands
All hands through the saltlands
The white caps of memory
Confusing and violent

I had a dream last night
And when I opened my eyes
Your shoulder blade, your spine
Were shorelines in the moonlight
New worlds for the weary
New lands for the living
I could make it if I tried
I closed my eyes I kept on swimming

(c) Josh Ritter

Chptr 65: In Which We Moan About Not Being Perfect (yet)

My knitting life this past week has been focused on TENSION.  Argh.

Tension, for my non-knitting friends, is how tightly or loosely the thread that is creating a stitch is.

Ideally, a knitter wants to have EVEN tension all the time - this way all the stitches look alike.  The stitches in a row all are the same size, and the stitches above and below any particular stitch are the same size.

When I first got into knitting, I was attracted to yarns with BRIGHT colors, and yarns with uneven texture.  The patterns I choose really showed off the yarn - they were simple patterns because the yarn's colors and textures were the main attraction.

Uneven yarn = uneven stitches, but with this yarn - who cares?

This is great fun - knitting with big crazy yarn, making splashy items.  It's like being 3 and learning to hold fat, bright chalk and making happy designs on the sidewalk - turning four and using more colors, making a first rainbow, figuring out how to make the forms you're drawing and the colors work together -  everyone walking by oohs and aahs 'cuz your pictures are bright and vaguely recognizable, and especially 'cuz you yourself are so durn proud of your creations.

I'm at the point now where I want to start knitting a bit more quietly in color and texture, but this means attention to my techniques.   Also, I'm starting to knit for other people and I want what I sell to be as perfectly crafted as possible.


Making my basics beautiful (*sigh*).  Back to what Ma always said:  Practice, practice, practice.

I'm working on two projects right now that are kicking my ass - both showcase stocking stitch (this is when you do what looks like the simplest kind of knitting, just plain old stitches back and forth).  They are very different: one is a sweater in a mid-weight yarn, and one is a lacy shawl.

Damn that stocking stitch.  It looks so easy.  Here is a sample of stocking stitch knit by my paternal grandmother (never allowed to call her "Grandma," she wanted us to call her "Pal"). See how even her stitches are?  Each stitch so close in size to the ones above it and the ones beside it and below it.    

  

As a contrast, here is my current skill level at this, with a picture taken from the sweater I am knitting in Noro Taiyo (yes, this is Meredith's still unfinished Christmas present).:  Do you see how my stitches are the same size as the ones next to them but not to the ones above and below them? It almost causes the fabric to ripple - and I want the lines that are seen in this sweater to come from the colors of the yarn and not the size of my stitches. 

This is also an issue with the lace shawl I'm knitting as an antidote to all the Christmas projects that kept me busy for a couple months with yarn that was so much bigger and fatter than my beloved lace-weights.  I'm hoping to enter the shawl I'm knitting now into local competitions, so I'm trying to make each lacy detail as perfect as possible.  And the lace weight REALLY calls out my uneven tension on stocking stitch.

I'm trying different things to make my stitches more even.  I'll have to work on that and give you an update in the coming weeks as to how this is being solved.  My favorite resource online has been TECHknitting(tm)'s two blog postings:  one here, and the other here.  (The third part of her series on uneven knitting is here.)

Thank goodness for Ravelry and other knitting bloggers - and youtube.  I haven't yet explored what's out there on video, 'cuz I'm hoping that some attention and tricks from TECHknitter will get me evened out.

How's your NY going?  What is challenging you?  Would love to hear.

Enjoy your day, friends, and peace, and love, and happiness.

_________

Chptr 64: In Which We Advise Our Dear Friend T on the Importance of First Impressions

Rupaul - Supermodel (You Better Work)
Uploaded by RosaCrvx. - Explore more music videos.

Chptr Sixty-Something (we think) - in which we are late for work, have too many projects going and are missing SUGAR...

"hey, this wasn't MY resolution..."

So.  Confession:  I gained about 20 lbs between July and December 2010.

Part of it was cutting out my daily hour-long walks, which I somewhat blame on having increasing pain in my ass (ok, hips, but I like saying that not only AM I a pain in the ass, but I have one, too) because of 15 years of my body compensating for a shortened leg (result of an injury in 1995). Also, it's gotten cold, and I get lazy, and I have an excuse not to walk so I'm taking it.

A HUGE part of the weight gain has been a ramp-up in my sugar intake, especially around chocolate.  Who knows why, who cares why, but I began eating more and more and more chocolate the last 6 months - for breakfast, at the office, with dinner - not just for dessert, but as an appetizer while I was making microwaving my supper and feeding the dogs, and of course for dessert and as a bedtime snack.  I just kind of obliviously kept chocolate around, ate it whenever, and one day found I was kind of moving from fix to fix.

To combat this, and because I've done a lot of reading and talking to folks about what to eat and not to eat, I've decided that as much as I can without becoming a Food Nazi, I will not be eating food where sugar (even unprocessed types of sugar) are in the first 3 ingredients.

I got the 3 ingredient rule from an overeater's anonymous speaker tape, and the speaker decided on that rule for herself because her favorite salad dressing had sugar as ingredient number 4 and she wanted to keep that salad dressing on her approved foods list.  This makes about as much sense as anything to me, and indeed while reading food labels, I'm finding that a ridiculous amount of the food that I was eating had some form of sugar in the first 3 ingredients!

I'm one week in to this - I started before the new year, and then on new year's day found myself mindlessly munching cookies at my mom's and they also had cheesecake and I decided that cheesecake as my last sugar fix - chocolate raspberry cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory - was a high-end last indulgence.

The day of this week where I ate sugar, I noticed a big rush and then a brain-freeze-like headache.

I wish I wasn't noticing positive results from this - I LOVE MY CHOCOLATE, I MISS MY CHOCOLATE - but I am.  I had energy at work yesterday afternoon - I didn't want to crawl under my desk and nap.  Don't know that I've noticed that I'm more focused yet, and not sure I'm sleeping better which have been mentioned as positive side effects.  But one week in, and I'm noticing enough good stuff that I think it's healthy to keep going with this project.

It definitely is a one circumstance at a time gig - I can get through getting ready for work, cuz I've got no chocolate in the house, plus my morning yummy thing is coffee (and I admit to putting honey, raw honey, in my coffee - may give this up eventually, we shall see).  But then I have to get to work, and that is a minefield - folks keep candy jars in their offices (my deal is to troll stealthily from office to office, usually at 3pm), put out stuff to share in the kitchen, and I work OVER a Starbucks.  And then there's the evening marketing, usually at the Food Coop, and I have to stay away (STEP BACK FROM THE CANDY BARS, MA'AM) from the chocolate bar display - large and prominent, and being by the cash registers, somewhat unavoidable.  Then home to safety.

My knitting indulgence right now is a fairly complicated lace shawl.  I still have one Christmas present to finish (my sweet Meredith is so patient), but knitting this lace is soothing me.  More about that on another posting.  For now, I'm signing off and wishing everyone a happy 2011 beginning, and lots of resolve - and be kind to yourself when you slip.   That's the biggest thing, not throwing in the towel with a setback, don't you think?  Getting up, saying "OK, I forgive myself for the error," and staying on the healthy path.

XOXO - Jann (and Chester, mais oui!)
________

2011. 2011. 2011. 2011. 2011. Yep. Resolutions. #1 - Good Walk! Good Boy!

Sit Ubu, sit!  Good dog!

I try not to fall into the trap of "changing" my life by resolutions anymore - it reminds me of each new semester as a child, promising myself and my parents that I would, like magic, become the exceptional student who aced all courses and lived up to her potential.

Ick.  I hate potential.

But here I am, with a bunch of things that are causing me discomfort in my life now and that really are inspiring me to CHANGE.  'Cuz I want to enjoy life more.  And I think I can with a few changes.  So, humor me with a few ideas about what can make 2011 a lovely, happy year.

First up:  Enjoying walking with the dogs.  Recently, Chester's constant pulling while on lead is wearing on my joints (or maybe I'm just noticing it more because I know I have unhappily aging connective tissue and am expecting pain and discomfort).  (I know, enough with the whining.  OK, won't mention it again.)  Things are at the point where walking with Chester, especially, is feeling out of control.  He's darting from one enticing smell to the next, all 70+ lean pounds of him, utilizing torque (and other physical laws I have no understanding of) to maximize Sniff Opportunities and to block out civilization (me).

Solution to the pulling:  Out the gate, putting him on Sit.  This means a Sit when the lead is getting attached, a Sit while the unit door is opening, a Sit before each landing, a Sit at the front door, and me going out the doors first.  Then, once outside, when excessive pulling is happening, "Sit".  I've done this a couple times this week and it's been a great success!

What is hard is that I (me, myself and I) need to be CONSISTENT - this needs to happen every walk.  I need to be present to be sure that both me and Chester have a good walk.  So often when walking the dogs, I'm still in my head about whatever has been going on that day - I'm still at work, thinking of a problem or problems; I'm puzzling over what I should have said when and to whom; I'm thinking, thinking, thinking, and the walk that is happening is just a blur and a chore and not a time where I'm connecting with Chester.  And he really loves to connect.

He really wants to be a good boy, but I need to interrupt his pulling behavior while on lead with something he can do and do to praise.  And this dog can sit (if you've followed this blog, you've seen the pictures - Chester's a champion sitter!).

Watching Law & Order: UK - methinks there's a reason they only wear those wigs in court.

This is actually Cat's Holiday 2010 Scarf (Preppie Scarf by Anni Howard)

So, quick question:  how the heck is it almost 2011?  Huh?

How did your holiday knitting go?  Were you like me, knitting on 3 projects on 12/24, and looking at some you spent time on in November turning out to be not quite right and needing to be replaced?

I'm pretty satisfied with my knitting this holiday season.  Yes, what I thought I was going to give and what I actually gave changed drastically from Labor Day (the beginning of my holiday knitting cycle each year) to December 24.  Yes, I am still knitting on ONE item that was not ready 12/25.  And yes, oh yes, oh yes, I overbought yarn.  (Boy did I overbuy yarn.  Super oh-boy.)  I'm awash in Silk Garden, and wishing I had more Kochoran.

What I didn't do, to my own satisfaction, was speak of knitting shops and blog and take good pictures of my projects.  But this can be remedied... 2011, here the heck we come.  Ready or not!

Stick with me, baby.  We'll find a way...

For Meredith - Audio's not great but I love the illustrations... xo

Zender's Words of Wisdom:

Thanks for the ice cream scoop, Christine!  It's beautiful and I will use it - for great hand-made wooden gifts check out Christine's site at www.czender.com.

Still knitting coffee cuffs like no tomorrow.

Happy holiday prep - the home stretch - 10 more days (or less)!

________

Coffee Cuffs: alternate use #1

I know there is a dog sweater in my future...

Coffee Cuffs: the recipe.

You Need:

• YARN:  At least a third of a skein of yarn that makes a nice flexible stocking stitch that measures about @ 18 stitches to 10 cms or 4 inches (off by 2 stitches either way will work if the yarn has enough springiness).  I am really liking yarns that have at least 50% wool for this.  I say a third of a skein because you will get at least one cuff out of it, maybe more, and you can figure out how many you can get out of a skein if you want to make more than one.
• NEEDLES
• Some way to knit in the round - dpns or magic loop.  I advise size 7 needles for Russian or Combination knitters, and size 8s for folks who knit straight Continental or English style.  I like 5 needles (4 to hold stitches and a working needle).
• A larger straight needle (I like a 10 or 10.5).
• Crochet hook to finish, and scissors.

To Make:

1. Cast on in a flexible stitch - I like cable cast on - cast on 32 stitches on the big straight needle.
2. Transfer 8 stitches each to 4 of the dpns or your loop.
3. Knit 6 rounds of 1x1 rib (k1, p1).  If you want to mark the beginning of your rounds, do that, but I just figure out by the tail where that is and refer to it throughout the project.
4. Start the stocking stitch middle section with one decrease stitch of whatever of your decreases blends best into stocking stitch.  I do a SSK because my stitches mount the needle in the Russian/Combination way and this gives me a nice decrease without twisted stitches.  If you knit in the English/Continental way, you will probably do a K2tog.
5. Sooooo... Count that decrease as your first stitch and knit 45 stitches.  Do another decrease and count it as the first stitch and knit 45 stitches.  Do this until you have 24 stitches left.  If you lose count anywhere feel free to wing it - it's not like the cup is going to complain!  
6. Once you're down to 24 stitches knit around the cuff until you get to the "end" - knit to the needle that has the tail under the first stitch waaaaay down at the bottom where you started knitting.
7. Here you want to make it so that your 4 sets of stitches are 6 each to make the ribbing easier.
8. Do 5 rounds of 1x1 rib.
9. Cast off however you like very loosely.  I like to cast off using the big needle and a K2tog, transfer stitch to left needle, K2tog, transfer stitch to left needle, repeat until finished, bind off.
10. Use the crochet hook to make "finished" rounds with the yarn tails, and then hide them however you like (I slide them down a column of the ribbing, pull tight, cut, and stretch the ribbing out).

I am now at the point where I can make one in 40 minutes or so.  I especially like yarn with long color repeats, like the Noro Kochoran.

I've found that the top/widest part can be turned down to make a cuff to fit the shorter cups.

Salud!

Coffee Cuff 2010

Happy Coffee Days!

Busy busy busy.

Woo hoo! Another one bites the dust (dum, dum, dum, and another one down and another one down...)

I keep telling Chester Freddie Mercury would be so proud of his modeling skills. And this one is not truly done until washed and blocked but it's bound off!

Kind of makes up for the realization yesterday that another scarf I was about half through was pretty freakin' butt-ugly. Wah! Good pattern but bad color striping juxtaposition. I love Noro until I hate Noro...

Happy Festival of Lights. Shalom to us all.

The Adamant Knitter, part B - Busy, Backlogged and Betrothed

Don't be getting any ideas from the sparkle - it's not a diamond. Didn't want one. But it is an engagement ring and I'm a very happy camper.

Blogging has been taking a back seat to knitting - methinks I ordered more yarn than I can possibly ever knit up... And knowing that 2011 brings a lot of changes is heavy on my mind - in a good way. In a responsible for another person and our blended furbaby family way. In a gotta make some plans and dreams and not just drift kinda way. And work challenges are flying in but they are mostly good.

So my little brain is a bit scrambled and as I knit it gets sorted out.

I love my life. It's a good place to be. More knitting project catch-up eventually...

Happy December. 24 more knitting days (less if you are doing the hourly countdown). God bless us every one!

Chptr 52: lessons in looking dignified while modeling a Barbie-colored scarf:

See picture. 'nuff said.