How to turn a Rabbit into a Unicorn

N's little box was held hostage at the mailroom over last weekend, but first thing Monday he cashed in the package slip and got The Hat! Seems it was a hit, we think he wore it all day at NCSSSSSSM. The school mascot is a unicorn. Custom knit by BlichMa from 100% soy yarn, "Pure". Used most of a ball in garter rib stitch. Carried a fine clear elastic thread along for the first inch as the yarn had little memory. Ears and horn Caron Simply Soft.

Newest Member of the Fam

Welcome to W, our new cousin and nephew. It's been a long wait, but he sure looks happy to be with Alice and Shawn. And seems quite proud of his first three teeth with more reported to be on the way!

Krispy Kut

N got a haircut. At Krispy Kut. 

It must be cool. The black eye and face scrapes were in full bloom when he went--he got credit for being in a fight, and when he tried to correct that assumption they thought he had a motorcycle accident instead of a mountain bike incident. It was that kind of place.

Titan Arum

The World's Largest and possibly Stinkiest flower bloomed at UNCC last Sunday. We failed to follow this phenomenon as closely as we should have, and didn't manage to get ourselves over there right away. The dead corpse aroma lasts for less than 24 hours, and was long gone by the time we arrived on Wednesday. In fact, the spike collapsed about an hour after we checked it out. Here's N with the remains of the Titan Arum, and a link to the whole story. http://gardens.uncc.edu/Titan%20Arum.htm

Dill Pickle Socks plus an update from Roy

Embossed Leaves Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2005, also in new book.


Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino in Moss


Started: 6/30/2007

I smell dill pickles when I look at this yarn!

In non-knitting news we finally heard from Roy. His group travelled to London last Friday, and stayed through late Monday, not the best timing from a parent's perspective. Here's what he had to say:

"Sorry, I didn't have any internet access in London. We saw Tower of
London, the Churchill war cabinets, three walking tours (Jack the Ripper,
National Gallery, Beatles). Spent a lot of time riding the Tube.

5 of us went to Wimbledon yesterday. They stopped play a lot, but we got
in and we got seats right on top of court 13, where we saw Ivanavok and
Davydenko play. We got back into the queue and got into Centre Court in
time to see Serena Williams play a set. She had a bad temper.

But the way back took 5 hours. We had to back to the hotel bc we checked
bags, and then get back into Victoria. When we finally got to Brighton,
the Falmer train had stopped running, so we had to walk down to the casino
to catch the bus. We got to see four and a half sets total, but it was
just cool being at Wimbledon."

MS150

B.O.B. and N are now officially entered in the MS150 ride out of New Bern, NC. We’ll be riding with Team NCSSM, a group based out of N’s new school. This is their 3rd year fielding a team.

For those not familiar with the concept, the MS150 is a fundraising bike ride put on by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. There are rides in locations all around the country. They are two-day affairs, covering roughly 150 miles. The rides raise tons of money - it’s a big chunk of the National MS Society’s funding. It’s a really good cause.

Various BlichClan members have ridden in MS150 rides in the somewhat distant past. Once the kids started marching in high school band and running cross-country, the ride (and cycling in general) became much harder to schedule. B.O.B. and Roy started riding on a tandem when Row was in 3rd grade. They rode 5 years in a row, earning “Lifetime Rider” jerseys. If these jerseys were not, umm, MAL-designed, they would have been dubbed “the coveted Lifetime Rider jerseys”. I guess they could be viewed as cool in a retro kind of way. Maybe. Maybe not. Roy likes them. But bubbles and racing stripes? Makes me think, “fast ‘n’ fizzy”.

There were several years when the whole family did the ride. This was a fundraising challenge, because there is a $200 per person, not per family, minimum. The last time we rode (picture on right), the parental units were on one tandem, and the offspring on another. I can only imagine what it must be like riding on the back of a tandem that was being captained by Roy. N must be fearless. But since I’m writing this in the back seat of The MiniVahn that is being DRIVEN by Roy, I think I have a pretty good feeling what it must have been like. Hoy!

These MS150 rides were all “Breakaway to the Beach”, which went from Rockingham, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC, stopping overnight in Florence, SC. This ride was 75 miles the first day, and 85 the second day. There was an option to do 100 miles on day one – left from just down the street from our house. Only did that one year, though. The last 10 miles were on a big, wide highway, and you were pretty much guaranteed a wicked headwind coming off the ocean. The sea breeze, you know. The Breakaway to the Beach was getting more popular every year. The last year we rode, they were pushing 2000 entrants

This New Bern MS150 is NOT a point-to-point ride. It does loops out of New Bern. It’s somewhere near the ocean, so it must be flat, right? Maybe I’ll ride the fixed-gear bike. That is, if I ever get my new fixie wheels back from the shop. Of course, B.O.B. pulling up to a 75 mile ride on a fixed gear is just ASKING for a wicked, all-day headwind! And now that I think about it, a big tailwind might not be much better – I don’t think I can spin 150 rpm for 75 miles! But seeing that these rides start and end in the same place, things should even out. Guess I’ll drag my normal road bike along, just in case. Not sure how many people enter. They draw a lot of people from the Raleigh area.

Carb O' the Week

1) More pancake goodness from Bill's in Green Bay.

Raisins. Nuts. Mmmm...

2) No picture (eaten too fast), but C whipped up a post-Father's Day breakfast on Sunday: Multi-grain waffles, with raisins and shredded carrots. Needless to say, they were awesome!

SQUIRRELS!!!

Squirrels could easily become a common blog feature, mainly because they are our 7th or 8th favorite animals. They are hard to avoid in real life, so why not include them here?

On your right is a photo of a rug. The kind of rug that gets put just inside the entrance to, say, the buildings where you work. There is usually some 3rd party business whose job it is to rotate these rugs every week or so. This particular rug was spotted where we happen to work. It presents us with solid evidence that somebody, somewhere, at sometime clearly associated SQUIRRELS with SAFETY. That is just plain hard to even imagine. Ever seen a cautious squirrel? I think that's rather unlikely. Have you ever personally squashed a squirrel who had just made an quick, poorly thought out, unnecessary, and likely fatal decision? A decision that was, say, 180 degrees WRONG? Bet you have.

Maybe Safety Rugs-R-Us has a point: have you ever whacked a squirrel who was playing a saxophone at the time? I think not.

Fear No Carb: carb o' the week photo

Time to introduce our first regular feature.

What's all this about carbs being the root of all evil? Nonsense! Carbs, and to some extent peanut butter, are what makes life as we know it work. Mentok the Mindtaker consumes carbs. Everyone should.

We traveled over 1000 miles to bring you this fine carb photo. These pancakes come from the fabulous Bill's Restaurant and Pancake House in Green Bay, WI. Yes, they are bigger than your head. Don't even consider ordering a full stack unless you just finished a century bicycle ride, an Ironman triathlon, or the endurance event of your choice.

Watch this spot for future Carb O' the Week photos!

Trial entry

Welcome to the BlichBlog!
Look for knitting news.
Look for mountain bike ride/race/crash reports.
Look for guest posts by Bruno and Pete.
Look for Carb O' the Week postings.