Notes from Seattle

Well, I'm back in Seattle, but not for long.  Enjoying a typically grey, overcast day here in the Emerald City. The overcast sky is casting a nice, uniform glare on my computer screen, which makes blogging a challenge.

Check-in at SFO went very smoothly, although I had more trouble at security than I expected.  They wanted me to remove my (cloth and plastic) belt, and also submit my wallet for examination.  I miss the days when all you had to do was walk through a metal detector without setting it off, and maybe let your bags be sniffed by an explosive detector. *BEGIN SARCASM*  I guess if one known radical tries to put explosives in his underwear, everyone has to have their underwear examined.  *END SARCASM*

On a different note, I was pleasantly surprised to see a men's college rowing team travelling on my flight.  I greeted them and asked where they were from.  Turns out they were the Stanford Men's Crew team.  We exchanged pleasantries, and I was pleased to have one of the oarsmen in my row, with an empty seat between us.  The interaction was brief but pleasant.

Here in Seattle, I found my gate and gave them my passport, work permit, and letter of invitation so they could change my boarding pass for a new one.  Then, after a brief pit stop, I decided to find out if I needed to buy a meal before my flight.  Going back to the gate, I noticed the DHL envelope that held all my documents, still at the counter, sitting on the lower ledge where the ticket agents couldn't see it!  I quickly reclaimed my documents, spoke with the agents, and found out that the meal service included two meals, with a choice of Korean or American food for each.  That was just what I wanted to hear.

In other news, I was able to finish a swatch of my special, discontinued, California-grown, naturally black alpaca yarn.

This yarn was purchased specially for my trip, to enjoy on the long flight.  If you're not at all interested in yarn or knitting, you may want to skip the next paragraph and go straight to the prayer requests.

The yarn is a three-ply, I'd call it a light worsted weight.  It seems a little underplied, because even my blunt bamboo needles could easily split between the plies if I wasn't careful.  However, it does appear to be knitting up at about 4.5 stitches/inch, which is what I was hoping for.  I would like a slightly denser fabric, but I can't go down a needle size because I don't have size 5 circulars in 16" length, which is what I would need to do the ribbing if the body went down from a size 8 (as shown in the swatch) to a size 7.  Whatever the result, I still love working with this yarn.  It slides through my fingers very nicely.  I won't even complain about the VM (vegetable matter), which is present but not excessive or difficult to remove.

Well, it's almost time to board, so I'd better wrap it up.  Please pray for a safe flight.  Thanks.