National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament

My husband's buddy, Pete Hughes, coaches the University of Arizona's Women's Wheelchair Basketball team.  They were in the national tournament this weekend in Denver.

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association's championship game between the University of Illinois and University of Alabama is scheduled for Saturday at 11:30 am MDT.  It will be broadcast online here.

Earlier today, we went to Denver to see the Arizona Wildcats compete against the Wisconsin-Whitewater WarHawks in the 5th place game.  The WarHawks lead most of the game, but the Wildcats pulled it out in the end.  It was a very exciting game to watch.

Fiber Arts Friday - Baby Hats Part 2

I finished my first baby for adult hat this week.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

My next baby for adult hat is from the Algerian Action Blog.  I decided to make it out of a shiney black merino single and finish it off with a white satin ribbon.

The pattern calls for the hat to be made flat then sewn together.  I decided to knit it in the round, which means fewer purl only rows.  Which really means it's easier for me.  I'm not sure why, but those purl only rows are harder than the knit only rows.

The pattern is also written for a baby-sized head, smaller yarn and needles.  Therefore, I actually made a swatch.  I cast on 20 stitches and knit four rows.  The resulting swatch was five inches that stretched to six.

The hat band is in stockinette stitch, so I used 20 stitches per 5 inches to determine that 92 stitches should be cast on for a 23 inch circumference.  Comparing that to the pattern, I decided to cast on 93 stitches.  I'm anxious to find out how well I did on the sizing.

The only trouble I've had so far is that the eyelet detail became a purl row.  I'm certain I was not doing the "insert the needle into the diagonal" correctly, but I decided to make these knit rows since it was easier.

I'm about half-way complete.

Get more Fiber Arts Fun with the Wonder Why Gal.

What does your Customer Care About?

With airfares going up, most airlines charging for checked luggage and now one charging for carry-on bags, I wonder if the airlines have forgotten who their customers are and what they care about.

Now I'm just one person who uses airline services regularly, but my husband and I fit three types of customers.

1.  Business Traveller - frequent flyer, frequent customer program member, travels two or more round trips per month.
2.  Business Traveller - travels eight to ten round trips per year
3.  Vacation Traveller - one to two round trips per year

As a type 1 Business Traveller, I want inexpensive, safe, friendly, easy conveyance between my home and client office.  When I visit my client's office, I am there for at least four days.  I bring clothing and hygeine supplies for the duration of the trip as well as the information and tools required to support the work I have been hired to perform.  I do not check my bags because it adds 15-20 minutes to the begining of my trip and 30-45 minutes on the end.  Multiply this by two for each round trip and it's a huge time suck.  Because of that, I carry as little as possible and carry everything on board.

As a type 2 Business Traveller, my husband wants inexpensive, safe, friendly, easy conveyance between our home and the races he competes in.  A domestic race usually requires a three day visit, clothing and hygeine supplies, a racing wheelchair, an everyday wheelchair and supplies for wheelchair maintenance.  He checks his bag and racing chair so he can carry on his wheels.  This means the same 15-20 and 30-45 minutes of wait time at either end of the trip as well as an additional 20 minutes waiting for the chair to be brought to baggage claim.  Our prefered airline used to gate-check the racing chair, but this has become a huge hassle.

As Vacation Travellers, we want inexpensive, safe, friendly, easy conveyance between our home and our vacation destination.  Again clothing and hygeine supplies for the duration of our trip, an everyday wheelchair and supplies for wheelchair maintenance are necessary.  Checking bags is no big deal because we want to relax and time spent waiting at the airport is less of an issue.

In the rare event that I have a business meeting where I can complete my round trip in the same day, I still have a computer with me.

In all cases, we bring something on board to read, work on or listen to.

In fact, I have been trying to think of a situation where someone would take a trip that requires the service of an airline and not have the need for luggage. I haven't come up with any.  Perhaps you have an example?

Airline travel used to be special.  It used to be about customer service.  It used to be fun.  Which makes me wonder... When did the airlines decide they are not enablers of other buisness or activities?

Conveying luggage is part of conveying people.  You don't get one without the other.  It's like ordering pasta for dinner then having to pay extra for marinara sauce.

It's every company's responsibility to decide who their customer is and figure out how best to give them what they want and need.  I think most airlines are failing in this regard.

The Tree

We have several trees in front of our house, but this tree is very interesting to me.  I don't know what kind it is. 

The buds remind me of fuzzy caterpillars.  The leaves are similar to an aspen and the bark is a very pretty white.

My Garden

This will be my vegetable garden.

There is a lot of scrap and fire wood that the previous owner left behind as well as the apple tree that broke our sewer and a few Pinon branches that fell during a snow storm.

With the weather turning nicer, I've started cutting and sorting the wood.  Once that's done, I will dig out the grass and turn in some alpaca manure.

My goal is to have all of this complete in time to plant on Mother's Day weekend.  Mother's Day is the traditional last freeze in our area.

Fiber Arts Friday: Baby Hats

I love knitting hats.

• They're relatively quick to make.  It takes me about a week to knit a simple pattern, if I'm able to work on it every night.
• They're very portable.  Since I travel a lot for my day job, this is a major plus.
• There are so many patterns to choose from.  Just do a google search for knit hats and see what I mean.

I've recently discovered that baby hats are interesting.  So I am modifying a couple baby of patterns for larger, adult heads.  My theory is that a more "sophisticated" yarn coupled with an interesting pattern should result in a cool hat that someone I know would like to wear.

I'm working on Anna's Flat-Toppped Hat by Knit with KT now.

I'm using an Organic Merino DK Single with #7 needles.  I cast on 84 stitches.

Check out what's going on with the other Fiber Arts Friday participants at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.

One Small Change

I've come late to this party, but believe it's never too late to get started on making positive changes.  Which is why I love this idea of One Small Change.

Andy and Suzy of Hip Mountain Mama challenge us to make one small change each month with the goal of reducing our impact on our earth.

The One Small Change blog provides a place to document your plan for the month and to share your progress.  It's interesting to read what's there.  It's such a great way to share ideas.

One thing we have been doing lately is bringing re-usable bags to the grocery store.  It took a while to remember to bring them, but I feel we're doing pretty well now.  I think the next step is to take them to all of the stores we go to, not just the food store.