My sweet Vespa

Doods. Today was my first scooter rally -- The Twisted Wheel Scooter Rally in Toronto. Rallies are basically a reason to ride together, compare and compliment scoots and get ideas for what you might want to do to yours next.

There was also a raffle for a brand new vespa [I didn't win], and contests in all sorts of categories. Surprisingly, I *did* win one of the judged awards: Sweetest Modern Scoot. I guess everyone was won over by my pink leopard seat cover and matching pink sparkly tassels. There's also a pompom hanging from my rear rack in sparkly purple. Clearly, the sparkle appeals.

Take a peek at my photos for the day if you like Vespas too. There's a purple one in there that I will wager you have never seen the likes of anywheres. [And it won for Sweetest Vintage Scoot. You ain't kidding.]

massimo, post-mod

wanna play that game we used to play in Highlights magazine? Spot the differences between these two pictures!





did you get them all?

last summer's mods:
- windshield
- rabbity magnet, via etsy seller skinnylaminx

this spring's mods:
- new top box [aka scooter trunk] found on ebay
- turn signal pods removed -- now turn signals are back inside the white lenses at the front where they were meant to be
- and the last one...you can't see that one. it looks like this:



[and it's actually LOUDER than the cheesy mic on my camera could capture. fun times.]

how much is too much?

So I bought a new helmet. After taking the motorcycle safety course [oh, the wonders of push steering for tight corners! I am a new woman!], I couldn't ignore the safety factor any further. Had to do it. Full-face it is, then.

If you don't wear motorcycle helmets, you might not know this: each brand is shaped differently. Round heads, oval heads, whatever. HJC seems to fit me best. This is the CL-15, affordable, fits me. Oh, and it's pink. And of course, I've got that crazy pink leopard seat cover, so there was a bit of pink overload at LK tonight.

Rachel H saw my new helmet and said she couldn't imagine a helmet being more pink than this one.

Here, Rachel. I live to serve.



P.S. My proper riding jacket is black with aqua arms. Not pink. Okay?

where i was this weekend.

[apologies in advance to those who love motorcycles. i am not one of you. in fact, you probably want to look away now. come back tomorrow when my anti-motorcycle posting phase will be over.]

thanks to the puffer [it really did the trick in stopping my cough and making me acceptable in society again], i was able to go ahead with my weekend plans: motorcycle classes. now why would i, who doesn't care a thing about motorcycles, take this course? i was told to. by all my scooter-driving friends who had taken the course themselves.

this means i had to learn how to drive a manual transmission bike. no one offers this course on scooters. you have to ride a real motorcycle. instead of two happy handgrips, one being the throttle [on my vespa], with a brake lever in front of each, i had to deal with my left lever being my clutch, the right lever being my front brake, the left handgrip with no function whatsoever, except to rest your hand on and the right handgrip as the throttle. but i'm not done. the back brake? it's in front of your right footpeg. and where's the shifter? in front of your left footpeg. and besides that, they're ugly. i drove a 125cc yamaha dirt bike. [seriously. that was the one i could control the best.]

you wonder why i didn't want to do this? yes, it was as annoying as it sounds. it's the same reason we don't have a manual car any more. shifting while driving isn't fun for me.

despite this, i paid attention to the teachers [they were good], did what they told me to [with a minimum of protest] and the hollow ache i felt in the pit of my stomach as they told us about each next skill we'd be practising usually went away soon after we got on the bikes. the hollow ache happened ALL THROUGH the weekend, right up until the test.

which i passed. my worst sin [besides once going outside of the lines] was going too slowly. sue me.

am i sorry i spent my weekend riding a bike i didn't like? nope. it was actually quite worthwhile. i learned all sorts of safety stuff, including evasive maneuvers and quick stops, and that's the reason i took the class in the first place. most every skill [except how to shift the manual transmission] applies to my vespa, too, which is why i went. good learning, even if i had to ride an ugly bike to get it.

do i want a motorcycle now? what do you think?

massimo and i get to drive to the ministry tomorrow, bring the paperwork they gave me at the class and get my license upgraded to an M2. which means i don't have to leave knit nights early any more! can i get a w00t?

call me! and a little pinkness

Hope you are liking fall Knitty. I was quite glad to get it up and mostly bug free, too. The cold is now a spasmy cough, so the doc prescribed Flovent. Erp.

And to celebrate, I'm doing Shannon's Knitgrrl podcast today. Did you know it was a live call-in show? Seriously. So if you've got any questions for me, please call in! The show page is here, and the number to call to speak to Shannon and I is (718) 664-9504. Show starts at 2pm eastern time today [Friday] and there's nothing worse than a call-in show with no callers. Please, don't leave me hanging. Yes, mom, you can call in if you want. :-)

oops. technical difficulties. so we've rescheduled for 6pm next week, so the west coasters have a chance of getting in. Friday, 6pm. Sorry if you were waiting for us!

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Oh my. I ordered a seat cover for the Vespa at the end of my west-coast trip. I was giddy on Sunnyvale friends and bubble tea and I ordered this crazy pink snow leopard [i don't even have to say faux fur, do i?] custom seat cover from Crystal, who makes each one herself. I just couldn't handle the BEIGENESS of the seat, even if it was sorta faux suede.

So it's here, and it's the definition of PINK. You will see me coming and going with this under my tush. In fact, it seems this fabric was so popular that it sold out. And no, I'd never order camo. To me, camo = war, even if it's in another color. There was nothing else that grabbed me like the pink snow leopard, so that's what I got. Snork.

Honestly, though, it's very well made, with custom cutouts for the bag hook at the front and the keyhole in the side of the seat, and it's washable. And it makes me giggle when i look at the scoot. But Massimo...you think he is man enough to handle this much pink?

And for anyone who wants one, Crystal will do custom fabric for you. One day, I'll have her do a barkcloth cover for me.

still working, really

But you wanna see what I did on Saturday? My scooter club scheduled a ride to the Burlington Rib Fest. It was a much, MUCH longer ride than I've ever gone on before, but there were lots of other noobs going along too, plus they broke up the route into smaller chunks. Thanks to Dennis who took this pic and has no idea I've scoffed it for the blog.

It was a perfect day for scootering. Sunny and clear and not hot at all.

We drove the Lakeshore all the way to Appleby Line and then headed north, for the "twist and turn" part of the trip through the Escarpment. Yes, turns. Lots of tight ones. After the first bout of tight turns at 40-50kph, I realized I was going to have to take them slower if I was going to stay vertical. We ride in formation, so if one of us goes slow, the people behind them are stuck going slow too. Thankfully, they were kind to the noobs and didn't make us feel bad. And I stayed vertical. It was a beautiful ride, but I was a little too white knuckled to enjoy it as much as I could have.

Never mind. The rest was nice and straight and except for my unbelievably sore tush, easy as pie. [We were on our bikes pretty much from 11am until 9pm.] Still, I'm probably not going to sign up for another long ride for a while. Need to work up to that, I think.

My cute jacket? [Because I know you'll ask.] Lane Bryant denim. My own patches, bought with Jillian when we were in Austin. And the jacket? It R-E-E-K-S. I have two pairs of LB jeans and they stink as well. Like cheap factory stink. Even after two washings. Advice on destinking rather cute denim would be most welcome.

And now, head back down.

Oh, nice girl in the T&T parking lot tonight -- did you like the store?

stupid eBay tricks

I slipped.

I'd been eyeing cheap white docs, but the shipping made them less cheap. Then I thought about white...who wants white boots, even if they're graffiti'd all over? And while I was thinking that, I stumbled on these. Which I won, thanks to a sniping service [bidnapper.com] while I was at LK this evening. $44. Oh my god.

Mint green patent leather. Old enough to still have been made in England [which, from reading the reviews of current Docs on amazon.com, is a serious consideration -- the new asian-made ones supposedly are not even close to the quality of the old Brits] and barely worn. Lots of pictures in the auction, and I didn't see any wear except that little scuff on the side of the heel.

Will they fit? I think so, but won't be sure till they're here. But with mint green patent leather Docs to wear on my pale green scooter, something tells me I'll MAKE them fit, if it comes to that.

We are the mods.
We are the mods.
We are
we are
we are the mods.

I am so lame.

who asked for this cool weather?

*i did!* blame me. i love a happy 20c day. it's like heaven.

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so, life is going well here in the land of no gallbladder, knock wood. my surgical stuff is mostly healed [externally], though my belly button still looks like someone fought a battle in there. [sorry. tmi.]

last night when going to sleep, i absent-mindedly flopped onto my tummy [my preferred sleeping position] and instantly was told by my internal organs that I AM NOT READY TO DO THAT YET. ow. except for stuff like that, not much hurts now. i'm really amazed at how quickly i've recovered. whoever discovered laparoscopic surgery, thank you!

[hey, a picture of the procedure i had done is on the wikipedia page for Laparoscopic surgery. click for big. wow.]

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so, Massimo is fine and safe and bored out of his mind, not having been ridden since the day i went into emerg. i've [as is my habit] been obsessively googling Vespa accessories, like the proper boots and cool-weather gear to wear, while waiting to get strong enough to ride again.

[did you know Blundstones are not suitable to be used as scoot boots? because if, god forbid, you go down, the elastic gores at the sides provide zero protection. crap. i already own a pair and thought i was set.]

i have found SUPER CHEAP dr martens 8-hole boots in pure white for so cheap, it's almost offensive, and would take permanent markers to them and make them insanely fun. does anyone know if these would do? are they good at the non-slippy thing [because good traction underfoot is essential for me]. has anyone tried to fit orthotics into a pair of these? [i use the standard Birkenstock footbed as my orthotic.] advice welcome.

when it comes to cool-weather gear, this was one of the first things that caught my eye. a blankie that keeps out wet and cold, so you can be toasty as you scoot! i believe i'll have to get one, and soon.

and regarding my seat, which does look like tan suede from a distance, but is actually waterproof somethingorother, it's just a little too normal for me. so at the end of my west-coast adventures, i ordered a seat cover from crystal. you'll have to wait to see which fabric i picked.

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oh, and i'm also working on getting fall Knitty® ready, too.

wait -- what's that thingy after "Knitty"? yes, it's a little registered trademark symbol. it's official. rock on.

our homage to Zimmermann [courtesy Harlot]

All photos in this post are thanks to the kind hands and camera of Stephanie PM last Wednesday at Lettuce Knit. Thanks, Steph!


Aleta plays Zimmermann on the back of the Vespa. We are parked, btw. I wouldn't contravene the conditions of my license!


it's hard to look sassy when you're wearing a white hoodie, but i tried.


love this shot.


driving home.

all is well.

Yesterday, hub was installing a server in the house [!] so we were lean on internet for most of the afternoon.

Never mind. I spent most of the day working on Knitty things, getting ready to be offline next week when I'm teaching out west. Got a lot done. It's all thanks to Massimo [for that is his name] who is better than prozac.

Took him for another short ride yesterday aft, after the rain cleared and all is really lovely. After I rode him home the first day, I rode around the neighborhood, practising tight turns and slow driving and starting and stopping without falling over. My moped background has clearly helped me, but honestly, this is just a very rideable scooter.

For those who asked, yes, you can drive a scooter in Ontario after only taking the written M1 test. Hopefully most of us are clever enough to practise on quiet roads until we get comfortable enough to ride in traffic.

Wednesday at LK was a massive hoot. Highlight: Denny screaming at Massimo from the end of the street. Everyone made nice faces at him and petted his seat. Aleta sat on the back behind me, but I give no rides before my time. StephHarlot took pictures which I hope to share soon. :-)

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Tonight is Yarn Tasting at Alterknit where we hope we'll have enough room for all of you! I know we have enough yarn.

And no, I won't be bringing Massimo. My restricted license doesn't allow me to drive in the dark, and I expect we'll be going long past dark.

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One more thing: today is the last Harry Potter eve. I'm very sad about this and also totally excited to see what happens. I read a small something by accident that I'm sure is bunk, and really, I just wonder what is wrong with people that they need to spoil something that so many people enjoy. After tonight, I believe I'll be checking e-mail only until I've finished the book.

Should anyone ruin it for me, I will run them over, twice. Be warned.

eeeeeee!!!!!

sigh.


p was so in awe, he took rather crap pictures of me riding, but this really is me!


and this is him being silly.

See you tonight [with Vespa!] at Lettuce Knit! This thing is AMAZING.

because I like my head with the goop on the inside

I'll be wearing a helmet on my Vespa. [I know it's the law but even if it weren't, I'd wear one. I saw a motorcyclist post-accident while i was in Albuquerque, where they have no helmet law. I hope he's okay.]

Anyway, as per usual for me, of course the helmet I fell in love with was discontinued a year ago or so. This happens all the time. I don't know about something I have to have until I can't get it. Using my GoogleFu, I found ONE left, *on sale even* in a Vespa shop in Halifax.




These are the pics the nice Tim sent me from Halifax, just to make sure we were talking about the same animal. Isn't it purty? And so retro-ish.

Until it gets here, I have a perfectly serviceable HJC half helmet left over from my moped days.

2 hours till I pick up the scoot! I feel like a little kid waiting to open my present. I can't sit still!

what i did today

after my book work was done, of course:



I passed my written motorcycle learner's permit thingy -- it's a M1 license. It entitles me to drive undrunk [duh], without a passenger [sorry, denny], not on highways [also duh] and during daylight hours. I then have to take two road tests, over two years, until I have my full motorcycle license.

In Ontario [I learned all this since Friday], a scooter 50cc or less requires something called an LSM license [Low-Speed Motorcycle]. My scooter is 150cc, and therefore qualifies as a motorcycle and requires different testing. Oddly, I can take my road tests on my scooter, never learn to shift gears with my feet or have to bother with a clutch, and still eventually have a license to drive a motorcycle.

Which I will never do. So it's moot.

Insurance paperwork gets done tomorrow. I pick her up on Wednesday. Plotzing? You bet.

Thank you, Grandma

My grandma Lillian [the best grandma in the world] died in 1999 and she left all her grandkids something. I could barely look at the check when it came. I bawled like a baby when I opened a savings account to hold it, because I knew it was stupid not to cash it, but I couldn't bear to touch it. I suppose I'm not the only person to cry in a bank manager's office.

It's been 8 years. I started thinking recently that maybe it was time to turn her last gift into something tangible. Something I've wanted for a very long time, but never really allowed myself to consider. Because it's not a frivolous purchase, but it's not a necessity, either. It's a big deal.

And now it's mine.

A real Vespa [LX 150, Portofino Green] from Motoretta, a place I've looked at with longing for years. [I used to walk into the one on College, look around and sigh audibly.] I'll get it in a few days. First I have to pass my M1 written test at the Ministry [of magic?]. Then the dealers get a license plate for it. Then I get to learn how to ride it.

In the late 1990s, I had a moped, and rode it carefully and well. I avoided streetcar-track streets, rode in the defensive position of the appropriate lane and really liked being able to get all over with it. But it was a spotty thing that only ran when it felt like it and only that if I rode it daily. I sold it for a bit more than what I paid for it and that was that.

This is a cadillac compared to that Honda Moped. It's also much more environmentally friendly than a vintage Vespa [in fact, this page tells me it puts out much less carbon dioxide than a hybrid car. It gets 72mpg. Wow. I looked into electric, but the technology just isn't there yet. Maybe in a few more years, but right now, the bikes are cheap and plasticy and not worth buying.

I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I wonder what grandma would have thought of my choice. I expect she'd just tell me to be safe and careful, and I promise I'll be doing that. I'll be taking a scooter safety course within the next month, because that's how I do things.

I'm also really excited because a simple google search showed me that I can park my new baby for free on the street where the Pay-and-Display meters are in Toronto. Thank you, Toronto City Council. Smart move.

So there you go. I now have my own wheels and don't need to take the car [an efficient small Subaru, but still] for my trips to the beach, to jewelry class and to Lettuce Knit every week. I can park just about anywhere, spit less CO2 into the air, all while riding the bike of my dreams.

Thank you, Grandma.
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p.s. yes, Grandma Lillian is the grandma -- the one Knitty is dedicated to, the one who taught me to knit and the one whose needles are on every page. :-)